Best MLB player prop bets for Thursday, June 1

It’s a very light Thursday slate today, with just seven games on the docket as half the league travels ahead of its weekend series. But prop bets never sleep, and there are still plenty of opportunities for profit around MLB — here are three of our favorite plays, with odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.

MLB player prop bets: Thursday, June 1

Jose Ramirez and Elias Diaz, both to record a hit (-112)

It can be hard to find profitable odds on a player hit prop, so let’s build a parlay to tilt the numbers a bit more in our favor. Ramirez has long possessed one of the best hit tools in the game, with an expected batting average in the 92nd percentile per Statcast, and the switch hitter is much stronger from the left side of the plate — slashing .331/.405/.522 against right-handed pitching this year. He’s an excellent bet to record at least one base knock against Minnesota Twins righty Pablo Lopez, who’s allowed 11 runs in 16.1 innings over his last three starts with a .308/.400/.654 slash line allowed to lefties over that time.

Diaz has also been a hit machine this season, with a .321/.376/.494 line that’s supported by a .288 expected batting average per Statcast. The Colorado Rockies catcher will be facing Arizona Diamondbacks righty Zach Davies on Thursday, and matchup he’s fared very well with in the past — hitting .350/.409/.650 off Davies in 20 lifetime plate appearances.

Tanner Bibee, over 6.5 strikeouts (+160)

We backed Hunter Brown to clear his strikeout total against the Minnesota Twins yesterday and cashed, and now it’s time to do it again with another dynamic young righty. Minnesota has struggled against right-handed pitching all season long, with a 26.5% strikeout rate that’s the highest in all of baseball. (They’re also striking out at a 32.2% clip overall over the past two weeks, tops in the Majors by a whopping five percentage points.)

Cleveland Guardians rookie Tanner Bibee has shown major swing-and-miss stuff in his young career, clearing this total three times over his six starts and boasting a 61st-percentile K rate and whiff rate. At very favorable odds, I’m more than comfortable rolling the dice on him even with such a high number.

Taijuan Walker, under 3.5 strikeouts (-120)

Walker has been a disaster for most of his first year with the Philadelphia Phillies, with a 5.57 ERA and the lowest strikeout rate (and highest walk rate) of his entire career. The righty has posted K totals of just 3, 1, 3 and 1 over his last four starts, and things aren’t likely to get any easier on Thursday against the New York Mets. The Mets have the league’s fourth-lowest strikeout rate overall over the past two weeks, and they’ve been even tougher on right-handed pitching, with the third-lowest K rate against righties this season. This is a lineup that’s intimately familiar with Walker after he spent the last two seasons in New York, and he’ll have a hard time getting anything past them in this outing.