MLB

3 MLB Player Prop Bets to Target on Friday 5/5/23

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 MLB odds at FanDuel Sportsbook, here are some spots where you can find value today in the prop-betting market.

Here are some MLB player prop bets to make tonight.

Please note that betting lines and our game projections may change throughout the day after this article is published. Also, the weather may be an issue in some locations.

Ozzie Albies To Hit a Home Run (+540)

The Atlanta Braves have a 4.95-run implied total tonight and are in a spot to keep their offense hot.

It's never a surprise when the Braves pour in the runs, and when they are on fire, you want to jump on board. We could be seeing that from them tonight with a favorable matchup against Dean Kremer, who has struggled against both lefties and righties this season.

This year, Kremer is allowing a .453 wOBA, .627 SLG, 2.77 HR/9, 4.82 xFIP, 37.5% fly-ball rate, and 39.6% hard-contact rate to left-handed hitters. Those are some tough numbers to be sporting when facing down a lineup like the Braves, with all of the power Atlanta has.

We turn to Ozzie Albies, who is scorching right now and comes in with a .231 ISO, 81 wRC+, 35.4% fly-ball rate, and 21.7% HR/FB ratio versus right-handed pitchers for the season. The power is certainly there for Albies, and with him hitting in the heart of the Braves lineup, he will always have good chances at the plate.

I am always looking to add Albies To Record an RBI (+165).

Max Fried Under 5.5 Strikeouts (+118)

Max Fried is a really, really good pitcher. He's just not a big strikeout pitcher.

Fried can be dominant on the mound for the Braves, but it doesn't always come via punching out hitters at the plate. He's known for his 64.7% ground-ball rate and 63.5% medium-contact rate, which saps the power out of the opposition's bat. This allows him to limit the damage and get deep into the games.

Despite that, Fried has been over 5.5 strikeouts prop in only one of his four starts this season.

His 24.3% strikeout rate is really nothing to write home about, and given the matchup against the Baltimore Orioles, he probably won't be racking up strikeouts. This year, the Orioles have a 19.2% strikeout rate versus left-handed pitchers, which is fifth-lowest in the league. They are very disciplined at the plate for being such a young team.

While Fried is great, this doesn't set up to be a matchup where he will get many punchouts.

Zack Wheeler Under 6.5 Strikeouts (-122)

Another pitcher, another under on a strikeout prop.

This time, I'm looking at under 6.5 strikeouts for Philadelphia Phillies starter Zack Wheeler against the Boston Red Sox.

Wheeler is a legit stud on the mound with a 29.3% strikeout rate and 13.4% swinging-strike rate, but this may not be the matchup where he gets to put that on display.

The Red Sox have been a bit of a surprise for some this season, and their offense is not only putting up plenty of runs, they're also not wasting chances at the plate. Against right-handed pitchers this year, the Red Sox have an 18.4% strikeout rate, the lowest in the league. On top of that, they have a .202 ISO (4th) and 123 wRC+ (4th) in the split, so they present a good bit of danger.

Wheeler has been over this mark in each of his last two outings, but he was under in the prior three. Given this matchup, I think another under is on deck.