MLB Player Props for Thursday, April 18th
The 2024 MLB season is finally here. After another wild offseason and an exciting couple of weeks of Spring Training, we’re ready for some games that matter. This season, VSiN Managing Editor Adam Burke will have you covered when it comes to MLB sides and totals in his daily best bets column. You’ll also get some First Five Inning analysis from Jonathan Von Tobel. On top of that, our analytics guru Steve Makinen will feed you some interesting trends and systems on a daily basis. But I’ll be focusing specifically on MLB player props this season, dishing out at least three per day every Monday to Friday. With that in mind, let’s get into the plays for Thursday, April 18th.
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Los Angeles Angels at Tampa Bay Rays – 1:10 pm ET
I had Zack Littell to go Over 4.5 strikeouts against the Angels yesterday. The righty delivered with seven strikeouts in 5.2 innings of work. Well, I’m going to continue to pick on this Los Angeles team, which still has trouble making contact against right-handed pitching. So, I’m playing Ryan Pepiot to have Over 6.5 strikeouts today. I know that’s a relatively high mark, but Pepiot had 11 strikeouts in a start against the Colorado Rockies on April 7th.
Pepiot was once one of the top prospects in a loaded Los Angles Dodgers organization, and he has some electric swing-and-miss stuff. This is also his first time facing the Angels, so they should be caught off guard a bit here. That said, I’m expecting Pepiot to rack up strikeouts early, and I don’t see him slowing down very much. Let’s hope he gets today’s MLB player props started with a bang.
Pick: Pepiot Over 6.5 Strikeouts (+125)
Texas Rangers at Detroit Tigers – 1:10 pm ET
Wyatt Langford is batting .254 with a double, a triple and eight RBIs this season. The 22-year-old has had a bit of an up-and-down year thus far, but I’m expecting him to really turn it on soon. And I like his chances of finding some success at the plate against Kenta Maeda. This season, Maeda has a 6.00 ERA over three starts. And the righty’s fastball has just been a nightmare so far. So, this is a pretty good matchup for Langford, who was on a four-game hitting streak before going 0 for 3 against the Tigers on Wednesday. And this game has the highest total on the board today, so this is where you want to attack some MLB player props for hitters.
Pick: Langford Over 1.5 Hits + Runs + RBIs (-110 – 1.5 units)
Cleveland Guardians at Boston Red Sox – 1:35 pm ET
I took Triston Casas to go Over this MLB player prop yesterday and he just missed it. Casas hit a moonshot to right that was called foul, and Boston challenged to see if it went over the pole. But the call was upheld and I ended up losing that play. But I’m going right back to Casas, who is a dangerous hitter against right-handed pitching. And he’s going up against Carlos Carrasco, who is very hittable. In fact, Casas already has a hit and an RBI against the righty in his career. And that’s all it would take for this play to cash. But I ultimately do think we’ll see an extra base hit from Casas this afternoon. I just like these odds better, as they’re a little safer.
Pick: Casas Over 1.5 Hits + Runs + RBIs (-135 – 1.5 units)
Yesterday’s Plays
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