While Sunday was rough, the weekend was a success as we finished 6-3 on our MLB player prop picks. We are set to carry our momentum into a new week, and I've got three starting pitchers who will help us do that on Monday.
Let's dive into our top MLB player props for Monday, June 17 — featuring bets for David Peterson, Reese Olson and Yusei Kikuchi.
MLB Player Prop Picks
- Yusei Kikuchi over 17.5 outs (-129, BetRivers)
- Reese Olson over 4.5 strikeouts (-137, BetRivers)
- David Peterson under 16.5 outs (+100, bet365)
At age 33, Yusei Kikuchi has found it. His command has drastically improved, and so have his outings this season. Kikuchi enters with a 3.26 ERA and 1.23 WHIP because he's been pumping the strike zone and getting results more quickly.
This has allowed him to work deeper into games, and he has thrown at least six innings in eight of his 14 starts this season. Tonight, he has a great opportunity to eat innings against the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox lead the majors in Strikeout Rate against lefties and are just 16th in wRC+. If Kikuchi can keep getting ahead in the count, he should cruise through this free-swinging lineup.
Detroit Tigers starter Reese Olson has been in the shadow of Tarik Skubal this season, but the 24-year-old righty has been very effective. Olson enters this outing with a 3.68 ERA and will face a scuffling Braves lineup.
This play is a fade of the Braves lineup as they are nowhere near the unit from last season. Yes, the loss of Ronald Acuña weighs heavily, but they have the 11th-highest Strikeout Rate against righties and are just 21st in wRC+ against them over their last 15 games.
Olson is by no means a strikeout artist, but he has a consistent floor with an average of 4.7 strikeouts per game this year. With the Braves trending down, Olson exceeding his strikeout total is a strong addition to our card.
Lastly, we head to Arlington, Texas where David Peterson takes the mound against the Texas Rangers. This will be just the fourth start of the year for Peterson, who struggled with injury and provided organizational depth by pitching in Triple-A.
Since returning to the big leagues, he has been decent. However, a deeper look into his numbers brings concern for this outing because Peterson has allowed a great deal of contact in his first three starts.
In 16.2 innings this year, he's allowed 20 hits and only struck out six batters. Now, he is facing a struggling Rangers lineup, but we know how potent the defending World Series champions can be, and putting the ball in play could ignite them tonight.
In addition to all of this, Peterson has been a five-and-fly guy throughout his career. He has only gone over this number 13 times in his last 45 starts. That gives us implied odds of -233 that he exits early again tonight.
