Cincinnati @ Houston Picks & Props

Martin Maldonado pulls a lot of his flyballs (33% — 77th percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards baseball's 2nd-shallowest LF fences today. Martin Maldonado will possess the home field advantage today, which ought to bolster all of his stats. Martin Maldonado has seen a notable improvement in his exit velocity on flyballs recently; just compare his 98.6-mph average in the past week's worth of games to his seasonal figure of 88-mph. Martin Maldonado's launch angle recently (12.7° over the last week) is quite a bit worse than his 15.8° seasonal angle.

Minute Maid Park has the 2nd-shallowest left field dimensions in MLB.

THE BAT X projects Matt McLain in the 93rd percentile when assessing his BABIP talent. Matt McLain is projected to hit 2nd in the batting order today. Minute Maid Park has the 2nd-shallowest left field dimensions in MLB. Matt McLain's ability to hit the ball at a HR-optimizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has gotten better lately, increasing from 21.2% on the season to 42.9% over the last 7 days. Matt McLain has been hot of late, posting a a 13.9% Barrel% (a reliable stat to measure power) in the past two weeks' worth of games.

Kyle Tucker projects as the 17th-best hitter in Major League Baseball, via THE BAT X. Kyle Tucker is projected to hit 4th in the batting order in this game. Kyle Tucker will receive the benefit of the platoon advantage against Luke Weaver in today's matchup. The Cincinnati Reds have just 1 same-handed RP in their bullpen, so Kyle Tucker stands a good chance of never facing a bullpen mismatch all game. Kyle Tucker will benefit from the home field advantage in today's matchup, which ought to boost all of his stats.

THE BAT X projects Tyler Stephenson in the 96th percentile as it relates to his BABIP skill. A consistent launch angle is an indicator of good hitting, and Tyler Stephenson has been very consistent with his recently, posting a 36.9° launch angle standard deviation in the last 7 days.

THE BAT X projects Kevin Newman in the 84th percentile as it relates to his batting average skill. Kevin Newman's ability to hit the ball at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has gotten better of late, rising from 13.6% on the season to 25% over the past week.

Spencer Steer is penciled in 5th in the batting order in this matchup. Spencer Steer pulls a lot of his flyballs (33% — 77th percentile) and sets up very well considering he'll be hitting them towards MLB's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup. Spencer Steer's ability to hit the ball at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has increased recently, rising from 18.8% on the season to 37.5% in the past 7 days.

Chas McCormick will benefit from the home field advantage in today's game, which should improve all of his stats. Chas McCormick has made notable improvements with his Barrel% of late, bettering his 8.5% seasonal rate to 20% in the past week. Chas McCormick's ability to hit the ball at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has improved recently, rising from 17.1% on the season to 40% over the past 7 days.

THE BAT X projects Elly De La Cruz as the 10th-best batter in the league as it relates to his BABIP skill. Elly De La Cruz is projected to hit 4th in the lineup in this game. Elly De La Cruz has hit one of the hardest balls in the majors over the last two weeks — 114.8-mph — which is a good proxy for recent form and raw power.

THE BAT X projects Jonathan India in the 85th percentile when assessing his overall offensive ability. Jonathan India is projected to hit 3rd in the lineup in this matchup. Jonathan India pulls a lot of his flyballs (36.4% — 94th percentile) and sets up very well considering he'll be hitting them towards baseball's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's game. Jonathan India has made sizeable gains with his Barrel% recently, improving his 7.1% seasonal rate to 20% in the last 7 days. Jonathan India's ability to hit the ball at a HR-optimizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has gotten better recently, rising from 15% on the season to 33.3% in the last 7 days.

THE BAT X projects Jeremy Pena in the 93rd percentile when estimating his BABIP ability. Minute Maid Park has the 2nd-shallowest left field dimensions in MLB. Jeremy Pena will possess the home field advantage in today's game, which ought to boost all of his stats. Jeremy Pena has seen a significant increase in his exit velocity of late; just compare his 95.6-mph average in the last week's worth of games to his seasonal 87.6-mph EV. Jeremy Pena has posted a .272 Expected Batting Average this year, ranking in the 76th percentile (according to THE BAT X's interpretation of Statcast data).

THE BAT X projects Jose Abreu in the 86th percentile when assessing his batting average talent. Jose Abreu is penciled in 5th on the lineup card in this game. Jose Abreu will benefit from the home field advantage in today's game, which should bolster all of his stats. Jose Abreu's ability to hit the ball at a base hit-maximizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) has improved recently, rising from 40.9% on the season to 57.1% over the past 7 days. Jose Abreu has been unlucky this year, putting up a .269 wOBA despite THE BAT X estimating his true talent level to be .342 — a .073 deviation.

Corey Julks has primarily hit in the back-half of the batting order this season (93% of the time), but he is projected to bat 1st in the batting order in this matchup. Corey Julks pulls many of his flyballs (36.7% — 94th percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards the league's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup. Corey Julks will hold the home field advantage today, which ought to improve all of his stats. Corey Julks's launch angle recently (11° in the past week's worth of games) is quite a bit lower than his 17.6° seasonal figure.

THE BAT X projects Yainer Diaz in the 86th percentile when it comes to his batting average skill. Yainer Diaz will possess the home field advantage in today's game, which figures to bolster all of his stats. Yainer Diaz has made sizeable gains with his Barrel% lately, bettering his 13.9% seasonal rate to 20% in the past week's worth of games. Yainer Diaz has seen a significant gain in his exit velocity on flyballs lately; just compare his 100.3-mph average over the past two weeks to his seasonal EV of 94.2-mph. Yainer Diaz's launch angle lately (35.7° in the last week's worth of games) is considerably higher than his 13.8° seasonal angle.

THE BAT X projects Alex Bregman in the 93rd percentile as it relates to his overall offensive talent. Alex Bregman is projected to bat 3rd in the lineup in this game. Alex Bregman pulls many of his flyballs (38.1% — 97th percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards baseball'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. Alex Bregman's launch angle in recent games (25.4° in the last two weeks) is quite a bit higher than his 20.9° seasonal mark.

Minute Maid Park has the 2nd-shallowest left field dimensions in MLB. Grae Kessinger will possess the home field advantage in today's game, which ought to improve all of his stats.

THE BAT X projects Stuart Fairchild in the 76th percentile as it relates to his BABIP ability. Minute Maid Park has the 2nd-shallowest left field dimensions in MLB. Stuart Fairchild has made big improvements with his Barrel% recently, bettering his 8.9% seasonal rate to 28.6% over the last week. Stuart Fairchild has seen a sizeable increase in his exit velocity recently; just compare his 92.1-mph average over the last 7 days to his seasonal 87.4-mph EV. Stuart Fairchild's ability to hit the ball at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has improved of late, rising from 17.6% on the season to 35.7% over the past week.

Minute Maid Park has the smallest outfield in the majors — generally good for long-balls. Will Benson will have the handedness advantage against Ronel Blanco in today's game. The Houston Astros don't have any same-handed RPs in their bullpen, so Will Benson is guaranteed to hold the platoon advantage against every reliever all game. Will Benson's ability to hit the ball at a BABIP-optimizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) has improved in recent games, going from 43.5% on the season to 61.5% over the past week.

Mauricio Dubon has gone over 1.5 in 3 of his last 10 games.

Jake Fraley has gone over 0.5 in 3 of his last 10 games.

TJ Friedl has gone over 0.5 in 10 of his last 10 games.