The hot week continues, so I'm looking to finish off my 5-1 run with a pair of MLB player prop picks for Friday.
If I can find two winners here, I'll polish off my best week of the season, so far. So I'm going deep into my bag for a total base prop pick for Austin Riley and a strikeout prop for my boy Reese Olson.
Here are my two best MLB player props for today:
MLB Prop Pick Today: Austin Riley Over 1.5 Total Bases (+110)
Phillies vs Braves Odds - Game Time: 2:35 pm ET
Austin Riley and Aaron Nola are well acquainted. The pair of NL East stars have faced off in 54 career at-bats, but Riley's got the best of the Philly ace. The Braves bat has 21 hits in those matchups (10 for extra-bases), good for a .389 average and 1.180 OPS.
Nola is good, but he's not impossible to hit (as Riley's career numbers prove). The vet has allowed six or more hits in three of his last four starts and let up 15 runs in his last four outings, combined.
With a career edge over Nola, Riley is set up to take advantage. The Braves third baseman has hits in eight of his last 10 games, including three multi-hit games and three homers in that stretch. Riley's OPS over the last two weeks is .966.
Riley also has five career homers off Nola (the most of any player vs his opposing starter in today's slate). You can bet on Riley to go yard again tonight at +420.
MLB Prop Pick Today: Reese Olson Over 5.5 Strikeouts (-113)
Tigers vs Reds Odds - Game Time: 7:11 pm ET
I honestly don't get this line at all and feel like I've gotta be missing something here.
Reese Olson is a certifiable stud, striking out over 5.5 batters in three of his last five games, including nine and eight strikeout performances in the last two weeks.
He's been the Tigers most reliable starter, pitching at least six innings in his last three contests and not allowing over two runs in any of those starts, either. When he's going deep in games (as he is lately), Olson hits his strikeout overs. In the seven starts where Olson has pitched at least six innings this year, he's finished with eight or more strikeouts four times and averages 6.3 Ks per outing.
It's not like Cincinnati will put up much of a fight tonight, either. The Reds have one of the highest strikeout rates in baseball, averaging 8.91 punch outs per game as a collective (seventh-most). Opposing starters have struck out eight Reds the past two nights.
