3 MLB Player Prop Bets to Target on Friday 6/2/23

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 MLB odds 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.

Nolan Gorman to Hit a Home Run (+370)

The St. Louis Cardinals have a 4.99 implied run total tonight and are primed for plenty of offense.

With hot temperatures and a great matchup, there should be plenty of scoring tonight when the Cardinals visit the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 9.5 over/under is a good indication we are in for some fireworks, and we want to target some player props that reflect that.

The Pirates will have Roansy Contreras on the mound, a pitcher we can look to target with some lefty hitters. This season, Contreras is allowing a .457 SLG, .350 wOBA, 6.29 xFIP, 1.09 HR/9, 44.0% fly-ball rate, 34.1% hard-contact rate, and 8.1% HR/FB ratio versus left-handed hitters.

The HR/FB ratio is rather interesting considering the league average versus lefties is 12.3%. The league average for fly-balls versus lefties is 37.2%. Contreras is allowing more fly balls than the league average but allowing fewer home runs. That doesn't add up and points to him being due to allow more homers.

That leads me to Nolan Gorman, who is in the midst of a breakout season and brings plenty of power to this dish. This year versus righties, he has a 145 wRC+, .381 wOBA, .268 ISO, 40.4% fly-ball rate, and 36.7% hard-contact rate. Gorman also sits in the 88th percentile or higher in hard-hit rate, xwOBA, xSLG, and barrel rate, according to BaseballSavant.

It's a great matchup and great weather, putting Gorman in an awesome spot. As always, I'm adding Gorman To Record an RBI (+120).

Garrett Whitlock Under 4.5 Strikeouts (-128)

For a strikeout prop tonight, I'm rolling with under 4.5 strikeouts for Garrett Whitlock.

There are multiple factors leading me to the under for Whitlock, so let's jump in. First off, there's a potential for rain tonight in Boston, which always adds a bit of a wrinkle to betting some unders. Whitlock could start the game, a rain delay occurs, the game resumes, and Whitlock doesn't return. It happens time and time again, and if it occurs tonight, that would give us a super easy under on his strikeouts.

Of course, I'm not banking on just rain for this under. The matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays is really tough. They come in with a 22.2% strikeout rate versus right-handed pitchers, which is the 10th-lowest in the league. On top of that, they have a .208 ISO (2nd), 127 wRC+ (1st), and 39.7% fly-ball rate (6th) in the split. The Rays are awesome.

Whitlock also comes in with a very modest 18.1% strikeout rate and 10.9% swinging-strike rate. Both those are lower than what he posted in his previous two seasons, and with a difficult matchup tonight, he's not in a spot to get those numbers back to higher levels.

Salvador Perez to Record 2+ Total Bases (-105)

With a 4.87 implied run total, Kansas City Royals are a solid place to look for a player prop tonight.

The visiting Rockies will have Chase Anderson on the mound. Anderson comes in with a .326 SLG, 5.20 xFIP, 11.8% strikeout rate, and 40.0% fly-ball rate versus right-handed hitters. Anderson is simply not a pitcher you need to be worried about, and we should be siding with the Royals' hitters tonight.

We turn to Salvador Perez, who is crushing righties this season to the tune of a 138 wRC+, .376 wOBA, .278 ISO, .321 BABIP, 46.7% fly-ball rate, and 36.7% hard-contact rate. At nearly even money, Perez is in a great spot to grab two bases against a bad pitcher.