I like this kid Triston McKenzie for the Guardians. I have backed him once so far this season in a K article, and he came through. He gets a solid matchup this afternoon vs the Twins, and I’m liking him to pick up 6+ K in this one.
Despite only throwing 47 then 67 pitches in his first two starts of the season, he has hit his K prop in 4/6 starts this season and 3/4 on the road. He is averaging just over 1 strikeout per inning so far this year and backed it up with 1.13 K per inning last season and 1.14 for his career. After working into the 90-100 pitch range, I’d imagine he will be a frequent target for me this season, especially at the 5.5 line we get today.
The Twins are a middle of the pack team for K so far this season vs righties at 24.3%. They have an odd tendency to strikeout often at home though, where they K 25.6% of the time. Triston also has a really solid history vs them. In 44 career plate appearances, current Twins batters have 16 strikeouts (36.4%) and have only gotten 4 hits off of him. He hit this line in 2/3 vs the Twins last season and 1/1 at Minnesota. I think we’re getting great value for him to do it again.
