Carlos Rodon Has Intriguing Strikeout Projection Against Royals

Carlos Rodon went from being non-tendered by the Chicago White Sox this past offseason to becoming one of the team’s best starters to open the 2021 season. 

Oh, and he threw a no-hitter along the way.

Rodon enters Friday’s start against the Kansas City Royals with a 4-0 record and a magnificent 0.72 earned run average. The 28-year-old’s dominance this season has made him one of the more intriguing starting pitchers in the league, and he has an enticing player prop for tonight’s start. 

Rodon is projected to tally just 5.5 strikeouts on WynnBET with the over (-140) being the heavy favorite to the under (+105). This season, Rodon hasn’t struck out less than seven batters in a game and has totaled an average of nine strikeouts through his first four starts. 

Kansas City has been one of the better teams in baseball at avoiding punchouts, but they still average 8.13 strikeouts per game and have racked up 10.7 K’s per contest over their last three outings.

It’s hard to turn your back on a guy when he’s hot, and Rodon is hotter than the sun right now. He’s thrown 65 percent of his pitches for strikes this season and 17 percent of those strikes have come on swings and misses. If Rodon can continue to miss barrels at the rate he has this season, he should be a lock to tally over 5.5 strikeouts on Friday.