Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Must-Add Waiver Wire Options! Cubs Promote Moises Ballesteros! (5/13 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Who are the top players to add right now? Find out next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express. Welcome into FBT Express on Tuesday, May 13th. I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White. Let's take a look at some of the most added hitters on CBS right now. Two outfielders, Scott. Evan Carter, who returned recently. We know had a ton of prospect pedigree, also had back surgery last year.

Starting point is 00:00:25 It's been doing some things since returning to the Rangers. And Trent Grisham, two more home runs here on Monday. Monday. Might just be this year's Jerks and ProFar. Who do you like between the two? Evan Carter or Trent Grisham? I mean, he got to say Christian at this point. He's up to 12 home runs. He's, I don't even know where that ranks among the leaders. It's very high. There are many players with more than that. And can he sustain it? Probably not. But he is striking out far less than ever before. It's like an 18% strikeout rate. Normally he's above 25, between 25 and 30. So big improvement there for Grisham. Also the highest pull air rate of his career, which is one way that you

Starting point is 00:01:11 get more home runs out of roughly the same exit velocities. Now, he is hitting the ball harder on average. So it isn't fair to say roughly the same exit velocities. But you know, the whole overall exit velocity the profile hasn't improved with him setting a new career max and everything. So he's getting more production out of basically the same contact quality. But I think those two factors, the dramatically improved strikeout rate and the improved pull air rate, explain, help to explain why Grisholm's off to a hot start. It's not going to continue. He's not going to Homer at this rate.

Starting point is 00:01:52 But will he be good enough to continue the. log jam in the Yankees lineup. I think there's a pretty good chance of that. And certainly in five outfielder leagues, you've got to start Grisham until he gives you a reason not to. Let's slide over to catchers because Yvonne Herrera in a one catcher league

Starting point is 00:02:12 still just 71% rostered on CBS hit his fifth home run here on Monday. He has a hit in each of the three games since coming off the IL and just off to a tremendous start in the 10 games that he's played this year. Scott, it just feels like Yvonne Herrera, should be rostered in close to 100% of CBS leagues. I think everyone catch a league.

Starting point is 00:02:31 It's just two hitters with more than 12 homers, by the way, Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwerber. Yeah, Ivan Herrera, I think he's great. Every part of the hitting profile looks great. He's got a great minor league track record. And he's come back from the aisle looking just as strong as before he went on. So it's kind of a struggle to get him high enough

Starting point is 00:02:56 in the rest of season catcher rankings, to be perfectly honest, and the full-season, or in the full-length podcast, I should say. We were kind of struggling with this together. Definitely ahead of Shaw Murphy at this point, Hunter Goodman. I would say ahead of Logan O'Hoppy. I was able to get him as high as 10th. That leaves him behind Shea Langelears for now. It puts him ahead of Augustine Ramirez.

Starting point is 00:03:26 I don't know. He might just belong ahead of Langaleers and even J.T. Real Muto, who I have ninth. That's how much confidence I have in Yvonne Herrera at this point. And the upside is top five at the position, I would say. Let's talk about another catcher. The Cubs are promoting one of their prospects, Moises by Astero, who was crushing it in the minors this season, hitting well over 300.

Starting point is 00:03:51 Great OPS makes a ton of contact as well. I think he's a name you can look at in two catchers. league, Scott, but we just don't know how long he's going to stick around and frankly how much he's going to play for the Cubs. So what do you think about Moises Bayesteros? Yeah, two catcher leagues. Obviously, there's, you go for that upside. Somebody in your league has the second catcher that is just trash because the position isn't that deep. But it has become pretty deep from a one catcher context, as we were just talking about with Yvonne Herrera struggling to get him higher than 10th and and moving them ahead of some pretty valuable players.

Starting point is 00:04:27 So it would be a stretch, I think, to add by Esteris at this point in a one catcher league, given the uncertainties over the playing time and how long he'll stick around. He deserves this clearly, as well as he was performing a AAA. He was striking out less than every other game down there. Line drive rate of 28%. Hits the ball at opposite field as often as he pulls it. It's a profile that's built for batting average, but it has premium megs of velocity still.

Starting point is 00:04:58 And so I think by Esteros, there's a good chance. He just hits the ground running and proves to be a viable major league hitter. The problem is he's only a catcher. He's played some first base in the minors, but he's 5 foot 8. That's not, you want a nice long and lean first baseman. You don't want a bowling ball over there. So it might not be a problem in other organizations, but the Cubs already can't start,

Starting point is 00:05:30 can't find enough at-bats for the catchers they had before calling up Bayoucesteros with Carson Kelly's emergence this year to go with Miguel Amaya. So I'm guessing what happens is by Astero being a left-handed batter. He plays against right-handers at DH. And the Cubs stick to what they were already doing behind the plate with Kelly and Amaya. And then maybe against left-handers, they start both Kelly and Amaya. But this is only viable until Ian Hap returns from the oblique injury because then they're back to having four outfielders for three spots

Starting point is 00:06:02 and have to send Sayas Suzuki back to DH. Maybe Biasteros can find a way to stay by hitting well enough. I just don't see how they make those three catchers work. All right. Let's take a quick break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in, FBT Express. Let's slide over to the most added pitchers on CBS. Three starting pitchers, A.J. Smith-Schawver, Cade Horton, and Tomoyuki-Sugano.

Starting point is 00:06:30 Scott, how would you rank those three? Are you genuinely excited about any of them? Smith-Shawver, Kate Horton, Tomoyuki-Sugano. I am pretty excited about Smith-Shawver at this point. His last four starts have been great. And the splitter has become a premium pitch for him. Swinging strike rate overall looks good. Needs to limit the walks, as is true of a lot of young pitchers with good stuff.

Starting point is 00:06:57 But he does have good stuff, and I think he's sticking around for the long haul. So Smith Schaver would be the easy top choice there. Zugano, and who is the third one? Kate Horton. Yeah, I mean, Horton has upside, too. It was even a higher-end prospect than Smith Schaver on some list. But I think he's just a two-pitch pitcher right now, and he has even more pronounced control-ish.

Starting point is 00:07:20 choose. And I'm not sure he has as much runway as Smith Schaver. So you could take a flyer on him for the upside, but I'm not, I'm not sure how usable he'll be or for how long. Sugano's been usable, but it's a very boring profile. It's a lot of hard contact. It's not many strikeouts. They have picked up a little bit in recent starts, but it's still not a good rate. He throws a lot of strikes, but you look at the expected ERA for Sugano.

Starting point is 00:07:47 It's about two runs higher than the actual E. And at this stage of his career with so little track record to fall back on, I'm inclined to believe the advanced stats over the surface level ones. Last question regarding two starting pitchers returning from injury, Clayton Kershaw or Ryan Weathers. Who do you like more between the two? Very different team context, right? And obviously favors Kershaw.

Starting point is 00:08:16 Weather's, I trust the stuff for Weathers more. The stuff is very exciting. He was one of the biggest risers this spring, a trendy sleeper pick. I think I'd go with him over Kershaw. Kershaw had already lost a decent amount of velocity, and it seemed like it might have reached a breaking point last year. It was the first time where he didn't just automatically come through for you in fantasy after a long injury layoff.

Starting point is 00:08:42 And then during his rehab assignment this year, it's averaging like 87 on the fastball. It's very low now. So he's Clayton Kershaw and he may find a way, but the odds are against him this time, I would say. All right. For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to our full-lane podcast,

Starting point is 00:09:01 Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else podcasts are found. Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball Today Express, and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.

Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Must-Add Waiver Wire Options! Cubs Promote Moises Ballesteros! (5/13 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

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