Kansas City @ Tampa Bay Picks & Props

Tropicana Field profiles as the #27 field in the game for right-handed batting average, per THE BAT projection system. The Tropicana Field roof is expected to be closed today, making weather conditions in this game -8° colder than the average outdoor game on the slate today — favorable for pitching. Yonny Chirinos will hold the platoon advantage over Salvador Perez in today's game. The Tampa Bay Rays outfield defense grades out as the 3rd-strongest among all the teams on the slate today. Salvador Perez will be at a disadvantage playing on the visting team in today's matchup.

Nick Pratto is projected to bat 1st on the lineup card in this matchup. Tropicana Field has the 5th-shallowest RF dimensions in MLB. Nick Pratto will hold the platoon advantage against Yonny Chirinos in today's game. Extreme groundball batters like Nick Pratto usually hit better against extreme flyball pitchers like Yonny Chirinos. Nick Pratto has seen a substantial increase in his exit velocity recently; just compare his 95.8-mph average over the last 7 days to his seasonal 88.2-mph figure.

THE BAT X projects Jose Siri in the 87th percentile when it comes to his BABIP talent. Jose Siri pulls many of his flyballs (32.9% — 76th percentile) and will have a big advantage hitting them towards MLB's 6th-shallowest LF fences in today's game. Jose Siri will have the benefit of the home field advantage today, which ought to bolster all of his stats. Jose Siri's ability to hit the ball at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has gotten better from last season to this one, going from 15.8% to 23.2%. Jose Siri has posted a .365 wOBA (the best measure of overall offense) this year, placing in the 89th percentile.

Isaac Paredes is penciled in 4th in the batting order in this game. Isaac Paredes pulls a high percentage of his flyballs (41.6% — 100th percentile) and sets up very well considering he'll be hitting them towards the league's 6th-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup. Isaac Paredes will benefit from the home field advantage in today's matchup, which should improve all of his stats. Isaac Paredes's launch angle this season (20.5°) is considerably better than his 15.5° mark last year. Isaac Paredes's launch angle lately (16° in the past week's worth of games) is significantly worse than his 20.3° seasonal angle.

THE BAT X projects Edward Olivares in the 81st percentile when assessing his batting average ability. Edward Olivares pulls many of his flyballs (35.7% — 91st percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards the game's 6th-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup. Edward Olivares has had bad variance on his side thus far when it comes to his wOBA this year; his .312 rate is a good deal lower than his .344 Expected wOBA (based on THE BAT X's interpretation of Statcast data).

THE BAT X projects Luke Raley in the 83rd percentile when assessing his overall offensive talent. Luke Raley has primarily hit in the back-half of the batting order this season (51% of the time), but he is penciled in 3rd in the batting order in this game. Luke Raley will receive the benefit of the platoon advantage against Jordan Lyles today. The Kansas City Royals have just 1 same-handed RP in their bullpen, so Luke Raley stands a good chance of never losing the platoon advantage against the 'pen all game. Luke Raley will hold the home field advantage in today's game, which should improve all of his stats.

Tropicana Field projects as the #27 stadium in the majors for LHB batting average, via THE BAT projection system. The Tropicana Field roof is expected to be closed today, making weather conditions in this game -8° colder than the average outdoor game on the slate today — favorable for pitching. The switch-hitting Wander Franco will be at a disadvantage batting from his weak side (0) today against Jordan Lyles Wander Franco has negatively regressed with his Barrel% in recent games; his 6.1% seasonal rate has dropped to 0% in the past week. Wander Franco's exit velocity on flyballs has decreased of late; his 91-mph seasonal EV has fallen off to 79.3-mph over the last week.

Tropicana Field has the 5th-shallowest RF dimensions in MLB. Taylor Walls will benefit from the home field advantage in today's matchup, which figures to boost all of his stats. Taylor Walls's launch angle this year (21.2°) is significantly better than his 16.4° angle last year. Taylor Walls's launch angle lately (38.5° over the last week) is quite a bit higher than his 21.2° seasonal mark.

Vidal Brujan pulls many of his flyballs (33.6% — 81st percentile) and will have a big advantage hitting them towards baseball's 5th-shallowest RF fences today. Vidal Brujan will benefit from the home field advantage today, which ought to boost all of his stats. Vidal Brujan has had some very poor luck with his batting average since the start of last season; his .170 BA is a fair amount lower than his .191 Expected Batting Average (based on THE BAT X's interpretation of Statcast data).

THE BAT X projects Randy Arozarena in the 97th percentile when estimating his overall offensive ability. Randy Arozarena is projected to bat 4th on the lineup card today. Randy Arozarena will possess the home field advantage in today's game, which figures to bolster all of his stats. Randy Arozarena has made sizeable gains with his Barrel%, upping his 7.9% rate last season to 16.3% this year. Randy Arozarena has seen a substantial gain in his exit velocity this year; just compare his 92.9-mph average to last season's 89.8-mph mark.

Francisco Mejia pulls a high percentage of his flyballs (36.5% — 95th percentile) and will have a big advantage hitting them towards baseball's 5th-shallowest RF fences today. Francisco Mejia will have the benefit of the home field advantage today, which figures to improve all of his stats. Francisco Mejia grades out in the 89th percentile when it comes to hitting balls between -4° and 26°, the launch angle range that tends to best-produce base hits (46.8% rate since the start of last season).

THE BAT X projects MJ Melendez in the 77th percentile when assessing his overall offensive talent. MJ Melendez is projected to hit 4th in the batting order in this matchup. MJ Melendez will hold the platoon advantage over Yonny Chirinos in today's game. MJ Melendez pulls many of his flyballs (32.9% — 76th percentile) and is a great match for the park considering he'll be hitting them towards the league's 5th-shallowest RF fences in today's game. MJ Melendez has seen a sizeable gain in his exit velocity this season; just compare his 93.2-mph average to last season's 90.7-mph figure.

THE BAT X projects Drew Waters as the 11th-best hitter in the league when assessing his BABIP ability. Tropicana Field has the 5th-shallowest RF dimensions in MLB. Drew Waters has struggled with his Barrel% recently; his 16.7% seasonal rate has dropped to 10% in the last week's worth of games. Drew Waters has seen a significant improvement in his exit velocity on flyballs lately; just compare his 99.1-mph average in the past week's worth of games to his seasonal mark of 95.3-mph. Drew Waters's launch angle lately (22.3° in the last week) is significantly better than his 14.4° seasonal mark.

Nicky Lopez will hold the platoon advantage over Yonny Chirinos in today's matchup. Nicky Lopez has a 99th percentile opposite-field rate on his flyballs (42.9%) and will have a big advantage hitting them towards MLB's 6th-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup. Nicky Lopez has experienced some negative variance in regards to his batting average since the start of last season; his .223 figure is a fair amount lower than his .257 Expected Batting Average (based on THE BAT X's interpretation of Statcast data).

THE BAT X projects Maikel Garcia in the 88th percentile when estimating his BABIP skill. Maikel Garcia is penciled in 5th in the lineup in this matchup. Maikel Garcia has compiled a .361 BABIP since the start of last season, grading out in the 93rd percentile.

Christian Bethancourt has gone over 0.5 in 6 of his last 10 games.

Bobby Witt Jr. has gone over 1.5 in 4 of his last 10 games.

Dairon Blanco has gone over 0.5 in 3 of his last 10 games.

Manuel Margot has gone over 0.5 in 8 of his last 10 games.

Josh Lowe has gone over 0.5 in 9 of his last 10 games.

Yandy Diaz has gone over 1.5 in 4 of his last 10 games.