MLB

MLB Prop Bets to Target on Thursday 4/22/21

Player props can be useful in a variety of ways -- from taking advantage of them straight up (to the tune of cold hard cash) to measuring a player's potential to produce in daily fantasy baseball on FanDuel. Here, we're going to focus on the former.

Utilizing our projections as a guide and looking at the odds provided at MLB odds, here are some spots where you can find value today in the prop-betting market.

Please note that betting lines and our game projections may change throughout the day after this article is published.

Akil Baddoo to Hit a Home Run (+550)

The Detroit Tigers' outfielder has started the season on fire with four home runs and 12 RBI. He gets a matchup against the Pittsburgh Pirates and will be facing Mitch Keller.

Akil Baddoo has a hard-hit rate of 40.0% to go along with an identical fly-ball rate of 40.0%. Hard-hit fly balls are a good thing, especially if you're betting on him to go deep.

As for Keller, he has allowed lefties to rack up a .409 wOBA and 40.0% fly-ball rate in his brief career. This season, he's permitted two jacks in 11 1/3 frames.

The +550 odds for Baddoo to hit a homer are pretty enticing given the friendly matchup.

Jose Urena Over 4.5 Strikeouts (+128)

Let's try to squeeze a little bit more out of this cold weather as Jose Urena starts against the light-hitting Pittsburgh lineup.

Pittsburgh's strikeout rate Is up to 25.0% in the early going, and they have a .306 wOBA. They've been bad -- which was the expectation for 2021 -- and Urena can take advantage of the pristine matchup.

The first two starts were horrendous for Urena as he could not find the strike zone. In his last start against the Oakland Athletics, who have won 11 straight games, Urena was at his best, going seven strong innings while striking out eight batters. For the season, Urena holds a 25.4% strikeout rate and has fanned 17 in 14 2/3 innings.

As long as he doesn't suffer an early exit due to wildness, Urena has a good chance to rack up some punchouts. We have him getting 4.4 strikeouts, but the +128 price on the over is too good to pass up.