MLB Betting

It’s his first decision in four starts. Early gave up a first-inning homer to Austin Martin — the first home run he’s allowed in eight career major league starts — but just one of the other 14 balls in play against him produced a hit, with Victor Caratini singling in the second. Early struck out five and walked two while lowering his ERA to 2.28. His peripherals aren’t great and he’s giving up harder contact than his ERA suggests, but he’s been very successful with runners on base. His luck will probably begin the change there, but then, he’ll also probably improve on his 12-percent walk rate and maybe bring down his EV numbers, too. He’s a perfectly reasonable mixed-league option, even with the Yankees due up next.

Not that it did him any good, but Woods Richardson had great velocity today. He had averaged 92.1 mph with his fastball this season, down from 93.2 mph last year, but he was up to 94.2 mph today. He only wound up with four whiffs and a 21-percent CSW, but he was pretty unlucky to give up seven runs. Five came in a third inning that started with an infield single. With the bases loaded and none out, Masataka Yoshida hit a double play ball that second baseman Luke Keaschall bobbled and then threw wildly to first base on for a double error. After running down the ball, Josh Bell compounded the problem by throwing home well too late to get Roman Anthony when he should have easily had Yoshida running to second. Trevor Story followed with a three-run homer. In all, Woods Richardson allowed four hits on balls hit softer than 80 mph. The loss makes him 0-3 with a 6.10 ERA, but his rotation spot should be safe for now, especially with Zebby Matthews struggling in Triple-A. The Twins do have off days Thursday and Monday, so they could push him back from his next scheduled start, which would be next Wednesday against the Mets.

Story had four hard-hit balls and even a walk in his five plate appearances today, so his early slump seems over. That still doesn’t mean the Red Sox should put him back into the two hole, though. Maybe having him bat cleanup instead of sixth, as he did with Willson Contreras out today, and moving Contreras up to second would be a fair compromise. Story is up to 17 RBI on the season. No one else on the Red Sox has more than 11.

Martin typically starts only against lefties, but lucky for him, the Twins faced southpaws in 11 of 19 games thus far, giving Martin quite the chance to impress. He’s hit .294/.489/.353 through 52 plate appearances. Today’s homer, his third in 428 career plate appearances since he debuted in 2023, left his bat at a season-high 102.6 mph. Unfortunately, there’s probably not much more power on the way, and he might have lost or be on the verge of losing his green light on the basepaths by getting caught on three of his five steal attempts so far. He probably wouldn’t be much of a mixed-league outfielder even as an everyday player.

Keaschall is hitting just .222/.278/.292, but his glove is probably a bigger concern than his bat at this point. Today, he turned a double play ball into no outs as part of a five-run third inning for Boston. If he’s not going to cut it at second base, he might not be a long-term solution for a Twins team loaded with outfield prospects. Offensively, things still seem pretty sound here. He’s striking out only 14 percent of the time this year, and while he’s not hitting the ball hard at the moment, his bat speed numbers are better than last year. He should still be highly regarded as a fantasy second baseman.

Rice returns to face Angels righty Jack Kochanowicz after finding himself on the bench for two straight games against left-handed starters. The 27-year-old first baseman should be getting a chance to face more southpaws, but it’s simply not happening at the moment. Yankees manager Aaron Boone has also been reluctant to put him behind the plate early this season. It’s not what you want.

Ramírez draws a well-deserved day off after making 12 consecutive starts between catcher and DH since April 3. The 24-year-old power/speed combo backstop has been hot of late, batting .286 (8-for-28) with one homer and eight RBI over his last seven games.

Cole’s next step will either be another live batting practice session or starting his minor league rehab assignment. The 35-year-old former fantasy ace remains on track to return to New York’s rotation for his season debut at some point in late May.

Rodón should be ready to make his first rehab start at some point next week. The 33-year-old’s recovery from offseason elbow surgery has been slowed by a minor hamstring issue recently. He’s on pace to make his return to New York’s rotation at some point in May.

The good news here is that Collins managed to avoid serious injury when he went crashing into the left-field seats while chasing a foul ball during the first inning of Tuesday’s game against the Tigers. The 28-year-old outfielder will likely need a couple days off to rest and recover after being diagnosed with a right knee contusion.