FanDuel published its home run picks for Friday, April 17, 2026, and Ronald Acuna Jr. was its favorite long-shot to go deep. The sportsbook’s board also highlighted Jazz Chisholm and Munetaka Murakami in a slate built around matchups, park factors and bullpen numbers rather than pure star power.
Acuna was set to face Taijuan Walker, who in 2025 allowed a 38.3% fly-ball rate to right-handed hitters and gave up 1.81 home runs per nine in righty-righty matchups. Walker also allowed 1.75 homers per nine at home in Philadelphia, and Citizens Bank Park ranked fourth in home run factor over the past three seasons. Acuna had a.395 expected wOBA and a 45.6% hard-hit rate in 2025, but he had hit only one home run in 2025 at the time of the picks.
Chisholm carried +470 home run odds and brought a cleaner power track record into the matchup. He hit 31 home runs in 2025 and posted a.387 wOBA at home against right-handed pitchers, with 16 of his 31 home runs coming in that split. That made him one of the more direct fits on a day when the underlying numbers were doing most of the talking.
Murakami was the other bat tied to a strong power case, with five home runs through 78 plate appearances despite a 33.3% strikeout rate. He was set to face Aaron Civale, who has carried a 20.1% strikeout rate and an 8.6% swinging-strike rate since the start of 2025. Left-handed hitters posted a.342 wOBA and a 46.8% fly-ball rate against Civale last season, and the game was being played in Sacramento, the Athletics’ temporary home and the second-best park for offense last season.
The bullpen setups added another layer to the board. The Kansas City Royals' bullpen had the ninth-worst xFIP in 2026 at 4.68, while the Athletics' bullpen sat 10th-worst at 4.57. FanDuel’s picks leaned on those weak run-prevention spots, the kind that can turn a modest contact profile into a real homer opportunity. A +210 line means a $100 bet returns $210 in profit if the player homers, and that kind of payout is the reason these previews can move quickly from data to action.
Friday’s card was less about certainty than leverage. Acuna brings the best overall contact indicators of the group, Chisholm has the home-split power to match his number, and Murakami gets a hitter-friendly setting against a pitcher whose profile has encouraged fly balls. For bettors, the question is not whether the board is loaded with power — it is which one of these spots gives the cleanest return when the first pitch is finally thrown.