Tampa Bay @ Houston picks

Victor Caratini is projected to hit 5th in the batting order in this matchup.. Extreme flyball batters like Victor Caratini tend to perform better against extreme groundball pitchers like Ryan Pepiot.. Victor Caratini will benefit from the home field advantage in today's matchup, which figures to boost all of his stats.. Victor Caratini has made significant strides with his Barrel% in recent games, bettering his 10.3% seasonal rate to 18.2% in the last two weeks.. In the last two weeks' worth of games, Victor Caratini's exit velocity on flyballs has seen a big rise, from 91.5-mph over the course of the season to 106.2-mph recently.

Junior Caminero's batting average skill is projected to be in the 91st percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Junior Caminero is projected to bat 4th in the batting order today.. Junior Caminero will have the handedness advantage against Framber Valdez in today's matchup.. Junior Caminero pulls a high percentage of his flyballs (33.3% — 75th percentile) and sets up very well considering he'll be hitting them towards MLB's 2nd-shallowest LF fences today.

As it relates to his home run ability, Brandon Lowe ranks in the 89th percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Brandon Lowe is penciled in 2nd on the lineup card today.. Over the last 14 days, Brandon Lowe has improved his Barrel% substantially, increasing it from his seasonal rate of 11.8% to 22.2%.. Brandon Lowe has seen a big increase in his exit velocity this year; just compare his 91.9-mph average to last year's 89.8-mph figure.. Brandon Lowe has seen a substantial improvement in his exit velocity on flyballs lately; just compare his 107.4-mph average in the past 14 days to his seasonal mark of 95.2-mph.

When assessing his home run skill, Christian Walker ranks in the 93rd percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Christian Walker is projected to hit 4th in the lineup in this game.. Christian Walker pulls a lot of his flyballs (34.6% — 86th percentile) and sets up very well considering he'll be hitting them towards baseball's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup.. Home field advantage typically bolsters batter stats in all categories, and Christian Walker will hold that advantage in today's game.. Christian Walker has made notable gains with his Barrel% lately, upping his 12.1% seasonal rate to 36.4% over the last two weeks.

When it comes to his home run ability, Christopher Morel ranks in the 95th percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Christopher Morel will hold the platoon advantage against Framber Valdez in today's matchup.. Christopher Morel pulls a lot of his flyballs (37.7% — 96th percentile) and will have a big advantage hitting them towards the game's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup.. Christopher Morel has made sizeable improvements with his Barrel%, upping his 10.3% rate last year to 18% this year.. Christopher Morel'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 14.7% to 26.2%.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Jonathan Aranda in the 88th percentile when assessing his overall offensive ability.. Jonathan Aranda is projected to bat 5th on the lineup card in this matchup.. Minute Maid Park has the 2nd-smallest outfield in the league — generally good for long-balls.. Ranked in the 96th percentile, Jonathan Aranda has one of the highest average exit velocities in baseball since the start of last season (93.1-mph).. Ranking in the 94th percentile, Jonathan Aranda sports a .388 wOBA (widely regarded as the top indicator of overall offense) this year.

Danny Jansen will have the handedness advantage over Framber Valdez in today's game.. Danny Jansen pulls many of his flyballs (42.3% — 99th percentile) and will have a big advantage hitting them towards MLB's 2nd-shallowest LF fences today.. Extreme groundball bats like Danny Jansen are generally more successful against extreme flyball pitchers like Framber Valdez.. Danny Jansen has seen a significant improvement in his exit velocity on flyballs this year; just compare his 94.2-mph average to last year's 90.5-mph average.. In terms of plate discipline, Danny Jansen's ability is quite good, posting a 1.34 K/BB rate since the start of last season while ranking in in the 96th percentile.

As it relates to his home run ability, Brandon Lowe ranks in the 89th percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Brandon Lowe is penciled in 2nd on the lineup card today.. Over the last 14 days, Brandon Lowe has improved his Barrel% substantially, increasing it from his seasonal rate of 11.8% to 22.2%.. Brandon Lowe has seen a big increase in his exit velocity this year; just compare his 91.9-mph average to last year's 89.8-mph figure.. Brandon Lowe has seen a substantial improvement in his exit velocity on flyballs lately; just compare his 107.4-mph average in the past 14 days to his seasonal mark of 95.2-mph.

It is scheduled that we will see a Hitters Umpire (Mark Ripperger) calling pitches today.. The shallowest left field fences among all parks are found in Minute Maid Park.. Ryan Pepiot will be at a disadvantage playing on the road in today's matchup.. Considering the 1.01 difference between Ryan Pepiot's 3.55 ERA and his 4.56 FIP, it's safe to say he's been one of the luckiest pitchers in MLB this year and ought to perform worse the rest of the season.. Positioned 7th-steepest in MLB this year, Houston Astros hitters jointly have compiled a 16.1° launch angle on their hardest-contacted balls (an advanced standard to assess power ability).

The switch-hitting Taylor Walls will hold the platoon advantage while batting from from his better side (0) today against Framber Valdez.. In the last 14 days, Taylor Walls's 28.6% rate of hitting balls at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) shows big improvement over his seasonal rate of 17.3%.. When it comes to his batting average, Taylor Walls has experienced some negative variance this year. His .184 rate falls considerably below the leading projection system (THE BAT X)'s version of Statcast-based Expected Batting Average (xBA) at .248.