It’s MLB Opening Day 2.0 with a more satisfying 13 games for baseball bettors to dive into, and that means a cornucopia of options in the player prop market.
Today, we look at Jesse Winker, who is looking to carry his All-Star level performance over into his Seattle Mariners debut, and are we getting a bit of value with Mike Trout now that he is no longer the No. 1 draw for the Los Angeles Angels?
Here are our best free MLB player prop picks for Friday, April 8.
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MLB props for April 8
Picks made on 4/8/2022 at 12:20 p.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
Hoodwinked!
It feels like the Seattle Mariners made off like bandits in their trade with the Cincinnati Reds, which landed them outfielder Jesse Winker and third baseman Eugenio Suárez. Now, they’ll make their Mariners debut when they open their season in Minnesota against the Twins.
And while Winker is coming off his first All-Star season, it still feels like people are sleeping on the lefty with a smooth swing.
Winker ended 2021 with a .305 batting average and .994 OPS while whacking 24 home runs and driving in 71 runs. That said, most of that damage came against right-handed pitching. And, I mean, he absolutely crushed righties.
Winker posted a .346 batting average and a 1.070 OPS while swatting 21 of those 24 dingers when facing right-handed pitching. And he’ll be facing a righty on Opening Day.
In an interesting move, the Twins hand the ball to rookie Joe Ryan. The right-hander made five September starts for the Twins last season, pitching to a 4.05 ERA with a 0.79 WHIP. That said, those starts came against the Cubs, Guardians, and Tigers.
Ryan struck out a fair amount of batters, but doesn’t have an overpowering fastball, which he threw more than 65% of the time in those games.
Look for Winker to have a solid debut with the Ms and go Over his total bases prop.
Pick: Jesse Winker Over 1.5 total bases (+115 at DraftKings)
The Dark Webb
San Francisco Giants starter Logan Webb, despite being a bit under the radar, had one of the best seasons in the MLB a year ago. He’ll look to carry that momentum over into 2022 when he opens the season for the Giants as they welcome the Miami Marlins to town on Friday.
It was a career year for the Giants right-hander, pitching to a 3.03 ERA, a 2.72 FIP, a 1.11 WHIP, limiting opponents to a .232 batting average, and owning a 4.4 strikeout-to-walk ratio. That’s pretty good. He even had a 14-game stretch last season where he allowed two earned or fewer in every outing.
And Webb gets a juicy matchup to start the 2022 campaign, as the Bottom Feeders lived up to their name when facing right-handed pitching last season. The Marlins ranked next-to-last in the MLB when it came to OPS, while striking out the sixth-most when facing righties in 2021.
Now, the Fish did go out to try and address some of those offensive struggles this offseason, signing World Series MVP Jorge Soler, and Avisail Garcia, but that still might not be enough to spark the offense in this spot against Webb.
In one start against the Marlins last season, Webb threw seven shutout innings, giving up just three hits while striking out eight.
So, what’s the best value with Webb today? Well, his strikeout prop at 5.5 is juiced way to the Over, so we’re going with him to go Under his hit total at decent plus money.
Pick: Logan Webb Under 4.5 hits (+120 at DraftKings)
Fishy line
Reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani gets most of the headlines for the Los Angeles Angels these days, so does that mean three-time MVP Mike Trout is getting a little overlooked? Either way, the Halos offense was shut down by Framber Valdez in their season opener against the Houston Astros last night, so they’ll try for a do-over tonight in Game 2 when they face Jake Odorizzi.
Trout now takes a backseat to Ohtani in L.A. but remember, this is a guy who has never finished lower than fifth in MVP voting in every full Big League season of his career. He was also having a regular Mike Trout season before he got hurt last year, hitting .333 with a 1.090 OPS. And he was one of the few Angels to make good contact against Valdez last night, going 1-3 with a single and a walk.
Tonight, he’ll look for more against Odorizzi, who the Astros are hoping will have a bounce-back season. The right-hander pitched to a 4.21 ERA and a 4.48 FIP in 24 starts last season while allowing opponents to hit .243 off him.
Trout has also read the ball well out of Odorizzi’s hand in his career, going 5-13 (.385) with three walks against him. I like the slightly-overlooked angle we get with Trout, at least early on this season and we’re getting a nice price for him to go Over his total bases in this one.
Pick: Mike Trout Over 1.5 total bases (-115 at BetMGM)
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