James Wood and Yusei Kikuchi headline my MLB prop bets for Friday night’s action.
Today’s MLB props narrative: Wood will face Clayton Kershaw — 15 years his senior — for the very first time amid an excellent run of production. As for Kikuchi, he’s looking to work deep against the Houston Astros to give his bullpen a breather.
Check out the best MLB prop bets for June 20, which includes a prediction on Ryan McMahon.
MLB prop bets
Best Bet: McMahon over 1.5 total bases (+118)
Remember when Zac Gallen was an NL Cy Young contender? Well, he’s nowhere near that territory this season.
Gallen logged a pair of top-five NL Cy Young finishes in 2022-23, and he was solid again last season. But this year, he has career-worst marks in a lot of key categories:
- ERA (5.19)
- K/9 (8.4)
- WHIP (1.350)
- xSLG (.446)
In the Colorado Rockies’ hitter-friendly park, I expect Gallen’s woes to continue. And McMahon looks like the right guy to capitalize.
The left-hitting cleanup man is in a groove right now, posting a 1.247 OPS over his past 12 games. He has five home runs and three doubles in that span.
His 100 OPS+ for the season is less exciting, but there’s plenty of pop in this bat.
According to Baseball Savant, McMahon ranks in the 98th percentile in average exit velocity (94.7 mph) and the 81st percentile in barrel rate (13.3%).
Keep in mind that MLB.com quantifies barrels as high-value batted balls with an expected SLG of 1.500 or greater.
McMahon hasn’t powered up against Gallen much in the past, but they have seen plenty of each other. The third baseman is 11-for-39 (.282) with three doubles in the matchup.
Last month, McMahon went 2-for-5 in a game started by Gallen, in which the Arizona starter coughed up six runs on eight hits over 5.0 innings.
Key stat: McMahon has gone over 1.5 bases in seven of his past 10 starts.
Best MLB picks
Kikuchi over 17.5 outs (-122): Kikuchi is only 7-8 vs. this outs prop this season, but he’s constantly in a good position to cash the over.
- Has pitched into the sixth inning or deeper in 12 of 15 starts.
- 90+ pitches in 12 of 15 starts.
The Los Angeles Angels have the third-fewest relief innings in MLB, but their bullpen has been used quite a bit recently. Six of L.A.’s eight relievers have worked at least twice in the past four days.
Kikuchi has been great since the start of May, posting a 2.28 ERA in nine starts.
Expect him to get every opportunity to work six-plus innings against the Astros.
Wood over 0.5 runs (+140): Clayton Kershaw is off to a solid start in his age-37 season, but this is simply too good of a price for me to ignore with Wood.
The 22-year-old outfielder is on a remarkable 30-game run right now:
- .405 OBP
- 1.032 OPS
- 1+ runs in 15 of 30 games
Wood bats from the left side, which puts him at a slight disadvantage against a southpaw like Kershaw. But given that Wood still has an impressive .284/.352/.526 slash line vs. LHPs this year, that doesn’t concern me too much.
Wood typically bats in the No. 2 spot of the Nationals’ lineup. He runs well for a 6-foot-7 athlete (70th-percentile sprint speed) and can hit the ball a country mile.
MLB prop picks made at 2:10 p.m. ET on 06/20/2025.
Jordan enjoys writing data-driven game previews and analysis articles — especially for MLB markets or NFL/NBA props. And as a proud Ohio University grad, he’ll always have a soft spot for college sports (especially if the Bobcats are involved). Previous stops include mlb.com, Sportsnet and The Athletic.