Fantasy Baseball Today - Most Undervalued Players! (2/23 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: February 23, 2022

Download and follow Fantasy Baseball Today in 5! You can find FBT in 5 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else podcasts are found. Let's review some of the most undervalued players in Fantasy Baseball this season, starting with George Springer. Can Willy Adames continue what he did with the Brewers last season? Why is Luis Castillo going so late? It seems like everybody is sleeping on Jo Adell! 'Fantasy Baseball Today in 5' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  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 in 5 on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 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

Which players are undervalued according to Fantasy Pro's ADP? Find out next on Fantasy Baseball today in 5. Welcome into MBT&5. As always, make sure to follow and stream us on Spotify. Today is Wednesday, February 23rd. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Chris Towers. And stop me if you've heard this before, but Chris likes a player who might be injury prone.

That is George Springer. Chris, why are you all over Springer this season? You know, I'm really starting to talk myself into George Springer. I know the injury concerns. I know the age. but, you know, something that I'm trying to keep in mind more is that you're not playing to avoid last place. And you're not playing to avoid sixth place in fantasy baseball.

You're playing to try to win. You know, that's the whole point of the game. And there might not be more than a handful of hitters who will help you win more than George Springer does this season if he stays healthy. Over the past three seasons, he's hit 278 with a 570 slugging percentage and a 369 on base, including a 40 homer pace each season. He's likely going to bat leadoff for what may be the best lineup in baseball and certainly probably a top 10, certainly probably a top 10 lineup.

He started 56 games in the leadoff spot last season and put up 150 game pace of 105 RBI and 126 runs. George Springer could be what Marcus Simeon was last season when he was one of the most valuable players in fantasy. And he really just has to stay healthy and do what he does. I don't think that's asking a lot, even if some other people might. And I love, like, he goes 60th overall. And George Springer is your fifth player.

Just stop playing everyone else in the league. Signed Chris up for George Springer around Pick 60 this upcoming season. Chris, we've seen some inconsistent seasons from Luis Castillo over the past handful of years. But now we're seeing him. his ADP at the lowest that we've seen in quite a while. 73.2. Why are you buying bit back in on Castillo at that price? I just think a lot of it comes down to the fact that I don't think he's that much different

than the guy who was being drafted as a top 10 starting pitcher last season and who's been a consistent top 15 starting pitcher for the last couple. So I do think like, yes, he's not perfect. You know, his whip is high-ish for the high-end pitchers and his strikeout rate is inconsistent. And last season, he just plain wasn't great for the season as a whole and was really bad for about two months. But I just don't think he's that much worse than he was a year ago. And I'm always going to try to buy the guy when their perceived value is going down. I don't know if Luis Castillo will be a top 15 starting pitcher. I'm certainly not ranking him

that way. But at that price, you know, he's like SP, almost SP 30 in some drafts. I just think it's too good of a price to pass up. All right, Willie Adomas is the next one up here, and he talked quite a bit about not being able to see the ball in Tropicana Field when he played for the Tampa Bay Rays. Lo and behold, he gets traded to the Milwaukee Brewers last year, where he was amazing. Chris, the cost for Willie Adamas is 142.4.

What are you expecting? I think that price is just so ridiculously good. It feels like he's the cheat code at the shortstop position. And maybe for fantasy baseball in general in 2022. he hit 285, 366, 521 after getting traded to the Brewer's last season with a 30 homer pace. And it was this big outlier performance, except that if you take out his home games and you just look at what he did on the road when he was with the Tampa Bay Rays, he hit 293, 466, 497 with 27 homers in 159 games. He was basically that guy after getting traded to Milwaukee.

So I think it's pretty reasonable to expect him to be something like that guy. And that is a legitimate four category stud, I think, with potentially 10 steals. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm all about Willi Adomis. And I'm with you on this next player as well. Joe Adele currently going outside the top 200. Former top prospect struggled with strikeouts the past couple of years. He was called up way too soon in 2020.

But Chris, this has the feeling that at the end of the season, a lot of people are just asking themselves, why didn't I take a shot on Joe Adele at this cost? Yeah, for CBSports.com on Wednesday, you can find a piece I wrote about five generic players to target instead of the name brands. And it's basically the idea that you can go get the generic pop tarts instead of the real pop tarts.

But in this case, Jared Kalanick is the pop tarts and Joe Adele is the generic. And they might just both be just as good as each other. I'm not sure I have much reason to think that Kellanick's much better, and he's going 100 picks earlier than Joe Adele. So that tells you what a good value Adele is. Yes, he struggled with strikeouts, and even in AAA last year when he was crushing the ball, he did have a 29% strikeout rate.

That's high. But we're talking about a guy who has played about 370 games as a professional, who was on a 45-home-er-15 steel pace last season in AAA, and who has shown elite tools at the Major League level. He's had Max Exavilo over 115 miles an hour. He's had a sprint speed that was in the 98th percentile. So he just has to put those elite tools into play. He's done that in the minors.

He was doing that at AAA last season. And even before his injury at the end of last season, he was starting to show it after he got called up. The strikeout rate was way down. He was starting to hit the ball with more authority. I think Joe Adele is going to be a potential top 50 player. this season. I love it.

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, and thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball Today in Five. We'll be back again tomorrow morning. Bye-bye.