Fantasy Baseball Today - 12 Impact Prospects for the Second Half! (7/11 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 11, 2023

Grayson Rodriguez is crushing the minors right now (4:00). ... Could we see Oswald Peraza back up with the Yankees (9:23)? ... What's the latest on Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Colt Keith (12:05)? ... Could the Mets call up Ronny Mauricio (23:00)? ... Are there any pitching prospects left for this season (27:30)? ... Will the A's turn to a youth movement (31:55)? ... The Pirates have another catcher prospect in Endy Rodriguez (35:00). ... We could see Masyn Winn if the Cardinals decide to sell (38:00). ... What about Justyn-Henry Malloy and Robert Gasser (40:50)? ... These prospects just missed the cut (43:45). ... We wrap up with a Futures Game recap and Team Name Tuesday (52:17). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome 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/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today 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

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. What's up and welcome in Tough Fantasy Baseball today. I am Frank Staple, joined by Chris the Welsh.

And we've got a fun one for you today. Impact prospects for the second half of the season. We'll do a futures game recap and of course, team name Tuesday. Before we get started, please like this video and subscribe on YouTube. If you haven't already, and if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We really do appreciate it. Welsh, how goes it, man?

I know you've been podcasting like a madman lately. Ah, just preparing. You're my favorite to podcast with. Don't worry, you're my favorite and got to do. We've been, we podcasted like 18 hours ago or something. and like that. But I'm actually taking a trip later in this week as a birthday present for kids and wife and everybody. We're going to California. So I'll be out at the Legoland, maybe Universal Studios. So there's a lot of pre-pre that's going on. It's the good and the bad time. The good being,

you know, there's kind of all-star break and everything. The bad being, there's a draft and there's a million things to talk about in preparation. But I'm excited to talk about the second half prospects because as much as we think we know, we don't know. We have a list of like 10. a couple more guys of impact prospects. But I've been thinking about this too, Frank. There's somebody that we're not expecting. And I haven't figured out who that is yet. You know, we identified the players.

There's definitely a guy that's going to surprise us. That's going to come up and do something that we didn't. Just like Jackson Holiday coming up to AA already after being drafted a year ago, I feel like we're going to have some surprise prospect that'll come up. Maybe it's September or something like that in preparation for getting an extra pick next year. but prospects have been the talk all season long, and it's not going to stop in the second half. No, it certainly is not.

And I cheated a little bit because a few of these names on this list, they've already exhausted prospect eligibility, but they're young guys and excited to see them, hopefully make an impact in the second half as well. And yeah, you're right. I mean, I guess there's a chance we can get some kind of big name that maybe just jumps up from AA in September and still manages to keep prospect eligibility for next.

year so that they can be eligible for that rookie of the year, yada, yada, yada. But I don't know who it is either. Like there's no way like a Jackson Churio comes up, right? Like that would be insane. Well, I think Jackson Churio is one of those. I don't think I put him on this list. If Jordan Lawler doesn't get moved, Jordan Lawler is a possibility. I was staring at Pete Crowe Armstrong.

Those are like the top three of like the big, big guys. Here's the other one. And I had heard this actually floated around a little bit ago. So this will actually be the guy. This will be my official claim. of the players that could be the surprise Evan Carter with the Rangers. Let's say there's an injury. Now the thing that works against this is like Lily Tavares has been awesome. Ezekiel Duran freaking awesome. You know, they've got so much production out of it. If an injury comes in, I think as far as kind of stuff I was told that there was a presumption that Evan Carter would be somebody that would have the potential to help this team on the back half of the year. I've also heard Jack Lighter. So the Rangers are, you know, just a team that has a couple players are obviously competing really hard,

that they might push the chips in if the situation works itself, right? Jack Ladder hasn't been phenomenal. Those are two guys, but Evan Carter will be my official, like, surprise impact guy that we're not expecting. The rest of this list, I think, makes a lot of sense in how we're going to lay it out. All right. So let's just jump in right there. And those first two names that I mentioned, they don't have prospect eligibility anymore,

but they are two very big names. obviously Grayson Rodriguez with the Baltimore Orioles and Oswald Parraza with the Yankees. Let's start with Grayson Rodriguez, 59% rostered on CBS. We spoke about him last week, whilst we did an FBT and 5 that came out over the weekend. And since then, all Grace and Rodriguez did, I think he had another start, a shorter one. It was like three shutout innings, whatever. Yeah. Seven starts since getting sent back down to AAA, a 1.69 ERA, a 0.99 whip, 54 strikeouts, over 37 and a third innings.

13K per 9. The numbers that he's putting up right now, this is the talent that we expected coming into the season. How long do you think it is before we see him up in the second half again? I think part of it might come down to like where they view their current rotation. Like push comes a shove, I think he could come back up now. I think you've got what you were going to possibly get out of Grayson and the miners by sending him down. I think you've accomplished that.

He had some really big swing and swing and whiff numbers on his secondaries. in his last two starts. I think in that episode, I went and looked at that over his last couple starts. Basketball's better. Command looks like it's a little bit more on point. I just think you've gotten there. Maybe the worst thing is that last three-inning start.

Part of that was he walked three. And I know that was kind of a big problem. He's walked three and two of his last four starts in the minors. And since then, what is that, eight starts, four of those are three or more walks with a five walk in there. So when I'm getting at it's, I just think this is the guy that they have. And however, I think they lowered the cutter percentage of how he was throwing that.

And that's maybe part of the effectiveness that he's ready to go now. So then it's going to be a determination. Is he better than what they have in? If there's any type of injury or look for one of those back in guys, obviously not like Braddish or Wells, but Coal Irvin and stuff like that. If there's struggles, then I think he would come up sooner than rather than later. My guess is by August 1st, trade deadline. Maybe they're making some moves. As long as they don't do something to acquire, you know, there's an argument.

be said with the amount of awesome prospects they have, they could be in the business to acquire and move some, and that would most likely be for pitching. That could halt him back and maybe put him in a bullpen roll. But just for argument's sake here, I think he's accomplished enough that I'm going to say like August 1st and he can be, you know, a good six weeks to two-month contributor. And he would just be someone I'm desperately trying to roster a piece of it. What did you say, 56%? 59. I mean, I would, I would be rostering him. Roster him well over a bunch of the other. scrubby type of guys you could be putting on your bench and just like desperately trying to get a good start out of. I would rather be rostering him at it for his call up. Yeah. So we said last week we

would drop Luis Severino who's been struggling mightily to pick up a Grace Rodriguez. Here's an interesting one for you. He looked awesome earlier in the year, but he's looked really bad recently. Tage Bradley, would you make the swap? Ooh, I don't think I would make the swap. Um, he has looked bad recently. I think he's done a good job of having the ups and downs. I mean, I guess you could worry that this team, this is another team that might need to make a move. You know, they got a glut of this infieldy type of guys. They've obviously got some rotational issues just with injuries in general that maybe they would want to make a move. I just don't think it's at the expense of Tage Bradley. They might, there might be a mechanical thing to fix. I don't think he's under really any

innings constrictions or anything like that. I think he's a bit safer even though it's been a little bit bad. I would go, you might have found the line, by the way, like of the questionable type of guys. Like, I think it's Bradley and then right there, it's Grayson. I think you could find some better options to cut for Grayson. Yeah, and I think the problem is, as we've talked about a long time now with the Orioles position prospects, is that they have these veterans that have come up and are playing really well. Ryan O'Hern and Aaron Hicks. And I'm looking at Cole Irvin's game log right now. I'm like, yeah, we're probably one Cole Irvin blow up away from Grace and Rodriguez is getting called back up.

And Cole Irvin has allowed three earn runs total over his last three starts. So he's actually pitching well, right? Like it kind of justifies him being in the rotation and it's just kind of frustrating while we're here waiting for Grace and Rodriguez to get called back up. But I do think, I think he's the top name right now.

If he's available, go out, stash him. I think he could have a lot of value here over the final two and a half months or so for the Orioles. Are we forgetting somebody in the rotate? Like, what is the full rotation on there? I feel like we're forgetting someone that's a little bit more expensive. because Wells has been phenomenal. Wells has been great. So they have Kyle Gibson. They gave him,

I think, a multi-year contract. So I don't think he's going anywhere. Dean Kramer, you know, he's got an IRA in like the mid-fours, but you know, he's been serviceable at times this year. Braddish, I don't think he's going anywhere either. So I mean, yeah, it's really Cole Irvin and Dean Kramer, I guess, if one of those guys gets blown up or feels a little bit more like Dean Kramer would be like the guy. But you know, the other thing to think about, and this is a little bit of a worry, is maybe they feel he can contribute, but maybe it's treated similar to what the Diamondbacks did with Archie Bradley before he got hurt. Multi-innings. You know, they do have some questionable starters. If they feel that the front end of what you get out of Cole Irvin and Dean Kramer is better, that if something

goes awry, you can get two or three innings out of a guy like Grayson Rodriguez who might be willing to punch his stuff up a little bit more. I do worry about that just a tiny bit, but, you know, that's a worry for later. The other name I mentioned here is Oldwald-Ozweil Prazah with the Yankees. He's 16% Rossard much more widely available. He had that crazy hot run in late May, early June. I think he hit something like eight or nine home runs in like a 12, 13 game stretch. He was just on fire down there. He has slowed down a little bit recently, but Josh Donaldson has been really bad. He's batting 150. I saw on Sunday he was like rubbing his calf and we know he has a very extensive injury history, so I guess that wouldn't surprise me. The Yankees' offense has been really bad without

judge. And I think at some point they might want to make a change here and call up Oswald Parraza in the minors. He's hitting 267 with 12 home runs, 11 steals, solid plate discipline as well. Whilst you think we could see Paraza here in the second half? Yeah, I think there's even been some rumors of them talking about mixing some of this up and overall in the roster. Like, things are just not where they needed to be. Paraza hasn't been like phenomenal as of late since, what is this, June 28th. He has four total hits in, or no, no, I was looking at singles here. Well, he actually only has four games where he's registered a hit.

There's a couple multi hits in there. Over his last five, he's only registered two hits. The home runs have been a little bit more sparingly, but kind of to your point, like, it's better than what you're getting out of Donaldson. And I think this team also is really trying to figure out what do they have in these guys. Something to be said as well, are they going to be willing to make a bigger move? And if they make a bigger move, I kind of think Parraza would be at the very forefront

of what they would have to make that decision with if they're going to do like a bigger type of move. Yeah, there's little moves that they could do. They've got a litany of great, like low and like high A type of prospects. But, you know, that's a closer to Major League Ready guy that could get you probably a solid or decent Major League Ready hitter or a pitcher right now.

So if they're going to make those moves or hitter, if they wanted more of a veteran-style guy. But yeah, I think Praraza either way and all of that is a bet that I want to have simply for playing time. We'll see what it materializes to as far as like the stats go. As you said, 11 stolen bases, 12 homers hitting 267 since over the 43 games in the minor so far, which is solid. It's not like phenomenal, phenomenal Oswald Paraza numbers, but he's still stealing bases. He's still hitting for some power. I'd rather have that than Josh Donaldson.

Yeah, and it's a good point that you bring up too. It doesn't necessarily have to come with the Yankees. So again, as a fan of the team, I've watched, they cannot hit right now. So I think they kind of need something to spark this offense right now. But even if they trade him away, maybe Oswald Prazic gets a chance to play for somebody else down the stretch this season. Two big name corner infielders or, I don't know, just a position player. We don't know where Christian Ankar and Acer on trend is going to play. But he was a corner infielder coming into the season.

That's the one that we've talked about all year. CES with the Cincinnati Reds waiting and waiting and waiting. and the other name here now that's emerged is Colt Keith with the Detroit Tigers. We'll start with Incarnacion Tran. Hit had another multi-home run game the other day. He's up to 20 home runs in AAA, batting 321, OPS up over 1,000. Stackcast data looks great, 91 mile per hour, average exit velocity, 114 max EV. The problem now is there was an article written a couple of weeks ago by C. Trent Rosecrans,

and he pointed out that Ancarnazian Strand might not be up with the Reds unless there is A, an injury, or rosters expanded, which is September. So we might be waiting until then. And not by a lot, by the way. The roster's expanded is like, I think they only moved it to one. It's not 40 anymore.

It's like 26. Is it 26? Or 28? 28. Yeah, I think it's 28. Yeah. But either way, it's not much. You're right about that.

The other name here is Colt Keith, who recently got promoted to AAA. He's in the Tigers organization. he crushed it at AA, 325 batting average, 14 homers, a 97 OPS. He's played eight games at AAA. What has he done? He's betting 414 with two home runs, more walks and strikeout so far.

He turns 22 years old in August, and he's a name Welsh that kind of strikes me as they can call him up in September and maybe keep the at-bats down a little bit, still have prospect eligibility for next season. But I think September might be the time period for both of these names and Karnassi on Trans. and Colts Keith.

Okay, so with Colt Keith, here's the one interesting thing that happened over the last couple of days, though. Jonathan's scope was designated for assignment, and that was one of those first things. Now, the problem is,

is they've been giving the playing time where Colt Keith could go to Andy Abanias and Zach McKinstree. But those players' names are Andy Abanias and Zach McKinstry. So is that the thing to keep away if they want to develop? Back to your point,

teams definitely need to be a little bit more strategic about their approach with prospects on the back half of the year, which is like an inverted version of manipulation now. We no longer have the manipulation. I don't think at the, we'll know this better over the next three or four years, but we don't have the front end of the season manipulation. We now have it here, you know, between like June and August,

where, yeah, they can bring a guy up in August, but if they wait until September and he can't exhaust the eligibility, he could come up, start next year, and then they could get pick compensation. Keith is so impressive. He's the one guy that got to Jacob Mizorowski if you watch the futures game. He hit a wild. Mizorowski was throwing, you know, 102 and crazy sliders.

I did a show with Eno. I don't know if you heard this. Mizorowski had a stuff plus on his fastball over 200, Frank. It was crazy. Like he said, like, that's not like a common thing. The rest were like 150, 160, blah, blah, blah. And Cold Keith was able to come inside on this nasty, disgusting slider that Mizorowski through, which I just thought was like extra impressive.

And Mizraowski just looked annoyed by it. He's like, how the hell did he hit that? But like, I think Colgeath is ready to play now. He's not striking out. He's walking. He's hitting every ball in his way. But there might be manipulation in it. But because of that, him being at AAA, we should pay attention to him.

And maybe the tigers are going to value the maturation of him in their lineup more than anything else. And I just don't know outside of manipulating, Andy Abagnas and Zach McKinstree don't keep a great player off the field. So, you know, if you're coming trade deadline, they don't move one of these guys, and he is September, it's just manipulating. I don't know what else we can say about Strand at this point.

He has hits in 10 of his last 11 games. There's a bunch of multi-hits. He's hitting homers. He's hitting the ball super hard. And it was already spelled out for us. It's going to need an injury, or there's going to have to be some type of, you know, maybe move that happens.

But that, in my mind, doesn't mean you don't keep him. I would be shocked if it's September. they're going to find a way. But I also thought they were going to find a way two months ago. So what do I know? He's as good of a guy to bet on as Grayson Rodriguez. So the same thing holds. If I want to try to get that production, I'm stashing him.

Because we also cannot predict when someone's going to get hurt. We can't predict if Joey Votto is going to strain something and be gone. If that happens, he's instantly up because he can play the corner outfields. He can be a DH. He could be a first base. And this team has versatility. So while there's no guarantee, he is the number one bet of any hitting prospect. The unfortunate part is what, I don't know what we have here, six hitting prospects.

They could all beat him to it because it's simply about playing time and space for him, which is massively annoying. Yeah, it really is. And two points, I think on both of these players for Encarnatio and Strand. I think there's a chance, and I've talked about this. I don't think it's a smart move for the Reds to do this, but they could trade Jonathan India for pitching. Obviously, they are a team that could use some pitching and maybe turn India into like a Lucas Gialito or something like that.

They bring in another established pitcher, and then what happens there? Matt McLean slides over to second base. We have Ellie Dealer Cruz at shortstop, and then boom, you have a spot for Encarnasse on Trance, either play third or you can move Spencer Steer back to third base. That's one possibility. And when it comes to Colt Keith with the Tigers,

looking at the standings right now, I hadn't realized this. The Tigers are 11 games under 500. Well, guess what? That doesn't mean that you're out of it in the AL Central. They are only five and a half games out. So if they actually want to compete in their division,

that might encourage them to call up Colt Keith and try and make a run at it. So two little extra pieces there that I think can maybe help these guys get to the majors in Christian Encarnacion Trend and Colt Keith. You want to know a funny little anecdotal thing just real quick about Colt Keith?

Colt Keith, just in how impressive, this is someone who's going to roll their eyes at this, but whatever. he was trapped all of Friday. So he played on Saturday, right, in the futures game. That guy was trapped on flight in flight hell in the airport because his flight kept getting delayed. A friend of mine was doing a private signing with him and it was supposed to be on Friday night. He couldn't make it in because his flight kept getting canceled and canceled and canceled.

So I think he got in like crazy late Friday or early Saturday morning when all the players were already there doing all this stuff, frustrated late all this stuff didn't get to start the game then comes in hits i just think like his poise that was just another little tiny anecdote like he's just poise was so great he was able to turn on i think if the tigers feel this is a guy that has to contribute at some point this year they do it soon otherwise it's that manipulation of like okay yeah we just push him off but like he is better i think than the starting options they have and i would i would rather them see him get developed at the majors for next year, then try to push it any longer. But these are the weird bets we have with these second half prospects. Oh, gosh, I'm kicking myself too, because I just looked into the first

year player draft. It's more of a rookie draft in the Scott White Dynasty League where we have some players, some prospects that are already established that are part of the draft. And Colt Keith Keith went 23rd in this year's draft. And I think I had 11th or 12th. And I took Gavin Cross. And I didn't want Gavin Cross. I got sniped with two players. ahead of me, but Colt Keith was like on my short list of players I was considering. Yeah. God, do I feel stupid right now. I think you had the pick in front of me or two picks in front of me if I remember correctly or did I pass on him twice because I took or I guess that would be the first round. No, he went in the first round then of that because I had like

a higher pick. You and I both had higher picks and I think you sniped me on cross. And I, you want Gavin Cross because I don't want him anymore. I mean, I don't know. I'm glad I don't know who I took. I don't remember who I took, but I'm glad you said. Chase to Lodder. You got him at 14th overall. I'm happy about that. No, I'm still good with my chase to Lodder over Gavin Cross. I mean, look at this. The two names that I wanted just ahead of me, Junior Caminero at ninth overall. My gosh. I was mad about that too. And then the very next pick, Spencer Jones from the Yankees. And I'm like, oh. Yeah. You and I were texting during that. And I remember being mad because I thought there was a chance I could get one of those two guys,

specifically Spencer Jones. It didn't happen. I was surprised at Chase, because I had DeLotter over Gavin Cross, but there were some very big Gavin Cross believers. So I don't blame you. Gosh. You know, I went right after Gavin Cross. I was out at first pitch Florida. So I had just gotten to the hotel. I was meeting up with Nick Pollock and Eric Cross and all these guys. And so I started asking him, oh, who should I take in this rookie draft? Blah, blah, blah. And a lot of, Eric Cross was like, well, you got to take Gavin Cross. He's got to see him. Oh, I think he was the biggest. He's like top five.

Eric, he, I was like Eric, Gavin Cross. He loved him, not namesake. Like, who went right after your pick? Jason Young from the Tigers. Yeah, that looks better than Gavin Cross, too. Yeah, Jason Young, Drew Gilbert, and then you took Chase to Lodge. Oh, Drew Gilbert, I was so mad about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, so these were, yeah, those all kind of hurt, Frank. But that's the hindsight of first year player. You know, we just talked last night, if anyone missed the episode, talking about the draft and going through first year player. I also just did an episode on my Prospect One show. people want to check it out with James Anderson from Rotowire. And we just went through the first two rounds. And one of the crazy things is,

is the amount that changes right now from the draft to the end of season is the same amount of crazy change that's going to happen from end of season to halfway through the next season. Like, we think we know, but when you get full season runs of these players, you know, a lot of us are going to make decisions on like small sample sizes of the, you know, over these college and high school guys. But full season production tells us different stories. And some of these guys just can't. hit and we kick ourselves. First year players the most volatile place in fantasy and it's definitely

a place where we have regret. We look back and we have big regret. You know, now I've got to make myself better and I'm looking into, oh, well, where did I get Jacob Mizorovsky, right? And I got him in the third round. So that makes you feel a little bit better. That may just make you feel very good. Oh gosh, but whatever. Let's move on from this and when we come back, we'll take our first break. We'll talk about Ronnie Maricio with the New York Mets. Well, I have another pitching prospect I want to talk about. We will do all of that right after this. Are you interested in buying some fantasy baseball today merch? Well, now you can at the Paramount Shop, which offers a mountain of merch from the Paramount

shows and movies that you love. Scan the QR code in the top right corner if you're watching on YouTube or head to Paramount Shop.com Paramount Shop where products are Paramount. And if you're watching us live, see this hat I'm wearing. Good old Fantasy Baseball Today hat. You can get exactly one of these over at the Paramount Shop. We keep hearing the name from the New York Mets, but it seems like they might be a little hesitant to promote.

Ronnie Maricio, who is currently 23% rostered, shortstop eligible on CBS. He's 22 years old and is having a very strong season in the minor. 77 games at AAA, where he's batting 302 with 12 homers, 14 steals, and an 852 OPS. He's lowered the strikeout rate tremendously this year. The stat cast data is bonkers for Ronnie Maricio. Welsh, when do you think,

Do you think we could see him? I don't know if it'll even happen because where's he going to play, right? I mean, I guess it could be second base. They can move McNeil to the outfield. Obviously, it's not going to be shortstop with Francisco Indoor. Your thoughts on Ronnie Maricio. One of the things they did recently, within the last two or three weeks, they worked him out a little bit in the outfield.

And I think that's going to be kind of the play. So they're starting to get him out to find flexibility, trying to find ways to get him in the lineup. I'm starting to lean that Ronnie Maricio at this point might be a guy that is September. If they want to make moves, this might be a spot. There are people that are torn on him.

I did this episode, a prospect going with Jeff Ponce from Baseball America, and he was saying that he liked Orovis Martinez with the Blue Jays, who's had some big swing and miss issues over Ronnie Maricio. As Ronnie Maricio was lowering his strikeout percentage still, hitting for more power, that there just might be kind of a non-consensus feel

about him in the prospect world. So what I'm getting at is you get this guy who's hitting over 300 consistently for the year and has built up his value. That might be something that the Mets can take advantage of if they are going to compete, you know, really, really push. They might trade off everything and it doesn't matter. We've heard the Max Scher's stuff. But if they want to make moves, everyone got on their case last year about not moving Francisco Alvarez. That could be something. So this is another one of those guys that could be playing somewhere else.

So if they don't make any moves, I kind of think this would just be maybe a September thing where they want to start. start seeing what they have in players. Like, assuming they, let's say they traded like Scherzer and they trade something else and they're just kind of playing their guys, Ronnie Maricio would be a guy in September where they can control, get him out there. He hasn't really shown great plate presence. He's still got an under 5% walk rate, which has actually kind of been lowering over years. It's great that the strikeout percentage has gone down.

But I would love to see him. I think he makes pretty good contact. He's always had good power. His body has physically grown. I remember watching him in spring training as a 19-year-old in spring training games, just skinny. I think he got a hit in his first ever at bat. And I just think there's a pretty good offensive tool in here overall. But I'm not optimistic that it's going to be anytime soon unless something happens with this team.

Yeah, it seems like the Mets outfield is pretty set right now too. They've got Brendan Nimmo. They've got Starling Marte, Tommy Fam. Pham did leave with an injury over the weekend, which I will check up on. But we know he's dealt with a lot of injuries in the past as well. If that turns into something, it's a groin issue. You know, if Tommy Fam lands on the IL and, you know, this team, again, they need a spark in their lineup. And maybe they call up Ronnie Maricio to do that.

You know, they still have Dan Vogelbach who's playing DH. So they can move guys around. If they really wanted Ronnie Maricio up, they can do it right now. It just seems like they've been a little hesitant. You also wonder, like, they're still like consistently trying to figure out this whole Viantos-Bady thing that I think Viantos has played around with corner outfield stuff. That might be something that they, that's why. why this is kind of murky. Like we know in Connocheon Strand is the guy when something happens. Maricio is kind of in, I think, at a similar situation, but we also don't know that he's the guy

100% because of like Viantos is still sitting out there. I think they should give him a shot, though. I feel really confident this would be a September thing. I just don't know my, my level of confidence is under 50 as far as like now till August 31st. The Mets have the, of course, you know, their payroll is insane, biggest payroll on baseball, history. would you like to guess how many games they are currently out of the wild card Welsh? Oh, of the wild card? Yeah. Seven?

They are seven. That's a great call. Seven games on the nose there out of the wild card spot right now. 18 and a half came back of the Atlanta Braves in the division. That's why I didn't even bring it up. That's why I went straight to the wild card because frankly, I don't think they have a shot at the NL East title.

Let's move on to a I guess we could talk about both pitching process. here and whether or not, you know, how worried we are about this injury to Kyle Harrison. We don't have many pitching prospects left. I mean, so many of them have already got called up this year. We talked about Grayson Rodriguez earlier. Kyle Harrison is with the San Francisco Giants, but he has a moderate hamstring strain that he was recently diagnosed with. So I don't know that they are going to push him. And frankly, he's been really inefficient in the minors this year as well. The other name is Ben Brown with the Chicago Cubs. And speaking of

Ben Brown, 12% rostered, 23 years old, a big dude, 6 foot 6. He was awesome at AA earlier this season where he made four starts. Then he got called up to AAA, and what happened? Everything that's kind of imploded here. 576 ERA, a 158 whip, still getting tons of strikeouts, but the walks are a massive, massive issue. Six walks per nine right now for Ben Brown. Well, it's your thoughts?

The Kyle Harrison injury and whether or not the Cubs would want to call up Ben Brown, considering how much he struggled at AAA. I've been really indifferent about Kyle Harrison all year. He just started so bad, so bad, just getting lit up left and right. His fastball put up huge stuff plus numbers, but everything else, location plus garbage. He found some like rhythm for a little bit, but now you've got injuries. He is averaging seven walks per nine. At this point, you know, I wrote Kyle Harrison into this in this conversation,

but the more I'm thinking about it with this injury, I actually think the best, case scenario might be that long relief again. That what they would want to get out of a guy like Kyle Harrison would maybe be a piggyback situation with a player. And they do that. And they do that. Yeah. They do that with like raw shripling and like Alex Wood and stuff.

So now the only plus about that would be let's say Alex Wood for instance goes three and he's your starter. And then Kyle Harrison comes in. You would have opportunities that wins if he were to be a guy like that. His strikeouts are awesome. The walks are disaster. It's kind of similar. ish with Ben Brown. Like you said, the walks in AAA are at six per nine. His strikeouts have been

elite. It's just also why you have to hold back a little bit with guys in double A. This is the prospect process. Three months ago, two months ago, people were like Ben Brown, Ben Brown. I was even Ben, Brown, Brin, he's amazing. He's amazing. Cubs, Cubs. And then this has been gross. You know, AAA has not been a good return. You know, the funny thing, I was looking here at my top 100 for my prospect list. And we have exhausted just about every pitcher that is really viable. Ricky Teeteman has had an injury for a majority of the year. And I don't know, as far as I've kind of been told, like it's not looking good for any immediate return. Andrew Painter got worse news. Those are the top two pitching prospects. They're not available. Then you've got young

guys, Tinkhens, Cardinals are a disaster. So I'm going through here. Who are the only options inside my top 100 to make it to the majors. It's Ben Brown. And then I'll throw another name I didn't throw at you just because of this last performance, but maybe Mick Abel. Make Abel has not lit the world on fire in the miners as far as AA goes this year.

He's got a 475 ERA, 70 strikeouts, own 60 innings. But this futures game, he did put up, again, it's like small sample size, four of his five pitches had 110 stuff plus or higher. Three of the four, 120 stuff plus. Shorter inning.

So this is coming back again to like, maybe they, you know, Phillies are trying to go for something. Maybe Mick Abel could help them. Maybe it's in relief. Maybe it's a starter. I think Mick Abel and Ben Brown

are the biggest named guys, but you have to really start to dig. And unfortunately, the production is not great. Emerson Hancock has not been good. Dodgers have some guy. River Ryan could be a player, but I still don't think that's a start.

So just like reiterating to what you said, we've kind of just gone through a lot of the rookie prospects. It would everything else would be a shock and maybe more sadly, everything else of any of the guys that could come up might just be piggyback or relief situations for teams that are competing. Cause, you know, what is it going to do for teams to bring up a starter and start their clock on the back half of the year? Like that's why Tink Hens is like just a non option to me unless it's one or two starts in September. All right, so let's slide over back to the hitters and look at the Oakland A's who could begin their youth movement as well with Tyler Sotersrom and Zach Gelloff. Tyler Sotersrom, 15% rostered. He's actually first base eligible on CBS. Now, you might have heard the name over the years. He was a catcher. Kind of went back and forth, catcher, first base, DH. This year he's actually played a few more games at catcher once again. But if you're projecting forward, the A's have Shay Langalears. I feel like Soderstrom is probably going to wind up.

either playing first base or DH for the team. This year in the minors, he was batting 254, we had 20 home runs, and the exit velocity is actually really good for Tyler Todorstrom. Zach Geloff is the other name here. Actually, somebody we saw out in the Arizona Fall League, so far this season batting 304 with 12 home runs, 20 steals, so some power and speed, a 929 OPS. The problem with both of these guys, Welsh, the strikeouts.

Strikeouts have been an issue for both of them, so we could be looking at a lower batting average, but potentially some big pop with Sodorstrom and maybe a little power speed with Zach Gelloff. Yeah, I actually think these two are both in a spot where obviously the team doesn't want to start like anything. They're just a disaster overall. But it's also like they're not served. There's what more is served to, Tyler Sotstrom played some games in AAA last year. What more is there?

Gelloff did the same thing. Actually, Gelloff had a couple of bats in AAA in 2021. They played in the fall league. I think both of these guys are guys that are not going to, quote, be saved. I think Sotom could actually do similar to like Henry Davis, where majority is at first or DH, and then like all of a sudden he throws a game at catcher. You know, Henry Davis just did that the other day. I think he was a replacement catcher.

I think you can see that because he wants to play. I just think he's a crazy bat. You could throw right into four or five. Put him four or five. He's an RBI guy, huge EVs. Don't love the strikeout stuff, at least the contact at 254, but it's almost a 300. ISO. He's hitting the ball harder than he's ever done. So this is a great source of homers and RBI where Gelloff has just become a more

consistent hitter. Hitting 304 in AAA, he hit 257 last year. Strike up percentage is down a little bit. Walk percentage is almost double what it was last year. And he has almost more stolen bases this year than his entire career prior to this. He has 20 stolen bases. Prior to this year, he had 23. So he's becoming a more efficient. stealer. He also could move around positionally really well. I kind of think Gelloff will be the first

one up and then Sotostrum. And if the power is there with Gelloff, which we saw a little bit in the AFL, I think he could be a really, really fun, more of a five-touli guy. We'll see. And Tyler Sotterstrom is your big power option. But I think both of these are better bets for production. I just don't think it's more impactful than what we would get out of Strand if he were to come up at the same time or Colt Keith. I think those guys would be more impactful. That's why they're higher. I'd agree with that too. And obviously the team context with the Oakland A is the ballpark. It's not a good park to hit in as well.

But those guys are making some noise in the miners right now. Again, Soderstrom and Zach Gelloff. You mentioned Henry Davis just recently, and we know there's another catcher prospects in the Pirates organization in N.D. Rodriguez, also 15% rostered on CBS. 65 games at AAA this year. He's been a letdown. There's no other way to say it.

258 batting average, five homers, four steals. The plate discipline looks really good. The stack cast data. not so much. We know he was really impressive last year. The final, you know, two months of the season, Andy Rodriguez was a beast. And coming in this year, you know, we thought maybe he's a May or June call up, something like that. And it just really hasn't worked. Welsh, what are you seeing from Andy Rodriguez? Do you actually think we see him in the second half? Yeah, I do think we see him in the second half. He got a decent amount of run in the futures game. They were talking about, you know, how the team

wants to instill views him as a main catching option over Henry Davis. but the bat just hasn't been there. I actually had someone at the game texting me being like, Andy Rodriguez is a lot smaller than I thought he was. And to whatever that truly is at the end of the day,

people fell in absolute love with him. I never loved him as much as everybody else, but he had a big power output last year that has just kind of dissipated. You know, I mean, what did he have last year? 16 homers at high A, eight at double,

and he had one at AAA. He has five total homers this year at AAA, but the walk and the strikeout percentages have gone. He's just made worse contact. But I think that's something this team will still want to really get like a good look at can he control and can he work these pitchers. Do we want him there? He's also played some other positions. He's had some flexibility. And I think that's worthwhile. So yeah, I do think this is a guy, you know, post futures game that we see here in the very new future. I just don't know if it's going to be crazy impactful. But at a catcher position, if he were to

start getting some playing time and some other spots, it kind of becomes a Henry, uh, Henry Davis situation again where it's like, oh, he's playing more. You know, maybe Henry Davis catches a game, Andy catches a game that keep Austin hedges around. You know, they can manipulate this. And if he does get his bad going, remember, this is a smaller guy, but he hit 20 homers last year. That potential power is still in his bat.

Yeah, and we know the bar is so low to be viable at the catcher position in fantasy baseball, right? You don't really have to be a great hitter to actually have value in fantasy baseball. And I know you mentioned we could maybe get more play to pay to more games from Andy Rodriguez because like Henry Davis, he can play multiple positions. I'm looking this year. He's played mostly catcher. He's got eight games at first base, but last year, Andy Rodriguez played 18 games at second base. He's got some games in the outfield in his minor league career. So he can move around. If he comes up and hits well, they could throw

them at second. They could put him in the outfield, play catcher, DH, whatever. But the played appearance opportunities would be there for Andy Rodriguez. He also played first base in the futures game, just pointing that out too. Like he didn't even play catcher. He was playing that, he might have actually jumped in at one point, but he was playing first base there. Key Brian Hayes on the IL, you know, roster manipulation. He's just those are valuable players. If the Cardinals decide to sell, which, hey, we're at the All Star break and they are 14 games under 500, 11 and a half games out of first place in the National League Central. That means we could see shortstop Mason win in the second half of the season. 11% rostered on CBS, and he was a second round pick back in 2020.

He is 21 years old, 81 games at AAA this year for Mason win, batting 266 with 10 homers, 15 steals, 940 OPS. The plate discipline looks pretty good there. Stack has data, not great. He's kind of like a smaller middle infield type. I don't know that we're ever going to see big exit velocities from him. Another player we saw out in the Arizona Fall League Welsh, and I remember seeing him, The arm is tremendous. He's a wizard defensively.

He's really fast too. It's just a matter of how much is he going to hit? How much power is he going to hit for? And what would you say to that? Yeah, I think there is 15 plus homer power in him. He's got 10 homers and 81 games this year. If you take AA and AAA, that's a little over a full season. That's 21 homers over his last two stops.

He steals bases. He had 28 last year. He's up to 15 this year. So base stealing has gone down a little bit. he's like defensively ready now. He can play shortstop at a major league level right now, one of the best arms and the minors. That's without question.

He's fast. The hit tool's just been behind. I think that's what held him behind. And also, like this team just has at every spot, just a glut in that middle infield. Paul DeYoung came up and started being good, but guess what? If they're selling, do we think Paul DeYoung is going to be sticking around?

Tommy Edmund's injured. Yeah, there's flexibility for this team to get Mason. Nolan Gorman. Nolan Gorman has found some struggles as well. They may want, and I think you 100% want to see what you have out of Mason win. This isn't a guy that you're saving for next year or anything like that, that you want to see. Is he ready to be your starter? Him and Jordan Walker best friends that I really do think you're going to see him. It's just again, it's like, what will that production look like? I think it'll be minimal homers. I think he's going to hit at the bottom of the order, which is going to kind of stink for your fantasy teams. But this team is not afraid to do. I'm not afraid. to let guys run, and I think he could run a bit more. And his defensive prowess will keep him in that lineup if they do sell off pieces for the rest of the year. So I think you can get middle infield production. That's hopefully better than like, you know, bench placement.

And if he could steal, I don't know, 10 to 15 bases in the second half, which might even be a little bit more aggressive than where he was here and hit a few homers and there's good contact. Maybe next year he hits higher. The downside him, probably the list of all the guys we've talked about. I think he'd probably hit the lowest of every. everybody on this team. All right. Again, that is Mason Wynn with the Cardinals. The last two names on this list, perhaps a little bit more unheralded in outfielder slash third baseman, Justin Henry Malloy. He's with

the Tigers and starting pitcher Robert Gasser, who is with the Milwaukee Brewers. Justin Henry Malloy came over in the Joe Jimenez trade with the Atlanta Braves this offseason, 81 games AAA batting 276 with 14 home runs in 870 OPS big walk rate, 16% walk rate. So the OBP should be good for Justin Henry Maloy. And Robert Gasser, a 24-year-old, he came over to the Brewers in the Josh Hater trade last year, and at AAA, a 394 ERA, 123 whip, well over a strikeout per inning, 10.7K per 9.

Left-handed pitcher, he's got a low arm slot, read that he has a really impressive sweeper, you know, low 90s with the fastball. So maybe more of like a high floor pitcher than like a crazy ceiling guy. But Welsh, any thoughts here on Henry Malloy and Robert Gasser? Yeah, I mean, this is like the Henry Maloy stuff is just kind of back to that

Colt Keith thing. I think this team would be best served getting both of these players up now and seeing what they have in them for next season, not throwing them into the fire for their first major league stand or giving them 50 at bats at the back half of the year. Get them significant. Give them 200 plus at bats, you know, if we even have that. If they can get that through the end of the year, Maloy is a really solid. I think he's one of like kind of likened him to like a Lord of Scuriel.

Hit him in the middle of the lineup. He's got some decent pop. We're seeing more pop from Coriel this year. He runs just a tiny bit. Doesn't run a ton. Only three stolen bases this year. But he's a great middle of the order contact hitter. That's what he does.

He's also pretty versatile in where he plays. He used to be a second baseman in college. Listed at third base. He plays left field. He played some awesome left field than the AFL. More versatility. This is a great guy to get in the lineup now. And I think he could be kind of sneakier production because in that Tiger's lineup,

I actually think they could put him higher. very early on. And again, keeping like Andy Abagnas over these guys I don't like. And Gasser, you know, we don't know if they're going to make any trades. If they're going to move any of these arms, the injuries. Woodruff is still trying to come back, not back until August. You've also got theoretical issues long term with Peralta. Then maybe Gasser is going to get a run.

I think every single pitching prospect we've talked about could just be more relief helping. But spot starts might make sense. Gasser's some good spin, like you said, good sweeper. I think he can do some strikeouts. That might be a decent spot. spot. I would probably only, if he got called up, I'd be looking for him for like plus matchups, not like even like mediocre, but like plus matchups is where I'd want to start him to see where he goes. But he might be viable for a rotation spot next year. Again, that is Robert Gasser,

a pitcher with the Brewers and Justin Henry Malloy in outfielder slash third baseman with the Tigers. Let's take our final break when we return. We'll talk about the names that just missed the cut. I'll ask the Welsh about a few names I had written down. Futures game recap. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back into fantasy baseball today, and I've got some names written down here. Ones that I think just missed the cut. Will we see them in the second half? I guess there's a chance, but I'll just quickly run through here.

Welles, you give me some quick thoughts on each. Connor Norby with the Baltimore Orioles. The problem right now is, where does he play? Is he maybe use his trade bait with another team? Your thoughts? Yeah, I think that's right there. I think, like, I don't know where he plays. We already were trying to figure out, like, where Kouser is.

I know people are kind of screaming about Kouser right now. he's disappointment, whatever. I think he's going to be fine. You got Jordan Westberg. I don't know where he plays, but it's sneaky power with him. They had a huge year last year. I think he's running a little bit less than he did. More of a second baseman.

I think he can probably play outfield for them. But I just don't know where he fits. Trade bait even feels better. If he were traded, I would get a little bit more excited. I'd assume any team that's trading for him would try to get him in the lineup immediately. He would be at the top of the, it'd be near the top of the list

if I found a more viable spot for him to produce this year. Again, that's Connor Norby with the Orioles. The next name up is actually one that I was stashing for a while. Sal Freelick with the Brewers, the problem, he's just not hitting. I mean, that's supposed to be his calling card, right? We heard Stephen Kwan comps about the contact, the batting average. Maybe he's got a little bit more pop and speed than a Stephen Kwan.

But Welsh, the problem, he's just not hitting in the minors right now. Yeah, 33 games. He has one homer, six stolen base. This is in AAA with his. 231 batting average, a sub 100 ISO right now. I mean, he is lost. He is built off of heavy contact. That contact may be generating at least average power

and stealing a few more bases. None of it's there. And he's not compensating it. You know, we talk about some of these players sometimes and when they don't hit for power, they compensate it by maybe stealing a little bit more bases, but he can't steal when he's not getting on base. So this has been pretty rough.

It's kind of been a big downfall since the WBC from injury to a really, really poor season. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see him at all this year, and they send him out to the Arizona Fall League maybe due to some missed time, you know, maybe working on a few things because he looks a little bit lost. I'm not optimistic we see a bunch of him this year, if any. The Tampa Bay Rays,

they had a few names that we were excited about coming into the season. I know Curtis Mead has dealt with a lot of injuries so far this year. Kyle Manzardo, the batting average is not where we want it to be right now. Well, so you think there's any chance we see Curtis Mead or Kyle Manzardo, maybe it's also with another team. Yeah, the other team thing, you know, that's funny. When we were talking about all the trade stuff, I don't even think I was like considering Mead or Manzardo.

But if they're going to make an impactful move, both of these guys would be there. Manzardo, I think it's personal stuff going on in his life and the batting average has kind of gone down. I'm not chalking a whole bunch up there. I think he's still great. Strikeouts are a little bit up, but he's walking a little bit more. He's been a little bit lucky on Babbip. He's been a 330 plus guy at every level. He's down to 269 so far this year in AAA.

I think there's a possibility we see him maybe on the back half of the years of September call up. I say the same thing would go on with Curtis Mead because he was struggling before the injury and he like just got back. So I don't I don't see these guys as options significantly unless they traded other pieces and they needed to start replacing that. Like I don't know why they wouldn't trade Yandi, but you know, if they traded like Aranda and Bruhan and they didn't have flexibility, maybe they would want a guy like Curtis Mead who. who can also play first or second. Manzardo's a little bit tougher to fit in there, but I think maybe they might want to try his bat out on the back half of the year, especially if there's injuries.

So I guess I'd both give them like a 25% chance before September, and I would put them both over like 55 to 60% in September at some point. So that's not like super impactful for fantasy. What about the potential return of Matt Mervis? Well, so you think we could see this happen in 16 games since getting sent down to the minors. He's batting 264. with three home runs and a 946 OPS. Do you think we see him back up with the Cubs?

Yeah, I definitely think they're going to, they're not going to want to end the year on the note of him being sent down. I 100% think we're going to see him. But it just comes back to that like, what is this going to look like? What has he worked through that's gotten better? Obviously, he's walking more. Obviously, he's striking out less. But I think we're in a weird period with him right now.

I think we're in this, like, quad Aish type of thing. And what's the separator? Because what jumps out to me, when you see a guy have atrocious like K numbers, not walking, not doing what we saw in the miners, and then go back and then just go revert right back to where they were. He clearly owns AAA. He has not figured out major leagues.

We're like a full year away from calling like Quad A, but I don't know where that's going to change. So what we do need to see is him come back. I think it's a great sign that, you know, the K percentage went way back down and he's walking a ton and the power numbers are coming up. But he's not hitting for great content. So what type of impact is that going to be?

You know, he might actually kind of belong a little bit higher on this like top impact prospects in the second half, simply because I think he has a better chance to get a lot more run. And if he writes the ship, he's going to be, he would be on par with, you know, Incaronelian Strand if we see more of that AAA version of him. Yeah, he probably could be Matt Mervis in that same tier that we started with of Grace Rodriguez and Oswald Paraza, right? It's totally that we've already seen in the major. but he's going to get called back up

and potentially have an opportunity there with the Cubs. One quick note on Matt Mervis, I have a notepad on my phone from when I went out to the Arizona Fall League and I was watching some games and just kind of taking some notes or whatever. And I wrote Matt Mervis, sock and the shoe Saturday.

He hit a home run, stole a base. I also wrote, had some really bad swings too. Yeah. So, you know, maybe that's something I should have paid more attention to. We saw the home runs and the NFL were like, you know,

with this guy, but... Majestic is the word I use. He had this one in surprise that I have video of where it was just not a good pitch and it looked like he hit a fly ball up, but he hit it so far. It wasn't like a just barely homer. He absolutely murdered it because it's majestic. But you are right about that. And it's something I said a while back.

You don't want to get too focused on it, but he gets some pretty nasty swings. Like if you pitched him, I don't know if he picked up like really good off speed. that off speed that starts in the zone and comes out. Like I think he did a good job of like the lower half, like let's say a change up and it cuts out. He could see that. But that stuff that really breaks, he didn't do a good job about that. And he was a lot more susceptible lower in the zone. And I think maybe we're also seeing, which is a big like big power guy, like guys that are trying to cheat to hit for homers.

That high Velo. That's kind of been a problem. I think he's having both of those issues right now of like low off speed and high Velo not catching up to. that's what you hope he's working on and being able to fix in the minors right now. Last but not least, I have the Yankees written down here. I think it's much more likely that they go out and trade for some major league talent that can help their offense right now. But if they don't, Welsh, is there any chance that we could see in Austin Wells?

I know Everson Pereira was recently promoted to AAA and he's off to a nice start there as well. Any chance that you think we could see some of these guys with the Yankees? I don't think we see Pereira. Never say never. huge hard hit numbers and stuff like that. And ironically, I think there's a better likelihood we see Austin Wells, who's a double A than we would Pereira.

If I was a betting man, I'd say, nope, on either one of these. But I think it would be Wells if I was taking a bet. I think they've kind of, I felt like they've slow rolled Pereira a little bit. September is always a possibility for either one of these guys. But nothing I'm betting on unless they were, you know, like you said, like selling the house. These guys, here's a better way to put it. better opportunity for them to play in the majors with another team than the Yankees this year. Right. Yeah. I heard rumors that the Cardinals might be taking some calls on their

outfielders and immediately my mind went to, wow, I mean, if the Yankees could get their hands on Lars Neupar, I would absolutely go crazy, but I don't even know if that's something that's being discussed or whatever. I think by taking calls on their outfielders, that's Tyler O'Neill. I think that they're taking calls on Tyler O'Neill is what they're doing to move that off. And you know what? Tyler O'Neill is exactly the type of player that Brian Cashman loves. Strikeouts, injuries, home runs. He would fit in perfectly with the New York Yankees. So mark my words.

By August 1st, Tyler O'Neal will be in pinstripes. Let's wrap up here with the futures game recap. The National League side won the game five zip. Seems like it was a little bit uneventful Welsh, but maybe that's just because there wasn't much offense going on. Maybe there was a lot to take away from the pitching side of things. only 11 hits combined from the two sides. We'll start with the hitters, things that stood out to me. Red's prospect, Nelvi Marte.

He stole a base in this game. Red Sox prospect, Marcel Mayer, had a hit and a stolen base as well. Tyler Soderstrom had a single and a walk. Colt Keith, you talked about how he had a hit in this game. He also had a walk. His teammate, Justin Henry Maloy, had two walks. And Marlins' prospect, Nassim Nunez, who was, I believe, named the MVP of the game, had a three-run double and a stolen base.

anything that stands out from that group? Not real. I mean, offensively, no. You know, Noelvi was the one thing I kind of walked away with, because we just, I see him kind of like all the time. And I've been very picky on him about just like,

he looks very stiff in the AFL and he's getting bigger. And I've kind of talked about like him adjusting to his body, I think has been really difficult. He just looked, I don't know, more comfortable. He looked better, more athletic than he's looked in quite a while. And I just hadn't seen. that and I felt very optimistic about that, the stolen base, the contact, because he still got that crazy raw power. I don't know if he's ever going to be a high contact guy, but I just

feel like we should be a little bit more optimistic about him. You know, the negative side was Jordan Lawler was 0 for 2 with two strikeouts and Trio was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, which stood out to me. But this was a pitching game. And I pulled up, not to jump pass here if you wanted to go to pitching or anything like that, but the stuff plus numbers I was telling you about, are ready for the two really exciting stuff plus pitching numbers from the futures game i am ready so these are eno eno gave these to me and jacob miserosky by the way there's this funny anecdotal thing which stat cast said he threw a fastball curve sinker and cutter and he disagreed and said nope it's a fastball curve slider and a change up so i think they registered his change up as a sinker and his

slider as a cutter here are his stuff plus numbers from this game fastball 206 which is crazy. His sinker, which technically, it's rated so high because I think it's a sinker, but it was a change-up. 167.

His curveball, 131. And then I guess would be his whatever they're calling it. Cutter or whatever. Yeah, cutter. A 91 stuff plus. But a 206 fastball

with a 167 sinker was his numbers, which was crazy. And then on top of it, Mick Abel, who I was telling you about before, he had a, I think it was a curveball, 129 stuff plus, fastball, 121, change up 120, and slider 114. Those were the two kind of big stuff plus standouts from that game. Yep, good stuff there.

And good to know. And if anyone else listening out there watching, trying to figure out what stuff plus is, it's a metric that's used to obviously measure the, stuff, but it looks at all different kinds of things from like spin and the shape of the pitches. And it's a metric that you can find on fan graphs. And basically 100 is league average. And anything over that is obviously, you know, really, really good.

So when we're talking about a 200 stuff plus on a fastball, that's just completely ridiculous. Spencer Shrider, I think, is in like the 150s with his fastball. So, yeah, it's like, it's just measuring. And, you know, we'll talk about how, like, it doesn't do a great job at like measuring changeups. And then, like, sometimes, like, guys. I used to throw fast, big fastballs. They just get big ratings and stuff like that. The only other pitcher that I think is worth noting

that people should pay attention to, and I've talked about a lot. He was in the AFL. Carson Wisenhunt, through 10 pitches, nine were strikes, probably the best change of. I was in love with his change up in the NFL, and he just, just dollied that thing over.

And Jackson Holiday on the broadcast was asked about it. And he was like, listen, he's like, I knew it was coming. He's like, I just couldn't do anything about it. It was a really good pitch. He was acknowledging that Carson Wisenhunt's changeup is just crazy, and he was a strike machine in that game. Giants pitcher, very impressive. All right, let's wrap up here, Welsh.

Team name Tuesday. Here's how it works. I'm just going to read off some team names. If you have any reaction, feel free to share it. If not, we just got to keep it moving. So obviously, we get some pretty fun ones, and these were from last week, so I think some of them are even like July 4th related. So I do apologize, but there is so much crazy stuff that happened, either. on the Monday before or actually on July 4th.

Anyway, let's just get into it. This is from at Smoke Signal on Twitter. Bibby Yuri Firework. I love that one. I read it as like BB too. I want to read it like that. Bibi Yuri Firework. Oh, that's, all right, that's number one right now.

That's number one. That's, of course, the Katie Perry classic out there. From Rosenberg. And I guess I'm supposed to read this in an Arnold Schwarzenegger. Casas-Bautista, baby Casas-Botista, baby. Bibi is still number one. All right, from Jeff,

your mean one, Mr. Hinch. That's the new number one. I love the Grinch. That's a fantastic one, Jeff. Good job. From Gavin. Ellie de la Cruzen. Solid, very solid.

That's about as relevant as ever after this past weekend with all those stolen bases against the Milwaukee Brewers. From Matt, he's got four different names here. Stop the presses. Okay, good. Can I have a free lick of your ice cream?

All right, nope, but okay. Here's a minter for your breath odor. Creative. And Wu Tang McClainahan. Ooh, that's a good one. That's a really, really good one. That is a classic. These are from Derek.

Just Dinger's Martinez. Okay, that's solid. Which I didn't know that's actually J.D. Martinez's nickname, but it's his nickname, apparently. Oh, just dingers? Just Dingers, Martinez. Oh, I didn't know that either. Also very relevant this year. He's been amazing. This is a Selena reference.

Bady, Bady, Bome Bainty Bome Bainty Bome. Now someone take that and loop it and make it a song, please. Absolutely do it. And anytime we get a Matt Bady reference on here too. I guess that could be Brett Bady too. Why do they go with Matt Beatty? Oh, I was thinking it was, you know what? I'm with you on that.

I was thinking Matt Beatty. They spelt it out like Matt Beatty, but you could obviously go with that. There might have been, yeah, Brett, yeah, you're right. This next one is Dylan Sheesh. I like it. That's fun. And Big Kahuna Burger. I know this is like a Pulp fiction thing, but how does it relate to baseball?

Am I missing something? Yeah, I don't. Is there a player with a nickname Big Kahuna? There might be, I don't know. Well, maybe it's like a Jake Burger type of thing. Ah, yeah, you might be right about that. Yeah, Big Cahoon is definitely, that's the burger that they ate in Pulp Fiction. But, yeah, I'm not sure outside of a Jake burger.

I don't know what the reference is. From John, these are SpongeBob themed. And the first one is the Flying Ruchman. Okay. The chumpucket. Yeah, I like that one. Friedel-de-l-le-le-de-le-lee. I'm very friends.

My daughter told me the other day she's six years old, and she thinks she's too cool for school now. and we mentioned SpongeBob, she's like, oh, I hate SpongeBob. I'm like, no, you don't. And it's all we watch for years and years of years. She's like, go who you do? I'm like, you don't. You just think you're too old for it.

SpongeBob is the best, and that one's very good. It's so funny because I remember that time period in my life where it must have been junior high school or something right, where I'm at the point where, you know, I'm too old for superhero stuff. Like, that's not cool anymore. And then by the time I got to high school in college, like everyone came back with superhero graphic teas and it was like the coolest thing. and I don't know.

It's just, everything kind of goes around at a circle eventually. Did I tell that I'll do it really, really quick. But did I, I don't, if I told this yesterday, I really apologize, did I tell you about the CBS producer thing on air? Not on air, but you told me off air. I'll just do it real quick because it's a funny anecdote to what you just said.

On this, after the first segment, I'm just still waiting and I'm on my phone. And one of the producers comes on and goes, Hey, Chris, this is blah, blah, blah, can I ask you a question? Or we got a question for you. And I was like, oh, great. What did I screw up? They're going to tell me, hey, could you stop being awful and be better. And he goes, is, is that a walking dead graphic comic behind you,

graphic novel? And I go, yeah, it is. That's funny. He's like, are those others graphic novels too? Like Marvel? And I'm like, yeah. And then we got on to like a 10 minute conversation with two different CBS producers because they were so excited that I had all these graphic novels. And that's where we are right now. We think we're adults, but we're really just kids. Yeah, that is absolutely true. Coming from somebody who owns every single Pokemon game ever made, I can confirm what you just said. This last one here is a Yu-Gi-O-1.

This is from my boy Frank. Thank you, John. I appreciate that. Bayo-Eyes-Wit Dragon, which is great. Welsh, I know you're not a Yu-Gi-O guy. I don't know what that means, but it sounds fun. But the famous Blue-Eyes-White Dragon, it's great. Love it. We're going to continue playing the Yu-Gi-O drop, very much so, in the

second half. This last group is from Neil, and he starts it off with the Nestor Endy Story. Okay, never-ending story, I like it. You didn't see the never-ending story, did you? Absolutely. Growing up. When they started singing the song in Stranger Things,

the never-ending story, I refer to that as the Stranger Thing song, not the Never-A-Story song. That should give you a little bit more of my background. Ha Song of Bryce and Fire. Okay. That's a good reach. It's pretty good.

Song of Ice and Fire. Bassistent to the regional, McManager. Oh my gosh. That's pretty good. If Scott was here, he would be rolling his eyes all the way in the back of his head. When people try too hard, Scott gets so frustrated. Oh, so you know what's funny about that?

Then like, either some people are like really happy that I'm here that I'm giving like attention to them. And then some people are like, ugh, I just want Scott and I want his like pessimistic attitude towards these because that one's lame. Like I'm probably going to laugh at dad jokey ones. Yeah. I'm watching you, Winkowski. Always watching.

Okay. Is that Monster's Inc? I think that is Monster's Inc. Okay. I would Walker 500 miles. Yeah, I'm over, though, that one. Yeah. I don't like Sandy.

It's coarse, rough, and irritating. Apparently that's... These are like long... These are like, he's going full stretches, like sentences. That's from Star Wars? I don't... I don't know. Do you know where that's from?

It's like... Star Wars prequel? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Shed Long, farewells, off Weemers and goodbye. Shed Long, we got a Tyler Wells in there and a Jeff Weamer. Jeff Weemer.

I was just thinking about Joey Weir. I was just thinking about Shed Long just the other day. I don't think he's, I think he's coaching right now. I'm not sure he's playing baseball. But I loved Shed. I absolutely loved him in the minors. And these are great names. But the winner is still, what was my winner?

It's the very top one. It was the, oh, Yuri, mean one, Mr. Hinch. It's my winner, personally. There you go. From Jeff, we appreciate it. And we are going to wrap there. Welsh, enjoy your little mini vacation. We appreciate it.

For the Welsh, I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.