Fantasy Baseball Today - Drew Thorpe's Debut, J.T. Realmuto Replacements & Hitter Fun Facts! (6/12 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 12, 2024

Paul Skenes dominated once again (3:00)! ... Drew Thorpe was solid in his debut (9:58). ... J.T. Realmuto is set to miss about a month (19:18). Who are the top replacements? ... News (25:12): Corey Seager was out again with that hamstring injury. ... Corbin Carroll might slowly be coming around (29:45)? ... Did you know, hitter edition (31:43)! ... Tylor Megill remains interesting (42:03). ... Should Brandon Lowe be rostered in more leagues (48:09)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (52:55). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ 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. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. What's up and welcome in to Fancy Baseball today on Wednesday, June 12th. I am Frank Sample joined by Chris Towers today on the show. Unfortunately, we have to talk about JT Real Muto replacements. We had two pitching debuts.

Did you know, hitter edition, some fun facts on the hitter side, but let's jump in. My goodness, he's a machine. He is a machine. Who is that? That call comes courtesy of Yankees TV in response to Aaron Judge hitting his 25th home run of the season on Tuesday night. And you're right. That man is a machine right now. And what's wild is like, he was on pace for 58 homers last year.

I think before today he was on pace for like 58 homers. and he hit 62 the year before. This is just who Aaron Judge is right now. It's kind of bonkers. Yeah. Scott and I spoke about it a little bit yesterday that Judge should probably just be ranked the number one player as long as he's healthy because in a season where offense is down and home runs are down,

he is just such a clear outlier and very clearly the best player in fantasy right now. And it's just so crazy to think that he had such a bad first month by his standards. And here we are. He's still up to 25 home runs. And I think he's nearing a 1,200 OPS or something crazy like that. But let's get into some other players of the night. Chris, you are up.

Yeah, Aaron Judge could be the player of the night, like 80% of the days over the last month and a half. So we'll give someone else some shine. And the person I'm giving shine to is someone. We've talked a ton about in the last month as well. And that's Paul Skeens, who another just outstanding start. strikeouts, five hits, six and a third, shutout innings, no walks, the ERA down to 243. All the ERA estimators are right there. K-minus walk rate is like 31% right now, which is just like

not quite peak de Grom, but it's pretty close. Like this is, Paul Skeins looks like one of the best pitchers in baseball. And I recently moved him ahead of Jared Jones. who I wrote a little deep dive on earlier this week for CBSSports.com that you can check out. He's having some issues. And the thing to keep in mind about Paul Skeens is after the first six starts of Jared Jones's career, we were saying he looks like a top 12 starting pitcher. And then things have kind of not falling apart, but settled in as more like a mid three ZRI and a K per nine guy or K per inning guy.

I can't really see skeins struggling in that way just because we were talking before the show he just broke out a curveball today that he had thrown like, I think he had thrown it six times entering this start over his first five starts. He had thrown it 18 times over his first five starts. He goes out and throws it 20 times today,

gets four whiffs on 10 swings, gives up no one hard hit ball on four balls and play, 81.7 mile per hour average XIV velocity on that pitch. It's everything about Paul Skeens is completely bonkers right now. Getting tons of whiffs with the fastball. The splitter has been just unbelievable. Entering today's start,

35 plate appearances had ended against his splitter. 11 of them were strikeouts. Two of them were walks. Two of them were hits. Jeez. And he had, I think, four more, three more whiffs with that splitter today. He pitches for a mediocre team, but in a good home park. The skill set looks ace level.

How high is too high to rank Paul Skeens right now? It's a good question. And I mean, I think the only thing that can get in his way, and this seems obvious for any pitcher that throws 100 miles per hour, is injury. So knock on wood, obviously, we do not want that to happen with. Paul Skeens, but you mentioned the K-minus walk rate. I mean, there are updated numbers right now on fan graphs after today. It's 31% among starting pitchers with 30 innings this season. That is the first, that is first in baseball. That is the best among starting pitchers with 30 innings. It's better than Flaherty, Crochet, Glass Now, Sale, those are the pitchers

right behind Paul Skeens. You know, with Jared Jones, I think it's a little bit different because he didn't have the prospect pedigree obviously. And there were concerns about the walks and we're starting to see that now prop up. And we don't really have those same concerns about the control with Paul Skeens. He has 46 strikeouts to six walks, 1.6 walks per nine. And he also gets ground balls, right? Like he does everything you want from a starting pitcher, 51% ground ball rate. It's just can he stay out of his own way? Can he stay healthy? And can the pirate stay in it long enough where, you know, if they're out of it entering September, do they just kind of baby Paul Skeens and shut him down at some point.

That's not out of the realm of possibility, but on a per inning basis, Paul Skeins is probably going to be a top 12 starting pitcher, rest of the way. Yeah, I thought about moving him in the top 12. I've got him 17th at starting pitcher in my Roto rankings, which I updated today. But the thing is,

it's a log jam at the, in the starting pitcher rankings. You and Scott don't keep overall rankings, but I do for the trade. values chart and Dylan Cease is my number 10 starting pitcher and he's 34th overall. Paul Skeen's my number 17 starting pitcher. He's 44 overall. So there are 11 spots or 10 spots separating 10 and 17. So like I kind of just view that as Paul Skeens is an SP1. I don't actually rank him that way, but that is how I view him. And there are just, you know, potentially more than 12

SP ones or however many you wanted to find that as. Imagine ranking that guy SP 49 when he got called up. Who would have done that? That's crazy stuff. Look, this is the most hype pitching prospects since Steven Strausberg, but we have seen extremely hyped pitching prospects fail. We have seen pitching prospects who were not hyped come out of nowhere and become, I mean, Spencer Strider, I believe was never a top 100 prospect. And he was the best pitcher in baseball for two years.

So it's fine to hedge your bets. But once we've seen it in action like this, I don't think there's really any reason to doubt Paul Skeens. Yeah. And last point on Skeens and just the pitching environment in general. And I brought this up maybe a month ago now at this point. I just want really talented pitchers for as long as they are on the mound. Right.

Like give me the best pitchers on a per inning basis. I think this season, especially we've learned that we know nothing about pitcher injuries, especially when guys like Garrett Cole, who have been the most healthy pitchers in his, you know, one of the most healthy pitchers in baseball entering the season gets hurt. And someone like Tyler Glass now, who's routinely hurt,

I think leads baseball innings pitch. So it's like, we know nothing. And let's us get as many of those amazing innings while we can. And right now Paul Skeens is doing exactly that. And I think there's a difference between like Skeens and even Jared Jones and Luis Heel and

like Garret Crochet and Garretcher who presumably have some kind of innings limitation although we don't know specifically what that is. Skeens and Jones they may but those guys I think both through more innings last season than Luis Heel had in like the previous three seasons and I think for Garrett Crochet it's like the previous five seasons combined. So I do think if Skeens and Jones stay healthy, I think they're probably going to pitch the rest of the season. And it might just be that they max out at 170 or 175 innings

because there are a few five innings starts and they pull them out early. And this maybe, but like I don't, I think it's unlikely we see a shutdown for Skeens and Jones. I think it is likely for heel and crochet. All right. Let's stick with the rookie pitchers and my, oh my goodness gracious player of the night didn't actually make me say that

but I feel like we should talk about him early on Drew Thorpe had a pretty successful debut at the Seattle Mariners really good matchup and he was solid five innings two runs one of those was earned four strikeouts to two walks he had 11 whiffs on 98 pitches seven of those coming on the changeup

which was as advertised it was a really really good pitch for Drew Thorpe in this one if you look at the pitch mix he led with the changeup he used it 39% of the time 29% fastball, which only averaged 91.3 miles per hour, 13% slider, 13% cutter, and 6% curve. I actually thought the cutter looked pretty good too.

I basically watched every pitch of this start. I think the nerves were there, pinpoint control in the first inning. Then he got a little bit erratic, you know, the next couple of innings after that. And through 62% of his pitches for strikes, which typically for a guy with what we expect to be really good control, like Drew Thor. that number is going to be higher than 62%. So I'll give you an opportunity to talk about him. Chris, you weren't on the other day when we had all these prospect promotions.

But I know that you have expressed some skepticism on Drew Thorpe in the past. Yeah. And look, it's, I want to try to frame it correctly because there is a difference, I think, between you look at Drew Thorpe's minor league numbers and you look at his prospect ranking and he's a top like 60 consensus prospect. top 75 and he struck out 33% of batters last season and was one of the best pitchers in the minors. And you look at all that and you might think, oh, this guy's a star.

But I think the high prospect ranking is more like you compare him to I'll pull Andrew Painter as a guy to compare him to who just has monster ace upside. And is also coming back from Tommy John surgery currently or recovering from Tommy John surgery currently hasn't really pitched at the high minors all that much. And so then you compare him to Jew Thorpe, who everybody thinks this guy is going to be a major league starter. There are no real injury concerns.

There are no like, oh, he's got a violent delivery and he might have to switch the bullpen. Like everybody thinks he's going to be a starter. It's just how do you value a highly likely SP3 or 4 versus a guy who might be one of the best pitchers of baseball? I don't think Drew Thorpe has that kind of upset. I'm not going to say it's impossible because guys like Zach Gallen have somewhat similar profiles. Don't throw super hard.

Don't have like unbelievable stuff, but just pitch really well. And Drew Thorpe could be that kind of guy. But I think what I expected coming in is what we saw today, which was change up is unbelievable. Like you might see some stuff plus metrics pitching models that say the changeup wasn't great. changeups befuddle those models just like they do hitters. And so you got to take them with a grain of salt. It's a plus plus pitch. I think everything else maxes out at average right now.

And it's just, that's a tough profile to make work. You know, I was kind of crowdsourcing for other guys who had an elite changeup and just kind of mediocre, average fastball, average breaking balls. and it's a lot of like Jeremy Halleckson's and Alex Cobb was a splitter. There are some success stories.

Gavin Stone is currently pitching well with that approach, although I think we're all pretty skeptical of him keeping it up. But it's just to say that I think Drew Thorpe will be pretty good. I think it's unlikely that he's a huge difference maker for fantasy. I think it's more in a like the good Merrill Kelly, Miles Michaelis type outcomes. Yeah, and I could see that too. It's a very fine

line to walk and if Drew Thorpe is going to succeed, he needs to have that pinpoint command, control, not walk anybody because again, I do think they're going to be starts where he gives up hard contact. You know, in a start where if the changeup isn't working, what else can he go to? Especially when he only

throws 90, 91 miles per hour. So I'm not saying he's a must add by any means. He's up to 38% roster. And I think if you play in a 12-team roto league or deeper where you have the nine pitcher spots. I think he should probably be rostered in leagues at least that deep.

Once you get into like 12-te-to-head lineups, you only start five starting pitchers. I don't think Drew Thorpe needs to be rostered there. He's not going to get wins. He's on the worst team in baseball with the White Sox. Yeah. Would you push Drew Thorpe to the top

of the pitching prospects, though, that recently got called up ahead of Hurston, Waldrop, and I guess, Kate Povich? Yes, ahead of Povich. I think I would still change. Waldrip's upside, although I think the downside is he gets sent down literally after his next

start. If he doesn't pitch better, I think that's a very realistic outcome. I moved Thorpe into the up to SP 70. So right behind Seth Lugo, Reese Olson, Nestor Cortez, and then Hurston, Waldrip and Christian Scott, who is not in the majors right now, but I think we expect to be back very soon. And then Thorpe is just ahead of Zach Lattel, Eric Fetty. And actually, Michael King is kind of a comp for Drew Thorpe. He throws harder, but change up is by far his best pitch to. But that's the range that I have him in.

So I'm perfectly fine adding him, but not someone I was making triple digit bids on this weekend. and not someone I need to have on my team. Oh my goodness gracious lineup of the night. Just gonna get this one out of the way. The Dodgers went off. They scored 15 runs on 14 hits. Shohei Otani went one for two with two walks, a sock and a shoe, his 16th home run,

his 15th stolen base. Freddie Freeman went three for four with his ninth home run. Teasker Hernandez continues to be the unsung hero of that Dodgers lineup, one for three, with his 17th homer. Will Smith had a big game, three for four with his six. 10th home run, lots of home runs.

And Jason Hayward, how about that? One for three with a walk and his third home run. Chris, any interest in Jason Hayward in, let's say, 15-team, five outfielder leagues? He's 2% rostered. No, not really. That's totally fine.

Yeah, he's betting 234. Yeah, it's a taste of a good matchup or a good lineup, but... It's cheap exposure to one of the best lineups in baseball. I think in the right matchup weeks, you know, if they're facing lots of right-handed pitching, It's, you know, it's a matchup play with Jason Hayward, but yeah, I don't think there's much there either.

Quick reminder to sign up for the FBT newsletter if you haven't already. If you're watching us on YouTube, you can scan the QR code that will take you right to the website where you click on the FBT logo, you're punching your email address, and it's easy as that. You'll get a newsletter delivered to your email inbox every weekday. Let's take our first break, and when we return, we'll talk about that JT. Rilamuto injury right after this. Welcome back in. The big news from Tuesday is that J.T. Rulamuto is scheduled to undergo a meniskectomy.

Did I get that right? That is just, that is a word right there. On his right knee and was placed on the IL. And apparently he's been playing through the injury for nearly a month now. And is set to miss about a month of the season, which sets him up to return right after the All-Star break. I think at this point, Chris, JTR is very clearly behind William Contraris, Adley-Ruchman, Will Smith. Those guys are a trio. They're the top three catchers. Clear top tier.

In fantasy. Real Muto has still been pretty damn good. He's not running as much as we hoped, but he's part of one of the better lineups in baseball. He hits right in the middle of it, and the numbers this season have been pretty good. So he has performed like a top five-ish catcher this year, and that's pretty hard to recover from. If you play in a shallow one-catcher league, I think the top names that could be out there, they're both under 80% rostered. Logan O'Hoppy and Francisco Alvarez, who do you prefer between? between the two. I think Francisco Alvarez would be the play. I just think there's more

upside there. If you, if those two are gone, I think the next two I would look at Shea Langalears, who he's very streaky. He mostly just hits for power. The stat cast numbers actually look really, really good for Langaleers this season. And Tyler Stevenson is a name we haven't talked much about, but he's been solid, a high floor play. He plays a lot for the Cincinnati Reds. And, you know, it's just a middling batting average, solid power. He's not going to wow you anywhere, but I think he's a serviceable high floor catcher. What about in two catcher leagues? These names could be out there and I think maybe some 12 team two catcher leagues. Patrick Bailey, 30% rostered, Cabot Ruiz, 28%, and Yvonne Herrera is 20%. How would you rank those three?

Bailey Ruiz and Herrera? I think it's, I actually think I have it ranked Herrera Bailey Ruiz. but I really like a lot of what we've seen from Patrick Bailey this season in particular. His quality of contact has been really good. 91.6 mile per hour, average exit velocity. His expected Wobon contact is 412, which last year was 410, and remember he was a pretty mediocre fantasy option, but he's cut his strikeout rate from 28% to 20%, and he's increased his walk rate from 6% to 11.6.6.

That is almost double for my math majors out there. And I think there's a lot to like about Patrick Bailey. He's an elite defensive player. So we know that there's a lot of playing time security there. So I think either him or Herrera is a good option. Caber Ruiz, I think is just what he is. You're hoping for a cheap batting average, and that's really all he's. I think capable of, frankly.

And what's weird about that is he's not even hitting for batting average this season. The one skill he's really supposed to provide most. And I know he hit for more power last year. It was more of a volume play. He was just getting so much playing time at catcher, at DH. This is Cape Bret Ruiz we're talking about. But yeah, things have kind of plummeted for him so far this season. In deeper two catcher leagues, we're talking 15 teams, two catcher leagues.

Good luck. I mean, it's pretty rough out there. but Corey Lee is someone who's been playing for the White Sox recently. He had three hits on Tuesday. Tyler Soderstrom has homered in two straight. And I think you can look at J.T. Real Muto's replacement, Garrett Stubbs. He's going to get lots of playing time. Again, cheap exposure to a really good lineup.

Stubbs went one for four. And actually has four steals so far this season. So sneaky little speed source there. Chris, anyone that stands out there, deeper two catcher leagues, Corey Lee, Soderstrom, and Garrett Stubbs. Well, if you remember the preseason, I was drafting Tyler Sotom a lot late. And, you know, he has started, I believe, seven of ten games since the start of June. He's not done a ton in them.

I think he has five hits in those seven games. So still a lot of issues there. I think his minor league numbers were not particularly impressive. Actually, 882 OPS. He was better than I thought. I just had a 245 batting average. I think Soder Strom is the only one of those guys with any path to upside because he might play close to every day at some position. He'll play some first base.

He'll get some D.H opportunities. And I do think, you know, this was a guy who was a top 100 prospect entering this season was like a top 50 prospect entering last season. So if I was going to take a chance on any of those guys, it would be the 22-year-old Tyler Soder Strong. And what about a trade? You can look to buy low on Sean Murphy. You can look to buy low on the entire Atlanta Braves lineup because they have been really bad for a long time now. But I think it's more likely than not.

They turn it around, including Sean Murphy. And if you're playing a two-catcher league, Gabriel Moreno has been a big disappointment this season. But I still think there's a lot of talent there. And I think he's someone you can get very cheap. Do want to make a quick correction. Because I spoke about Real Muto as the top five catcher. You know, he was when he was healthy.

I didn't mention Salvador Perez. I don't want to admit, omit. Salvador Perez has had an awesome stees. I think he's a tier. I think he's in like a tier of his own behind. Right. Will Smith, William Contreras, and why am I blanking on the other catch?

Adley Ruchman. Adley Ruchman. I think he's maybe a half tier, if you want to put it that way. But there's a little bit of a gap between him. And then there's about a mile in the Parlanston. of money ball between him and the rest of the position. Yep. All right. Let's get into the rest of the news and notes.

Corey Seeger remained out Tuesday with that left hamstring strain. He's now missed four straight games. Brian Wu was scratched from his start Tuesday and awaits MRI results on his right arm. He missed the first six weeks with elbow inflammation. And he's dealt with some arm soreness off and on, like in between starts. Obviously does not sound good. I don't know where this is going to go, but I don't want to expect the worst, but that's kind of just the way that my mind works. Hopefully I'm wrong on Brian Wu.

Some Red Sox News, Rafael Devers return to the lineup Tuesday. Tyler O'Neill hopes to return on Wednesday. And Masataka Yoshita was activated from the IL. He was batting fifth in his return. He went 0 for 2 with a walk. He's 55% rostered. Chris, do you think

Yoshita is worth adding in three outfielder leagues? I mean, he is better in points. and it's been such a bad position this season that, sure, yeah. Like, I don't think there's a ton of upside there, but I think he can be the 33rd best outfielder in fantasy. Sure.

Jerkson ProFar was removed from Tuesday's game after suffering an apparent leg injury, one of the biggest surprises in fantasy this season. So hopefully he's all right. Randy Rosarano was scratched due to right hamstring tightness. Zach Allen threw a bullpen session Tuesday, his first time throwing off the mound since landing on the IL with a strained right hamstring. Edwin Diaz won't be activated from the IL until Thursday.

We originally thought it was going to be here on Tuesday. That did not happen. Jack Flaherty received an injection in his back on Monday. It's scheduled to play catch on Wednesday and is expected to start this weekend against the Astros, assuming there are no setbacks. Kodai Senga threw a bullpen on Sunday and we'll throw another one on Wednesday. He's not expected back until after the All-Star break. Bobby Miller will make another rehab start at AAA on Thursday.

Yiner Diaz has missed two straight with swelling on his finger. The Astros are hopeful. Diaz will avoid the IL after an X-ray and MRI came back negative. Max Muncie said Tuesday he's not progressing as fast as he would like from his strained right oblique. Nico Horner has now missed four straight with a small fracture in his right hand. Could be back in the lineup on Wednesday. Red Sox manager Alex Kora said Tristan Kossis is fielding

grounders but hasn't yet been cleared to swing a bat. Wilson Contreras hit soft toss on Tuesday and caught a bullpen session. This was the first time he swung a bat since undergoing forearm surgery back on May 9th. The Rockies elected not to activate Nolan Jones as the team determined Jones needs more time in the minors to find his proper swing. Tommy Edmund, a name we haven't heard in a while, took batting practice on the field Tuesday for the first time since last October's right wrist surgery. He is 55% rostered, has triple eligibility, second shortstop and outfield.

Chris, would you be looking to stash Tommy Edmund? Or do you think he's just not going to be himself even after returning from this wrist injury? Given how tough the recovery process has been, I think it makes a lot of sense to be skeptical. I'm not like ranking him in my top 200 the rest of the way. If you have an IL spot and you don't have a better off. option, sure, but I think there are, there might be 20 more interesting names on the IL right now, who I'd rather stash. Mm-hmm.

Red's manager, David Bell, said Christian Encarnacion Strand is considering season-ending surgery to repair ligament damage in his right wrist. Jorge Mateo was activated by the Orioles, and they sent Connor Norby back to the miners. Mateo returned with a three-run homer off of Max Fried. Ben Brown was placed in the IL with a left neck strain. A left neck strain, don't you? I guess you... Yeah, you got a left of a neck.

I guess you have a left side. Just like, reading that out loud sounded weird because I'm like, you only have one neck, but I guess, yeah, the left side of your neck. Let's say that. Joey Ortiz was scratching the lineup with right hamstring soreness. Gavin Williams will make his next rehab start Saturday and is expected to throw about four innings and 65 pitches.

He's 62% rostered if you want to stash. I'd rather stash Gavin Williams over Tommy Edmund, if you need some context there. Hunter Renfro was placed in the aisle with a broken big toe. Nick Prado was recalled, and Ben lively returned to Cleveland on Monday to get some tests done, and apparently has checked out fine and is expected to make his next turn through the rotation.

Let's quickly talk about Corby and Carol, Chris, because I hadn't realized this. He had a big game here on Tuesday. Three hits, a double, a triple, a walk. RBI, two runs scored. One of the only games we've seen this season where Corbyn Carroll is filling up the box score. The triple had a 106.2 exit velocity, so really good signs in this one game.

And over his last 13, he's now batting 340 with two doubles, a triple, 11 run scored, two steals. Still not hitting the ball hard. The line drive rate has gone up during that stretch. There's obviously no homers there. But I think this is a positive development. At least something good is happening right now for Corbyn Carroll. I expect him to be much better than he has been so far. I've moved him down in my rankings, certainly, but he's still a top 10 outfielder.

He's still ahead of Christian Yelich for some context, but they're very, very close now in my overall rankings. And so I think this is, we're just looking for signs right now, right? Like, we're just looking for reasons to be optimistic. The 106.2 mile per hour exit velocity on the triple, very good reason to be optimistic. he had a double that he hit 69 miles per hour. He had a single that he hit 88 miles per hour. Still not quite what you want to see. Certainly not a dominant performance from Corbyn Carroll.

But I still think he'll be much better than he has been. There are still some good signs in the underlying stats. Like the plate discipline remains really, really good. his bat speed is 80th percentile, which we've had a lot of concerns about the power, but that seems like a good sign. So I, yeah, I remain hopeful about Corbyn Carroll. Did you know hitter edition? I got some fun facts, just where some hitters rank right now and some guys that we haven't

talked much about. Kyle Swarber has quietly had a really strong season, 2 for 4 with a double dong. He is batting 240 with a 359 on base percentage. 13 homers, 47 run scored, 38 RBI, four steals, and a 776 OPS. He's hit 218 or lower each of the previous two seasons. So the fact that he's got the batting average up to 240, I think is very encouraging so far this year.

And entering Tuesday, did you know, Chris, Kyle Schwabber was the 10th best outfielder in Roto, 11th in head-toe points? That, yeah, that sounds right. He is right around there in my rankings, I believe. I think I moved him. I think he was SP 12 or right around there. So that's not super surprising.

He's very good. And no other outfielder's are. Well, at least one more on this list. Stephen Kwan has not missed the beat since returning. Three for four with two doubles, a walk, and two RBI. Seven games since coming off the IL. 520 padding average.

One homer, 1385. OPS and overall Stephen Kwan is batting 380 with four homers, 38 runs, three steals, a 984 OPS in just 39 games. Chris, did you know? Entering Tuesday, Kwan was averaging

3.8 fantasy points per game that was fifth best among outfielders behind only Judge, Soto, Tucker, and bets. I did not know that he was averaging exactly 3.8 points per game, but if you had told me that there was a guy hitting 380,

who never strikes out and has more walks than strikeouts? Yeah, I'd probably believe that that guy was averaging close to four fantasy points per game. I don't expect Stephen Kwan to continue averaging 3.8 fantasy points per game, but I do think he's absolutely a must-start fantasy option. He's, it's weird because he had, he underperformed, he overperformed, he overperformed expected stats as a rookie. Then he underperformed his expected back. batting average in particular by like 20 points last season.

And then this year, he's hitting 380. Of course, he's overperforming his metrics, but he is sporting a 323 expected batting average. Like this might be currently the single best skill set in baseball for batting average. I wish he hit for more power. I wish he ran more. Only seven stolen base attempts in 39 games,

only three successful ones. But it's, It's still overall a very good skill set, again, at a time when Alfield is terrible. So he's, I believe, close to top 15 in points, not quite that high in Roto for me. And there was that article that came out during spring training that the Guardians were trying to tap more into power this season. Obviously, it's worked with Josh Naler and even Kwan, right? Like, you might scoff at, oh, four home runs, whatever. he had 11 home runs total entering this season,

and that was in like 300 games played. So the fact that he already has four home runs and only 39 games, you know, I don't think he's going to hit much more than like maybe he can get eight to 10 homers this year, but if he does that with really good batting average, scoring tons of runs, the Guardians have been a surprise team

and a surprise lineup all year. So I think he's going to continue to score a lot. And especially like his skill set for a points league, He absolutely is awesome in that format, and I think really good in a Roto or a Categories League. Yeah, he's 15 and points, 24 in Roto for me. Yeah, I think that makes sense. Ezekiel Tovar has been really good, and he's not someone we've talked much about, one for four.

With a three-run homer, it was his 11th, and last four games, he has seven hits, three homers, seven RBI. Overall, batting 292, 11 homers, four steals, and 814 OPS to play. weight discipline is still really, really bad. He chases so many pitches. He whiffs the, you know, it's a 20% swinging strike rate for Tovar. But Chris, did you know? Entering Tuesday, he was the 10th best shortstop in Roto, 50th third overall, and the 13th best

shortstop in head-to-head points. Do you get points for defense now? No, look, he's hitting 292 and he's got 11 homers and four stolen bases. Like that all sounds like a guy who could be a top 12 shortstop. Do we expect that to continue, though? I know course field has a heavy effect on helping players outperform their expected stats, but when you look under the hood, there's not much different for Ezekiel Tovar from last season.

Or I guess it's more accurate to say that there is some stuff that's different. I'm not sure it's better for Ezekiel Tovar. He's striking out a little bit more. He's walking a little bit less, although both are right around where they were last season. His play discipline, it's legitimately disastrous. He is sub-15th percentile in chase rate, whiff rate, strikeout rate, and walk rate. He's going up there hacking. He doesn't, there, there's, and I tend to think that even in a best case scenario, it's going to lead to some, you know, we've seen Christopher Morrell and Randy a Roserena have these.

stretches where they just look absolutely lost and they're very aggressive free swingers as well, less so than Tovar actually. And so I think there are going to be adjustments made that change, that limit Tovar's affecting them. But that being said, he is pulling the ball more. He is hitting the ball in the air more often than he did last season. Quality of contact metrics don't necessarily say that there's a breakout happening here, but maybe they're missing something

because they don't necessarily take into account spray angle and he's pulling the ball more and that can help. I'm skeptical. I think he's more in like the 20 range at shortstop in my rankings, but ride him while he's hot for sure and certainly at home. Yeah, I do think there are going to be some peaks and valleys

with a profile like this. I wonder if at some point as bad as the Rockies lineup is, why would pitchers throw this guy a strike? Just throw everything. out of the zone and see if he chases it, why not? It seems very likely that that's going to happen. So, yeah, I think there's going to be some shriekiness involved with Tovar, but he's doing some good things.

You mentioned the pull rate, the fly ball rate. So I think there's a chance we can get a 20 to 25 homer, 10 to 15 steel season with a good batting average. And that's a really valuable player. It's not an elite player, but it's a valuable player for fantasy. And I think that's probably close to what I'm expecting moving forward from Tovar. Last one here is Taylor Ward, who went two for two with a walk and his 12th home run. I know it's been a bit of a struggle recently for Taylor Ward, but the expected stats are still really good for Ward.

It's a 270XBA, 515X slug, and his 373 expected Wobah ranks 25th out of 259 qualified hitters. So that is pretty awesome for Taylor Ward. And entering Tuesday, he was the 29th best outfielder in Roto, the 22nd and head to head points. So even though he slowed down a bit recently, I would say hold on to Taylor Ward under the hood. Things still look pretty damn good for him. The one thing I would point out for him as far as a potential explanation for why he's underperforming is his pull rate has dropped from 38% to 30%. He's hitting more fly balls, more line drives. All of that's really good.

But the bad ball profile overall does not necessarily lend itself to being optimized. for production. So it's possible he continues to underperform. But again, if you've got an outfielder who's giving you anything to be optimistic about right now and it's not a top eight guy,

you definitely hold on to them because there just aren't many of them around. I think even in a three outfielder league, Taylor Ward is worth hanging on too. Let's take our final break. And when we return, we'll get into WaverWire Pitchers. We'll do that right after this.

Welcome back in. Waiverwire pitchers. and I didn't know whether to include Tyler McGill because it was a mixed start. It wasn't a great start by any means. Up against the Marlins, four and two thirds. Three runs allowed, two of those earned, but he had eight strikeouts,

and he had 17 whiffs on 87 pitches. So could be the result of playing the Marlins lineup, but I thought the whiffs here were encouraging for Tyler McGill. James and Tyone pitched very well at the raise. He threw six shutout innings with five strikeouts. Miles Michaelis was dominant against the pirates on the other side. against Paul Skeens. He threw seven shutout innings, one hit, one walk, six strikeouts, only seven whiffs on 84 pitches, but last five starts for Michaelis. It's a 270 ERA and a 0.73 whip.

And Cal Quantrell turned in a strong start at the Twins. He threw six shutout, three hits, one walk, five strikeouts, 15 whiffs on 100 pitches, continues to lean on that splitter. He threw it 40% in this start. It was really good. And he's just, like tripled the splitter usage from last year to this year. And overall, it's been a really, really good pitch for Cal Quantrell. So, you know, the upside is limited. He pitches for Colorado in Colorado. But in the right spots, you know, on the road at the twins,

it could make some sense as a streamer type. Chris, any interest in Quantrell, Michaelis, Tyone, and Tyler McGill? Yeah, I think we can kind of dispense with Quantril first just because of the Rockies of it all. like his next start is scheduled to be next Monday at Coorsfield against the Dodgers. That will make him a two-star pitcher though, Chris.

And he would probably start at home versus the Nationals. So that's better, but... That's scary. No, I'm not starting Calquantra at Coorsfield. I just can't do it. His next start after that looks like it at at Chicago.

So if you want to wait like 17 days to use Cal Quantrell, then I guess you can add him. But no, I can't justify it. If he pitched somewhere else, I think he'd be a pretty interesting option in like a Albert Suarez kind of way. But Albert Suarez pitches for the Orioles and Calquantrol pitches for the Rocky.

So I think that kind of tells the whole story there. Tyler McGill remains very interesting. He has had. spurts in the past where he has been interesting and then he has gotten hurt or fallen off, not been able to sustain velocity jumps. His velocity is up right now. That splitter slash forkball

slash spork looks really, really good, 57% whiff rate. Kind of wish he'd use it even more. His overall usage for that pitch is 9% and he only threw 6% of them today. I don't know if the overall profile is good enough. And given the overall state of pitching,

like, I think I'd rather take that chance on Hurston Waldrop or Drew Thorpe. Okay. Then to Trevor McGill, or Tyler McGill, excuse me. I think I would rather stash Christian Scott than add McGill as well. Would you drop any of these two pitchers for any of the names we just mentioned?

I'll throw Drew Thorpe in this mix as well. Brady Singer up against the Yankees. He allowed seven runs, six of those earned. He has a 771 ERA and two June starts. The overall numbers still look pretty good. He's 92% rostered. Would you drop Singer for any of those guys? Probably not Quantrell,

just because you're not starting him for the next, what was the 17 days, but I think I'm fine with any of the other ones. It might just depend on what the next matchup is for each of them. But if I'm chasing upside, I'd rather have Waldrip. I'd rather have Thorpe. I'd rather have, I think McGill has more upside.

Michaelis and Tyone are, I think, both streamers. What about Jordan Hicks? He faced the Astros, four and two-thirds innings, three runs. He has not completed six innings in a start since April 27th, and this is now three subpar outings in a row. Again, the overall numbers still look pretty good for Jordan Hicks, but the utilization of him in fantasy. I just don't know how realistic.

Maybe as a relief pitcher, he is a spark in head-to-head leagues. But would you drop Jordan Hicks for any of those names? So this is, there are a lot of hitters that we talk about, like a Stephen Kwan who are actually a better might be Masataki Yoshita, who like his skill set is more well suited for a head-to-head points league. But that is the shallower format for outfielders. And that makes it harder to value him. Jordan Hicks is kind of the opposite where his skill set. is probably better for a roto league because I think you're going to get pretty good strikeouts.

I think you're going to get pretty good ratios. But in points leagues, wins and quality starts matter so much more. And he just isn't going to get quality starts at this point. And he's not going to get a lot of wins at this point. So it's a weird skill set. I think Jordan Hicks is pretty droppable. I can't say I would drop him for all of these guys, but like,

do you know Miles Michaelis's next matchup off the top of your head? No, but I can quickly pull it up. He probably would be a... If Michaelis is a two-start pitcher next week, I'd be fine dropping Hicks for him. It looks like Michaelis has one start against the Giants next week. Okay, it might be against Hicks. Maybe.

Yeah. But that I think is just telling of where Hicks is at this point, which is a pretty fringy option overall. All right. It was a light night for WaverWire hitters. But Brandon Lau showing some good signs recently, one for five with his third home run, added three RBI.

His last six games. He has six hits, two homers, 10 RBI and one steal. He has started 10 of the past 14 games for the race. He's up to 60% rostered. Does that number need to be higher? Chris, because then we're talking about head-to-head points leagues and he doesn't play every day. I don't know.

How do you feel about Brandon Lau? He's pretty fringy and head-to-head points league. So I think 60%, like I write a waiver wire section of the newsletter every day that gets published on CBSSports.com every morning. And I thought about Lao, but it was easier to make the case when it was like 45% rostered a week or two ago. now that he's 60%, there probably aren't that many leagues where you need to go out and add him. The most added second basement on CBS

right now is Nick Gonzalez. I would rather have Gonzalez. Rather have him than Brandon Lau. Yeah, what about Lau versus Geloff? Because Geloff is kind of heating up a little bit recently. Yeah, they're both better in Rodo. Yeah, true.

Galloff gives you steals, so I think I'd rather have him. But I do think Lough is a better bet for, like he has one difference making skill, and that's power. And I think that is a better bet than what Gelloff does. It's just there might be a little more all around upside for Galef. So it might just depend on what your team needs. If you need a little bit of speed, Gailoff probably is better bet. Andrew Vaughn is doing some things in the month of June.

He is batting, he went two for four with his seventh home run. And in eight June games, betting 394, three homers, 1139 OPS, the whole Overall numbers are still pretty bad because he got off to such a terrible start. 32% roster. Do you have any interest in adding Andrew Vaughn? At 32%. Yeah, because that means that there are some deeper categories, leagues where he's available and you could use him as a,

you know, a corner infielder, potentially a utility bat. So yeah, there are frankly not all that much in the underlying numbers to get excited about with Andrew Vaughn. He hits the ball hard, but not incredibly hard. And there's just his swing has been kind of broken this season. He has a career high 11.1% pop-up rate. He's not pulling the ball at all. So it's just nothing has been optimized for him.

But he's still relatively young and still has relatively interesting skills. So I don't want to give up entirely on Andrew Vaugh, although I really don't think there's much of a ceiling there. Say you have someone like Anthony Rizzo or Justin Turner as your corner infielder right now. Would you drop either of those for Andrew Vaughn? Rizzo, yes. I think he really, the onus was on him to prove that last year was about the concussion and he has not done that at all. Turner, I still have more faith in.

So I think I'd rather have Turner. But ultimately, if you're just churning that roster spot, I don't hate the idea of going with the hotter hand right now. Two names in deeper league. Scott and I spoke about Spencer Horowitz yesterday, and it's back-to-back multi-hit games. He went two-for-four with a walk and an RBI. He was moved up to the lead-off spot with David Schneider out of the lineup. He's only 5% rostered.

And Paul DeYoung, two-for-four with his 13th home run. He has six homers in his last 11 games. This is not going to last forever. But he is hot right now. Chris, any interest in Horowitz or DeYoung in deeper leagues? I mean, I've been starting Paul DeYoung in L. only league literally the entire season. In an AL only league, you have to be so pleased with what he's provided.

I mean, he was a zero dollar reserve round pick who has been in my lineup literally the whole season. So it's hard to ask for much more than that. It's basically only power. But given how hard that has been to find this season, I think there's a non-zero number of 15 team leagues where Paul DeYoung probably should be rostered right now. And Horitz, I mean, the minor league numbers are fairly interesting. You know, he hasn't done a ton when he had gotten the opportunity at the major

league level before this and he's older and, you know, a lot going against him, but consistently huge batting averages and there, the Blue Jays are desperate for anything on offense. So they might be willing to plug and play him as long as he's hot. So he's interesting in 15 teams as well. All right. Let's get into some of the leftovers. The pitching standouts part one.

Zach Wheeler turned in another great start. He was at the Red Sox where he went seven innings. He allowed one run with four strikeouts, only five whiffs on 88 pitches. He threw a sinker more in this one, so I think that might explain why the strikeouts were down in this start. And Jesus Lozardo finished one out short of a quality start at the Mets, five and two thirds, two runs, four strikeouts. 16 whiffs on 91 pitches. He kind of has this Carlos Rodan thing going on where he's getting lots of swinging strikes,

but it hasn't really translated to strikeout. So I feel like the strikeout rate is going to get better. Lazzardo, you know, the overall numbers still look really bad. I think there's a buying opportunity, especially when you consider he's the most likely starting pitcher to be traded at the deadline, and he's going to wind up on a better team. Yeah, you would assume he's going to end up on a contend.

and like even if you're skeptical, 383 FIP, 122 whip, that's a very useful pitcher, even in this, in that environment where pitching has been so easy to find. I think there's a by low window.

The only thing, though, is fastball's been really bad. And the velocity's down to 95.4 miles per hour. And I may have mentioned this last week, but I remember reading in Enosaris's pitcher preview column, or his rankings piece, when he talked about Lazzardo, he talked about the main difference

between the very good version of Hazel's Lazzardo that we've seen in Miami and the really bad version that we had seen prior was basically around one mile per hour in fastball velocity. And it all came down to his fastball when he's sitting 96, 97 can be really good. When he's sitting 95, 96, tends to get hit pretty hard

and his fastball velocity is down 1.3 miles per hour. So I think that might be tough to come back from. it might limit the ceiling, even with the slider and change up looking really, really good this season. Some pitching standouts part two. Ronell Blanco turned in another great start. He was at the Giants. Six innings, one run, eight strikeouts had 17 whiffs on 96 pitches. Nine of those came on the slider. Seven on the fastball. Both of those pitches were awesome in the start for Ronell Blanco. Zach Eflin continues to just kind of be mediocre. He was up against the Cubs, five and two-thirds. Seven hits, two runs, only three strikeouts.

And Cutter Crawford turned in a quality start against the, not against the Red Sox. He pitches for the Red Sox. He was facing the, who are they facing? All the Phillies. He was facing the Phillies. Six innings, four runs. Two of those were earned.

He had eight strikeouts, 13 whiffs on 88 pitches. What's the temperature check right now, Chris, on these three pitchers? Because Cutter Crawford has kind of been trending down over the past month. then Ronell Blanco, I think, still remains a cell high. And Zach Eflin just looks like more of the pitcher he was before last season when he was just kind of okay and not a standout in fantasy. Yeah, so I have Blanco 60th. I have Eflin a little higher than,

or a little lower than that, actually, 63rd. And then Cutter Crawford is. 76. So I think all three of these guys are firmly globy. If we can still use that term, Blanco probably is the one I'd be looking to sell. And Flin is probably the one I'd be looking to buy. Just because I think the perception of their values is very different. Blanco, I think there's a sense that he's like a ground ball type who's going to continue to be able to exist without having at least strikeout or. walk numbers, but he's actually kind of an average ground ball guy. And his quality of contact suppression hasn't been great. So I think he's just running hot. And the cell window is now back open for Renal Blanco. So you should try to take advantage. Yeah, his previous two starts before this,

he allowed four earned runs in each. And this start was awesome. So again, I agree with that. I think it kind of reopens the possibility. Let me try and turn Ronell Blanco into whatever needs you have right now, but I would imagine most people are still looking for hitting at this point in the season. Speaking of hitting, some leftovers there, apparently the Cubs are thinking about replacing Christopher Morel

at third base, and he responded by going two for four with his 13th home run. Still batting just 208, does have a 318 on base percentage. He's done a much better job with the plate discipline this season. The expected numbers still look really good for Morel, if there wasn't a risk of him now losing his job, I think he's still such a clear by-low just based on some of the underlying numbers. But yeah, there is a real chance that he loses a job just because he is so, so bad defensively. Josh Naylor continues his breakout season

two for five with his 17th home run. John Carlos Stanton continues his redemption season. Two for four with his 16th homer, 11.2 exit velocity, 446 feet. The 16-holocaust. home runs tied for eighth most in baseball right now. Fernando Tatis continues his tear, two for four with his eighth stolen base. And over his last 14 games, betting 431, four homers, 12 runs scored and two steals. And Julio Rodriguez, still no power, but he is running one for four with two steals, two runs, and he is now up to 16 steals on the season. Anything stand out from this group? There have been a couple of really good pieces on, I believe there were Baseball Prospectus pieces by Matthew Trueblood about Christopher Morel and kind of just diving into

why he might be underperforming his expected stats. I think they're worth seeking out. I generally I struggle because I've been more skeptical, I think, than you and Scott of Christopher Morrell, but the underlying numbers are much, much better than the actual production. I just, I do wonder, like, you look at one of those stats that we don't really talk about very often because I don't think it has too much predictive value, but it's launch angle sweet spot, which is just what percentage of the batted balls that a player has are within a specific launch angle range. And you still have to hit the ball hard. I remember like Kevin Bigio had like elite launch angle sweet spot percentages.

and it didn't really matter because he didn't hit the ball hard. Morel does, but he tends to hit, he gets on top of the ball a lot or he gets under the ball a lot. He very rarely hits like sweet line drives. And I think that's the biggest issue is that if you're hitting the ball directly into the ground at 106 miles an hour, I mean, that might be impressive, but it's not going to really help you produce much. So I do think there is some concern that he just might be, one of those guys who underperforms in that way. As for everyone else,

I know people want me or want us to say that you should trade Julio Rodriguez for whatever you can get for him. And I just, I don't know, I don't really, like, I remain unconcerned. I know it stinks that he's been so bad this season. I still think he's going to be fine. I really don't have any reason to think.

that he's not. Two months feels like a long time when you're in it. But from the perspective of what matters for predicting performance moving forward, two months is really not very much. So as much as

some people might want us to say, yes, you can trade Julio Rodriguez. I think it would be a mistake if you did. Some bullpen updates from Tuesday's action for the Cubs. Hector Nerris entered the ninth with a one-run lead. He gave up a game-tying single, then a walk-off three-run homer took his third blown save and first loss.

For the Guardians, Emmanuel Claude, got the ninth with a three-run lead. He gave up one run, but picked up his 20th save. For the Phillies, Jose Alvarado got the ninth with a three-run lead. He gave up a hit, but picked up his 12th save. For the Marlins, Tanner Scott entered in the eighth. He pitched two perfect innings with three strikeouts for his eighth save, and it was a rough start to the season. I remember just yesterday, me in particular,

I was very worried about Tanner Scott. He is now down to a 130 ERA and a 116 whip on the season. I will say very likely trade candidate. Yep. I was just going to bring that up. Yeah. That's the issue is that the Marlins seem very likely to trade Tanner Scott at some point, especially with how well he's pitching now.

And wherever he knows. You might not get a lot more saves the rest of the way. You're not getting many saves from him anyway. Yeah. Wherever he goes, he most likely is not the closer for that team. Keep that of mind with Tanner Scott. For the Rockies, Jalen Beaks recorded five outs across the seventh and eighth. He gave up just one hit.

And then Tyler Kinley got the ninth inning with a, uh, he got the ninth. He gave up a two run homer, but converted his fifth save. Kinley now has the last three saves for the Rockies, but he is just. Yeah, he is the Rockies closer. That is about the end of the list of positive things I would say about him. Look, deeper leagues, you're desperate for saves. I get it. You could add them in 15 teamers, stuff like that, but anything shallower, I would say no.

No go on Tyler Kinley. For the Cardinals, Ryan Helsley got the ninth with the game tied. He gave up two runs, took his third loss on the other side. For the Pirates, David Bednar got the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up a solo homer but picked up his 14th save. For the Blue Jays, Yemi Garcia got the final four outs, three via strikeout for his fifth save. For the Astros with Josh Hader unavailable, he worked back-to-back days. Ryan Presley got the ninth.

He struck out two for his second save. I was thinking, if I, I don't have Josh Hader anywhere. This is so frustrating because his save count is so low this season. One of the only days the Astros have a save opportunity and he's unavailable because he worked back to back days. It's just so, so frustrating. Yeah, it's frustrating, but I don't know what, I don't think there's anything you can do about it. No, it's just. Like, he's an elite, he's an elite pitcher.

Saves are just weird, man. Yeah, that's the thing is that when you have, it's like touchdowns in fantasy football, right? They're super valuable. For closers, saves are basically the only thing that really matter. And Josh Hader is an elite pitcher on what should be a pretty good team. And he's getting so few saves. And it's just because they're rare opportunities. They're rare events.

And just like it's infuriating when you're running back gets tackled on the one. and then the backup comes in and scores, it's infuriating when Josh Hader works two days in a row and then Ryan Presley gets a save. But I think he'll be among the top 10 in saves the rest of the way, just because I think he's one of the best relievers in baseball. But it's frustrating. We saw this happen with Ryan Presley and the Astros

just a couple of years ago when they were one of the best teams in baseball. He only had something like 25 saves. It was just a weird year. And there has been some like, I haven't dug, too deep, but have you seen some of the discussion about like Josh Hader's free agency like negotiations

and like he's apparently drawn some pretty stark lines about his usage and how often he's going to be used and whether he's going to go multiple innings and time to eat. Yeah, everybody's, everybody's very excited. And he's actually thrown more

multi-inning outings this season than he has in years. But I don't think he's worked three days in a row at any point this season. That's probably just never going to be a part of his role. So maybe you ding him a little bit for save-upside, but I don't think there's anything actionable there. And for the Mariners, Andres Munoz is still dealing with that back injury.

It was Ryan Stannick who got the ninth with a one-run lead. He's only 10% rostered. And like I said yesterday, if you have Munoz on your fantasy team in a Categories League, I would try to pick up Ryan Stanick just to have both of them a bit of a handcuff situation there in the Mariners bullpen. To stream or not to stream on Wednesday, and I like Jake Irvin at the Tigers. I think Reese Olson against the Nationals is fine. And then one of Braxton Garrett or David Peterson. They're facing each other. Yeah, I mean, you would hope one of them get to win. I would prefer Braxton Garrett, even though Peterson has the best.

better matchup. Garrett's just a better pitcher. But yeah, I think they're both a distant third behind Jake Irvin and Reese Olson. And then on Thursday, I think you know, Taj Bradley is tough because he can have a great start or he can get blown up, man.

I brought this up the other day, Chris. He has a, like his strikeout numbers are awesome. The whiff rates and all that. He has a 17% barrel rate against. That is unheard of. Like, the elite hitters in baseball have a 17% barrel rate. So it's scary.

You know, like the meme that's like three dragons and like two of them are scary and one of them's like, ooh, he's like a dumb guy. Taj Bradley is like his stuff is the two like mean, angry, scary dragons and his command is like the dumb, goofy dragon. Like there might not be a pitcher with a bigger gulf between those two qualities. And I think it's just until he shows some consistency, it's going to be really hard to trust him. But there's nobody else on the slate who has anywhere close to his single start upside, let alone rest of season upside. I'd much rather roster him than any of these guys.

It's just, can I trust him? Depends how good you feel about the rest of your team's ratios, I guess. Yeah, I don't love Thursday, but if I had to choose three, I would say Taj, Bradley against the Cubs, Lance Lynn against the Pirates, and Cole Irvin against the Atlanta Braves. I mean, their lineup is terrible right now. So I don't know. Maybe they'll turn it on that start, but so far they haven't.

We're going to wrap there for Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.