MLB Player Prop Bet Odds & Picks: Saturday (3/30)
Weather permitting, Saturday will be the first day of the Major League Baseball season where all 30 teams are in action, and several are returning from scheduled off days after Thursday’s official Opening Day. What player props catch our eye after the small sample size of games to this point?
Read on for our Top MLB Player Prop Bets for Saturday.
Saturday's Best MLB Player Prop Bets
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
Joe Ryan Under 1.5 earned runs allowed (+130)
Minnesota Twins starter Joe Ryan has been outright dominant against the Kansas City Royals in his career, going 5-0 with a 1.50 ERA and a 10.3 K/9 rate in six career starts. Ryan has rendered Kansas City’s best hitter, Bobby Witt Jr., irrelevant in those matchups, holding him to one hit in 16 at-bats and striking him out five times in that span. He will have to be on top of his game with Royce Lewis and Max Kepler potentially out of the lineup, as both left Thursday’s game with injuries.
Ryan generated whiffs of at least 28.7% on two of his three primary pitches last season, and allowed the weakest contact (3.0%) of any of his three big league seasons last year. The Royals only mustered five hits on Opening Day against Pablo Lopez and two Twins relievers, and should be in for a similarly frustrating day offensively today.
Josh Jung Over 0.5 RBIs (+150)
Chicago Cubs righty Kyle Hendricks had a bounceback year from a disappointing 2022, lowering his ERA from 4.80 to 3.75 and his walk percentage from 6.7% to 4.7%. However, at this stage in his career, Hendricks can always be counted on to pitch to contact, as his 16.1% strikeout rate last season was the lowest of his career. That should help Texas Rangers slugger Josh Jung, who struck out a whopping 151 times in 478 at-bats last season.
Jung reached based three times in the team’s home opener on Thursday, and hitting behind Marcus Semien and Corey Seager in the lineup, he should be up at-bat with plenty of RBI chances today. The Rangers scored an AL-best 881 runs last season, and the offense, with Jung being a big contributor, should continue to carry the team through its early-season pitching injuries.
Yusei Kikuchi Under 5.5 strikeouts (-145)
The Tampa Bay Rays feasted on left-handed pitching last year, ranking in the top four in the majors in wRC+ and BABIP. They now face Toronto Blue Jays southpaw Yusei Kikuchi, whose K/9 rate decreased by 12.6% from 2022 to 2023. He has a much lower K/9 rate on the road (8.5) compared to at home (9.4) in his career, and he has never been known as an innings eater in the first month of the season, averaging just over five innings per start in his 21 career March/April starts. Kikuchi’s 10.4 career K/9 rate against the Rays is by far his highest against any AL East team, but with this being his first start of the season, we are banking on a strict pitch count being the reason he does not exceed this projected strikeout total.
Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.