The start of spring training in the MLB is a sigh of relief for many baseball fans. Their team is finally back in action, and COVID didn’t ruin the start of a second season. Yet. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that doesn’t happen. It’s also a sign that warmer days are ahead, which is an amazing feeling for all of us who live in the north.
With these warmer temps and Spring baseball comes MLB futures bets, and some player prop betting odds for the upcoming season. One of the most bet on and most popular player prop futures to bet on is the MLB home run leader.
The New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso is tied with the face of baseball, Mike Trout, for the shortest odds to hit the most bombs out of the park this upcoming season. Take a peek through the full list below, and notice a certain name that appears towards the top of the list.
Eloy Jimenez Among Favorites
As you can see, White Sox outfielder Eloy Jimenez sits at the 7th best odds to lead baseball in home runs this upcoming season. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to fans of the White Sox, who have extremely high hopes for their team this season following last season’s break-out year. Jimenez was one of the most highly regarded prospects in baseball just a couple of years ago and has shown improvement at the plate over his first season and a half of Major League ball. His raw power is enough to put him into a legitimate conversation to be the MLB’s home run leader in 2021.
Jose Abreu Makes An Appearance
If you look a bit further down the list, you’ll see Jimenez’s teammate and defending American League MVP Jose Abreu. At +3000, you’re getting some serious bang for your buck for a guy who can literally hit a home run almost every time he steps into the batter’s box (just ask Jon Lester and the Cubs). There is no denying the power that both of these guys possess, and that shows in the odds card.
Other Notable Names
Pete Alonso and Mike Trout are the favorites as previously mentioned. Both had decent numbers last year during the shortened COVID season. Alonso had 16 home runs, while Trout had 17 of his own. Trout was the favorite last year to lead the league in homers, opening at +1200 in 2020, while Alonso was just behind him at +1300. New York Yankees first baseman Luke Voit ended up leading the league with 22 homers last season.
Perhaps going back to the 2019 season would be the wiser choice to determine a good bet, as it was the last full season we had before the virus hit. Both of these guys lived up to their current odds, with Alonso crushing 53 home runs in his rookie year and winning the HR Derby that year, the first Met to do so and the second rookie to do so after Aaron Judge in 2017. Trout finished that season with 45 longballs, which is also very impressive.
The aforementioned Judge comes in with a bit longer odds with +2000. This is probably due to the fact that he only hit 9 last season and only 27 in 2019. He had 53 homers in his rookie campaign of 2017, keeping with the trend of rookie power hitters having monster years before some pitchers figure them out a bit. Perhaps I’m being unfair to Judge, who has dealt with quite a number of injuries over the last few seasons. He is the third-fastest player to reach 100 homers, doing it in only 371 games. If he can stay healthy, he could be a dark horse candidate.
With the MLB reportedly making the balls more “dead” this season than in recent seasons, the numbers may not be a gaudy as the previous two seasons. Either way, we should all look forward to a summer full of grand slams and bat flips, and hopefully, the return of fans to the stands.
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