Fantasy Baseball Today - 2026 Top Outfield Prospects & A Bunch Of Transactions! (12/16 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

Frank is on the mend but the show must go on! Before we get to outfield prospects, let's get through all of the latest transactions. First up, Robert Suarez is headed to the Braves (4:20). ... Will Kenley Jansen close with the Tigers (7:25)? ... The Mets have their Pete Alonso replacement in Jorge Polanco (10:50). ... Merrill Kelly is headed back to the desert (16:05). ... We have a bunch of other moves with Tyler Roges to the Blue Jays, Ha-seong Kim to the Braves and the Royals did a bunch of stuff (20:55). ... Adolis Garcia is headed to the Phillies and Josh Bell to the Twins (28:20). ... Let's get into outfield prospects, starting with Walker Jenkins and Carson Benge (35:45). ... Joshua Baez has big tools for Fantasy (41:05). ... The Dodgers have a bunch of outfield prospects (43:55). ... Max Clark looks like a prototypical leadoff man (48:53). ... Edward Florentino was a big breakout prospect (46:43). ... Owen Caissie should make an impact in 2026 (58:17). ... We wrap up with some more top outfield prospects (1:02:06). Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hello and welcome to Fantasy Baseball today. I am Chris Towers here with Scott White. No Frank Stample on the show.

Technically, he's behind the scenes. I'm going to be honest. it's making me nervous. Like, imagine you're a substitute teacher and you're trying to get the kids to watch, I don't know, homeward bound, and the actual teachers there watching.

That's a lot of stress. So Frank's producing, thank you so much. Frank, feel better. We'll have you back on the show later in the week. Did you watch a lot of movies in school, like a lot of non-educational movies just purely for distracting the kiddos? I mean, anytime we had a substitute,

It was pretty much TV or movie. We would at least get something educational, not just. I do remember. Hollywood schlock. I don't know. Homeward bounce fine. I do remember. Well, I was going to say Romeo and Juliet.

Okay. But then I remembered that a substitute at my high school got fired for showing us Romeo and Juliet. on account of some scenes that weren't appropriate for minors, let's say. And so I don't know if that was a universally transferable experience for people. But that's fine. Homeward bound, maybe. I don't know if you're old enough or young enough. Marty is a dog.

Who doesn't like it? You got to learn about dogs finding their way home and a cat, shadow. No. Yeah. I don't know what the cat's name was. Either way, welcome to fantasy baseball today. We are already off the rails a minute and a half into. the show. Today on the show, we are going to be talking about the top outfield prospects entering

26 from Scott White's list on CBS Sports.com. But first, we've got a lot of moves and a lot of news to talk about since we last met last week and a lot of closer news here at the top. And one big closer who's kind of off the board for fantasy is Robert Suarez, who signed with the Braves on a three-year $45 million deal. I think Robert Suarez signed to be the Braves closer in 2027 is the correct read on this because Reissela LaGlacios obviously re-signed earlier in the offseason on a one-year deal. Do you think Robert Suarez is, I mean, they've already, it's been reported by multiple sources. The Braves intend to keep Ricellio Glacios as the closer.

Robert Suarez will be a setup man. They're not giving him $45 million to be a set-up man for three. years, right? This is a, you're the closer in waiting, even though you're 35 years old. Yeah, probably. My read on it was I was surprised that they are sticking with Iglesias rather than Suarez after signing Suarez to this kind of deal. Granted, Iglesias will be making the more money between the two in 2025. He's there. He's back on a $20 million deal. But Suarez was better last year. Now, I will note, Rysel Iglesias' season turned on a dime. Last 40 innings or so, it was like a sub 2ERA.

He was dominant. Yeah, it was like, let me see if I could find the exact number. It's kind of funny. Like, he had this bad, disappointing season, I guess, for fantasy. He also ended up with like a three ERA and 29 saves last year. So final 45 appearances of 125 ERA. 0.69 whip 10K per 9. clearly regained his form the slider was a

source of problems for him early on it just didn't work anymore so once he ditched it because he has enough other pitches that you know you don't need that many pitches is a relief he started out of the starter remember he did yeah once he ditched the slider

Iglesias was fine and I don't know if they had already signed him with the understanding he'd be the closer and they were able to come to an understanding with Robert Suarez that he wouldn't be the closer and so it was just kind of a way to make sure they were able to get both back. But if Iglesias has trouble, like he did early last year,

then it wouldn't take much for Robert Suarez to wind up in the role. So he should be among the highest targeted set-up men, I would say. If your league targets any set-up, then Robert Suarez would be one of the top ones targeted. Yeah, probably not 12-team leagues, but maybe 15-team leagues. You're looking to draft Robert Suarez. And holds leagues. He's a great option for them, too.

Would you rather have Ryssel Eglacius or Devin Williams? They are back to back in my rankings, and I'm trying to remember who's ahead. Iglesias is ahead. Because, of course, Devin Williams, I think, had even clearer issues in 2025. Not as obvious of a backup closer there. So it's a close call, but I think I feel a little more confident with Iglesias. There is a lot less certainty in the Detroit Tigers bullpen after they signed kind of their third closer. Or I guess they signed their second closer to join a closer who was already there.

Kenley Jansen, one year, $11 million deal club option for 2027. He's 38, but he's still good enough. I don't think Kenley Jansen is a dominant closer anymore, but he's been good enough to not really lose the job at any point in recent years. 29 saves, 259 ERA. The underlying numbers, a lot more mediocre, but he's managed to avoid falling off so far. He is two saves away from being third all time and saves. He is 24 saves away from 500. Probably not going to get to Trevor Hoffman or Mariano Rivera, but I have a hard time seeing Kenley Jansen signing anywhere to be a setup man.

Do you think he's just the closer in Detroit? I know it's been a tough spot to figure out the closers over the years. Do you think this just pushes Kyle Fenning and Will Vest out of the way? I mean, I have to think so. It's the most proven closer A.J. Hinch has ever had, which, I mean, fourth all time and saves. It's probably a whole thing. That kind of goes without saying one of the most proven closers ever. But just for most of A.J. Hinch's career, both in Houston and Detroit, he hasn't had

a closer that was so proven at all. I mean, there was, Roberto Ozuna was the last probably, last reliever who he had, who was considered one of the best closers in baseball when he was doing that. And that was in 2019, and Roberto Ozuna saved 39 games for,

or 38 games for the Astros that year. So when he's had true closers, A.J. Hinch, he has stuck with them. It's not like the Tigers have some lights out reliever who would be breathing down Jansen's neck for the role. We think Kyle Finnegan is pretty good now because of the improvements he made with the Tigers last year. And of course, he's back for next year. But it doesn't have a long history of it.

Will Vest led the team in saves last year, but not really like a shutdown reliever. They both feel like set up men. Yeah, I think as long as Kenley Jansen doesn't collapse, which at his age, it's bothered. obviously saw the strikeout rate drop last year as long as that doesn't happen though I think he's the closer I think he you know tigers look like contenders so it probably gets around 30 saves and makes for a fine number two reliever in fantasy yeah not a top 12 closer but a top blank closer what would you put there 15 okay would you rather have him or right now Dennis Santana Jansen what about Emilio Pagan

Cincinnati. I have Pagan ahead, but when I was adjusting my rankings with this Jansen signing, I wasn't so sure. I wasn't so sure. Pagan is 13th among closers, and I thought about slotting Jansen right up there. I just think there's a little more strikeout outside with Paghan. All right. And the Mets have found their Pete Alonzo replacement. Kind of. Horan Polanco, two-year $40 million deal. He is going to play first base and DH for the Mets, according to reports. They've got

work to do. It sounds like Mark Vientos is available via trade. If they, I don't really, I don't know. I look at the Mets with Vientos and Brett Bady and even like Ronnie Maricio and Luis San Heliccuna and Jet Williams, I think, plays second base as well.

I look at all those guys and I just kind of think like, just hang on to all of them and just like, you You got like four good months out of Viantos two years ago. You got like, what, three good months out of Brett Bady last year? It doesn't feel like anybody that they have is a surefire thing. So if I were running the Mets, I'm not. If I were, I don't know if I'd move any of those guys just because I kind of want as many bites at the Apple for that second base slash third base spot.

Well, especially as I can't. Especially Viantos. I mean, I can't imagine he has much trade value coming off a bad year, not a good plate discipline guy, right-handed hitter, kind of a butcher defensively. kind of a butcher defensively. What are you going to get for him in a trade, honestly? Might as well hope he restores his value this year in some capacity, whether that's DH or first base. And it sounds like as the roster currently stands, he and Polanco will be trading

off between those two positions. Polanco coming off a very good year, 265 average, 821 OPS, cut the strikeout rate, hit the ball really hard. And it's a park upgrade moving from City Field to, or from T, Mobile Park to City Field. I think Polanco's kind of a pretty good fantasy option for 20206.

Obviously, he's dealt with a lot of injuries to his knees over the past couple of years. Was really hit or miss last year. Remember, he had that unbelievable April. I think the 1226 OPS, I saw earlier today. It's like one of the five best months in Mariners history. By Wobah, it might have been the best month

in Mariners history, believe it or not. Then he was unusable in May and June and then closed the season out really strong with the final three months. For an organization that had Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez for Jorge and Edgar Martinez. Yeah. For Jorge Polanco to have had the best month. Are you sure about that? Are you just – I saw it, but, you know, I just say things sometimes. Yeah, that's fine.

But where are you ranking Horacee Polanco for 2026 at second? second base where he will open the season with eligibility. Yeah, and that's his main value in fantasy is that he's eligible at the weakest position, probably, in fantasy. I didn't change my ranking for him with this news because I already had him ranked pretty aggressively. He's my number nine second baseman. I think his rebound last year was legit. You mentioned the knee problems. He played with an injured knee for a couple years and finally had surgery.

going into last year, he finally had surgery to address the Pateler tendon, which was causing him so much trouble. And immediately we saw the numbers bounce back, not just the top line numbers, but the exit velocities, the strikeout rate was cut in half, basically. He looked like the Jorge Polanco,

we remember, from his twins days. So I felt pretty good about him. You know, if he played any other position, about second base, he'd be a lay rounder probably. But given that there aren't 12, like, surefire starters to go around at that position, I think he's obviously one of the 12 that needs to be drafted as a starter. It is a park upgrade. I was kind of surprised to see that his expected home runs by ballpark.

We're about the same between Seattle and City Field. Well, the thing about Seattle is it's a big park. And city field is also a big park in terms of the dimensions. The main problem with Seattle is just guys can't see the ball there. Strikeouts go up in Seattle is the primary way that offense is downgraded there. If he stays healthy, I think Polanco hits about 25 homers again, has a decent batting average. Runs an RBI should be solid. It's a question of if he can stay healthy at 32.

just a year removed from knee surgery. I've got him 10th, and I think the gap between him and I think Jackson Holiday is seven for me. The gap between the two of them and that tier, which is Jackson Holiday, Ozzie Albies, Brandon Lau, and Jorge Polanco, very small for me. I think they should all go within a couple of rounds of each other. So that's moving up, Polanco, now that we know where he's signing and that he'll hopefully, be playing a less demanding defensive position. I think he's a very good pick for

2026 and I think he'll move up a lot from his current price, which is 242.2. I think he's got to be a top 200 pick personally. And then we've got Merrill Kelly returning to the Diamondbacks on a two-year $40 million deal. They traded him to the Rangers at the deadline,

brought him back. He's 37 years old, but he's been very solid lately. 347 ERA, 115 whip over the past four years combined. Almost all of it with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Last year, very similar numbers. Underlying numbers don't back it up,

but they never do. And Merrill Kelly just keeps getting the job done. It's going to fall apart at some point, and there's not a ton of upside with Merrill Kelly, but he's early ADP right around 245. You've got Merrill Kelly or Bryce Miller. Mary Mel Kelly or Noah Cameron Mary Kelly or Houston Hurston Waldrop

Who would you rather have among those groups? I would rather have I mean, I'll tell you exactly how I have them ranked I have them ranked Kelly 1, Waldrop 2 Miller 3 and who is the other one? Noah Cameron Yeah, that's right Cameron 4

So Kelly Waldrop, Miller, Cameron I think Merrill Kelly is boring, and so he's likely to be underrated in drafts, but he's the sort of pitcher you draft as like your number six in a 12-team league. And then you end up using him way more than expected to. Yep, he's just... Unless he falls off. Unless he falls off.

But you've got to figure no organization knows him better than the diamond backs, and they brought him back for 20 million a year. You know, you're talking about Hurston Waldrop, who's got, you know, a handful of good starts at the major league level. Bryce Miller was really bad last year. I know he was decent in the playoffs, but it was like nine strikeouts to six walks and 14 innings. It was not very encouraging,

even though he runs off the board. I have very little faith in Noah Cameron. I think he's just a guy. So, you know, you can theoretically argue there's more upside for the other guys, but I think Merrill Kelly is perfectly fine in that range and should be a very solid draft pick. And with that,

we are going to take our first break. Jump in the comments on YouTube and let us know which of those closers, Kenley Jansson, Reisel Iglesias, all those. Where are you drafting them? Where do they come out in your personal rankings? Make sure you like the video. Subscribe for more 2026 fantasy baseball content. We're only getting started.

We're going to have a lot more for you after the new year. And with that, let's take our first break. Frank, take us away. Welcome back to Fantasy Baseball. day. I'm Chris Towers here with Scott White. We've got a little bit more news and notes before we get to the outfield prospects for 2026. And we can move through these a little more quickly. The Blue Jays signed Tyler Rogers to a three-year, $37 million deal. I love the Blue Jays spending all this money both last year and this year. Remember this time a year ago, the Blue Jays were kind of a little

bit of a laughing stock for how it felt like they had ruined this incredible core and now they're you know inches away from winning a world series last year and they're going all in this off season i love to see it like tyler rogers one good luck to the hitters who have to face treya savage and tyler rogers in the same game uh you got the highest arm angle in baseball and the lowest arm angle in baseball so that's fun i'm the eight millionth person to point that uh congruency out, but Taylor Rogers, excellent reliever, probably not going to factor into the closer situation unless Jeff Hoffman stumbles, right? I mean, it's not far from closer money, but typically teams don't like to go with guys who don't get strikeouts in the night then.

Yeah, typically not. He's an extremely valuable reliever in part because that low, like, negative arm angle, uh, makes, gives him a rubber arm, basically. He's a, able to take on a ton of innings for a reliever work consecutive days no problem and he would be fine as a closer uh so they do have doubts about jeffman and they kind of have it's hinted of doubts uh talking about maybe trying jimmy garcia or louise varland in the role i don't think they will when push comes to shove i think these pitchers show up in spring training hoffman's clearly the most appears to be the most dominant and they roll with him to start out. But Tyler Rogers gives them a rock solid fallback, more solid than Garcia or Varland, I would say.

And they're paying him closer money. So it seems possible he could find his way into saves for really the first time in his career. Looks like he got a stretch of closing for the Giants in 2021. But was never a closer for long. All right. Going back to your Braves, they signed Hassan Kim to a one year $20 million deal. He opted out of a $16 million deal for 2026, gets a $4 million pay raise to return to the Braves. He's a low-end middle infielder for fantasy, right? But he is going to start as the Brave shortstop.

Yeah, they desperately need a shortstop who can contribute something offensively. And we already got something. We already got a peek at what that looks like the final month. last year. They claimed him off Waverson the Reyes and he played he started basically every game thereafter

and was better with the Braves than with the rays. The biggest red flag for me is that okay, he hit okay in those 24 games for the Braves. Zero stolen bases. He's not much of anything

for fantasy and not stealing bases. I do think he's shown the ability to elevate to his pole side but he's not going to hit much more than a thousand home runs. Yeah, I mean, I think best case scenario you're looking at, what, like 260 and 15 homers? So the way I put it in the tracker, the off-season tracker, which by the way, if you're not aware that it exists, Chris and I analyze all the fantasy relevant moves as they happen in the off-season tracker.

It's real quick hitting. you get a lot of analysis with a little time investment so I encourage you to check that out the way I put it there is that Hassan Kim you could hope for 12 homers 25 steals his ultimate upside is probably 15 homers 30 steals but it's not like you can expect either of those given that he's it's been a while since we've seen him do it

because of the shoulder surgery and he missed a lot of time last year, I think, with a calf issue, too. Yeah, he was pretty bad in 2024, too. He could be a bargain late in leagues that require an extra middle infielder, but you don't, the upside isn't such that you need to invest more than a lay-round picking him. All right, let's move on to the Royals who were very busy. They traded Isaac, they traded Angel Zerpa for Isaac Collins and Nick Mears from the Brewers. 28 years old was a solid option out of the outfield for the brewers and the royals desperately need outfield production they were like i think they were bottom five and wins above replacement

in two different outfield spots last season and the third one wasn't much better so yeah they they could really use some outfield help is useful he's got a good approach at the plate there are some skills here but i i don't think he's likely to matter too much for fantasy right Yeah, I agree. I feel like he got hyped for a two-month stretch mid-season when he slashed 338, 425, 544. But then he hit 182 thereafter and wasn't even playing anywhere close to every day for the Brewers. He was a 28-year-old rookie, which itself isn't a good sign. Ran high on base rates in the minors. So that does seem to be like a legitimate skill of his.

ended up a pretty 58 for a rookie. But as you've pointed out many times, that is a skill that can quickly evaporate against major league pitchers if they have no reason to fear you. And I'm not sure there's enough thump in the bat here for Collins, particularly going to Kansas City now, that major leaguers aren't just going to pound the zone against him and cost him his main strength.

We'll see. But I think you're talking about, talking about a bench outfielder even in five outfielder leagues. All right. The Royals also signed Lane Thomas to a one-year $5.25 million deal. He was really bad. Last season, he was pretty good for fantasy the previous couple of years, but he might just be a short side platoon bat, and they're paying him like a part-time player.

So Lane Thomas going into 2026, at least not someone that I think needs to be on most fantasy radars. I think I'd rather just take the flyer on Isaac. Collins and see if there's some latent potential there. But worth noting Lane Thomas was a very good fantasy option in 2023, especially. It was pretty good in 2024 as well. And on the Brewer's side of that trade, Zerpa, they apparently have been trying to trade for him for years. He's 26 years old. Throws hard as a lefty.

They may try him as a starter. He pitched out of the bullpen primarily. Something to watch. The Brewers are a smart organization who have rung a lot out of, uh, some seemingly iffy pitchers in recent years. So Angel Zerpa, a name to keep in mind over the next couple of months leading into spring training. Royals avoided arbitration with Michael Garcia, signing him to a five-year extension with a club option for 20-31. Deal is guaranteed to pay him $57.5 million.

It's a lot of money. He was pretty good last year, though. The Phillies are signing Adoles Garcia to a one-year $10 million deal. The twins are signing Josh Bell to a one-year $7 million deal. I think for fantasy, I'd rather get the guy who has the cheaper contract in Josh Bell than Adoles Garcia. I think Adoles Garcia is pretty much washed up. Josh Bell actually had excellent underlying stats last year and did his typical very good half of one season. You always get one good half of a season from Josh Bell.

You never know if it's going to be at the beginning or the end, but you always get one. Adoli's Garcia has been bad for two years in a row. Texas is a very tough place to hit. Philadelphia is much better. It's a lineup upgrade. I get all that. I just don't think Adoles Garcia has anything left. What about you?

I don't either, but I've known Josh Bell hasn't had anything left for a while. Sure, that's fair. The last time he's had even a 750 OPS over a full season was 2022. So yes, he did have one more one more year further removed. than Adoles Garcia. Yeah, I just don't think, like, if you're asking for, if there's a chance for either of these players to emerge as a viable option in all formats again,

I think there's a better chance for Garcia than Bell. And he is going to a smaller park, and he is going to be in a loaded lineup. Actually, if you look at expected home runs by ballpark, that 39, Homer 2023 for Adolice Garcia. It comes out to 50 if he had played every game in Philadelphia. But, you know, he hasn't been good since then.

So I get it. And I'm not holding out hope. But the underlying data is still good for Garcia. It actually hasn't changed that much with his drop in production in the last two years. Still had an average exit velocity, 89th percentile last year. The strikeout rate actually down, pull air rate is not that different than it was in 2020. So I don't know. There's a chance.

It's not a very good chance. I'm not going to be calling Adolice Garcia or sleeper or anything. I just think Josh Bell is assured mediocrity. There may be weeks where I recommend him in the sleeper hitters because he has good matchups or he's hot or whatever. But most of the year, he's safely left on waivers in most leagues. All right. The Rangers got their starting catcher, signing Danny Jansen, to a two-year-14. $215 million deal.

So all the Jansons are off the board in free agency in one 24 hour period. He had 215 with 14 homers last season. He is what he is. He's a deep league number two catcher at this point in the position's history. I don't think you really need to worry too much about Danny Jansen outside of maybe 15 team leagues. The Cardinals signed Dustin May to a one-year deal. Good luck. I don't know

I don't have any hope left for Dustin May I don't know about you well when I was talking about the offseason tracker I said we analyze all the fantasy relevant moves there I almost

didn't bother with Dustin May it was very borderline to me if I wasn't already going in there to write about the Isaac Collins trade I probably would have skipped him, but, you know, it was just, just going into last year, I think there was still a lot of

enthusiasm for Dustin May. He still gets crazy horizontal movement on his pitches, even though the velocity dropped off a couple miles per hour last year. I could see him, I could see him having value again, but obviously he's so far down the rankings for me at starting pitcher that unless he's just, unless he's creating a lot of buzz this spring. There's no way I'm going to get around to drafting Dustamay. All right. The A's signed Mark Leiter Jr. to a one year three million dollar deal, joining a mix of very mediocre pitchers in the late innings of the A's bullpen. He might matter for saves because I don't know who else is going to there, but you probably

shouldn't be drafting a Rangers or an A's closer, I would say. The Marlin signed Christopher Morel to a one year two million dollar deal. pray for me. I do not like watching Christopher Morel hit, and now he's on my favorite team. Just, look, there's still plenty of raw power, still plenty of ability, but he's been absolutely terrible for two years in a row. He was awful last season, 36% strikeout rate. The race couldn't figure out how to make it work. If the raise couldn't figure out, I don't really see much reason to think the Marlins will, so. That's one I didn't bother to write about the tracker.

Christopher O'all. And then I'm at Rosario resigned with the Yankees. He'll be a utility infielder. And now, let's take one more break. And then let's talk about outfield prospects for the final, I don't know, 40 minutes of the show. We'll try to move

quickly through some of these if we can. Let's take a break right after this. All right, and we are back and we're going to talk about the top outfield prospects heading into 2026. And that starts with Walker Jenkins. of the twins, which raises one question for me.

Is the state of outfield prospects not super great right now? Walker Jenkins is good, but there are definitely some red flags here. It's less exciting than shortstop, certainly, right? It's less exciting than shortstop because everything would be, as we talked about when, as we discussed when we were going over my shortstop prospects, my top seven there are probably my top seven prospects overall. So yeah, nothing holds the candle to shortstop. But outfield's second best among the hitter positions, I would say. There wasn't a clear number one at this position.

So I kind of defaulted to Walker Jenkins, who I thought had his best season since being drafted, started to grow into the power he was projected to have, has always shown good plate discipline. Just staying healthy was a big, hurdle that he cleared last year. That's relatively speaking, though, right? He only played 84 games.

It's a career high. Yeah, yeah. But that remains an issue for him. Sure. But yeah, I think he's, in terms of what he's supposed to do when he's healthy, I think he's right on track to living up to his projections. And he's at a point now. He got to AAA before the end of last season,

and when it take much to get him in the majors. So I think the plate discipline is legitimate. It doesn't look like just sometimes with high walk rates among minor leaguers. It's just because they're taking so many pitches against not very good pitchers. But I don't think that's the case with Jenkins. It seems legitimate. He's going to be a high OBP guy going, you know, this picturesque, a left-handed swing that produces high line drive rate.

So I think you'll see a high batting average, a high OBP. It's a question of how much power he grows into, but 10 home runs in 84 games in the minors is not bad. I think he's getting there. And he was only 20. He reached AAA last year. Really good approach to play former first round picks. Still 17 bases. So there's a little bit of speed upside there as well.

And in Minnesota, there's plenty of opportunity. This is not a team with a ton of talent in the short term. I do think part of why the twins are so. hesitant to fully rebuild. You know, there has been a lot of smoke there on trading Byron Buxton and trading Joe Ryan. It doesn't sound like they're actually going to do that. And I think it's because they do have, at least at the high miners, some guys who could be ready to contribute this season,

Walker Jenkins chief among them. But obviously, there's another outfielder. We will get to shortly. But first, we are going to the Mets and Carson Benj, who turns 23 in January. He was a first round pick in 2024. It sounds like the bets are more or less certainly open to him winning a job in spring training. If not outright handing him one.

He didn't play well at AAA last season, got there for 24 games, but the underlying numbers were very good. He hit the ball very hard, 92 mile an hour average. Exx of velocity, 16% barrel rate. Hit 281 overall, 15 homers, 22 steals across. three levels last season. I kind of think it's a very Brandon Nimmo profile. What do you think of Carson Bench? Well, I mean, that was

a lot of that when Brandon Nimmo was traded, a lot of the speculation was, well, of course, because they have another Brandon Nemo ready to go. I think that might actually undersell the upside of Carson

binge. The comp I make is more Christian Yelich, which, you know, the skill sets are similar there for Yelich and M.O. It's just, I think, Yelich is a... It's just kind of turned up... Yeah. Turned up a level every across the board.

Right. Now, so you mentioned, you gave the overall numbers, you gave that he struggled in AAA. I don't really hold the AAA struggles against them. And be part of it. It was just he was performing so well that they couldn't slow him down. So that was the third level he reached. I'm trying to give you the numbers he had up to that point.

And I will find those very quickly. Yeah, he hit over 300 at both high A and AA. OPS is right around 900, if not a little higher, at AA. 414 on base percentage. And I know that's a big part of what the Mets are excited about. He is the sort of player who hits line drives to all fields, a very good batting average profile. will it undermine his power?

I mean, he delivered a good number of home runs here. And remember, this was his first full minor league season. And Carson Binge was this successful with it. So I'm very excited about his upside. Obviously, I'm putting him number two here. And I think the contribution will happen at some point this season, potentially as soon as opening day. All right.

Number three, you've got Joshua Baez. I think this is at least relative to real-life prospect lists. You're going out on a little bit of a limb with Baez, but it does look like an extremely fantasy-friendly profile. In 117 games last year, as a 22-year-old between high A and AA, 20 homers, 54 stolen bases, a 12% walk rate, 21% strikeout rate, hit 287 with a 500 slug. boy, if any of that translates, he's going to be pretty fun for fantasy.

How much of the speed especially do you expect to translate? Because he is a very big guy. I mean, baseball America gives him a 60 grade for speed, which, if you're not familiar with the 20 to 80 scale, 60 is plus. They say he's legitimately fast. Obviously, he's shown an inclination to run with the 54 stolen bases. is the big key for Joshua Baez was cutting his strikeout rate down. He shaved 15 percentage points off of it in 2025 through some mechanical changes. And this monster emerged clearly with as productive as he was.

And yes, I am higher on him than it seems like the consensus is going to be. But it was one of those instances where you see where he's ranked. And you see his production. and you see where he's ranked, you think, okay, I must be missing something about this guy.

Like, what's the red flag? Let me read about it. And there's, you just don't see anything that explains why others are down on him. Everything raves about him. So I feel like it's just,

so it's not like there's no pedigree there. Yeah. I feel like it's just, what would be the opposite of recency bias? Like, uh, they're biased against him. They're urging so suddenly.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think with prospects especially, it doesn't make sense to do that because obviously that's what they're in the miners to do is improve. And when somebody makes a leap this big and you see the extent of his upside, I think it's, unless you can find reasons to explain it away, I think you should take it seriously. So I'm very excited about Joshua Baez and he's another one who could be up at some point this year. Yep. All three of the guys we've talked about have gotten to at least AA, the first who have gotten to AAA, the first who have gotten to AAA. So once you're at double A, you're always a hot streak away potentially from getting to the majors,

unless you're on like, I don't know, the race never call anyone up from double A. But a lot of other teams will. Now, number four, so one question I do have, and I kind of go a little bit out of order here, but not really. I just want to mention the Dodgers. We're starting with Eduardo Contaro, Dodgers Corner Outfielder. number five is Hosue de Paula also a Dodgers likely corner

outfielder number seven Zahir Hope also likely a corner outfielder for the Dodgers and then number 11 Mike Sorota not the bad

white socks pitcher from the 2000s this is Mike Sorota also a corner outfielder in the Dodgers system and then there's also number 21 James Tibbs who is now in the

Dodgers system after beginning last year. Yeah. With the Giants and then with the Red Sox and then ended with the Dodgers. So he's also among my top 25 outfield prospects. I don't think we're going to get to him in the

podcast year though. Cantero you have at the top. I know Hoseway DePaula is probably the consensus in real-life drafts or real-life league prospect rankings. I know baseball prospectus especially really like Zaire Hope as well. they all feel like kind of different

flavors of the same meal in a lot of ways. There's really impressive tools. They all kind of hit the ball hard. They've got good approaches. A lot of athleticism as well, though not necessarily any long-term center fielder's, as I said. What gives Cantero the edge? I think he's the most athletic of the three. He's the one with the best chance of playing...

Well, I mean, Josueh DePaula is probably not going to be an outfielder in the long run. And Contrero could actually be a center fielder in the long run. So there is a, you know, obviously we don't care where they play in fantasy as long as they're getting at bats. But if you have a narrower path to playing time because of your defensive limitations, then you have less margin for error. So that's why I give Cantaro the edge over DePaul. I think Hope had some real contact issues Zahir Hope once he reached the high miners last year. so that's why he slipped a couple spots behind these other two. Still very high is my number seven outfielder.

But I think he has the most downside risk. As a pure hitter, DePaula may have more upside than Cantero, but there is the defensive concern. And then there's also, like, Cantaro is actually, like, legitimately fast. He had 47 steals last year versus DePaul is 32. So DePaul ran a lot, too.

But I already said DePaul is not athletic enough to play in outfield. He's not actually fast. And so maybe he'll keep running in the majors. We're seeing slower players steal more bases with some of the rule changes made the past couple of years to promote base stealing. But it's far from assured when I think Cantero, you can count on it remaining part of his skill set. All three have show good play discipline. I think they're going to run high on base percentages to Paula maybe the highest. But Cantero had 88 walks last year himself between low-way and high.

Yeah, so I think, I think it's just come down to the Canterra has the most obvious present tool to point to. Because they're all pretty good, but the speed is legitimately difference making for Canterra. Yeah, I mean, that's he's going, he is going to be a base dealer. Well, the other two, I'm not so sure about that. Yeah, DePaul and Zahir Hope, especially, it's. big raw power that they haven't quite figured out how to put into games yet. So that's, we have a lot of faith in the Dodgers figuring it out and making the improvements that these guys need to, to figure it out. But DePaula and Zeyerope especially, they kind of feel very linked in my mind.

Very similar skill sets, very similar upsides and downsides. Maybe hope a little toolsier, but maybe a worse apprars. She's also a year older. So these guys are probably all going to start at AA next season, I would guess. And heck, Sarota might, you know, they've got to find playing time for all these guys. I would guess we're going to see multiple if these guys traded by the Dodgers before they actually make it to the majors. But unfortunately, Dodgers still have a super loaded farm system, maybe still the best farm system in baseball. Is that going too far?

I mean, maybe. It just... Isn't that annoying? Outfielders counts for a lot. And they've got some pitching talent, too. Yeah, they do. Yeah, so it's... If you were hoping this was going to end,

any time... There's no end in sight. No, they're going to turn a couple of those guys into some superstar player via trade at some point in the next calendar year, I guess. All right, let's move on to number six. Max Clark of the Detroit Tigers. Turns 21 years.

old next week, third overall pick in the 2023 draft. This is, you know, we had Matt Snyder on last week talking about lead-off hitters and Max Clark feels like a very prototypical lead-off hitter to me. 271,

403 OVP last season, more walks and strikeouts, started to tap into a little power, 14 homers, 19 steals between the high A and double A. Do you think power is going to be enough of a part of his game or or is this mostly a hit an OBP tool set?

I think the latter, he's young enough and did improve his flyball rate this past year, so maybe he's going to end up with more power than I initially feared Max Clark we're talking about. But I think, you know, we were talking a minute ago about how Carson binge makes for a good, like Brandon Nimmo, I guess, should make. Let me say it in the right order. Brandon Nimmo makes for a good Carson binge comp. I think Brandon Nimmo makes for a better Max Clark comp in terms of what they could provide in fantasy. So, you know, approaching 20 homers and 20 steals, good on base skills for sure. I think a big part of Max Clark's real-life appeal, why you seem so high on real-life list, is defense.

Yeah, he might already be like a majorly-allible schenofielder, yeah. That counts for a lot in real life. And other than job security, doesn't count for much of anything in fantasy. So I think it makes sense to downgrade Clark a little bit on fantasy-geared list like this one. Still, number six outfield prospects, pretty good. All right.

We mentioned Zaire Hope number seven for the Dodgers, big raw power, struck out 26% of the time. And according to baseball prospectus, he had a sub-70% contact rate last season. and I flagged this quote from their write-up. I think they released their Dodgers prospects list today. Quote, while his contact rates are a concern, they are far from a red flag. Okay.

Continuing a quote. That said, Joe Adele had better contact rates in high A back in 2018. That feels like a little bit of a red flag for a guy who is still mostly theoretical as a power hitter. Only 13 home runs last year. hits the ball really hard. Scouts love the projectability here, but it's worrisome for me. And that was baseball prospectus you were quoting there?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. They were kind of driving the train on Zahir Hope. So if they're expressing some doubts now, I think all the more reason to take them seriously. And that's why Hope, I think, is the clear number three of the Dodgers' big three outfield prospects

because I have, I feel very, as confident as you can for a minor leagueer, that Cantero and DePaula are on a major league trajectory, are going to matter in fantasy someday. I think Hope certainly has that upside, but it was disappointing the way the strikeout rate turned out this past year. And it gives me doubts that he could ascend to that level. of production. Obviously not ruling it out.

It's a prospect. He's still going to be, I would think, a top 40 prospect for release this year. It's just there's a level of, there's a level of doubt, an increased level of doubt for him compared to DePaula and Cantaro. All right. A guy who's a little further away, Edward Florentino for the Pittsburgh Pirates, 19 years old, six foot four, lots of raw power. surprisingly effective as a base stealer last season, played 83 games. 290 with 16 homers, 16 homers, 16 homers, 35 stolen bases. It was between complex and low A.

He's been getting a lot of hype. Is the speed real? Is the question that jumps to the top of the list for me? Yeah, I mean, Baseball America gives Edward and Florentino only a 40 grade for speed. So same as DePaula, actually, just what you. DePa. So I would say, just like with DePaula, there's a good chance that the stolen bases are a red herring here. That being said, he looks like a great hitter, does Edward Florentino.

He was, when I first made out this list, you know, kind of my initial draft for the order, I had Florentino third, where I ended up putting Joshua Baez, ended up dropping him down and could just dropping him down further and further, just on account of him being so young and being so far down the minor league ladder still. I've gotten burned. I'm sure anybody who's evaluated prospects over the years has gotten burned more than once by buying in too hard on some teenager

who's killing it at low A. And so, you know, you need to, you need to take that into account that there are a lot of hurdles to clear. There are a lot of ways this could go wrong for Edward Florentino, but play discipline's already an asset, swings already optimized for power, elevated fly ball and pull rates, 90% zone contact rate, which is amazing against lower level pitchers, but still, it's really encouraging signs beyond just the top line production for Edward Florentino, and I think he has a bright

future. All right, let's move on to number nine, Ryan Waldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks, first round pick in the 2024 draft, 2023 years old and, sorry, 23 years old. He's not 2,023 years old. That would be a problem. Yeah. That would be, man, you'd have to really adjust the production down

if he was 2023 years old. I got flustered because I see here Frank made the notes and he says, one might say the Diamondbacks are the Schmidt when it comes to developing slugging prospects. I just wanted to be clear that that was not me. So direct your booze at Frank. But Ryan Walschmidt had a big year.

Hit 289, 419 OVP, 18 homers, 29 steals. Looks like a guy who could be at home at the top of the lineup. But I think there could be a middle of the order. Like he gives me a little Walker Jenkins vibes from looking at the stat line, if not necessarily the scouting report. And I know in baseball prospectus is right up. I think the concern is it's all like 55 to 60 grade tools across the board. And like if that works out, that's great. I feel like Paul Goldschmidt is a guy who was kind of just like above average at everything.

There was just no weaknesses. But it's also the kind of profile where if you fall short on the projections in a couple of places, then I feel like you can start to get into like Lord's Guerriel territory really quickly, where it's not a bad player, but there's nothing that stands out. So what do you like about Ryan Waldschmidt? I don't mean to keep making the same comps, but he seems to be in that same Christian Yellich, Brandon Nimmo family,

where you could see him providing some power, but not like top of the scales power, some speed, but not like top of the scale's speed, and then really good play discipline. I think part of what holds me back with, part of the reason he's only ninth, which at the outfield is still a very high ranking. There's not as much separation between number two,

Carson Benj and number nine Ryan Walschmidt as those seven spots would have you believe. But the reason that separation does exist in part is because he did make it to double A. It's been about half the season there, put up even better numbers, than at high A, but I'm to the point where I have to artificially downgrade diamondbacks hitting prospects who... Yeah, they might have a major percentage of their season, either at AA and AAA and AAA, because those two levels in that system are so hitter-friendly.

You look at the home-away splits for Ryan Waldschmidt, which includes high A, which I don't think is especially hitter-friendly for the diamondbacks. So, you know, just need to point that out. Home this past year, he had 317. with a 990 OPS away, he hit 259 with a 787 OPS. So we'll see. I think now that he's made it to AA and obviously AAA after that,

we're not going to get a clear read on how much power Walt Schmidt has until he gets to the majors. Ex of velocity data, AAA will help. But there's always going to be that shred of doubt because of how hitter-friendly those two levels at the top of the diamond back. system are. All right. Let's move on to Owen Casey, your number 10 outfielder who feels like he's been around for a long time, but he's still only 23. He finally debuted last season, has put up big power numbers, lots of strikeouts as well. It's been around 28% at AAA. But Owen Casey is going

to get a chance, presumably on opening day, to be an outfielder every day for the Chicago Cubs. And, you know, the strikeout rate's alarming, 28%. the underlying plate discipline stuff tends more towards average-ish. The whiff rates, the zone contact rate. It's all average to slightly below average. So it's less concerning than the 28% strikeout rate might make you think. He hits the ball really hard. Max E.V. 113.

Average 92. 90th percentile, 108. That's a 95th percentile mark among AAA hitters. So Owen Casey, I mean, it's not the best home park that he's stepping into in Chicago, but I think there's legit 30 homer upside and he's going to be there on opening day. I think he should be drafted in most 12 team roto leagues at least. Yeah, I would say so. And I was, my initial inclination was to rank him a little lower than this 10th in the outfield just because he feels like he's

been on the margins ever since. I think they acquired him from the Padres, didn't they? but the main reason he's been on the margins is because his power was largely theoretical. He really lived up to it last year. 22 homers in 99 games, yeah. Better pull air rate. The ex of velocities we can see are terrific. It's, yeah, Wrigley Field isn't considered a great home run park anymore, but this isn't the sort of player who relies on hitting the ball at optimal angles to send it out of the park,

which is those are the guys who really suffer Wrigley. Like this is big boy power Owen Casey has, and he has, I think, with Kyle Tucker gone, a clear path to playing time. He's going to have some 30 homer seasons in the majors, I feel pretty confident saying. So it's just a question of if he can maintain a serviceable batting average, if the walk rates run anywhere as close to as high as they did in the minors. But overall, I have an optimistic outlook for Owen Casey. All right. Number 11 is Mike Sirota, 22. years old. So he's a little older than the other Dodgers corner outfielders. He was acquired, I think, last year in a fairly, it was the Gavin Lux trade, I think, actually. So good job, Reds. He only played

59 games due to a knee injury. He was dominant when he was on the field, but we have only seen Mike Serota as an older prospect in A ball. So I think if he comes out and does really well at double a this season, that prospect stock could really take off for Mike Serrota, right? Yeah, at the low level he was playing at, the two low levels he was playing at are part of the reason why I put him only 11th. Just need to see how he performs in the upper levels before I go get totally on board with him, but the production was very impressive. The Dodgers know what they're doing. They do this all the time.

They got Zahir Hope in the Michael Bush trade, remember. So they target these outfield. lately it's been outfield prospects but really it could be any kind of prospect from organization that you never really heard of and then they suddenly become big name prospects with the Dodgers.

Serota actually had some first round buzz heading into his final college season and just had a bad year there so he slipped to the Reds in the third round but the Dodgers still valued him like a first rounder and so that's why they made that trade giving up Gavin Lux

it looks like it's going to pay off handsomely all right number 12 Emmanuel Emmanuel Rodriguez can I give you a a slightly deranged comp for Emmanuel oh rias I love slightly deranged comp if Joey Gallo and Byron Buxton had a baby who also can't stay healthy okay it's like huge power huge O BP tons like he is like the three true outcomes king he also plays a really good center field from what I understand understand and he also just cannot stay on the field at all like just has had a ton of injuries i think he has not played more than 65 games in a season since 2023 when he was at able yeah yeah he's

a player of extremes for sure it's getting harder to see the glass half full with emmanuel rodriguez in part because the injuries have continued and in part because you know, when he's, when he has these standout tools in A ball, you can dream of, okay, he's going to make these improvements that are going to cut that strikeout rate down. It just hasn't happened. He's consistently struck out at higher than a 30% rate, which is, it's really hard to succeed, even if you do hit the ball hard when you're striking out that much. And that's only against minor league pitchers.

Normally when we talk about three true outcomes guys, I think Adam Dunn comes to mine for me. so we think kind of big in plotting. Emmanuel Rodriguez is very athletic. Like if he sticks, he's going to be a big base dealer too. You included Byron Buxton and your deranged comp. So I think you account for that, the speed element there. And the defense is a good defensive centerfielder, yeah. It feels for a guy who's made it to AAA now and is really just a,

a sneeze away from the majors. He's entering his sixth professional season too. It is a very boomer bus profile, and that's, I think, scary given the amount it would take to invest in him in a Dynasty League. All right. Speaking of boomer bust, let's talk about Lazaro Montes of the Seattle Mariners.

Big time power prospect, just a big, big dude, six foot five, coming off a 32 homer season. So starting to see him put that power really into play in games doesn't do a ton else. He'll walk 14% walk rate last season, but he also struck out 29% of the time. The power's really going to need to come. And the concern I have here is that home park in Seattle is just going to make the degree of difficulty so much higher. But the power could be a real carrying tool for Lazaroomontas, right? Yeah, it could.

I think that's all he has. I think that's becoming more apparent as he moves up to the ladder. As he moves up the ladder, he's not moving to a ladder. But there is a ladder that he is ascending trying to get to the majors. He's made it to double A. His first 64 games there this year, 213, 319, 433. That was the slash line. Not very impressive.

Struck out more than 30% of the time. You know, he used to be compared to Jordan Alvarez, I think mostly because of his size and backstory. I think they had the same trainer after defecting from Cuba. But that does not seem like a realistic comp at all at this point. That strike. I writes about double what Garnan Averis is running in the majors. He is a one-note hitter.

And since he brings no defensive value, it's a very narrow path to success for Lazaro Montes. I'm still optimistic overall that he's going to be a player who matters in fantasy. But how much will he matter? I think that's very much in question right now. And as I say this, I'm wondering if I haven't ranked a little too high here, honestly. I was kind of thinking the same thing. Let's move to the polar opposite of Lazaro Montes as a prospect.

And that is Justin's son of Carl Crawford of the Philadelphia Phillies, who really does a lot of the same things as Carl Crawford. If you're old enough to remember Carl Crawford and saying that makes me feel very old, because I feel like Carl Crawford retired not that long ago, but it was probably like a decade ago. Justin Crawford turns 22 in January, was a first round pick in 2022. Career 322 hitter in the minors,

three straight years of 40 plus steals. And I feel like prospect people do not like this guy at all because he is extremely not a 2025 kind of player. This is a guy who actually has some pop in terms of the, raw power, but he does absolutely nothing to get that pop into games. He is slapping at the ball. He is driving into the ground. I think the 60% ground ball rate last season. And that was an improvement. But he's going to make a lot of contact. He's going to run really, really, really fast. And I'm kind of excited for Justin Crawford. I would say data-minded prospect people really don't like Justin Crawford. But then skill.

minded like tools, tools minded prospect evaluators do. So he's a very polarizing prospect. And I think a big part of his real life value, for all the athleticism, he's a corner outfielder. Nobody really thinks he's going to be able to play center field. Which was also true of his dad. Yes.

It is a remarkably similar profile. I think skeptics doubt he'll ever develop enough power to succeed in him in the modern game. which more is required even than when his dad played. And his dad eventually became a first rounder in fantasy. Like he had this same profile as Justin Crawford coming up to the majors. And he did eventually develop like 15 homer power, which for as good batting averages he had,

for as many steals as he hadn't made him a first rounder for a couple years ago. Had it 19 homer season. Yeah. And Justin Crawford hits the ball hard enough that he could get to some of that power too. It's just about angling it properly, which would cost him. something in the way of batting average. So I don't know how worth it that tradeoff is.

You know, we've seen more of the high average, high speed, non-home run hitter. We've seen with Chandler Simpson and Xavier Edwards the past couple years. We've seen that have some success again. And I think Crawford, there's more to be excited about for him even than for those two. And they've already floated the Phillies, the idea of making him their starting center fielder now. I think defensively will they have to rethink that this spring?

Maybe, but if nothing else, it shows they're very much considering Justin Crawford to be part of their plans in the short term. And so I think I think in deeper roto leagues, he's somebody to consider drafting late. And now

I said Lazaro Montes and Justin Crawford might be polar opposites. It's probably Spencer Jones. is the actual polar opposite. And I'm going to be honest, I don't think this is going to work at all.

And Spencer Jones, a lot, a lot of hype around him. He is a name that if you know an outfield prospect as a baseball fan, you probably know Spencer Jones more than you know any of those Dodgers guys or even Carson Benj or Walker Jenkins. Spencer Jones, one of the most well-known prospects out there. I don't think this guy's going to be. a top 100 prospect on any of the big lists this year. He is 24 years old.

He was like 64% in zone contact rate or something crazy. Like just bottom of the scale contact skills and top of the scale power, 95 mile per hour average exit velocity. This is one of the most extreme prospects in baseball. I'm going to steal a comment from a fan grafts commenter that I saw. on their top 100 prospects. If things work out, it looks like Joey Gallo in Texas. The median outcome, it looks like Joey Gallo in New York. If things don't work out, it's Joey Gallo in Washington.

That kind of sounds right. Yeah, I mean, you understand the enthusiasm for Spencer Jones last year, 35 homers, 29 steals, a 932 OPS. And there was a stretch midseason. He made a mechanical adjustment, cut down on the strikeouts, and just went bonkers. He was homering like every day. Yeah.

And so it's like, oh, he figured it out. But then go look how the rest of the season went. Like the strikeouts came roaring back. The production fell off. He didn't figure it out. He didn't figure it out. And I think the clincher here, because I'm with you, even though I rank him 15th here,

even though he's going to be in my top 100 list. You just don't want Frank to yell at you. No, it's not that. I mean, I've been wrong before. I've been wrong enough times before that I think when you consider what the upside for Spencer Jones could be as much raw power as he has, as athletic as he is. You know, I was kind of skeptical of Aaron Judge when he was coming up. Aaron Judge was not a very good hitter in the minors. Yeah, yeah.

And he debuted on the older side too. So, you know, I have the humility, even though I'm skeptical of Spencer Jones to say he belongs in the top 100, because I know what the upside could be in theory. But I don't see it either. I mean, we talked about how hard it is to succeed with a 30% strikeout rate, and Spencer Jones is running 35% rates in the miners. You mentioned some of the other plate discipline numbers that don't look great. The clincher for me in terms of being skeptical is that he's 24 already.

And like, if you're a big prospect, you should be in the majors before 24, much less, you know, barely getting to, I guess he spent like half the season at AAA. But you know what I mean? He's going to be 25 early next year. And he might not be in the majors yet. Yeah. And that, like, how much growth can you expect from that player at that point? And that is it.

We got through 15 outfield prospects. You know, it's a longer show today. But that's usually true when I'm steering the ship instead of Frank. He's better at this. We got through it. Just in case you're wondering what about Dylan Beavers and Chase DeLotter? Because they're probably going to be on opening day roster for their teams next year. 16 and 17.

I was going to mention it. They just missed. Okay. And you can see the whole top 25 at CBSSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. Scott, I think you're planning on having the top 100 ready. New Year. Sometime in January. Yeah.

Depends of any other stuff first. You got a lot of plates in the air. Maybe you shouldn't be juggling plates. Not a good idea. Seems dangerous, especially if they're ceramic. Yeah. But that's okay. I've been working on my, like ever since I had kids, I've been trying to.

From working on juggling? I've been working on juggling. Yeah. They're kind of too old that even if I mastered it now, it like wouldn't mean anything to them. I mean, you can't be cool. I can get three, I can get three balls going, you know, for like five or six throws. That's more than one. Yeah.

It's more than two even. It's pretty good. Two's a cinch. I can do two. One hand tied behind my back. Give me two oranges. I'll juggle them all day. Don't drop the oranges.

Orange is the like weight distribution is perfect. Okay. They're like the easiest to catch fruit. Like a Valencia? They're easier to catch the most balls. A caracara? I mean like a navel. Any orange.

Any orange. You could do a naval orange. You could do one of those halos if you want. Hmm. Tangelo? Sure. I don't think that's a real thing. All right, that's going to do it for fantasy baseball today.

Make sure you check out Scott's top 25 outfield projects on CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. We'll be back on Wednesday. I think we're talking starting pitcher prospects, if I'm remembering correctly. That's certainly coming up at some point soon. So we'll get to that when we get to it. We'll see you next time. Come back soon, Frank.

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