The World Baseball Classic has already been packed with power and plenty of home runs throughout group play and the first two Quarterfinals. With two more great matchups on Saturday night, let’s grab a couple more home run props to keep the action spicy on DraftKings Sportsbook. Looking at the matchups and current form, I’m taking Nolan Arenado and Seiya Suzuki as my top two home run props this Saturday.
The first knockout game starts at 3:00 p.m. ET as Puerto Rico takes on Team Italy, and the second game features Venezuela facing down Japan at 9:00 p.m. ET. The winners of Saturday’s games meet on Monday for a shot in Tuesday’s Championship Game, where they will face the winner of Team USA vs. Dominican Republic, which sets up to be a juicy Sunday night matchup.
Top World Baseball Classic Home Run Props
Nolan Arenado 1+ Home Run (+650)
Arenado and Puerto Rico will be facing lefty hurler Sam Aldegheri in the afternoon game. The Puerto Ricans only have one homer in the WBC so far, and it was a memorable walk-off blast from Darell Hernaiz. Hernaiz isn’t known for his power, though, so instead I’m going with proven veteran Arenado, who has also played in multiple WBC’s as part of Team USA before moving to the Puerto Rican team this time around. He typically mashes lefties, and getting him at 6:1 feels like good value.
He’ll be facing Aldegheri, who made his MLB debut last year and pitched 13 2/3 innings in the majors, giving up 14 runs and three homers in his four games. He gave up three homers, two of which were hit by righties, who posted a .461 wOBA against him in that small sample size. He made 24 starts in Double-A and Triple-A, going 8-8 with a 3.78 ERA, 4.36 FIP and 13 homers allowed.
While they haven’t had a ton of power so far, Puerto Rico has been able to advance and they’ll give the ball to Seth Lugo as they look to move on this Saturday. Arenado will likely be back in the heart of the order after going 3-for-14 with two RBIs in his four games in the WBC so far.
Seiya Suzuki 1+ Home Run (+550)
Team Japan has been playing at weird times, so fans may not be quite as locked in on how strong they have been so far, but they’ll be in primetime on Saturday night, taking on lefty Ranger Suarez and Team Venezuela. Suzuki will be on the strong side of his splits against the lefty, and he has started the WBC strong, going 3-for-9 with a pair of home runs, including this one:
He added a second homer later in the game and helped Japan defeat its biggest rival, which was eliminated by the Dominican Republic yesterday. Suzuki has gone 2-for-6 with a triple in his past meetings with Suarez, and last year, he set a new career high in the MLB with 32 homers in 151 games. He hit 10 of those homers against lefties and had a .355 wOBA in the splits.
Suzuki came through in Japan’s toughest game so far, and he’ll look to come through on this big stage in another big matchup on Saturday night.
