Fantasy Baseball Today - AFL Updates: Jordan Lawlar Crushing, Kumar Rocker Struggles (10/8 Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast)

Episode Date: October 10, 2022

Download and follow Fantasy Baseball Today in 5! You can find FBT in 5 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else podcasts are found. We have some Arizona Fall League games in the books! Jordan Lawlar looks a step ahead of everybody else so far. Kumar Rocker made his professional debut and struggled with command, among other things. 'Fantasy Baseball Today in 5' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Arizona Fall League is up and running. Jordan Lawler looks amazing. Kumar Rocker, let's talk about it on fantasy baseball today in five. Welcome into FBT and 5. Today is Saturday. October 8th, I am Frank Sanfel joined by the Welsh. Chris Walsh, make sure you get him a follow at Is It the Welsh on Twitter.

And he's out there watching the games, so let's get some updates on the AFL. And it's been a really hot start for Jordan Lawler. By the time you're listening to this, he's probably done something else. but his first two games, maybe three games, three for six, with two homers, four walks, two steals, plate discipline, power, speed. What have you seen, Welsh? You nailed it. That's everything. He didn't play here on Wednesday, but he played the first two days, hit homers in both of those.

His very, very first two plate appearances on Monday, he stole both bases, aggressive on the base path. He looks comfortable. He knows his pitches. He's not swinging at mess. All he's making is good decisions. You want a prime example of how good he's been. This is a cheap plug. Go to my Twitter is at the Welsh.

Go look on Tuesday. And you're going to find a video where what Lawler does is he hits a ball. And it's a great video because it's right in on him. You can really see the swing in him. He hits a ball. The ball gets in the air and he immediately goes, you can hear it. I'm that close.

You can hear his frustration. Then he runs and he runs. And then all of a sudden you hear the crowd freak out because the ball went. He hit it out of the stadium. And he walks back. He comes over to home plate and you can kind of hear me talking. and I just decided to go, Jordan, you didn't think you got that, did you? And you can hear him if you listen to it.

And he goes, no, I did not. I did not think I hit that because that's how good he's been and how in tune he is with himself, that even on mistakes, he's still getting at it. He looks like the best player out here, also playing incredibly smooth defense. And he got a little breather on Wednesday. And like you said, when this is out, he'll probably have done a little bit more. He's only homering in, you know, every single game early on in the AFL. 20 years old, he's played 20 games at AA.

Do you think we could see Jordan Lawler with the Diamondbacks in 2023? You know, if you'd ask me preseason, I would have said no, but they seem to be on an aggressive path. The Diamondbacks have already brought up multiple of their pitchers. Corbyn Carroll has come up. You've seen Stone Garrett and Alec Thomas, though that's been a little bit questionable. In the back half the year, when they got Lawler to push all the way up to AA and then announce him to the AFL, I think that says a lot.

I think that really, really does. breaking camp, that would be the ultimate aggressive plan that the diamondbacks were on. And they've already got Corvin Carroll if they're playing for that extra pick compensation that baseball is given. So I don't think that's really in play. But I really wouldn't take it off the table because I think he plays that good defensively. And offensively, how he's performed. I really don't know what they're picking apart. They're just getting him more A.Bs.

But yeah, based on what they've done, AFL being the finishing school, I really think it's in play at some point in this year, especially if you just go back and look at the trajectory of Corbyn Carroll. Let's talk about Kumar Rocker, a very polarizing prospect. We know he was drafted back in 2021. Top 10 pick with the New York Mets. Did not pass his physical. Did not sign with the Mets.

He came back in 2022. Top three pick with the Texas Rangers. He pitched one inning out in the AFL. His professional debut, basically, he has not pitched in the minor leagues yet. He walked three. He struck out one. The delivery looked weird. It looks like he was throwing warm-ups, but it was actually his delivery.

Welsh, what's going on with Kumar Rocker? It was strange. It was a strange appearance. And I want to preface to say that I like Kumar Rocker. I like him a lot. I think I'm more of a defender of him based on other people. There's a lot of relief talk. I'm a little bit more on that side after this. But I've always been a big defender because he has an incredible slider.

And I do have one video out. You can check, which it was on display. He throws it sometimes. It's almost like a slurvy, like curvy slider type of thing. He alters it. Maybe a cutter, I think, is what the sort of talking. talking, but it's a dominant pitch. And the problem is you've got to have a third pitch, which has been the change up.

But in this one, his fastball had nothing. It was all over the place. It topped at 97. It looks like a big fastball, but he didn't know where it was going. He had zero command of it. We could put that up and chalk that up to time off injuries, whatever you want, though he did perform really well in the independent league before he was drafted and he's had a long layoff.

So we could talk about layoff. And I'm willing to accept that why you shouldn't freak out. But, you know, it was kind of chalked up after like, hey, this is a great performance. It wasn't a great performance. He walked three. He was all over the place. Lefties killed him. And that's something I think we need to watch.

The first three batters were lefties. He threw all fast balls early on, had no command. When he got a righty, he threw sliders, struck him out. Another lefty came back up. Fits. He's got to learn the proper pitch to lefties and righties. And that's why you need that if your fastball doesn't work, you've got to have a third or fourth pitch. The changeups got to get more involved.

might have seen a curve ball that was put in there. You just need to see more of that. So don't overreact, but I definitely think there's something to be a little bit concerned about in a lot of different aspects. And that's why I put about a two and a half minute video, some of the weirdness of it in the one inning that he pitched. But the next two starts that he's out here,

I think are going to be really, really important off of what I would deem a very, very poor start. Quick thought on his first year player draft stock. Where do you see that going as of now? So I moved him. I moved him down. I had him around, nine, I want to say, and I think I moved him

below 10 or 11, below Zach Netto, a lot of hitters in more roto and head-to-head formats. I'm going to prioritize overpitching. So I was in a points league format, Kumar would have been a lot more up, but I think he's got to come down. I think he's more in the case of like a Connor Hedjerpy, who's in that

range of like probably, again, nine to 12 or in a points league, they're probably closer to five to seven or something like that. But he is not, no longer the number one guy, he's in a group of two or three others. All right.

Do you want to hear more about the AFL than you can check us out on Fantasy Baseball today? Spotify, Apple Podcast, Stitcher, your smart speakers, or anywhere else podcasts are found. And thanks for listening to the Fantasy Baseball Today in Five.

We'll be back again on Tuesday morning. Bye-bye.