Fantasy Baseball Today - Mitch Keller Breakout, Week 6 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (4/28 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 28, 2023

Brandon Drury is on fire (2:15)! ... Mitch Keller looks like he's finally breaking out (11:33). ... Jack Suwinsk has been sneaky good (17:50). Brent Rooker keeps hitting home runs. ... Brett Baty or Jordan Walker (24:42)? ... How is Matt Strahm doing this (30:55)? ... News (34:30): Aaron Judge left early with hip discomfort. ... What's the schedule in Week 6 (40:18)? Which two-start pitchers should be added? What about the sleeper hitters? ... Joey Ortiz was promoted by the Orioles (49:30). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (51:30). 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 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/ 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

Into fantasy baseball today on April 28th. I am Frank Sample joined by Scottie Dubb. Scott White. Today on the show, we're gonna recap Thursday's action. Mitch Keller, is it finally happening? It feels like it's finally happening. Week 6 sleepers, two star pitchers, and much more. Before we get started, please like this video

and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. If you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating. We really do appreciate it. And speaking of appreciation, thank you to everyone watching us live. This is by far our latest start of the season. That daggone technology is kind of throwing us off. But we are here.

I know it's NFL draft night, but you know what? We're still going live and we're still breaking down all the action. How's it going, Scottie? Well, you're blaming the technology tonight, but I got to say, it's better than the last two Thursday nights. You may notice it's my first Friday show since like week two of the season, because my internet kept crashing on Thursday nights. Yeah.

But it's a little iffy right now. So I don't know what it is about Thursdays. I don't know. Don't even speak it into existence, Scotty. That's not a CBS thing. I don't think. I probably shouldn't say that. Anyway, I'm here.

Let's do it. You are here and let's do it. Oh, my goodness gracious. Atta girl, Susan. Scott, we'll start with you. Actually, we did not talk about this one bit before we started. But here we are. Oh, my goodness gracious.

Your Player of the Night. We didn't talk about it, David. Way to put me on the spot. Frank? I can go first if you'd like. I'm going to go with Brandon Drury. All right. That's who I wrote down for myself,

but I'll take Mitch Keller then. Okay. Brandon Drury. See, I am off put by what Brandon Trury is doing right now because I mentioned, well, I wasn't here

because my internet was now out. But last time, last week, I'm sure you guys mentioned you and Chris Towers mentioned that the angels were among my favorite matchups for the week we're living through now. And I came very close to putting Brandon Drury as one of the top sleeper hitters because of that. But I was like, nah, I mean, he's done nothing all year. Like, what are the odds? This is the week he picks it up just because they have good matchups. And it's always that dilemma when I'm putting together that sleeper hitter list is how much do you weigh recent. performance versus matchups.

Historically, I have to say, when I've gone with just the hot bat, regardless of the matchups, it hasn't worked out as well. But it's taking that to another level to say this guy who's done literally nothing all year. This is the week he's going to turn it on. But it's clearly happened for Brandon Drury, who had another huge game here on Thursday night. Let me find the numbers exactly Okay, so his last four games now With his performance here

Well, give me the numbers for the performance Thursday, Frank So he went two for two with two walks And his fifth home run of the season There you go. Last four games, nine for 15 Four home runs Two doubles And there's certainly nothing wrong

With the way he's impacting the ball I mean his max exit velocity Is certainly that of a slugger And max exit velocity is more important than average exit velocity for determining, you know, just are you like a true power hitter? 75th percentiles, Brandon Drury's max exit velocity this year. And, you know, we obviously had a lot of questions about his power output, given that his breakthrough season came in Cincinnati, the easiest place to hit home runs. And after he was traded to the Padres at the deadline, his numbers were not nearly as good. his road numbers all of last year, not so great.

So there's a lot of skepticism coming in. Combined that with the cold start. Got dropped in a lot of leagues, I'm sure. But he's still eligible, second, third, first. Very favorable eligibility. He's playing basically every day for the Angels and an ideal spot for driving in runs with a lot of high OBP guys like Trout and Redone and Otani

and Taylor Ward. Not off to a great start, but in theory he's another high OBP guy. all of those batting in front of jury. I think there's reason to hope still, and certainly the way he's performed recently would suggest, that he's going to be a useful player, at least in Roto Leagues,

where you have all those extra lineup spots to fill, and the fact you can move them around so much, very helpful. So, you know, I don't think I've dropped him myself in any of the leagues where I drafted him. Obviously, they were only Roto leagues. I wouldn't bother with him in a league where only 19. hitters are started. But yeah, I think, I think it's easy to say now, but it's premature to give up on Drury. And if you've already given up on Drury, then you should probably try to get him back.

So Drury is 58% rostered and based on your breakdown, Scott, that probably accounts for all of the category leagues on CBS and maybe even a little bit more. So yeah, I don't, I don't know that his roster rate needs to be that much higher. Do you know what his last four games all have in common, Scott. Against the A's. That's right. Ken, the pitcher's he's face. Ken Walde-Chuck, Mason Miller, Luis Medina, and J.P. Sears. So obviously, some favorable matchups, and that's something that you talked about. So I don't want to completely poo-poo it, but obviously he has had some favorable, you know, matchups recently going up against the Oakland A's. Sure. The strikeout rate on the season is still 31%. So again, from a points league

perspective, you're losing fantasy points for all those strikeouts. If it continues. I will point out that strikeouts have not been a major issue for Drury. Like even before last year, even before he was good. He was more like a 20 to 25% strikeout rate guy. So, you know, the way I'm reading that very high strikeout rate for him is he was just terrible. Like for the first, what, four weeks of the season is just terrible. And everything he was doing was terrible. And, you know, over small sample sizes like that, it can happen.

And I'm not saying he's not like, I'm not saying he's totally, like great now and we never have to worry about him again. But I'm saying, I'm saying you, well, I'm saying it was too small of a sample to judge him on, especially given that he does have great utility, both because of the multi-eligibility and because he provides power numbers that are hard to find from someone rostered in that range. Fair enough. Let's compare him to a few other, uh, players that could be available in your leagues. Esoc Paredes to me is very similar to Brandon Drury.

He's got first, second, and third base eligibility, 57% rostered. So, Scott, if you're debating between those two names, Paradis went two for five with a double and five RBI on Thursday. Who would you rather have? Big game. I'd rather have Drury. And I think you can trust it.

Paredes has played more than I thought he has played so far for the, for the raise. But, you know, just given the way, the rays operate. I would expect Drury to play more than Paredes. All right. Some of the most added hitters on CBS right now, Harold Ramirez. Would you rather have Drury or Harold Ramirez? Ramirez. How about Drury or you know who's got?

Connor Joe, baby. That's right. Homer on Thursday. The guy homers every Thursday because he knows that it's a a Coca-Moh Friday coming up. Maybe he's taking my internet out. I love it. I am not buying the Conor Joe Assants. I'm not buying it. Come on, Scott.

The biggest point in Connor Joe's favor when we all liked them heading into Latin while some of us, Chris Towers didn't it. And he was right. But the biggest point in his favor when we liked him last year was he played in Colorado. He's also a big deal. He's also a stud.

Come on, Scott. He's not a stud. He did have a solid minor league career, but doesn't impact the ball especially hard. You know, has a patient approach, which I like. And like, I'm not buying the Pirates lineup in general. That's part of it, too. Like, I, we, people are so good at buying into the thing they're seeing right now. Like, they lose all perspective.

And I'm not saying everybody's like that. but just people in general are like that and everybody's with the pirates like right now like, I don't know, maybe they're good, maybe they're actually, they're not good, come on. And I don't think Conor Joe is good either. And I'm not saying you can't use him as a hot hand play, though I don't think other than the home run tonight,

I don't think he's had a particularly good week. No, he's not even sure he's the hot hand play anymore. But certainly not buying him in a rest of season context. Yeah, so Conor Joe was hitless in his previous three games before this one. The plate discipline, which you pointed out, has been very good this year. 10% walk rate, 23% strikeout rate. And he is hitting the ball hard. 91.4 average exit velocity for Connor Joe.

Lots of line drives. He's been hitting in the middle of that order as well. It's close between those two. I mean, I think I prefer Conor Joe, but I wouldn't blame someone if they wanted Brandon jury. The one thing I'll point out about the Pirates got is every year, there's at least one or two teams that just surprise us. A couple of years ago, the Giants coming out and winning whatever it was,

105, 107 games. I don't think the pirates are going to do that. But so far this season, they are tied for seventh in both hits and runs scored. And they've kind of got a thing going on right now, like pulling out the sword when they're in the dugout. Like, they've got a fun vibe going on. I don't know how long it's going to last,

but they are kind of like that surprise team. Yeah. I mean, if you had told somebody three weeks ago, go, hey, you think the Giants can, you think the Pirates can do what the Giants did two years ago? They would have been like, the Pirates, that's one of the worst run organizations in baseball. To be fair, I don't think the Pirates are going to win 105 games or whatever it was. They've got some young players coming. If they keep this up, maybe they start to push some of those guys like Andy Rodriguez and Henry Davis and Nick Gonzalez.

And maybe they make some noise for like a wild card spot. At this point, that would not surprise me, at least for the Pittsburgh Pirates. More on a few of their hitters in just a little bit. I want to talk about one of their pitchers, and that is Mitch Keller, who, once again, looks like he is breaking out. He makes it five straight quality starts. This one up against the Dodgers. Worth noting, let's put it in perspective.

I like that word that you brought up, Scott, perspective. The Dodgers lineup is not the Dodgers lineup right now. They don't have Max Muncie. Mookie Betts is cold right now. so, you know, they're not at full strength. Let's keep that in mind. But this was still a fantastic start for Mitch Keller. Six innings, two runs, ten strikeouts to just one walk.

Fifteen swinging strikes on 97 pitches. Five of those on the fastball. Five on the cutter. Three on the sinker. Two on the sweeper. The guy just had everything working. And this new cutter appears to be a game changer for Mitch Keller. He's throwing it up over 20% of the time this year.

And you just look at the overall numbers, Scott. 3.53 ERA. a 1.21 whip over a strikeout per inning, 10K per 9 right now. And the underlying numbers, 3.65 fit, 3.74 X-Fip. And he allowed some hard contact in this start. But up until now, he has done a really, really good job limiting hard contact. He's 74% rostered Mitch Keller. He could be out there in some shallower leagues.

I think that number at this point, Scott, needs to be closer to 100%. I think it's a must roster Mitch Keller at this point. Yeah, I don't think I'd argue against that too strongly. I don't, like, I think Mitch Keller has a chance to be part of this year's Mount Rushmore, whatever, however that manifests. Like, he could be one of those. I understand, okay, his K rate right now looks pretty good coming off this start. He entered this year, I'm sorry, he entered this start with a 9.7% swinging strike rate, which is really bad. He's mainly excelled by limiting quality contact, by inducing weak contact. And I think for good reason,

I think there might be some legitimacy to that because he has added so many pitches and he's not, and he mixes it up, start to start, which ones he leans on more than others. And so I think, like, I think he's, he's turned himself into an interesting sort of pitcher. who just keeps hitters guessing and keeps them from squaring up the ball because he gives them so many different looks. So I don't think there's a huge, like an especially high ceiling here.

And if the Pirates lineup falls off the way I expect it to, Mitch Keller might continue to pitch well and struggle to win at the same rate he has so far what he's 3 and 0 now after 6 starts. Pretty good win rate. So I think, like yes, he needs to be roster now with the way he's performing. I certainly don't have any objections to starting him in fantasy.

I believe his matchup next week is a really good one. Let me double check that. It's the end. No, it's not a really good one. It is either the rays or the Blue Jays. I don't have any objections to using Mitch Keller. But I do think you can make the case for him. being a sell high too. I expect the strikeout rate to fall. I expect them to have a harder time

winning games. The ERA could be pretty good. He could be like Merrill Kelly. And I'm not just saying that. I'm not just making that comparison because their names are easy to confuse. So Mitch Keller is at Tampa Bay next week. So that is a tough matchup. Not sure I'd want to use him there. I did a big rankings update on Thursday, Scott, and I moved Mitch Keller inside of my top, 60 starting pitchers up to 59, so that would be just ahead of Graham Ashcraft, Patrick Sandoval, Alex Cobb, and an interesting name is

Andrew Heaney, who also pitched on Thursday. Six innings, three runs, six strikeouts up against the Yankees. He had 12 swinging strikes on 97 pitches. He's 72% rostered going up against the Diamondbacks next week, and in shallower league, some people might have to make that decision, Scott. Looking at your rankings, you have Mitch Keller, two spots behind Heaney,

but maybe you do. did that the other day before this start. So who would you rather have Keller or Heaney? No, I think I'd rather have Heaney. I think the biggest advantage Keller has over Heaney is like durability, both in the sense that he's more likely to stay healthy and he's likelyer to pitch deep into games.

And that's important. But I mean, Heaney's been really good since that awful first start. He's had four straight, really strong outings. And what he did against the Yankees here on Thursday, he didn't even use his best pitch, a slider that much. He threw 30%

changeups. That's twice as often as he... I don't know why he wasn't throwing the slider as much. Maybe it had to do with the makeup of the Yankees lineup. I don't know. But Heaney's been really solid. I think he has a better supporting cast. Time will eventually show. And

now I'm kind of second-guessing myself because I do think Mitch Keller, like you say, Frank, needs to be rostered. Does Heaney need to be rostered in 100% of leagues? I think you could get away with not rostering him right now a little easier. We're talking really shallow league. Right. Just because Keller has, I think, been more obviously good. But in the long run, I think Heaney's going to be better.

Yeah, I would take Mitch Keller. And I think the reason Heaney might have not used a slider as much on Thursday, entering that start, it had a 417 batting average against and an 833 slugging percentage. I don't know how much of that came in that first start. It's like his best swing and miss pitch. Yes, and it has been this season, but it hasn't been as good as last year

when he was with the Dodgers, and obviously they worked some kind of devil magic on Andrew Heaney last year, but the fastball velocity is down this year and it's performing really well. I just don't really trust it. I don't really trust how Heaney is getting it done right now. He has been very good, but

I still like him. I just don't like him as much as Mitch Keller. So, yeah, I'm going to continue to rank him behind Keller for now. Let's get back to the Pirates. I had another hitter I wanted to bring up. Someone that I have not shown enough love so far on this podcast is Jack Swinsky, who went one for four with an RBI and his fourth stolen base of the season on Thursday. Not a crazy game or anything, but he's been hot recently. His last 11 games, he's gone 12 for 31, a 387

batting average during that time. Four homers, four doubles, nine walks to seven strikeouts, and four stolen bases for Jack Swinsky. He's putting the ball in the air. He's hitting it really hard, 93 mile per hour average exit velocity. That was a 23% barrel rate

entering Thursday's action. 35% rostered, Scott. I feel like we need to talk about Jack Swinsky more. What do you think about him? Well, I haven't thought much about him, to be honest. He didn't show a lot as a rookie. I mean, a good home run pace, but he was never really worth starting in fantasy. A platoon player who struck out way too much. And, uh, and, uh, I, I just kind of thought,

I just kind of thought that's who he was. But now I'm taking a closer look here. I know he's walking at like a 20% rate this year. Yeah. He, he has, I've heard them talk about on the broadcast. He's changed his approach this season too. I think he's changed his batting stance and so far it's working out. It has. And I mean, the fact he's running so much too. He's up before stolen bases. He's legitimately fast. 89th percentile sprint speed. Obviously, that's more likely to translate in the current environment with all the rule

changes. Let me see how much he's been playing against lefties if his playing time is still going to be limited. So he started against the last lefty they faced, mostly sat against lefties this year. If he continues to perform, I mean, they're going to have to play him more and more. I agree. I need to start giving him

a little more attention to. Doesn't mean just because he's done all this up to this point that he'll continue to do it. But the data is very encouraging and the habits, the new habits he seems to have developed both in terms of the plate discipline and the base running are also very encouraging.

And during that rankings update that I did on Thursday, I moved Jack Swinsky inside my top 60 outfielders. I have this little tier, a trio of Brandon Marsh, Jaron Duran, and Jack Swinsky, who they're all just pretty interesting. And I like what they're doing so far. Duran striking out a little bit too much, the strikeouts have jumped up for Brandon Marsh as well. But with those two at least, Marsh and Duran, they had some prospect pedigree, and they're kind of post-hype guys and they're part of lineups that are supposed to be exciting with the Phillies.

And with the Red Sox are actually exciting so far. And so I like that group. I like all three of those guys. And I think in five outfielder leagues, they absolutely need to be rostered right now. So yeah, showing some love to Jack Swinsky. A few other names here. Brent Rooker, Scott,

one for five with his seventh home run. And he is also doing some interesting things. 12 walks at 13 strikeout so far, also putting the ball in the air, also hitting it hard. He's 42% rostered. Let me ask you, would you take Brent Rooker over any of those three names

I just mentioned, Marsh, Duran, and Jack Swinsky? I think I'd take them over Duran I know Duran's a favorite of that group probably right I like him I picked them up in the Skyway Dynasty League so I'm like I'm rooting hard I'm rooting hard for Dronry I saw that the other day I'm like oh this is why Frank likes I mean it's it's hard to bet on the 28 year old who's getting the first real chance and has had huge strikeout issues

but the power like there's no questioning the power with Rooker I mean I remember when the twins drafted them and how much how much that was his calling card and obviously he delivered on it in the miners so I'm cautiously optimistic about Rooker I don't know

I may have just talked myself into Swinsky over him but otherwise I think Rooker's my who was the fourth outfielder we were considering Brandon Marsh yeah I mean his strikeout rate has been a lot better so far I think yeah I don't know that's that's a really interesting group I think Duran is my least

favorite. I think Rooker, like Rooker is of the other three the least likely to last, like the least likely to keep getting chances. Correct. As long as he's hot, obviously, the A's are going to keep playing him. But there's a reason he's not getting a chance. He hasn't gotten a real chance in the majors till age 28. So you could, I think, I think the upside is pretty evident with Brent Rooker.

And I think he's worth taking seriously right now. But you have to understand. what kind of asset this is. And it's one that can go belly up very quickly. Yeah, I think it's purely more of a deeper league play. Look, if you're playing a 12-team league and you need power, then yes, I think Brent Rooker makes some sense for you. If you're playing a deeper points league,

again, the plate discipline is there and he's hitting home runs. I think he's interesting. He's going to play because the Oakland A's just don't have much talent. But I would rank him behind those other three, the Marsh Duran and Swinsky group for me. Let's take our first break. And when we get back a few more waiver-wire hitters, I've got some pitchers I want to talk about as well.

We'll do that right after this. Welcome back and how should you feel about your team's latest draft picks in the NFL draft? The With the First Pick podcast is your source for comprehensive draft coverage and pick breakdowns with CBS Sports draft expert Ryan Wilson and longtime general manager Rick Spielman. Ryan and Rick will recap

each day of the draft dishing out winners and losers from all seven rounds. And the draft chatter doesn't stop on Saturday. State tuned to the show for team by team draft grades and an early look at who your team could be eyeing next year. Download and follow the With the First Pick podcast wherever you find this one. And I can recommend it myself because I've listened to that podcast leading up to the NFL draft. The first round was here on Thursday night. Don't really know much about the guy that my jets put the jets drafted. But Scott, Falcons drafted a running back, Bjaun Robinson. Yeah. Yeah. They, they

drafted a player who's going to be of great interest in fantasy, it seems like. Probably, I mean, conventional wisdom would say that being the first team to draft a running back in a real-life sense probably isn't, probably isn't anything to feel good about. Yeah. I had my CBS sports app draft tracker up, and I think they gave the Falcons a C for that pick, Scott. So I do apologize. Could be worse. I mean, somebody has to take the first. running back. It's true. It is true. Anyway, yeah, if you want some draft coverage,

the with the first pick podcast, that is where you can find it. Brett Beat Beatty had his first real breakout game this season. Scott, three for three with a walk and his first home run of the season. He's batting 321. Strikeouts are a little bit high. The ground ball rate is a little bit high. He's 72% rostered, so likely only out there in shallow release. He's at seven games next week. Three lefties on the schedule and he has not been playing against lefties. So don't really love that. Someone in the YouTube chat earlier, Scott, was asking Brett Beatty or hold on to Jordan Walker. What do you think about that? It's an interesting dilemma. I think, I think, Brett, first of all, I think Brett Beatty's 72% roster rate is pretty much spot on. Like, in those

shallower leagues, you can't afford to invest a bench spot on a guy, you know, particularly thinking like a head-to-head points context where you want to maximize two-star options. You can't, you can't afford to invest a roster spot in a guy who, you know, you know, you can't, you It may be usable at some theoretical point in the future, but we have no idea when. The way the Mets are using Biddy, now, he's clearly not usable. And so I don't think he has a big advantage over Walker just because he happens to be in the majors.

Like whenever Walker comes back, and I was on yesterday's show, I didn't have a chance to give my Walker take, I suspect it'll be a fairly short stay in the miners. I just released my latest prospects report. You know, on the same day, the news of Walker being demoted. So he qualified for the prospects report again. And I had him as the top prospect to stash still.

So if any prospect is worth stashing in your league, Walker is number one. I had him even ahead of Tage Bradley. So I'm still pretty optimistic and Jordan Walker's chances of making a significant fantasy contribution this year. I try to hold on to him wherever I could. And getting back to your original question, yeah, I do think he's probably worth rostering over Beatty, given that Beatty is not in a position to be used

extensively in fantasy right now himself. Anything here with these two hitters, Scott. C.J. Abrams went one for four with a grand slam, his second home run of the season. He's betting 222, only has three steals just thus far, a 675 OPS, and Jake Berger went

two for three with a walk and his sixth home run. He's hitting the ball hard, he's putting it in the air, he's doing exactly what you want from a power hitter. We don't know when Yoan Moncada is going to be back, so I guess for the time being, Jake Berger does have some value. Any interest in those two Abrams and Berger? Or, well, I was going to say more in Berger, but I don't know that that's necessarily true. I think Moncada's, is he on a rehab assignment yet?

When he went down, it didn't seem like it was going to be a long-term injury. There was a report on Thursday that he is dealing with a disc issue in his back and will not be ready for a rehab assignment this weekend. So he's kind of injuries on top of injuries now. Okay, fair enough. Yeah, okay. Well, if Burger has some runway here, then I think he's the way to go. 100th percentile and max exit velocity.

Yeah. Nobody hits the ball harder than Burger. Okay? And has there been a day yet where Burger and Coloss have batted back to back? Because I was looking forward to that. And just kind of went by the way. It seems likely. Yeah.

Oscar Coloss, by the way, real slow starts of the season. No. I mean, I think at this point I'd rather have Burger than Coloss. All right. So Oscar Coloss batted eighth on Thursday. Let's see where Jake Burger bad. Probably close to it. Sixth.

Ah, we're off by one, Scotty. And I've always wanted Burger to get a chance because he hits the ball so hard, because I think the power is legitimate. Of course, you know, guy striking out 30% at the time. You can't have a ton of faith in that guy no matter who he is. But the way to overcome that is by impacting the ball like Berger's been doing. And so far it's worked out. You know, getting back to other recent waiver wire pickups at third base,

I know he slowed down, but I'd still prefer like J.D. Davis over Berger, who are some of the other examples. I mean, Drury has third base eligibility. Yeah, I'd rather have. Drury than Burger, I think. But, you know, some hesitation there. Let's see. Patrick Wisdom is already rostered too much now. Yeah, 91% I think.

Rodolfo Cashro is close to the top of the most added list. Give me Burger. Yeah, I think so. Spencer Steer. That one's probably close. How one's interesting? I think I'd rather have Steer? I think so, too.

I trust more of the long-term playing time this season. Yeah. But yeah, you know, C.J. Abrams, I'm looking into his numbers right now. He is walking a little bit more this year. He's not hitting as many ground balls. But the average exit velocity, 85.6 miles per hour. I mean, that's just not going to get it done. He's chasing pitches at an alarming rate once again.

Basically identical to last year. A 43% chase rate. League average is around 30%. So really, really aggressive. I'm not completely writing them all from like a Dynasty League perspective, but the signs are not encouraging. Yeah, I kind of think he just got called up too early. Yeah. Because the power probably was never going to be his game, but he was, he had close to 80 grade tools, let's say 70 grade tools for both hit and speed.

He just hasn't delivered much on either since reaching the majors. Still only 22, though. Yeah. Still 83rd percentile in sprint speed, too. So very fast. Hey, he's got two home runs in a month, right? Like, at that pace, that's 12 home runs. If he gives you 12 homers and winds up with, I don't know, 20 steals.

That's like a solid season. But I think you're probably, you probably want more of like a 12 homer 30 steel season out of C.J. Abrams, right? Like that would be like his optimal. Depends what the batting averages, ultimately. Yeah. I mean. Right now it's what, 220?

So. Yeah. It's pretty bad. Let's talk about a few pitchers that could be available. We already talked about Mitch Keller and Andrew He, Keeney earlier on. The other three names that could be out there. Matt Strom, another strong start up against the Mariners, five and a third shutout with five strikeouts to zero walks. Only five swinging strikes on 60 pitches. I'm not really sure how he's doing it. He has

changed up the pitch mix this year. Matt Strom, he's throwing a new slider 20% of the time, and he has ditched the change up, which he's used in years past, but it just doesn't really add up to how good the numbers are for Matt Strom so far. Hayden was necessary. Went five innings, one run, three strikeouts up against the Padres. But all the underlying numbers in this one are pretty underwhelming. And then Joey Lucchasey, he was all right, up against the Nationals. Five and a third, three runs, three strikeouts for him. Looks like he is on pace for two starts next week.

Scott, you could correct me if I'm wrong on Joey Lucchasey. But any interest in those three, Strom, Wesneski, Luke Casey. Yeah, the Mets rotation situation is kind of a mess right now because Scherzer and Verlander are probably going to be back this week. Scherzer is eligible to return from his suspension Monday, so I presume he's starting that day, which would bump Senga back to Tuesday, which would make Lucchese just a one-start option.

But it may actually be a zero-start option because Verlander's supposed to come back Wednesday, and I think Lucchese would most likely be the one removed once Scher and Verlander are both back. So probably not so worth getting into him. Strom, yeah, I mean, I have had trouble really buying into him either. You know, the one of these things is not like the other start was the last one against the Rockies, where he struck out 11 and had a high swinging strike rate for the year.

Yeah, I don't know. he's managed to keep runs off the board. The strikeouts have been fine. Apart from that start, I mean, obviously the strikeout rate for the year looks great because he had 11 strikeouts in five and third innings in one start.

But yeah, I don't know that I totally buy into him either. He's only gone more than 67 pitches once this season as well. Yeah, I mean, he spent so much of his career as a reliever. And maybe you do occasionally see a guy who goes from relieving to start. and actually gets better because he's able to use parts of his arsenal that he didn't get a chance to use in relief. And you mentioned what, a slider?

Maybe that's what we're seeing with Strom. Yep. But I'm a skeptic for now. Yeah, West Nesky. Look, I don't see a lot of reason to, if you already jump ship on West Nesky, I don't see a lot of reason to jump back aboard. I do have him as one of my sleeper pitchers for this week because he does have two good matchups for the upcoming scoring period, Miami and Washington.

Great matchups. Yeah, really good matchups. But we're also, I've noticed with both the sleeper pitchers and hitters this week, which we'll get too soon. I think we're at a point in this season where the roster rates are beginning to normalize a bit and it's like really going into the week

there's only going to be three sleeper hitters and pitchers I feel good about, but I have to come up with 10. So, like, am I going to be the one picking up West Nesky for that two-star week? Probably not. But here you go. He's one of my 10. All right, let's hit some news and notes. Aaron Judge was removed Thursday due to right-hip discomfort.

And originally, you thought maybe it was related to that slide that he had on Wednesday where he jammed both of his hands into the dirt, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It's a right-hip issue, and hopefully we learn more over the weekend. Justin Verlander will make a minor league rehab start on Friday at AA, And the most recent report before this, they said he only needs one rehab start to return. And you were just talking about that, Scott.

So perhaps we see Justin Verlander make his Mets debut next week. Tyler Malley left his start due to right posterior elbow soreness. His fastball velocity dipped in his final inning of work. And all of a sudden, the twins are starting to take some hits to their rotation. Kent Maita sounds like he's going to land on the IL. So in deeper leagues, Bailey Ober, these long had some upside, Scott. And look, if Tyler Malley has them at some time, maybe we get Simeon Woods Richardson as well, who has had some prospect pedigree in the past.

Yeah, I'm pretty excited about Ober. I have him in some deeper leagues. I've just held on to him since the beginning of the year. I think he can, I think he can be a whip specialist and come close to a strikeout per inning. He's, you know, I've, there were reports this spring that his velocity was up. It didn't appear to be so in the one spot starting. made for the twins. And also, you know, part of what I liked about him coming in was he was an extreme flyball

pitcher in what seemed like an environment that would especially benefit those. And now I'm less confident that the environment benefits those. But even so, I mean, just the little we've seen of O'Ber in the majors so far, he's looked pretty good. Not saying you need to, like, you know, get rid of Tage Bradley for him or anything. but if you play in a deeper scenario than that, then you might give him a look. Liam Hendricks will have a checkup in Chicago next week

with the hope that he will be clear to begin a rehab assignment soon. That would be awesome for fantasy purposes. I think he's 69% rostered, so still could be out there in some shallower leagues. That is Liam Hendricks. Reiseliglesias began a rehab assignment at AAA on Thursday. Perfect timing because AJ Minter got destroyed once again.

on Thursday. Kent Maita likely headed to the IL due to right harm fatigue, and the MRI results on his right elbow showed no structural damage, but I'm sure the twins just want to play it safe at this point. Will Myers was placed on the IL retroactive

to April 26th with an undisclosed illness, which brings me to a very sneaky prospect stash right now, Scott. Christian Encarnacion Strand, who we spoke about a lot during spring training because he was amazing. He went off during spring training. He had a monster game.

here on Thursday at AAA, when five first six with two home runs, six RBI. Will Myers is on the IL. Joey Votto coming back from shoulder surgery is, he had to be taken off his rehab assignment because he's just not ready yet, like still dealing with effects of coming back from that surgery.

Christian Ankarnazio on Tran is 19% rostered. If you're looking for outside of Jordan Walker and Matt Mervis, like the next hitter to stash, I think it's probably him. I mean, I guess we shouldn't be surprised he comes up tomorrow given that he was... Pick him up! Like, he wasn't among my top five prospects to stash

in that prospects report I referred to earlier because, you know, he was just coming back from injury. I didn't expect him to go five for six with two home runs. But it's just a continuation of what he was doing in spring training, as you mentioned, as you mentioned, Frank. This spring, Christian and Carnacio and Strand went 15 for 26. 577 batting average four home runs four home runs and 26

at bats struck out twice while doing that and he put up huge power numbers in the miners between the twins and red systems as well he wasn't the strike area was a little worth than that I don't know if that's something he can sustain but

he was looking he was looking amazing and if he does get called up I think he's going to be in a pretty interesting pickup and all but the shallowest of leagues, beginning with third base eligibility, even though he would be playing first base. J.D. Martinez has missed three straight due to lower back tightness.

He hasn't been able to swing a bat in the last few days, so not great news for him. Logan T. Allen of the Guardians is scheduled to make another start this Sunday against the Red Sox. Carlos Carrasco threw a successful bullpen session on Thursday. He's on the I.L. with pain caused by a. small bone chip in his right elbow. Taiwan Walker could make his next scheduled start after an encouraging visit with the Phillies

medical staff. Andrew Painter has advanced to playing catch from 90 feet. The Phillies are clearly playing it cautiously as Painter rehabs the UCL sprain in his elbow. Last but at least, Terrick Scuba is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Friday. It will be his first mound work since he underwent left flexor tendon surgery last August, and he could be back around June. That's the latest report.

It's got any interest in stashing Terrick Scouble. He's 17% rostered. Not a lot. I mean, if you have an aisle spot to play with, it doesn't hurt to put him in there. But it was pretty unreliable even before he got hurt. It was showing some signs of maybe turning into a fantasy asset, but wasn't fully baked yet. And it's just not a high priority to stash him. All right.

Let's take our final break. And when we return, we'll get you ready for. week six here on fantasy baseball today. Let's get into week six and we'll start off with the schedule. Six teams have seven games next week. The Blue Jays, the Nationals, the Braves, the Red Sox, the Cubs, and the Mets. 22 teams have six games and then two unlucky teams have five games next week. The Diamondbacks and the Rangers.

Fringe two-star pitchers for next week, what do we do, Scott? Start or sit these names and I guess, based on. what you were saying earlier, would Kodi Senga still have two stars next week? If sure, as the returns on Monday? Because the Mets have seven games. Ah, yes. He probably should. I think Senga would go Tuesday and Sunday. I think so. Okay. So what do you think at the Tigers and versus the Rockies? He's just a really good matchup. So I think yes.

Yeah. He's been so frustrating, man. The control three plus walks and each start the season, I think exactly four starts and exactly four walks and three straight. So the control has been an issue, but if you can't start Kodaisenga against those two matchups, then man, he's probably not worth rostering. So I think I agree with you. Tony Gonsolin made his debut on Wednesday. He threw 65 pitches in his return. He's going up against the Phillies and at the Padres.

I missed the name. Who was that? Tony Gonson. Gonsalind. So I have him in the points league only part, and I'm not sure that's the fairest designation for him, but that's what I've named that tier. Eileen, no, I guess, is the simplest

way to put it on Gonsla, and I just want to see him work deeper into games. Those are kind of tough matchups. In a pinch, I'd do it. I don't think it's the scariest thing, but I'd lean no. All right, what about Taiwan Walker at the Dodgers and Home versus the Red Sox?

I'm going to say no to him, especially since he came out of his last start with an injury, and you know, they They say he could make his next start. It's not a guarantee he will. Calquantrol at the Yankees and home against the twins. I don't think so.

Good old Blake Snell going up against the Reds and the Dodgers, both at home next week. Yeah, I can't do that. I'm like, if you think walks are a problem for Senga. Snell's even worse. By the way, just have to point out. Oh. Remember all the grief we got on opening day?

How could you guys have called? Dylan Sees a bus this year. What a bunch of idiots. Dylan Seas has not looked good since that opening day starts. And after this latest one, six earn runs on nine hits and four innings against the raise. His ERA is up to 415. His whip is up to 138.

Since walking zero in that opener, Dylan Sees has 15 walks and 24 innings. That's what made me think of it, We were talking about pictures with a lot of walks. I'm not saying like, oh, bail on Dillan cease, obviously. I'm just saying perfect example of why you shouldn't read too much into any one start or really any small sample, which I think we're still in right now. It's a very long season again.

We are not even done with the first month of a sixth month season. So again, it's a very long season. and you can find Scott at CBS Scott White on Twitter and me at Rodo underscore Frank will be taking all apologies regarding Dylan C's. So if you want to tweet them individually, it's not a done deal. We got five more months,

but the jury is still very much. It was just so annoying, Scott, on opening day, like so many people. How could you call Dylan C's a bus? And it's like, hey man, let's see it play out a little bit. His next five starts. He can be amazing in all of them and maybe we'll look foolish again.

But again, let's not count our chickens before they hatch. Last name here, Scott, Stephen Matt's up against the Angels and the Tigers. What do you think? No. All right. Let's get into two-star pitchers worth adding and streaming for next week. And you have what seems like a lot of names here. Eight, seven, eight, something like that.

Yeah, I do. I don't feel great about all of them as I was just stating before. But most of them are making two starts, eight of the ten. sleeper pitchers for this week. Okay, so McKinsey Gore coming off the start he just had against the Mets. Going against the Cubs, at the Diamondbacks, I think that's a pretty easy call.

You know, not a done deal with him either. It has been a lot of walks, but like the stuff is looking really good. You say Kukuchi, four of his five starts have been great. Again, reason for skepticism still because a lot of hard contact, but he's at the Red Sox,

at the Pirates. I don't know. Are those good matchups or not? I don't know, but there's two of them, and Kikuchi's been pretty good. Drew Smiley, great matchups. Same matchups as Hayden Westniewski at Washington versus Miami,

and he's been mostly good, including one amazing start. Let's see, who else? Two-star pitchers. Mason Miller. Of course, I called him a two-star pitcher last week, and here he is on the list again. That means he didn't end up having a two-star week.

So hopefully he will this time. I think the fact that they've moved Fujinami to the bullpen and they no longer have to reserve Saturdays for him. Helps Miller gets the Mariners and the Royals. You know, pretty good matchups, especially the Royals there. Will he go more than four innings? I don't think he's a must start, but I think he's among the 10 best you could do off the Waverware.

Ranzi Contreras gets the raise and the Blue Jays. scary matchups. I don't feel great about the recommendation, but I got to fill out a list of 10 here, and he's been pretty good lately. Tyler Wells at Kansas City, out Atlanta, kind of a mixed bag there. Domingo Hermann.

You know, nothing special here about the matchups, Guardians, and Rays. He has a really high whiff rate, like an elite whiff rate. And so there's a chance he could deliver a really good starter too this week. But, again, we're getting pretty low on the sleeper pitchers,

and it's not a high priority for me to actually use Domingo Hermann, and then Hayden West Nesky, who I mentioned earlier, with the great matchups at Washington versus Miami. Only two single-star streamers, and it's Andrew Heaney going up against the Diamondbacks. Kyle Gibson at the Royals. Gibson pitched on Thursday against the Tigers. It was his second start in a row facing them, and he looked like Kyle Gibson again,

which is not the good Kyle Gibson, the bad Kyle Gibson. So I think he's fine, especially if you're playing a deeper league and you just held on to Gibson this long, you need a streamer at. the Royals, it's obviously a really good matchup. Let's get into the hitter side of things. The best hitter matchups for next week. The Mets, Blue Jays, Brewers, Cubs, and the Royals.

Worth mentioning the Brewers have three games in Cores Field next week. And the worst hitter matchups, the Giants, Marlins, White Sox, Dodgers, and Diamondbacks. With that being said, Scott, your favorite sleeper hitters to add for week six. Yeah, so this list

is, again, not when I feel great about it. It was hard to find hitters who are actually desirable off the way of wire and who also have good matchups. So just take these recommendations with even more of a grain of salt than usual. Joey Gallo is still rostered

in less than 60% of leagues. Amazingly. So I think he's a pretty easy choice, only one lefty on the schedule for the twins. Matchups or whatever, they're not especially good or bad, but he is providing plenty of power. So he's my favorite here.

A couple of brewers you mentioned they have the third best matchups, Brian Anderson and Joey Weimer, who seems to be heating up a bit. They have a series at Colorado. That's a big reason why their matchups are so favorable. And so hopefully they'll be able to take advantage of that. Harold Ramirez I have on here, again, it's not that the raised matchups are so good. It's just that they're not bad. And I think Harold Ramirez is somebody who deserves to be more rock.

fostered than he is with the kind of start he's off to and the quality of contact and everything else. A couple hot bats we talked about earlier, Brandon Drury, Brent Rooker. Matchups aren't especially good, but they're not especially bad either, and they're hot. Trey Mancini, you mentioned the Cubs have the fourth best matchups, and he's shown some signs of picking it up lately. You know, I kind of liked him coming into the year. Might not be a bad time to try him out in a five outfielder league.

join men ss has gotten hot the nationals matchups are pretty good seven game week if nothing else and uh deep deep league play here is Matt Carpenter Padres have only one matchup against lefties

and uh you know he's been he's been pretty good late getting more extra base heads than everything all right let's wrap up with a few more items here Scott Joey Ortiz prospect with the Orioles getting to it a little bit late here on the podcast but he was called up on Thursday, and if you're looking for him on CBS,

he would go by Joseph Ortiz. So just wanted to let everyone know that. He went one for three with three RBI in his debut. He's only 4% rostered, has shortstop eligibility. This season in the minors, he was hitting 359 with five doubles, two triples, in 889 OPS. Zero homers, though. Last year in the minors, 284 batting average, 19 homers,

eight steals in 826 OPS. me personally, I don't know that there's a huge ceiling here, Scott. It kind of reminds me of a Bryson-Stat-type offensive contributor, where it's a good batting average and, you know, modest power and speed. Your thoughts on Joey Ortiz and whether or not he needs to be added anywhere. Yeah, is he being, I agree with your assessment. Like, did I miss somebody going on the IL? Who is he replacing?

Well, both him and Adam Fraser were in the lineup on Thursday, so that is a good question. I'll look it up while you, if you have anything else. I'm not even sure where there's room for him, really, unless they're just replacing Frazier, which I don't think they do yet. Well, they moved Adam Frazier to the outfield. I know Austin Hayes has missed the past couple of days with a bruised hand. But he's supposed to be back soon enough. So they may just need an extra bat for a few days, and that's the role Joey Ortiz is going to fill,

or maybe he'll stick around as a utility player. But I agree. He probably doesn't have a lot of fantasy relevance. Yeah, I'm looking at their team right now. Yeah, I think it's really just comes down to Austin Hayes. I don't think Gunner Henderson was in the lineup either on Thursday. He's off to a slow start. We'll talk about him more coming up.

Hey, real quick, I just quick thought on each of these starting pitcher, Scott, guys that went on Thursday. Kyle Wright, he only threw three innings because of a delay, a range shortened delay there. But he had six strikeouts and three shutout, and both his curbel and fastball velocity up 1.5 miles per hour. So good news.

Kyle Wright. Very encouraging. I think it's a two-star week coming up at Miami versus Orioles. I think if you've been avoiding using Wright, now's the time to set it right. Get him in. All right, what's going on with

Julio Arias, two rough starts in a row going up against that buzzsaw known as the Pittsburgh Pirates. Six earned runs over. of five and two thirds innings. What stood out to me, Scott, the fly ball rate is down this year for Arias. The ground ball rate is up,

and his babbip is all the way up to 326. It's 271 for his career. So less fly balls, more ground balls. That's probably going to happen. Although, you know, two turns ago, we were saying, ah, nobody, no pitchers have, has an unscathed,

no, no pitchers gone unscathed here. None of the high-end pitchers have gone unscathed, except for Julio or Reyes, and then suddenly he has two bad starts in a row. He's also had three starts in a row with two home runs allowed, which is, you know, BAP-D independent. So that has a whole thing either. You know, I think I'll probably be fine.

I wouldn't. No pit. Now almost no pitcher has gone unscathed. Yeah. George Kirby had an excellent star at the Phillies, five innings, one run, seven strikeouts to just one walk. He has allowed two. Two walks this season and one homer.

So, look, even if he doesn't have a tremendous swinging strike rate, Scott, if George Kirby can limit the walks and home runs at that level, then he's probably going to be a top 30th starting pitcher. Yeah. I mean, that's basically how I went from last year. I don't think much has changed either in a good direction or a bad direction. I think Kirby's just kind of a, you know, solid number three starter in fantasy. and he has the upside for more,

but we're not seeing evidence of him tapping into that. Logan Webb feels like he's been quite unlucky so far this season. Six and two-thirds, two runs, seven strikeouts, and he's got an ERA over four. His ex-fip is 2.57 because his home run to fly ball ratio is through the roof, Scott. The strikeout to walk ratio is fantastic for Logan Webb. Would you look to buy low right now? I guess.

Yeah. I don't know I don't he had that big strikeout game on opening day that I think maybe inflating the the strikeout numbers there a bit so I don't see

I don't know that I'm seeing growth here from Logan Webb really I see what you're saying that oh he's had some bad luck so far with the home runs so I guess from that perspective you could buy low, but I don't think anybody's selling him based on him having an ERA over four, you know? Yeah, that's true. Miles Michaelis easily had his best start of the season, six and a third shot out with six strikeouts,

but a peek under the hood, Scott, there's nothing that really stood out to me. How about you for Michaelis? I agree. I'm still pretty concerned about him. This was his first good start in six chances. So, yeah, still pretty concerned, but there's a chance you could turn it around, sure. Shane O' Mac, Shane McClanahan. Here comes the money.

Here we go. Money talks. Here comes the money. You know, money talks, but... McClanahan wasn't amazing here on Thursday. Five innings, two runs, five strikeouts, only eight swinging trikes on 73 pitches. I noticed the velocity was down in this one, Scott.

Fastball down one mile per hour, slider down nearly two miles per hour. 56 degrees in Chicago, so a little chilly, but it's not like it was freezing. cold. Any concern over the velocity here? Not really. I mean, it is cold by baseball standards, and we've certainly seen other pitchers lose that much velocity in that sort of weather this year. So, you know, Shane McClanahan, I was just saying nobody's unscathed anymore. Shane McClan is one

pitcher who basically is even with this, you know, slightly underwhelming start. I'll raise you one more pitcher, Scott, and that is Garrett Cole, who has been exactly that unscathed this season. Six and two-thirds, two runs, eight strikeouts at the Rangers. Two earn runs or fewer in all six starts. He's got a quality start in five of six. The ERA is down to, I guess it actually went up in this one. 1.1 is the ERA for Garikull. Has not allowed a home run this season. Obviously, that will change at some point. But it's a very good sign considering he gave up the second most home runs of any pitcher last year. And that was,

that was my concern coming in, is would he be, like he was, I didn't question whether he'd be one of the best fantasy pitchers, but would he be an ERA liability in that tier of pitchers, within that tier of pitchers? If he's not allowing home runs, then he won't be.

You might be the Cy Young in the AAL. We'll see. The call to the bullpen, a few updates here for the Braves. We mentioned earlier, AJ Minter entered the ninth with a four-run lead. He allowed five runs and took the loss. His ERA is now 8.53. For the Phillies, I assume Jose Alvarado was unavailable.

He pitched on Wednesday and then Sunday before that. So maybe they just don't want to go back to back days with him. And he did throw 22 pitches Wednesday. So maybe that was enough to steer him away. But yes, Craig Kimball got the save instead. In a 1-0 game, too. So it's not like it was about as high leverage as it can get for a closer. So it was interesting.

I still think Alvarado is the go-to guy, Scott. but maybe it's like a 60 or 70% of the chances go to Alvarado and the rest go to Kimberl, something like that. Yeah, I'll give Alvarado more benefit of the doubt than that even. Okay. But it's, you know, the Phillies are leaving this tiny little seed of doubt in our minds that Alvarado is just the guy. For the Cubs, Brad Boxberger pitched in the ninth with a three-run lead.

He picked up his second save of the season. Michael Former was used in the sixth inning of that game. Boxburger is only 20% rostered, so if you do need saves in a deeper league, he is widely available. For the Angels, Jose Quijada entered in the eighth with a three-run lead. He gave up two runs, one of those earned. So he's kind of falling off recently, and Carlos Estevez struck out two for his fifth save of the season. He is 50% rostered if he need saves. For the Mets, David Robertson struck out two for his fifth save, and worth mentioning that

Adam Adavino is on the paternity list, so maybe he would have fulfilled. factored in. Don't know for sure. And then last one for the Orioles, Felix Bautista, walk three, but also struck out three for his sixth save of the season. Scott, welcome to the new to stream or not to stream. And here's what we're going to do.

I've got all the names listed on the rundown. You can kind of take a peek here and see who you'd like, but basically give me two or three of your favorites. And those will be the daily streamer recommendations. I got to say Friday is pretty, rough. I think it's Eduardo Rodriguez up against the Orioles and I think that's it

honestly. Well, as much as I enjoyed saying no eight times in different tones, different voices, yeah, this might be better because this is like, you know, gun to your head so I don't have to actually

like these pitchers. But gun to your head if you had to pick three, who'd you pick? On Friday I'm going to say Oh gosh. I'm going to say Eduardo Rodriguez against the Orioles

and that's the only one I feel really even okay about. After that, I'm going to say If I had to choose, I think it's Rich Hill at the Nationals and Wade Miley versus the Angels but. Yeah, good enough. I was kind of tempted by Luis Sessa at Oakland.

Oh, gosh. By relatively speaking. Nobody needs to star Luis Sassa. By the way, speaking of pitching in Oakland, actually no, was it in Oakland? Or was it in, actually I think it was in Anaheim. But Shohei Otani, remember earlier before the week started, I said, ah, you got to use Otani as a pitcher this week. That is worst start of the season, right?

As soon as I tell people to use him as a pitcher. So, oh, gosh, sometimes it just happens that way. And he's having a good week offensively. So apologies, if you listen to me. on Saturday, Scott, I got all the names listed here and the ones that stood out for me, Vince Velasquez at the Nationals, Matthew Boyd versus the Orioles,

and Edward Cabrera versus the Cups. Yep. Well, there's Dean Kramer at Detroit. You tempted by that at all? Yeah, I was on the fence between him and Edward Cabrera. Yeah. I think Kramer is a fourth, though. Gary.

Garrett Whitlock versus the Guardians. It's not terrible. No? I'd say no. Let's move on to Sunday. And I like Josiah Gray versus the Pirates. Although, look, the Pirates are not an easy matchup.

I have acknowledged that at this point. Josiah Gray is also pitching pretty well right now. Kyle Braddish, I know he got rocked his last time out, but he's at the Tigers. It's a great matchup. And originally I thought Mason Miller would start on Sunday, but he doesn't. Nope.

You want to go Logan Allen at Boston after that great debut? I'm okay with it. If I have to choose a third one, I guess, but the Red Sox? I think I prefer him to Bradish, actually. Bradish kind of spooked me with his last start. The Red Sox lineup is, they're good. Yeah, I mean, they've done some damage this year. I don't know that I agree that they're actually good.

They're better than the pirates probably in the long run. But it's a similar situation where I think they've played a little over their head so far. All right, well, you heard it there. For Scott, I am Frank, thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again next week. Bye-bye.