For today's MLB slate, bettors will have 12 games to choose from, with plenty of betting action to sift through.
If you’re looking to go a little outside the box with your bets, this column is the place for you. We have scanned through all of tonight’s matchups and picked out our three favorite player props of the evening. These are generally some of the most fun plays to bet on, and they’re a nice way to make a little money. With that said, let's get into our three favorite MLB betting player props for Monday, May 23.
MLB props for May 23
Picks made on 5/23/2022 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.
Villar value
The Cincinnati Reds are throwing right-handed starter, Vladimir Gutierrez on the mound against the Chicago Cubs tonight, and the 26-year-old is 0-5 with an 8.65 ERA this season. Gutierrez has also given up at least five hits in five of his six starts and has done so despite not pitching a full five innings in any of those outings. With that said, this is one of the most hittable pitchers in baseball right now, so it’s hard not to target him with tonight’s player props.
When scanning through the Chicago lineup, the player that sticks out in this game is Villar. The veteran switch-hitter is batting .260 against righties this season, which is a lot better than his .222 average against lefties. Villar has mostly preferred seeing southpaws in the past, but this has been a better matchup for him this year, so perhaps he’ll carry some real confidence into this game.
Villar had also been on a four-game hitting streak before going 0-for-4 last game, and he had at least two hits in three of those four contests. He’s seeing the ball well right now and should be able to poke at least one pitch into open space tonight.
Pick: Jonathan Villar Over 0.5 total bases (-165)
Redemption for Rizzo
We took a flier on Rizzo to hit a homer in last night’s Sunday Night Baseball props piece, and the lefty slugger wasn’t able to send one to the bleachers. Tonight, we like Rizzo to help us get that money back — or just win new money for those that weren’t following along. The Baltimore Orioles are sending Jordan Lyles to the mound, and this has been a good matchup for Rizzo in the past.
In his career against the Baltimore starter, Rizzo is batting .280 with a double, two homers, and 11 RBI. Earlier this year, the 32-year-old had a three-homer performance in a game in which Lyles was the starter, and two of those blasts came off of the righty. Rizzo also got a hit off of Lyles in the first inning of their last meeting, which was back on May 18.
Overall, it’s just hard to imagine Rizzo not getting a hit in this game, which is why it’s worth taking this at such unfavorable odds. This is clearly somebody that Rizzo has supreme confidence against, and we’ll attack this matchup until Lyles proves that he can figure out the former World Series champion.
Pick: Anthony Rizzo Over 0.5 hits (-185)
Tucker time
Davidson has made only two starts for the Atlanta Braves this season, and he actually had to wait over a month between those outings. However, the lefty did look great in the more recent of those two outings, as he pitched five innings of shutout ball and struck out three batters in a win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Now, the 26-year-old will look to turn in a good performance against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Fortunately for Davidson, the Phillies tend to strike out rather often against left-handed pitching this season. Coming into this game, Philadelphia has the fifth-highest strikeout rate in baseball when facing southpaws. The Phillies’ number is all the way up at 25.7%, which is significantly higher than their 23.3% strikeout rate against right-handed pitching.
Davidson also needs only four strikeouts in order to help bettors cash this prop, and that just isn’t a high number at all. Davidson actually had four strikeouts in six innings in a road start against this Philadelphia team in 2021, and Philly still has a lineup full of players that tend to swing for the fences. That’s great when the Phillies sluggers are connecting, but they also strike out a lot in the process.
Pick: Tucker Davidson Over 3.5 strikeouts (-148)
Did you know that if you played today’s MLB props as a parlay, you could win $31.46 on a $10 bet?
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