Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Waiver Wire MUST ADDS! Prospect Debuts & Promotions! (9/2 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Peyton Toley and Jonah Tong had impressive debuts. Let's discuss on Fantasy Baseball Today Express. Welcome in to FBT Express on Tuesday, September 2nd. Here we are final month of the season. I am Frank Sample joined by Chris Towers. Let's take a look at two impressive debuts from the Labor Day weekend. Peyton Toley against the Pirates, 5 in a third innings, two runs allowed, eight strikeouts, 14 whiffs, fastball, everything looked electric.

Starting point is 00:00:30 he was very fun to watch there. And Jonah Tong in his Mets debut, his Major League debut, against the Marlins, five innings, four runs. Only one of those earned, some bad defense behind him. But six strikeouts, zero walks here. Chris, what did you see from these two? Peyton Tolly, Jonah Tong, and who do you like more rest of season? Tong was the better pitcher at the minor league level.

Starting point is 00:00:51 Both of these guys were huge risers this season, pitched across three levels in the minors, got to AAA and pitched well in limited opportunities. I will give Tong the edge because he's considered the better prospect and was more productive in the minors, but I thought both Tong and especially Tolly were really impressive in their major league debuts. Tong, it was a lot of fastballs,

Starting point is 00:01:12 and he didn't miss a ton of bats in this one. It was just seven whiffs on 97 pitches. But I think clearly watching the start, the Marlins were uncomfortable in the box. They fouled off a lot of pitches. It was a lot of ugly swings. He's got a really unique delivery that's going to cause hitters a lot of problems.

Starting point is 00:01:28 generates a lot of extension with a 95-mile-hour fastball from a weird slot. So it's going to move in a way that pitch hitters don't really see a lot. I think Tong looked very, very good, and I think he's going to be a very, very good pitcher. Tolly, I mean, if you line up every pitch that the two of these guys throw, and it's like 11 total or 10 total, Payton Tolly's fastball might be the best out of any pitch that either of these two guys throws. It's a big, heavy, 96-mile-hour on-average pitch that he throws. from the left side and gets huge extension like seven and a half feet down the mound it's in the

Starting point is 00:02:04 99th percentile after one start it gets on hitters and they have no chance against it nine whiffs in this one i think that pitch is going to be a difference maker moving forward it's just a question of how good can the rest of the arsenal be i think the the four seamer is both a floor and ceiling razor and it's just can the rest of the arsenal get there and allow toly to miss bat's consistently enough to live up to his ex to live up to his outside. I like both of them. I think they're both really special pitchers and should be rostered in basically every league moving forward. And totally by the way, not that we get any fantasy points for this, but the dude is electric, he's animated, he's snarling after strikeouts. His energy was just

Starting point is 00:02:50 fantastic. And he has an awesome mustache. And he's built like a tight end. He's like six foot six, two hundred and fifty pounds. He's massive. It seems uncomfortable. when hitters are facing both of these guys for very different reasons. As we know, Chris, the past month or so has been really generous in terms of rookie pitchers. You know, Cam Schlittler and Hurston Waldrip are two names that have emerged. Even more recently, Luis Morales with the athletics. Parker Messick had a rough start this weekend, but mostly has been good. And Ian Seymour has had a chance to join the race rotation, and he has pitched very well.

Starting point is 00:03:22 The skills look really good there. So five pitchers that I just mentioned, Slittler, Waldrip, Morales, Messick Seymour, plus the two that we started with, Jonah Tong and Peyton Tolly. How are you ranking all of those guys? Let me see if I can get them all. All right. I'm going to go Tong, Schlittler, Tolly at the top.

Starting point is 00:03:43 I think you start all three of them just have really special fastballs, which is a good foundation. But I just, man, Tong, I think he's going to take the league by storm because he's so unique. And that changeup looks like it could be a real weapon as well. So I like all three of those guys. I would put Waldrop at the bottom of that tier, but I think that is a tier.

Starting point is 00:04:03 His splitter is an outstanding pitch. It's just the rest of the Arsenal hasn't been there the past couple of starts, and it's been a little shakier, although very good results overall. So that's four of them. We've got three left. I would give Messick an edge over Morales, but I think it's really close. Morales is probably the more physically gifted pitcher.

Starting point is 00:04:24 I just think Messick has, he's a little more developed. And so I like what we've seen from both of them. Morales, the sweeper and slider look great this weekend, which is a big thing because he hasn't really been missing a ton of bats otherwise. If those can be bat messers, that takes him up a level. And then Seymour, I think is clearly at a tier below the rest of them. I think he's interesting, but the raise usage is going to limit his ability to get wins. It's going to limit his ability to get quality starts.

Starting point is 00:04:52 And he's more of a spark, I think, for me. All right. Let's take a quick break. When we return, we've got a bunch of prospect promotions to talk about right after this. Welcome back in FBT Express. We are here in September. Rosters have expanded by two, so we got a bunch of prospect promotions this weekend. The debacks were called Jordan Lawler on Friday.

Starting point is 00:05:13 He started three games over the weekend. He actually went 0 for 11 total in those three, but still huge prospect pedigree. Massive numbers in the miners as well. 35% rostered has second-based shortstop, about to gain third-third. base eligibility. Chris, where, if anywhere, would you be looking to add Jordan Lawler? I think most leagues. I'm excited about Jordan Lawler. I know that there's some prospect fatigue. This guy has been talked about since 2023 when he made his major league debut. As a 20, 20 year old, it's worth mentioning. He's only 22 right now. Jordan Lawler has been hugely, hugely productive

Starting point is 00:05:49 at the minor league level, especially at AAA. It isn't Reno. That's a very good place to hit. He's not going to be a thousand OPS guy like he has. has been in his career at AAA. But I think that just speaks to the quality of the contact that he makes. He lifts the ball on the air to the pole side a ton, which is going to help him live up to the power potential as well. He's got a good approach at the plate. I think Jordan Lawler just has a chance to be a Marcus Simeon type player. I don't really care that he's struggled at the major league level so far. It's a tiny sample size. I'm not going to hold that against him. So I think, you know, points leagues, maybe it's a little tough

Starting point is 00:06:28 just because it's so shallow, but once he has third base eligibility, it wouldn't take a lot for him to get into the top 12 at third base because that's a pretty bad position right now. Yeah. Another promotion here, the Reds called up infielder South Stewart. He was in the lineup at first base batting sixth on Monday.

Starting point is 00:06:44 He went one for three with a run scored. He's 21 years old, a former first round pick this season in the minor's 309 batting average, 20 homers, 17 steals, 907 OPS, 23% rostered. He's second base eligible for now, could gain other eligibility. Chris, where are you at on South Stewart? A lot to like here with the player. It's just a question of where

Starting point is 00:07:07 he's going to play and how much. He's got the first ground pedigree, had a breakout season, was contributing in a lot of different ways this year. Has the ability to play first, second, or third? They have the option to play him at second or first at any given time because both, Spencer Steer and Matt McLean have not really done enough to justify keeping them in lineups. So I'm hopeful South Stewart's going to play every day. I just, I'm not 100% certain. So that's the only thing holding me back. But I think in most leagues it's worth taking a flyer on South Stewart just in case because there is some upside here.

Starting point is 00:07:45 Yeah. And then we got a bunch of other prospects. I'm not really sure they're going to play much, but I'll just run through and you let me know. The Cubs promoted outfielder Kevin Alcansara. They sent Owen Casey back to AAA. the Mariners promoted catcher Harry Ford, the Royals promoted catcher Carter Jensen, the Cardinals promoted catcher Jimmy Crooks, and the Guardians promoted former top outfield prospect George Valera. Any interest in those five, deep league interest in those five.

Starting point is 00:08:13 I think Valera's probably got the best chance to play regularly just because the guardians have just gotten nothing from the corner out, well from right field in particular. Center field's been pretty bad for them as well. So if he gets hot, he could play pretty regularly. I just don't know how good the talent level is here. He's got a little bit of pop, but doesn't get to it in games very often. He doesn't steal many bases. See if he gets hot and play the hot hand. I think that's okay. The rest of them, you know, if Owen Casey wasn't playing for the Cubs, I doubt Kevin Alcounter is going to. He's not as good of a prospect. Carter Jensen, it's just super crowded there, especially now that Jack Caglione's back because is Sal Perez going

Starting point is 00:08:55 to play as much DH or first base? I don't know. Jimmy Crook should play pretty regularly for the Cardinals, or at least he has a chance. I just don't think he's a particularly impressive prospect. And then Harry Ford, Cowralli's there. So it seems very unlikely that he's going to play much. I think there's some interesting players in here who could get hot and force their team's hands, but none of those five are really, even in a 15-team league, the kind of guy that you have to go out and add before they get that opportunity, I think. 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 00:09:34 Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball Today Express, and we will be back again on Thursday. Bye-bye.

Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Waiver Wire MUST ADDS! Prospect Debuts & Promotions! (9/2 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

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