Minnesota @ Houston Picks & Props

This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Chas McCormick will hold the home field advantage in today's matchup, which should boost all of his stats.

Assessing his overall offensive capskill, Byron Buxton scores in the 95th percentile in THE BAT X projects. Byron Buxton is penciled in 4th on the lineup card in this game. This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Byron Buxton pulls a high percentage of his flyballs (40.3% — 99th percentile) and will have a big advantage hitting them towards MLB's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's game. Comparing his seasonal EV of 92.7-mph to his 97.5-mph EV in the last two weeks, it is clear that Byron Buxton has made significant progress in his exit velocity on flyballs.

This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Martin Maldonado pulls many of his flyballs (33.5% — 78th percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards baseball's 2nd-shallowest LF fences today. The Minnesota Twins infield defense projects as the 2nd-worst of all teams today. Martin Maldonado will benefit from the home field advantage in today's matchup, which figures to bolster all of his stats. Martin Maldonado's ability to hit the ball at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) has improved lately, rising from 16.5% on the season to 37.5% in the past 7 days.

When it comes to his overall offensive ability, Carlos Correa ranks in the 94th percentile according to THE BAT X projects. Carlos Correa is projected to bat 3rd in the lineup in this game. This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. A significant increase in Carlos Correa's exit velocity on flyballs has been observed lately, evidenced by his EV of 107.3-mph over the past two weeks in comparison to his seasonal EV of 94.7-mph. THE BAT X estimates Carlos Correa's true offensive talent to be a .363, implying that he has suffered from bad luck this year given the .061 difference between that figure and his actual .302 wOBA.

According to THE BAT X, it is projected that Yordan Alvarez will rank as the 2nd-best batter in the league. Yordan Alvarez is projected to hit 3rd in the batting order today. Generally, having the smallest outfield among all parks makes Minute Maid Park a good place for dingers. This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Yordan Alvarez will receive the benefit of the platoon advantage against Joe Ryan in today's game.

As it relates to his overall offensive talent, Jose Altuve ranks in the 93rd percentile according to THE BAT X projects. Jose Altuve is projected to bat 1st on the lineup card today. This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Jose Altuve pulls many of his flyballs (40.7% — 99th percentile) and is a great match for the park considering he'll be hitting them towards the game's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's game. Jose Altuve will possess the home field advantage in today's game, which should bolster all of his stats.

When it comes to his BABIP capskill, Jeremy Pena is projected in the 91st percentile by THE BAT X. In this upcoming game, Jeremy Pena is predicted to bat 2nd on the batting order, despite the fact that he has mainly batted in the latter half of the batting order (63%) throughout the year. Minute Maid Park has the 2nd-shallowest LF fences in the majors. This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Jeremy Pena will possess the home field advantage in today's game, which figures to boost all of his stats.

This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Royce Lewis pulls a lot of his flyballs (33.3% — 77th percentile) and sets up very well considering he'll be hitting them towards the game's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup. With a Sprint Speed of 28.43 ft/sec since the start of last season, Royce Lewis falls in the 81st percentile and is remarkably swift.

This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Improvement can be seen in Christian Vazquez's capacity to hit the ball within the base hit-optimizing launch angle range of -4° to 26°, increasing from 47% to 52.4% between last year and this year. Christian Vazquez has been unlucky in regards to his wOBA this year; his .252 mark is deflated compared to his .288 Expected wOBA (based on THE BAT X's interpretation of Statcast data). Based on Statcast metrics, Christian Vazquez ranks in the 79th percentile according to THE BAT X's version of Expected Batting Average since the start of last season at .270.

THE BAT X projects Kyle Tucker in the 97th percentile when estimating his overall offensive ability. Kyle Tucker is projected to bat 5th in the lineup in this game. This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Kyle Tucker will hold the platoon advantage against Joe Ryan today. The Minnesota Twins have just 1 same-handed RP in their bullpen, so Kyle Tucker stands a good chance of never facing a bullpen mismatch all game.

THE BAT X projects Alex Kirilloff in the 92nd percentile as it relates to his BABIP talent. Alex Kirilloff is penciled in 5th in the lineup in this game. This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Alex Kirilloff will receive the benefit of the platoon advantage against Brandon Bielak today. The Houston Astros have just 1 same-handed RP in their bullpen, so Alex Kirilloff can likely count on holding the advantage against every reliever all game.

This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Corey Julks pulls a lot of his flyballs (38.1% — 97th percentile) and is a great match for the park considering he'll be hitting them towards the game's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's game. Corey Julks will hold the home field advantage today, which ought to improve all of his stats. Checking in at the 80th percentile, Corey Julks has put up a .283 batting average this year.

THE BAT X projects Alex Bregman in the 93rd percentile when it comes to his overall offensive talent. Alex Bregman is projected to bat 4th in the batting order in this game. This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Alex Bregman pulls many of his flyballs (38.6% — 98th percentile) and sets up very well considering he'll be hitting them towards the game's 2nd-shallowest LF fences today. Alex Bregman will hold the home field advantage in today's game, which should improve all of his stats.

This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Max Kepler will have the handedness advantage over Brandon Bielak in today's game. The Houston Astros have just 1 same-handed RP in their bullpen, so Max Kepler can likely count on never facing a bullpen mismatch all game. Max Kepler has made sizeable gains with his Barrel%, bettering his 7.1% rate last season to 13.9% this year. Max Kepler has seen a big gain in his exit velocity this year; just compare his 91.5-mph average to last season's 89.1-mph figure.

In terms of his batting average skill, Jose Abreu ranks in the 86th percentile according to THE BAT X projects. This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Jose Abreu will possess the home field advantage in today's matchup, which ought to boost all of his stats. Despite posting a .245 wOBA this year, THE BAT X believes Jose Abreu has suffered from bad luck given the .095 discrepancy between that figure and his estimated true talent wOBA of .340.

Generally, having the smallest outfield among all parks makes Minute Maid Park a good place for dingers. This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Cesar Salazar will hold the platoon advantage over Joe Ryan today. The Minnesota Twins have just 1 same-handed RP in their bullpen, so Cesar Salazar can likely count on never facing a bullpen mismatch all game. Cesar Salazar will benefit from the home field advantage today, which should bolster all of his stats.

As it relates to his BABIP ability, Edouard Julien is projected as the 16th-best hitter in the game by THE BAT X. Edouard Julien is projected to hit 2nd in the lineup today. Generally, having the smallest outfield among all parks makes Minute Maid Park a good place for dingers. This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Edouard Julien will have the benefit of the platoon advantage against Brandon Bielak in today's game.

Joey Gallo has primarily hit in the back-half of the lineup this year (62% of the time), but he is projected to bat 1st on the lineup card in this game. This matchup is predicted to have the 11th-best weather for pitching among all the games scheduled today. Joey Gallo will receive the benefit of the platoon advantage against Brandon Bielak in today's matchup. The Houston Astros have just 1 same-handed RP in their bullpen, so Joey Gallo stands a good chance of holding the advantage against every reliever all game. Comparing his average of 101.8 mph this season to last year's average of 97.9 mph, Joey Gallo has exhibited a noteworthy increase in his exit velocity on flyballs.

Michael A. Taylor has gone over 0.5 in 3 of his last 10 games.