Fantasy Baseball Today - 12 Hitting Prospects on the Rise Including Lazaro Montes & Deyvison De Los Santos! (Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 Podcast)

Episode Date: June 15, 2024

Download and follow Fantasy Baseball Today in 5! You can find FBT in 5 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the Audacy App and wherever else podcasts are found. Adrian Del Castillo and Deyvison De Los Santos are both crushing in the Diamondbacks system. Lazaro Montes continues to draw Yordan Alvarez comps. Johnathan Rodriguez is a name that could make an impact with the Guardians later this season. Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Which hitting prospects have raised their stock the most this season? Find out next on Fantasy Baseball today in five. Welcome into FBT and 5 on Saturday, June 15th. I am Frank Stanfold, joined by Scott White, and we have 12 prospect hitters who've raised their stock the most this season. We'll break this down in groups of four, and the first group includes Christian Campbell, a second baseman with the Red Sox,

Adrian Del Castillo, a catcher with the D-backs, Davison de los Santos, a first baseman with the debacks and Angel Hennow a shortstop with the Guardians. Yeah, so the pair of Diamondbacks there, Adrian Del Castillo and

Davison De Los Santos, their numbers look completely ridiculous, and so I do think it's worth noting in their cases. Double A and AAA, especially hitter friendly in the Diamondbacks organization. Del Castillo's been at AAA this whole time. De Los Santos

split between the two. So, you know, don't take their numbers at face value, but they do have great exit velocities that back up their production, and I definitely think they're worth digging into. Anhele Hanow, let me say that again, Anhele Hanow of the Guardians, he's hitting for a ton of average in the minors this year. And the whole package, like, if the Guardians were ever going to succeed in developing a Jose Ramirez again, it would kind of look like Anhele Hanow looks now.

because he's 5'9 just like Ramirez, switch hit or like Ramirez. Definitely more of a contact-oriented approach, which is how Jose Ramirez also started out, but he's beginning to add power this year and with some speed to go with it and has been very productive in the minors this year.

Young guys, but I do think arrows pointing straight up for Anheul Hanow, and you should treat him as a dynasty asset at this point. Next group of hitter prospect, C.J. Kaffis, a first baseman with the Guardians. Luke Kishal, a second baseman with the twins. Lazaro Montez, a outfielder with the Mariners, and Augustine Ramirez, a catcher with the Yankees. So, yeah, at the time we're recording this, C.J. Kaffis, who was the Guardian's third round pick last year, he's batting about 350, and he just moved up to AA and the performance has only gotten better.

he's definitely more line drive focused than power only did right now but he's done a better job pulling the ball than I think evaluators were expecting when he got drafted so he's beginning to tap into power a little more and that CJ KFis kind of fits with the Guardian's whole approach where it seems like they draft guys with good play discipline good bat to ball skills

and then add the power later and CJ KFis may already be fitting the molds there Also, Lazaro Montes of the Mariners, this is one of the more well-known prospects on this list, probably, but it always just baffled me how he got a short shrift on the preseason top 100s list. I had him 55th on mine, but it seemed like the prospect world as a whole were dismissing him over strikeout concerns. But he cut down the strikeout rate to 25% last year. It's down to 17% this year at low.

Modesto and he produces some of the best exit velocities in all the minors. He, I think there's a very easy Jordan Alvarez comp here in terms of how Lazaro Montes is built, how hard he hits the ball. And they both even worked with the same hitting coach after leaving Cuba going to the Dominican Republic. So I think Lazaro Montes himself has made that comparison before I think I read that. So if there's one prospect to single out on this list is as, the most imperative pickup in Dynasty,

if he happens to be available. I would say it's Lhazeromantus. And the last group of prospect hitters that we have for today, Jonathan Rodriguez in outfielder with the Guardians. Lots of Guardians prospects on this list. Chandler Simpson and outfielder with the Rays, Zach Veen, outfielder with the Rockies,

and Jacob Wilson, a shortstop with the A's. We've already seen Jonathan Rodriguez up for the Guardians this year very briefly, but he is a true right-handed masher. And as good as the Guardian's lineup has been this year, that is one thing that they're missing. I think Jonathan Rodriguez could fill that role for them down the stretch if they give him another look.

They still have an outfield spot that they could stand to upgrade. He has had some chase issues, some swing and miss issues in the past, but it's gotten a lot better with that this year especially and also become a guy who walks a fair amount. So I think Jonathan Rodriguez is looking very interesting. I do want to highlight Chandler Simpson also of the raise just because it's such an uncommon profile here. He's batting nearly 370, nearly 50 steals already, just one home run.

And that's by design. We see these speedster prospects come along, and a lot of times they get hype Victor Scott this year, for instance. Oh, this is the guy who's going to bring back that Vince Coleman profile, the slap hitting speedster. And it never works out because it just doesn't seem like that player's capable of succeeding. the majors anymore. But Chandler Simpson, more than any of them, understands the assignment. He sells out for contact. He sells out for not fly, like he doesn't hit fly balls, 25% fly ball rate or

thereabouts between his two stops this year. So I think he's really committed to making the most of what he has. And, you know, if it all works out, we may have another Juan Pierre on our hands here in Chandler Simpson. but again, it's been a long time since we've seen that sort of player work out. All right, for more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, the Odyssey app, or anywhere else podcasts are found.

Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball today in five, and we will be back again next week. Bye-bye.