Arizona @ San Diego picks

Gallen has thrown his fastball or knuckle curve over 70% of the time this season. That number may be heading up, as the other two pitches in his arsenal are producing unfavorable results. That's music to the ears of Sheets, who ranks first or second in hard-hit rate, expected batting average, and expected slugging percentage amongst Padres players against those two pitches. He'll be in a great position to exploit Gallen for as long as he's in the game. 

Corbin Carroll earned his second career All-Star Game selection thanks to hitting 20 home runs in the first half. He's also crushed right-handed pitching for a .953 OPS and 17 of those 20 homers. He's not exactly who Yu Darvish wants to face in his season debut. An elbow injury has kept Darvish out until this point, and Carroll has had his number in the past. Carroll is 7-for-13 with a double and two dingers in his career vs. the Padres starter.

When assessing his strikeout talent, the leading projection system (THE BAT) forecasts Yu Darvish in the 75th percentile among all starting pitchers in the game.. The Arizona Diamondbacks have 3 batters in their projected batting order today with a high (i.e. over 27%) underlying K% (according to the leading projection system, THE BAT X) (James McCann, Blaze Alexander, Eugenio Suarez).. Junior Valentine grades out as a Pitchers Umpire and is scheduled to be in charge of the strike zone in this game.. Built just 14 feet above sea level, Petco Park has one of the lowest altitudes in MLB, which usually leads (as a rule of thumb) to worse offense.. According to the weather report, the temperature and humidity for this contest will be the 7th-most suitable for hitting of all games today.

Ketel Marte projects as the 11th-best hitter in the majors, via the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Ketel Marte is projected to hit 2nd on the lineup card today.. The leading projection system (THE BAT) ranks Petco Park as the 5th-best park in the league for LHB home runs.. Petco Park has the 4th-lowest average fence height among all stadiums.. Ketel Marte has made significant improvements with his Barrel% recently, improving his 17.1% seasonal rate to 25% in the last 14 days.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the 92nd percentile when estimating his batting average skill.. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is projected to hit 3rd on the lineup card in this matchup.. The #5 venue in the league for boosting home runs to RHB, according to the leading projection system (THE BAT), is Petco Park.. The shallowest centerfield fences among all stadiums are found in Petco Park.. Petco Park has the 4th-lowest average fence height among all stadiums.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) ranks Eugenio Suarez as the game's 16th-best home run hitter.. Eugenio Suarez is projected to hit 5th in the batting order today.. The #5 venue in the league for boosting home runs to RHB, according to the leading projection system (THE BAT), is Petco Park.. The shallowest centerfield fences among all stadiums are found in Petco Park.. Petco Park has the 4th-lowest average fence height among all stadiums.

Fernando Tatis Jr. projects as the 8th-best hitter in baseball, according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Fernando Tatis Jr. is projected to hit 1st in the batting order today.. The #5 venue in the league for boosting home runs to RHB, according to the leading projection system (THE BAT), is Petco Park.. Petco Park has the 4th-lowest average fence height among all stadiums.. Fernando Tatis Jr. hits many of his flyballs to center field (39.9% — 97th percentile) and is a great match for the park considering he'll be hitting towards the game's 2nd-shallowest CF fences today.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Manny Machado in the 95th percentile when estimating his batting average ability.. Manny Machado is projected to hit 3rd on the lineup card in today's game.. The #5 venue in the league for boosting home runs to RHB, according to the leading projection system (THE BAT), is Petco Park.. Petco Park has the 4th-lowest average fence height among all stadiums.. Manny Machado hits many of his flyballs to center field (39.8% — 96th percentile) and sets up very well considering he'll be hitting out towards baseball's 2nd-shallowest CF fences today.

Ketel Marte projects as the 11th-best hitter in the majors, via the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Ketel Marte is projected to hit 2nd on the lineup card today.. The leading projection system (THE BAT) ranks Petco Park as the 5th-best park in the league for LHB home runs.. Petco Park has the 4th-lowest average fence height among all stadiums.. Ketel Marte has made significant improvements with his Barrel% recently, improving his 17.1% seasonal rate to 25% in the last 14 days.

Ketel Marte projects as the 11th-best hitter in the majors, via the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Ketel Marte is projected to hit 2nd on the lineup card today.. Petco Park has the 4th-lowest average fence height among all stadiums.. Ketel Marte has made significant improvements with his Barrel% recently, improving his 17.1% seasonal rate to 25% in the last 14 days.. Ketel Marte has seen a notable gain in his exit velocity recently; just compare his 93.6-mph average in the past two weeks to his seasonal 91.2-mph EV.

Petco Park has the 4th-lowest average fence height among all stadiums.. James McCann hits a high percentage of his flyballs to center field (40% — 98th percentile) and is a great match for the park considering he'll be hitting towards baseball's 2nd-shallowest CF fences today.. James McCann has gotten much quicker this season, improving from last year's 25.15 ft/sec to 26.08 ft/sec now (according to Statcast's Sprint Speed metric).. As it relates to his batting average, James McCann has been unlucky since the start of last season. His .245 figure falls considerably below the leading projection system (THE BAT X)'s version of Statcast-based Expected Batting Average (xBA) at .273.. Sporting a .324 Expected wOBA (or xwOBA, an advanced metric created by the leading projection system (THE BAT X) utilizing Statcast data) since the start of last season, James McCann finds himself in the 77th percentile for hitting ability.

The leading projection system (THE BAT) ranks Petco Park as the 5th-best park in the league for LHB home runs.. The shallowest centerfield fences among all stadiums are found in Petco Park.. Petco Park has the 4th-lowest average fence height among all stadiums.. Alek Thomas will have the handedness advantage over Yu Darvish in today's matchup.. Bats such as Alek Thomas with extreme flyball tendencies are usually more effective when facing pitchers like Yu Darvish who skew towards the groundball end of the spectrum.