Washington @ Houston picks

Altuve has piled up the H+R+R of late, averaging 3.0 over his last 20 games. He’s in a great spot to build on that success against Brad Lord and the Nationals. Altuve owns a .287 average and .263 ISO against the fastball. Worried Lord will get away from that and attack Altuve more so with the other pitches? Fear not! He is hitting .280 against sliders and .265 against sinkers.

When assessing his overall offensive ability, Josh Bell ranks in the 81st percentile according to the leading projections (THE BAT X).. Josh Bell is projected to bat 3rd in the lineup in today's game.. Josh Bell has seen a sizeable increase in his exit velocity lately; just compare his 92.3-mph average in the last 7 days to his seasonal 89.8-mph figure.. Josh Bell has seen a big improvement in his exit velocity on flyballs this year; just compare his 94.9-mph average to last season's 92.8-mph average.. In the last two weeks, Josh Bell's 31.6% rate of hitting balls at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) shows big improvement over his seasonal rate of 14.7%.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects James Wood as the best batter in Major League Baseball when estimating his BABIP ability.. James Wood is projected to bat 2nd in the batting order today.. James Wood has a 97th percentile opposite-field rate on his flyballs (38.8%) and will have a big advantage hitting them towards the league's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup.. James Wood has made big gains with his Barrel%, upping his 10.7% rate last season to 17.9% this year.. James Wood has seen a notable gain in his exit velocity on flyballs this year; just compare his 99.6-mph average to last season's 96.6-mph figure.

Daylen Lile has a 75th percentile opposite-field rate on his flyballs (33.6%) and is a great match for the park considering he'll be hitting them towards the game's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup.. Daylen Lile's ability to hit the ball at a base hit-maximizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) has improved in recent games, going from 52.2% on the season to 83.3% in the last 7 days.. Daylen Lile has had some very poor luck with his wOBA this year; his .290 rate is considerably lower than his .343 Expected wOBA, based on the leading projection system (THE BAT X)'s interpretation of Statcast data.

Taylor Trammell is projected to bat 1st in the batting order in today's game, which would be an upgrade from his 73% rate of hitting in the bottom-half of the lineup this season.. Minute Maid Park has the smallest outfield among all stadiums — generally good for dingers.. Batting from the opposite that Brad Lord throws from, Taylor Trammell will have an edge in today's game.. Home field advantage typically improves hitter stats in all categories, and Taylor Trammell will hold that advantage in today's matchup.. Taylor Trammell has made sizeable improvements with his Barrel% lately, improving his 16.2% seasonal rate to 22.2% in the past two weeks.

Paul DeJong is projected to hit 5th in the batting order in today's game, which would be an upgrade from his 91% rate of hitting in the bottom-half of the lineup this season.. Paul DeJong will have the handedness advantage against Framber Valdez today.. Paul DeJong pulls a lot of his flyballs (35.2% — 89th percentile) and sets up very well considering he'll be hitting them towards MLB's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's game.. Extreme groundball bats like Paul DeJong usually hit better against extreme flyball pitchers like Framber Valdez.. Grading out in the 82nd percentile for power, Paul DeJong has hit 25.2 long-balls per 600 plate appearances since the start of last season.

Riley Adams will hold the platoon advantage over Framber Valdez today.. Despite posting a .230 wOBA this year, the leading projection system (THE BAT X) believes Riley Adams has been unlucky given the .055 gap between that mark and his estimated true talent wOBA of .285.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects CJ Abrams in the 79th percentile when estimating his batting average talent.. CJ Abrams is projected to hit 1st in the lineup in this game.. CJ Abrams has been hot of late, raising his seasonal exit velocity of 89.3-mph to 92.6-mph over the past week.. CJ Abrams's ability to hit the ball at a HR-optimizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has improved from last season to this one, increasing from 14.6% to 18%.. In the past week, CJ Abrams's 35.7% rate of hitting balls at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) shows big improvement over his seasonal rate of 18%.

When assessing his overall offensive ability, Josh Bell ranks in the 81st percentile according to the leading projections (THE BAT X).. Josh Bell is projected to bat 3rd in the lineup in today's game.. Josh Bell has seen a sizeable increase in his exit velocity lately; just compare his 92.3-mph average in the last 7 days to his seasonal 89.8-mph figure.. Josh Bell has seen a big improvement in his exit velocity on flyballs this year; just compare his 94.9-mph average to last season's 92.8-mph average.. In the last two weeks, Josh Bell's 31.6% rate of hitting balls at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) shows big improvement over his seasonal rate of 14.7%.

Zack Short will benefit from the home field advantage in today's matchup, which should boost all of his stats.. Zack Short has exhibited some good exit velocity metrics in recent games, averaging 96.8-mph on his flyballs in the past week's worth of games.. Zack Short has been lifting the ball well lately, putting up a 32.5° launch angle over the past 7 days.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Nathaniel Lowe in the 78th percentile when it comes to his BABIP talent.. Nathaniel Lowe is penciled in 4th on the lineup card in this matchup.. Nathaniel Lowe has a 99th percentile opposite-field rate on his flyballs (41.3%) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards the league's 2nd-shallowest LF fences in today's matchup.. This season, Nathaniel Lowe has experienced a significant improvement in his exit velocity on flyballs, now sitting at an average of 93 mph compared to last year's 90.8 mph mark.