Fantasy Baseball Today - 🚨Jarren Duran Called Up! Jarred Kelenic, too? - Emergency Podcast (7/14 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 15, 2021

One of the Red Sox top prospects Jarren Duran will reportedly be called up Thursday against the New York Yankees. Is he must add? How much FAB should you spend on Duran? What is his skillset and what should you expect? It also sounds like Mariners top prospect Jarred Kelenic will be recalled for the start of the second half. Duran or Kelenic? 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  CBS Sports and Westinghouse are teaming up to give away a 55" TV, portable power station and air purifier over the next month. Go to cbssports.com/homerun to enter. Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank, @AdamAizer 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

Now here's Frank Scott, Chris and Adam. The second half of the MLB season is just about to begin, and we'll be doing it with one of the Red Sox top prospects, Jaron Duran. Welcome in to an emergency edition of Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday night, July 14, Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White, and we were waiting and waiting and waiting for Red Sox outfielder, Jaron to get the call. Multiple outlets confirming the 24-year-old was batting at 270 at AAA with 15 home runs,

and 12 steals will be called up for Thursday's game against the New York Yankees. Lots of power, lots of speed. Scott, one might say that he is hungry like the wolf. Currently, 47% rostered on CBS. Is he a must add in fantasy baseball? That might be going a little far. You know, obviously it's been an issue

really dating back to last season with these prospect call-ups. Most of them have been duds. There seems to be, there seems to be a snag that's developed in the development process where these players aren't transitioning to the majors as easily as they used to and maybe it's just been a stretch where a stretch of bad luck basically because it's not like every single prospect that did before this

wasn't an immediate success in the majors sometimes it takes time to break in it just seems like it's taking time for everyone to break in at this point and you know jaron durand he's not uh he's not you know he's not wander franco he's not jared kelnick he's he's a step down from then and yet even those two have been less than impact players so far in the majors calnick got sent back down it sounds like he's on the way back up and maybe he could still be that maybe wander franco turns things around before the end of the season but jarond isn't them uh so i'm probably going to put him in my top 50 outfielders to start out that seemed like a good safe conservative place to slot

him and, you know, see how things develop. Obviously, he's turned himself into a really good prospect in a very short amount of time. He'd been a name you'd hear about in prospect circles for the past couple years, but he was kind of an odd fit in today's game, kind of a slap-hitting speedster, and really turned things around last year, worked with hitting guru Doug Lauda, who was most known for making Justin Turner into the, perennial all-star he is. He used to be a role player for the Mets, and Doug Lada got a hold of him and turned him into a stud.

And so it seemed to unlock Darren's raw power and make him a more well-rounded player. But it wasn't really until the spring that prospect evaluators caught onto that. I think Durant hit eight home runs at the alternate training site last year. So it definitely opened some eyes with that. But it wasn't a regular on top 100 lists or anything heading into the season. had a big spring.

It's obviously had a good season at AAA, 15 home runs. That puts him among the minor league leaders in that category, where again, he was really just a slap hitter prior to his time at the alternate training site last year. So, yeah, there's some contact skills there. It seems like he's maybe traded off some of those for more power. He can run as much as the Red Sox will let him anyway.

And so there's a chance this goes very well on Duran. We think of him as a must-start play. or by the end of the season. I would say the odds are against it, the way these minor league promotions have gone recently. But you just want there to be a chance. I think if you approach them from the perspective that it's a true lottery ticket,

probably not going to pay off in a big way, but you're not going to get the reward if you're not possessing it, then I think you'll be fine. Definitely a unique player and unique situation, as you alluded to, with originally being known as a guy with a hit tool and a speed tool,

a couple of years ago, he stole 46 bases back in 2019 in the minor league. So now puts on some muscle in that 2020 season. And you mentioned what he did in spring training too, where he hit 340. Small sample size, only 47 at bats, but 3.40 batting average. Three homers, six doubles, two steals. And that really has carried over into AAA so far this season in the minor. So you said, not necessarily a must add. We did get this question from our Facebook group on our fantasy baseball today,

Facebook group. quack and he asked is he must add in a 10-team points league so probably not going that far scott and he probably profiles better duran does as someone in a road over categories league right yeah i would i would say so it doesn't seem like the on-base skills or anything to write home about and you know we're hoping for that speed element as he's become more of a power hitter this year he hasn't run quite as frequently but 12 steals and their 46 games is obviously still a good pace. You never know how that's going to translate to the majors,

particularly if it's not the skill that got the player there. You don't know if his team's going to ask him to do much of that at all. It's really hard to say. But you're hopeful that he will be a contributor in stolen bases. And if that's the case, then probably more valuable in Rotel League. Certainly just the fact that you're starting five outfielders in those formats typically would make Duran more valuable there. you know, if you just lost Ronald Acuna

and you need to try and make up that across the board production somehow, I'm not saying Durant's going to be that, but if the lottery ticket pays off, you know, he might get 75% of the way there. So it's not a bad gamble. It's certainly better than, you know, giving up half your team for another first round bat.

Yeah, it's a great point that you bring up with Ronald Lucunya going down. one of the top five hitters in all of fantasy baseball, obviously, tearing his ACL last week. So this is a nice little constellation prize. If you were holding on to Jaron Duran, or if he is a free agent in your league, you can go out and add him now. The other wrinkle here is something you've also alluded to, Scott, is that Ryan Divish, a beatwriter for the Seattle Times,

all but confirmed to us on Twitter that Jared Kelnick will be recalled to start the second half of the season for the Seattle Mariners. So Jared Kelnick is 70% rostered and was regarded as much higher of a prospect than Jared Kelnik. So if you're just comparing those two, which would you rather have? Than Duran. Kelnik was much higher than Duran. Yes. Excuse me. Yeah, Kalnick.

Kelnik. I think Kelnick's first stint in the majors could have played out very differently. He came up. His second game in the majors was awesome and he wasn't striking out for his first two weeks on the job. And then it just seemed like he was having bad luck on balls in play and then started pressing and then the strikeouts piled up. And he got sent back down. And there were some struggles then at first too,

as he tried to reorient himself after kind of coming unraveled at the major league level. But he's completely turned it around down to AAA, is back to looking like a stud. And I think has a better chance of Duran than Duran of making an immediate impact and potentially, potentially a huge impact. Potentially, you know, if I was choosing between the two, I would go with Kelnick both for both for upside and downside reasons. All right. So Kelnick over Duran,

let's kind of lump them all together, the prospects that have been called up within the past month or so. Kelnick, Duran, Wander Franco, and Vidal Bruhan, who are both with the Tampa Bay raise. So, Scott, ranked those four for me in both Roto and in head to head points. Kelnick, Duran, Franco, Bruhan. It'd probably be the same, regardless of format for me. I'd go Kelnik 1, I think, over Wander Franco, believe it or not.

And, you know, that's really close between those two. Definitely one and two. One and one A there. And then the third one, I'll say Duran over Vidal Bruhan, because Bruhan was really struggling to indistinct in the minors, and I'm just, I'm not sure he's going to play quite every day. I, Duran, I assume the Red Sox just slot them in as their everyday center fielder. They'd been making due with some bad choices there.

Enrique Hernandez had played a lot of center field. He could just move to second base where they had been starting a bunch of retreads, basically. Nobody, they had a clear opening there that it's kind of surprised it's taken this long for them to fill with Duran, to be honest, as well as he performed this spring, as well as good as he looked in the minors. You know, obviously he left for a while to play for Team USA, the qualifying team for the Olympics.

And so that kind of delayed him, but he's been back for several weeks now. So I'm surprised it's taken this long for this to happen, but I assume Duran is ready to step in as the everyday center fielder. And hopefully he doesn't look back. Hopefully he performs well enough that he keeps that job. rest of season.

It's just become less of a certainty now than it had been for the past five, six years with prospect call-ups of this caliber. Last question,

I didn't even ask you about fab, Scott, and I don't know how much fab people have left at this point going into the second half of the fantasy baseball season. But how much would you spend

on him, let's say, in a 12-team league, and then if you play in like a 15-team Roto League, I would have to imagine it's going to cost at least 50s.

15 to 20% in the league that deep. Yeah, and you should pay that much in a 15 team league, especially a five outfielder league, and it's just been so rare in such a deep league to find an impact bat on waivers, which, again, Duran may not be right away, but at least there's a chance. So I would say as high as 25% in those 15 team leagues.

And if it's a league where, you know, zero dollar bids count. And maybe even well more than that. But in a 12 team league, I would, I don't know, 10% seems pretty aggressive. I would say 5 to 10%. All right. So there you go. Exciting times.

We now have Jaron Duran. Hopefully Jared Kelnick to start the second half, Wanda Franco and Vidal Bruhan in the majors altogether at the same time. And it definitely helps that Brun's, Duran's first series is coming at Yankee Stadium as a left-handed batter. So I'll be at the game on Friday. It's going to be a lot of fun to see.

I'm calling it now, Scott. At least one home run this weekend for Jaron Duran with that short porch in right field. That'll do it here. For Scott, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching fantasy baseball today. We'll be back again later on. Bye-bye.