Houston @ Los Angeles Picks & Props

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Taylor Ward in the 94th percentile when it comes to his overall offensive talent. Taylor Ward is projected to hit 4th in the lineup today. The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Extreme groundball batters like Taylor Ward generally hit better against extreme flyball pitchers like Hunter Brown. Taylor Ward will hold the home field advantage in today's matchup, which ought to bolster all of his stats.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Jorge Soler in the 90th percentile when assessing his overall offensive talent. Jorge Soler is penciled in 5th on the lineup card in this game. The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Home field advantage generally improves hitter metrics across the board, and Jorge Soler will hold that advantage in today's matchup. Jorge Soler has seen a significant gain in his exit velocity lately; just compare his 95-mph average over the last two weeks to his seasonal 90.5-mph average.

The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. The switch-hitting Cooper Hummel will hold the platoon advantage while batting from from his better side (0) today against Yusei Kikuchi... and even better, Kikuchi has a large platoon split. Among every team on the slate today, the 4th-worst outfield defense is that of the the Los Angeles Angels.

When estimating his overall offensive ability, Logan O'Hoppe ranks in the 82nd percentile according to the leading projections (THE BAT X). Logan O'Hoppe is projected to bat 5th on the lineup card in this matchup. The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Logan O'Hoppe will possess the home field advantage in today's matchup, which ought to improve all of his stats. Logan O'Hoppe has made notable improvements with his Barrel%, improving his 12% rate last year to 17.7% this season.

Travis d'Arnaud is projected to hit 5th on the lineup card today. The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Travis d'Arnaud will possess the home field advantage in today's game, which should improve all of his stats. Travis d'Arnaud has made notable gains with his Barrel%, improving his 10.5% rate last season to 17.6% this year. Travis d'Arnaud's ability to hit the ball at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has improved from last season to this one, going from 12.2% to 24.3%.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Mauricio Dubon in the 84th percentile when it comes to his batting average talent. The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Mauricio Dubon will hold the platoon advantage against Yusei Kikuchi in today's game... and even better, Kikuchi has a large platoon split. Among every team on the slate today, the 4th-worst outfield defense is that of the the Los Angeles Angels. Mauricio Dubon has seen a notable increase in his exit velocity on flyballs recently; just compare his 98-mph average in the last week to his seasonal mark of 86.5-mph.

Jake Meyers's batting average talent is projected to be in the 84th percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X). The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Considering Yusei Kikuchi's large platoon split, Jake Meyers will have an enormous advantage batting from the opposite side of the dish in today's matchup. Among every team on the slate today, the 4th-worst outfield defense is that of the the Los Angeles Angels. Jake Meyers's ability to hit the ball at a BABIP-optimizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) has improved from last season to this one, increasing from 44.4% to 51.5%.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Jose Altuve in the 91st percentile when it comes to his batting average skill. Jose Altuve is projected to bat 3rd in the batting order in today's game. The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Given Yusei Kikuchi's large platoon split, Jose Altuve will have a huge advantage hitting from the opposite side of the dish in today's game. Among every team on the slate today, the 4th-worst outfield defense is that of the the Los Angeles Angels.

The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Extreme flyball hitters like Victor Caratini tend to be more successful against extreme groundball pitchers like Yusei Kikuchi. Among every team on the slate today, the 4th-worst outfield defense is that of the the Los Angeles Angels. Victor Caratini has seen a notable gain in his exit velocity on flyballs this year; just compare his 93.5-mph average to last season's 89.9-mph figure. Over the past week, Victor Caratini's exit velocity on flyballs has seen a big rise, from 93.5-mph over the course of the season to 98.4-mph of late.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Jo Adell in the 77th percentile when assessing his overall offensive ability. The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Jo Adell will have the benefit of the home field advantage in today's game, which figures to improve all of his stats. Jo Adell has seen a notable increase in his exit velocity on flyballs this season; just compare his 99.7-mph average to last season's 94.1-mph average. Jo Adell has seen a significant improvement in his exit velocity on flyballs in recent games; just compare his 103.1-mph average in the past two weeks' worth of games to his seasonal EV of 99.7-mph.

According to the weather forecast, the temperature and humidity for this matchup will be the 4th-most favorable for pitching of all games on the slate today. Playing on the road typically reduces batter stats across the board due to the lack of home field advantage, which ought to be the case for Yainer Diaz in today's game. Yainer Diaz has been cold of late, with his seasonal exit velocity of 91.2-mph dropping to 88-mph in the past week. Yainer Diaz's ability to hit the ball at a base hit-optimizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) has fallen off recently, going from 45.4% on the season to 24.1% in the past week's worth of games. As it relates to plate discipline, Yainer Diaz's talent is quite poor, posting a 4.54 K/BB rate this year while placing in in the 14th percentile.

According to the leading projection system (THE BAT X), Mike Trout ranks as the 10th-best batter in baseball. Mike Trout is projected to bat 3rd on the lineup card in this game. The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Hitters such as Mike Trout with extreme flyball tendencies are usually more effective when facing pitchers like Hunter Brown who skew towards the groundball end of the spectrum. Home field advantage generally boosts batter metrics across the board, and Mike Trout will hold that advantage today.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Zach Neto in the 85th percentile when estimating his overall offensive skill. Zach Neto is projected to hit 1st in the lineup in today's game. The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Zach Neto will benefit from the home field advantage in today's game, which figures to improve all of his stats. Zach Neto has made significant improvements with his Barrel%, improving his 8.5% rate last season to 15.7% this season.

Isaac Paredes is projected to bat 2nd in the lineup in today's game. The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Isaac Paredes will hold the platoon advantage against Yusei Kikuchi in today's game... and moreover, Kikuchi has a large platoon split. Among every team on the slate today, the 4th-worst outfield defense is that of the the Los Angeles Angels. Isaac Paredes has seen a sizeable gain in his exit velocity this season; just compare his 87.4-mph average to last season's 85-mph figure.

The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Hitting from the opposite that Hunter Brown throws from, LaMonte Wade Jr. will have an edge in today's matchup. Home field advantage generally bolsters hitter stats in all categories, and LaMonte Wade Jr. will hold that advantage in today's matchup. LaMonte Wade Jr.'s launch angle this season (22.2°) is significantly better than his 12.8° figure last year. LaMonte Wade Jr.'s footspeed has gotten better this year. His 25.16 ft/sec Statcast Sprint Speed last season sits at 25.92 ft/sec now.

The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Christian Walker will receive the benefit of the platoon advantage against Yusei Kikuchi today... and moreover, Kikuchi has a large platoon split. Among every team on the slate today, the 4th-worst outfield defense is that of the the Los Angeles Angels. The leading projection system (THE BAT X) estimates Christian Walker's true offensive ability to be a .330, providing some evidence that he has experienced some negative variance this year given the .043 deviation between that figure and his actual .287 wOBA.

According to the weather forecast, the temperature and humidity for this matchup will be the 4th-most favorable for pitching of all games on the slate today. Jeremy Pena will be at a disadvantage playing on the visting team in today's matchup. Jeremy Pena's exit velocity on flyballs has fallen off of late; his 88.9-mph seasonal EV has dropped to 77.4-mph in the last week. From last year to this one, Jeremy Pena's ability to hit the ball at a launch angle that optimizes home runs (23° to 34°) has decreased substantially, plummeting from 12.3% to 8.2%. In the last two weeks' worth of games, Jeremy Pena's 4.3% rate of hitting balls at a HR-optimizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has taken a nosedive compared to his seasonal rate of 8.2%.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Christian Moore in the 82nd percentile when assessing his BABIP skill. The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Christian Moore will have the benefit of the home field advantage in today's matchup, which should boost all of his stats. In the past week, Christian Moore's swing has been well optimized for home runs, notching a 30% of balls hit with a launch angle in the optimal range of 23° to 34°.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Luis Rengifo in the 77th percentile when estimating his batting average skill. The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Luis Rengifo will possess the home field advantage in today's matchup, which should improve all of his stats. Luis Rengifo has seen a sizeable gain in his exit velocity on flyballs this year; just compare his 90.4-mph average to last year's 87.5-mph figure. Luis Rengifo's ability to hit the ball at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has increased in recent games, rising from 11.8% on the season to 17.6% in the last week's worth of games.

Nolan Schanuel's batting average skill is projected to be in the 92nd percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X). Nolan Schanuel is penciled in 2nd in the batting order today. The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 8.1-mph in this game, the 6th-best of the day for batters. Hitting from the opposite that Hunter Brown throws from, Nolan Schanuel will have an advantage in today's game. Home field advantage generally improves batter stats in all categories, and Nolan Schanuel will hold that advantage in today's matchup.