Major League Baseball has another busy slate with eight games starting at 6:30 p.m. ET or later on this Wednesday. While there are a few weather spots to keep an eye on, there are some exciting starting pitchers ready to take the mound. Each pitcher has a variety of different starting pitcher prop bets to consider on DraftKings Sportsbook. After breaking down the matchups and current form, my top starting pitcher prop bets for Wednesday are from Kevin Gausman, Hunter Brown and Drew Rasmussen.
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Best Starting Pitcher Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Kevin Gausman over 5.5 strikeouts (-120)
I highlighted Gausman earlier today as one of my top MLB DFS targets for the day, and I like him to go over this strikeout line against the Cubs as well.
On the season, Gausman has averaged 5.87 strikeouts per outing and 6.36 strikeouts per game in his 11 home starts. He had at least eight strikeouts in three of his last four outings, with the one exception coming against the Royals, who are excellent at strikeout suppression.
The Cubs also have a low strikeout rate on the season, but over the last 14 days, they have a higher 21.5% K%, averaging 7.9 strikeouts per contest.
Gausman has been especially effective in reverse splits this season, shutting down lefties, so this matchup at home against the lefty-heavy Cubs sets up well for him to get at least six punchouts on Wednesday night as one of my top starting pitcher prop bets.
Hunter Brown under 6.5 strikeouts (-115)
On the other side of the strikeout over/unders, I’m taking Hunter Brown to record six strikeouts or fewer against the Red Sox in the series finale between these AL playoff contenders in Houston.
Brown is averaging 6.95 strikeouts per start this season but a lot of that is from earlier in the year. Over his last six starts, he has averaged only 5.7 strikeouts per game, and he has come in under this strikeout line in each of his last three starts and four of his last six.
He faced the Red Sox in this same matchup in Boston on August 1, and even though he worked seven strong innings in a no-decision, he only had six strikeouts. The Red Sox are definitely not among the best teams in strikeout suppression in the majors, but they have been much better lately. They have the seventh-lowest K% in the majors over the last two weeks after ranking among the league leaders in K% earlier in the year.
Since the Sox and Brown are each trending down in strikeout rate, I’m taking Brown to finish under this strikeout total on Wednesday in what should be another great matchup in Houston.
Drew Rasmussen over 15.5 outs recorded (+135)
The last matchup on the board this Wednesday is the A’s and Rays wrapping up their series in Sacramento. Each team has won one game, and in this contest, it’ll be Rasmussen against JT Ginn. Both young offenses have lots of potential and are fun to watch but can also be a little unpredictable. Rather than taking a runs prop, a win prop, or even a strikeout prop, my favorite option for starting pitcher prop bets in this contest is Rasmussen’s prop to record at least 16 outs (meaning 5 1/3 innings).
Rasmussen is 9-5 on the season and has a solid 2.66 ERA. He has averaged 4.9 innings per start this year. The Rays were trying to reduce Rasmussen’s innings earlier this summer with the goal to keep his total under 150. His total is now at 111 2/3 after going over this outs recorded line in each of his last two starts. He was limited to just 73 1/3 innings over his previous two seasons due to injuries, so the Rays are trying to protect him from a huge jump.
That being said, he has been very effective and been allowed to pitch into the sixth inning in each of his last two starts against the Dodgers and Mariners. The leash with the Rays is always a little tricky to count on since they do things differently, but as long as there isn’t any breaking news pregame that indcates otherwise, I expect he’ll have a “regular” workload again on Wednesday and be able to go over this outs recorded line.
