MLB Friday player props, picks, odds

The Yankees won’t have it easy coming out of the All-Star break.

In their first game of the second half, the Bombers will draw Braves ace Spencer Strider, who appears to be figuring it out post-injury.

Strider missed the first few weeks of the season while he was rehabbing from elbow surgery and then was sent back to the shelf for a month with a hamstring injury, making Friday’s game just his 12th start of the season.

After a shaky first few outings, the right-handed flamethrower is looking more like a Cy Young-caliber pitcher since a mid-June uptick in velocity.

From June 14 onward, Strider has a 2.95 ERA with 12.27 strikeouts per nine innings over six outings, including 11 strikeouts in 6²/₃ innings against the Athletics last time out.

Perhaps most importantly, Strider is averaging 95.6 mph on the radar gun with his fastball, which is a tick higher than his first few starts.

Unsurprisingly coming off injury, Strider has been much better with five days of rest this season versus four this season, posting a 2.13 ERA in two such starts.

The Yankees have been more strikeout prone than average this season (22.6 strikeout percentage, 13th-highest in baseball), especially so of late with a 22.9 strikeout rate in their last 30 games.

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Strider has never faced the Yankees, but he’s had some success against Paul Goldschmidt, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger, striking them out a combined 13 times in 24 total plate appearances.

THE PLAY: Spencer Strider Over 7.5 strikeouts (-140, bet365)