Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Top 5 Prospects to Stash! Dodgers Promote Dalton Rushing! (5/15 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Dodgers promoted Dalton rushing. Let's discuss on Fantasy Baseball today, Express. Welcome into FBT Express on Thursday, May 15th. I am Frank Stamfield, joined by Scott White. We'll get to the top prospects to stash in just a bit. But first up, Scott, the Dodgers have promoted Dalton Rushing, their top catcher prospect, which normally we'd be very excited about for fantasy, except it sounds like he's only going to play a couple times per week.

Starting point is 00:00:27 So do we add him anywhere. What do we do? Boy, I mean, he was one of the five prospects to stash a week ago, and now it hardly seems worth it with this news. At first, it came out from Dave Roberts, the manager, that, no, we don't plan to use him in the outfield at all, just backup catcher. And I was like, is that Roberts speaking on his own terms? Is that, have they really talked it through yet?

Starting point is 00:00:55 And that's what they're expecting. But then the GM said the same thing. They don't want rushing to be brought up as like a utility type player. They want him to focus on catching. So he's going to be a true backup who starts just a couple times a week and also pinch hits. And if they're sincere about that, if they're sincere about not wanting to use them at other positions, then I don't see the opportunity. Like, you know, a lot of times we'd say, oh, but if he hits well enough, he'll find his way into more playing time.

Starting point is 00:01:27 There's not an opportunity for that. Obviously, D.H. Spot is taken, and Will Smith, he's locked up through 2033, so I don't even know long-term how this is supposed to work rushing as just a catcher with Will Smith tied up for that long. It's, it feels like malpractice, frankly, given how good of a hitter he could be, great on base skills, good power potential. I have a hard time believing they're sincere, to be perfectly honest. If we take them at their word, then I think rushing is bottom. You know, even in two catcher leagues, he's kind of just a flyer and gambling on upside. All right. Let's take a look at those top prospects to stash right now. Bobba Chandler of the Pirates, Roman Anthony and Marcella Meyer of the Red Sox, Jack Caglione of the Royals, and Jacob Miziarowski of the Brewers, Scott.

Starting point is 00:02:26 One week ago, we thought Bobba Chandler would be here already. What do we think now? So that very night we were talking about that, he ended up having his one bad start, where he gave him three and runs, five hits, four walks, and just two and two thirds innings. So understandably that delayed his arrival a bit.

Starting point is 00:02:45 He has followed up that start with another great one, struck out eight over five shutout innings, and got to, let's see, 86 pitches in that start. So now he's 11 more. than the highest pitch count that Paul Skeens reached before debuting last year. And he's proven that the bad star was just a one-off. So he may have made his last start at AAA. Can't say for sure.

Starting point is 00:03:16 But that seems more likely than not. So Bubba Chandler remains the top prospect of stash here. Otherwise, it's been a clearing of the deck. Yeah, Roman Anthony is still on here. But since a week ago, we've had Don Ruff. Russian get called up. We've had Logan Henderson get called up. We've had Jordan Lawler get called up. So now we get three new names here in the five on the verge, Marcelo Meyer, Jack Caglione, and Jacob Mizorowski. Let's start with Meyer. I think there's a chance he comes up before Anthony, actually. The power production has picked up this year. It was kind of restrained the past couple years by injuries. But we're talking about a player who, since he was drafted. fourth overall in 2021 has been regarded as a very high-end prospect. And he's performing up to those expectations.

Starting point is 00:04:07 I think the reason why Meyer could beat Anthony to the majors is it's almost certainly going to take an injury for Anthony to make it up an injury to an outfielder or to Rafael Devers himself. Since Devers isn't going to first base, one of the outfielders of the D.H has to get hurt to bring up Anthony. It may not take an injury for Marcello Meyer because Trevor's story, has kind of crashed and burned here after a hot start and after three injury plague season, you know, you look at the underlying data. I'm not sure we can be sure.

Starting point is 00:04:41 Our story has anything left. So Meyer just might end up replacing him at some point. I don't think it's going to happen tomorrow, but it's enough of a possibility that he's now in the five on the verge. Jack Caglione still has yet to reach AAA. So I don't know that he, he's coming up tomorrow either. But part of the five on the verge is how impactful they're going to be.

Starting point is 00:05:08 It's not just about how close they are to reaching the majors. It's whether the impact is going to be high enough that they're worth stashing it out of time. And I think in Caglione's case, that's absolutely true, no player in professional baseball majors or minors has hit a ball harder than he has this year. 120.9 miles per hour. In fact, in Stackcast history, that's only been top five times. And it's hardly out of character for Caglione. He just kills the ball.

Starting point is 00:05:40 Low strikeout rate, too. Last 22 games, low strikeout rate is probably exaggerating. But, you know, it's less than 25%. Really good for a power hitter like him. Last 22 games at AA Northwest Arkansas, Caglione has hit 393 with six homers in like an 1150 OPS. So he's ready to move up somewhere. Presumably it'll be AAA.

Starting point is 00:06:07 I don't think it's a certainty. It'll be AAA. Prospects of his caliber often make the leap straight from AA. He's been playing some outfield. The Royals are contenders with no good outfielders. I think it's possible. even if he does go to AAA, that's the likelier scenario. It may just be a layover, you know, on his way to the majors.

Starting point is 00:06:35 I think it's time to snatch Cagg Leone if you have that kind of roster space. And then finally, Jacob Miserowski, he reached 102.3 miles per hour in his latest start. That's the hardest pitch thrown majors or minors this year. But we always knew he could throw hard. The big thing here for Miserowski is throwing strikes a lot more. It was only 59% rate last year. That's bad. 66% in his last four starts at AAA.

Starting point is 00:07:02 That's good. This led to a 0.380RA, 0.72 whip, 12.5K per 9. And by the way, the Brewer's rotation is in a pretty sad state right now with branded Woodruff's return delayed by an ankle injury and Jose Cantana suffering a shoulder injury. And Tobias Myers kind of pitching himself. out of the mix and Quinn Priester, maybe not deserving a spot anymore either. Logan Henderson's already up.

Starting point is 00:07:31 Mizorowski could be close behind with as many strikes as he's throwing now. All right, let's take a quick break, and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in, FBT Express. Five prospects on the periphery. These are some names that are making noise lately, and Jonah Tong of the Mets,

Starting point is 00:07:48 Brayden Montgomery of the White Sox, J. R. Richie of the Braves, Mike Sarota of the Dodgers, and Arun Escobar from the Phillies. We're going to skip over Braden Montgomery because we talked about him three weeks ago. Bottom line, he has moved up to High A and is continuing to crush it there.

Starting point is 00:08:07 So totally living up to expectations as the 12th pick last year and a big piece in the Garrett Crochet deal. Jonah Tong, let's talk about him. He just had at AA what's going to be one of the best minor league starts of the year. Six and two-thirds, perfect innings with 13 strikeouts. And now Jonah Tong's K-per-9 rate at AA is 16.4. So a fascinating pitcher here, very over-the-top delivery, but gets that

Starting point is 00:08:44 rise effect from the fastball anyway. A lot of times you've got to drop the arm ankle to get it. He does it from a very high arm ankle, and hitters just have a tough time with that. that fastball. You see it in the numbers. You saw it in the numbers last year too, but now it's showing up at a high level for Jonah Tong, high level of the miners. So becoming more and more of a dynasty asset with each passing start. J.R. Richie of the Braves, oh, he had a start. That's going to be one of the best of the minor league season two because it was a complete game shutout. He allowed just one hit, nine strikeouts in those nine innings. And that's kind of been, J.R. R. R. R. Richie has had has been pitching well at high A all season, but he's a 21 year old at high A and he's averaging less than a strikeout per inning. So I'm not totally sold on it. It's obviously a great start. It's getting him moved up to double A. It'll be interesting to see how J.R. Richie performs there. But he I think his success at high A was largely driven by him being a pretty good strike thrower with a really deep arsenal and hitters at that level just aren't ready for that sort of thing. Um, but low to mid 90s fast.

Starting point is 00:09:55 ball, not that impressive with the velocity. We'll see how it goes for J.R. Ritchie at AA, but I'm kind of skeptical in spite of the numbers. The Dodgers outfielder, do we determine how to pronounce his name, Mike? Sorota. Sorota? That's phonetic, anyway. They may have done it again, the Dodgers, always fleecing these teams and trades. They got Zahir Hope from the Cubs and the Michael Bush deal last year, and they got this guy, Mike Sorota from the Reds and the Gavin Lux deal.

Starting point is 00:10:25 third round pick last year. But they say that prior to his junior season, they had him as a first rounder. The Dodgers did. Mike Soroda and his numbers at Loway were incredible. It's moving up to High A. We'll see if the Dodgers did again. But a name to know in Dynasty Leagues.

Starting point is 00:10:41 And finally, Arun Escobar, he's been getting a lot of buzz here, second basement for the Phillies, 20 years old at Loway. So, you know, a lot to sort out here still. But he's been, He's always had good strike zone judgment and has been hitting the ball harder last year,

Starting point is 00:10:59 been hitting home runs. Cousin of Ronald DeCunia is Arun Escobar and seems like a name on the rise for all the prospect gurus out there. All right for more extensive fantasy baseball coverage. Listen to our full-lane podcast, Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else podcasts are found.

Starting point is 00:11:18 Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball Today Express, and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Bye.

Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Top 5 Prospects to Stash! Dodgers Promote Dalton Rushing! (5/15 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

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