Four of the last five left-handed starting pitchers to face the Pittsburgh Pirates had at least seven strikeouts.
That is a fantastic sign for what Carlos Rodon can do for the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.
Pittsburgh has the most strikeouts as a team against left-handed pitching and it could struggle mightily against one of the top strikeout artists in Major League Baseball.
Rodon only had three strikeouts in his last start, but that is more of an exception to his season-long form and he should have one of the most popular strikeout props on the market on Friday night's slate.
There is another eye-popping trend involving a National League West franchise's game on Friday. The hitting one comes from Coors Field, where Christian Walker gets a favorable matchup against Antonio Senzatela.
Friday MLB Props
Overall August Record: 12-14
Carlos Rodon Over 7.5 Strikeouts (-160)
Over 19.5 Outs (-115)
To Record A Win (-140)
I will gladly take all of the Carlos Rodon props for Friday's nightcap at Oracle Park.
Pittsburgh is one of four teams in the MLB with over 300 strikeouts against left-handed pitching. The Pirates lead the league with 365, which is 32 more than the Baltimore Orioles in second place.
The Pirates also have the third-worst batting average and second-worst on-base percentage in MLB against left-handed pitching.
The southpaw struggles were on display on Tuesday, when Madison Bumgarner struck out eight batters in six innings to cash on his strikeout and outs props.
Bumgarner, Ranger Suarez and Bailey Falter had eight strikeouts against Pittsburgh, while Braxton Garrett had seven. Arizona rookie Tommy Henry only had three punch outs versus the Pirates, but he lasted seven innings on Wednesday.
Rodon is the better pitcher than all of the southpaws the Pirates recently faced, and there is a bit of precedent for how well the Giants left-hander will throw on Friday.
Rodon struck out 10 Chicago Cubs in his last home start on July 31. The Cubs have the sixth-most strikeouts in all of baseball.
The Giants may not blow out the Pirates, but they should provide enough run support for Rodon for him to get the win off a long appearance. He lasted seven innings and conceded two hits in his last home start versus the Cubs. If that version of Rodon shows up, he will easily get through seven frames.
Christian Walker Over 1.5 Total Bases (-140)
Over 1.5 Hits (+140)
To Hit A Home Run (+260)
Christian Walker has the best batter-versus-pitcher splits on the Friday night slate.
The Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman owns a .520 career batting average with two home runs and seven RBI in 25 at-bats against Colorado's Antonio Senzatela.
Walker comes into Friday night's game at Coors Field with a six-game hitting streak in which he has four games with multiple total bases and two games with multiple hits.
Walker is 3-for-4 against Senzatela in 2022. He has four doubles in addition to the two career home runs off the right-handed hurler.
He has had the most success at Coors Field of any ballpark outside of Chase Field. Walker has seven doubles, seven home runs, 28 hits and 56 total bases in Denver.