Cleveland @ Houston picks

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Jose Ramirez in the 96th percentile when estimating his batting average skill.. Jose Ramirez is projected to bat 3rd in the batting order in today's game.. Jose Ramirez pulls a lot of his flyballs (41.4% — 99th percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards MLB's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's game.. Compared to his seasonal average of 19.5°, Jose Ramirez has significantly improved his launch angle recently, posting a 32.4° figure in the past week.. Jose Ramirez's ability to hit the ball at a BABIP-optimizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) has improved from last year to this one, increasing from 38.6% to 43.7%.

Jose Altuve's batting average talent is projected to be in the 90th percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Jose Altuve is penciled in 3rd in the lineup in this matchup.. Jose Altuve pulls a lot of his flyballs (41% — 99th percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards MLB's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's game.. Home field advantage generally bolsters batter stats in all categories, and Jose Altuve will hold that advantage in today's game.. Jose Altuve has made substantial improvements with his Barrel% of late, improving his 6.6% seasonal rate to 18.8% in the past 7 days.

Carlos Santana is projected to bat 4th in the lineup in this matchup.. As a switch-hitter who performs better from the 0 side of the plate, Carlos Santana will hold the platoon advantage while batting from from his good side against Colton Gordon in today's matchup.. Carlos Santana pulls many of his flyballs (40.1% — 98th percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards MLB's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup.. Carlos Santana's launch angle of late (24.8° over the last 14 days) is quite a bit better than his 16.8° seasonal mark.. Sporting a 1.59 K/BB rate this year, Carlos Santana has shown strong plate discipline, checking in at the 83rd percentile.

Austin Hedges will have the benefit of the platoon advantage against Colton Gordon today.. Austin Hedges pulls a high percentage of his flyballs (33.3% — 77th percentile) and will have a big advantage hitting them towards the league's 2nd-shallowest LF fences today.. Austin Hedges has seen a substantial gain in his exit velocity on flyballs this year; just compare his 92.8-mph average to last season's 88.4-mph figure.. Austin Hedges's 24.9° launch angle (an advanced stat to study a hitter's ability to lift the ball for power) is one of the steepest in the game: 97th percentile.

Home runs are generally more common at venues with shallow fences, and Minute Maid Park has the shallowest in MLB.. Taylor Trammell will receive the benefit of the platoon advantage against Tanner Bibee today.. Taylor Trammell will have the benefit of the home field advantage in today's game, which ought to bolster all of his stats.

Among all major league parks, the 3rd-tallest fences are at Minute Maid Park.. Built just 20 feet above sea level, Minute Maid Park has one of the lowest altitudes among all parks, which tends to lead to less offense.. As far as temperature and humidity go, the most suitable pitching weather on the schedule is expected for this game.. Batting from the same side that Tanner Bibee throws from, Christian Walker faces a tough challenge in today's game.. Out of all the teams playing today, the best infield defense belongs to the Cleveland Guardians.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects David Fry in the 77th percentile as it relates to his home run ability.. David Fry is projected to bat 2nd in the lineup in this game.. David Fry will hold the platoon advantage over Colton Gordon in today's matchup.. David Fry pulls a high percentage of his flyballs (35.9% — 92nd percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards MLB's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's game.. Over the last week, David Fry's Barrel% has experienced a surge, jumping from his seasonal rate of 9.4% up to 33.3%.

Bo Naylor has been hot recently, raising his seasonal exit velocity of 88.7-mph to 92.8-mph in the last week's worth of games.. Bo Naylor's launch angle this season (23.2°) is significantly better than his 19.5° mark last season.. Bo Naylor's ability to hit the ball at a base hit-maximizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) has gotten better in recent games, increasing from 35.5% on the season to 50% over the last 7 days.. Bo Naylor has experienced some negative variance in regards to his batting average this year; his .173 figure is a fair amount lower than his .207 Expected Batting Average, based on the leading projection system (THE BAT X)'s interpretation of Statcast data.

Will Wilson will receive the benefit of the platoon advantage against Colton Gordon in today's matchup.

Nolan Jones's BABIP ability is projected in the 88th percentile by the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Nolan Jones is projected to bat 5th in the lineup in today's game.. Nolan Jones has a 90th percentile opposite-field rate on his flyballs (36%) and will have a big advantage hitting them in the direction of baseball's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup.. Nolan Jones has seen a significant increase in his exit velocity this season; just compare his 91.9-mph average to last year's 88.3-mph EV.. Over the last 14 days, Nolan Jones's 55% rate of hitting balls at a base hit-maximizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) shows big improvement over his seasonal rate of 44.3%.