Detroit @ Kansas City picks

The Detroit Tigers continue to roll right along, and I don't expect the KC Royals to slow them down. The Tigers have won four straight and are getting elite pitching, allowing just five runs across their last four games. The Royals have scored more than three runs just once in their last four games. Give me the Tigers here. 

Detroit took three of four from K.C. in an April series, and have six wins in the last seven head-to-head matchups. Casey Mize has a win over K.C. this year, going a season-best seven innings, allowing just four hits and one earned run in a 3-1 win. His stuff should be enough to outduel Seth Lugo and deliver a win in the opener.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Gleyber Torres in the 89th percentile when estimating his batting average talent.. Gleyber Torres is projected to bat 2nd in the lineup in today's game.. Kauffman Stadium sits at the 4th-highest elevation in the majors. High elevation generally leads to more offense.. Last season, Gleyber Torres had an average launch angle of 14° on his hardest-contacted balls, while this season it has significantly increased to 18.7°.. Gleyber Torres has posted a .380 Expected wOBA (xwOBA) this year, ranking in the 97th percentile for hitting ability according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X)'s interpretation of Statcast data.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Bobby Witt Jr. as the 4th-best hitter in Major League Baseball when estimating his batting average ability.. Bobby Witt Jr. is penciled in 2nd in the lineup today.. Kauffman Stadium sits at the 4th-highest elevation in the majors. High elevation generally leads to more offense.. Extreme flyball bats like Bobby Witt Jr. are generally more successful against extreme groundball pitchers like Casey Mize.. The Detroit Tigers infield defense projects as the 4th-weakest out of all the teams on the slate today.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Spencer Torkelson in the 92nd percentile as it relates to his home run talent.. Spencer Torkelson is projected to bat 5th in the batting order in this matchup.. Kauffman Stadium sits at the 4th-highest elevation in the majors. High elevation generally leads to more offense.. Spencer Torkelson has made notable gains with his Barrel%, upping his 6.8% rate last season to 14.4% this year.. Spencer Torkelson has been hot recently, raising his seasonal exit velocity of 91.5-mph to 100.4-mph in the past two weeks.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Riley Greene as the 6th-best hitter in the majors when estimating his BABIP talent.. Riley Greene is penciled in 4th on the lineup card in today's game.. Kauffman Stadium sits at the 4th-highest elevation in the majors. High elevation generally leads to more offense.. Riley Greene will receive the benefit of the platoon advantage against Seth Lugo in today's game.. Riley Greene has made sizeable improvements with his Barrel% in recent games, bettering his 16.7% seasonal rate to 50% over the past two weeks.

Kauffman Stadium sits at the 4th-highest elevation in the majors. High elevation generally leads to more offense.. Michael Massey will receive the benefit of the platoon advantage against Casey Mize today.. Bats such as Michael Massey with extreme flyball tendencies are usually more effective when facing pitchers like Casey Mize who skew towards the groundball end of the spectrum.. The Detroit Tigers infield defense projects as the 4th-weakest out of all the teams on the slate today.. Home field advantage generally bolsters batter metrics across the board, and Michael Massey will hold that advantage in today's game.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Colt Keith in the 86th percentile when assessing his batting average skill.. Colt Keith is penciled in 3rd on the lineup card in this game.. Kauffman Stadium sits at the 4th-highest elevation in the majors. High elevation generally leads to more offense.. Colt Keith will have the benefit of the platoon advantage against Seth Lugo in today's game.. Colt Keith has made notable improvements with his Barrel% lately, improving his 9.4% seasonal rate to 33.3% in the last 14 days.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Salvador Perez in the 89th percentile when estimating his home run talent.. Salvador Perez is projected to hit 4th on the lineup card in this game.. Kauffman Stadium sits at the 4th-highest elevation in the majors. High elevation generally leads to more offense.. Extreme flyball hitters like Salvador Perez generally hit better against extreme groundball pitchers like Casey Mize.. The Detroit Tigers infield defense projects as the 4th-weakest out of all the teams on the slate today.

Kauffman Stadium sits at the 4th-highest elevation in the majors. High elevation generally leads to more offense.. Batting from the opposite that Casey Mize throws from, Kyle Isbel will have an advantage today.. The Detroit Tigers infield defense projects as the 4th-weakest out of all the teams on the slate today.. Kyle Isbel will benefit from the home field advantage in today's game, which figures to boost all of his stats.. Over the past two weeks, Kyle Isbel's 60% rate of hitting balls at a base hit-maximizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) shows big improvement over his seasonal rate of 34.9%.

Vinnie Pasquantino is penciled in 3rd on the lineup card in this matchup.. Kauffman Stadium sits at the 4th-highest elevation in the majors. High elevation generally leads to more offense.. Batting from the opposite that Casey Mize throws from, Vinnie Pasquantino will have an edge today.. The Detroit Tigers infield defense projects as the 4th-weakest out of all the teams on the slate today.. Vinnie Pasquantino will have the benefit of the home field advantage in today's game, which figures to boost all of his stats.

It may be wise to expect better numbers for the Kansas City Royals offense in future games, given that the leading projection system (THE BAT X) views them as the 5th-unluckiest offense in Major League Baseball this year.. Shane Livensparger profiles as a Huge Hitters Umpire and is scheduled to be in charge of the strike zone in today's game.. Kauffman Stadium projects as the #1 field in the majors for walks, per the leading projection system (THE BAT).. Kauffman Stadium sits at the 4th-highest elevation in the majors. High elevation generally leads to more offense.. Given that groundball pitchers are least effective against flyball hitters, Casey Mize (46.4% GB% via the leading projection system, THE BAT) will be a bit disadvantaged in this matchup with 3 FB hitters in Kansas City's projected offense.