Should I Bet on Andrew Heaney - The Texas Rangers?

Andrew Heaney is someone you would want to consider backing, along with his Texas Rangers, late Saturday afternoon against the Seattle Mariners.

Rangers @ White Sox

(June 19, 2023) - The Texas Rangers starter has struggled with control his more recent starts.  We were waiting on a starter to be announced for the White Sox.  That will be Tanner Banks.  Texas has a nice price, as low as -125.  Most books had the Rangers at -130.

The White Sox have been striking out at a rate of 25% while Heaney's strikeout rate is 24.4%.  The White Sox also holds the third lowest walk rate in the MLB.

Heaney (4-4, 4.05 ERA) is in desperate need of a win for a team that is 44-27 but winning just 40% of its games of late.  He did allow just one run on five hits over his 3 2/3 innings of work but was not a factor in the decision.  Prior to that, he gave up four runs -- three earned -- in five innings.  Prior to that, he had to be pulled in the fourth after a couple of hits and a couple of walks versus the Mariners.

Heaney is capable of pitching into the 7th inning.   White Sox career statistics vs. Andrew Heaney are .282. 

Tim Anderson is 5 for 14 but you don't have to worry about him homering as he has none against Heaney or anyone else this season for that matter.

Elvis Andrus has contributed pretty heavily to that .282 number.   He has three homers against Heaney but has just one on the season and has played poorly up to this point. 

Yasmani Grandal is 2 for 4 versus Heaney.

Rangers career statistics vs. Tanner Banks is 1 of a small 13 sampling.

We would note, the Rangers are 9-25 in the last 34 meetings in Chicago.  The White Sox though are just 31-42.  They've won just three of their last ten games overall. The White Sox have only scored more than four runs in two of their last ten games.

Go with the Texas Rangers -125 here.

vs. the Seattle Mariners

(June 3, 2023) Andrew Heaney is someone you would want to consider backing, along with his Texas Rangers, late Saturday afternoon against the Seattle Mariners.

First off, the Mariners come into this game pretty dreadful against lefty pitchers this season: .294 wOBA, 26.5% K%. 

The Mariners are also 6-18 in their last 24 games vs. a starter with a WHIP less than 1.15.

Oh, and then there's the fact that Heaney has posted a 1.75 ERA and 0.97 WHIP over his past four turns.

What's to Love

• Heaney has been sensational over his last four starts
• Mariners are among the worst teams in the MLB against left-handed pitchers
• Mariners current lineup has not had any luck against Heaney over a significant sampling, though with one exception
• Three of four home runs given up to Seattle batters have been courtesy of Tom Murphy, but he has only one homer this season

What's Not to Love

• Heaney's "due" factor is relatively high when it comes to the potential for a poor showing
• Seattle will start an unknown pitcher but someone who has had success in the Double-A Arkansas, so it remains to be seen how this will translate with his first appearance in the MLB big league.
• As noted, Tom Murphy has been a thorn in Heaney's side

Is he due for a bad outing Saturday?  Perhaps.  But coupled with his stellar performance of late and the Mariners inability to hit against lefties, the Rangers come into this game with a tremendous advantage and priced at just -140 after opening as low as -125.  Nearly 90 percent of the action was on Texas Saturday.

Something else that must be considered: Mariners career statistics vs. Andrew Heaney are just 16 of 73 at bats (.219).  And that number would be far lower if not for Tom Murphy not having Heaney's number.  He's .417 against him with three of the four home runs hit against Heaney.  But good news, Murphy has only a single homer this season and is only averaging .226.  Take him out of the equation and the Mariners batters have been pretty bad against Heaney overall.

Heaney, we should note, is more than capable of pitching deep into the game. 

The Mariners plan to promote Bryan Woo from Double-A Arkansas to start against the Rangers on Saturday.  This is an unknown for the most part.  But what we do know is that, in nine starts at Double-A Arkansas this season, Woo has registered a 2.05 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and a 59/12 K/BB ratio over 44 innings.

The Mariners are 10-4 in the last 14 meetings in Texas.

We LOVE the Texas Rangers here at -143.  Sure we would prefer him coming off a no-decision or a loss and not having an unknown opposing him.  But just can't help pull the trigger here, especially with Texas having won seven of their last ten games.

- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com