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Best MLB Player Props Today: Predictions for Richie Palacios, Javier Baez on Thursday

Richie Palacios aren't the biggest names nor do they have the best season-long numbers, but these key stats show why they're in great spots today.

By Gage Bridgford

Javier Baez hits the baseball
Javier Baez hits the baseball / Brian Bradshaw Sevald-USA TODAY Sports
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We went 2-0 on our MLB player props yesterday, and that brought us to 4-2 on the year with a unit count of +3.02. The weather for today’s slate isn’t the best, and it’s just a five-game slate. However, we still found a pair of props worth attacking.

The odds on these are going to be a little bit longer than our normal plays, but we’re also lowering our units here. Our two guys that we’ll be looking at today are Richie Palacios of the Tampa Bay Rays and Javier Baez of the Detroit Tigers.

Best Bets Record to Date

  • 2024 year record: 27-18-0 (+9.91 units)

Find Gage Bridgford's Best Bets betting record here.

MLB Best Bets Today

  • Richie Palacios O0.5 RBIs (+250) - .5 Units BetMGM
  • Javier Baez First At Bat Strikeout (+310) - .5 Units FanDuel

Richie Palacios O0.5 RBIs (+250) BetMGM

Our first guy that we’re looking at today is going to be Palacios. Richie is batting second for the Rays today, and we’re going to be trying to take advantage of his talents vs. right-handed pitchers this season. Palacios has almost exclusively been a platoon guy this year. He has just one at bat vs. a left-handed pitcher. He’s batting .278 against RHP this year, and, over the last week, he’s batting .333 with five hits in his last 15 at bats.

On the bump for the Los Angeles Angels is going to be Griffin Canning. Canning has gotten knocked around quite a bit to start the year. Through three starts, he’s finished 13.2 innings while giving up a league-leading five home runs and 16 total runs.

Lefties especially have had his number to start the year. Four of his five home runs allowed have been to lefties. Additionally, he’s been much worse on the road where he’s allowing a .390 batting average against him compared to .263 at home.

Javier Baez First At Bat Strikeout (+310) FanDuel

Our second play of the day is going out on a bit of a limb, but the odds are too good to ignore. Javy Baez has 15 strikeouts in 53 ABs this year, and he’s been riding a bit of a hot streak with just one strikeout in his last five games. However, the tides are going to be working against him today. 11 of his 15 strikeouts have come against right-handed pitchers, and the Rangers have a young rightie on the mound that Baez hasn’t seen before.

In three games at AAA-Round Rock this year, Jack Leiter has struck out 25 batters with 16 of those strikeouts coming against righties, who are batting just .161 against him.

This will be Leiter’s debut in the big leagues, but he should get at least an inning or two before he faces Baez which should give him a little time to settle in. I like the matchup on this one, and the price is too good to ignore for free-swinging Baez at the plate.

 Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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