MLB PrizePicks Predictions Today: Top Plays for Tuesday, April 2
Traditional MLB DFS formats aren’t the only way to profit from daily fantasy baseball. MLB PrizePicks is a great Fantasy Pick’em site where we can take today’s projections versus theirs and combine two or more baseball predictions for sizeable payouts.
In this space, we’ll explore a few PrizePicks plays for the upcoming MLB slate. This article isn’t the be-all, end-all of great plays or a recommendation for a full ticket; it’s simply a starting place for you to explore thinking about the game within the game. Maybe you want to scatter these plays across entries. Maybe there are only two or three you think are worth playing. Daily fantasy pick’em gives us the flexibility to make only the plays in which we think there is value rather than being forced to create a full lineup while competing against the best DFS players in the industry.
PrizePicks is daily fantasy baseball made simple.
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MLB PrizePicks Predictions for Tuesday, April 2
- Cole Irvin MORE Than 5.5 Strikeouts (DEMON)
- Shane Bieber LESS Than 6.5 Strikeouts
- Yordan Alvarez MORE Than 7.0 Fantasy Points
- Andrew Heaney MORE Than 4.5 Strikeouts (DEMON)
- Yandy Diaz MORE Than 7.5 Fantasy Points
Cole Irvin MORE Than 5.5 Strikeouts (DEMON)
In 2023, Cole Irvin averaged 92.1 mph on his fastball and has only hit 95 three times in his five MLB seasons. In Spring Training, he was sniffing 96, averaging around 94. His cutter is up to over 88 from 85.6. Against a Royals projected lineup with a 23.8% K rate since 2023 against lefties and armed with a pitch count in the 80-to-85 range, we should like the DEMON boost here from a guy who’s shown solid command throughout his career (2.11 BB/9) in the pitcher-friendly Camden Yards. We only have him projected for 4.4 strikeouts, but we should have exposure to his uptick in velocity before the projections catch up.
Shane Bieber LESS Than 6.5 Strikeouts
The fear with a LESS play for Shane Bieber is that he’s one of a handful of guys who can go eight innings and, therefore, compile. He struck out 11 A’s in six innings, but everyone is striking out 11 A’s this year. His fastball is up a mph, and he ditched his curve for more fastballs in his first start, but — again — it was against the A’s. THE BAT has Bieber averaging 8.54 K/9 this season and the M’s have a good amount of strikeouts against righties in their projected lineup (23.1%). But this is a very hit-or-miss pitcher when it comes to strikeouts, and 6.5 is just kind of a big number we want to attack when the number is placed on guys with sub-9.00 K/9s. We have Bieber projected for only 5.2 strikeouts, so this isn’t just me vomiting a gut reaction. The M’s have a lot of power, so if Bieber ditches the power pitching to force soft contact, we’re money here.
Yordan Alvarez MORE Than 7.0 Fantasy Points
Jose Berrios is a good real-life pitcher, but he did give up a 10.0% barrel rate to lefties in 2023. Yordan Alvarez has a 21.0% barrel rate against righties since 2023. Alvarez is struggling to start the season, so it’s a great time to pounce on a soft fantasy point line. 7.0 is a bit egregious against a righty who struggles with lefty power in Houston and a not-great bullpen to follow. Hitting second is pretty awesome for us, too.
Andrew Heaney MORE Than 4.5 Strikeouts (DEMON)
I won’t have much exposure to this projection because Andrew Heaney gives up a lot of power, and the Rays have the power to get to him and get him out of the game early. But Heaney is an excellent strikeout pitcher who doesn’t need more than 4 innings to get 5 strikeouts against anyone in any ballpark. This is a Rays projected lineup with a 23.3% K rate against lefties since 2023, and Tampa is a great place to pitch for pitchers who struggle with power prevention. We have him projected right at 4.5, so the DEMON boost is pretty clutch.
Yandy Diaz MORE Than 7.5 Fantasy Points
Yandy Diaz doesn’t get the ball in the air often, but he has had a 66.0% hard-hit rate and leads qualified Rays in barrel rate (16.5%) against lefties since 2023. The aforementioned Heaney gave up an 11.4% barrel rate to righties in 2023. Leading off, he gets the extra plate appearance, so the Rays don’t need to score 7 for him to get 5 shots at 8 fantasy points.
All projections referenced are accurate at the time of writing but subject to change.
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