Philadelphia @ Texas picks

The Rangers hand trade deadline acquisition Merrill Kelly the ball, and Kyle Schwarber is familiar with him. The slugger is 4-for-15 lifetime, and two of those hits have left the ballpark. 

Cristopher Sanchez has held the opposition to Under 1.5 earned runs in seven of his last eight starts and is coming off a scoreless eight-inning outing against the Tigers last Sunday. I see a similar performance on the cards tonight against a dried-up Rangers offense that ranks 24th in team batting average (.232) and 23rd in OPS (.669) since the All-Star break.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Marcus Semien in the 83rd percentile when estimating his overall offensive skill.. Marcus Semien is penciled in 3rd in the batting order in this matchup.. Globe Life Field has the 7th-lowest average fence height in the league.. Hitting from the opposite that Cristopher Sanchez throws from, Marcus Semien will have the upper hand in today's game.. Bats such as Marcus Semien with extreme flyball tendencies are usually more effective when facing pitchers like Cristopher Sanchez who skew towards the groundball end of the spectrum.

Globe Life Field has the 7th-lowest average fence height in the league.. Hitting from the opposite that Merrill Kelly throws from, Max Kepler will have an advantage in today's game.. Max Kepler has made notable gains with his Barrel%, upping his 6.2% rate last season to 12% this year.. In the past two weeks, Max Kepler has significantly improved the launch angle on his hardest-contacted balls: 17.7° compared to his seasonal mark of 13.6°.. Max Kepler'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 13.8% to 17.9%.

According to the leading projection system (THE BAT X), Corey Seager ranks as the 7th-best batter in Major League Baseball.. Corey Seager is projected to hit 2nd in the batting order in this matchup.. Globe Life Field has the 7th-lowest average fence height in the league.. Out of every team playing today, the 3rd-weakest outfield defense is that of the Philadelphia Phillies.. Home field advantage typically boosts batter metrics across the board, and Corey Seager will hold that advantage in today's game.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) ranks Kyle Schwarber as Major League Baseball's 3rd-best home run hitter.. Kyle Schwarber is penciled in 2nd in the lineup today.. Globe Life Field has the 7th-lowest average fence height in the league.. Batting from the opposite that Merrill Kelly throws from, Kyle Schwarber will have the upper hand in today's matchup.. Kyle Schwarber has made substantial improvements with his Barrel% of late, upping his 20.5% seasonal rate to 34.5% in the past 14 days.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects J.T. Realmuto in the 95th percentile when it comes to his BABIP skill.. J.T. Realmuto has primarily hit in the back-half of the lineup this year (60% of the time), but he is projected to bat 4th on the lineup card today.. Globe Life Field has the 7th-lowest average fence height in the league.. J.T. Realmuto's ability to hit the ball at a BABIP-maximizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) has increased recently, rising from 48.2% on the season to 60% over the last two weeks.. J.T. Realmuto has been unlucky in regards to his home runs this year; his 10.9 HR per 600 plate appearances mark is quite a bit lower than his 15.4 Expected HR/600, based on the leading projection system (THE BAT X)'s interpretation of Statcast data.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Wyatt Langford in the 96th percentile when it comes to his overall offensive talent.. Wyatt Langford is projected to hit 4th in the lineup in this game.. Globe Life Field has the 7th-lowest average fence height in the league.. Wyatt Langford will have the handedness advantage against Cristopher Sanchez in today's game.. Out of every team playing today, the 3rd-weakest outfield defense is that of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Bryce Harper projects as the 12th-best batter in the league, via the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Bryce Harper is projected to hit 3rd in the lineup today.. Globe Life Field has the 7th-lowest average fence height in the league.. Hitting from the opposite that Merrill Kelly throws from, Bryce Harper will have the upper hand in today's matchup.. In the past two weeks, Bryce Harper's exit velocity on flyballs has seen a big rise, from 94.2-mph over the course of the season to 97.8-mph in recent games.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Otto Kemp in the 95th percentile as it relates to his BABIP ability.. Globe Life Field has the 7th-lowest average fence height in the league.. Over the past 14 days, Otto Kemp's 44.4% rate of hitting balls at a HR-optimizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) shows big improvement over his seasonal rate of 21.1%.

Bryson Stott's batting average talent is projected to be in the 86th percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Globe Life Field has the 7th-lowest average fence height in the league.. Hitting from the opposite that Merrill Kelly throws from, Bryson Stott will have an edge in today's matchup.. Bryson Stott's launch angle of late (39° in the last week's worth of games) is a significant increase over his 15.5° seasonal mark.. Compared to last season, Bryson Stott has improved his ability to hit the ball at a launch angle ideal for home runs, increasing his percentage of balls hit between 23° and 34° from 16.2% to 20.7% this season.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) ranks Kyle Schwarber as Major League Baseball's 3rd-best home run hitter.. Kyle Schwarber is penciled in 2nd in the lineup today.. Globe Life Field has the 7th-lowest average fence height in the league.. Batting from the opposite that Merrill Kelly throws from, Kyle Schwarber will have the upper hand in today's matchup.. Kyle Schwarber has made substantial improvements with his Barrel% of late, upping his 20.5% seasonal rate to 34.5% in the past 14 days.