Shohei Ohtani Underdog MLB Picks Today, 6/17: Baseball Projections + More

What is going on, everyone? Wednesday's board has two genuinely sharp strikeout prop angles sitting right on Underdog right now, and we are zeroing in on a living legend who is pitching this afternoon and a breakout young arm who gets a premium matchup tonight. We are protecting the premium board as always, but these two free plays are as strong as anything we have. Check all model movements around the clock at the Fantasy Alarm Bet Tracker and lock in the full expert picks board before you finalize your cards.

Shohei Ohtani MLB Underdog Fantasy Pick: Higher than 5.5 Strikeouts

Shohei Ohtani is the anchor of the board today on Underdog, and it is not remotely a debate. Through 11 starts this season, Ohtani has pitched to a 1.06 ERA with 73 strikeouts and 21 walks across 67 and two-thirds innings. He missed a start last week with knee inflammation, but the Dodgers have confirmed he is fully cleared to pitch today. The knee is not a factor. After hitting a game-winning home run Tuesday night, Ohtani woke up Wednesday ready to take the mound.

Tampa Bay is not a team built to suppress his punchout numbers. Their strikeout rate against right-handed pitching ranks in the lower portion of the league, and Ohtani's seven-pitch arsenal gives him a different look and a different weapon every single at-bat. His breaking ball inventory alone carries a 96th-percentile pitcher run value, and his splitter has been generating elite swing-and-miss outcomes all season. He has cleared 5.5 strikeouts in six of his last eight starts. Our MLB DFS Projections see a very clear runway to the Higher today. This is the highest-confidence pick on the board.

Braxton Ashcraft MLB Underdog Fantasy Pick: Higher than 5.5 Strikeouts

Braxton Ashcraft at plus money on the 5.5 strikeout line is a value we are not walking past tonight. He enters with a 3.30 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and an elite 90:19 K:BB through 84.2 innings on the season. That strikeout-to-walk ratio is one of the best among starters in the National League. His slider-curveball mix generates consistent whiffs, and his command gives him the pitch efficiency to stay in games long enough to pile up strikeouts.

He draws an Oakland Athletics lineup whose strikeout rate against right-handed pitching sits around 20.7%, a number that is perfectly workable for a pitcher who has Ashcraft's chase-rate metrics. The public is fading him slightly because of the recent shortened outings, but even in those starts his strikeout rate per inning has remained sharp. Our MLB DFS Projections favor him clearing the Higher tonight against a lineup built to swing through breaking balls at the bottom of the zone.

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