A market that is untapped to most MLB prop bettors is the first plate appearance result. Luckily for anyone reading this, I have been studying this market for some time. Our featured play is Chicago Cubs outfielder Christpher Morel facing off against Christian Javier of the Houston Astros.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published at 1:20 p.m. CT on 5/16/2023
Best Cubs-Astros Bet: Christopher Morel First Plate Appearance
Am I about to write an article about potentially the first at-bat of the game? You bet I am. The Houston Astros are at home tonight against the Chicago Cubs in an interleague battle. The Astros took game one by a score of 6-4 with featured plenty of strikeouts for the Cubs. South paw Framber Valdez fanned eight batters in just four innings while the bullpen put together a dominate effort. They allowed zero runs and issued seven more strikeouts.
Now for the fun part. Christopher Morel is just five games into his season but is mashing. He’s hitting .346 with four home runs. But, he’s struck out 10 times in 26 at-bats. That’s good for us. To dive even deeper, he’s struck out in his first at-bat in four of the five games he’s played. Last night he was put down on strikes four times. He struck out in his first two plate appearances, hit a home run in the top of the fourth inning, and then proceed to strike out two more times.
Christian Javier is on another planet in on K’s. In his last start, he had 11 K’s: his most in a start all season. That includes striking out the side in the first inning. These two have yet to face which gives the advantage to World Series champion Javier.
Javier and his 37% K rate to right-handed bats in near the top of the league of qualified starting pitchers. Meanwhile, Morel and his 35% K rate to right-handed pitchers is not something to be proud of but we’ll gladly back.
FanDuel will release first plate appearances when lineups are announced. Feel free to see if Morel gets the nod at leadoff or at the bottom of the order but we should definitely see him suit up tonight.
