Fantasy Baseball Today - Mets Promoting Christian Scott! Week 7 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers! (5/3 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

Kyle Bradish made a successful return (3:15)! ... Can Jon Singleton be a thing in deep leagues (6:12)? ... The Mets are promoting their top pitching prospect Christian Scott (10:25)! ... News (18:48): Gerrit Cole could be back by mid-June. ... What do we do with Edward Cabrera, Carlos Rodon and other pitchers (27:07)? ... Let's give credit to Jose Altuve, Jeremy Peña, and Ryan Mountcastle (33:00). ... Anything to see with Pete Crow-Armstrong or Will Brennan (36:30)? ... Let's dive into early-season trends and league leaders (41:32). ... It's time to preview Week 7, starting with the schedule and two-start pitchers (52:45). ... Who are the top sleeper hitters for next week (58:56)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:02:18). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi 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/ 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

in top fantasy baseball today on May 3rd. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White. Today on the show, the Mets are promoting their top pitching prospect, Christian Scott. We had a short slate of game, so we'll take a look at early season trends and league leaders. Plus, we'll preview week seven with two-star pitchers and sleeper hitters a little bit later on, but let's jump in.

Can you believe it? Wow! All right, Scott. Who made you say, wow? On Thursday. Well, since it was a short slate, nobody made me say, wow, that loudly. But I was impressed with Kyle Bradish in his return to the mound, obviously, prior to spring training, he was diagnosed with the sprained UCL. And there were a lot of concerns he was just done.

He was going to have Tommy John surgery. But the Orioles decided to go the Reston rehabilitation route, which has worked for some pitchers. And Braddish returned, and he looked exactly like the Kyle Bradish we saw last year. He only went four and two-thirds innings. First start back, I think that's reasonable. A loud one-earned run, struck out five, nine whiffs on 84 pitches. You know, that's a decent whiff rate. But mostly what I was encouraged by was his velocity was fine across the board.

And on his rehab assignment, his fastball was down two miles per hour on average. So I think maybe it's a good lesson in maybe not overreacting to some of what you're seeing on rehab assignments because obviously it's a guy with job security who's just tuning up and his adrenaline level isn't the same. And his effort level may not even be the same. Bradish looked fine and his velocity was fine and I think he'll be fine. Well, I don't want to say it that strongly because the elbow could still bring him trouble. It's going to be hanging there in the back of your mind for the rest of the season. But I wouldn't be afraid to start him going forward. And certainly, if not for that elbow injury, we would have considered him a must start all along.

Yeah, and I was really excited about Kyle Bradish before this injury was diagnosed, you know, early in spring training. He was someone that I really, I think I had him ranked top 25, maybe even top 20. Me too. Me too. I was really excited about Braddish coming into the season. He has great secondary pitches. He gets whiffs on his slider and his curveball. Velocity has steadily been creeping up the past couple of years. He throws mid-90s with the fastball.

So I was very encouraged by this debut as well. He's up to 82% rostered. Could be out there in some really shallow leagues. I do think Kyle Bradish is a must roster player. Could be out there in some Yahoo leagues for sure. You mentioned that he is a start moving forward. He's only 24% started on CBS. This is Kyle Bradish.

He's at the Nationals next week. They are 13th in Wobah against right-handed pitching. Are you okay getting him out there against the Nats? Yeah, I wish his roster rate was three percentage points lower, so I could have gotten away with calling him a sleeper pitcher for this week with that matchup against the Nationals. I'm not saying everyone who has Bradish absolutely has to start him, but I think it's a good matchup and I think he's a good start.

Kyle Bradish, by the way, on Yahoo, 64% rostered. So it could be out there in some leagues if he is, change that. He should not be on any waiver wires. All right, player of the night for me, we're going deep here, Scottie. We're going real deep because my player of the night is John Singleton. If you play on CBS,

he's going to be known as Jonathan Singleton. That's right. The player who was given an extension, what was it, a decade ago now, before he made it to the majors. Obviously didn't work out. He was out of baseball for a while. Now he's with the Houston Astros. And it

looks like he has a pretty big opportunity ahead of him. He's starting at first base now. The team has sent Jose Ibrayu back to their complex league and he has now homered in two of his past three games John Singleton has. He went two for three with his second home run

in this game on Thursday. He's batting 275. He's got a 787 OPS. The plate discipline looks really good so far in a very small sample size, 12% walk rate, 20% strikeout rate. And the expected numbers look okay. It's a 260XBA. It's a

430 X-Lug. Again, this is very deep league stuff. We're talking AL only 15 team roto leagues where if you're looking for a corner infielder, but Scott, this is cheap exposure to one of the best lineups in baseball. John Singleton, your thoughts. Yeah, before we we started recording here, you told me you were going to shock me with your pick for player of the night. And then you mentioned it's John Singleton. And I was like, hey, I took a bunch of notes on him as well. Because I noticed with this home run, and second in as many days, you said. Two in the past three.

Naturally, I went to the Stackass page and looked at what was going on there, and it's pretty, pretty, looks pretty good. It looks pretty good. So you mentioned the walk rate. It's 12.7%, which is very high. Singleton's always had a good batting eye. That was part of the reason. He was considered a huge prospect and got that multi-year deal before even debuting in the majors,

all those years ago. He has only a 21.8% strikeout rate. So the plate discipline is great. And then the quality of contact also really good. He, his max exit velocity, John Singleton, is 114.4 miles per hour. Only 14 players have hit a ball harder than that, have hit a halt ball harder than John Singleton this year. and yeah, I think we thought the replacement for Jose Abrae,

we thought that's what Joey Loprifito was coming up to do. But Lopurfito has only started in the outfield so far with Chas McCormick hurt. And now Chas McCormick hardly a sure thing. He wasn't off to a good start even before the injury. Neither is Jake Myers, the center fielder. So Loporvito might just become a fixed. during the outfield and leave first base for John Singleton. So, as you say, it's not like everybody who has a first base need should be going and picking up John Singleton.

But in those really deep leagues where Waver Wire is pretty much empty, there's a chance Singleton might be on it. And judging by the data, I don't think it's so far-fetched to think, particularly. with the lineup around him, that maybe eventually he could be somebody we care about even in standard-sized leagues. He's already 32. So, you know, if you're looking to pick him up in a dynasty league,

not a lot of runway there. But, yeah, John Singleton, pretty interesting. And one other thing I'll add on John Singleton. So Joey Loparfito was out of the lineup here on Thursday against the lefty. Engleton was in there. So playing against lefties and righties, it's not like they have a ton of depth pieces right now.

They are dealing with injuries. Again, they sent to Bray you back to the Complex League. And it's a really small sample, but John Singleton so far against lefties this year, he's 4 for 11 with one of his two home runs. So I thought that was notable. Again, this is really deep league stuff, but John Singleton, kind of interesting.

Let's get into another prospect spotlight. For the first time, we're using the prospect spotlight to discuss a player who is being professional. promoted, and you know who it is. The Mets are expected to call up their top pitching prospect. Christian Scott this weekend to face the Tampa Bay race. He's a big righty at 6 foot 4, soon to be 25 years old in five starts at AAA this year. A 320 ERA, a 0.71 whip, 36 strikeouts over 25 in a third innings.

It's a four pitch mix, a four-seem fastball, which averages 94.5 miles per hour, a sweeper, a traditional slider, and a change-up. Christian Scott has great command overall. If there is a flaw here, Scott, home runs. So far this season, seven home runs in five starts. But prior to this year, home runs were not an issue. So just could be a little, a small blip, whatever it's going on with Christian Scott. He's 32% rostered.

Your thoughts on the pitcher? And is he a must add in fantasy leagues? Well, the fly ball rate is very high. So I imagine he is going to struggle with home runs. but it may be a situation sort of like Shota Imanaga, not that it's realistic to aim quite that high for Scott yet, but the overall profile in terms of the three true outcomes, stats, the walks, the strikeouts, the home runs,

or at least the potential for home runs, the vulnerability to home runs, very reminiscent of Shota Imanaga. And I would say that I care in general of those three contributions, I care more about strikeouts and walks than home runs. Home runs is third for me in terms of priority when evaluating pitchers. So reason to be excited here. It kind of surprises me that now is when he's getting the call because Jose Budo,

it's coming off a great start. He seems to have solidified his place in the Mets rotation. There isn't, nothing has happened to create. an opening. It's possible he's going to take Adrian Houser's place, but Adrian Houser got another start here on Thursday, even after the news. Scott was coming up.

And Adrian Houser, you know, the Mets GM had him in Milwaukee and has voiced a lot of confidence in him. And I don't know. Houser seems like the only choice to remove if they're going to remove anybody. But then even if you assume they're removing Houser, Tyler McGill and David Peterson just began rehab assignments and are going to be back soon enough.

So there's going to be, it's, the Mets have a lot of options or are going very soon to have a lot of options for their starting rotation, which isn't to say this is a one and done for Scott. I don't think we know that either way, but it is to say he doesn't have a high margin for air.

Like he needs to come up and he needs to deliver right away if he's going to stick around. but I think he's basically must add. I think the upside, the strikeout potential justifies that. I mean, for as good as his numbers look this year, last year in the minors, he had a swinging strike rate comparable to Spencer Strider and a strike percentage comparable to George Kirby.

He was like top of the scales in both. Hasn't been quite as good. The K-per-9 rate has been awesome at AAA. The swinging strike rate hasn't been quite as good this year for Scott. but I'm kind of nitpicking there. Obviously, there's a lot of strikeout potential and a lot of reason to be excited. So I moved him up to 66th in my starting pitcher rankings,

which is ahead of pitchers like Nestor Cortez and Aaron Savale. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, pretty aggressive, right? Yeah. But it's behind, not remembering now who it's behind. It's behind. You have him right behind. The exact name,

I was going to ask you about Fetty and Olson, right behind those two. Yeah, the two that have been trending on the waiver wire this week. And I think that's a very close call. It might depend on the league's circumstances. The shallower the league, I think the more you can pursue the upside of Scott

over Fetty and Olson. But the thing is, I think Fettie and Olson have upside too. Right. Which is why I ultimately decided to slot Scott behind them. Let's see. That also puts Scott behind

Kyle Braddish and Jordan Montgomery Nathan Avaldi who had a good start here on Thursday Carlos Rodan though I may be hedging on that like we talked about on yesterday's show the 20 to 60 range starting pitcher or really I guess 20 to 70 range if I'm putting Scott outside the top 60 there's a lot of elasticity

I guess would be the word in that group hard to differentiate that among that very large group of starting pitchers. So after Scott's first start, maybe he'll move up 20 spots. Or maybe he'll get blasted like Jack Leider did in his debut and get sent down right away. Hopefully not. I think the odds are better of Scott sticking around and performing well than Leiter, but you just never know. So I moved Christian Scott up to 77th in my starting pitcher ranks,

and he is just behind Reese Olson. and I have Eric Fetty up at 69. Nice. So Christian Scott is behind both of those names for me as well. And I felt like they were the two most exciting waiver wire pitchers this week. And they are both still available too. So I would rank Christian Scott behind those names as well. I'm going to throw three other names at you, Scott. Would you drop any of these for Christian Scott?

James Paxon, Michael King, Christopher Sanchez. The first two easily, Michael King. And who was the first one he said? Paxton, King, and Sanchez. Yeah, Paxton, get him out of there. The one I might hedge on a little bit is Christopher Sanchez, but I do rank him. I do rank Christian Scott three spots ahead of Christopher Sanchez. So I kind of have Sanchez in that same group with Cortez and Savale where, yeah, I don't really want to drop them, but I don't think they have their upside is that comparable to Scott.

so I probably would make that move if I had to. Again, the Mets top pitching prospect, Christian Scott, getting called up this weekend, and he was one of Scott White's top five prospects on the verge this week. Make sure to check out the latest prospect report, which is live on the site, CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. Quick reminder, download and follow our five-minute podcast, FBT and 5.

We have a bonus prospect episode coming out each Saturday of the season. You can find FBT and 5 wherever you listen. to podcasts. Let's take our first break. When we return, we'll get to the news and notes right after this. Welcome back in. Let's talk news and notes. Garrett Cole is expected to throw a bullpen session Saturday. His first time throwing off a mound since landing on the aisle with nerve irritation in his right elbow. He's reportedly targeting a return in mid-June. All right, that's more like it. Give us information. Something we can actually work with here, Yankees. That's the later timetable than what they were giving, what, just like a week or two ago.

True. And it does concern me a little just because players don't usually beat the timeline they're aiming for. That's usually like the best case scenario. So, I don't know. I don't take it as great news that he's aiming for mid-June, but it's the best we're going to get. Jesus Luzardo threw a successful bullpen on Thursday. He'll make a rehab start sometime during the Marlins' upcoming road trip. And it feels like they might be pushing Luzardo a little bit too fast.

They placed him on the IEL last Friday with a mild left flexor strain. But if it's as mild as they're leading on, then maybe he's all right. So what do you know, Frank, too fast? Look at this guy. What do you know? I don't know anything. I have never injured my left flexor or anything like that. hopefully I'm wrong and Jesus Lazzardo is perfectly fine.

Walker Bueller will officially make his season debut on Monday against the Marlins, his first major league start in about 20 months. Scott, will he be a two-star pitcher? And if so, do you start him? Of course he would be a two-star pitcher right away. So if you've ever looked at my two-star pitcher rankings, you know, I have these different tiers. Must start is one, advisable in most cases.

is another. Points League only is another, and then no thanks is the last one. I had to put Walker Bueller in the points league only one. There's just too many uncertainties here. I hate that it's two starts right away because it's so tempting to use him.

But he's another one. Velocity was down on his rehab assignment. Hopefully it goes like Kyle Braddish and he comes up throwing as hard as we remember Walker Bueller throwing. But like I mentioned on yesterday's show, he was gearing up to return late last year. And the Dodgers didn't like how it was going, shut him down. It's taken him a long time to get to a point where he's getting the call now.

I don't take any of that as a good sign. I take it as the Dodgers are concerned about something they're seeing with him. And coming back from second Tommy John surgery, that leaves a lot of room doubt too. hoping for the best for Walker Bueller, but I don't think you can put him in your lineup right away, except in points leagues. And even then,

it's a question. Merrill Kelly was transferred to the 60-day IL, which means he'll be out until at least late June. He is on the IL with a terrorist major strain in his right shoulder. Nathan Avaldi was removed from his start with right groin tightness. Paul Skeen's next start will come Sunday at AAA. A. Womp, Scott, you weren't here the other day,

but after his six-inning start, I made the bold prediction that his next start would be with the Pirates, and turns out I was wrong. I made my own bold prediction in the Prospects report. Not being familiar with your bold prediction. My start, my bold prediction was

one, maybe two more starts at AAA. And I, obviously, obviously that hasn't been proven wrong yet, so maybe it'll be right. But yeah, it's going to be soon. Skeens is rostered in almost all leagues already. But if he doesn't, if you happen to be in one where he isn't, then remedy that now. Matt McLean, who had shoulder surgery back in March, is about a week away from a follow-up appointment.

That will give the Reds a better idea of his timetable. Manager David Bell said the goal is still early August ideally for Matt McLean. Christian Javier will begin a minor league rehab assignment this weekend. He's on the aisle with neck discomfort. Nick Povetta could rejoin the Red Sox rotation next week against the Braves. That would be either May 7th or 8th. He made a rehab start and was not very good. Three innings, four runs allowed, four walks, five strikeouts.

But as we pointed out with Kyle Bradish, maybe it doesn't matter that much. Well, and interestingly enough, Nick Pavetta had some harsh words for the ABS system in the minors, saying he hopes it never comes to the majors. Wow. after walking four in his minor league starts. So I don't know exactly what part of it he didn't like or what his gripe is. I know he's not the first major league pitcher to gripe about it,

but I thought it was noteworthy. Yeah, I think it's still a work in progress, and it must be pretty bad if any pitcher prefers Angel Hernandez over the ABS system. Well, that's just one umpire, to be fair. True. Gavin Williams resumed throwing on Thursday. He's in the aisle with right elbow discomfort. Joey Loprfito was out of the lineup Thursday against the lefty, as we mentioned. Brian Bayo will begin a rehab assignment with AA on Tuesday.

Braxton Garrett threw five scoreless innings in his latest rehab start at AAA on Thursday. T.J. Friedel was sent to AAA on Thursday to begin a rehab assignment. He's 51% roster. Scott, would you consider T.J. Friedel a must stash. I say what you did there Stroking your own mustache I had to mention it because most people are listening and not watching anyway but yeah it's been a long time since we talked

about T.J. Friedel he's the guy who had like the what was it like 2% average exit of velocity but the power plays up at home and he just seems to have a lot of bat control and makes use of his speed and should be good he should be good and he's worth stashing now that he's beginning rehab assignment. All right, Masataka Yoshida might require surgery on his injured left thumb.

Jordan Hicks has been cleared to start Friday against the Phillies. He left his previous start with side tightness. Justin Lawrence is expected to go on the paternity list on Friday. Von Grissom is on track to make his Red Sox debut on Friday against the twins. He's 43% rostered if he do need middle infield help. If Von Grissom clicks and I think he works out to the best of his ability, it's going to be a good batting average, probably modest power and speed as well. Albert Suarez has been shifted to the Orioles bullpen with Kyle Bradish and John Means back.

Means, by the way, will make his season debut Saturday in Cincinnati and wanted to quickly mention a prospect who is on fire right now. There are lots of them. I know Junior Camerrero has been blasting home runs. Kyle Manzardo, same thing. Orioles prospect, Kobe Mayo, went two for six with his 11th home run on Thursday.

He has homered in four shrunk. great games. He also has a 27% strikeout rate. Scott, where does Kobe Mayo rank? Let's just call that the top hitter trio right now between Caminero, Manzardo, and Mayo. And obviously, Holiday is up there too. Yeah, I'm beginning to wonder if Mayo will come up before Holiday comes back, given how much his strikeout rate has normalized to AAA was bloated at first. But a really high-end power here from Kobe Mayo

and obviously Jordan Westberg can switch between second and third. So it's not like Holiday meets a positional need that Mayo doesn't. I'm going to put Mayo fourth of that group for now, but it's a tight group. So I'm going to say Holiday is the most dashable, followed by Commonero, followed by Kyle Monsardo, followed by Kobe Mayo. But they're all on near equal footing.

All right, you heard it from Scott himself. Hold the Mayo. What do we do with these pitchers? Edward Cabrera gave us the full Edward Cabrera experience on Thursday against the Rockies in Miami. I mean, just a perfect setup. It kind of feels like with Cabrera, either you or Chris have said this before,

the matchup doesn't matter. It just comes down to Edward Cabrera. If he's good, he could dominate anybody. If he's Edward Cabrera, then he's probably going to struggle. Four innings, four runs, four walks, nine strikeouts with 16 swinging strikes on 91 pitches. That first start against the Giants he had was great, but since then it's 13 and a third innings, 12 earned runs, nine walks, 20 strikeouts. He's got an ERA over six, the underlying numbers to look really good.

Scott, what do we do with Edward Cabrera? He's still 65% rostered. I don't think there's any way you could start him at the Dodgers next week. Would you drop him for somebody like Christian Scott? Maybe he'll dominate the Dodgers. He might. Because it's, you know, you never know what the Charzard's going to give you. I don't know what you can do with Edward Cabrera because if you can't play the matchups with them, doesn't seem like.

He's going to have some great starts, but the overall stat line is, if it goes the way his whole career is gone, is not going to be good enough to justify keeping him in your lineup either. So if he can't play matchups, you can't keep him in your lineup. You're just keeping him around, hoping that at some point,

finally he breaks through and finds some consistency and he's able to get the most out of this massive strikeout upside. But I'm not sure that's worth doing in like 12 team leagues. 15 teamer, you know, the waiver wire is so bad

that, okay, yeah, just stash him on your bench and hope for the best. But would I drop Edward Cabrera for Christian Scott? Yeah, I think rather easily. Yeah, I would do it too. Scott, as soon as we give Carlos Rodon some credit, he comes out and has his worst start of the season at the Baltimore's. Four inning, seven runs allowed, six of those were earned,

zero walks, six strikeouts, three homers allowed. This was a mixed bag. I watched a lot of this start. He gave up a lot of hard. contact, he gave up three home runs. Obviously, those are problems. Six walks to zero strikeouts, that's obviously really good over four innings.

And the slider looked really good again. This is now two starts in a row where his slider had exactly seven whiffs. So there's no sugar-coding it. This was a bad start. No doubt about that. And I think I kind of told people earlier in the week, like, you don't want to start them against Orioles.

They're really good against lefties. They're a great lineup. What do we do with Carlos Rodan? Because next week he's up against the Houston Astros. I don't think I want to start him there either. I'd rather sit him. Yeah. I'm saying I'm willing to hold on to him,

but I think 2021, 2021, 2022, that's beyond the reach here. It's just a question of will Carlos Rodon's slider be good enough to make him useful in fantasy still? I think that's all we're hoping for. And I'm willing to hold out that hope still, given the way the sliders performed in the last two starts, but like I said,

I'm not a huge Carlos Rodana optimist at this point. Kyle Harrison was at the Red Sox on Thursday, and the command escaped him here. It was five innings, one run, five walks, to seven strikeouts. He did have 13 swinging strikes on 95 pitches. Ten of those came on the fastball, and he's still very reliant on that fastball,

but he's starting to use his slurve a little bit more, over the past few starts. Overall, it's a 379 ERA. It's a 129 whip. I think we're obviously holding Kyle Harrison where we have him. He's 61% started on CBS and looks like he's in line for two starts next week. One at home against the Reds and one in Corse Field. What do you think about Kyle Harrison?

I have him in that points league only tier of my two-star pitcher rankings. Not loving what he's doing so far anyway. that doesn't seem like he has much beyond that fastball. And in this start, he walked a bunch of guys, obviously. And then he has a start of course field among his two starts next week. So I want to risk it in a Categories League, but in a points league, I could see doing it. All right, Nathan Avaldi left with injury, but he pitched well before leaving this one. Five and a third shutout, two hits, two walks, eight strikeouts with 12 swinging strikes.

Velocity was down a touch across the board. It's something we always have to watch with Nathan Avaldi. but he has exactly eight strikeouts in four of seven starts this season. And overall, he's been really good. Hopefully he's all right because next week it looks like he's scheduled at the Oakland A's, also at Corse Field. What do you think about starting of Aldi next week? I think you should start him as long as he's healthy.

And his two-start status is questionable because the A's in rain. He's scheduled to go Tuesday. The A's and Rangers are both playing seven games. Normally, the Tuesday starter would go again Sunday in a seven game week. But the only reason the Rangers have seven games is because they're facing the A's and a double header on Wednesday, then have an off day Thursday. So they could just stay on regular turn. And in that case, Avaldi would line up for a second start. But they could call up an extra pitcher to start the second game of the double header.

And then everybody gets pushback a day. And if Aldi ends up being only a one-start pitch. But even if he's a one-star pitcher, it would be against Oakland. Yeah. And I can't imagine sitting him in that scenario. All right. Let's take our final break. When we return, let's give some credit where it's due.

We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in. Let's give credit to three hitters. We have not talked much about. Jose Al-Tuvae had himself a game here on Thursday, three-for-five with two steals. On the season, he is betting 352, seven homers, 23 run scored, six steals,

and an OPS just over a thousand. Entering this game, he was averaging 3.9 fantasy points per game, third best at second base, and the 22nd overall player in Roto, he has been awesome. As has Jeremy Pena, his teammate, who is off to a great start, two for three with a triple, three runs, and an RBI. He is batting 333 with three homers and five steals early in the season, 99th percentile in sprint speed for Pena. There was toxic offseason of him changing his swing, and so far, that has come to fruition.

Lots more line drives, a lot less ground balls than we've seen in years past. So really like what I'm seeing from Jeremy Pena. And same thing could be said for Ryan Moucassel, who went two for four with his fifth home run. He's batting 290. He's got an 840 OPS. We know the story by now.

He hits the ball hard. He barrels it up. If he played in any other ballpark besides Baltimore, he would probably be a 30 home run hitter, but he probably will be dragged down because of that. Scott, anything you'd like to add on Mount Castle,

Pena and Jose Altuve. Well, it's good to see Altuvae's running again for a second straight year. That part of his game was eliminated for a few years. He's been a big Zayatouvet guy. And he's living up to it again. It seems like he's been underrated ever since the cheating scandal. But he's great. He's, I think, the clear number two second baseman in fantasy after Bucky Betts,

who most people probably aren't using at second base anyway. Jeremy Pena is worth talking about here because we didn't mention it when we were doing our rankings review segment on the other day. But Pena has moved up a lot for me. He's moved past like Carlos Corray and my shortstop rankings. I think he's 18th now. And I'd like to get him higher. It's just there are so many quality shortstop.

That's as high as I could go. it. You mentioned that he's elevating the ball more as was the design this off season. He's also striking out at just a 13.7% rate. It's 92nd percentile. So much

better contact, much more useful contact, and with a swing overhaul backing it up, that's the sort of both skill change and process change. Both double whammy. the sort of changes that I think give me a reason to buying into him as a new player

and not necessarily regressing to the mean. And it's a fast runner. Capable of stealing bases, has five of them already. I think the arrow is definitely pointing up on Jeremy Pena. Yeah, I'm happy you brought up that plate discipline, the strikeout rate being down. But even the stuff under the hood, the zone contact is elite. 92.6%. His swinging strike rate

is a career best 12.5%. He chases pitches a lot. That's always going to be a part of of Jeremy Pena's game, but if he can make contact within the zone at this rate, yeah, I think we're definitely on to something again this season

with Jeremy Pena. Do any of these deep league outfielders matter for fantasy available on the Waver Wire? P. Crow Armstrong, actually off to a solid start here with the Cubs. He went two for four with two RBI.

also has one homer, one steal so far, batting 292 through nine games so far with these Chicago Cubs. And Will Brennan has picked things up lately for the Guardians. He went three for four on Thursday. Over his last 13 games, he is batting 289 with four home runs. And like Stephen Kwan,

Will Brennan has not been a power hitter in the past. So I think he might be part of this overarching Guardian's philosophy this season where they're trying to get these contributions, attack hitters to tap into their power a little bit more. And so far, Will Brennan is doing that. Scott, any interest here in deeper leagues with Brennan and Crow Armstrong? I'm not ready to sing a different tune on Crow Armstrong yet, though, of course, just looking at his minor league numbers, looking at his prospect pedigree,

there's a chance he could emerge as a quality fantasy option. I just think it's too early to say that. I do like that he's playing as much as he is because I didn't even think that was. a guarantee. And look, Crow Armstrong's worth rostering over Will Brennan.

But I like a lot of what I'm seeing from Will Brennan, who is enough of a base dealer that any amount of power could make

them worthwhile. And specifically what I'm seeing from Will Brennan, fly ball rate is up. Pull rate is up too. It's up from 35% to 49%.

according to fan graphs from one year to the next. And guys who don't have a lot of raw power, who don't impact the ball especially hard, the way they get power is by elevating to their pole side specifically. And that's what Brennan is doing. So the four home runs, he's hit so far, jibes with that. Doesn't strike out much. You know, he could be,

he could be kind of like 80% of what Stephen Kwan is. I think that's possible. Will Brennan? Yeah, I think so as well. I noticed a lot of the same things that you did and his average exit velocity this season up to 89.7 miles per hour, which might not sound great,

but last year it was 85.7. So it is up four miles per hour year over year. Maybe he's just hot, but I don't know. I'm kind of buying into this Guardian's philosophy change. And if he does emerge as something in fantasy, you know what we can do? Will Brennan. What is that? The by men and jangle.

Oh, I feel like you've brought this up maybe last year. And I had no, of course, I had no idea what it was. You know, it's funny. Like, I was, so when I was a kid, the version of it I heard was Will Brennan. But there was an older version where they elongate the first syllable there. And it's Will Brennan. If he becomes a thing, Scott, I will, I'll download the audio drop and we'll make that a thing. Which one, though, the longer, the short.

Whichever you prefer. Okay. Completely up to you. I will also leave this up to you, Scott. Do you want to get to the week seven preview now, or do you want to talk early season trends? I don't really want to rush through it. Not that there's a lot to talk about, but you are now the producer. What would you like to do?

Week seven preview or early season trends? Let's go with the early season trends first. All right. Let's run through this. Again, there's not too much going on, but did want to quickly point out to this point in the season, the league batting average is 239. Around this same point last year, it was 247. I think teams have become a little bit smarter in terms of positioning players in this shift ban environment.

So I think that's part of the reason why the batting average is down so far. Home run to fly ball ratio this season 10.7% at this point last year, it was 12.3%. So home run so far are down. Steels are up again. 688 steel so far around this point last year. It was 652. This season, all of baseball is on pace for 3,579 steals. Last year, it was 3,503.

So not a huge uptick, but by season's end, Scott, we could see even more steals. And it kind of feels that way early on as well. Yeah, not a huge uptick. So I don't know that I take anything away from that. I did theorize that players might even be more accustomed to this rule now and have a better game plan for taking advantage of it, specifically base runners, and that we might see steals continue to trend up. As historic as the increase was last year,

I was saying there wasn't going to be a regression to the mean there and might continue the other way. And so far, I guess we're kind of seeing that, but not by a significant enough number to say that it's for sure going to happen. Let's take a look at the league leaders a month into the season. At batting average, it is Mookie Betts, who's batting 377, Alec Bome all the way up at 362. He's off to a great start so far. Run scored.

Ronald Acuna and Mookiee and Mookiee Betts are tied for 29, which is kind of scary because Akunia, Olson, and Austin Riley really have not. started going yet. Like, they're not even hitting to their capabilities and Ronald de Cunia is still tied

for the league lead and run scored. And the Braves are top five offense still for their three best players not hitting at all. That is just, I mean,

I guess things will even out, right? Maybe some of the other guys will come down a little bit, but Marcelo Zuno cool off, Travis Darnow. Right.

But still. It's crazy. It's pretty crazy. The home run leaders, Gunner Henderson, and Mike Trout, are tied with 10 home runs each.

I was looking through the ranking, Scott, have you given any thought to moving Henderson ahead of names like Austin Riley Endeavors at third base and ahead of Seeger and Lindora at shortstop? I've given thought to it, yeah. I wish Gunner Henderson, I wish we were seeing some improvement with the strikeout rate. It's still pretty high. And so I'm not sure he's going to,

continue to be this much better than he was last year when, you know, he was very good still, obviously. So there's more of a track record there with Lindor and Devers and who is someone else you mentioned. Austin Riley. Austin Riley. Yeah, I mean, Austin Riley, especially. It's not unthinkable. I mean, certainly if Gunner Henderson continues this pace, he'll be right up there with them. He provides steals in a way somebody like.

Riley and Devers don't. But I think those other guys are going to regress to their normal numbers. There's no reason for me to believe they won't. And that still puts, if they do regress to their normal numbers, that still puts the pressure on Henderson to be this good the rest of the way, which it could be. But I'm going to bet against it for now. One other thing I'll point out with Henderson that I have loved to see so far this

season because I've been skeptical in the past against lefties. He is batting 313 this year with three of his 10 home runs and a 997 OPS. So clearly he's worked on that and so far he's been really good against lefties. We'll see if he can keep it up. The RBI leader is Marcel O'uno with 32 and right behind him is Alec Boeum with 30. Stolen bases, L.A. Dela Cruz has 18. Bryce Terang is second with 14. Just wanted to mention Ellie De LaCruz's 162 game pace right now. 41 homers, 141 runs, 99 RBI, and 94 stolen bases. I would take the under, but just to put in perspective how bonkers his first month has been. What if we get another 40-70 guy?

What if it's a 40-90 guy? I was, while I was writing it down, I thought exactly that, right? Like, are we going to get a 40-80 player this season? Again, I would bet no. I think Ellie de la Cruz is due for a significant cool-off period here. But this is within his skill set. The reason I wasn't willing, obviously the high strikeout rate, but he did in the second half last year, too many ground balls.

I understand that's what was preventing us from calling him a first rounder. But I never went as far as calling him a bust this preseason because I knew if anything was going to be there for Ellie De La cruise, he was going to steal a ton of bases. And so many bases that even if he hits like 230, he was still probably going to be a pretty high-end player in fantasy. And so that's the one part of this skill set that, or this stat line so far that I'm most optimistic will continue. Not that he's going to steal 94 bases,

but he's going to steal 60 plus, I think. I feel pretty safe saying. And yeah, he can afford to lose a lot. lot of points on the batting average and slow the home run pace quite a bit and still be a really high end player in fantasy. Good on you, Scottie, for not calling Ellie Daler Cruz a bust like this guy, a big old dummy who called Ellie Diller Cruz a bust this year. Last thing I'll point out on him, I've watched a few at bats this year. Much improved plate discipline. I know he's striking out a lot, but his ability to read balls and strikes, he's just putting together much more quality at

bats and he's walking more. He's been more patient. So I did want to give L.A. Daler Cruz credit in regards to that part of his game because he's been much improved in that department. The ERA leaders, this one is always fun one month into the season. Here are your top 10 ERA leaders. Shota Imanaga, Ranger Suarez, Jose Barrios, Ronaldo Lopez, Cutter Crawford, Jordan Hicks, Seth Lugo, Tanner Halk, Renel Blanco, and Spencer Turnbull. None of those players had an ADP inside of the top 150 entering the season. So there you go. Unpredictability in the pitching department.

That is what we have had so far this season. And like that, and I would say most seasons early on as well. The whip leader is Ranger Suarez with a 0.63 whip. Terrick Scuba behind him with a 0.74. The wins leaders, Tyler Glassnow, Imanaga, Seth Lugo, Ranger Suarez, each have five. And how about this? Two relievers already have five wins as well.

Reed Garrett and AJ Minter. Kind of interesting. These strikeouts leaders, there are three with 50 plus. Tyler Glass now has 53. Zach Wheeler with 52. And good old Jack Flaherty with 50. And the saves leaders, we have four with 10 saves. Kyle Finnegan, Ryan Helsley, Clay Holmes, Robert Suarez.

I know I just kind of sped through the pitching leaders. Scott, was there anything notable? The ERA leaders this early, it's just kind of hilarious. Yeah, I mean, we've talked before. we've always talked a lot about how Ranger Suarez, there's regression coming for him in all likelihood, how this success seems to be driven by just impeccable command and locating his change up down in the zone.

And especially given his history as a suspect control pitcher, I don't think he's going to be able to sustain that all year, which isn't to say he's not going to remain must roster. He could end up with a low three ZRA. But I don't think Ranger Swars is going to continue to perform like an ace. If I could go back to the hitters, one observation, because I'm not sure we've talked about Alec Bohm much, unless it was the day I wasn't on.

But Alec Boehm has gotten his batting average well over 300. He had something like nine multi-hit games over an 11-day span. It may even be longer now. So, you know, incredible. hot. You could, your batting average is going to climb into the 360 range when you're doing something like that this early in the season. Worth noting it was in the low 200s before the start of that stretch.

So that's how quickly things can change. But I'm not really seeing anything different in terms of a skill change for Alec Bohm. You know, I'd be encouraged if, and I'd be willing to buy into the possibility that he's, that he's legitimately improved if he was elevating more, if he was pulling more, if he was, if his batter bowl profile had changed such that

I felt like he could maximize his power potential, but he's still doing, you know, the way he's, his spray angle, let's call it, is still basically what it's always been. His plate discipline hasn't really changed.

I think he's just hot. And in the Phillies lineup, a good contact hitter like him could end up with a nice RBI total still. But I would consider MSL high and more like a second tier player at first base or third base than a true stud there. The only things I'll add on Alec Bohm, and these are marginal at best. The ground ball rate is a career low 40%. It was 42% last year. He is hitting more line drives than ever before.

He's always been good at that. the walk rate is up to 11.4%. We've never really seen that aspect of Alec Boehm's game. So he's been more patient. Maybe he's just recognizing the pitch to hit more and obviously doing damage on those pitches. The expected numbers are awesome too. 322XBA 517 XLug.

Even with all of that, he has a 409 Babbitt, which is not sustainable. But this could turn out to be a career year for Alec Boe. Maybe one where he hits 300 with low 20s home runs. and 100 RBI. That's a really good player. It's not a... It's not like a fantasy superstar, let's call it.

If he does that, it'll be really good. Yeah. But I do think that's kind of the best case scenario. I think more likely 280 to 290 range with about 20 homers, probably not many runs, because I don't think he's going to continue

to walk at this rate. But yeah, I just want to say that about him since he was so hot this weekend. There were so many pitchers to talk about we didn't get a chance to bring up Alec Bone. But I do think he's a regression candidate. Let's get into the week seven preview, and we will start things off with the schedule next week.

11 teams with 7 games. There are 14 teams with 6 games, and there are five unlucky teams with five games next week. The Braves, the Orioles, the Red Sox, the Blue Jays, and the Nats. If you're worrying about the hitters, obviously you continue to roll with the elite guys, the must-start hitters, even if they're struggling, the Austin Riley's, the Madelson's of the world. the fringe names maybe have a couple more decisions there, but I think for the most part, just don't overthink it when it comes to the five game players.

What's on schedule for the Rockies? We have six home games, all in Cors Field, obviously, three against the Giants and three against the Rangers for next week. Starters sit these fringe two-star pitchers. We mentioned a lot of these already. Nathan Avaldi might be a two-star pitcher. Kyle Harrison Walker Bueller, I asked you about those. The only other one on this list got Mitch Keller.

He's been shaky this season. He's got two starts at home, one against the Angels and one against the Cubs. What do you think about next week? I think given that Mitch Keller hasn't given us, I was about to say he hasn't given us a good start yet, but he did have two that were good. But mostly it's been pretty meh. And so in categories leagues,

I want to want to risk the damage to my ERA and whip in a two-star week. I think I'd just leave Mitch Keller for points league. All right. Two star pitchers to add and stream for next week. All of these names are under 80% rostered. Who are they? So this is one of those weeks where I feel obliged to say that what we're doing here is not giving you a bunch of must start recommendations. This is me making chicken salad out of chicken scratch, let's say.

And just understand. that because I don't have a lot of conviction with any of these recommendations. They're just the best we can do among those rostered in less than 80% of CBS sports leagues. So number one on the list is Tristan McKinsey, which if you heard Chris's analysis of Tristan McKinsey yesterday, you'll understand why I just gave that little introduction there. But his control has been much better in his last two starts than it was prior to that. And the results have been decent. and this week he gets Detroit and the White Sox.

So two really good matchups. I think he's the best you can do as far as two-stared sleepers go, Tristan McKenzie. Tyler Anderson, of course, is pitched well. I don't believe it at all. I don't believe he can sustain it. But he's at Pittsburgh and against the Royals this week. I consider those matchups to be pretty good. The pirates especially have cooled off quite a bit from early this season.

There's also Luis Heel against the Astro. and at the Rays. So not the greatest matchups, but those offenses haven't performed up to our expectation so far, I think is fair to say. And he'll gets a lot of strikeouts if nothing else. Colin Ray, don't believe in what he's doing at all either.

I think is one of his ERA estimators. I think it's XERA is over six. But the actual results have been fine for Colin Ray so far, and he's at Kansas City versus St. Louis. Good matchups there. Logan Allen, same matchups as Tristan McKenzie, Tigers and White Sox. I don't know that he's given us a good start yet,

but those matchups are good enough that at least in points leagues, I'd give Logan Allen a look. And finally, Patrick Sandoval coming off a good start at Pittsburgh versus the Royals. Again, that's more of a points league play. Interesting case here with Jose Budo, who I think is just going to be a one-star pitcher, but it's at St. Louis, the third worst offense in terms of run score. There's a chance he's a two-star pitcher.

If Adrian Houser gets the boot and the Mets go five-man next week and not six-man, then Budo could end up making a second start against the Braves. But the Braves lineup isn't as dangerous as usual right now. And again, that first start is at St. Louis. So Budo, a sleeper pitcher, pencil him in for one start, but it may end up being two. Scott, it was right there for you.

If Adrian Houser gets the boot, toe. Hmm. My head was not. in it. Sorry. I'm sorry. I can't make those jokes. I'm not a dad. I'm a cat dad. So I don't know, maybe I can make those jokes. I did want to mention quickly with Patrick Sandoval that our buddy Lance Brosdowski, who we had on the podcast recently, in his newsletter with his pitcher notes, pointed out that Sandoval has made a pitch mix change recently, fading his four-scene fastball, throwing his slider a lot more. And his ERA estimators, 317 FIPP, 382 XERA, I don't know that I

buy it completely, but there could be something there with Patrick Sandoval, and as you mentioned, pretty good matchups next week, 34% rostered. Single-star streamers, there are three names here. So if you miss out on the two-star pitchers, who are some single-star streamers you can look at?

So Spencer Turnbull against the Blue Jays, who have just been terrible offensively, even though we don't think of the Blue Jays as a bad offensive team. Hopefully, Spencer Turnbull at least get that turn because it's a good matchup.

John Gray, I think John Gray is the second best one-start sleeper this week, and it's amazing that I'm saying that because he's at Colorado. And I think that really speaks to how bad the Rockies offense is. It speaks to how bad the options are for sleeper pitchers this week. But John Gray has a lot of experience at Colorado, obviously. And so if any pitcher is going to come in there and handle himself, it would probably be him. I also think Eric Fetty

against the Guardians tough matchup at least based on how they've performed so far but I'd rather start Eric Fetty than a lot of the one start options you could pick up off waivers even acknowledging that it's not the best matchup

the best hitter matchups for next week the Rangers the Royals the Cardinals the Mariners and the Pirates the worst hitter matchups Blue Jays, Nationals Marlins, Cubs and the Braves with that said who are your sleeper hitters for week seven?

Okay, Jorge Saler actually qualifies for this list now, which I was kind of surprised to hear. The Giants weren't among the team with the best five matchups, but they have three games at Colorado. They're one of not so many teams playing seven games. And Salar's power production has been finally. So I think it's a good time to roll the dice on him. If he was dropped in your league,

I like Andy Pahas this week, just because I think he's undervalued. The Dodgers matchups are decent enough. They're facing the back end of the Marlins rotation for three games, and then Michael King and Matt Waldron from the Padre's rotation. So I think Andy Pahas could do some damage with that. The Rangers matchups, you mentioned they're the best. They're by far the best.

At Oakland for four, at Colorado for three. Wow. Nate Lowe is the only name I could come up with from their lineup that is available. enough leagues to mention here. There's also Laudy Tavares, but he's been doing nothing.

So I didn't put him in my 10 sleeper hitters, but he's out there in a lot of leagues if you want to take advantage of those Rangers matchups. Please, please, Wia Langford next week, please. I got Joe Adele on here, sort of like Andy Paugh has just undervalued. His matchups are decent enough.

Thai France. We've talked before about how the stat cast numbers look great on him, He just hasn't really gotten results yet. But I think they're coming, and I think this week could be a good one for them. The Mariners have the fourth best matchups at Minnesota for four and against the A's for three.

The Cardinals having the third best matchups and only one left-hander on the schedule. I'm going to recommend Lars Neupar and Nolan Gorman for this week, hoping it turns out like it did for Anthony Rizzo last week and that those good matchups are enough to get them going. I think Lars Neupar and Nolan Gorman are going to deliver at some point. And these matchups might be the start of it. The Rockies are at home, legitimately at home, not in Mexico City for a full week.

And Brenton Doyle has been their best hitter at home this year. So I'm going to put him on here. And then a couple of highly, highly available options, almost 90% of CBS sports leagues. Richie Palacios or Richard Palacios were very formal at CBS. as that's how we list him, Richard Palacios. And the Rays have really good matchups. Only one left-hander on the schedule. He sits against left-handers.

He's been solid this year, delivering speed and getting on base a lot. And then Tommy Fam, rounding out the list here, also highly available. The White Sox, our team with seven games, and good matchups in those seven games. So, yeah, Tommy fans look good so far with the White Sox. Hopefully he'll keep it going for a seven game week.

All right. Let's wrap up with some leftovers and just quickly run through some hitters. Claibor Torres is on the board. He went one for three with his first home run of the season. Nico Horner, uh-oh, starting to run a little bit. One for four with two walks and two steals. He now has three steals over his last two games. So that's a great.

I almost made him my, oh my goodness gracious, just for those two steals. You know, it's good. as I say often, but maybe not often enough, stolen bases aren't evenly distributed over the course of the year, and you could get a lot over a short span of time, and hopefully this is the start of a run of running for Nico Horner. And it certainly looks like it's a start of,

the start of a run for Christopher Morel, who went one for four with a sock in his shoe. He hit his fifth home run and added his third stolen base, and in the series against the Mets, he had two homers and two steals. We spoke the other day about the plate discipline improved for Christopher Morel, and I still think he's a player

that you should be looking to buy on right now if you could. A quick bullpen update for the Giants, Camillo DeVall struck out one for his six save, and that's it. Those are all the bullpen updates for today. To stream or not to stream on Friday, and I believe we said

this was a pretty gross day of streaming. Well, yeah. Martine Perez is facing the Rockies in Pittsburgh. I think that's okay. I like what we've seen from Reese Olson, but at the Yankees... I'd still start Olson over any of these others, even though the matchups aren't as good.

I don't know. Close call between him and Martin Perez. That Rockies matchup is particularly away from Coorsfield is so favorable. If I had to pick a third from Friday, I would not pick a third from Friday. I guess, I have no idea. I don't like anyone else.

I'll say... I think one of the two lefties. Ryan Weathers or J.P. Sears. Facing each other. Yeah, let's say Sears against the Marlins. On Saturday, we do have quite a few options here. Brandon Fott is going up against the Padre. Zach Lattel is going up against the Mets.

Keaton win has pitched well. He's at the Phillies. Paul Blackburn gets the Marlins. Trevor Rogers gets the Oakland A's. Eric Fetty at the Cardinals. That's an easy one. Freddie at the Cardinals. Clark Schmidt against the Tigers.

I think there's a lot of options on Saturday. Faddy at the Cardinals, Keaton win at the Phillies. Brandon fought against the Padres. All right. And Sunday we have Ryan Feltoner at the Pirates. I mean, it could work out. He pitched well against the Marlins. Bailey Falter gets the Rockies in Pittsburgh.

And then Javier Assad has pitched well. He's facing the Brewers. Dean Kramer has been okay, but he's in Cincinnati. I don't love Sunday. Yep. It's getting harder, I think. Sean Mania at Tampa Bay is okay, I guess. It's getting harder to find streamer recommendations we feel good about as now that the wheat has been separated from the chaff on the waiver wire.

And all the good pitchers have been picked up. Not that there will never be any other good ones on the. waiver wire, but not at the same rate as before. Yeah. And I think that was a pretty long way of saying, do not stream anybody on Sunday if you don't have to, but if I had to choose, I would go probably Mania, Falter, and let's say Javier aside. We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again next week. Bye-bye.