Fantasy Baseball Today - First and Third Base Tiers! Vinnie P vs. Jose Abreu (1/25 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: January 25, 2023

What are tiers and how do we use them in Fantasy Baseball (3:50)? ... Why is Goldschmidt being drafted a little lower (7:05)? ... Matt Olson is in a tier of his own (12:55). ... Jose Abreu vs. Vinnie Pasquantino (16:55). ... Trust Rowdy Tellez (28:06)? ... Which first basemen should you target in deeper leagues (33:48)? ... News (39:20): Adalberto Mondesi was traded to the Red Sox. ... Jose Ramirez is unmatched (45:20). ... Position scarcity is back (47:00). ... Alex Bregman is on an island (51:00). ... The difference between Gunnar Henderson and Max Muncy (54:33). ... The market has buried Anthony Rendon (56:25). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. It's about time for positional tears. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, January 25th. Frank Stample joined by Scottie Doves.

Scott White. Today on the show, we're starting. with first and third base tiers at Alberto Mondesie, which traded to the Boston Red Sox, so we'll talk about that a little bit later on as well. But Scotty, no joke every year that we get to positional tears. I get listeners, I get readers, I get people tweeting at me. People are excited for your tears.

And I'm excited too. Let's do it. I'm excited for them too. Tears are kind of my thing. I don't think it's a stretch to say I popularize them in the, the fantasy analysis world. I didn't make them up. I remember my AP calculus teacher talking about them back in the day

when I was in high school, obviously, and didn't have a career writing about fantasy sports. So I didn't invent them, but I don't remember them being published everywhere until I started publishing them. So I think it is fair to say I popularize them, and this is going back over 15 years at this point. when that started.

And part of the reason I'm especially excited about them this year is because I feel like for a while there, I was going through the motions with them for a few years. As we've talked about in other contexts, the juice ball era and how position scarcity kind of became less important because every position was more or less equivalent in depth. but I think as we're coming out of that era and back into a more familiar, a more typical distribution, typical in a historical sense,

distribution of talent at each position, tears are back to mattering as much as they ever have. They are what help you stay on top of position scarcity and make sure that you're not neglecting any position as you're filling out your roster on draft day. Before we get into the actual specifics of the tears and the players, some people might be listening, Scott, and wonder, what are tears?

Like, cheer up, guys, be happy. But if you had to explain it, if you had to break it down, what are tears and how do we use them for fantasy baseball? Yeah, so it's actually a pretty rudimentary thing. It's just grouping players that you, think are more or less equivalent in value at each position. Those are tiers. You're grouping them into tiers.

So it's indicating like where the drop-offs are at each position. And like I said a minute ago, it's it's a way to make sure that you're, you're drafting the position that's closest to a drop-off because you can see which positions active tier is closest to depletion if you have your positions organized into tiers instead of just rankings where, you know, obviously they show rankings to pick players in order of descending value. But a lot of times the value between number 12 and number 13 really isn't all that different. And so they belong at the same tier. So I feel like this is, and I've always felt like this is a more effective way to draft to, again, to ensure that,

you're taking advantage of position scarcity and not getting left behind anywhere when not getting left behind at a position where you can't afford to wait and drafting a position where you can't afford to wait. You don't want to do that. And interiors help you to avoid doing that. And they're really useful regardless

of what kind of draft format you play in, whether it's a snake draft or specifically for a salary cap or an auction type. The way that I would set it up personally is if you have your rankings, just kind of like personal ranking set up on an Excel sheet or wherever, you group your players, however you want to set it up, color coded or put like a bold line between tiers, whatever it might be.

Cross the names off or delete them as they get drafted, and then you'll start to see where the tiers are plentiful at certain positions and where they aren't. So you'll just be able to like track that throughout your draft. And it's really useful for salary cap and auction drafts for anyone who's played in that format. You'll notice that as you're getting to the end of a tier, Like, for example, we're going to talk about third baseman later on. Austin Riley, Bobby Witt, Raphael Devers, Mani Machado.

That's like a pretty clear tier, in my opinion. Once you get down to that last player, if you're in a salary cap or an auction draft, that player's probably going to go for more money than the others did, because everyone else knows the same. That's the last player in the tier. This is kind of like advanced level stuff for like auctions. And we'll talk about this as the season, as the offseason goes on and talking about strategy and so on and so forth.

but it's just something to keep in mind. I think tiers are really useful regardless of draft, but specifically in those salary cap or auction-type leaks. All right, Scottie, let's jump in and just kind of a preamble again to all of this. The tiers are kind of a, it's a little taste before we get into the position previews, which we're going to do in February,

where we're going to go more in depth on like every player and as many as we possibly can. But this is, again, just kind of like grouping the players together, and we'll break them down in that aspect. So it's just a little taste, but don't worry. We're going to go deeper as we get into February and March and all that fun stuff.

Let's start with first base and we'll start with the elite tier here, Scotty. And these players are either being drafted in the first or the second round between an ADP of 10 and 23. According to Fantasy Pros, by the way, their ADP is up and running. Freddie Freeman, Vladimir Guerrero, Paul Goldschmidt, and Pete Alonzo. All four of those names finish inside the top 24 in Roto last season. each of them averaged 3.2 fantasy points per game or better in head to add points leagues. The one I want to highlight here, Scott, is Paul Gulchman because he is obviously within this group,

but he's going the latest of all of these names, and he was the best one last year. He was the second best hitter in fantasy behind only Aaron Judge, yet he's being drafted last of this group right now by ADP, 23rd overall. Why do you think that is? because he's old and it's fair enough I've talked before about how I don't hold age against pitchers so much because pitchers have so many other risk factors

that it seems it seems kind of silly to fixate on that one but hitters have fewer risk factors and one of the biggest I feel like for them is age Paul Goldschmidt is now 35 years old and regardless of what position a player plays, that's old. But he's coming off back-to-back years now that we're

basically MVP caliber after looking like he was going through a declining period before that. So that reassures me that, I mean, obviously the 2021 season wasn't a flu, because we just saw him do something very similar, in fact, even better last year. So I don't think I'm being disingenuous when I say I would be just as happy with Paul Goldschmidt as my first basement as any of those other free Freeman Guerrero or Alonzo. It's hard to say any of them have more upside because Goldschmidt was what the number two overall player in Roto's leagues last year. Number two hitter, behind only judge. Number two hitter, right. Vladimir Guerrero was the number one hitter two years ago.

And I think most people would say, oh, he's the highest upside of these four. but they all have really high upside. They all have, I think, top five player and fantasy type upside. So this feels like a tear to me. I could understand some people leaving Goldschmidt out of it, but honestly, my first inclination when I was putting together my first base rankings in October,

I didn't see a, considering Goldschmidt was the best of all these guys this past year, I didn't immediately see a compelling reason. to rank him anywhere but first at first base for next year. I since sobered on that idea, I do think there's more downside risk with Goldschmidt than there is for Freeman and Guerrero, which is why I now rank him third. But we're not talking about rankings

where you're having to parse in that way. We're talking about tiers. And yes, Goldschmidt is absolutely part of this first tier. Yes, and I believe that he deserves to be part of that tier as well. I do think the reason he goes last of this group is because of the age, as you mentioned, Scott, 35 years old. the stack cast data, there is some things there where last year Goldschmidt hit 317.

His expected batting average was 261. He slugged 578. His ex-slug was 482. So, you know, maybe he was a little bit lucky in terms of the results last season. So could see some regression, but he's still really good and hits in the middle of a great lineup with the St. Louis Cardinals.

I will just point out, Scott, for Goldschmidt, he kind of comes at an interesting point in the draft, at least early on in ADP here. where 23rd overall, he's just after Fernando Tatis, Mike Trout, some of those third basemen, and then he's right before Francisco Lindor, J.T. Realimuto, Michael Harris, some of those second baseman, and then like Nolan Aronado. So it's kind of an interesting point in the draft.

It's kind of like a dividing line for me where you have to decide, do I want Goldschmidt, even though I know first base is maybe a little bit deeper position, or do I just kind of look the other way and go with a second baseman or a Nolan Aronado or someone like that? But I think more often than not, I'm probably not going to take Goldschmidt for that exact reason.

Yeah, I'm probably not going to take a top tier first baseman either, whether it's Goldschmidt or somebody else like Pete Alonzo. You know, part of drafting by the tiers approach is knowing the breakdown at each position ahead

of time so that okay maybe paul goldschmidt is the last first baseman available of his tier from his tier at that point in the draft and that would normally suggest that's the guy to go for and then you look at second base and the top tier there still has al tufe simeon and albys let's say all three but then you look at the next two tiers at second base i know we're not doing second base today, but there's basically nobody there after the top tier at second base. While at first base, certainly by the time you get to the third tier I have here today, the next best things, very, very deep in names that I'm, by the nature of the tiers, names that are more or less equivalent in my eyes.

So I'd much rather draft from that tier at first base than have to draft from that same tier at second base where there's a lot more competition for very few players. Let's move on to the near elite tier at first base and it includes one player. That is Matt Olson with a fourth round ADP of 38 and, you know, Olson, kind of like what I was just saying about Gulchman, more so within the first base position. Matt Olson is a dividing line because you had that elite tier going inside the first two rounds, then you drop down a little bit. You have Matt Olson going in the fourth round. He's his own tier.

And then you have to drop all the way down to pick 98, which is when you get your next first basement, Scott. So that's 60 spots worth of ADP. So, you know, Matt Olson's kind of on an island of his own. And he was fine last year. You know, the batting average was a disappointment, but he still had 34 home runs, 103 RBI. I think the batting average will bounce back, you know,

one year under his belt in a new environment in Atlanta. But the same thing that I see. said about Goldie, I just don't see myself drafting much Matt Olson because he's going right around Nolan Aronado and Jose Altuvei and even Randy Rosarena. If you play in a five Alphaler Roto League and you want speed, kind of makes sense to go for someone like a Rosarena over Matt Olson. So for those reasons, I think I'm probably not going to have a lot of him either. Yeah, and as we're having this discussion, I'm a little concerned that the way I broke it down is going to

compel people to draft a first baseman when maybe there are when maybe other positions are higher priority I did just kind of break down why you shouldn't do that by comparing first base to second base but at the same time I got

Olson in a tier here to himself which makes sense for all the reasons you pointed out I do think I do think he is a step behind the Pete Alonzo Paul Goldschmidt's of the world, but a step ahead of the Jose of Brayuveni Pasquantinos of the world. But at the same time, I don't have much interest in drafting him because that tier with the Brayu and Pasquantino is so big.

So, yeah, I basically agree with your assessment there. What I will say for Olson is, for the past several years, I've said, basically that Pete Alonzo and Matt Olson are mirror images of each other. And there'd be sometimes when one would have a better year and sometimes when another would have a better year. But regardless of that, I would put them in the same tier the next year because the underlying numbers look basically the same.

This year, I don't have them in the same two. This year, I think there has been, I do think a separation has developed. between the two, because while they were both trending the right direction with strikeouts, going from being big swing and miss guys to pretty good contact hitters, that changed last year. Alonzo continued to improve his strikeout rate while Olson's regressed and regressed significantly in his first year with the Braves. And that pretty much explains the decline in batting average for him.

Maybe he could cut down on the strikeouts again, but that's a hard thing to predict. And so I'm definitely at a point now where I prefer Alonzo to Olson. And we now have a pretty large sample, Scott, 3,068 plate appearances for Matt Olson with a 23.6% strikeout rate. Last year, his strikeout rate was 24%. So it's pretty much right in line with his career average. Pete Alonzo has been just under 20% strikeout rate, two years. in a row. And I think the batting average floor is safer. I think he's proven that the past

couple of years. So I agree with you. I think Alonzo, higher batting average and, you know, probably similar power production, but I do think Pete Alonzo was just a slight tick ahead of Matt Olson in that department as well. The next best thing's tier, and this is a tier that ranges nearly 50 picks worth of ADP 98 through 144, and it is a massive one, as Scott has referenced multiple times. Jose Ibrahimiru, Vinnie Pasquantino, Reese Hoskins, Nate Lowe, Christian Walker,

C.J. Cron, and Anthony Rizzo. Scott, I kind of look at this as, and I don't want to complicate things, but like it's two tiers within one, at least based on ADP, Abraeu, Pasquantino,

Nate Lowe, those three are going right around pick 100, and then each of Hoskins, Walker, Cron, and Rizzo are going just a tad bit later, like pick 115 and beyond that. So I kind of look at it as two tiers within one. but specifically I think the call between Vinnie P. and Jose Abraeu is a really, really close one, right? Like, I can't fault anyone who you prefer because I like both of them.

I do have Jose Abrae ranked just ahead of Vinny Pass Quantino, but which way are you leaning? If you're on the clock, around pick 100, you want to take a first baseman. Are you taking Vinny P. or Jose Abrae? I love Vinny P, as you know, but I think I'm taking, if we're talking five by five scoring, like a Rotel league, I think I'm taking a brayu just because I mean that that track record is it's beyond

reproach really I mean he's been such a consistent hitter such a so consistent for batting average especially and I understand he hit only 15 home runs last year and very early on when the first ADP data

was coming out it seemed like he was being heavily penalized for that. But then he signed with the Astros, and I don't know if it was just the fact he had a team again, or the fact it was such a good team and such a favorable venue for right-handed hitter. It seems like his ADP has come back up to a rate that's a little more palatable, a little more deserved. And so Bray is close to getting the respect he deserves again.

I don't think he's going to be a 15-Homer guy in his first year with the Astrospection. I think that was one of the biggest statistical flukes of last season because he still hit the ball as hard as he ever has, which is to say very, very hard. And it wouldn't surprise me if Jose Ibrahim is a 300 hitter with 25 home runs in that lineup, 115 plus RBI. So I'll take him despite how much I like Pasquantuanese, and what kind of potential I think he has.

I'll take a Breu in that 5x5 scoring format. Now, if it's a points league, part of the appeal for Pasquantino is the excellent plate discipline, how much he's going to walk, how low the strikeout rate's going to be. I mean, strikeout rate's going to be low for Brayu, too. But it's going to be even better for Pasquantino,

and I think that'll be enough to put him ahead in that format. But in either case, they're both in this tier, whether you're talking about 5xif vertisory scoring or head-to-head point scoring. That isn't true for every player, by the way. We are not at first base. First base is pretty consistent between those two formats. But when we get to third base tiers,

you'll notice some players are going to be a tier higher or lower depending on what the scoring format is. Bobby Wade, Jr. We'll talk about that a little bit later on. Put a bow on Jose Ibrahim and Vinnie Pasquantino. I think the skill sets are very similar at this point, you know, really good batting average, 270 plus 20 to 25 home runs. There's a little give and take. Maybe you get more RBI from Jose Ibrahim,

because he's in the better lineup. But I do think Pasquantino will get on base more. So maybe as a result, score a few more runs. So they're very similar, but it's just, what do you prefer? Is it a little bit more RBI, a little bit more run scored? It's close. You know, you got the veteran versus the young buck. But I do prefer Jose Abraeu just by a hair myself. Before we move on from this, tier because you brought I brought up how you know I wondered if putting Matt Olson in a tier by himself is going to encourage a lot of people to draft him when I probably won it you brought up how

this very large third tier could be two separate tiers and so what I'm wondering aloud here since you know this this is kind of the first reveal of these tiers they're not published on the site yet should I instead of having Olson tiered by himself should I put Jose Abraeu and Pasquantino in that tier together? So, you know, a second tier of three rather than one. And then have a third tier that consists of just Hoskins, Nate Lowe, Christian Walker, C.J. Crohn, and Anthony Rizzo. Now, by ADP, that wouldn't look right, right?

Because Olson's going well ahead of Abraeu and Pasquantino. But what I'm saying is, I don't like take it. Olson at the point where he's going. And I feel just as comfortable with the Brayu and Pasquantino 60 picks later, which will encourage people to draft more the way I think they should. I actually wouldn't, Scott. I agree with the way that you set it up here.

And I think anyone who either listens to this podcast or maybe it's something you'll just note in the article that you put out for this will know not to target Matt Olson. Even though he's in his own tier, I agree that he should be because he's better than these names that we're talking about. For as flawed as the batting average was, Scott, last year,

Olson, I believe, was a top 50 player in Roto, so he's still really, really good. He was. Was he? Top 50. What was Abraeu? 51st. Matt Olson was 51st last year. And Abraeu had a down year, so probably. Yeah, he was 73rd, so yeah, not far off. But if I'm banking on

Jose Ibrahim, putting up that line I just gave. 300 batting average, 25 homers, 115 RBI. And I'm not counting on Olson getting the strikeout rates back down and the batting average back up. I mean, maybe Abreu is going to have a better year. Yeah, absolutely.

Then there's a legitimate argument for that. If you think he could put up that line, Scott, then Jose Ibrayu is going to return top 50 value. And you won't have to pay that price because he's going around pick 100. but if that's the point you want to make, then yeah, maybe that's something you should do.

But as of now... I'm going to think about this some more. I'm going to think about this. My first thought, seeing the tiers, I thought it was set up correctly, just based on ADP, and just kind of where their careers have trended recently. Like, to me, Matt Olson is still just a tick ahead of a break.

It does look right this way. Yes. But as a draft guide, as something meant to see, steer people the right direction strategically. The other way might make more sense. Now, I update my tiers, you know, this will be tiers 1.0. I'll have tiers 4.0 before it's done.

So I'll have chances to rearrange it if I don't like the way my, the way I'm drafting my teams based on the way they're initially set up. So there will be chances to revisit it. But that's, that's, that's something I'm going to have to think about. Well, maybe this last point that I'll make about this specific. tier, Scott, the next best thing with, that starts with Abraeu and ends with Anthony Rizzo, was that this is the exact point of this exercise, is that I'm not really going to reach on an Abraeu or Pasquantino as much as I like those guys, because I'm perfectly fine

getting Anthony Rizzo 50 picks later. And that's the point of tiers, that if you think these guys are similar value, just wait for whoever goes last. You know, C.J. Crone, you get them around pick 120, 125, or Rizzo, 20 picks later. You know, Rizzo's getting up there in age and you worry about missing time a little bit, but I think the batting average will get a little bit better with the shift ban, 30 plus home runs and a great lineup with the Yankees. I don't mind just waiting and taking whoever lasts from this group. So I think that's the point.

And that's obviously what I was thinking when I set it up this way too. Yep. But that hypothetical scenario I just laid out for brave, that hypothetical stat line. I think that's his upside case that you're making, by the way, Scott. That's probably at this point, like an 80th percentile outcome or better for Jose Bray. 300 with 25 homers? That's pretty long. I mean, look at his history.

Yeah. And again, he didn't show decline. He didn't show true skills decline last year. I understand the home runs disappointed, but it seems like a total fluke. But Rizzo can't do that, right? I mean, Rizzo is probably going to hit no better than 240. I mean, with the shift ban, maybe he's a beneficiary of that. but he's become so flyball,

he's become such a sellout for home runs at Yankee Stadium that I don't think the shift band's going to help riso that much. And then look at all those other names. I mean, Pasquantino, the kind of breakthrough potential, I think he has what he showed after he got settled in at Kansas City. I mean, we're not going to do our breakouts episode right now, so we'll get into all the numbers later. But I do think upside-wise,

is more with a Brayu and Pasquantino than there is with an Anthony Rizzo or a Christian Walker. Walker's a tough one for me to rank, Scott, because he finishes as the 50th best player in fantasy last year, one spot better than Matt Olson, which Christian Walker was awesome,

and he actually underperformed his expected stats, and he was better in the second half. So everything's kind of pointing towards, you know, Christian Walker might just be a really, really good player. It's just, he doesn't have that track record. He had one other season where he finishes the top 100 player. Yeah.

I like him, but again, how much can you trust it? So Walker to me is like a really hard player to rank or I guess even trust when you're talking about other names in this tier, guys that I trust a little bit more. But your point is valid on Anthony Rizzo. Like maybe he should be a tier lower. But I've done a few drafts and I haven't, I don't mind winding up with Anthony Rizzo as my starting first basement. I mean, Rizzo doesn't need to be into different.

frontier than the one hit wonders Christian Walker and Nate Lowe. I think that's easy to say. It's just, you know, what is the upside of Pasquantino? What is the upside of Abraeu? Yeah. You know, people are questioning my claim that a Bray is likely to hit 300 this year. I mean, is it 3002 of the past three years? He's a career 292 hitter. I mean, he just he just hit 304, right? Yeah, exactly. So it's not like, maybe, 300 is the most you should hope for, but you know, he's not going to hit much less than 290 in all likelihood. Yeah. Let's get into this next tier here

and that includes the fallback options with an ADP from 145 to 177. That includes Josh Bell, Andrew Vaughn, Rowdy Tellez, and Thai friends. Much like Anthony Rizzo, this is why I think you can argue either way that maybe Rizzo should be a tier lower or Routy Tulles. should be a tier higher because I don't really see much of a difference between either one. I know Roddy Telez just hit 219, which was abysmal, but his expected batting average was 252.

He hit 35 home runs. Now we have the shift restrictions. Maybe the power comes down a little bit, but I expect the batting average to go up a little bit for Roddy Telez. And I kind of like him too. Again, I don't mind winding up with Roddy Telez. You kind of need that batting average buffer if you play in a Roto League. But I don't mind just kind of waiting.

and getting Roddy Tellez here as a fallback option, which you have aptly named this here. Yeah, and this was a tough, it was difficult to find the drop-off here between the previous group with Rizzo and Walker and this group with Josh Bell and Rowdy-Tales, because part of me wants to put them in the same tier too, which is also a credit to the depth at first base,

I would say that the drop-offs aren't, is clear here, that it is a little murkier in between tiers and why we are kind of debating exactly where these tiers, how these tiers should look because of that murkiness. If we're comparing

to Les in this lower tier versus Rizzo in the higher tier specifically, yeah, they had very similar numbers last year and maybe they could do that again. Obviously Rizzo has a history of doing these kinds of things in Routi Teles.

was, you know, this was the first time we've seen him put, we've seen him put up these kinds of numbers. I think he's probably a greater threat to fall into a platoon roll, to slip into a platoon roll with the Brewers than Rizzo is with the Yankees. So there's, there's more downside risk with Teles, I would say, which is why I have him a tier lower than Rizzo. But I do like the upside. I think, I think he could be a guy who it's 30 plus home runs again. He has that kind of power.

He impacts the ball that well. He makes pretty good contact for a guy with that kind of power. And for hitting only 219, he had a 252 expected batting average. It was one of the biggest differences between expected batting average and actual batting average. And in his case, because he makes so much contact, it does look like an example of a guy who could benefit from the shift ban. and I've said before that a shorthand way to speculate, oh, maybe this guy could be helped by this ban, is to look at that difference between expected batting average

and actual batting average. And Teles is a prime example of that. So is Christian Walker, by the way, who we were just talking about in the previous tier. Even though he's a right-handed hitter, and we don't think of those guys being helped as much by a shift ban, he's a slow right-handed hitter who was shifted on a long. lot and didn't do very well on the infield shift. And you see that big gap between expected

batting average and actual batting average again. So I have more faith than Christian Walker than I do in Rowdy-Tiles when it comes down to it. But yeah, they're both at a point where I could understand tiering them on either side of that line. The last name I'll mention in this tier is Andrew Vaughn, who's finally going to be playing his natural position at first base. We mentioned Jose Ibrahim, you now with the Astros. So Andrew Vaughn slides over to first for the White Sox, and he's consistently hit the ball hard in his major league career. It's the launch angle.

We need him to lessen those ground balls, a few more line drives, two more fly balls, but he makes a lot of contact Andrew Vaughn does and he hits the ball hard. And this is anecdotal more than anything, Scott, but a young player getting back to his natural position where he could focus more on hitting. He doesn't have to focus on learning how to play the outfield. I think I heard the Welsh say last year he saw Andrew

Vaughn taking reps at second base before a game. So I was just like, what is going on with all this? I think Andrew Vaughn focusing on first base, he'll actually be able to do better as a hitter as well. But I don't have any evidence of that. It's just kind of just something I think. It's a theory.

Yeah. It's a theory. And I've seen a few others share that theory. we could point two examples in history where that's absolutely been the case I have no idea whether it's going to be true of Vaughn or not I always have wanted his numbers his data to look better than it has you know I'm always looking for what I can cite to say aha the breakout is happening for Vaughn because I still

think he has high-end potential, but I don't really see anything when I look through the data that makes for an easy case. Maybe it'll be that. Maybe it'll be just comfort level in his third season, no longer having to learn the outfield on the fly, but, you know, it's only a theory at this point. All right, I want to skim over these next three tiers, Scotty, because I do want to give third base. It's due time later on as well. The last resorts tier at first base, I think these are more corner infielers at this point. Jose Miranda, Jake Cronoworth, Ryan Mountcastle, Tristan Cossus, Miguel Vargas, Brandon Drury,

Joey Meneses, Luis Arise, and Will Myers. This is a really fun tier here, Scott. We've got Young Upside with Miranda, Casas, and Vargas. Ryan Mountcastle had awesome stat cast numbers last year, but he's got those terrible left field dimensions in Camden Yards. Joey Menesis was amazing for 56 games, but how much do we trust it?

and Will Myers is really intriguing because he's an everyday player in Great American Ballpark as long as he could say healthy theoretically. So there are a lot of very interesting names in this group that I wouldn't mind as a corner or maybe utility or bench stash, something like that.

Yep. Spoiler alert. Three of these players are in Sleepers 1.0 for me. Nice. Which is, I mean, it's not much of a spoiler. It's up on the site right now. If you hadn't read it yet, you deserve to tell. have it spoil. That's right. All right. Well, let's quickly run through these last

groups. Deep leaguers, Seth Brown, Josh Naylor, Matt Mervis, Joey Votto, Spencer Torkelson, Jared Walsh, and Brandon Belt. Two names up at the top, Seth Brown and Josh Naler. They were actually both very solid in deeper leagues last year. So if you play in 15 team leagues as a corner or I think Seth Brown has outfield eligibility, someone you could target there as well. Still a ton of upside for Matt Mervis, likely to start the season in the minors, which completely breaks my heart. But if not, if it looked like he had the inside track for the Cubs still, he'd be up there with Casas and Vargas in the previous tier for me.

Absolutely. And I still think that there is upside for Torkelson. I'm not going to completely write him off. I mean, this guy is a former top pick in the MLB draft. And maybe he got rushed to the majors a little bit, but hopefully, you know, last season is behind him, can learn from that. They change the dimensions in Camerick a little bit. so maybe that can help him get back on track.

But I wouldn't write Torkelson off too quick because he's still super young and there's lots of likes still. The leftover is DJ LaMayhew, Trey Mancini, Luke Voight, Wilmer Flores, and Carlos Santana. This tier is exactly what it sounds like, Scott. DJ LaMahue status is completely up in the air right now. He will avoid surgery on his broken toe, but it completely derailed his season last year.

And the Yankees have a glut of infielders. They're not all very good. Josh Donaldson, for example, but I don't know. Like LeMayhew's status is just kind of up in the air for me right now. Yeah, I've moved him down just in the process of putting together these tiers, because I think he'll play a fair amount. He'll get 400, 450 at-bats, but he hasn't actually done a lot with the abats he's gotten since 2020, which is a while ago now.

And the Yankees have a couple exciting young middle infielder expected to come up at some point this year and make it even harder for LaMayhew to nail down a full-time role. Yeah, there's a chance that they could trade at Glaber Torres, but as you mentioned, they still have Oswald Paraza and Anthony Volpe and Josh Donaldson's on the team, Anthony Rizzo, and all that fun stuff. So again, those are Scott's first base tiers, and at some point this week, you'll be able to find them on the site. So keep a lookout for those. Before we hit the break, just do want to promote a quick thing here. Our buddy Nick Pollock of Pitcher List has an online baseball convention,

called PitchCon, which starts today when you're listening to this, Wednesday, January 25th. It's four straight days of live streaming, all different sorts of panels talking baseball, fantasy baseball, and everything in between. 100% of the donations will be sent directly to the ALS Association. So it's a great cause. If you can donate, go to Pitchellist.com slash pitchcon or Twitch. Twitch.tv slash Pitchcon to watch or donate. I'll be on Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern time.

Scott will be on Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern time. And our buddy Chris Towers will be on Saturday at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Little spoiler alert, but Chris is doing a mascot draft with a couple of people. So that should be a lot of fun if you want to go watch that this weekend. PitchCon. Support our buddy, Nick Pollack from Pitcher List. And speaking of support, support us. Go follow us on TikTok.

If you haven't done it already, ticot.com, at FBTPod or just search FBTPod on TikTok. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. All right, let's talk about some news and notes before we get to the third base tiers. Adelberto Mondesie was traded to the Red Sox in exchange for left-handed reliever, Josh Taylor, and a player to be named later.

We know the deal when it comes to Monashy. He's now 27 years old. He has the tools, but he strikes out a lot. He doesn't walk very much. He has not been able to stay on the field. He's coming back from a torn ACL. Mondesi has played 50 total games over the past two seasons and has played more than 100 games just once in his career.

The last time we saw him in extended, for an extended time was the short in 2020 season where he was the fifth best shortstop and a top 30 overall player in Roto. So we know the type of upside he possesses, Scott. I don't know where he's at at this point, coming back from a torn ACL,

what's the motivation like? He's going super late. His ADP is 251.7. What do you think about Mondesi to the Red Sox? I mean, I just don't think, I don't think steals are going to be in as high demand anymore because of the rule changes, as we've talked about, all off season. So I don't see much incentive to sell out for the upside, given the risk.

And going to the Red Sox doesn't change anything in terms of Mondi's value. What's funny is like they only need to keep the they they only have a shortstop void until Trevor's story is ready to return for Melbo surgery mid-season. But you can't feel confident Mondesie is going to make it even that long, you know? It's just they filled one injury headache with another. Yeah, I mean, that's well put, Scott. It's Adelberto Mondesie. We don't know what he's going to look like. Is he going to play in spring training?

Still kind of coming back from that torn ACL. So there's a lot up in the air. Some people will talk themselves into him for the speed or whatever, but look, it's low risk. ADP is 250. If you want to take a shot as like a bench player, that's fine. But just, you know, be wary. I would not be expecting much at all from Atalberto Montesey.

Mike Clevenger is being investigated by Major League Baseball due to allegations of domestic violence and child abuse. He signed with the White Sox this off season. So as we get more news, we'll let you know what's going on with Mike Clevenger. Met's third base prospect, Brett Beatty is likely to begin the season in the minors. They did not sign Carlos Correa, so it sounds like Eduardo Escobar will start the season as the third basement for the Mets. Hazus Aguilar signed a one-year $3 million deal with the Oakland A's. Not much to see here.

It's got the A's lineup. They are now fielding a combined group of Tony Kemp, J.S. Aederson, Aledmus Diaz, and Jesus Aguilar. It's pretty gross. That is rough. Yes. If you're looking for pitchers to stream this year, I mean, the Oakland A's are, if they're not the top of the list, they are, they're right up there. They are close to it.

I mean, we're saying this about them last year, too, after they traded Olson anyway. Yeah. I mean, yikes. Yeah, not a lot going on there. The Marlins are no longer pursuing Yuleiguerreel. according to Craig Mish, who I actually had lunch with when I was down in Florida. Great guy.

I highly recommend. Follow him on Twitter at Craig Mish. The Phillies invited each of their top three pitching prospects to Major League Camp. Andrew Painter, Mick Abel, and Griff McGarry. There is a real chance that Andrew Painter is in the opening day rotation, which would be crazy.

He's either 19 or turning 20 years old. He's really young. Joey Votto is likely going to be delayed at the start of spring training, coming back from a torn rotator cuff and torn biceps. Lastly, congrats to Scott Rowland on being elected to the Hall of Fame, joining Fred McGriff as the class of 2023. Todd Helton and Billy Wagner fell just short at 72% and 68% respectively. Andrew Jones guy, I don't know, are you a big Andrew Jones guy? I kind of feel like you have to be right as a Braves fan. There are bigger Andrew Jones guys, but sure, I like Andrew Jones.

Well, he took a huge jump. I think he went from 40 to 58%. I am rooting for Andrew Jones to get into the Hall of Fame. I think if someone like Scott Rowland is getting in, to me, they're very similar players in that they were never, there were seasons where they were very good offensively. There's no doubt about that. But they were more so known for their defense. And Andrew Jones, my opinion, was one of the best defensive center fielders I've ever seen. So I think that. Yeah. I mean, there's a case he is the best defensive center fielder ever. I struggle with the you know the fact he was basically done by age 30 yeah and and so you know it makes him more of a fringe case than maybe he was shaping up to be so I haven't been as adamant that he belongs

as others are but my my take on it is and obviously I don't have a vote but if I did if a guy's percentage has been continually increasing, and I'm at least on the fence about him, you know, and it's now to the point where my vote could be the difference between him getting in or not, I would just vote for him. Yeah. You know, I would rather see, I would rather be the reason people get in than not get in. Again, if I'm on the fence about it anyway, if it's somebody who I think absolutely doesn't belong, okay.

But it's rare that somebody's going to get that bigger percentage of the vote. and I'll be like absolutely no way on it. Yeah, yeah. So we're fans. Let's go. Let's get Andrew Jones in the whole fame. Carlos Beltron first year on the ballot, 46.5%. He'll get in one day.

I feel pretty confident saying that. Let's take a look at Scott's third base tiers. There is one that I've never seen before. The unmatched tier, that includes one player. No surprise. Jose Ramirez with an ADP of 2.3. He is in a class of his own when it comes to the third base position. if you have a top three pick regardless of format,

feel perfectly fine using it on Jose Ramirez. He has finished no lower than sixth overall in Roto each of the past three seasons. Last year, he averaged 3.8 fantasy points per game. He's about as elite as they come. He did slow down a little bit in the second half last year. Turns out he was playing with a torn ligament in his thumb, Scott. He had surgery in the offseason.

Real quick, does that concern you one bit when it comes to using a top three pick on Jose Ramirez? No, it doesn't. For what it's worth, this tier above the elite, I've broken it out on occasion for certain positions in certain years. I didn't need to it anywhere last year just because of the way the names broke down.

But basically, I'm wanting to distinguish Jose Ramirez from like the top tier at first base, where you've got like Vladimir Guerrero, Freddie Freeman, like we talked about. there's really no case to make for drafting Guerrero ahead of Ramirez, let's say. And so if I put them in the same tier, obviously at separate positions, but in the elite tier, that's almost saying, oh, well, you could draft these guys equivalently even at separate positions.

And that's not the case. Jose Ramirez is one of those players who needs to be among the top five draft picks, and you'll probably see this tier at other positions that also have players like that. All right, well, let's take a look at the elite tier, which includes second and third round players with an ADP between 14 and 35, Raphael Devers, Mani Machado, Austin Riley,

Bobby Witt, and Nolan Aronado. Worth noting that Bobby Witt is one tier lower in a head-to-head points league, which Scott mentioned earlier. There would be a few players that their value is differentiated based on the different formats. The Fantasy Pro's ADP, Scott,

I mentioned we have three different sources now. I think it's RT Sports, NFBC, and fan tracks. At some point, CBS, Yahoo, ESPN, those will all be involved in Fantasy Pros ADP as well. Three different sources moves Bobby Witt down to 15.3. I knew it was going to happen. I knew NFBC was way too high on him. They have him, and we've been talking about this,

They have Bobby Witt as the, whereas the Amble is, they have him as the seventh overall player. But you get a couple other sources in there, and suddenly he drops to 15. You get three more sources there who aren't NFBC, like in their thinking. Then he's going to drop even more, probably drop more to a range where I rank him. And we can all go home happy at that point.

All right, I wanted to ask you specifically about Devers, Machado, and Austin Riley. Those are names that I consistently, see at the turn, early second round picks, something like that, because of that position scarcity, Scott, are you taking those three names, Devers, Machado, Riley, over guys like Vladimir Guerrero or Bo Bichet, where they are still really valuable players, but they come at more plentiful positions like first base and shorts up? Yeah, yeah, 100%. In fact, I have Devers as a first rounder.

I may have Machado as a first rounder in one format or another too, just to really drive home that point. And it'll become clear why when we get to the next tier at this position, because this is a pretty robust tier, right? Five players? No other position, well, first base doesn't. And a few of the positions we're going to talk about as we move forward with this is going to have an elite tier as big as five players.

So, you know, if you just look at it. that tier independent of all the others, you'll say, ah, third base is deep. I can wait forever here. But this tier of five is depleted by the end of round two. Well, Nolan Aeronado's in it, so maybe it trickles into round three. But it's, you know, it's gone pretty early on. And after that, after that, it's pretty scary. Yeah. And I think we're, I've already seen it in other drafts, Scott. I'm in a slow draft for the NFBC right now. It's a 15 team league. Alex Bregman went in the third round. Pick 39.

Now, I'm not advocating for doing that, but that is clearly someone who is worried about missing out on third base. And the next one after that is Gunner Henderson by ADP, and we'll talk about these guys coming up, but where two rounds later, it's in the fifth round, Gunner Henderson hasn't gone yet. So we'll talk about that,

but I think that's just to drive home the point that people want a good third baseman this year, and there's not many of them. So keep that in mind. And to give an example that I think is more typical from our latest mock draft earlier this week, 12-team Roto. So this tier of five, okay, so the top four in the tier, Austin Riley, Bobby Wood, they were all gone within the first 18 picks of the draft. And then Nolan Aronado went with the 27th pick of the draft. So the tier was depleted at that point after 27 picks.

The next third baseman didn't go off the board for four rounds. It was Bregman, but it was more like pick 70 or whatever, which I think is going to be more typical. And with that, Scott, we'll move into that next tier, the near elite, which is just one player. It's Alex Bregman, who you mentioned, who has an ADP of 64.3 in the sixth round. Now, I know exactly what you're about to say, Scott. Yeah. He's one tier lower in a categories league. Right.

Right. He's one tier lower. He's one of those players who, you know, I put him in the near elite tier here because that's reflected for points leagues. But I have a little cross, a little dagger indicator next to him that says, oh, but if you're talking roto leagues, drop them a tier. Which would mean in roto leagues, there are no third baseman in the near elite tier. The tier is completely skipped in that scoring format,

which is why it is so vitally important. grab one of those five elite third baseman, presuming you don't get Jose Ramirez at the very start of your draft. And I think the more people listen to content and do mock drafts this off-season, I think they're going to realize what's going on at the third base position.

Alex Bregman is going to get pushed up, Scott. I think by the time we get to March, Bregman is going to be a fifth round pick. He's going to be inside the top 60 picks in 12-team leagues. I think for this reason, he's not going to go three to four rounds after Nolan Aronado. I just personally don't think it's going to happen. Maybe I'm wrong.

Well, here's the thing. Like, okay, in a points league where I do actually have him in the near elite tier. Yeah. I got to understand it. His play discipline's so good. Maybe he could keep up with the Nolan Aeronados of the world, or at least come close. But in a categories league, I'm not so sure he deserves to be ranked ahead of Gunner Henderson. So why would Bregman get pushed up and not Henderson as well?

They both could be. I think that's totally plausible. I think people might look at the second half for Bregman where he has. hit 287 with an 894 OPS. He raised his fly ball rate, hit a few more home runs in the second half as well, as maybe this is something that can carry over. You know, if he can hit 270 with 25 home runs, that's a pretty valuable player at a really scarce position.

So that might be worthy of a top 60 pick even in a category, uh, categories league. Like, I don't want to reach that much. Yeah. You know, it's, it's, it's, I'm not advocating it's God. I'm just, I'm making a prediction. I think that's what's going to happen. as we get closer. Like I wouldn't change my tears to reflect that, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

Like, if your tiers are just a reflection of ADP or your rankings, then they're not, this is getting back to the first base discussion. Do we tear Olson with Pasquantino and a brave, even though they're going well after him? Tears are meant to reflect different things than ADP. It's supposed to reflect your own comfort level and you're kind of supposed to ignore ADP when it comes to putting them together. So it wouldn't change even if Bregman and Henderson did get artificially inflated because of the scarcity at third base. You know, ultimately you want good players and you want, you want, yes, it makes sense to prioritize the good players at the position that runs out of them the soonest. But that doesn't mean when it's already out of good players, you settle for not as good players when there are still good players elsewhere.

No, I think that's a good way to put it too. And it's something you talked about when we reviewed the mock draft where instead of getting your second outfielder at the time, you took Willie Adomis. It's because you felt like Willie Adomis was that much better than the outfielder's available. So it's a good way to put it. The next two here is the next big thing, the next best things, rather, which includes Gunner Henderson and Max Muncie. And there's a big ADP range between these two. Gunner Henderson going at pick 92, Max Muncie at pick 142. Scott, based on this tier's approach and the way that you've explained it the entire night,

you're probably not going to wind up with any Henderson if you can get Max Muncie 50 picks later. Probably not, but that's a dangerous game to play. When you're leaving yourself only one player in a tier, and if you start comparing that to ADP and I can wait until 140, to take him, but he's the last player in the tier. Yeah. Then all it takes is one other person in the draft going off,

you know, ignoring ADP and just taking Muncie when they feel like they want third base or second base and even weaker position. That's exactly what I was going to say is that Muncie's dual position eligibility makes it even tougher to rely on him as the last player in the tier. So I guess the broader idea

with this example is you know, ideally you can wait until the very last player in a tier to draft at that position. But a little buffer isn't so bad either. And so we have a tier here of three. Let's put Bregman in it, Bregman, Henderson, and Muncie. If Bregman's gone and there's only two players left at the tier, I'm going to be thinking about taking Henderson. I'm not going to necessarily wait until he's gone and then take Muncie.

it's so tough with this position. So, you know, there's just such a big range in the ADP, too, which I spoke about. And we could talk about the next group, too, which kind of starts. Some of these names are actually going before Max Muncie. So someone like, I believe it's Anthony, no, not Anthony Rendon. It's Matt Chapman. Let's see. Yeah, Chapman is going at 149.

Suarez is the one that's actually going at 132. So the fallback options tier includes Rendon, Anthony Rendon, A. E. E. E. E. E. Hennio Suarez and Matt Chapman. And this is a group that ranges from 132 to 230. So that tells me, Scott, that drafters don't think that there is a huge difference, at least based on ADP, between Suarez, Chapman, and Max Muncie. They also do not agree with Anthony Rendon. Like, the market is completely out.

His ADP is 230. He's been buried. People are done with Anthony Rendon. He has not been able to stay healthy. He's played 105 games over the past two seasons. So what do you think about those two statements? The market is out on Rendon, and they basically see Suarez, Chapman, and Muncie all as very similar players.

I get why they would think of Muncie as similar to Suarez and Chapman. He walks a lot more. He's in the best lineup of the three. certainly his points league value is higher than the other two. But I have him tiered ahead even in a five-by-five context. I think for me, the fact he's dual-eligible at second base and even weaker position, as I just mentioned,

makes me want him that much more than Suarez and Chapman. Because even if you're drafting him with the idea of playing him at third base, you have no idea how the year is going to play out. you may end up, you may end up finding some awesome third baseman, nobody sees coming off. Like Brett Beatty gets called up at some point. Goes crazy. And you added them off the waiver wire.

Well, good thing you can shift Muncie the second base where, you know, maybe Cattel Marte got hurt again, the guy you drafted afl that spot. So it's a valuable thing. I mean, Max Muncie's the highest end to bat. He was eligible at those two weakest positions, right? So that's enough, I think, to prioritize. him over Suarez and Chapman in a way that's not reflected by ADP. As for Rendon, the market, his market being gone,

I understand why. I'm not excited to draft him either, but we need chances at this position. We need to find pockets of upside. And just given his history, there's reason to think he has, upside in a way that most anyone else remaining at the position would not. It's the desperation at third base encourages a glass-half-full approach with Rendon.

That's, I think that's probably the best way of putting it. And so the fact that everybody's out on him, I think it makes it only easier to take a shot on him. And, you know, maybe that means. means wait until Suarez and Chapman go off the board. And at that point, you could think about drafting Rendon, probably for very cheap. Glass half full, you mentioned for Rendon, batting behind both Mike Trout and Shohei Otani, two of the best hitters in baseball. I mean, it's obvious health has played a role in his demise.

Oh, for sure. I think there's reason to think he's declined even apart from that, but, you know, he needs a good sample of a bats to say for sure. The last resort's tier includes Jose Miranda, Brandon Drury, Josh Young, and Kibryan Hayes. As I mentioned at first base, Miranda and Josh Young this time. Those are the kind of young, upside-type guys that you can find at this spot if Josh Young can cut down the strikeouts. We could see a decent batting average with 20 plus home runs. I feel similarly about Jose Miranda as well.

Scott, I don't know what to do with Kibrienne Hayes at this point. 20 steals from a third baseman is awesome, getting those out of position steals, but a 244 batting average with five home runs, that is, I mean, we're talking about the power of Luis Arise and the batting average of some crappy catcher. It's bad.

It's bad for Cabrian Hasey. He hits the ball really hard, but a lot of it is into the ground. He's got a 3.9% barrel rate. I just don't know how the power gets much, better like maybe eight to ten homers but I'm surprised there's so much enthusiasm for him and I mean there was a time a couple years ago when I was leading the Cabrion Hayes parade yeah because over a small sample in 2020 he looked like he

had figured out how to maximize that power well it's been two years of a much larger sample much much larger sample that suggests not even close he does run more than most third baseman the that could change again because I think the whole stolen base landscape is about to change. So I actually had him ranked even much lower than this and then just decided I was

so far out on a limb with that that I get afford to move him up a little into this tier and still be the low guy on him. So that's basically where I stand with Cabrion Hayes. I think Brandon Drury's probably not going to amount too much with the

Angels this year, but I'd rather gamble on him because, you know, that's still a pretty good hitters park that he's going to better than San Diego where he finished last year. So I think there's at least a chance jury's a 20 to 25 homer guy. I think there's a much more chance of that than Hayes being a 20 to 25 homer guy. All right. The deep leaguers includes Justin Turner, Josh Rojas, John Bertie, Patrick Wisdom, Alec, Jordan Walker, Ryan McMahon, and Yandy Diaz. Scott, let me know what you think of this little strategy here. Say you just, you've missed out on everything, right? Last couple of rounds of your draft, take pairing Jordan Walker with a Justin Turner. So we don't know

if Jordan Walker is going to be up on opening day, but he's a young prospect with a bunch of upside. And then Justin Turner is kind of just that steady veteran, high floor kind of player. Take Justin Turner, however much he'll give you. And then, you know, hopefully when Jordan Walker comes up, he kind of just takes over. What do you think about pairing Jordan Walker with like just a stable veteran to start the season? Yeah, I think that's fine.

Even though I rank him lower, like Jordan Walker is the lynchpin to that plan. So he's the one you should probably draft first. And if you don't end up with Justin Turner because somebody else jumps in there before your last pick, whatever. You pair Jordan Walker with Ryan McMahon instead. I mean, that's basically the same plan, right?

Yeah. So, you know, that's pretty basic draft strategy is in the late rounds you prioritize upside. And if you just need a short-term fill-in waiting around for that upside or waiting to see if it's going to come through for you, then it doesn't so much matter who that other player is. Alec Bohm, I just want to give him a shout out. I know he's pretty boring, but a 280 batting average last year, solid counting stats, he's going to hit in the middle of the Phillies lineup. If you play in a deeper league where you want to just prioritize at bats that aren't going to hurt you, I think Alec Bohm is probably one of those players. Scott, this leftover's tier is filled with a bunch of names?

Is there anyone here that stands out above the rest that you'd like to mention? Spencer Steer is kind of interesting in a deep league if he can earn every day at bats with the Reds. Obviously, a fantastic ballpark to hit in. So he's someone that, I kind of like. I think Spencer Steer could be Jonathan, India-like. I think they have similar batting profiles and obviously play in the same hitter-friendly venue. The one who stands out the most to me, though, is Brett Beatty. I think Brett Beatty's got kind of a post-type sleeper thing going on because he came up with a fair amount of hype,

and he homered in his first game, right? That sounds right. I think so. And then he very quickly suffered an injury that ended his season. And then the Mets were replacing him, we're blocking him with Carlos Correa this offseason. Ultimately, that deal didn't end up happening. But it kind of moved people's attention away from Brett Bady,

and it doesn't seem to be on him right now. And you mentioned earlier in the show that he's probably not going to be on the opening day roster. That's fine. He will be the Mets starting third baseman soon at. I would say. And impressive minor league numbers, as you'd expect, for a prospect of his caliber. But in the brief time, he was up in the majors, hit the ball very hard with a high contact rate. And hit very hard against same-handed pitchers, too, lefty on lefty, which is not so common for somebody so young.

So Brett Bady has a ton of upside. And if it looked like he had a clearer path to a bat's, he'd be a couple tiers higher. He'd be up there with Josh Young, probably of the Rangers. All right, if you want a visual element of these tiers, first base and third base, you'll be able to find them on CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. And we've got a whole bunch of other shows coming out. Second base and shortstop, outfield tiers, starting pitcher tiers. We'll do all of it over the next couple of weeks.

We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching fantasy baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.