Fantasy Baseball Today - ADP Battles! Bichette vs. Witt Jr., Glasnow vs. McKenzie & More! (2/20 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: February 20, 2023

First up, Bo Bichette or Bobby Witt Jr. (4:40)? Bichette should give you batting average while Witt Jr. gives you the steals. ... Corbin Carroll or Eloy Jimenez (12:25)? We love both! ... Tyler Glasnow or Triston McKenzie (21:22)? Can Glasnow stay healthy? ... Blake Snell or Hunter Greene (29:00), two prime strikeout sources. ... News (35:40): Elvis Andrus agreed to a one-year deal with the White Sox. Francisco Alvarez is set to open the year in the minors. ... What's the word early on in spring training camps (49:03)? ... We wrap up with rapid-fire ADP battles (56:05). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: 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 FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Boba Chet or Bobby Witt Jr. Blake Snell or Hunter Green.

Let's find out. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, February 20th. Happy President's Day for those that celebrate Frank Stamphold. joined by the Chris's. The Chris. Someone on Twitter said that the plural of Chris should be Chris. I kind of like that. So maybe I'll just do that.

It's just like, here are, here are the Chris. That doesn't make sense. I get it. Yeah. I get it. You know, it makes sense like with, you know, like moose, I guess. But like I think Chris is chrises. I don't know.

Could we have me like a murder of chrises? Like, could we be like crows? I think that would work well. Oh, right. I like Brandon Lee in the crow. That was one of my all-time girls. growing up favorite movies. That is a sick movie.

I mean, there is a million movies that I haven't seen. The Crow is one that I've seen too many times. That's really weird. That is really weird that that's the one.

I've never seen that movie. It is highly recommended. So yes, please go check it out. By the way, those are towers in the Welsh. You know those guys. Today on the show,

they are going head to head. We've got 80P battles, but they could actually choose the same answer if they want to. We've got some news, had a few signings, and some injuries. Jacob de Grom already hurt

and we've got a new segment What's the word with the Welsh who is out there at different spring training camps So we'll find out what he's finding out Some little fun nuggets from the opening weekend Of spring training but towers How's the weekend buddy? How's everything? Good, I went roller skating on Friday

Nice That was interesting one of my friends Want to go yeah it's like a little pop-up thing near Barclay Center that people were roller skating. I didn't fall. So I think that's a win. I'm not, I played hockey growing up. I'm a weird kid from South Florida who played hockey. And so like, I'm pretty comfortable with wheels strapped to my feet, but roller skates not so much, not as much as, you know, the inline skates. But I didn't fall. And at my age, that's, that's a win.

That half the battle, man, staying on your feet while roller skating, roller blading, ice skating. I mean, yeah, totally. Get that done. Friday's so weird, man. And here in New York, it was 60 degrees during the day, 30 degrees at night. It's just like, it got real cold. What is going on? Anywho, who cares about the weather? Welsh out there at spring training camps, baseball is back. Kind of, almost.

How's it going, bud? Yeah, I'm, I got to tell you I'm shocked. I'm not like destroyed, burnt. Funny enough, you say that I started off the week in 37 degrees going to camps. And I stupidly wore shorts. It was 37 degrees on opening day on Wednesday. Funny enough, I was at Rangers. camp when Jacob de Grum, I walked into the camp. It was 37 degrees. It had snowed the night before

in my area, in Phoenix. It snowed on the mountains. And I walk in and they say, Jacob de Grom had a little thing. He wasn't going to go today. And I didn't blame it because there was wind. It was 37 degrees. But it has been like 37 degrees up to 75 degrees today. I'm fried. I'm burnt. I've seen a lot of different stuff. I've seen a decent amount of players. And I've also shared news. And I've had some misinformation news that I shared. And when we get to my segment, I can tell you about a player that apparently I shared some fake news. And I talked to him about that. And he actually didn't realize that I was the cause of the fake news. And I'll tell you about that when we get to it. It was pretty funny. Very nice. All right. Well, we can't complain about the weather if the Welsh has snow down in

Arizona. But baseball is kind of back because this Friday, we will officially have spring training games going on Friday, February 24th. So it's a lot of fun. And then I think first week of March, we've got the WBC. So it's going to be an awesome month leading up to the start of the baseball season as Chris Towers is stroking his cat. It's great to see you. She wants attention right now. She's been ignoring me for hours and this is the moment where she decides that I needed to pick her up. You said the WBC got brought up and she jumped up. So I think she was a big she's a big fan. Nice. I don't blame her. I'm pretty sure your cat feeder goes off at 1130. I've just kind of time that in my head right right on the dot. Yeah. So We'll probably hear that later on in the podcast.

Let's get into some ADP battles, players being drafted in a similar round on average, using Fantasy Pro's ADP, and yes, I have eliminated ESPN because it's just too different, and it throws everything out of whack, so it's gone. I mean, you could go to Fantasy Pros and you could choose your different sources.

I've gotten rid of ESPN, so we're using five other sources right now, and we'll start off with Boba Shett v. Bobby Witt, Jr. Thank you to those that helped submit some of these. I crowdsourced on Twitter, and I believe this is one that I got from there. And I kind of like it because they're two similar players. Obviously, Bobby Witt is a little bit younger, but very, very similar skill sets. I think Boba Chet's probably going to give you a better batting average, maybe a little bit more pop,

but you're going to get more speed from Bobby Witt Jr. So Welch, we'll start with you this time. Are you taking Bobby Witt or Bobbichette? I actually think this one is really, really tough. I've actually bounced back and forth a little bit throughout the offseason around these two. early on having kind of following the NFBC trend of having Bobby Witt a little bit higher. I really still like Bo Bichette. And it's funny that there's a lot of conflicting stuff.

There's a really interesting article that came out talking about just overall like athletic declines and how Bichette speed has increasingly decreased, if you will. That's double negative where he's just like he's in the the idea of him stealing more bases is kind of fading away. Then he comes out in camp and talks about how he wants to run more. He wants to make that more part of his game. He struggled with some sliders last year. Still really nice and red on the baseball savant. Top 6% in hard hit percentage. XBA is up there.

But I don't believe we're going to have a massive uptick in stolen bases. Also, when you take a look at that roster, I just don't think that's the guy that you want built around it. That's not the player that you brought in Dalton Varsho, who can do it. You've got Whitman-Marfield who could do it. I just didn't see why the team would be overly aggressive when they were already in the bottom third of the league in stolen basis, why that's going to change a whole bunch.

I love the batting average and I love what he can do. But Bobby Witt, I think statistically is going to be on par, whether it's like a couple more homers for Bichette and maybe a grip more stolen bases for Bobby Witt. Bobby Witt also qualifies at third base, which I think is kind of a defier here because third base is bad. I was doing some positional breakdowns, positional breakdowns over on in this league this week and we've done them here. You take a look at like what you get at the 15th.

first baseman compared to what you get is the 15th third baseman. It's not remotely close. Third shortstop in general is also just so deep that I think making like an early heavy commitment to a shortstop only guy really, really has to fit a certain mold here. And I'm excusing maybe some of the swing and miss and the contact issues with Bobby Witt where I think that goes in favor of Bo Bouchet. But I think all things considered, I think I can get three of the five categories in favor for Bobby Witt at a position that's a little bit better. So in my personal ranks, it's Bobby Witt over Bo Bichette. And it is close.

I do think Bo Bichette is still a really nice get, but I just don't see why I would take him, especially when you have to take him around those third basemen that are really, really, really good. So I'm going to pass and my ring is going to Bobby Witt. Boom. I know Scott is not the biggest Bobby Witt Jr. fan, but somewhere he is smiling because he will love the fact that you

brought up positional scarcity, specifically when it comes to third base. Towers, let's go to your way here. We know he needed a massive September last year to make the final line look respectable. Bobby Whit Jr. We've highlighted the OPS subpar last season, 722, but one of the fastest players, maybe the fastest player in baseball, there's a chance that he doubles up Bobauchette in terms of steals this year. What do you think in Bobbichette or Bobby Witt, Jr.? Yeah, I think it's fair to give Bobby Witt a pretty sizable edge and stolen bases. The problem is that I think Boba Chet's probably got the edge at least I think he's probably got the edge in the other four categories.

I might be close in some of them, you know, specifically home runs. But I would think a lot of it does come down to like safety versus upside. I think the best case scenario for Bobby Witt is probably a little better. Although we've seen the best case scenario of season for Boba Chet. And, you know, obviously a lot of it was lineup context. But, you know, if he's going to, if he can drive in and. score 223 combined runs again like he did in 2021. It's going to be hard for Bobby Witt to have a higher upside.

Now, as a, you know, I think so when you talk about upside, I think it's probably player specific Bobby Witt has more upside. But the team context matters. And I just think all around, I'll give Boba Shett a slight edge. I think the biggest thing Bobby Witt has going for him is that third base eligibility. You know, I'm looking at the like auction calculator on fan graphs for the back. projections and they have each of the top 12 short stops being worth $15. They have the number 12 third baseman worth $4.6.

My cat's very upset about that. I think a guy's a Bobby Witt fan. I'm going to let her out of the room now. Fair enough. You brought up the team context. The Blue Jays were fourth in run scored last season, the Kansas City Royals all the way down at 24th. I get why people want Bobby Whit with a third base eligibility.

I'm just talking myself into Bichette this offseason, man. But it is razor close and that's exactly why we're doing this. You know, let me throw this at you real quick. Yeah. Because let's just for an instance say that Bobichette does take four of the categories. But what, you have to really look at separation on the category. So let's say Homer's is within two or three. That's not enough of a separator.

Let's say run an RBI. Now, if he's Bobby, if he's Bobbushet from a couple years ago, this could be a really big marker. But if you want to just kind of get into like granular stuff of Bobby Whit progressing and Bobeschette kind of being median where he was last year, you take away runs an RBI because they're within five or six of each other. It's still kind of null and void. So now what you're coming down to the biggest differences is batting average versus stolen bases.

Those are the big dramatic categorical things if you really look at big differences. And I mean, in this day and age, we just have to look at stolen basis unless you believe that the contact rate is a problem with Bobby Witt long. term, then, okay, I can buy that, but he wasn't a big strikeout guy. I mean, he had an under 300 babbip. If you don't believe in progression on the player, I really think it comes down to batting average versus stolen bases here. And I'm going to take the risk at a bad position with a significant amount of more stolen

bases than I am going to try to pair batting average together. But I get it. Again, it's just, you know, that's a really deep position, Frank, at shortstop with Beau Bichette. And it's not at third base with bomb. That's the biggest thing is anytime I take a shortstop in the first couple of rounds, we've talked about this a lot. But like every time I come up, the next like eight rounds, my top players are shortstop.

And so it's always just like from a team building perspective, taking a shortstop that early who doesn't have multi-eligibility is it can it can limit you a little bit. I think that's enough to make it close. Like if they were both just shortstop eligible, I'd probably knock Bobby Witt down a few more spots. But, you know, for me in the overall rankings, they're separated by two spots. It's 17 versus 19. So it's not a significant edge for Bobauchette.

Yeah, no, I agree totally. I think it's batting average versus steals. You know, Bichette could have the advantage by 30 points in batting average. Witt could have the advantage by 20 steals, 25 steals. That's not, you know, over-rating how fast he is. But yeah, razor thin, Bobby Witt versus Bobbichette. Let's get into Corbyn Carroll versus Elohimenez. You know if we got the Welsh on here, I got to pin somebody up against Corby and see.

How much does he actually love him? And it's interesting because I know Towers has both of these guys as breakouts this season. So we'll start with you this time, Towers. Who do you like more? Eloy at 67th overall or Corbyn Carroll at 77th, around 6.7 range. This is a really tough one. In looking at my rankings, I do have Eloy. Two spots higher in my outfield rankings.

They're separated by about a round in the overall rankings. And in looking at that, I'm not sure I love the way I have that set up. I do think, like, taking Eloy, he's just, in terms of production, I think he's a really sure thing. You know, what we've seen from him is outside of 2021, the last three seasons, he's been very, very good. I think he'll continue to be a guy who's a good source of power, a good source of batting ever, to a great source of RBI. I think he could, you know, step in and be what Jose Abraeu has been for a long time. I think that's actually a really good cop for him, just an outfield version of Jose Abrae, or hopefully D.A. Carol probably has more upside because Eloy the plate discipline's never going to be great.

He doesn't strike out much. He also doesn't walk very much. So he's not going to score runs. He's a bad base runner. So he's kind of just like even the best version of Elo Jimenez is probably like a three category guy, maybe three and a half. Whereas Corby and Carol could legitimately be a five category contributor and a very, very good one across the board. So it's sort of an upside versus. floor thing again, although with Ilo Jimenez, you know, the floor is pretty low because of injuries.

So I'm kind of talking myself into going Corby and Carroll here, but it's going to be very close. I know, I mentioned the ADP. Eloy at 67th, Carol at 77th. But in the drafts that I do, I feel like those guys have been a lot closer. And maybe even in some drafts, you see Corby and Carol go ahead of Eloy Jimenez. Elo, we've talked about it, Chris. You mentioned he only played 139 of 324 available games over the past two years, but when we saw him the final three months, he was amazing. Once again, and then Corby Carroll, arguably the top prospect in baseball. So Welsh, where are you going with this one? Eloy versus Corby and Carol.

Isn't it a funny experiment too? I love this type of stuff. This stuff I've been doing, you know, for my entire career of doing fantasy. It's like, you get in and you know, you've done your ranks, you've done your research. And then you just start talking about it with people. And then you're just like, I don't know if I like in my own process when you just stare at it. And you just like start talking through it. And I have the same thing that happens all the time when I'm looking at players and he just really comes down to it.

Because when you're doing when you're doing rankings, it's much more of a holistic process. Totally. For me, it's it's, you know, trying to get the whole player landscape. But then you start to get granular as you go through, you know, your drafts and then podcasts and stuff. And you start to like, well, you know, maybe I'm talking myself into this. Well, and a lot of us will get like early on and we'll do a whole bunch of stuff. But then when you get into application and you're like drafting and you think about team. construction, that should play into it.

I actually kind of a hole that happens in fantasy ranking a lot is it just becomes this singular focus thing. But you should think about your own team context. You should think about position scarcity. That should play a role also with your own habits into ranks. And I think sometimes that kind of gets dissuade from it. But like getting back to it, I think this one is crazy, crazy close because I agree it's not a Flores Lava situation necessarily with Eloy.

It's just kind of like going back to like a player like Buxton. It's just like, this guy's great when he's. he's out there. He's just not out there a whole bunch. I mean, the guy has not played 100 games since 2019, which was his rookie year. And that's a problem. We also have not seen elite, elite power numbers come out of there because he doesn't play all the games. 31 homers in his rookie year was fantastic. But the average has kind of dipped a little bit last year it picked back up, but it's kind of swayed. It's kind of got an every year thing. My problem when this comes down to like team construction again, Corby and Carroll is more volatile, but he's,

He's a five category player when I'm putting these teams together. I am a little bit more risk averse than people would expect for rookies overall. But a guy like Corvin Carroll, who is theoretically set to lead off for the Arizona Diamondbacks, one of the fastest players, top 1% in the league in sprint speed. I've said it here a million times, 200 plus I. So at every single stop in the minors, even into the majors, except once, which is rookie ball, his first year, he can hit, he can run. He's theoretically going to lead off.

and you're going to have guys like Jake McCarthy and Catelle Marte hitting behind you. As fun as Eloi Jimenez is, I think I'm going to go with a five category player that has proven it across the board in the minor leagues. I've said this. One of my bold takes, I think he's going to lead this team in stolen bases over McCarthy. And I'm going to stick with that. And I know it's a little bit of a homer play. I'm trying to get out of like the homeristic thing that people are going to put into me.

But in this situation, in my own ranks, I have Carol over Eloy, minutes and I'm going to stick with it. And to be clear, you said top 1% in sprint speed. He was the fastest player. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Last season, 100% and it was like a, there was like a little bit of a gap in, I mean, I hate that they do it by like sprint speed is like feet per second. But he's like, I think like half a second or yeah, whatever the, whatever the half a foot ahead of number two. I don't know what the actual, I think it's a half a foot ahead. Yeah.

I'm really excited too to see him get into some action because I was, I've said this here before too, I was with him in November and he looks physically better than ever because I saw him as an 18 year old coming up with the Diamondbacks. Like he's jacked. He's jacked for his size, of course. It's getting there. I want to see him in some game action. I have not been to Diamondbacks camp because it's like a big drive.

I'm going to do it this week. I'm hopefully going to see some BP action and him running some drills. maybe doing some live pitching. But I think there's going to be a lot to get excited about. And this team is kind of, you know, putting it in the forefront. But, you know, hey, Eloy is a big power bat. 35 plus homers is nothing to screw with because if you can get a, you know, big run in RBI, which for whatever reason, bat just a poor runner, he just never gets those run totals.

If he could be a four category player, then we're kind of like looking at, I mean, in theory, he could be like an Austin Riley in the outfield. Like, we can really see that. He just doesn't. And he isn't because he doesn't play long enough. But that would be a second. round easy second round talent. I really, really hope they just stick him in DH and don't, don't let him play the

outfield. He's so awkward out there. Like, it just feels like maybe it's just playing the results, but it just feels like he's bound to get hurt when he's out in the outfield. The roster seems like it's set that way. I mean, you got Robert, you got Ben Intendi and then Coloss. And I'm forgetting who the platoon with Coloss would look like right now. But it looks like that they are trending in that direction, which is the best thing ever.

Yes. Remember a couple of years ago, Eloy tried to rob a home run. and he just kind of like threw his arm over the fence and he tore his peck. Yeah, that was when he tore his peck. Yeah, just don't do that. Don't put Elo Jimenez in the outfield.

He just, you remember the boat that got stuck in the Suez Canal? That's what it feels. Yeah, that's what it feels like when Elo Jimenez is like running the bases

or playing the outfield. It's just like, it feels like it takes him forever to turn, you know? Yeah, yeah. You know, Towers, I'm with you, man. It's like, I have Eloy one spot higher.

We just did our outfield preview and I think I just made the switch. The outfielder I said I want most in drafts is Eloy, but I think if I was actually on the clock, I would take Corby and Carroll over him. So I'm such a fraud. It is definitely a depends on what you've already drafted kind of situation. Because like, let's say you took Bobby Witt over Boba Shett in the second round of that same draft.

You probably want Eloy Jimenez. Yeah. You know, you probably want someone who's going to give you a little more of that run production. You may not need the stolen base potential. even if you did like a like a i don't know how you would pull this together but let's just you know bear with me you got like a tray turner and a mani machado or something like that and that was put together you know you kind of really locked in your stolen base as you're missing outfield you might want to go with maybe a little bit more of a power solid floor bat than you would a little

bit of volatility but if you started off your draft with like a freddie freeman and uh whoever you know mooky bets or whatever it is vladen margaro or i guess you wouldn't do that you know if it's raphael devors and fredy freeman you want some more speed because you have so much floor on your corner infield, Corby and Carroll makes a ton of sense. All right. Let's take our first break. Before we do that, make sure to join our fantasy baseball today. Facebook group. That's Facebook.com slash group. Groups slash fantasy baseball today. You can ask any question that you have coming up. Keeper, Dynasty, draft related, ADP, and we have a bunch of people answering questions on there.

It's a really fun community. So make sure to join up on our Facebook group. Let's take a break. We'll be back right after this. All right, let's get into a few pitching position battles here. ADP battles. We've got Tyler Glass now going up against Tristan McKenzie. Glass now at 83rd overall. McKenzie at 85th is the round 7-8 turn. We know the deal with Glass Now.

He was returning from Tommy John surgery last year. He made three starts, only 11 and 2 thirds innings. But the last time we saw him for an extended period of time, he looked like one of the top five pitchers in baseball back in 2021. And then Tristan McKenzie finally managed to stay healthy. He put it all together and he had that season that we thought he was capable of, but now the ADP is much higher than it has been in years past. Whilst we're coming back to you, McKenzie or Tyler Glassnow.

I got to say, I actually think this one is really tough because these are two, you know, different beasts that you're dealing with here. Obviously, you know, Tristan McKenzie put together a really, really solid season, ate up 190 innings, which is fantastic, did not walk a whole bunch, maintained an under-3 ERA, though the underlining, you know, X-FIPP guys, a little bit closer to four. I believe the Sierra was about three and a half, which again was better than that.

But the K numbers were a little bit low. And I'm going to tell you, I chase strikeouts a lot. I do think what McKenzie can provide you with some more stability in your rotation. So again, I don't want to do this like we did with the last one, but there is some contingency that you could look at. Maybe you've got a little bit more volatility in what you've put together.

And you're looking for, you know, again, stability. You're looking for some wins. Guys who could go deeper. Strikeouts aren't the biggest issue. I think McKinsey kind of fits that bill. If maybe I got like a Sandy Alconra and I'm looking for a little bit more upside on my pitching, I think Tyler Glass now fits that role. He had a 38% K percentage last year, which K minus walk percentage was over 30%, which is like absurd.

A 13K per 9. And for context of like the last four years prior to that, the guy never had an under, I want to say 11. He had a 10.96K per 9, but it was like 14, 12. it's huge high strikeouts. The last two years, the walks were under three per nine, which I love. The ERA has been phenomenal. The thing is, is he's just not going to put up. He's probably going to be 40 or 50 inning short of McKenzie,

but I think he could outstrike out-mikinsey this year, and I think the wins might even be in there. So you know what? I'm going to go with Tyler Glass now on this one, even though I know the innings are going to be a little bit lower. It's a little bit more volatile, but I'm just always a little bit concerned with those low strikeout guys. Similar to what you talked about, Frank,

in one of the episodes where it's like, Sandy has a little, maybe less wiggle room. We could theorize that maybe Sandy is going to strike out more batters and be more aggressive there. But sometimes when you have those low strikeouts, there's just a little bit less variance you have and wiggle room for some of these pitchers. And I feel like McKinsey kind of fits that role.

Tyler Glassnow does not. Tyler Glassnow, Dustin May, those type of guys, it's like crazy, huge strikeout numbers that just need to be healthy. And if projections live out for 150 plus innings, I think Tyler Glassnow is actually going to be a really big deal. So I am Team Glass now. The last time we saw Glass Now in 2021, he was averaging 19.3 fantasy points per game on CBS Sports, tied for third most among starting pitchers.

And McKenzie, just something I like to point out, people don't realize this. He is a great whip pitcher because he allows a lot of fly balls, but actually doesn't give up a ton of hits or home run. Since 2020, he has a 195 batting average against. That is third best among starting pitchers with at least 300 innings pitch during that time. Towers, you're up. Mackenzie or Tyler Glassnow? I guess the cop-out answer is neither at this price. I just, I can't really, I don't think the upsides there with McKenzie.

He feels a little like 20-20-19 Jose Barrios to me where like he's got really good jiffs and like the curveball looks awesome. And so I think people get more excited about him than they should. That's not to say he's not a good pitcher. I just think he's probably like not super helpful with the. probably not going to get you the kind of strikeouts you need. But comparing him to Glass Now, I just, I can't get on board with Tyler Glass now as a seventh round pick, given his injury history. He hasn't thrown more than 88 innings since 2018.

He's thrown 268 innings total since getting traded to the Rays, which I think was in 20, is it 2018 or 2019? God, I'm trying to remember. 2018. So five seasons, 268 in a third innings. I don't know. Maybe the Tommy John surgery fixed it. Maybe it was just, you know, because he blamed the sticky stuff ban for needing Tommy John surgery, although he also missed four months with a forearm strain in 2019. But maybe this fixed it and he's just going to be fine. He's going to have like a Justin Verlander season. I think that's within the realm of possibility. But it's just too much risk to take on at that kind of price. So if I have to pick one of them, I'll just take Tyler Glass now. I think he's a much better pitcher. But I don't like either of them at their current price. You know, it's like a really good point that you're bringing up Towers, too, is I don't think I've drafted either one of these. And I have done a gazillion mock drafts and best ones. I've done a gajillion things.

I don't think one, maybe one time I took Glass now, I don't think I've ever taken McKinsey. They're just not really targets. And you kind of get into a rhythm when you're drafting, too, about like, what is it that you do? Maybe it's, you know, hitters the first three rounds and then you do a pitcher here. And that rhythm really never flows into Tyler Glassdown and McKinsey unless they fall. So that's probably a good point to bring up when we're. or battling them. And historically, this is a range of pitcher that doesn't really represent a great return

on investment. And you can kind of see it in these two guys. The kind of third, fourth, through tenth round in starting pitcher, historically tends to not be a great return on investment. It's you, you get the guys who have ace upside or have perceived ace upside like Tristan McKenzie. Or you have the guys who are definitely aces. have like no injury or no innings for like Tyler Glass now.

And those guys tend to get pushed up because we start, you know, we can talk ourselves into why things are going to work out. And historically, you know, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, eighth round pitchers don't tend to be that much better than 11th, 12, 13th round pitchers, which is they're better, but they're, it's usually not worth the, uh,

the differential in price. Frank, Can I ask us, what was the, do you have a couple of pitchers that are right around them? Because I feel like you would name three. If you name us four pitchers, I will bet you three of those four. Towers and I are probably both like, yeah, we'd probably rather have those guys. So I've got right around there is Robbie Ray, Nestor Cortez. George Kirby.

Kirby, yes. Logan Gilbert. Joe Musgrove goes just ahead of them, but. I was just about to say, you know what I was waiting for? I was waiting for Musgrove. I almost set it up because I, I knew Musgrove was around there. I would rather Musgrove hands down than those two.

Yeah, Framber is probably in that same range. You Darvish. Also Framber. Yeah. All those guys I would rather have. I think I agree with you guys for the most part. If I'm choosing between these two and I just looked at my rankings, again, it's like, you got to get battle tested to do these rankings before you kind of figure out, all right,

I got to make some moves. I think I would rather have glass now just in a vacuum. I think there's more upside. And I have to make sure that I have a pretty safe SP1. And if he's my two, I have to make sure I have a pretty safe SP3. Like that's just, that's the game theory aspect of drafting Tyler Glass now, but even if he gives you 130 or 140 innings, I think he's probably going to be better than McKenzie on a per start basis.

That is Tyler Glass now. But again, that's why we're doing it. It's super close. Two more starting pitchers with tons of strikeouts. Blake Snell, 114th overall versus Hunter Green, 115th overall. You know, I kind of thought Green versus Lidolo, low-hanging fruit. Let's do some volatility with a bunch of shranking. strikeouts involved with these two pitchers going in round 10.

Blake Snell last year got off to a rough start. What else is new? And then over his final 17 starts, he looked like one of the top 12 starting pitchers in all of baseball. 253 ERA, 1-11 whip, 12.9K per 9. Once again, changed up the pitch mix, started throwing his slider more, which why doesn't Blake Snell just do that all the time?

And then Hunter Green, flamethrower. He is amazing to watch. He's so fun, he throws over 100 miles per hour with the fastball. He's got the wipeout slider. Another one who finished incredibly strong. His final eight starts, 1.75 ERA, 0.97 whip for Hunter Green. Towers will start this time with you, Blake Snell or Hunter Green. You are muted, sir.

I'm glad you're going first too, by the way. I do have Blake Snell ranked a little bit higher, but it's, it's sort of annoying to do that because it's Blake Snell. And we know how one inconsistent he's been, but also too just like he really you can't count on many innings from him. I mean, even at his best, the 2018 when he had a, what was it, a 189 ERA and had like the best luck of his career, he was averaging fewer than six innings per start. Like that's just like he needed everything to go right to not even get to six innings per start.

And so I just think like you're never going to be able to rely on him for, you know, even 160 innings, I feel like. And so I do have him ranked ahead. I feel like he's a little more of a sure thing than Hunter Green. I think Hunter Green, despite being probably the hardest starting pitcher in major league history, he might just be a one pitch pitcher at this point in his career. Because that fastball got hit really, really hard.

Now, he got a lot of whiffs with it. It's a good swing and miss pitch, but he also gave up 17 home runs with it by the baseball savon. run values metric. He was like 30th percentile in run value with the four seam fastball. And he effectively doesn't have a changeup. He threw 116 of them last year, 5% of his pitches. It would be a bet on upside.

It would be a bet on youth. And I think that's a reasonable one, especially because Blake Snell's ceiling is going to be capped. But I'm pretty skeptical of Hunter Green. I do have him as a bust at his price. Yeah, look, I think if you just want to simplify this, you could say Hunter Green is a fly ball pitcher who pitches in the worst ballpark in all of baseball, great American ballpark.

And where is the run support coming from with the Cincinnati Reds, right? At least if nothing else, Blake Snell pitches for a really good team in the San Diego Padres. Wells, where are you at Snell versus Green? Yeah, I think this one is close. I think I've actually probably drafted more Blake Snell because I think in drafts I've done, he's going after Hunter Green. I'm going to take Hunter Green on this one, though. The one pitch, pitcher thing is interesting because the slide.

is what changed his career. I remember, you know, he was out here. I was actually at the ballpark when he blew out his arm and the quads over in a good year when that happened. I've just been around him a whole bunch. I remember talking to a couple of minor leaguers and they said he throws fast, but it's just straight down the pipe, you know, and you're going to hit those things. And it was actually very similar to Michael Kopeck and Michael Kopeck's development where it was just like the secondaries were not working and the minor leagues was bad. And as soon as it got to the majors, it just worked. and then it fell apart again.

The thing I like about Hunter Green is that slider. That slider has become such a dominant thing of where it wasn't before. It threw 40% of the time. Batters had a 170 average against it, a 38% whiff overall. But you're not wrong about the fastball. The fastball rocked a 91.5 exit velocity average. That's not good. That's not good for it.

But the slider, I think, is so dominant. And he threw it so much in early counts that, you know, what you end up doing. And the reason why is these guys are literally. literally just sitting on fastball. He does move it a lot, though. It hasn't become a straight pitch, 2,300 RPM on that. Unfortunately, it's got the same spin as the slider,

which you'd love to have some little bit of variance between that. But this is a guy that I think is going to continue to develop. I think he's a huge strikeout option because he is a huge strikeout option, almost 12K per 9. What I hate is the team context. I hate the run support that's around him. That worries me overall. And that's where, like, I take the big Ks and I think the step he's going to make.

and then I go over to Blake Snell and I look and I say, okay, well, he doesn't really get deep into games, but boy, does he have some backdrop with all of those Padres guys who can, you know, just run support overall. I just think Snell is just really stubborn still. He's just like we all stop down on the change job.

Like it doesn't work. Like just do what works and he doesn't do what works. He wants to do what he wants to do and that keeps having mixed results. And I don't really like that. So I'm actually going to go with like the really high, high strikeout pitcher who has this dominant. slider and that's the way you become a dominant two pitch pitcher in baseball is have a crazy slider that is complemented with a 100 plus mile per hour fastball. So I think these guys are

razor thin close, but I am actually going to go with the guy that has a little bit of a more poor context in Hunter Green. You know what's crazy though? As good as the slider is for Hunter Green Welsh, Snell's slider has like a 46% wiffrey. It's one of the best in baseball. I just wish he would throw it more. If there's- 40% of the time. Or 50% of the time, please. Yeah. Yeah. Do you go full on Patrick Corbyn and just making your top-thrown pitch. Like, that is what Blake Snell should do. And if there's ever a year for him to stop being stubborn and do exactly that, a contract year might just be the year to do it.

So I am talking myself into Blake Snell. It's like, why would you take Tyler Glassnell 30 picks earlier when you could take Blake Snell? I really don't see a huge difference between those two. So famous last words, but I am in on Blake Snell this year, man. I was completely out, but I have a good feeling about. Blake's next upcoming season. 24% slider. 24% slider.

Let's make that 35% and let's dumb down the fastball a little bit and let's dumb down the change up to 0%. Dude, 50% fastball, 35% slider, 15% curve. Just don't even throw another change up. And Blake'snell could be awesome if he just goes down that route. Let's take a little break from the ADP battles here. I do have some news and notes that I want to get to. Lots of stuff going on as, you know, training camps are starting.

up training camps as a football thing spring training camps I guess you call it that news and notes the white sock signed Elvis Andrews to a one-year deal and Andrews is expected to play second base for the team and it turned back the clocks last year 17 home runs 18 seals he was a top 120 player in roto last year turning 35 years old towers obviously look I don't think there's much upside but in very deep leagues Elvis Andrews might have some value you are muted sir number two there's a train going by Yeah, like I don't think he's going to hit 17 home runs again.

I think 18 steals. That seems possible actually given, you know, I know his sprint speed metrics are pretty bad at this point, but given the rule changes, I think like 15 to 20 is not a bad guess. It is a very good home park, though. And that's one thing, you know, playing in Chicago,

he had his expected home runs last year, playing a full season in Chicago, would have been 18, which is right what he hit. Now he's not going to play every game there. So I don't think 18, but like, he could be a sneaky 12 homers, you know, 18 steals guy. And that's probably a viable starting second baseman in a 15 team league at least. Yep.

And the ADP for Elvis Angeles right now is 378. That will jump around 50 picks. It is not going to jump to the level that represents the upside. I can't believe I'm saying upside for Elvis Andrews. Look, the upside is like, like we, I mentioned like Gene Samp. as a shortstop or a second basement that I like. I think that's the kind of upside you're talking about. But I think it could be a similar profile for Elvis Andrews.

Yeah, I think you could get 50. If you got 15, 15 out of Andres, no one would probably bat a nine. Guess what? It's probably what you're going to get out of like Ezekiel Tovar. And Tovar's going a lot higher. He's just, he's old. He's 16, whatever, 14 years, Sands, Tovar's age. And he has a decent opportunity to even outproduce.

I actually think he's kind of a steal way, way back into leagues, especially if you screw up second base, which is pretty easy to do this year. Yeah, and he's going to go 75 to 100 picks after both of those guys that you mentioned, Gene Seguer and Ezekiel Tovar. Stalling Marte disclosed Sunday that he underwent surgery to repair separated tendons in both of his groins during the offseason, but expects to be ready for opening day. And at first, I was confused because the Mets have been listing Marte as having core muscle surgery.

I guess, look, clearly I am no doctor because I did not associate groin as a core. muscle, but it is. I guess it's like, it's all kind of linked together. The adductor muscle I think is like, you know, connects to the groin and the, the abdomen. So I think that's probably what it was. Not a groin talk making me uncomfortable guys. Yeah. I mean, does this make, I mean, we're already kind of getting a little nervous about Marte. Like, does this kind of take them off any of your boards? Doesn't take me off. I don't know if it takes them off my board, but I think I was being a little dismissive of the injury overall that like, you and I, Frank, we talked about this. We were like, Yeah, we like, you know, Marte around the 90s and 80s that he's falling and stuff like that.

You see that. I think what's important is to follow the breadcrumbs of his recovery and, you know, his path of playing and, you know, really follow the words that there's, like, it's great that he had that, but what is that going to do to opening day? What is that going to do to the season? That's going to be the real indicator. It's probably going to take, I think, a week or so. Monday is the day that all of the hitters are going to be reporting to camps and stuff.

And let's see what that looks like, but he's definitely going to move down because, we've talked about this before. It's one thing to be injury prone. It's another thing to be coming into the season with an injury. And that's something that I think we all agree. We really don't want to do is step in and draft capital on a guy that is coming in with an injury already. Especially a 34-year-old outfielder who already had trouble staying healthy. Apparently, Francisco Lendora has been dealing with an appendix issue dating back to August of 2021,

but is feeling better after undergoing an appendectomy in October. Philly's manager, Rob Thompson, said Trey Turner is likely to open the season as their lead-off hitter. And Towers, I expect RBI down, but runs steals. I think we can get back to 35 to 40 plus steals for Trey Turner. Yeah, I think it's a,

it doesn't really change how I view him. It's just the shape of the production will be a little different. But the nice thing about Trey Turner is we've seen over the past couple of seasons is when he's not hitting for as much power, he tends to run more. I think he's clearly an elite option no matter what.

Mariners manager, Scott Service, said Julio Rodriguez could run more this season. J. Rod only had four steals in the second half, but had 25 overall. Said this last week, my most likely candidates to go 30-30 this year, Ronald Lucuna is 1A, and Julio Rodriguez is 1B. So, yes, I think that's very likely. Had a few players back out of the World Baseball Classic, Clayton Kirschaw is out for Team USA, and Kodai Senga is out for Japan. Worth noting with Clayton Kirschild, he's not hurt or anything.

It wasn't an insurance thing. He couldn't get the insurance coverage for to be cleared to play, which is one of the necessities for the MLB players. That's what I was curious about because I don't know if you guys watch the interview. Like, it's kind of depressing. Like he seemed like you could tell that there was a, there was strife somewhere. And I thought it was pushed a little bit more towards a team because he was like, it's really unfortunate.

I want to be there. And he didn't get into it. And then I saw that there was some insurance, like a $200,000 policy that was going around. Yeah, they just couldn't get the insurance. That's one of the necessities for MLB players to be cleared for World Baseball Classic. Probably the best thing for everybody. If we're all being honest here, let's not have him waste those in the WBC. I was pretty nervous myself when I first saw Kirschel was pitching there. So, yeah, totally fine by me for fantasy purposes. Robbie Grossman agreed to a contract with the

Texas Rangers this weekend. He's currently penciled in as their starting left fielder, which shifted Josh Smith to the bench. Last year, seven home runs and six deals in 129 games after going 2020, the year before for Robbie Grossman. Towers, any deep sleeper appeal here for Grossman? I didn't quite understand how he went 20, 20, 2 years ago. So, look, it's not impossible that he's useful, but I think it's pretty unlikely. Kevin Gosman is working on eliminating the heel tap in his delivery from the stretch to avoid MLB's new crackdown on box. as part of the introduction of the pitch clock,

the league wants pitchers coming to a complete stop before beginning their delivery. And I also read that this will affect Luis Garcia of the Astros. So he's gonna have to make some changes to his delivery as well. Let me throw something out to you. This is a little bit of where in the world is Welsh

or whatever you're calling it, Frank, whatever's going on in my world. Two teams I can confirm over the last couple days are working on sessions in the back with a pitch clock on. on the field. So today I was over at the Mariners and Marco Gonzalez was pitching and they had, you know, strung up on like a USB cord, just a big clock and they just put it on the grass so he could watch and the whole session was built around timing. And then I believe it was it was a Padres.

It was a Padres the other day that did the exact same thing with a live BP session. They got this big clock. They're putting it out there and they're all the teams very early on are very active about the pitch clock and they're having them watch and they're having them make sure and they've got a coach that's standing right next to the pitch clock. So this is like a real big serious thing. And Luis Garcia is the biggest culprit as we know of the whole thing with Rock and the baby. So even the little list of teams or the littlest of pitchers that might have an effect on it, the Marco Gonzalez's of the world, they're already working on that and teams are very diligent about it in spring training.

Aaron Boone said that he envisions Josh Johnson as the team's starting third baseman this season. I'm not completely buying it, but, you know, willing to be wrong on that one. Speaking of the Yankees, DJ LaMahue confirmed that he's 100% heading into spring training will face no limitations. He opted against surgery on his toe this offseason. Towers, good news for you. Byron Buxton reported to Twins Camp last Friday and does not have any limitations to begin spring training. He underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in late September. Adelberto Mondesie has started baseball activities as he rehabs from a torn ACL that he suffered.

suffered, I think, in April of last year. It was very early on in the season. Met's top prospect Francisco Alvarez is likely to begin this season at AAA, according to Abby Mastraco of the Daily News. Welsh, does this mean we should be lowering our expectations for Alvarez this season in redraft leagues? Yeah, I think so. I'm still a little baffled at any team and how any team is approaching this rookie stuff. I mean, this was a prime example of a team being able to take advantage of maybe getting, you know, the extra rookie eligibility for an extra draft pick, but why some teams are doing it and why are some not?

I legit think that, you know, a couple of maybe the biggest preseason prospects that people are looking at in Matt Mervis and Francisco Alvarez, probably going to start in AAA, which is going to blow a lot of people's minds. And there might be a couple surprises. Like, if a guy like Jordan Walker makes it, think it's going to blow everybody's mind how Alvarez and Matt Mervis can't. And it's just kind of back to manipulation games and stuff. But yeah, I would probably push Alvarez down a little bit. He was already a little bit fringy in redraft anyways this year. This is a little bit more telling because he was really going to be probably sitting in that DH role. And that's something you could easily do, especially for a guy that already got time.

Put him in the DH role. Let him learn a little bit with the majors. If that's not the case, then why? Is it about financial control? Or is it about his ability to play? And that seems a little bit with the Mets that this is an ability to play type of thing. I think it's all about development. Everything I've read is that the Mets want him to be a catcher for the team,

and they don't want him to be, you know, a 75% of your playing time at D.H, 25% of catcher. They want him to come up when he's ready to be the team's catcher. So I think he needs to go back down and he needs to work on his defensive ability. What better way to be at the majors and every day you can work with the coaches. You can work with an MLB professional catcher. You can hit in a lineup to learn how to be a better hitter. and then you can spell a guy every two days.

It's a wild developmental thing. But I think to your point, you're right about this, by the way. It is development. But I think it maybe shows that we are a little too head in the development of what we want from him than what the team sees in him. The thing is, he's also catching, if he's on the roster, he's catching Major League veterans, right? He's got to be able to call a game. We're talking about Verlander and Scherzer and well-established pitchers.

And then you have Kodaisanga in there too. So maybe there's a translator. Like, there's a lot going on. So I get it. I want to see Alvarez too, but if the catching is not ready, then it's not ready. Always the tough thing with top catcher prospects in fantasy is that guys being catchers helps their real life fantasy standing or their real life prospect standing. But it also takes a while.

Like catchers develop really slowly. They often struggle because they're effectively learning money more skills than your typical prospects has to. So it's, you know, it's always a little frustrating. I feel like catcher, these top catcher prospects might tend to flame out a little bit more. I don't, you know, I haven't done the research on that, but that's, that's one anecdotal thought that I have. I'm not saying that's going to happen with Francisco Albrez. Just to say that like, you have to treat them with different expectations than your typical prospect, I think. Yeah. And little did you know that going into your drafts this year, if you were paying attention

November that come February, Gabriel Moreno is exponentially more valuable than Francisco Alperus. And that is the case. Yeah. And it just has to do with opportunity, at least early on here. Red Sox manager, Alex Cora mentioned Alex Verdugo and Enrique Hernandez.

As players, he'd like to see steal more bases this season. I feel like both are athletic enough to do it. So yes, please. Give us all the steals. One steal for Enrique Hernandez and two for Alex Verdugo would technically count as more.

So. Yikes. All right. Love to see this happening last weekend, I guess on Friday last week. Liam Hendricks is working out at White Sox Camp and threw a bullpen session on Friday. We won't know more about his availability

until opening day. A few players banged up early on in camp. Lance McCullors has been temporarily shut down with arm soreness. Again, you know, grass is green, sky is blue. The guy has a lot of talent. You just can't stay on the field.

Felix Bautista, don't love this one. The Mountain is expected to be game ready by mid-March. That's what they're saying, but he's dealing with knee and shoulder issues. And they've already mentioned other closing candidates if something were to happen. Just hearing stuff like that, it kind of scares me when it comes to Felix Bautisa. Cody Morris is dealing with a lat discomfort. Brian Beow has been shut down after feeling soreness in his right forearm. And Mike Soroka is dealing with hamstring tightness.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, Frank. Michael Soroka. I put some respect on that name, Frank. He is now wanting to be referred to as Michael Soroka. No longer Mike. Okay. All right. That's a little,

a little nod to Nicholas Castellanos a couple of years ago, too. So, all right, good to know. Let's take one more break, and we'll be back right after this. All right. Well, everyone knows that the Welsh is out there in Arizona. He's visiting different spring training facilities

and very excited to learn what he is finding out while he's out there. And we've got a new little segment here. It's called, What's the Word with the Welsh? That's it. That's it. I love that song. I have my own music. That's awesome. Let's do it.

So let's start off with Jacob de Grom, who is dealing with left side soreness. You saw him standing out with Greg Maddox, but you also kind of heard some whispers that like, the Rangers aren't that worried about it. What do you have there? Yeah. So I told you Wednesday, they were one of the few camps that opened up. They started really late. The word spreading around was that he was not going to pitch and he was dealing with the thing.

But what I heard spattering from a few personnel people was no one was worried about it. It was not a big deal. It was cold. It was really cold. I know people laugh. It's 37 degrees both days. So this picture comes from Saturday, where I was able to escape a little bit before some child duties.

And I went over to the Rangers facility. And Jacob de Grom walking around. And sure enough, Greg Maddox is right there. And they were kind of attached at the hip for quite a while talking, going through baseball stuff. He was watching Nate Evaldi, Nathan Eovaldi, put some respect on that. And Andrew Heaney and Ian Kennedy, all pitching. He was going through watching the motions. He then went over on a side field,

watched Martine Perez pitch, very involved, and he pitched today. He was able to throw a session today. I did not get to make it, but he threw a session. All was good as far as I heard. I think it was very light. I think he was throwing around. To be honest with you, this is from two-hand different people. I personally know he was warming up and throwing with everybody, but I believe he threw a light session back there as well. So that's good news. It's good news. Everybody got really overblown. and believe me, my text blew up with everybody going, ha, Wells, you idiot. Look, and he's already injured again.

And I was like, it's not as big of a deal as you think it is. So, I don't know, maybe you got a discount in drafts if you drafted within three days of the great Jacob de Grom's scare of 2023. Yeah, and DeGrom, you mentioned it, dealing with left side soreness. He played catch on Sunday. The plan is for him to throw another session on Monday, but not going to pitch in games, at least not this upcoming week. You want to know a secret?

What's up? I'm going to be over there tomorrow. Actually, that is my plan is to be over at the Rangers on Monday or today as you guys are listening to this. So be on the lookout for me filming this session because, okay, that's what it was. He threw and played catch. Tomorrow's a full session and I will be there. All right. Let's talk about Fernando Tatis Jr.

You got a picture here of him working out in right field. Towers, I'll work you back in for this one. We should have mentioned this when we, you know, we're talking about Tatees on our shortstop preview. But early on in the season, I think he's eligible to return April 12. By the end of April, Tatea's will have outfield eligibility, assuming he's healthy for all those games. So just adds something extra to his value. Yeah, I mean, like we've talked about, shortstop is the deepest position. And outfield is not.

I think outfield, relatively speaking, is probably right there with third base and second base. I think there are more viable options at outfield. They're just, it seems like every mid-range outfielder outside of the top like eight. is like, if this guy stays healthy. And so, you know, obviously that is also a caveat that we can apply to Fernando Tatis. But if this guy stays healthy, and he's going to be one of the three or four best players in fantasy. Yeah, watch out. It kind of threw me off too, because I wasn't like thinking about it.

But they did this whole session, Machado. I have a picture of that Machado, Nelson Cruz, Zendip Bogartz. They were all Hassan Kim. They all did a full run. Krono Worth wasn't there. And then when Tatis was with them, he ran out to right field. And I was like, oh, yeah, this is where he's going to go. it just didn't process to me.

And he stayed out a little bit after working some more outfield drills. And he's been a little bit more attached to Juan Soto, which really just gives more confirmation what everybody needs to know is it is going to be outfield. And it looks like right field is the spot. Again, probably something we all kind of knew. All right. Well, let's talk to me about two pitching prospects that you have video of.

Bryce Miller with the Seattle Mariners, apparently throwing a new pitch. And you got to see Jack Leiter with the Rangers, former second overall pick and struggled big time in his first season at AA. seemed like an aggressive assignment and obviously did not work out for him. Talk to me about those two and which one you'd rather have more in Dynasty right now. Oh, that's a great question. Okay. So first, lighter was the first one that I saw. Interestingly enough, yeah, sorry, probably going to Bryce Miller. Lighter, uh, lighter through a really good session. Um, it's funny enough if you watch the video, I almost did this, but I didn't want to do it. If you watch the full video, I almost wanted to tag people and

be like, can you find the catcher that Kumar Rocker was throwing to? Because Kumar Rocker, is throwing in here. You just can't see him. And there is a pitch in here where you're like, oh, okay, we're back to Kumar Rocker stuff. Jack Lighter did not have that. And he was actually working. Mike Maddox was locked into him, locked into him. And I mentioned this before. There was, from what I was told, there was a little bit of stuff in the offseason about potentially like Lighters camp wanting to throw a very specific way, maybe a little bit more. I want to say it was more vertical pitching and the team wanted him to throw a little bit more horizontally. Maybe you're getting a little bit more of that happening as he's working in a big league camp. I thought he looked good. I mean,

he's working with big leaguers. He's commanding really solid. It's good. Bryce Miller, though, is one of favorites. And I got to go and talk with him a little bit. And he had a session in this video, you'll see. This is just one pitch, but he's working against Tom Murphy, who's major league catcher, Tom Murphy, and he strikes him out. And Tom Murphy immediately goes nice pitch right after a nice one, he says as he strikes him out. And I asked Tom after that. I'm like, what was that? He's like, I was a slider. And as we're watching the video here, you can see this slider goes in here. So after I asked Bryce Miller about it, and he goes, I'm actually throwing two sliders now. I'm throwing a sweeper, which this pitch was, and he's throwing a gyro. And I was like, buddy,

that's not fair. And he laughed about it because I said, well, what is this going to look like as far as the pitching? He's like, well, the sweeper I can command really well right now. And I'm working on this. So you got a guy that's throwing two different sliders with a fantastic basketball. one of the best pitchers in the system. I can be honest with you, I am a Jack Lider Apologist still. I still believe in him. The team still believes in him. And I think maybe a lot of that tutelage of him versus maybe what the organization wanted to do played into it last year.

And I think they're going to simplify it. But I think Bryce Miller's the play here. Bryce Miller is a really, really smart pitcher. He's a modest dude who knows baseball. He's super smart. And a guy that's throwing these two different sliders with a couple other offerings and a big fastball and striking out big league pitchers already. I think Bryce Miller is wildly underrated.

We gave you Brandon Fought a couple months back, and we're giving you Bryce Miller if you're not on it. He's an easy top 100 prospect, and I would take him over Jack Leiter. All right, there you go. What's the word with the Welsh? Let's wrap up a little rapid fire here with the other ADP battles that I had.

I'll just throw one of these each your way, and you just give me a quick thought or two on the player you want most. Towers will come to you. I got a relief pitcher one here. Devin Williams versus Jordan Romano. versus Ryan Presley. They're all going between picks 55 and 66.

Which closer do you want most? I think I would go with Romano. I just think there's a bit more security in him being the guy to get saves for his team. But I think all three of them are pretty awesome. I would say Ryan Presley's probably third of them just because the sample size of him pitching at the level that he did last year is smaller. I know he came out throwing harder. and that was the thing about it. But we see with relievers a lot,

guys have really good seasons and then can't sustain it. So I just, I'm a little more wary there. Each of Romano and Presley had, have 59 saves over the past two years. And last season, Presley, 28.6% K-minus walk rate,

eighth best among qualified relievers. But he's a little bit older, 34 years old. He went on the IL twice last year. So really good team context, but, you know, the age and injuries, I worry about that. To be clear, I heard Ryan Halsley.

When you read those names. Well, does that change anything? Would you take Ryan Presley first? I would still take Romano over Presley, but I think it's much closer. And then those three, yeah, Halsley would be behind all three of those. All right, fair enough. Welsh, you get Wander Franco versus Tim Anderson. Franco at 84th overall.

Tim Anderson at 88th. Kind of interesting that they both got off to phenomenal starts last year, but then derailed by injury. So which one would you rather have at a deep shortstop position? I feel like some people are not going to like it because Tim Anderson is definitely a floor player It's kind of like Ely all over again I don't know what it is with the White Sox All these players where it's like if they could just play

If Luis Robert could just play a full season If Eloy could play a full season If Tim Anderson could just play a full season And he doesn't I love the batting average I like the floor on the stolen bases And the power But I just don't I don't have any optimism

that it's going to end up working out And like long term because it just hasn't been Ronan Franco has got You know the batting average floor, 96% LXBA, Max EV is up there. I would like the hard hit to get a little bit better. It doesn't strike out. And, you know, if you look at that first month that Wander Franco had before the injury,

he was setting to be a 2020 guy. I'm not saying he's necessarily going to be, but I really think he can get there. You could argue that what Wanderfranco is going to do in a full season is what Tim Anderson will do in 100 games. Well, guess what? That's probably what Tim Anderson's going to do. So Tim Anderson's floor is probably 1515 because he doesn't stay out there. So I've got Wander Franco over him on a little bit more upside at a very deep short

stop position. All right. Let's slide over to second base. One of these names I know Chris likes quite a bit, but does he like him more than Jorge Polanco? Towers will come to you. Polanco is going at 146th. Brandon Lau going three picks later at 149th. If you miss out on the early round second baseman, we've got some bounce back candidates here going in round 13. Who do you have? I would guess I'm I haven't looked on fantasy pros, but I would guess I'm one of the high guys on Brandon Lau. It's 104 overall for me. Horri Polanco, 129. So, Polanco not far off from his ADP, but I'm much higher on Brandon Loud than the ADP. I just, when you're asking me to pick between two guys with if he health, I'm going to

take the guy that I think has more upside. And that's Brandon Lau, who, you know, has the 39 homers, but also basically since 2019, he's been right around a 35 homer guy. I think he's a legitimately very, very good power hitter. All right. And if you miss out on those two, let's go a little bit deeper at second base. Why don't we? Wip Maryfield. versus Vaughn Grissom. Whitmeryfield 168 overall. Von Grissom going three picks later. This is round 15.

Welsh, I don't envy you because I don't know what to do with Whitmeryfield this year. Can he get back on track? Possibly. He was a top 40 pick last year, but really fell off, started losing playing time. And Von Grissom is like the young apple of our eye if he gets to play with the Atlanta Brave. So what do you think about those too?

I do know what to do. And it's not draft Whitmerfield. I'm out on Whitmerfield. the aging decline performance, athleticism declines as you get closer to 35, stolen bases, tanked. He's going to hit eight or nine in Toronto. It's still great.

I mean, Scott Boggman, we're talking about it. Like, hitting nine for Toronto might be as good or on par with hitting two for Kansas City. So you could look at it like that. But I'm over Whitmerfield. I'm over, especially using him as like a safety blanket to why I can get stolen bases. I leave open the opportunities that,

sure, he could steal a little bit, more, even though Toronto doesn't do that. And he's still like one base with the team the entire time. Batting averages declining. Homers are going. At best, he's like a medium-sized three-category player. Von Grissom has got some worries. This whole, like Orlando Arcia would play over him, which I do not believe for one second.

But he's a better talent. And if you're talking about like these middle infielder's late in drafts, I'm going to take the guy that's got 2020 upside easy with a lot of room to grow on a fantastic lineup in Von Grissom. I have no interest in Whitmerfield this year. All right. Well, as someone who has drafted two shares of Whitmerryfield so far, don't feel too great about that.

And I can't say that I disagree. So you know what? I think I've got to reevaluate here and figure out what I'm doing in these drafts. We're going to wrap there for the Chris's. The Chris. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow.

It's starting pitcher preview part one. Bye-bye.