Thanks to a couple of doubleheaders the MLB season comes out of the Easter weekend with a hopping mad 17 games on the schedule. That means there will be a basket full of betting options in the player prop market.
Today, we highlight the red-hot Jose Ramirez as the Guardians take on the White Sox, a San Diego starter with a great chance to notch a win, and is Robbie Ray missing his old pitching coach after just a couple of games in Seattle?
Check out our favorite MLB player prop picks for Tuesday, April 19.
Editor's note: These picks were submitted prior to the announcement that today's Guardians-White Sox game was postponed due to inclement weather.
MLB props for April 19
Picks made on 4/19/2022 at 10:30 a.m. ET.
The odds widgets below represent the best odds currently available for each betting market at regulated sportsbooks.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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Today’s best MLB prop bets
No way Jose
Jose Ramirez sure seems comfortable now that he has his new contract with the Cleveland Guardians in place because the third baseman has been tearing the cover off the ball to start the season. He’ll look to continue his stupendous play when they host their American League Central rivals Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.
Getting Ramirez out has been a ridiculously difficult task early on this season. He is hitting .457 with a 1.386 OPS over his first nine games with three home runs, four doubles, and a triple. Now, he gets a familiar matchup against White Sox’s starter Dallas Keuchel.
Ramirez is 7-for-22 (.318) in his career when facing Keuchel which includes whacking four doubles off the lefty.
Keuchel is coming off a disappointing year with the Pale Hose where he logged a 5.26 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, and his 5.3 strikeouts per nine innings were the lowest since his rookie season in 2012. His first start of 2022 was more of the same, surrendering three runs on six hits in just five innings.
Mix in a White Sox bullpen that has struggled early on and Ramirez looks like a great value to go Over his total bases in this one.
Pick: Jose Ramirez Over 1.5 total bases (+130)
All-business Joe
If the San Diego Padres want to keep up with the Los Angeles Dodgers this season they’ll have to do it with some great contributions from their starting pitching. This is plausible when you consider who is in their rotation, as long as they stay healthy that is.
With Blake Snell and Mike Clevinger on the 10-day injured list, guys like Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove will have to step up. And tonight, it’s Musgrove’s turn when they continue their series with the slumping Cincinnati Reds.
Musgrove has gotten his 2022 campaign off to a fantastic start, allowing just two earned runs on nine hits while striking out 14 in 12 2-3 innings of work so far. Now, he gets a great matchup against the Reds.
Cincinnati made it clear this offseason that it was going to take a pass on being competitive this season and we are seeing the early results of that. The Reds are just 2-9 and the only team that has scored fewer runs than them in the National League is the Arizona Diamondbacks.
But it has been right-handers that have really flummoxed Reds’ hitters. Cincy ranks 28th in the MLB when it comes to facing righties, hitting just .176 and ranking dead last with an OPS of .531.
Meanwhile, the Reds counter with lefty Reiver Sanmartin, who had a solid relief appearance against the Dodgers after getting thumped by the Braves. Sanmartin is a soft-tossing lefty who doesn’t strike out a ton of batters and the Padres have done a decent job against southpaws this season ranking seventh in OPS against them.
All things considered, bet on Musgrove to pitch well enough to earn a win tonight.
Pick: Joe Musgrove to record a win (-185)
No Ray of sunshine
You can make the case — at least early on — that Robbie Ray maybe, just maybe, misses his old pitching coach in Pete Walker. The new Seattle Mariners starter has posted some ugly numbers in his first two starts of the season — will that continue in tonight’s matchup against the Texas Rangers?
The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner has had trouble reining in his fastball early on this season. His velocity on it is down nearly three miles per hour and opponents have an expected batting average of .300 against Ray so far.
Maybe more troubling is that his walk issues have started to pop up again. After having a walk percentage that peaked at 17.9% in 2020 Ray dropped that all the way to 6.7% last season.
All of this means Ray’s strikeouts have been way down, recording just nine punchouts in 13 1-3 innings pitched. That’s 6.1 per nine innings, down from 11.5 a season ago. Now, these numbers will probably return closer to the mean sooner rather than later, but maybe not in this matchup against the Rangers.
Texas — a lineup full of big boppers — has been surprisingly patient at the dish this season, striking out just 7.44 times per game. That’s the sixth-best mark in the majors. They are also crushing lefties, ranking second with a .953 OPS, and have struck out just 17 times in 91 at-bats when facing lefty pitching.
There are some books with good value on Under 7.5 for Ray’s strikeouts tonight. Jump on it quickly.
Pick: Robbie Ray Under 7.5 strikeouts (-120)
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