With all 30 teams in action on Friday night, Major League Baseball is bringing the heat to the final weekend of August as summer winds down and playoff races ramp up. DraftKings Sportsbook has a wide variety of options to consider, whether you’re looking for home run props or taking a look at who is scheduled to take the mound. Each starting pitcher has a wide variety of different starting pitcher prop bets available. After breaking down the matchups and current form, my top starting pitcher prop bets for Wednesday are from Jonah Tong, Nestor Cortes and Blake Snell.
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Best Starting Pitcher Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Jonah Tong over 6.5 strikeouts recorded (+130)
The Mets are calling up 22-year-old Jonah Tong to make his MLB debut against the Marlins in the second game of this NL East series. Tong has been outstanding all year in the minors, and even though this strikeout line seems high, its one of my top starting pitcher prop bets for Friday night.
Tong leads the entire minor leagues with 179 strikeouts in 113 2/3 innings in his 22 starts in Double-A and Triple-A. He averaged 8.1 strikeouts per game in his 20 Double-A starts with the Birmingham Rumble Ponies and posted nine and eight strikeouts in his two starts with the Syracuse Mets in Triple-A.
The Marlins are slightly above league average at strikeout suppression this season, but they should still be a solid matchup for Tong, since they’re hitting only .226 over the last two weeks and have scored only 3.8 runs per game over that stretch.
The Mets are hyped to add Tong to Noah McLean as their next wave of elite starting pitchers, and I think they’ll have plenty to celebrate Friday.
Nestor Cortes to record a win (+195)
Cortes only has two wins on the season, so I get why the odds are so long for this “to record a win” option in Friday’s starting pitcher props. However, Cortes is coming off a great outing against the Dodgers, and he has been settling in nicely in the Padres’ rotation since coming over at the trade deadline. I highlighted him as one of my top value plays of the day for DFS as well.
Cortes has pitched over the minimum of five innings to qualify for a win in each of his last two starts after coming up just short with 4 2/3 innings in each of his first two starts after coming off the injured list (both games the Padres won). He gave up four runs on three home runs in the first inning of his next start against the Giants and then settled in with 4 2/3 scoreless frames.
He built on that momentum in his most recent start, giving up just one hit in six scoreless innings to get a win at home over the Dodgers.
In this start, he has a much easier matchup, although he’ll be on the road as he faces the Twins. After trading away multiple key parts of their lineup at the deadline, the Twins rank in the bottom 10 in the majors in runs scored in August while hitting .222 as a team. They tend to lean lefty-heavy, so Cortes should be in an especially good spot.
The Padres have won six of their last nine games, while the Twins are 2-7 over their last nine. Zebby Matthews gets the start opposite Cortes, and the youngster is 1-2 with a 5.70 ERA in his last five starts. I’m still a fan of Matthews long-term, but I think Cortes and the Padres have the clear advantage on Friday.
Blake Snell to record over 16.5 outs (-105)
Snell has gone over this outs recorded line in each of his last two starts. He has been limited to just six starts by injury, but he has been effective when available, with a 3-2 record, 1.97 ERA and 3.46 FIP.
The veteran lefty has thrown at least 90 pitches in each of his last three starts after throwing 86 pitches in his return in early August. He came up just short of this outs recorded line in his start against the Blue Jays, since he racked up 10 strikeouts in a dominant but inefficient five innings.
He went over this outs recorded line in each of his last two matchups, though, recording 18 outs and 21 outs in his home-and-home starts against his former team, the Padres.
He’ll face another NL West foe on Friday as he goes up against the Diamondbacks for the first time this season. Arizona’s lineup has still been solid even after their trade deadline deals, but Snell should be able to get through at least 5 2/3 against them on Friday to go over this prop at home in Dodger Stadium in the second game of the MLB Network doubleheader.
Adding Snellzilla to Nasty Nestor and King Tong in Friday’s starting pitcher prop bets feels like the start of a solid movie plot, and also a very solid betting card for this Friday.
