Fantasy Baseball Today - More Pitching Prospects! Hunter Brown & Brandon Pfaadt Hype (12/10 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:02 We have more of the Welsh's top pitching prospects up next on fantasy baseball today in five. Welcome into FBT and 5. Today is Saturday at December 17th. I am a very festive, for example, joined by a very festive Welsh. Make sure you follow him on Twitter at Is It the Welsh. Last week we talked about his top five pitching prospects in Dynasty leagues. I'll just quickly recap those. Grayson Rodriguez from the Orioles, Andrew Painter from the Phillies,

Starting point is 00:00:28 Ricky Teetam in from the Blue Jays, Yuri Perez from the Marlins, and Kyle Harrison. from the Giants. How about we give you five more? And we're going to start with two Cleveland Guardians prospects. Gavin Williams and Daniel Espino. Gavin Williams, big body, six foot six, ridiculous numbers. Daniel Espino, huge strikeout upside, but has been dealing with some injuries, only made four starts this past season. Welsh, why do you have Gavin Williams over Daniel Espino? Well, there's a consistency. I mean, you kind of put it out there right now. I think if Daniel Lispino had not suffered the injuries that he had and was able to 90% repeat what he had been doing, at least on track for, I think we would be talking about him in the top three overall pitchers right now.

Starting point is 00:01:10 It's a big dominant fastball that he can move around. I mean, this is a power pitcher. This is a big power pitcher where all secondaries are going to just play into this big power. Or you could just say the big fastball is going to set up even the average secondaries to do big stuff. And there's a lot of movement. I mean, this is a big spin guy as well, but the injuries have you a little bit concerned. So is there a risk that there could be relief in the future? Yes.

Starting point is 00:01:36 We just talked about this on the full show for fantasy baseball today. What is a pitching prospect overall? That's always a big question. Gavin Williams does have the floor. He's a big bodied guy. Physically, these guys look very different. $2506 for Gavin Williams. It's a big power curveball that's put in with a fastball that he sets up.

Starting point is 00:01:54 He's been working on a changeup. I mean, this is a four, relative four. pitch pitcher who had a sub two ERA this past season, almost 150 strikeouts, a sub one whiff. And he did this in his first professional season moving two levels. And he was able to end and dominate at AA with a 231 ERA. So I think he checked every single box. I think the floor with solid upside exists with Gavin Williams. But I do think the sky's a limit with Daniel Espino. But I would like an Espino, not one for one, maybe closer actually, but like an Alex Reyes. Alex Reyes was almost a unanimous number one overall starting pitching prospect with a big power fastball and slider that I think it could go the same direction.

Starting point is 00:02:35 Could it all fall apart by injury after injury stacked? Yes, it could with Espino. But if everything comes together, Espino has the ability and I think the work ethic overall to make this work. So it just depends. It's kind of your flavor. You know, do you want to play the big upside? Go with Espino. You're going to get enough upside, but you get a massive floor with Gavin Williams.

Starting point is 00:02:53 Really two great options to choose from. All right. Next up on this list, we see Hunter Brown from the. Astros had a breakout year and he did it all at the PCL. 2.55 ERA 1.08 whip, 23 games, 14 starts. And that's what I want to ask you about here, Welsh. I think that he can make an impact this season, Hunter Brown. I just don't know, is it going to be consistently in the rotation? Is he going to be a swing man? Is he going to bounce back and forth? What are you thinking with Hunter Brown? Yeah, I think you're bringing up all the right questions that you have

Starting point is 00:03:22 to have because, you know, Baby Verlander, as they call him, emulated him in many ways and has the same kind of pitching motion dominated in the minor leagues, big strikeout numbers, has got three big pitches, curbed ball, slider, fastball. He looks phenomenal. And the team seems to be bought in. There's been some trade rumors out there that may have involved him. But I think this team in a lot of different ways. Injuries could push them into a six-man rotation, which works well for him because it limits

Starting point is 00:03:47 the innings. There's also a guy or two, and I think we talked about it, Luis Garcia, that what if they even make that move to push him in to the bullpen? Or maybe they just switch off mid-season. I think they need to get Hunter Brown going. I think they want to get Hunter Brown going. He is a core piece. He's everything that they wanted out of Forrest Whitley,

Starting point is 00:04:05 except you have consistency, you have command, and you don't have consistent injuries. The only consistency with Forrest Whitley is he is hurt every single year and cannot finish and cannot, you know, do anything really right. Unfortunately, Hunter Brown is the exact opposite of that. He's the type of pitcher that you bank on. And I think they could press it a little bit light early on, but I think towards the back end to half of the season,

Starting point is 00:04:27 and we're going to be looking at Hunter Brown as the guy in this rotation, hopefully, unless they haven't moved him in a big trade, which, like I said, there are some rumors, and that might tell us a lot as well. Last two names we're going to talk about here today, Brandon Fat from the Diamondbacks. If you're trying to figure out how to spell that, that's P-F-A-A-D-T, the last name there,

Starting point is 00:04:46 Brandon Fat, and the last one will be Taj Bradley from the Tampa Bay Rays. Welsh, there's a lot of hype right now, a lot of excitement about Brandon Fat, who has crazy strikeout upside. he's 24 years old, could make an impact as soon as this season. Maybe Tage Bradley as well later on in the year. Not sure he has the same upside as some of these other pitchers that we talked about, predominantly fastball cutter.

Starting point is 00:05:07 I still like him quite a bit, but man, Brandon Fatt is someone that people are very excited about. Yeah, and I just want to make the focus on him for a minute because I've made him as a top 10 overall pitcher, as you can see, on my minor league SPs. And this is a big deal. It's a riding, sinking fastball. He's got a mid-90s on the fastball.

Starting point is 00:05:25 Great slider. bites. I mean, this guy's got multiple pitches, a fading change up. And this past season, he led all the minor leagues in strikeouts, 218. He's the only minor league pitcher to do so. He had a 30% K rate, K percentage with a 25.9 walk minus K percentage. That means it's like a 4% walk rate, which is phenomenal. 1.78 walk per 9 with almost a 12k per 9. Those are crazy numbers. And he dominated in the PCL. This is something brand. in fat is on a high rise. I don't think people have caught quite up.

Starting point is 00:06:00 And if I'm in a dynasty league, I'm going to go click. I'm going to type in P-F-A-A-D-T. Remember, P-F-A-D-T. I'm going to see who owns him, and I'm going to give him a little ring and maybe a little trade-offer and try to get me some Brandon Fat

Starting point is 00:06:12 for the 2020-23 season. All right. For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Stitcher, your smart speakers or anywhere else podcasts are found.

Starting point is 00:06:23 Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball today in 5. We'll be back again on Tuesday morning. Bye-bye.

Fantasy Baseball Today - More Pitching Prospects! Hunter Brown & Brandon Pfaadt Hype (12/10 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

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