Wednesday MLB Best Bets: Two Pitcher Props for June 17th

It’s another round the clock Wednesday of baseball as all but two teams play.

There’s no Minnesota at Texas today as the World Cup is in the Jerry Dome. But hey, that’s still 14 games to choose from, let’s find some winning MLB Picks.

Season Record 37-32-1, +2.26 Units

Rays at Dodgers

Shane McClanahan Over 4.5 Strikeouts (-115 DraftKings)

The Rays lefty has struggled lately, giving up 16 hits, 3 BB’s and 8 ER over his two starts covering just nine innings. And now he heads into LA to face the world champs. Well the one thing he did do well in those two clunkers was strike guys out. He whiffed 13 of the 46 batters he faced. On the season he has a 24.5% K% with a 27.5% Whiff% (68th percentile) and 33.3% Chase% (80th percentile) so he generates a fair amount of swing and miss.

The Dodgers are not an easy team to strike out as their 20.6% K% vs. lefties is sixth lowest in the league. It’s just not a high bar for McClanahan here as generally gets into the sixth inning in his starts so we’re talking roughly 1 K per IP and 5 total, something he’s done in 8 of his 13 starts. Let’s cross our fingers and roll with him here.

Guardians at Brewers

Gavin Williams Over 17.5 Outs Recorded (-125 DraftKings)

Williams has emerged as an ace in the last calendar year or so. Since the All-Star break last season, he has gone 16.4 a 2.81 ERA and 1.08 WHIP with a stellar 28.1% K%. The free pass is sometimes the issue, though his 8.1% BB% in 2026 isn’t alarming. SIERA thinks it's all pretty real as he has a 3.31 mark. xERA however pegs him at 4.58. Why the discrepancy? xERA is all statcast metrics and Williams’ 12.5% Barrel% allowed is kind of high.

Fortunately it's a good matchup here. The Brewers have a 107 wRC+ which ranks them fifth overall in the league, but it's more thanks to a bunch of pesky bats. They have just 65 homers, tied for 4th worst in MLB. Williams is pretty good at keeping the ball on the ground and the Guardians have the ninth best infield in terms of fielding runs saved. It’s all a decent formula to keep this game under control and get through 6 innings, something Williams has done in 9 of his 14 starts this year. I’m going to bank on him getting there again today.