MLB

MLB Prop Bets to Target on Thursday 9/8/22

Thomas Vecchio  —  @Tom_Vecchio1 Sep 8th, 2022

Player props can be useful in a variety of ways -- from taking advantage of them straight up (to the tune of cold hard cash) to measuring a player's potential to produce in daily fantasy baseball on FanDuel. Here, we're going to focus on the former.

Utilizing our projections as a guide and looking at the odds provided at FanDuel Sportsbook, here are some spots where you can find value today in the prop-betting market.

Here are some MLB player prop bets to make tonight.

Please note that betting lines and our game projections may change throughout the day after this article is published. Also, the weather may be an issue in some locations.

Jose Abreu 2+ Total Bases (+100)

The Chicago White Sox could be in a spot for some offense tonight.

They are on the road to take on the Oakland Athletics, who will have JP Sears on the mound. Sears hasn't been bad this season, but he also hasn't been a shutdown pitcher.

Sears is allowing a .345 SLG, 4.59 xFIP, 15.3% strikeout rate, and 42.6% fly-ball rate versus right-handed hitters this season. He may not get burned by the long ball, but he allows balls in play and isn't a big-time strikeout pitcher. This is a viable combination to attack and presents upside for the Chicago righties.

That leads us to Jose Abreu, who comes in with a very strong 148 wRC+, .375 wOBA, .189 ISO, and 38.6% hard-contact rate versus left-handed pitchers.

He'll be hitting in the top portion of their lineup and should have plenty of cracks at the plate to get on base.

Nestor Cortes Under 5.5 Strikeouts (-108)

With very little juice, I'm going with an under on a strikeout prop tonight.

Nestor Cortes is set to return from the Injured List and take the bump for the New York Yankees tonight. Cortes has been out since August 21st dealing with a groin injury and didn't make any rehab starts. He threw a 45-pitch bullpen session last weekend, and there's some speculation on how deep Cortes will be going into the game.

The assumption is that Clarke Schmidt could be in line for some innings if Cortes isn't able to get deep into the game.

Combine that injury news with the fact the Minnesota Twins come in with a 19.0% strikeout rate versus left-handed pitchers, which is the fifth-lowest in the league. Cortes was also failing to rack up the strikeouts prior to his time on the Injured List, posting a 23.8% strikeout rate or lower in four of his last five starts.