Kansas City @ St. Louis picks

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Bobby Witt Jr. as the 4th-best hitter in Major League Baseball when it comes to his batting average ability.. Bobby Witt Jr. is projected to bat 2nd in the batting order today.. Hitting from the opposite that Matthew Liberatore throws from, Bobby Witt Jr. will have an advantage today.. Extreme flyball bats like Bobby Witt Jr. generally hit better against extreme groundball pitchers like Matthew Liberatore.. Over the past week, Bobby Witt Jr.'s Barrel% has experienced a surge, jumping from his seasonal rate of 12.5% up to 30.8%.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Salvador Perez in the 88th percentile as it relates to his home run ability.. Salvador Perez is penciled in 5th in the lineup today.. Salvador Perez will hold the platoon advantage over Matthew Liberatore in today's matchup.. Extreme groundball bats like Salvador Perez tend to be more successful against extreme flyball pitchers like Matthew Liberatore.. Salvador Perez has been hot of late, raising his seasonal exit velocity of 90.6-mph to 93-mph over the last 14 days.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Jonathan India in the 90th percentile when assessing his overall offensive ability.. Jonathan India is penciled in 1st in the batting order in this matchup.. Hitting from the opposite that Matthew Liberatore throws from, Jonathan India will have an edge today.. There has been a significant improvement in Jonathan India's launch angle from last year's 13.3° to 17° this season.. Based on Statcast metrics, the leading projection system (THE BAT X)'s version of Expected HR per 600 plate appearances (11.6) implies that Jonathan India has had bad variance on his side this year with his 2.6 actual HR/600.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) expects Cole Ragans to be limited in this game, projecting a maximum of 80 pitches.. It is scheduled that we will see a Huge Hitters Umpire (James Jean) behind the plate in this game.. Among all the teams today, the 9th-worst infield defense is that of the Kansas City Royals.. Playing on the road typically lowers pitcher metrics across the board due to the lack of home field advantage, which figures to be the case for Cole Ragans in today's matchup.