We have a stacked 15-game MLB slate on Friday, which means there are plenty of entries to sift through on PrizePicks.
A quick refresher if you aren’t familiar with PrizePicks: you can combine up to five different player squares to pay out up to 10x your entry.
You can do a Flex Play or a Power Play. A Flex Play provides lesser odds, but you can win money even if you don’t nail every pick. A Power Play is all-or-nothing.
Here’s how I would approach Friday’s MLB slate.
What is PrizePicks? A daily fantasy operator — meaning they’re available in more states (30) than sports betting is! — PrizePicks offers a unique opportunity for action on player picks in which you combine two or more entries together.
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[subheader sizedown=”false” text=”Randy Arozarena Fantasy Score Less Than 7″ subtext=”Yankees vs. Rays, 6:40 p.m. ET | Gerrit Cole vs. Zach Eflin” center=”false” logo1url=”https://images.actionnetwork.com/blog/2023/08/2023-mlb-logo-tampa-bay-rays.png” link1=”” link1follow=”true” logo2url=”” link2=”” link2follow=”true” trailinglogourl=”” trailinglink=”” trailinglinkfollow=”true”][/subheader]
The first installment of this three-game AL East series gets underway Friday evening with the second-place Tampa Bay Rays hosting the fifth-place New York Yankees.
Right-hander Gerrit Cole takes the mound for New York, and he should be a good candidate to back. The front-runner for the AL Cy Young award, Cole is 10-4 with a 3.03 ERA and 1.07 WHIP.
Randy Arozarena is the first Tampa Bay hitter to fade. While it has been a strong campaign for Arozarena, he has not been playing his best ball lately.
Over his past 30 games, the outfielder possesses a .214 BA, .321 SLG and .655 OPS. These hitting woes are likely to continue against Cole, especially considering that Arozarena’s splits take a roughly 20% drop when facing right-handed pitching since 2021.
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[subheader sizedown=”false” text=”Yandy Diaz Fantasy Score Less Than 6.5″ subtext=”Yankees vs. Rays, 6:40 p.m. ET | Gerrit Cole vs. Zach Eflin” center=”false” logo1url=”https://images.actionnetwork.com/blog/2023/08/2023-mlb-logo-tampa-bay-rays.png” link1=”” link1follow=”true” logo2url=”” link2=”” link2follow=”true” trailinglogourl=”” trailinglink=”” trailinglinkfollow=”true”][/subheader]
The other Rays hitter to fade is Yandy Diaz.
Like Arozarena, Diaz also does not fare as well against right-handed pitching, with his splits taking an approximate 7% dip since 2021. Therefore, it is not surprising that Diaz possesses a fade-worthy .176 BA over his past 21 plate appearances against Cole.
There’s a lot to like about Diaz and his stellar play at the dish this season, but in a matchup against Cole, I would rather back the right-hander, especially with this number set at 6.5.
[subheader sizedown=”false” text=”Aaron Judge Fantasy Score Less Than 8.5″ subtext=”Yankees vs. Rays, 6:40 p.m. ET | Gerrit Cole vs. Zach Eflin” center=”false” logo1url=”https://static.sprtactn.co/teamlogos/mlb/100/nyyd.png” link1=”” link1follow=”true” logo2url=”” link2=”” link2follow=”true” trailinglogourl=”” trailinglink=”” trailinglinkfollow=”true”][/subheader]
Speaking of going against excellent hitters, we are also going to fade superstar Aaron Judge in this contest as right-hander Zach Eflin takes the mound for Tampa Bay.
Through 24 starts this season, Eflin is 13-7 with a 3.58 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. His underlying metrics suggest that regression is unlikely as the right-hander ranks in the 76th percentile or higher in average exit velocity, HardHit%, xERA/xwOBA and xBA.
Yes, Judge is obviously a monster at the plate, but 8.5 is a massive number in a contest against someone of Eflin’s caliber. Judge has failed to surpass this figure in seven of his past 11 games.
Across his six career plate appearances against Eflin, Judge possesses a fade-worthy .167 BA, .167 SLG and .147 wOBA with two strikeouts. Finally, when facing right-handed pitching this year, his splits drop by roughly 10%.
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