The Seattle Mariners are visiting the San Diego Padres on Wednesday, with first pitch set for 9:40 p.m. ET/6:40 p.m. PT. Emerson Hancock will take the bump for the Mariners, facing off against Padres righty Randy Vasquez at Petco Park. Looking at the odds, lines and Hancock’s strikeouts prop on DraftKings Sportsbook, here is a breakdown of how the righty could perform in his fourth outing of the season.
Emerson Hancock Strikeouts Prop
DraftKings Sportsbook currently has Hancock’s strikeouts thrown line set at 3.5 for Wednesday’s contest against the Padres.
Through three starts this season, Hancock is 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA, 0.736 WHIP, 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings and a 0.5 WAR. He opened up the season with a bang, tossing 6.0 scoreless, hitless innings against the Guardians while allowing one walk, plunking one batter and striking out nine. Hancock got stuck with a tough-luck loss his next time out versus the Angels, since the Mariners didn’t deliver any runs in support. Still, Hancock gave up one run, six hits and no walks with five strikeouts in 6.2 innings of work. His last time out, Hancock went 5.0 innings deep against the Astros on April 10. He gave up three runs, four hits and two walks with five strikeouts.
The former top prospect went down with an injury shortly after making his MLB debut in 2023, then spent 2024 banged up and bouncing between the majors and Triple-A. Through July 2025, Hancock was 7-9 with a 5.10 ERA, 1.387 WHIP and 5.9 strikeouts per nine innings for his career. He found success as a reliever in September, though, and he closed the season with a 1.42 ERA, 1.026 WHIP and 7.8 strikeouts per nine innings.
Based on FanGraphs‘ Steamer model, Hancock is projected to go 4-3 with a 4.12 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and 59 strikeouts across six starts, 37 relief appearances and 69.0 innings in the remainder of 2026. His 0.2 projected fWAR ranks No. 425 among MLB pitchers, while his projected 7.23 strikeouts per nine innings rank No. 1,688.
Emerson Hancock picks, predictions
Hancock has finally started to live up to his potential in the early goings this season. Not only has he held onto a rotation spot with Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo, George Kirby and Luis Castillo all healthy, but he has thrived in that role. Per Baseball Savant, Hancock’s pitching run value ranks in the 96th percentile across the big leagues. His fastball and breaking ball run value rank in the 97th and 81st percentiles, respectively, as well. Most importantly, Hancock ranks in the 84th percentile with a 30.6% strikeout rate and the 85th percentile with a 4.8% walk rate.
The Padres have struck out the third-least often in the league, so it won’t be a walk in the park for Hancock to fan San Diego batters. But a 3.5 line shouldn’t be too hard to clear, especially since Hancock already got Cleveland and Houston to strike out nine and five times. Both clubs are above average when it comes to avoiding strikeouts, and that didn’t stop Hancock from sitting them down regardless. The Padres are also around league average in runs per game and OPS+, so maybe Hancock can string together another outing that lasts at least 5.0 frames.
Hancock, for all his struggles last season, still went over 3.5 strikeouts in nine of his 16 starts. He is off to a much hotter start in 2025 – to the point that you can even flirt with Hancock to throw 5+ strikeouts if you’re looking for better odds on an alternate line. He has achieved that feat in all three of his outings so far this year, so a fourth straight hit is certainly in play despite a tougher matchup.
