Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Top 5 Prospects to Stash! Moises Ballesteros Hype! (5/1 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Cubs prospect Moises by Astero is on fire. Let's discuss on Fantasy Baseball Today Express. Welcome into FBT Express and welcome to May. I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White, even before we get to the prospects to stash, Scott. I know someone that you want to talk about is Cubs prospect Moises by Astero, who is currently batting over 400 in the minors.

Starting point is 00:00:23 The question, how can he fit with the Cubs? It's a big question, because he is, kind of the trendy hitting prospect right now, the ones who's grabbing all the headlines, the one who's having a performance so big at AAA that he's gone from, you know, kind of an

Starting point is 00:00:41 interesting prospect to the one I think everybody's going to obsess over for a while. Moises by Asteroes added to a 16-game hitting streak with two home runs on Wednesday. That brings his batting average to 402 on the year. The exit velocities are great.

Starting point is 00:00:58 He struck out a lot. 11% of the time. And the strikeouts have always been low in the miners, great line drive rates, good opposite field rate, just a really good hit tool for Biasteros. And now he's shown pretty good power as well. It's built like a bowling ball.

Starting point is 00:01:13 He's 5 foot eight. He's over 200 pounds. It seems like catchers the only, like obviously he has to have the reflexes for it, but that seems like the only position where realistically he fits. And I don't know if you've noticed with the Cubs, but they have a,

Starting point is 00:01:30 crowded catcher situation already. They wanted to give Miguel Amaya a lot of it bats, but Carson Kelly, journeyman that he is, he's looked like Mickey Mantle so far, so he's needed his playing time too. And there just doesn't seem to be a path for Byesteros. First base, he has also played, but again, he's 5'8.

Starting point is 00:01:50 So that doesn't really seem like a place that you'd want him to wind up. I have had the thought. what if with Matt Shaw not working at third base, they have a glaring hole there. Why not slide Michael Bush back over there? He has plenty of experience at third base as a professional and then maybe stick by Astero's at first base.

Starting point is 00:02:13 But again, you get dealing with the height issue there. And I don't know that they really want to take the defensive hit at third base with Bush. So I don't know what they're going to do. Craig Counsel has basically said there's no room for him. And they just hope he keeps hitting well. So I think that's where things stand with by, Astero's why for as much as he's worth discussing right now, I can't put him in the five on the verge because without some kind of injury to at the right spot on the diamond, there

Starting point is 00:02:40 just doesn't seem to be a place for him. Well, let's talk about those five prospects on the verge. And we have Bubba Chandler with the pirates, Roman Anthony with the Red Sox, Logan Henderson with the Brewers, Jordan Lawler with the Debacks and Matt Shaw with the Cubs. Scott, I would say of these names, Chandler, Anthony, and Lawler are the ones we get questions about the most, when we could potentially see those names. Yeah, and I don't think either, but they're in the On the Verge segment. I don't think either is quite any of them are quite on the verge as in getting called up tomorrow. I guess Logan Henderson would come the closest because Freddie Peralt does a mainstay in the

Starting point is 00:03:18 brewer's rotation, of course. I think Jose Cantana's job is pretty secure. But apart from that, I mean, we just saw Tobias Myers removed after two innings. he was probably the third safest in the rotation. And I don't think he's that safe. Henderson, of course, already looked great in the one start he got, and then strikeout effort. He went back down to AAA through six one hit innings there.

Starting point is 00:03:38 So he seems like he could be back in short order. I do sense with Bubba Chandler, who again, I have now is more stashable than Henderson because the upside is higher. And I do get the sense that, like, we're getting close. The sky is about to open up here for Chandler because it just like Paul Skeens is commenting on the possibility at this point. There's just a lot more chatter about it and he continues to pitch well at AAA.

Starting point is 00:04:09 And at some point when there's that much chatter, it just all comes to ahead. Just a week ago, Pirates GM Ben Sherrington said they would begin to build them up in earnest once we get into May. Well, we're just now into May. So that's why I don't think he's getting called up like tomorrow. They haven't started building him up in earnest yet, according to their own GM. So I think at least a couple more turns at AAA, maybe a schedule more like we saw from Paul Skeen's last year, May 11th is when he made his debut.

Starting point is 00:04:43 So I think we'll be talking about Chandler as part of this list next week, too. Roman Anthony, he remember for a couple weeks, he couldn't play the outfield because of a shoulder, a sore shoulder. And then he missed a couple days last week with a bruised foot. He's back now. He's in the lineup. Average exit velocity 96.7 miles per hour, Aaron Judge-like. So he's been hitting the ball great for all the injuries to Roman Anthony.

Starting point is 00:05:11 But yeah, there's not an opening for him. Obviously, the outfield's full. And I've been saying, okay, maybe an opening on the infield, an injury on the infield. They shift Sadan Rafaela back there, and that would clear the path for Anthony as well. But Marcelo Meyer's been hitting so well at AAA that it might just be neater if, say, Trevor Story were to get injured. It might just be neater for the Red Sox to bring up Meyer to fill that opening rather than transition Raphael to the outfield. So obviously, Anthony, the upside is huge, but it is a complicated situation for him. Not any more complicated than Jordan Lawler, though.

Starting point is 00:05:51 who is, if Moises by Esteros isn't the talk of the minor leagues, then Lawler is. Every week, it's becoming more apparent. He's just too good for the minors. And he should already have graduated. I mean, he debuted late two years ago. It's just he was injured so much of last year that he never got the call. But they've been playing him at second base, shortstop, third base,

Starting point is 00:06:18 clearly open to using him at a variety of spots. It's just all those spots are filled with Cattel Marte coming back from injury later this week and Eugenio Suarez just had the historic four-homer game so I don't think he's going to be removed anytime soon. Geraldo Perdomo just signed the extension. The one idea I had is maybe they could shift Corbyn Carroll to center field full-time,

Starting point is 00:06:42 let Pave and Smith take over and write, which would then free up D.H. for an infield rotation that would include Lawler, that's a possibility. But that's kind of just me dreaming up scenarios. And I haven't read anything along those lines. So I think for now, Jordan Lawler is going to have to continue to bite his time. Yeah, and Jordan Lawler, I'm looking at the box score now from Wednesday.

Starting point is 00:07:04 Four more hits down in AAA. He just continues to mash down there. Let's move over to Prospects doing something of note lately. And you've got Marcel O'Meier of the Red Sox here, Jacob Miziarowski, with, the Brewers, Jesus Made with the Brewers, Hunter Barko with the Pirates, and Otto Kemp with the Phillies. Yeah, so I mentioned Meyer's been hitting very well at AAA. He's already more than halfway to his career high in home runs, exit velocities and launch angle to back it up. So I think all the talk of him being an elite prospect the past few years is bearing more fruit than ever.

Starting point is 00:07:41 Jacob Mizorowski, you know, Logan Henderson may have company as a pitching prospect who needs to break into the Brewer's rotation because Mizzerowski has always rated as a higher prospect than Henderson, but he had the glaring flaw of horrible control. Well, his last two starts, he's thrown 69% of his pitches for strikes. That is an elite number. One combined walk in those 11 innings, still 17 strikeouts in those 11 innings. So it hasn't compromised his effectiveness. It could just be a blip, obviously.

Starting point is 00:08:13 We'll need to see many more starts to determine if Mizorowski's really solved his control issue. But I think it at least eliminates the relief concerns that have come up for him in recent years. And yeah, there's an outside chance he actually gets called up ahead of Logan Henderson if the turn falls right when the brewers decide they need to fill an opening there. Jesus Made was consistently ranked among the top 50. 15 prospects, every major publication, even though he hadn't played at a level higher than the Dominican Summer League. Well, now he's at a full season league. He's at low A. As a 17-year-old, and he's dominating there.

Starting point is 00:08:57 Jack Centurio, as fast as he moved through the Brewer's system, he didn't even reach low A by age 17. So Made is looking like a true prodigy here. And if he's for some reason still available in your dynasty league, You got to pick them up before somebody else does. Hunter Barko of the Pirates. He might be their best pitching prospect once Bubba Chandler gets called up, yet to allow a run in his five starts at AA, 13.1K per 9, 1.7 walks per 9.

Starting point is 00:09:30 He's added a lot of velocity this year, has kind of a funky arm angle from the left side. Hunter Barker, a very interesting pitcher. And finally, Otto Kemp of the Phillies, versatile player, good defender, according to the Phillies GM, good base runner, and the powers really played up this year. He remains hot at AAA.

Starting point is 00:09:48 Could emerge as a super utility type or an injury fill in, Auto Kemp at some point this year for the Phillies. 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. Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball Today Express, and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.

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Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Top 5 Prospects to Stash! Moises Ballesteros Hype! (5/1 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

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