Houston @ Texas Picks & Props

Martin Maldonado will have the benefit of the platoon advantage against Andrew Heaney in today's matchup... and moreover, Heaney has a large platoon split. Martin Maldonado has been hot recently, raising his seasonal exit velocity of 88.1-mph to 90.7-mph over the past two weeks. Martin Maldonado's launch angle recently (28.3° over the past week) is significantly higher than his 17.5° seasonal figure.

Josh Smith will have the handedness advantage over J.P. France in today's game. The Houston Astros don't have any same-handed relievers in their bullpen, so Josh Smith is guaranteed to never lose the platoon advantage against the bullpen all game. Home field advantage typically bolsters hitter metrics in all categories, and Josh Smith will hold that advantage today. Josh Smith has made substantial strides with his Barrel%, upping his 2.5% rate last year to 9.7% this year. Josh Smith has seen a sizeable improvement in his exit velocity on flyballs this season; just compare his 93.6-mph average to last year's 90.5-mph figure.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Chas McCormick in the 83rd percentile when it comes to his BABIP skill. Chas McCormick will have the benefit of the platoon advantage against Andrew Heaney in today's matchup... and even more favorably, Heaney has a large platoon split. Last year, Chas McCormick had an average launch angle of 18.6° on his hardest-hit balls, while this year it has significantly increased to 23°. Over the past 7 days, Chas McCormick's 38.5% rate of hitting balls at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) shows big improvement over his seasonal rate of 20.6%. Chas McCormick has recorded a .382 wOBA (the best measure of overall offense) this year, checking in at the 95th percentile.

Home field advantage typically improves hitter metrics across the board, and Robbie Grossman will hold that advantage in today's matchup. Robbie Grossman has been cold of late, with his seasonal exit velocity of 88.5-mph dropping to 84.7-mph in the last week. Compared to his seasonal average of 19.6°, Robbie Grossman has significantly improved his launch angle recently, posting a 24.2° figure in the past two weeks.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Leody Taveras in the 80th percentile when it comes to his BABIP ability. Leody Taveras will benefit from the home field advantage in today's game, which should improve all of his stats. Leody Taveras has made significant improvements with his Barrel% of late, upping his 7.2% seasonal rate to 12.5% in the last two weeks. Leody Taveras's ability to hit the ball at a base hit-maximizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) has gotten better recently, rising from 44.7% on the season to 50% in the past two weeks' worth of games. When it comes to his batting average, Leody Taveras has experienced some negative variance this year. His .262 BA falls considerably below the leading projection system (THE BAT X)'s version of Statcast-based Expected Batting Average (xBA) at .295.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Jose Abreu in the 85th percentile as it relates to his batting average talent. Jose Abreu will have the handedness advantage against Andrew Heaney in today's matchup... and the cherry on top, Heaney has a large platoon split. Jose Abreu has made substantial improvements with his Barrel% in recent games, upping his 7.5% seasonal rate to 16.7% in the past two weeks. Jose Abreu's ability to hit the ball at a base hit-optimizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) has improved in recent games, going from 44.7% on the season to 54.2% in the past 14 days. Jose Abreu has been unlucky this year, posting a .284 wOBA despite the leading projection system (THE BAT X) estimating his true talent level to be .340 — a .056 difference.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Mauricio Dubon in the 81st percentile when estimating his batting average ability. Mauricio Dubon will hold the platoon advantage against Andrew Heaney today... and even more favorably, Heaney has a large platoon split. Sporting a .284 Expected Batting Average (an advanced metric created by the leading projection system (THE BAT X) utilizing Statcast data) this year , Mauricio Dubon is positioned in the 87th percentile. By putting up a .274 batting average this year, Mauricio Dubon is ranked in the 81st percentile.