Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Top 5 Prospects to Stash! Jordan Lawlar Update (8/7 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's been a while since we've talked about prospects. Let's change that on Fantasy Baseball Today Express. Welcome in to FBT Express on Thursday, August 7th. I am Frank Stample, joined by Scott White. And before we get into the Prospects to Stash, we are cheating a little bit. He doesn't have prospect eligibility anymore. But what is Christian Campbell up to right now, Scott, in the Red Sox minor league system? Christian Campbell, remember him.

Starting point is 00:00:30 A great month of April was the talk of fantasy baseball. And they really struggled after that. But he's been up to good things lately over his past 12 games at AAA, 417 batting average, three homers, just a 16% strikeout rate. And of those 12 games, eight of them have been started at first base. So he seems to be making that transition to that position. It was a really slow start. once he got to AAA, but he's got it going now at the plate.

Starting point is 00:01:02 Red Sox could use some help at first base. Abraham Toro was doing some damage there early on, but I think to no one's surprise, showing his true colors, 203 batting average 541 OPS in his past 41 games. That's a lot of bad production from that position. Red Sox, if they're going to go anywhere in October, they need to upgrade first base. It's not going to happen via a trade.

Starting point is 00:01:26 That opportunity has passed. Campbell seems like their best hope, and he may be knocking on the door again. Yep, and he is currently 42% rostered on CBS. He already has second and outfield eligibility and could potentially gain first base as well. So that would be a pretty interesting and hopefully useful player in fantasy. The top prospects to stash right now, Jordan Lawler of the Dback, Samuel Bessio of the Orioles, Dylan Beaver also, Beavours, excuse me, also of the Orioles, Spencer Jones of the Yankees, and J.J. Weatherholtz of the Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:02:01 Scott, it just feels like we are maybe days, weeks away from once. Jordan Lawler is healthy. My guess is he'll be up and hopefully producing with the deep. Yeah, and there has finally been an update. So he first went down with the hamstring strain, June 25th, and was projected to miss about a month. Obviously, it's been more like six weeks at this point. But he was reportedly back to taking batting.

Starting point is 00:02:27 practice Tuesday with the hope of returning to game action Thursday. That's that's today. If you're listening to the day we recorded it anyway. From there, it's only going to be a short hop to the majors because, of course, third base is waiting for them. The Diamondbacks have been starting Blaze Alexander there since trading away Eugenio Suarez, but he is no kind of solution. Jordan Lawler's opportunity is a long time coming. And I don't think they're going to play games in terms of, like, waiting for a cutoff to preserve his rookie eligibility because he's already gotten some time in the majors. I think they're going to call him up quickly. Could be wrong about that.

Starting point is 00:03:10 It may be until September that we see him, but, like, they know that it's time. Now is the time with Suarez gone. Now's the time they really need to evaluate what they have, Jordan Lawler. Okay, some other names here, Samuel Bessio. And Dylan Beaver's both, both of the Orioles. So we did get a comment from Mike Elias, or Mike Elias, excuse me, the Orioles GM, the day after the trade deadline saying that he does think getting them a taste in 2025 would be a good thing for all parties. What he's probably waiting for is August 15th. That's the day that according to baseball prospectus, if the Orioles wait until that day, August 15th,

Starting point is 00:03:57 15th to call up these players who've never debuted before and keep them from getting 131 at bats the rest of the way. Then they will retain their rookie eligibility to next year. I think that's going to be especially important at Basayas. Casey probably has a better chance of competing for rookie of the year honors. And he's going to be the tougher fit in the lineup, to be fair, because Kobe Mayo finally has an opportunity here at first base with Ryan O'Hern out of the picture. Very soon we're going to get Ryan Mountcastle off the aisle. before the end of the week. So that'll cover first base in D.H.

Starting point is 00:04:30 Where does that leave Bessio? Well, he's a catcher by trade. But he's not really a catcher. He could, in a lost season, maybe spell Adley Rushman behind the plate, but he'll have to get the rest of his bats at first base in D.H. And it's kind of crowded. Seems like he's going to be up at some point. I don't know for sure that it'll be as soon as August 15th.

Starting point is 00:04:53 Dylan Beaver's on the other hand. The Orioles haven't eaten their out. field right now. They've got Dylan Carlson playing at making starts out there. Nothing to see in Dylan Carlson. Dylan Beavers though, you know, he's kind of a second tier prospect for the Orioles since they took them 33rd overall in 2022. But it's hard to call him second tier now. This has been a breakthrough season in so many ways. 15 home runs just in his past 46 games with more walks than strikeouts during that stretch. A lot more walks than strikeouts. So he's always shown good plate discipline has beavers, but it's it's rare do you see a prospect's contact skills and exit

Starting point is 00:05:32 velocities both improve to the extent beavers has this year. And it's it's transformed them into a legit prospect that everybody should be excited about seeing in the majors. And five outfielder leagues, we could talk about stashing them. That's the whole point of this video after all. Spencer Jones is still here. He has cooled off one for 18 in his past. six games, though just a 23% strikeout rate during that time. It's still just a 24% strikeout rate during the crazy 41 game stretch he's on. So maybe the last six weren't great, but you go back to 41 and his numbers are still absurd. Still think there's a lot of excitement for Spencer Jones and the strides he's made, the raw power that's there.

Starting point is 00:06:19 It's just finding an opportunity for him with the Yankees. Aaron Judge, his injury that he's back from now, but he's. He's playing D.H. Not so much in the outfield. In theory, that creates an opening for Jones, but it sounds like they want to put Judge back in the outfield soon so that D.H. is free for Stanton. And as it is, even with Judge at D.H,

Starting point is 00:06:41 they still have a full outfield between Cody Ballinger, Trent Grisham and Jason Dominguez. So if we do see Spencer Jones, barring another injury to somebody, he'll really have to fight for every bat. still think he's probably worth stashing in five outfield all days for the power upside though. Finally, J.J. Weatherholt, Cardinals didn't move Nolan Aeronado at the trade deadline, but he's on the I.L. With the shoulder injury that doesn't have a clear timeline. So there's still a nice path here.

Starting point is 00:07:10 They may be waiting for that mid-August date, too, to keep Weatherholt's rookie eligibility intact for next year. Whether it's stepping in for Nolan Gorman at third or bumping Donovan, Brendan Donovan to the outfield and taking over at second. I think we'll see weather halts down the stretch. All right, let's take a quick break, and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in, FBT Express. Top prospects who are on the periphery.

Starting point is 00:07:36 They are making some noise lately. Bryce Eldridge of the Giants, Carson Benj of the Mets, Kael and Cole Pepper of the Twins, Yos Nixon, Garcia of the Red Sox, and Elmer Rodriguez Cruz of the Yankees. What do we have here, Scott? All right, so let's see how much I can get into these

Starting point is 00:07:52 because I know we're running short on time. So last 17, okay, four home runs in his last four games, Bryce Eldridge, eight and 17 games since going to AAA. So we're really seeing the power come through for him now. Of course, he was projected as an elite power bat. At AAA, average exit velocity, 95.6 miles per hour. Max is 11.6. So he's delivering like Kyle Schwerber, Shohei Otani, top end exit velocities,

Starting point is 00:08:20 some strikeout issues there. But I've noticed that the giant. after spending, you know, the past couple weeks integrating Rafael Devers at first base, they're kind of shying away from that again. Devers has been playing more DH recently. I wonder if they're keeping that spot vacant, first base spot vacant for Eldridge down the stretch. Carson Benj, 19th pick in last year's draft. Since moving up to AA, he's betting 349 with the 1070 OPS in 28 games.

Starting point is 00:08:48 He's really seen his power breakthrough. Always had great plate discipline has Carson Benj, the Mets outfielder. Powers really picked up since he moved up to AA, a marked improvement in fly ball rate. So he's looking like a legit prospect if he wasn't already. Kaelin Culpepper, another first rounder from last year, 21st overall to the twins. He was not that celebrated coming,

Starting point is 00:09:16 for fantasy anyway. Not a particularly celebrated part of the draft class seemed to be lacking in tools, namely the power, but the numbers he's put up this year would suggest otherwise, particularly since getting to double A. Like you could argue early on, okay, a 22-year-old in A ball, he's just beating up on younger competition. But since getting to AA, 343 batting average seven homers, seven steals, just a 16% strikeout rate. He's been, he looks like a legit prospect too, somewhat surprisingly, Caitlin Culpepper.

Starting point is 00:09:51 and if I could just address the password here real quick, that's Yos Nixon's, Yos Nixon Garcia. His nickname is the password because he has a stretch of his name that goes T, Y, N, X. I'll let you figure out the rest of the spelling on your own. He's been producing, for sure,

Starting point is 00:10:12 last 13 games of AAA, 375 with six home runs. The power production has been good overall. The eggs of velocity is pretty lame, though, 88.5 mile per hour average 109.6 doesn't really match up to the power production. And plate discipline is pretty awful too. Particularly, you look at like zone contact rates, just 78% for yes, Nixon Garcia. You'd like that to be over 80%, if not mid 80%, below 70. I mean, below 80% is something that major league pitchers could potentially ruin him with. So I think he's, look, I mean, prospect.

Starting point is 00:10:50 development is not something, it's not an exact science, right? And, and Yost Nixon Garcia has for a couple of years now been a productive minor league bat. But I do, if you have the choice, I do think there is some risk of him being more like a quadruplea player based on some of the data points. All right. For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to our full-length podcast, 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. On podcasts.

Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Top 5 Prospects to Stash! Jordan Lawlar Update (8/7 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

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