Chad Hartsock

Consultant

Chad is a teacher and minister by training, and a fantasy sports enthusiast and sports bettor by hobby. Chad lives in the Great Smoky Mountains, and he especially loves NCAAF, NFL, NCAAB, and MLB. Chad has been handicapping for Pickswise since 2022.

Live Picks 1

Live Parlays 0

Weekly News Articles 0

Location

Tennessee

Favorite Sports

Favorite Teams

Greatest Betting Win

I have two favorite betting memories. My favorite bet, and my biggest single win, was the 2022 Super Bowl exact result–Rams over Bengals. I placed the futures bet at the beginning of the playoffs when both teams were the #4 seed, and it carried something like +1500 odds. Those playoffs were fun.

Greatest Achievements

As a proud Baylor alum, it would have to be betting on Baylor basketball to win the 2021 national championship. I do not blindly back my team, but Baylor was an underdog to Gonzaga and I saw that win coming, so I emptied my account on it.

Education

Chad has a bachelor’s degree from Carson-Newman University, a masters of divinity from Baylor University, and an Ph.D. in biblical studies from Baylor University. He taught at the college level for 11 years (thus earning the nickname “the Professor” in some betting circles). Chad has published two books and numerous academic articles, but sports writing came along later, first as a hobby and now as a daily activity.

Experience

Chad has been playing fantasy sports since 2003, and betting for as long as it has been legal in Tennessee. Chad also loves casino sportsbooks and table games, and he frequently turns up at Harrah’s in Cherokee NC or the Hard Rock Casino in Bristol VA. He began his handicapping career with friends on a small website and podcast in 2021 (the now-archived ScoopAndScoreSports.com, a venture that fizzled out because none of them knew how to run a website properly.) He joined the Pickswise team in 2022, and he writes college football, college basketball, and MLB. Chad has been among the team’s best pickers in each of those sports, and he loves nothing more than getting a pick right for the Pickswise community, especially when the public is going the other way.

Favorite betting market / type

Same Game Parlays & Player Props.

Favorite bookmakers

Chad's Picks

Money Line Pick

MIN Twins Win(-115)

Reasoning

The Minnesota Twins host the Houston Astros for a series beginning on Monday night. The Twins have played better than expected, but they lost 2 of 3 to the Brewers over the weekend. All of them were 1-run games. The Astros managed to win 2 of 3 from the Rangers, but they still have the third worst record in baseball and are just not very good right now. Their offense is little more than Yordan Alvarez and a cloud of dust, while their pitching staff has been devastated by injuries. Their bullpen ERA is the worst is baseball, and they have very limited paths to winning games right now. I am going to go with the Twins on the Money Line.

The pitching situation for both teams tonight is messy. The Astros will go with the troubled Tatsuya Imai. Imai has not had a great start to his MLB career. He made 3 starts, all of them short, and then hit the IL. He returned last week, but was immediately shelled for 6 runs in 4 innings, including a couple of home runs. Imai plus the Houston bullpen is a rough combination. The Twins’ pitching plan is not clear. It looks like they will use Kendry Rojas to start, but he has worked out of the bullpen so far, so he won’t go long. And it appears that Simeon Woods Richardson will be on call for long relief. There is plenty of uncertainty there, and the Minnesota bullpen is the third worst in baseball. Still, I like the stability of the Twins offense a bit more (they are a top 10 scoring unit, surprisingly), so let’s go with the Twins at home tonight.

Astros vs Twins Prediction: Twins ML (-115) available at the time of publishing. Playable to -125.

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Chad Hartsock