Houston @ Cleveland picks

Victor Caratini is projected to bat 5th in the lineup in this matchup.. Victor Caratini has compiled a .272 batting average since the start of last season, checking in at the 84th percentile.

Jose Altuve's batting average talent is projected to be in the 88th percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Jose Altuve is projected to bat 3rd in the batting order in this game.. Jose Altuve pulls a lot of his flyballs (41.2% — 99th percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards the game's 3rd-shallowest LF fences in today's game.. Jose Altuve's ability to hit the ball at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has gotten better lately, going from 13.8% on the season to 25.6% in the last two weeks' worth of games.

Kyle Manzardo is projected to hit 4th in the lineup in this game.. Kyle Manzardo will have the handedness advantage over Hunter Brown in today's matchup.. Extreme groundball batters like Kyle Manzardo generally hit better against extreme flyball pitchers like Hunter Brown.. Home field advantage generally bolsters batter metrics across the board, and Kyle Manzardo will hold that advantage in today's game.. Kyle Manzardo has seen a substantial gain in his exit velocity on flyballs this year; just compare his 94.3-mph average to last season's 92-mph mark.

Jose Ramirez's batting average talent is projected to be in the 96th percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Jose Ramirez is projected to hit 3rd in the batting order in this matchup.. Jose Ramirez pulls a high percentage of his flyballs (41.4% — 99th percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards MLB's 6th-shallowest RF fences in today's matchup.. Extreme groundball hitters like Jose Ramirez are generally more successful against extreme flyball pitchers like Hunter Brown.. Jose Ramirez will possess the home field advantage in today's game, which figures to improve all of his stats.

When assessing his home run ability, Christian Walker ranks in the 93rd percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Christian Walker is penciled in 4th in the batting order in this game.. Christian Walker pulls a high percentage of his flyballs (35.2% — 89th percentile) and is a great match for the park considering he'll be hitting them towards the league's 3rd-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup.. The leading projection system (THE BAT X) estimates Christian Walker's true offensive talent to be a .328, suggesting that he has been unlucky this year given the .050 difference between that mark and his actual .278 wOBA.

Isaac Paredes is penciled in 2nd on the lineup card today.. Isaac Paredes pulls a high percentage of his flyballs (46.8% — 100th percentile) and is a great match for the park considering he'll be hitting them towards baseball's 3rd-shallowest LF fences today.. Over the last 7 days, Isaac Paredes's Barrel% has experienced a surge, jumping from his seasonal rate of 6.2% up to 23.1%.. Isaac Paredes has seen a sizeable gain in his exit velocity this year; just compare his 87.2-mph average to last year's 85-mph mark.. Isaac Paredes's launch angle in recent games (25.8° over the past 14 days) is quite a bit higher than his 20.1° seasonal figure.

Kyle Manzardo is projected to hit 4th in the lineup in this game.. Kyle Manzardo will have the handedness advantage over Hunter Brown in today's matchup.. Extreme groundball batters like Kyle Manzardo generally hit better against extreme flyball pitchers like Hunter Brown.. Home field advantage generally bolsters batter metrics across the board, and Kyle Manzardo will hold that advantage in today's game.. Kyle Manzardo has seen a substantial gain in his exit velocity on flyballs this year; just compare his 94.3-mph average to last season's 92-mph mark.

Hitting from the opposite that Hunter Brown throws from, Bo Naylor will have an advantage in today's matchup.. Extreme flyball batters like Bo Naylor tend to perform better against extreme groundball pitchers like Hunter Brown.. Home field advantage generally bolsters batter metrics in all categories, and Bo Naylor will hold that advantage in today's game.. Bo Naylor's launch angle this season (25.4°) is a significant increase over his 19.5° mark last year.. Compared to his seasonal average of 25.4°, Bo Naylor has significantly improved his launch angle lately, posting a 39.3° figure over the past 7 days.

Ramon De Jesus profiles as a Huge Hitters Umpire and is expected to be behind the plate in this game.. Projected catcher Yainer Diaz profiles as a weak pitch framer, according to the leading projection system (THE BAT).. Given that flyball hitters hold a big edge over groundball pitchers, Hunter Brown and his 49.3% underlying GB% (according to the leading projection system, THE BAT) finds himself in a tough spot today going up against 3 opposing GB hitters.. Playing on the road generally reduces pitcher stats in all categories due to the lack of home field advantage, which ought to be the case for Hunter Brown today.

Jose Ramirez's batting average talent is projected to be in the 96th percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Jose Ramirez is projected to hit 3rd in the batting order in this matchup.. Jose Ramirez pulls a high percentage of his flyballs (41.4% — 99th percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards MLB's 6th-shallowest RF fences in today's matchup.. Extreme groundball hitters like Jose Ramirez are generally more successful against extreme flyball pitchers like Hunter Brown.. Jose Ramirez will possess the home field advantage in today's game, which figures to improve all of his stats.