Let’s kick off the week by trying to pick some winners in the MLB player prop market and with nine games on the diamond, there is no shortage of options.
Today, we’ve found a pair of total bases props with some value for a couple of red-hot hitters in Jose Abreu and Jake Cronenworth. Meanwhile, Noah Syndergaard takes the ball for the Angels, and you know what that means – stolen bases props!
Check out our MLB player prop picks for Monday, June 20, as we bank on some of baseball’s best to do their thing.
MLB props for June 20
Picks made on 6/20/2022 at 12:00 p.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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Today’s best MLB prop bets
The odds widgets below represent the best odds currently available for each betting market at regulated sportsbooks.
Yes way, Jose
The Chicago White Sox are still struggling to find any consistency but are hoping to follow the lead of former MVP Jose Abreu. The White Sox’s first baseman is putting together an excellent month of June and he’ll look to keep it up when they open a series with the visiting Toronto Blue Jays.
Abreu is heating up just as summer is about to hit in the Big Leagues. The slugger is hitting .309 with a .975 OPS which includes whacking four home runs and four doubles over 17 games in June. And maybe, more importantly, Abreu is seeing the ball well. He has stuck out just 11 times over that stretch while drawing an equal number of walks.
Monday night, he’ll go up against a familiar foe in the Jays’ Jose Berrios. The right-hander spent much of his career in the AL Central with the Minnesota Twins and has faced off against Abreu many times.
While they’ve each won their fair share of battles over the years, Abreu is a solid 16-53 against Berrios. That’s good for a .302 average and a .857 OPS.
Even though Berrios is pitching much better after a tough start to the season, the right-hander is still giving up a lot of hard-hit balls and is surrendering a .558 expected slugging percentage to opposing teams.
It’s worth backing Abreu at this price to keep his hot month going.
Pick: Jose Abreu Over 1.5 total bases (+120)
The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Welcome to your weekly PSA about Noah Syndergaard giving up stolen bases. No one has allowed more this season than the Los Angeles Angels right-hander, and while sometimes it can be hard to figure out which opponent to back to swipe a bag, today, it's smacking us in the face.
Thor has surrendered 15 stolen bases this season, which is four more than the next closest pitcher and has given up at least one in eight of his 10 starts.
This has been a problem for Syndergaard dating back to his time with the Mets, due to a slow and deliberate delivery to the plate.
Now, he has to deal with the Kansas City Royals – a team with several players capable of swiping a bag when needed including Witt Merrifield and Nicky Lopez but today we’re focusing on rookie Bobby Witt Jr. The Royals' shortstop has stolen 10 bases this season, getting caught twice.
What also makes Witt the favorite bet here is that he has the best on-base percentage of the Royals’ stolen base candidates at .285 and over his last 11 games he’s bumped that up to .391. Oh, and Witt can flat out fly. He ranks in the 100th percentile in sprint speed.
If Witt gets on base tonight look for him to use that speed to his advantage against Syndergaard and be aggressive on the base paths.
Pick: Bobby Witt Jr. Over 0.5 stolen bases (+370)
Jake stays hot
There aren’t many players locked in the way Jake Cronenworth is for the San Diego Padres at the moment. He’ll look to keep tearing the cover off the ball when he and the Padres host the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Padres’ outfielder is making a strong push for a second consecutive All-Star Game appearance thanks to a month of June where he’s hitting .378 with a 1.106 OPS, but Cronenworth has taken it to the next level.
He’s currently in the midst of a seven-game hit streak where he is a ridiculous 16-29. That’s a .552 batting average, and thanks to six doubles, he’s got an OPS of 1.387 and has gone Over 1.5 total bases in all seven games during this streak.
Tonight, he’ll dig in against Diamondbacks starter and former Padre, Zach Davies who, to his credit, has pitched well this season. That said, his current hot streak has come against the Reds and Pirates. And take away those last three starts and Davies averages just under five innings per start. This means lots of work for a bullpen that ranks 26th in WHIP and dead last in opponent batting average.
Getting value like this on Cronenworth’s total bases feels a little like stealing.
Pick: Jake Cronenworth Over 1.5 total bases (+130)
Did you know that if you played today’s MLB props as a parlay, you could win $227.82 on a $10 bet?
Use our MLB parlay calculator to create your own parlays and see their potential payouts.
