Athletics @ Houston picks

Brent Rooker projects as the 14th-best hitter in the majors, according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Brent Rooker is penciled in 3rd in the lineup in today's game.. Brent Rooker pulls a high percentage of his flyballs (33.7% — 80th percentile) and will have a big advantage hitting them towards the league's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup.. Bats such as Brent Rooker with extreme groundball tendencies are usually more effective when facing pitchers like Hunter Brown who skew towards the flyball end of the spectrum.. In the last week's worth of games, Brent Rooker's Barrel% has experienced a surge, jumping from his seasonal rate of 14.9% up to 21.4%.

Victor Caratini has primarily hit in the back-half of the lineup this year (52% of the time), but he is projected to bat 3rd in the batting order in today's game.. Victor Caratini will possess the home field advantage in today's game, which should bolster all of his stats.. Placing in the 77th percentile, Victor Caratini sports a .274 batting average this year.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Shea Langeliers in the 94th percentile when estimating his home run skill.. Shea Langeliers is projected to hit 4th in the lineup today.. Shea Langeliers pulls a lot of his flyballs (34.5% — 85th percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards the league's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's game.. In the past week's worth of games, Shea Langeliers's 23.5% rate of hitting balls at a HR-optimizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) shows big improvement over his seasonal rate of 14.7%.. Ranking in the 88th percentile for power, Shea Langeliers has paced 30.2 dingers per 600 plate appearances this year.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Christian Walker in the 92nd percentile when assessing his home run skill.. Christian Walker is penciled in 3rd in the batting order today.. Christian Walker will have the handedness advantage over Jacob Lopez in today's game.. Christian Walker pulls a lot of his flyballs (33.3% — 76th percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards the league's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's game.. Out of every team playing today, the worst outfield defense is that of the Athletics.

Brent Rooker projects as the 14th-best hitter in the majors, according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Brent Rooker is penciled in 3rd in the lineup in today's game.. Brent Rooker pulls a high percentage of his flyballs (33.7% — 80th percentile) and will have a big advantage hitting them towards the league's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup.. Bats such as Brent Rooker with extreme groundball tendencies are usually more effective when facing pitchers like Hunter Brown who skew towards the flyball end of the spectrum.. In the last week's worth of games, Brent Rooker's Barrel% has experienced a surge, jumping from his seasonal rate of 14.9% up to 21.4%.

According to the leading projection system (THE BAT), Yainer Diaz (the Astros's expected catcher in today's game) projects as a weak pitch framer.. Minute Maid Park has the 2nd-shallowest LF fences among all major league stadiums.. Contrary to popular belief, fastballs are generally a pitcher's least effective pitch. Hunter Brown has gone to his secondary pitches 7% less often this season (40%) than he did last season (47%).. Hunter Brown has posted a .268 BABIP this year, indicating that he has been one of the luckiest mound aces in the majors on balls in play and regression likely forthcoming.. Ranking highest in the majors this year, Athletics hitters as a unit have posted a 17.2° launch angle on their highest exit velocity balls (an advanced metric to evaluate power ability).

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Lawrence Butler in the 83rd percentile when assessing his home run ability.. Lawrence Butler is penciled in 1st in the lineup in today's game.. Hitting from the opposite that Hunter Brown throws from, Lawrence Butler will have an advantage today.. Lawrence Butler has a 93rd percentile opposite-field rate on his flyballs (36.5%) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards MLB's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup.. Lawrence Butler's ability to hit the ball at a base hit-maximizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) has improved lately, going from 45.2% on the season to 66.7% in the last week's worth of games.

Minute Maid Park has the 2nd-shallowest LF fences among all major league stadiums.. Hitting from the opposite that Jacob Lopez throws from, Brice Matthews will have an advantage in today's game.. Out of every team playing today, the 3rd-worst outfield defense is that of the Athletics.. Brice Matthews will hold the home field advantage in today's game, which figures to bolster all of his stats.. In the past two weeks' worth of games, Brice Matthews's Barrel% has experienced a surge, jumping from his seasonal rate of 38.5% up to 38.5%.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Shea Langeliers in the 94th percentile when estimating his home run skill.. Shea Langeliers is projected to hit 4th in the lineup today.. Shea Langeliers pulls a lot of his flyballs (34.5% — 85th percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards the league's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's game.. In the past week's worth of games, Shea Langeliers's 23.5% rate of hitting balls at a HR-optimizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) shows big improvement over his seasonal rate of 14.7%.. Ranking in the 88th percentile for power, Shea Langeliers has paced 30.2 dingers per 600 plate appearances this year.

Luis Urias pulls a lot of his flyballs (36% — 92nd percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards baseball's 2nd-shallowest LF fences today.. Luis Urias has displayed impressive plate discipline this year, grading out in the 90th percentile with a 1.4 K/BB rate.