MLB PrizePicks Predictions Today: Top Plays for Wednesday, June 19th
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, and our MLB PrizePicks picks tool makes the process even simpler.
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All stats cited are since the start of the 2024 season unless otherwise noted.
MLB PrizePicks Predictions for Wednesday, June 19th
- Gerrit Cole MORE Than 6.5 Strikeouts (DEMON)
- Ryan Feltner LESS Than 15.5 Outs and LESS Than 4.0 Strikeouts
- Andrew Heaney MORE Than 15.5 Outs (DEMON)
- Luis Robert LESS Than 1.5 Total Bases (DEMON)
- Garrett Crochet MORE Than 7.5 Strikeouts (DEMON)
Gerrit Cole MORE Than 6.5 Strikeouts (DEMON)
Welcome back to our lives, Gerrit Cole. First off, we have Cole projected for 85 pitches, so volume isn’t the concern. Since he’s projected for 5.9 strikeouts with a DEMON boost, we’re supposed to feel good about sprinkling this play around, but he is coming back from injury, so we should normally be passive in these cases — especially against maybe the best offense in baseball in the Orioles. But Cole did strike out 19 minor league hitters in 12.1 IP through 3 rehab starts, so it might be safe to say the Cole we know and love is back in our hearts for the time being.
It’s completely understandable to take a wait-and-see approach with Cole, but if he’s great, the matchup doesn’t matter, and these projections are only going up and getting tighter. If he’s on, we aren’t gonna see his DEMON projection this low for a very long time, so I wanna pounce now.
Ryan Feltner LESS Than 15.5 Outs and LESS Than 4.0 Strikeouts
This is simple. Ryan Feltner is a not-great pitcher facing the Dodgers in Coors Field. The odds are very slim that he gets into the 5th inning at all. We have Feltner projected for 13.8 outs and just 3.8 strikeouts in a position where his floor is extremely low on both data points. Feltner has had a decent season for a Coors Field pitcher, but these are the Dodgers, and our pick’em tool says that this is the best play on the board.
Andrew Heaney MORE Than 15.5 Outs (DEMON)
The Mets are a pretty good offense — especially against lefties — but we’re enforcing a soft line where we have a DEMON boost. Andrew Heaney has had a ridiculously inconsistent season where he can go 6 IP or fewer than 5 in any given start, so it’s understandable to hate this play. However, we have him projected for 90 pitches, he has a low BB rate (6.2%), and he isn’t getting smashed (7.7% barrel rate allowed), so we have him projected for 15.4 outs. This is a tight squeeze, but we can sprinkle this around to sneak in some extra winnings.
Luis Robert LESS Than 1.5 Total Bases (DEMON)
Hunter Brown is a good pitcher with a low barrel rate allowed (4.8), but he’s given up a good deal of HRs (1.45 HR/9), and Luis Robert has real-deal power. Robert has a 16.2% barrel rate against righties since the start of the 2023 season on a 55.2% hard-hit rate and a 30.7% fly-ball rate. In a great ballpark for home runs with 88-degree temps forecasted at the first pitch, we can see how Robert is projected by us for 2.3 total bases. His DEMON projection should be more like 2.5, so we’re getting a massive discount.
Garrett Crochet MORE Than 7.5 Strikeouts (DEMON)
Speaking of plays we shouldn’t love but should have exposure to, Garrett Crochet is projected by us for 7.0 strikeouts. This projection tells us that the DEMON boost should be in the range of 8, so we’re getting another little discount. Crochet has a wicked 35.7% K rate to only a 5.8% BB rate, surrendering just a 7% barrel rate. The reason why his PrizePicks projection is a little soft, of course, is that the Astros are an extremely low strikeout team. Their projected lineup has a microscopic 13.1% K rate, so this is very risky. I wouldn’t be exposed to this projection in more than 1 of 7 or 8 contests, but the projections say that we should have some exposure.
All projections referenced are accurate at the time of writing but subject to change.
This is a tough day for PrizePicks, so I’m probably only playing a moderate amount of volume for 3-leg contests. You’re completely allowed to play 5-6 legs per contest, but when doing so, I’d suggest fewer contests than you normally play. Basically, this is a slate where we wanna minimize our risk for huge rewards. Maybe we stack a couple of DEMON boosts on a third of our contests. Maybe we play $10 per contest instead of $20 and so on.
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