Fantasy Baseball Today - 2022 Awards! Most Valuable, Most Improved & Arizona Fall League Updates (10/13 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: October 13, 2022

Welcome to the 2022 BREADSTICKS (2:00)! ... Let's start with the most valuable hitter and pitcher (8:20). ... Who was the most improved hitter and pitcher this season (13:45)? ... Can Reid Detmers be the next Kyle Wright (19:20)? ... Who collapsed the most throughout the season (21:10)? ... Bobby Big Bat and Freddie Fleet Foot (23:23)! ... News (32:07): Ronald Acuña had a rough hit by pitch Wednesday. ... Who was the comeback pitcher and hitter in 2022 (36:10)? ... Spencer Strider and Oneil Cruz were sizzling (41:50)! ... What other awards did we hand out (45:30)? ... We wrap up with Arizona Fall League updates and Welsh's top horror movies (50:30). Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection 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 lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Welcome in to a most glorious edition of Fantasy Baseball today, one where we will be highlighting outstanding statistical achievements as well as unfortunate downfalls.

On our 2022 award show known as the breadsticks. I am a completely over-dressed Frank Stamphle, joined by the dapper Scott White and an elegant Chris Welsh on Thursday, October 13th. And today on the show, we do have our awards to

hand out. Arizona Fall League updates. And the Welsh will give out his favorite horror movies for those so inclined to partake this time of year. We'll get to that a little bit later on. Scottie, great jacket, new setup. The Braves have tied up the series.

How you feeling, man? I'm riding high, I guess. Now, when you talk about us looking dapper, I mean, for the people who are just listening, we are spiffed up for this award ceremony. I am in, you know, a sports coat. Not my best, I'll point out. This is the only one that was in my closet. Here's a funny thing.

I have all my good jackets stashed in the office. you know, to shoot video at the CBS office, which I have not set foot in since 2019. So there's still just hanging there at my unoccupied desk, presumably. I mean, somebody, maybe they threw him out. Who knows? And Scott's never going back. This is all I've held on to.

Yeah. You know, it's one of those situations, because of course, I could go back now. The reason it hasn't, I haven't in so long is, you know, obviously all the COVID stuff. But that's long past. I can certainly go in the office if I wanted to. It's just one of those situations where the longer you go without doing it, the more awkward it feels to do it. You know what I'm talking about? Oh, I know. If I haven't, if I haven't gone yet,

like it's just going to be extra weird when I do. And so those jackets are just going to collect dust, I'm afraid. Yeah. And why would you want to open up the possibility, Scott, of you going in, someone noticing you and say, hey, man, why don't want to you come in here more often, you know? It'd be nice to see your face around instead of just working from home all the time, right? It's like, why would you I mean, I'm not so worried about that, but yeah, sure. I hear what you're saying. Now, what's funny is Frank, you're wearing the jacket that you wore at your wedding. That's right.

Now, this is interesting because, you know, I don't know. A lot of times women with their wedding dress, which they put a lot more thought into, a lot more money is spent on them. And, you know, they'll put them in mothballs and preserve them for generations to come. But you just use your coat as a prop. that's the function it serves for the rest of its existence. It's just kind of an interesting dichotomy there. Yeah, 1,000%.

You know, it's a white tuxedo jacket. When else am I going to wear this in my life outside of a fantasy baseball today award show? So I figured, let's break it out. Let's have a little fun. The Welsh is here, by the way. We went three minutes without the Welsh talking. That's got to be a record here. And by the way, for those listening, he might be the best for us.

of all. What's going on, Well she? Speaking of awkward and speaking of dapper, yeah, you guys might have your, uh, your jackets and your suit coats and all that, but what am I wearing? Well, a pretty, uh, light blue. Um, this would be a suit shirt, a tuxedo shirt is what they would call it. Um, uh, tux jersey. I don't know. Uh, but yes, it's a light blue and the form of, uh, dumb and dumber. So I think this is very appropriate that I have here. And boy, when Frank told me what we were doing, I'm like, oh, I'm going to have some fun and we get on. And I was like, by God, Frank, if you guys can't see, the hair is done up, full on white suit. And I'm like, oh, we're going to have some fun. We're

going to be silly. Nope, just me. Just me being the silly goose on here. But yes, please come to the video and check out my very, very wonderful dressed outfit I have going on. And for those watching us live or on demand, if you're watching that video, please hit the like button and subscribe. to the channel, if you haven't already. All right, so I introduced the awards as the breadsticks. Why? What does that mean? Well, I wanted some kind of fun, clever, creative name. The Dundees in the office.

We got the SBs, obviously, ESPN. The breadsticks, earlier in the season, for those who don't know, we would do the oh my goodness gracious player of the night, the standout. That's how we would start off every show. And Chris dubbed the most obvious player, right? Like, there's just one player that always stood out above the rest as the Olive Garden breadstick.

Now, what does that mean? When you go to Olive Garden, let's say us three went to Olive Garden, they would give us four breadsticks. Why is that? So that there would be one more than the amount of people we have. So that it's just kind of this awkward in between, like who gets the last breadstick? Should we order another round of breadsticks?

And it's just awkward, but it's just like a standout. There's one extra. Yeah. So that's why we're going with the breadsticks. So they don't have to keep giving you breadsticks. Exactly. Yes, it's, you had to be there, I think. for the origin of the breadstick name,

but regardless, that's what we've decided to name these awards. Fantasy baseball today, breadsticks. That's right. Like a little, like an E on it, like the breadsticks or the brady? I feel like we need, like I'm missing that just a little,

like the breadies, the bread stickies. I'm good with it. I'm good with it. Let's do it. And that comes. By the way, is there anything more frustrating than going to Olive Garden and then now?

You can tell we're in like any type of a recession when you go, go and you no longer get your basket of like six or seven breadsticks, they firmly stick to four and you have to ask. I've got like twice in the last year with my wife. I was going to have four. You go to Olive Garden a lot more than I do. I used to go quite a bit and still could be justified to go.

But it is like immediately. My play is they bring the bread and we're like, oh, thank you very much. One more whenever you get a chance. One more. And bring the Alfredo pole. Those are key plays. Just put it out there. Just rip the big.

Band-aid off. Yeah. Let's not make it too awkward. Let them know who's boss. Quick story about Olive Garden. I tweeted, I went there, I don't know, a couple years ago, and I tweeted out, Olive Garden is to Italian food as Taco Bell is to Mexican food. And the actual Olive Garden account responded to me.

And they were not happy with what I had said. Were they like the Wendy's Twitter account? I can imagine what they were saying to you. No, no. Not like the Wendy's account. Anyway, let's jump in. All these awards can be found on CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. Scott puts in a bunch of work.

There's like 30 of them on the website. We're not going to get to all 30 of them. I think I've picked out like 21 of them that I wanted to highlight here. And some names we've already talked about recently, so we don't have to dive as deep into some of those, but the others, we will. And Scott, let's start off with the most valuable hitter

in fantasy baseball this season. Hmm, wonder who it could be. It's Aaron Judge. Yeah. It's Aaron Judge. He was obviously a prolific home. home run hitter, 62 home runs, seventh most in a single season, despite what some people will tell you.

That is what the official record books show. 62 home runs, very big total. I think the more significant number, 16 more than anybody else. And what this translates to, what this translated to in fantasy is if you're talking about point scoring, which I'm going to use just because it's easier to gauge than five-by-five category scoring, The gap between Aaron Judge and the number two hitter, Jose Ramirez, the gap between them and head-to-head points was bigger than the gap between Jose Ramirez and the number 23 hitter.

Aaron Judge, far and away, the best hitter, the most valuable hitter. Because remember, he wasn't even a first-round pick. No, he was not. He was a third-round pick, is that fourth-round pick in some drafts? I got him in the third round of the TGFBI League, which was a... a 15-team Roto League. So if I was getting him in the third round, he was probably falling into the fourth round

in some other drafts. The number one overall player in Roto this year, Aaron Judge was, posted career highs in all five Roto categories, 311 batting average, 62 homers, 133 runs, 131 RBI, and 16 steals. Scott highlighted the difference between Judge and the next closest hitter.

So with that, let's move on to the next one. The most valuable pitcher was Justin Verlander, his first season back from Tommy John at 39 years old, 1.75 ERA, 0.83 whip. Just over a strikeout per inning. He had 21 quality starts, over 28 outings, and also had 18 wins on the season.

Well, something that stands out to me for Justin Verlander, and this is obviously very nitpicky because I just read off his stats and he was amazing. 11.6% swinging strike rate was his lowest since 2017. Will you have any hesitation in taking a 40-year-old in round two next year? I think I will have some hesitation with it. Yeah, you're right. I mean, the K-per-9, when you're looking at some of the top guys,

especially if you're just sorting by war, you know, you're seeing a lot of high K-per-9s, and Justin Verlanders doesn't reach the 10-marker. By the way, just some random thing. I don't know if it's some of the different camera angles watching the first playoff game the other day. And I was TB, I don't remember it was TBS or whatever, but boy, Verlander looked the oldest I've ever seen him. And I watched him plenty of this year, just how the camera kept coming on his face. And I was just like, oh, my God, he looks so old, so credibly old. I'm worried about the overall drop in age for a lot of these guys. He has been the guy that's kind of avoided it in general.

But sure, the K numbers are coming down a little bit. You're seeing him get a little bit hit in the playoffs. The cost is always my problem. And I always, I guess at the end of the day, have an issue with the cost on second round pitchers, especially if there's going to be any, I don't call it a wart, but, you know, 40 years old, that's something that holds as much weight as holding that against Jacob deGrom for injury proneness, I think.

to some degree. So yeah, I probably will have some hesitation to that cost because as many of these guys, like we are going to end up paying next year for what they did this year. It's just Verlander's consistency is always going to walk with you. Scott,

where are you going to have Verlander as far as SPs? Well, I was going to ask you the same thing because this is something Frank and I talked about toward the end of the season, the struggle to rank the top tier pitchers, which I think is very deep. And there's a second tier that could easily bleed into it.

I see it as kind of a group of seven, Verlander being clearly in that group. I think I'm going to have him toward the top of that group because of the consistency, because, you know, I kind of like how the older guys have proven their durability in the way guys like Shane McClanahan and even Corman Burns to an extent haven't. That being said, will I take them in round two? I mean, the truth is I'm probably not taking any of those seven, considering I'm going to be out on investing big and investing early and starting pitchers again. I agree.

That's a stance I've already taken for next year. So I am going to have Verlander hire in that group, but it's probably a moot point for my own, the way I plan to build my own teams. The one bonus you could have is based off of like that tier of seven, him being so old, he might be the guy that falls to that back. end, and he could be the one that gets priced into being able to draft. We really don't know at this point on what the cost is going to be and how people are going to pay for it. But if you're talking leaving 15-team Roto, he could fall into the back end of the second round or if people just move away from it and are fearful of the age. He's going to be the one that you're going to have the opportunity to get later in rounds, I think more so than even the ceases or the McClanahan's

or obviously the Corbyn Burns. And it reminds me of his 2019 season, which was also fantastic. Before the short in 2020, people were also scared off to draft Verlander then when he was old and he was coming off a great year. And it just kind of reminds me of the same thing. Now he is, you know, two, three years older. But he was amazing. Once again, this past season. The most improved hitter this year, according to Scott White, was Nate Lowe. And he was fantastic. The number seven first baseman in Roto, number 13 in head-toeat-to-thead points. That disparity is so interesting to me. He did walk less this year, but it feels like it shouldn't be that big. Anyway, He went from a 771 OPS in 2021

to an 851 OPS this past year, hitting 302, 27 home runs, and how did he do it? He lowered his ground ball rate. He raised the launch angle, crushed left-handed pitching. Scott, would you rather, I know you've already ranked first baseman,

take Nate Lowe, or someone will talk about a little bit later on, Vinnie P. Vinnie Pass Quintino. Yeah, it was a tough choice between those two, and let me confirm how I have them ranked. before I say it. Okay, so I do have, in 5 by 5 scoring, I have Nate Lowe one spot ahead of

Pasquantino, however, in points leagues, past Quantino with that great strikeout to walk ratio, I have him ahead of Lowe. All right, so taking the easy way out there. This guy in Roto, this guy in head to head points, but I do think it makes sense. All right, that is Nate Lowe. The most improved pitcher was Kyle Wright. He was your lone 20 game winner with 21 wins on the season, the SP 16 and Roto, SP11 in heads had points. Entering 2022. Kyle Wright had 70 major league endings pitched with a 6.56 ERA and a 1.69 whip.

This past season, 3.19ERA, 1.16 whip, nearly a strikeout per inning 56% ground ball rate, leaned all the way into his curveball, which was one of the best in baseball this past season. Welsh, I think I'm going to be a little bit hesitant on Kyle Wright, And I don't think I have a reason to be because the ground ball rate's really good. Swinging strike rate was fine. Everything lines up.

He's on a really good team. But it's like you said before, you're buying this past season statistics. I'd rather just try and find next year as Kyle Wright, a former top prospect who can break out. I'm obviously not in this way, but that's going to be my mindset I think with Kyle Wright. What do you think? I'm in agreement with you on this. I feel like especially the out of nowhere 20 win chasers we've done in the past. Ian Kennedy immediately came to mind when I kind of.

was thinking of this. You know, I was going to actually kind of turn this question a little bit because easy answer is just like, yeah, I'm going to immediately be with you on it. If we're going to be paying really, really high cost, if we're going to be paying for 21 win, Kyle Wright, I'm probably not going to be in. Though, I like the ground ball rate. I like where the strikeouts went. He's in a great team.

The context works. What I was curious about was Scott, was this tough for you at all for this one? Because I think most of these have been pretty standard. The low one could have gone in a couple different directions. but maybe it's going to become about more the definition of what is this, the most improved pitcher. I look at multiple guys and I kind of think they could have been on this list. Was this one tougher than any of the ones you've done that we've talked about so far? I mean, there were a lot of improved pitchers, but most improved.

Kyle Wright was on nobody's draft board coming into the year, and he became the majors only 20 game winner. and the Scott White Dynasty League, which is 24 teams deep, it's point scoring, but because it's 24 teams, starting pitching is stretched insanely thin. And even in that league, he went undrafted.

I picked him up with the first run of Fab. And, yeah, no, I mean, nice pat on the back there, Scott. What was that? I said, nice pat on the back there, Scott. Oh, I picked him up. Nobody who ever picked him up. All 24, 23 people.

passed him up until one smart person came swooping in it happened to be me but the point is the that he happened to be uh he didn't even get drafted in that league so you know this was actually i thought a slam dunk um i guess you know obviously shame mclanahan improved and you and that's kind of where i'm going with it like i think there might be a terminology thing because i might argue that cow right might have been technically the most valuable like even more than what we're just talking with verlander if you're going to make the case in a 24 man league he didn't even drafted and he came in like what he did based on that the value is so exponential for talking about most improved the only thing the only little arguments i guess i have with that again and cow rights

just phenomenal but it is ironic that i don't think a lot of us are going to hold that weight into next year but mcclanahan went from kind of the same general range as verlander and you know verlander's done it before mclanahan has completely changed the scope of who he is he is now in the elite territory of pitchers also zack galen those were the two that jumped to my mind was mclan and and that could have gone from next level change as far as improvement. But we're also kind of like, we're poking here at the terminology and stuff like that.

Calright belongs in this discussion, but that's why I asked was this tough because I would have battled with a multitude of different ways and how you just said it, I might have been like, well, was he the most improved or was it just the most valuable? But I guess it worked when you win 21 games and you also were undrafted.

It plays. Yeah. And I'll also say that I understand the knee-jerk reaction of, okay, well, he's not going to win 21 games again next year because you can't bet on any pitcher doing that two years in a row. But I think the ways right improved were legit. And I think he's likely to get passed over, at least among fantasy experts, quote unquote.

I don't think he's going to be drafted as a top 30 pitcher. And in that case, like, I'll be all over that. Like, you know, Kyle Wright or Logan Webb next year. I'll take right, personally. Who was the most improved in the mid-season? That would be Reed Detmer's, who was sent down in late June, and at the time he had a 4.66 ERA, less than seven strikeouts per nine, a 9% swinging strike rate.

Once he returned, a 3.04 ERA, 9.9K per 9, 13% swinging strike rate. He had this revamped slider. He was throwing it harder. He was leaning into it more. And Scott, I think Reid Detmer's kind of fits the mold of trying to find the next Kyle Wright. Now, he's not going to be undrafted. He's going to be drafted in most leagues, but he's going to go much later than a Kyle Wright. He is a former top prospect, like Kyle Wright was, and he made a change. He started throwing the slider more. And if he leans into that even more

next season, then I think we could see that breakout. What do you think about, are you buying into this redetmer's breakout? Yeah, I am. Now, he did have a rough stretch in September after initially looking great. And then I think his final, start of the season was also terrific. But the bottom line is this was a highly drafted pitcher with ridiculous minor league numbers who upon first reaching the majors

and this year also before getting sent down, he just, he looked like he had nothing. Like his stuff was mush. And I say that knowing he threw a no hitter in there, but it was like a no hitter with three strikeouts or whatever. It was like it didn't look like he was

viable long term. And so now it does. And I don't know if he's going to sustain the exact numbers he put up after returning 304 ERA 9.9K per 9. There will probably be more ups and downs along the way. But at least Reed Demers looks like he has a future now.

And the upside seems pretty impressive. The biggest collapse the season goes to Pablo Lopez, a 1.05 ERA and his first seven starts, 4.60. the rest of the way. I mean, that's really the majority of the season for Pablo Lopez. I looked into it. The walks and home runs were the biggest culprits for Lopez's demise throughout the season.

Well, she has a nasty change-up, but his fastball change-up combo accounts for 75% of his pitches that he throws. I think unless he can develop a third pitch, his kerboles actually really good. He just throws it around 8, 9% of the time. He's gotten good results on it. Unless he finds a third reliable pitch, I think. I think Lopez kind of just sits in this mid to high threes, maybe even a four ERA kind of guy,

unless he gets that third pitch. Yeah, I agree with you. And this is also really not the mixture of like a massive two pitch pitcher. You're really not wanting to go change up fastball the whole way. You want to have a little bit more of a breaker, especially just to change the full eye on pitches. So if you're going to be a primary guy like that, you want to have more of a development,

even more into like maybe three or four more pitches or three or four total pitches that he's getting out there. The interesting thing with him was all the trade rumors that went on. And I kind of wonder if that played a role because there's such a great pitching development organization the Marlins are. And they've got a whole excess of them that I would either hope that they really, really hone in on him this year to help with that mix. Or what if he gets moved and that destination is a spot where maybe the team is going to overhaul him? We see that happen to a lot of different places. I mean, imagine if he went to the Mariners or the Guardians or something like that where they might, I don't know the analytical.

look that's going on between the Marlins and many others, but maybe it's going to be significant. But the bottom line is like, yeah, if nothing changes, I think we're still in the same place of him. A guy that lacks massive strikeouts, I think he had a career high walks this year, not leaving batters on base very well, and probably going to be hovering around a four ERA the whole season. Rather have Kyle Wright than him. Yeah, I would agree with that. I know the Yankees were very interested in him around the trade deadline. There was a very late rumor close to the deadline that they were trying to.

to get him. So maybe they're in the mix for him, but it wouldn't surprise me if Pablo Lopez is moved this offseason. Scott, the next award is called the Bobby Big Bat. What is that? Exactly what it sounds like, Frank.

Just a way of awarding somebody who made a big power contribution in a way that was kind of unexpected. A lot of power for cheap. And, you know. Who was Bobby? Who was Bobby? Yeah, who I need to know.

Who was Robert? Bobby Big Bat. You know, I'm just going for the alliteration there. Okay. Just making sure. Just went up there's someone in there. This is like an imaginary player when I was a kid on the playground. Bobby Big Bad is up, you know?

Oh, so like, what was it? God, what was it in like MLB, MVP when they couldn't have bonds on their Joe Dowd or whatever? Is that your Joe Dowd or I think his name was? Shut up. Best baseball game ever, by the way. I mean, love it. Love it. back to that. MVP 99. Was that what that was? MVP 99? That was where um I think it was MVP 2005.

05 with mani Ramirez on the cover. Yeah. Yeah. And that was doubt. Okay. All right. Yeah. That game was let's call this the Joe Dowd award. Maybe this John Dowd. John Dowd, I think. John Dowd. Well, this year's John Dowd was Christian Walker. So Welsh, I'm coming right back to you here. One of the Arizona Diamondbacks, obviously you're out there live in person. Actually, I don't know. Diamondbacks games you go to or even like, why would you? But, uh, Christian Walker had an ADP of 495 in the NFBC last year, a complete afterthought. He finished as a top five first baseman in Roto, top eight in heads head points. He had a career high 36 homers, career high 94 RBI, and some tangible changes, lowered the strikeout rate, hit the ball really hard,

11.5% barrel rate. How much are you buying this Christian Walker breakout? I'm a buyer. Funny story too. People know this story, but I inadvertently hurt Christian Walker a couple years ago at Diamondbacks camp where it was right before COVID happened or yeah I think it was yeah it was right before COVID happened and he was working on a side field and I went over to talk to him and I said hey Christian and he walked over and the side field goes onto this concrete and he walked down the concrete and he absolutely went just feet up onto the ground I helped him up and then the next day Roto World's report was Christian Walker is out for a couple days due to soreness and I was like oh no I am hurting Christian Walker.

Stay away. I feel so bad because I kind of like caught him when he was walking. And I said his name and he kind of turned and then those cleats just went out. None of that matters to what you were saying, though. But that's my Christian Walker thing in my head. It's a funny thing. So you were saying this was heading into 2020 before the COVID shut down. So Christian Walker had a breakout season in 2019, hit 29 homers.

So I knocked it down a little bit. And I've been away from him for a little bit. Yeah. I mean, it's like he's recharged his battery. one of the most fascinating things about him. I mean, the power plays, the ballpark factor as far as, you know, the seeing eye in Chase really does work. But Christian Walker, this felt like it was going on. He had the worst babbip in the league in the first half at 180.

He had a 180 babbip going in and he still kept mashing these homers. And we kept saying, man, what if he can just get this improved? What's the batter you're going to get? What if Christian Walker was a 240 to 250 hitter with all these homers? you're talking about a high end value. And guess what? He ended the year with 242 on his batting average. His Babbat went back up to 248, 36 homers, and a sub-20 strikeout percentage.

This is a guy that you buy on, especially because the Diamondbacks team has a lot more athleticism on it. They're going to be running way more than ever. I think I mentioned in the last show, Rojas and McCarthy, both had 23 stolen bases alone. That's not accounting for what a full season of Corbyn Carroll is going to be, Alec Thomas. It's a lot more batters in play. I think Christian Walker is the real deal. I would love a little bit more of the all or nothing, and he showed that in the second half.

That's like a big thing that you want to buy back in on. He mashed while struggling to hit for contact in the first half, dropped his strikeouts and improved on the second half. He's a buy, and he will still come massively cheap next year when everybody is paying up for the big, big first baseman bats. Just to give you an idea, Christian Walker went in around 14 of this draft that I'm doing.

This is a 15-team. league. Think about that. Round 14 of a 15 team league. So it was like 2.10, 2.15 overall? Something like that's way too much math for me to do off the top of my head. I'm trying to think like 150 and 10. I have Walker as my ninth first basement for next year. So and you know, those early, the earliest drafts are always kind of wonky because like, for sure. The draft rooms don't even reflect the most current rankings and everything. So everybody's kind of just going top of mind. Oh, I can tell you. name value just doesn't hold for people.

Diamondback, Christian Walker. I agree. He will rise. I don't know if he'll rise above the 10th round, which is really great for all of us. It would be good. Because I'm a buy, like you said he finished with a 242 batting average. That was still 15 points shy of his expected batting average. And I haven't to look it up for my write-up of my top 20 first baseman.

Christian Walker was one of the most shifted upon right-handed hitters this past year. And you got to love it for the new rules, which by the. way, they're doing out here in the Arizona Fall League. No shifts, all the big bags. We're already seeing what some of that is looking like. And we really do have to account for the non-shift on some of these guys. And there's one of your beneficiaries. Yeah, I think a left-handed counterpart to Christian Walker, who will be a beneficiary of that is Rowdy to Wes, Scott, who we spoke about on our previous podcast and big power with him as well. And I think he can get that batting average up to around a 250 somewhere like that. The Freddie Fleetfoot Award,

what is that? Well, it's basically the speedy counterpart of. of the Bobby Big Bat. And of course, that goes to John Bertie, who led baseball with 41 steals in just 102 games. Still finished just 172nd overall in Roto this season. 240 batting average, 662 OPS. He's a slightly below league average hitter in his career. And we spoke about John Bertie recently,

so I don't want to spend too much time on him. But he'll be a steel specialist next year. I don't think there's going to be a lot of hype around John Birdie. Before we hit the break, for those watching live and on demand, please hit the like button and subscribe to the channel. Drop a comment below if you haven't already. For those listening, please help us out.

Five star rating and review on Apple. We're closing in on 3,000 reviews, which is a big milestone. Bosses like that kind of stuff. If you listen on Spotify, you can drop a five-star rating there as well. And starting next week, we are moving into our position recaps

slash early previews. So we're going to start with Catcher. These are obviously going to reflect Scott's early rankings, which are slowly being added to the the site if you want to check those out. And on Tuesday, we're going to recap the catcher position, first half of the show, second half, we'll look at Scott's early rankings. And then on Thursday, we are going to do dynasty risers and fallers and top catcher prospects to know for next season. So that'll basically be the setup for the next couple of months. We'll just go position by position.

One show, redraft, early rankings, next one, kind of dynasty prospect related on those Thursday shows. Let's take a break and we'll get to some news and notes here on fantasy baseball today. The news and notes. I was watching game two. Between the Braves and the Phillies scott. I saw your boy Ronald Acuna hit by a pitch on his elbow. Looked like he was in some pretty big pain. He was running the bases, almost like his arm was in a sling.

I was like, this is not good. But he was fine. He didn't leave the game. Well, I don't know that he's fine, but he did stay in the game. They did a test after. They said no structural damage or anything. So he looks like he dodged a bullet. Well, in a Roto League next year, you're taking a Kunia or Aaron Judge?

Come on, man. Don't do that. I'm going to take, I think I'm going to go with Judge. I think it's still, I mean, I literally just said like, hey, I don't want to pay for this year, for next year. What is the burger joke? I'll pay you for a burger today or I'll take a burger today and pay you tomorrow, whatever it is. Like, I don't know if I can get into that, but Aaron Judge was so dominant and also stealing bases and what he did. I don't know how I'm going to go against Judge next year.

And, you know, Scott has always been a pretty big proponent of not going nuts about overpaying for stolen bases. there's a little bit of that with Acuna. You know, the power toppled down a little bit comparatively. So would like, would it be worth paying up for a few more stolen bases? Obviously, an elite player, but over four elite categories. And really, if you think about what Judge did as far as his power numbers are and stolen bases, that's pretty elite. So I think I'm going to go with Aaron Judge.

Yeah, I had the third overall pick in this draft. And I was wrestling with it. I took Judge over Ocuna, but it was a decision that took me quite a while to. Yeah, it is. It is. To figure it out. Dustin May was activated from the IL and added to the Dodgers NLDS roster. Braves reliever, Tyler Matzick, needs Tommy John surgery.

The Dodgers left Craig Kimberl off their NLDS roster, and rightfully so. With a two-run lead in game one, we saw Evan Phillips in the sixth inning, Alex Vescia and Bruce Raderol in the seventh and eighth, and then it was Chris Martin who picked up to save in the ninth. Craig Kimball and Chris Martin are both free agents after the season. Obviously, there's so much that can change. they could sign someone, they could trade for someone. It wouldn't surprise me, Scott.

But let's say it's Evan Phillips, Vesia, Graterall, Blake Trinan still on the roster too. Who would you lean on just as the main save source for the Dodgers next season if you had to guess? Well, in that scenario where they don't bring in a big proven guy and they're the Dodgers, so why wouldn't they? I would guess Gratterol would see the majority of the chances in that scenario. They kind of have dangled him as a closer in waiting previously.

Yeah, he throws super hard and doesn't get as many strikeouts as he would think, but does get a lot of ground balls, limits, walks, and hard contact. So I think I tend to agree. I think Trinan might be in that mix too, but it's close. Yes, I actually think they could put Trinin in that, that eighth inning kind of like best lineup role where maybe he moves around and he could get save opportunities. I have a hard time believing.

And I know we're playing this scenario because at the end of the day, there's no way they're going to go in and the closer is going to be between Trin and Grado. I refuse to believe that with the Dodgers. There's no chance. But if we were playing that game, I just don't think Grado would get all of them. I think Trin would just be moved around.

He would be the high leverage guy. Scott F. Ross was left off the Yankees ALDS roster. And then it turned out he needs Tommy John's surgery, which was a brutal blow to their bullpen. Clay Holmes picked up the first, the save in game one of that. ALDS series. DJ Lemayhew will miss the ALDS due to a foot fracture. Can't be that bad if he wasn't ruled out for the entire postseason, but I guess we'll

find out. George Springer was diagnosed with both a concussion and a sprain shoulder following his collision with Bo Bichet last Saturday. Springer may also undergo an elbow procedure sometime soon to address a bone spur. And they said even if he has that surgery, he should be good to go for spring training. George Springer, always dealing with something. Let's get back into some of these awards. have a bunch of them, so let's, I don't know, try to run through as many as we can. We will get to some Arizona Fall League updates as well. We got some video that will accompany it for those watching on YouTube as well. The best comeback pitcher edition, Zach Gallen, we spoke about him

last week as well. In 2021, he went 4 and 10 with a 4.30 ERA, a 1.29 whip. He had some elbow trouble. He battled his shoulder in spring training. Then this year, 2.54 ERA, 0.91 whip over a strike upper inning, and just a ridiculous second half. Scott, do you think that Zach Allen will be overvalued because of that second half? Hmm. Hmm. Just reminds me of Jack Flaherty, right?

A couple years ago, he had that ridiculous second half as well. And he was drafted as like a top 12 starting pitch of the next season. Yeah, I mean, I could see it going that way, but that happened. What happened with Jack Flaherty was at a time when we were hurting for ACEs, and I don't think we're in that time anymore. So, you know, if we're going to make Kyle Wright the standard of comparison, okay, Zach Gallen deserves to go before Kyle Wright.

But I think there's a good chance he goes outside the top 20 still. I think there's no chance that he goes outside the top 20. I think 15 is the marker. I told you guys about that end of season mock I did. I passed on him for Strider because I'm a big Spencer Strider stand. But it was a really, really, really, tough decision. But the more I think about it, I actually want to go count. I wouldn't be shocked if it was right around there. Frank, do you know where Gallen went in yours? Because I'm

going to, let me guess. I'm going to guess 18. He went in... I'm guessing 18th of SPs. I don't know if you can even give us that. He went in round five. Yeah, I'd have to do some quick math. Verlander was 12. Wheeler was 13. Shane Bieber was SP 14, who I took. Carl Shoredon was 15. Tristan McKenzie. 16 and Gallin was 17. That's interesting. McKinsey. So he was the six overall pitcher?

No, no, no, he was the 17. Oh, 17 of pitchers. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. I thought you were like doing the whole numbers. Okay, so I was close. What did I say? Did I say 17 or 18? Did I nail that?

You said 15, I think, but I think he'll be in that range. I think 15 to 20. He'll be drafted as a SP2, basically. Or if you wait, he'll be your SP1, but yeah, somewhere in that 15 to 20 range, I think. Best comeback hitter edition, A. A. E. E. O'Swhenio Suarez, who finishes a top 12. 12 third baseman in both Roto and head to head points,

partially because the position is just so terrible. But he went from a 198 batting average in 2021 to 36 this past season, which is still not great, but a huge improvement, nearly 40 points, hit 31 homers, 87 RBI, some babit luck to get him back on track. Welsh, top of mind, I know Scott has already published his third base rankings. Do you think Suarez will be drafted as a top 12 third baseman next year? Ooh, I Immediate reaction is, I want to say no

But when I think about the position itself, there's a possibility he could sneak in there because of the homers. Like doing a quick look just on fan graphs and pulling up from a war perspective. I mean, he ended up having the eighth. Yeah, I'm going to stick with, I'm going to, well, you know what? I'm going to say yes now because I think he'll be right around like between 10 and 12. I just can't see him being inside the top inside the top 10 seems a little bit crazy,

especially to pay for, I just don't like paying regardless of what it is and you can, even in Roto sometimes can like punt average and you can get away from average. I just don't like paying for really bad albatross batting average guys. I've been there,

I've done that experimented on a year or two, it just ends up really hurting me. And there's a lot of Babbup help with him. I think Christian Walker's going to go past, Johaniel Swares. And I'd rather have Walker. I know it's not the same position, but at the end of the day,

there's a possibility you could be looking at your corner infield for one of those two guys. I'd rather go for more stability at third base than I would with Suarez. Well, she said 10 to 12 at the third base position. Well, you hit it on the head. Scott has Suarez ranked 11th for next season. It is a bad position. I think you've got to prioritize third base early if you can, but geez.

It's just not him, though. I think there are nine. then you know we might disagree on how we rank the nine but I think there are nine third baseman that okay I feel pretty good about this guy is my third baseman going into next year and then number 10 it's like so Anthony Rendon is my number 10 which yeah I mean it shows it shows you where that drop off is and so Suarez is right behind him yeah would you're out wow I know who you'd rather have I mean I would rather have Rendon than Suarez even though that kind of it stinks that's gross but that's why I a priority, an early, early draft strategy, and I think we've done this a gazillion times, like I will try to make sure I'm not having to make that decision. I will try to make sure and prioritize that I have got my third basement so I don't have to worry about it, whether it's high-end Ramirez or Bobby White Jr., whatever. And then when I'm thinking about players like that, I can maybe put a Christian Walker in as a corner infieler and just not have to swim in that pool

of worrying about needing that corner infield help, even if it's corner infield, by the way, And it's not just third base starting. And you're thinking about your corner infield. I'm still not a big Swarrest guy. Gunner Henderson, baby. Gunner, baby. That I can handle it. He's in the nine.

The best comeback midseason edition, Marcus Semyon, through May, he was batting 199 with one homer, six steals, and a 540 OPS. From June 1st on, he hit 268, 25 homers, 19 steals, with an 810 OPS. We spoke about him recently. So we're going to pass on that for now. The Cisle Real Award.

pitcher edition. I just assumed this is someone that's like sexy Scott. This is like a sexy pitcher award. Basically. Yeah.

This guy is sexy. They were making Twitter light up every time every time they took the field basically and I got a pitcher and a hitter. So this is,

they are the inaugural Cizzle Award winners. You know, sometimes I just create new awards that happened to fit the player pool for that, for this year. And that's what I did here

for the pitchers. Spencer Strider and the hitter O'Neill Cruz. And Spencer Shrider, we spoke about him recently as well. Oh my goodness gracious, stand out of the season for these guys last week. He finishes a top 25 starting pitcher and fantasy, despite throwing just 131 and two-thirds innings pitched. Completely ridiculous stuff. I love him.

I'm sorry. I interrupt you. I just love Spencer Strider. I don't even care if I overpay next year. I'm just going to do it because I love that guy. I love watching him pitch. He is the, I say this in a good way. He's the Outerberto Moncee and how Monassie could change the game in a given way.

Forget what you know about Monashy. In one week, he could steal like seven bases and it just changes a scope. Strider is really good and healthy. And he can change the scope of your week, unlike many, many other pitchers can. And I'll go down with the ship on him next year. This is the, this is probably the biggest slam dunk best away. It's my favorite award that's got his put here. I think it is the best award to player fit.

I love it. Next one, I don't know. I don't know about O'Neill Cruz. Maybe most overrated of the season. O'Neill Cruz broke stat cast. He now owns the hardest hit ball in history, well, going back to 2015. Anyway, when we can measure such things at 122.4 miles per hour. And, yeah, I mean, like, how many of those batted balls did he have over the course of his,

what was it, three months in the major? longer than that, where, you know, basically the Twitterverse went crazy over just how hard he hit this ball. And so that's why he's the Sizzle real award winner. Now, did it actually translate to a lot of fantasy production? In September, it did.

He had a really strong month of September. He got the strikeout rate for that month. I think he got it below 30%. It was still bad strikeout rate, but that might be good enough. for a guy who hits the ball, for a guy who impacts the ball like that. I mean, that's kind of how Aaron Judge struck out early in his career. And he's, you know, obviously Cruz surpassed him with that one bad at ball.

But Judge is about the only player on Cruz's level in terms of how hard he's capable of hitting the ball. So from September 1st on, O'Neill Cruz hit 288, six homers, five steals, 29.8% strikeout rate in 29 games. So that is a 30 homer, 25, steel pace, over 150 games. And look, he broke that casket. As you said, I don't know that there is a hitter who has a bigger range of outcomes than O'Neill Cruz for next season. Like, you could tell me he's back in the minors by June 1st. You could tell me he, he's a first round pick in 2024.

His MVP conversation, 100%. I agree. So he's kind of almost like that Adelberto Mondesie, but for different reasons. It's not injury related. It's more so performance. And he should be the Pendulum Award next year. He'll be the pendulum. It can swing either way.

And maybe it does multiple times throughout the year. I have a feeling that it will quite a bit. The biggest overachiever goes to Randy Rosa Rana, who was the outfielder eight in both Roto and had said points, which is kind of surprising because his plate discipline is so bad. But so is outfield. It's just a very bad position. And he had a 20-home or 30 steel season. So even in points league, those steals, two points.

a piece. They add up. But yeah, for this is the second straight year, Randy or Rosa Rana has won this award. And when I say biggest overachiever, I mean he overperformed his expected batting average by 30 points. He over perform,

he outperformed his expected slug by 70. But considering it's the second straight year, he's won this award, biggest overachiever probably means we can just ignore the expected stats for him. After two consecutive years of doing that, I'm to that point with Randy or Roserena. All right. let's do kind of a lightning round here of the rest of these awards,

so we can get to a few other things here before the end of the show. The biggest underachiever was Jose Ibrahim, Brayu, who hit a career low 15 home runs, but still did bat 304. His ex-slug was 40 points higher than his actual slugging percentage. Sounds like he'll be on the move for next season. But if he winds up in a warm climate, I could be more interested.

You look at his career numbers. He always gets off to slow starts. he's actually talked about playing in Chicago in the cold weather in the early months it kind of takes him a while to get going so just something I'm going to watch for the offseason the biggest weirdo well that's not nice Scott Cal Quantrell 3.38 ERA

with a 4.39 X-Fib 4.50 Sierra 4.31 expected ERA the only thing Scott that stands out here that's basically all in line with his career numbers now maybe regression just hits this guy all at once. But if he's done it a couple of years in a row, I don't know, maybe we just trust

that he's someone who outperforms his underlying numbers. Well, I'm going to give him more credit going into next year than I did going into this year. Now, what does that mean in terms of ranking as deepest starting pitcher is? Probably still means he's not going to rank that high for me. I'm thinking

just top of mind outside the top 60. But a 15 game winner, and yeah, he like Randy a Rose Arena. is a back-to-back winner of this award. I just, biggest weirdo, I have no idea how he makes it work. It's not ground balls. It's not weak contact.

It's certainly not strikeouts. But two years in a row, he has made it work. The biggest victim of the shift award goes to Corey Seeger, who hit 245 with a career high 33 home runs. His expected batting average was 283. He also hit just 242 against the shift. That number is 304 for his career. So I do think he was a little bit unlucky against the shift.

this past season. The one Scott won't shut up about. You know what it is. Vinnie P. Vinnie Paz-Quantino, who hit 2.95 with 10 homers in 832 OPS, one more walk than strikeouts, and hits the ball hard. The battered ball distribution looks great. He crushes lefties. Welsh, I asked Scott this earlier in the show. I don't know if you answered, but Vinie Pass Guantino or Nate Lowe, what do you think? Ooh, that's a really tough one. I'm going to go with

Nate Lowe, but I think these guys are back to back with each other. Whenever I can get like a first baseman who's going to show off big power and show off big batting average in a lineup where, you know, let's just throw this out. You just said that Corey Seeger, one of the biggest victims of the ship. We also had another ranger on this list. And Marcus Simeon, if Simeon can be up to snuff the whole year, shift unaffected by Corey Seeger, you have more powerful offense. It's just a thing that you can kind of price in with low. Royals are a little bit still of an anomaly. I love Pasquantino.

and I'll be in, especially with that type of walk-to-strikeout ratio and the big power. And maybe they're going to be back to their old ways if Mondesie is back and they're running and there's just more RBI opportunity. But I'm going to go with low. But it's a great question. All right. A few more I wanted to highlight. These are the Mr. Awards.

Mr. Durability went to Sandy Alcantara. Mr. Wait. Who? Joey Menesis. Joey Two-Hids, who was amazing down the stretch.

Mr. Look who finally decided to show up. Max Muncie was basically Max Muncie. was basically Max Muncie over the final two months of the season. Maybe that elbow finally got healthy for him. And Mr. Thanks for the memories, Nelson Cruz, who hits us 234 with a 650 OPS, and says that he will be back for his age 43 season, but I don't... He's done as far as fantasy is concerned, I will boldly say. I was going to say, like, maybe he's back in mind and spirit, but in body, Nelson

Cruz is no longer. Alas, we have made it to the end. These were our breadsticks, or breadsticies, or whatever we want to go with. They're 22 fantasy baseball awards. By the way, the breadstick name did come via David Turner, someone on our fantasy baseball today, Facebook group. So we do appreciate the help there. Welsh, it's time. Let's talk a little AFL.

You're obviously out there watching the Arizona Fall League for anyone who hasn't already follow. At is it the Welsh. What are you waiting for? You want some AFL updates? he is the best one to follow for all of them. And let's start off with one of the top prospects in the game, Cardinals' third baseman, Jordan Walker, who is just 4 for 16 early on, two home runs, one of which you caught a video.

I'll pull that up here while you're talking. But kind of off to a slow start, but I don't think that really changes how we view Jordan Walker here in the long term. No, it was a good Zia. He definitely has had a slow start. He's just such a big guy. You can see up on this video here that I posted. it, as I said, I'm going to bless everybody with it. And if you have the, you put the sound on for that real quick and put it back to the hit.

You can turn it off after, but just listen. If you can get a little bit. You can kind of get that. Just think about the scope of where I am in the stadium. And, you know, there's people there. And he absolutely crushed this. He's definitely seeing the ball a whole lot better, whole lot better. He's playing a whole lot more.

He's exclusively at right field. He was getting some of the low treatment early on and he was hyperaggressive. Here's one of the deals with this team as well. I'm actually going to go look because this might be an incredible thing that happened. Coming into tonight, this team has not won a game, the Salt River Rafters, which has the Diamondbacks, the Rockies, the Cardinals, the Detroit Tigers. And actually it's going on currently and the game is tied. This team has been so bad.

And I just want to point out here, but any offensive stats, I have to reiterate this always. You have to take it all with a grain of salt. this has been so bad that the Salt River Rafters gave up so many runs last week that they called the game in the eighth inning because they ran out of pitchers. That is what has been going on. We're seeing 18 run games. So you've got to be careful and we've got to pick apart some of the stuff. But Jordan Walker, one of the top prospects in baseball is a physical freak.

Steels bases. I think he stole 19. I'm forgetting what the number is now last year, almost 20. And it looked like there's a little bit of a book on him early. but what he does is he demolishes mistakes, which is something that you love. Now, I had a little bit of a change in my ranks, though, because it's interesting seeing Jordan Lawler and him as teammates together,

and I've come to the realization there is no way I could have Walker above him, even though he is more physically talented. Jordan Lawler is unmatched in how just nothing phases him, and he's a five-tool player. Walker's going to have some batting average issues. You can really see it. And he's going to adjust, and he's probably going to hit for over 300, because everybody's going to.

to, but when someone makes a mistake, he's probably not a player in the AFL more dangerous than Jordan Walker. So he's starting to heat up. So dynasty owners, you can kind of take that into note whether people pay attention or not. There might be a buy or even a sell opportunity on Jordan Walker right now. Jordan Walker 20 years old, played 119 games at AA this past season in the Cardinals organization. Scott, do you think we will see Jordan Walker with the Cardinals in 23? Oh yeah, at some point. Doubtful it's going to be opening day. But at some point next year, he's going to be somebody I would expect who, certainly in those 15 team leagues, probably gets drafted to stash away just in the hopes that he becomes a worthwhile third baseman for you.

All right. Let's move over to Jason Dominguez, who got off to a slow start, but is hitting much better recently. He's running. He has three steals as well. and Wells, tell me what you've seen from him so far, and just ultimately, where are you at now on Jason Dominguez? Because I feel like he's bounced up and down some prospect rankings. Is he like a top 25 guy for you, top 50? What do you thinking about Dominguez?

He's right around the top 25. I've been pretty steadfast where people move off of him. This first video here, you can also play if you want to hear the sound again. It's always nice to hear the sound of some of these hits because this is something he's been doing when you hit it right here is, you can kind of get a feel for that is constant contact,

not the email service, but the Jason Dominguez. He is consistently making barreled contact here. The problem is there haven't been results. There have not been results. He had one very early on. I tweeted out that would have,

without question, been a home run. We had 50 mile wins coming in and it took it away. His pitch recognition has been very impressive for a young guy. I think he's shown a better eye

than guy like Jordan Walker. He's not pitching at dumb pitches. He waits. He's not afraid to walk. There's another video I had where he actually he got hit and then he kind of, you can kind of see him shake it off a little bit. He got hit right in the shoulder. He kind of gives a picture a look. He gives a little bit of a smile. He ends up getting pushed over to second. And then with Zach Gelloff up, he flies. Look at this speed right here if you can see. I know the podcast doesn't help, but boom. He is fast for as bulky as he is. The problem I always still have is his size. He is aggressively small when you see him in person. Like it is

almost jarring, but he is one of the bigger, thicker athletes out here. He has game changing speed. And my mantra has been, I'm just not going to move off where people were moving in post 100. He has a lot of talent. He has crazy talent that is going to play and really might play in fantasy in the long term, especially since I've seen his pitch recognition, which that is the thing I've thought was going to fall apart. To be honest with you, his defense is the worst of all of it. That might hold him back a little bit. But he has walked. He's stealing bases. He's aggressive on the base paths. He's making really, really good contact, even though the results aren't there. That's one of those things that's going to sneak behind the box score is how he has been barreling up the ball. I'm pretty encouraged.

And I think he should be considered the top 25 prospect. And whether you want to stay around for the cost or not, I think it's a great time to own because I think he's just, you're just, you just going to move up and up and being up to AA and being in the AFO with the eyes, his value is going to be there if you want to move off of it. And I wouldn't blame you if you did if you can get back to that top 20 value. All right. So top 25 says the Welsh, Scotty, we're a couple years away from seeing Jason Dominguez with the Yankees or any team for that matter. But do you think that he deserves to be a top 25 prospect for dynasty purposes? I think so. I mean, I don't keep up prospect rankings as

consistently as the Welsh does, but I've had Jason Dominguez as high as that before. And, you know, obviously his stock dropped a little bit last year, but I think it came back up a bit this year. 19-year-old, he reached AA at the end of the year and had a good season between three levels. So I think he remains a pretty big dynasty asset. Twins prospect, Austin Martin, is 12 for 24 in the AFL with a home run, three doubles, and four Steeles, former fifth overall pick back in 2020, came over to the Twins in the Jose Barrios trade, and 92 games played this past year. He was not good. 21 batting average, two homers, 35 steals, sub 700 OPS. Well, does a big AFL rebuild confidence for you in Austin Martin as a

dynasty asset, or would you use this as an opportunity to sell high? Okay, so I really like Austin Martin. I also personally like him to talk to him multiple times. here. He currently leads the AFL in hits. He's second and runs, I believe, and he leads in stolen bases. And you can see right here, this is, this is one of a couple hits that I got on on this video. This is a single. He ended up hitting a double. And I have, I actually commented to someone to say, hey, listen, I just don't know where the power is going to go. He, he definitely kind of moves into pitches. He's got a great contact approach. His body has not progressed. He has not progressed as far as showing a power swing whatsoever.

So I just don't see where it is. Literally the next day he hit a homer out here. I just want to point out. He finally hit a homer and he did that. But he has been one of the better hitters here. He's also been very aggressive on the base pass. A lot of bases being stole out here, which I think is very interesting. This is the double. I posted he hit a single, a double, then another single.

This one I really like. He turned on it on the pole side and he showed off his speed, just getting into second base, incredibly easy. He had got hit by a pitch. I think a little bit later on and stole the base. He's a great ball player. He is going to be an MLB ball player. Not all these guys are.

I know that's a weird statement that I said. Not all these guys are going to make it to the majors or get an opportunity. He will get an opportunity. But will he be an impact player? I've come to terms with, and this is just me, I think you should think of him like a Josh Rojas. And if you're down with that, then you should hold. I think you can get somewhere between 10 and 15 in a full season on Homer's Max.

I think you can get somewhere between 20 and 30 stolen bases if he is a full-time player and not a platoon player because he makes a lot of good contact and he'll take some walks and he's stealing bases. So if that is good for you, then I think it's actually a really good time to buy because no one cares about him. But if the AFL buzz pushes him up and he would win some awards or whatever, I would probably consider moving off of him because I don't think the power is going to be there. So that's on you to decide. but I'm sticking with like Josh Rojas in my mind with him. But I am encouraged that he is actually going to be impactful to make it to the majors.

All right. So maybe a better real life player for the Minnesota Twins or in Roto, someone that provides steals. That is Austin Martin we were talking about. Welsh, any pitchers that have been impressing, I know you spoke about how that previous team, I forgot the name already, that their pitching has been terrible. Yeah. And I assume most pitching has been terrible out there. Any pitchers that you've seen impressing, I know that Kumar Rockard was better in a second start.

So I wanted to highlight that. Yeah, a couple quick notes. Ironically, I actually met him today. But Sandy Gaston disaster went one in two thirds and two starts, has walked eight batters and one and two thirds. If you want to have like a perspective of how bad it's gotten. You know, a kid that I saw pitch today was really interesting. He was with the Atlanta Braves.

He got traded to the, you got traded to the A's. Ryan Cusick pitched today. And he was really interesting popping like 94, really good command. and he was consistently throwing this curveball that was just making everybody upset and mad. And I think he went three or four innings. Ryan Cusick, he's got a, he's an intense guy out there. And the breaking pitch I really liked in how he popped that.

He threw it for a lot of strikes today. Ryan Cusick was pretty impressive. And Kumar Rocker, here's the positive. I didn't get to go to that game, which I'm really upset about. I'm going to try to get to the third game. Kumar Rucker had a similar outing as far as the underlining stuff. He had, I think, one strike that was either, you know, swung through or looking strike. That was it through the whole time.

He walked a couple again. The AFL propped him up like, hey, it's Kumar Rocker time. Look how amazing is. It's not. But I still believe in the talent. I love the slider. And the delivery looked different. The delivery was so weird in the first start.

He wasn't coming across his body. I actually did this. On Tuesdays, I did this stream on my Twitch channel. and I went back to back on the starts. And you can see he really kind of had more of a front motion and his arm felt more comfortable. I think he was more comfortable. I'm encouraged that he's going to put something together,

but I am very cautiously waiting because the underlying stuff besides him not giving up a run and blah, blah, blah, the underlying stuff is not great right now because he's not getting the fastball going. So we really need to watch him, but it could be Russ. There's a million things I'm willing to chalk up for it. But I am 100% going to be at his third start, which I think will be next Monday.

I plan to be out at it. All right. So some Arizona Fall League updates there for those playing in Dynasty Leagues or just if you want to find out about some prospects heading into next season. That's how we're here. That's why we got the Welsh here as well.

So make sure you follow them on Twitter at Is It the Welsh for all your AFL updates. And with that being said, if anyone's listening past the one hour mark, horror movies. It's October, man. Halloween is coming. For those who are interested,

look, the Welsh is a big horror buff. I've learned this about him. I think it was last year, and he's seen it all. So we're going to find out just a second. Scott, how are you on the horror movies? You like them, you squeamish, you're out, you're in. What are you doing there? Scott, wish you're walking dead together.

Yeah, we do. And I am, I would say, I like horror movies or series. I recently watched Midnight Mass, a big fan of everything Mike Flanagan's put out on Netflix, House, The Haunting of Hill House, and the haunting of Blind Manor being two other series, two other limited series who's put out. Yeah, I can be really into horror when it's done well. The problem is it's often done poorly, and I think that turns a lot of people off of it. But when you find a good version of horror, like those three limited series I just referred to, then yeah, it can be one of my favorites.

Yeah, I agree completely. The Haunting of Hillhouse and Blymatter, both fantastic shows. If you haven't watched it, if you want something horror related, I would recommend both. I haven't watched Midnight Mass, but I have heard good things about it. American Horror Story is like interesting. I like some of it, but it's probably more of that hit or miss that you were talking about. It was early on. It changed. Do you know what, though maybe the best real life horror thing, Evan Peters is involved across the board,

the Dahmer series. That's pretty horrific if you want to experience that. But Evan Peters, who was in American Horror Story for most of the seasons, he's incredible in that. I know that's like very like, everybody loves it, blah, blah, blah. But it's like, it really is a great series. Evan Peters is incredible. Oh, he's so good. He is a ridiculously, ridiculously good actor.

So, uh, happy to highlight his work. Welshie, what do you got? However many you get. Top three, top five horror movies. Let's go. What do you got? Listen, I'm just going to say like, I don't think you can even appropriately like just rank. I wouldn't even know how to rank because I think it goes for everybody else to be like, these are the greatest horror movies of all time. Here's something I love. I love zombies. I love zombie movies. I'm just a dummy about that.

Scott and I, when him and I were doing the shows after we would spend like 30 minutes more talking about the Walking Dead and how ridiculous it's gotten. But we just loved it. We were committed to kind of keep going with it. And what that gets me is I think, and this is why I'm saying like, if you think of like, if you associate Halloween with horror, that kind of maybe changes the scope, one of my favorite movies of all time. And you got to go into zombie stuff is 28 days later. So if you've never seen that, I think that's a classic that you should go see. if you want to change it up a little bit, very interesting.

If you ever like foreign horror movies, Train to Bruchon is a fantastic one that you can watch. It's also a zombie movie. It's just a great, great movie. They're doing a second one if you can handle subtitles. If you like intensity, go back to old school,

like The Shining is, I think, one of the best of all time, but it's not, it doesn't quite fall into crazy horror. And there's another one. I'm completely forgetting it was, oh, not malignant.

I'm completely forgetting what it is. It really scarred me if you want one of those like scari type of horror movies. So that was out there. And yeah, I think those are a couple. Those are a couple of the ones that stand out. I kind of get into like the foreign horror movies have really changed and gotten better. So that's something I would take a look at as well. But going to the zombie series if you, if you haven't already,

28 days later, probably the best of all time, trained to Bruchon. Oh, and also maybe American Psycho. But again, is that truly like a Halloween-ish movie? It's a horror movie. Those are a couple really good ones. Scott, how many of those movies do you think I've seen in my lifetime? Zero. I have seen, actually, I've seen two of them.

I've seen The Shining. And I have seen American Psycho is. I haven't seen 28 days later? Look, is Adam Sandler in it? No, I haven't seen it. That's a running joke here. Well, I've only seen. Hotel Transylvania.

I've only seen Adam Sandler movie. Quick story on The Shining. I used to watch wrestling a ton as a kid. And one time I just kept the channel on, whatever it was on. And the Shining came on afterwards. So you can imagine a little,

I don't know, eight, 10 year old Frankie at the time. I was referred to as Frankie when I was a kid. I'm watching The Shining, and I was just scarred for life. So I haven't watched it since. I think I should go back and watch it. Who was watching over little Frankie? Back in those days.

Yeah, yeah. I remember what it was. Hereditary. Hereditary is a messed up horror movie if you want to go down. If you want to like really just question watching those type of movies again, go watch that one. That's a really, really screwed up one. It just came back to me. But poor Frank.

You should see 28 days later. At least you that's like I think it is the the best pinnacle of zombie movies. I try to watch it. Anytime it comes on, it's actually one that I'll watch. Cicillian Murphy is like incredible in anything he does. If anyone cares anymore I don't think this is horror related

but anything that Darren Aeronovsky has done is also amazing but I think that's more of like psychological thriller type things Yeah Well he was I mean he was the first two He was involved I think of the first year or two Of walking dead so

You know that was I think some of the origins If I'm remembering correct right Scott I believe he was involved in the walking dead In the first season or two Maybe I could maybe I'm wrong about it You may be right but I don't remember that All right well I think it's time to

wrap up an extremely long, dapper edition of Fantasy Baseball today for Scott and the Welsh. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again on Tuesday. Bye-bye.