Fantasy Baseball Today - Opening Day Overreactions! The Rookies Are Awesome! (3/27 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

We have a legendary rookie season incoming (2:30)! ... Jacob Misiorowski was sick (15:20). ... Mike Trout looks healthy again (20:02). ... Jose Soriano did some interesting things (22:57). ... Paul Skenes stinkes (28:00)! ... The Mets might have the best lineup in baseball (32:36). ... Trevor Rogers is legit (35:30). ... James Wood is in big trouble (37:45). ... Andrew Abbott's bad spring was fake (41:12)! ... ABS was really cool (44:30)! ... News (49:32): Tanner Bibee left with a shoulder injury. ... What did we learn about these bullpens (55:16)? ... Add Burger or Canzone for power (1:00:48)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and weekend streamers (1:09:53). Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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

Happy Kokomo Friday and welcome in tough fantasy baseball today on March 27th. The happiest of Kokomo Fridays. Opening day is in the books. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. What a fun day. Now it's time to overreact. Rookies were awesome. Paul Skeen stinks.

We have bullpents to talk about. Everything in between. And I will start with an overreaction of my own. This will be. A legendary rookie class. The year of the rookie, yeah. I mean, what a day. What a day.

The thing is, yeah, all these guys who had their major league debut, three different guys homered in their major league debut, I think we can say it's four. I know Chase DeLotter played in some postseason games. We usually don't count postseason stuff for record-keeping purposes. So four players homered in their major league debut today. and Kevin McGonigal didn't, but he went four for five. That's really cool.

Which I think that was the, that's even rare getting four hits in your debut. But the other thing I want to point out is Nolan McLean's still a rookie. Yeah. Connor Griffin is not here yet. Connor Griffin's not here yet. South Stewart is still a rookie, even though he had a big game too. season. Yeah, a very good game as well.

Like, yeah, this is a banner rookie year. Yeah, might be. I've been saying it. I've been writing it. It is a loaded rookie class. And that's why, you know, I've gotten in trouble before, particularly in some of the 15 team industry leagues loading up on too many rookies. No, as long as I wasn't reaching for them. And I didn't feel compelled to reach for him because it's like, that's too many guys to reach for.

But I didn't mind if I ended up. with four or five of them. Mm-hmm. Because I think, uh, I think things had kind of bottled necked in the miners and now, and now it's broken free and we're getting the deluge, the deluge of talent that is overripe,

ready to, uh, make a big impact. Pretty cool. Kevin McGonigal started at third base. Mm. 20% of the way. And we getting eligibility at the, and we.

We could use... We could use third base help, so... Let's not overlook Nathan Church, you know, another big day for a rookie. Sure. He's on the rundown, I've got them on here. Let's start up top with some of the big name outfielders here, and specifically because earlier today we learned Jackson Trio has a fractured hand. Chris and I did an emergency podcast for that, so go back and listen.

But Carson Benj and Chase the Lodder are two names in shallower leagues that could still be out there. So if you are looking for a Jackson Turyo replacement, they make a ton of sense. Carson Benj, one for three, with a sock and a shoe, the first sock and a shoe of the season goes to a rookie.

And it was an awesome game for him. Also had two walks. He's 76% rostered on CBS. Chase the Lodder still playing, but so far two for four with a home run for him as well. And he hit the home run off Logan Gilbert, one of the best pitchers in baseball. So pretty impressive for him.

especially coming off the spring training that he just had. Scott, who do you prefer between the two? Carson Benj and Chase DeLotter. I prefer binge because of three reasons. Reason one, he does not have an extensive injury history, the way Chase DeLotter has. Chast DeLotter's injury history is like a CVS receipt. Reason two, I think he's going to be on base more in general.

I think DeLotter will be on base a good amount too. but it'll be more batting average driven. Binge is going to walk more, I would think. And reason three, probably even bigger than reason two. There's an element of speed there we saw with the sock and the shoe that doesn't exist for DeLotter. So I would say binge over DeLotter, but I'm excited about both. I have a lot of shares of both. I would be willing to look into both even in three outfielder leagues.

Do you think both will play against both lefties and righties right away? Or how do you think playing time works out for you? either. That is my suspicion. I guess it might be a little more certain for DeLotter than for binge. So I guess that's a point more in DeLauder's favor. The Mets do have Tyrone Taylor. Yeah.

That they can use. Now he's on the IL. Yeah, Mike. And he's a left-hand of batter himself anyway. The one thing I will say about Delado, though, I have to imagine that Guardians are going to give him a lot of time off. That would be the biggest concern. It might not be a strict platoon, but I think we're going to see a lot of days off, at least until and unless he proves himself just that he needs to be in the lineup every single day no matter what. But I would guess they're going to be careful with him early on at least.

Mm-hmm. The short stops. We mentioned what they did here as well. Kevin McGonagel 4-4-5 with two doubles, two runs, two RBI, one of the doubles, 105.9 exit velocity. J.J. Weatherholt had a home run in his second at bat. 101.7, exit velocity, 425 feet to straightaway center field for JJ Weatherholt. Chris, you mentioned McGonigal one game at third,

Weatherholt, one game at second. So it's good news all around for us because two. positions that we needed help at coming into the season. Yeah, and I think it's possible Weatherholt and McGonigal might be top 12 guys at those positions as soon as they're eligible. So that matters quite a bit. The Weatherhold home run, I don't know if you guys saw it, it was a freaking bomb. It didn't even look like he got all of it, right?

It just kind of feel like he flicked it out there and he just, it just kept going. You know, watching spring training, watching. the WBC, it's too early. The ball feels a little bouncy right now. 425 feet on a ball hit less than 102 miles per hour. I'm reading this right for Weatherholt. Yeah. I don't know.

Start the conspiracy theory. Let's do it. That ball was also like four inches outside. And he crushed it to center, 425 to dead center. That was very impressive. This is a really impressive group of young players. There are more to talk about. I will say maybe the most impressive thing about Kevin McGonigal's day was he had an infield single that he beat out and he hit 30.2 feet per second on that run.

That is elite sprint speed. So that, you know, I obviously knew he was fast, but it's one of those things where is it, is he fast or is he blazing fast? only stole 10 bases last season, but that kind of sprint speed is a sign that there's real speed here, too. Next that we have Munitaka Morikami, who went one for two with two walks and

his first career home run. 103 exit velocity, 384 feet. I thought it was encouraging that in a game against Jacob Mizirowski, we heard all this talk all offseason about how Morikami struggles with velocity. No strikeouts

against Miziarowski today. So I thought that was at least a little encouraging there for Munataka Morikami. The other outfield prospect, Justin Crawford, he went two for four with a run scored. Ah, just a measly two for four. No homers, no steals. But batting ninth in his debut, 75% rostered for Crawford. Scott, would you rank Crawford behind the other two, Carson Benj and Chase DeLauder? I think in Roto I'd have to put him ahead of DeLotter because he's going to be a standout and stolen bases, you would expect. points I'd give

to Lodder the edge over Crawford and then my guy Sal Stewart three for four with two doubles two of his hits came off Garrett Crochet the double off Garrett Crochet what's the thing there so that is he looks exactly like

Super Mario oh okay yeah he's got the red cap he's got the mustache just all we got to do is get him some overalls and he just looks exactly I was I wasn't I just I was looking for an explanation yeah I think I brought it up on, I don't know, one of the episodes where we were talking about him. But yeah, I'm going to work it in a little bit more because obviously we need a soundbite

for South Stewart, my guy. The double off crochet 109 exit velocity. Something to watch here. He also took a line drive off of his wrist while playing defense. I think it was 110 miles per hour exit velocity off of Roman Anthony's bat. And it looked really bad in slow motion. And he came out, trainer looked at him, said, You know, nothing feels broken.

And then after the game, he said he's all right. You know, we'll see how he responds the next couple days. But hopefully we avoided anything there because, you know, Sal Stewart, only one game. But to go three for four, two of those hits off crochet, it's pretty impressive. That was good to see. I think across the board with these guys, it was all very, very positive first games. They will certainly be some growing pains at times. But can't ask for much more than what we got out of these rookies.

It was a little too, a little too perfect, you know, like we were supposed to be angry at one of these guys for, for buying into the hype, you know, that's supposed to happen. And like, they gave us no reason to be. So I'm a little, I'm little disappointed that I can't get angry yet. He's discouraged that he can't be discouraged. No matter what, Scott's never happy. He's not so 2026. He's never happy that Scott White. Everyone's always looking for reasons to be mad, you know. The reason to be mad is I don't have a reason to be mad.

I'm interested to see if Sal Stewart bats clean up against right-handed pitching as well. Obviously going up against crochet here. Lefty, righty against the lefty. So we'll see where he bats in the line up against the right-handed pitcher. Very interested to see that from Sal Stewart. But awesome, awesome historic day here on opening day for the rookie bats. Let's take our first break. when we return, oh my goodness gracious,

the players of the night. We'll talk about that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. All right, now it's time. Let's jump in. Oh, my goodness gracious, player of the night. Oh, my goodness gracious. Welcome back, Susan.

That's right. Okay, let's start with Scott. Player of the night. All right. Well, he actually did not play at night. He played in the afternoon. He played in the afternoon. in one of the first games of the day,

Jacob Mizorowski. He pitched five innings, one run, just two hits allowed. 11 strikeouts. That's the number, everybody. Appreciate 11 strikeouts. 25 swinging strikes, which is a ton, 19 on the fastball.

He's got a great fastball. Like, it was a great start. We've seen starts like this from Jacob Mizirowski before. So it's not that surprising. Now here, here's something you have to get used to if you're new to the podcast this year. Here's where I flip it all around and say, yes, it was great, but, and this will be a theme. You know, if something happened, if the thing that just happens, I'm going to tell you the antithesis of what just happened, because that's what makes it worth talking about.

right if what happened is exactly what's always supposed to happen why talk about it okay you with me if i thought okay this will happen sometimes for miserowski but there will be another side of the coin and i think that other side of the coin will leave him with an era and whip that you don't like very much that's why i had him as a bust coming into the year not because i didn't think he could ever get double-digit strikeouts and you saw it in this start the downside risk in those five innings. He walked three. He didn't even throw 61% of his pitches for strikes. So we don't see growth in the areas he needs to grow in, which doesn't mean it couldn't have. It was just one start. But it was one start that continued the trend from last year and really his entire career going

back to the minors where he walked more than five per nine. So there's no indication from this start that there aren't still major control issues for Mizorowski. But he's got a great bath Fastball, he's going to have starts where he gets a ton of strikeouts sometimes. I'm just saying it. Don't get too comfortable. I still think there's real ERA and whip risk here. Can I serve as the audience stand-in? Sure.

My response. Boo! Booh! Hiss! Boo! Boo! Yeah. Boo.

That wasn't me. That was the audience. Well, we need to say and overreact to, obviously. after opening day, is that we were way too low on Jacob Mizirowski, Scott. That is the answer that everybody is looking for. That's what they're looking for, but I, you know, I don't want to lie just to make them feel better. I want to tell the truth. Remains to be seen, but obviously, look, 25 swinging strikes is 25 swinging strikes against

whoever you do it against. The White Sox are going to strike out a lot this year, but it was very impressive. The whiffs that Mizirowski was able to gain in this start. I do agree. I think he needs to be... Yeah, it's just banana stuff. He needs to be more efficient. I was actually surprised that with 82 pitches,

the Brewers let him come back out for the fifth inning, but they wanted to get him that win. They had the big run support there. And he got up to 94 pitches. That was the second most ever in a major league game for Miziarowski. So it's one star, but they're kind of treating him like, not an ace, but kind of an ace workload, letting him go those 94 pitches early on.

Um, overall great start. Let's see if he could build on the, uh, the control there for Mizirowski. Chris, would you like to know how many pitchers had a start with more than 19 whiffs on their four seamer last season? Two. Zero. One. Would you like to know the last time a pitcher had 19 whiffs on their four seamer in a single start? Jacob de Grom seven years ago.

Jacob deGrom did it in 2021, but that is not the most recent one. The most reasonable is Luis Castillo in 2023. It has happened six times in the last five seasons prior to today with Jacob Mizorowski. That's pretty impressive. I will say Cole Irvin was somehow one of them. Not sure how that happened. Eric Lauer actually has the most whiffs with a four-seamer in one start over the past five years. So this is not a guarantee that this player will be a great pitcher.

But I don't know. He has a great fastball. that he misses. Yeah, Miserowsky's. Yeah. He's awesome. It's just a question of whether he can be consistent enough, but the upside is huge here. All right, Chris, let's go over to you. Uh, your player of the night. It's victory lap city population me and my friend Michael Trout, who went one for two with three walks, a home run and a stolen base around these parts. We call that a sock and a shoe. And I said on yesterday's podcast, and we're going to get bounce back season for Mike Trout.

That was kind of one of my fake, bold predictions, but still, I, I'm counting it. We're putting it on the scoreboard. And, yeah, I don't know. He's feeling good. He's playing center field again. He says his knees feel better than they did the last couple of seasons. I think there is a chance that we get a, not a vintage Mike Trout season because I don't think he's going to be the best player in baseball, but a very, very good season out of Mike Trout.

I think that possibility was being slept on a little too much this spring. So good first day of the Mike Trout bounce back campaign. And did you see what he said after the game? I actually have it loaded up here. I did not. I'm thinking I'm back. That's right. From his words, not mine.

I've never known him to be so emotive. Only when he's talking about weather. It's the only time he gets that. excited. What he actually said after the game is, quote, I felt like myself out there again, being in center and stealing bags. And the one thing that did catch my eye, and you brought this up yesterday, Chris, throughout spring training, was his sprint speed being up and the fact that he's one year further removed from all those knee injuries that he's dealt with. And, you know, I mean, just the ability to be healthy and, you know,

run at full speed again. I mean, obviously, that could be a, pretty massive thing here for Mike Trout. So it's like it's great for his game. He looked like himself. He was just completely dominating going up against one of the best pitchers in baseball in Hunter Brown. I don't believe that's who he homered off of, but he did draw like three walks

against Hunter Brown. So overall impressive day. We need him to stay healthy. That's the other part of it too. But looks healthy for now. That's Mike Trout. The thing about Mike Trout this year is he was so cheap that it doesn't really matter if he stays healthy or not. Like if you get 80 good games out of

Mike Trout that's a great pick. So I, obviously, I hope he stays healthy. I'm certainly rooting for it. But, you know, the, the obvious rejoinder that people would usually throw out here of, oh, he's going to get hurt. It's like, I don't care. He was like the 190th pick in a lot of drafts. I just, I really don't care if Mike Trout gets hurt or not this year.

It's Byron Bucks than last year. It's all upside this year. Mm-hmm. The, let's see, the last week of drafts, Mike Trout's NFB, ADP was 182, so that was, that was pretty late. Let's talk about his teammate, who is my player of the night. Jose Soriano, he looked really good at the Astros here. Six shutout innings, two hits, four walks, seven strikeouts,

19 whiffs on 91 pitches. That is a 21% swinging strike rate. Eight of those came on the curve, seven on the sinker, two on the fastball, two on the splitter. Velocity up across the board. He averaged 98 on the sinker, 99.1. on his fastball. The curve was up a mile and a half.

Slider was up 2.4 miles per hour. And he tweaked the pitch mix as well. He wasn't as sinker reliant. He mixed in more four-scene fastball. So it was usually it's like a two-pitch pitcher. It's sinker curveball. Today he was three-pitch. It was sinker, curve ball,

and four-scene fastball mostly. And I just wonder if working in another fastball can maybe be this missing piece. I feel like we've been saying it for years with Soriano. He has talent. I mean, you could see it. He throws hard and he's got a wicked curveball. It's just, he does struggle with control at times,

and he's kind of relying on just two pitches. But I'm wondering if, you know, if this four-seen fastball or maybe even a different pitch, we've seen like the splitter every now and then kind of working in if that could kind of help get him to the next level. He's 44% rostered. It looks like the next two starts are at the Cubs and at the Brave. So I'm not rushing out there to add him for those two specific starts, but those are tough matchups.

And if he performs there, then I think we're talking about Jose Soriano as like a must add starting pitcher. Certainly if we see him do this again because he's always been, he's always been like an elite ground ball pitcher in the running for top ground ball rate. I think he may have had it last year, actually.

And that's fine, but we, for as hard as he throws, even harder today, but as hard as he's always thrown, not a big bat misser. So seeing the 19 whiffs. Against an Astros lineup that I'm looking at it now to see if it's different than I already. It doesn't have a lot of high strikeout guys in it normally. So 19 swinging strikes and eight on the Sinker, which, I mean,

Sinker as a general rule, is not a bat missing pitch for anyone. Hasn't been for Soriano particularly either. So I do have some hope that by really emphasizing that, four seam are kind of pairing up those two different versions of the fastball, it helped create more deception with the sinker and could make him more of a bad miss or to go along with those ground ball skills. Don't love seeing the four walks. That's always been an issue for Soriano as well.

You know, this needs to play out a little more before I'm ready to say that, you know, he's any different than he's ever been before. But it is very encouraging, especially given the way that Sinker played with the emphasis on the four seamer. I will say if this game had been played outdoors, he would have given up at least one earned run. I don't know if you guys saw Jordan Alvarez hit a ball. Yeah. About a mile. What's the rule with that?

It should have been a run, no? I think the ground rule is if it hits a part of the roof wherever it lands. where it plays. So if it had landed on the field, it would have been probably presumably a double. But since it landed out of the field, it was a foul ball. I believe that's the road.

That was a bomb. Yeah, he hit that one. Yeah. It was like 109 miles an hour off the, off the bat. Yeah, that would have been a, it would have been at least one or I can't remember if there were runners on base for it.

But yeah. The one other thing I wanted to mention with Soriano, Scott, that I thought was encouraging. You mentioned the four walks. I agree. Don't like seeing that. but throw 66% of his pitches for strikes, that's a pretty healthy number there.

So I don't know that that completely, you know, correlates with the four walks that he provided, that he gave out, rather. But I was encouraged by the strike throwing, at least here for Soriano. I mentioned 44% rostered. We're not taking him ahead of any of, like, the hype pitchers that we've been talking about lately, right?

The, like, Connolly Earleys and Mick Ables and Mike Burroughs. Yeah, I'm just asking some people get crazy. That would be a big day overreaction. Yes. I would say if you drafted like Bailey Ober, I'd be fine dropping him for. All right. I think Bailey Ober is like 60% a low end guy who instead of us hyping him up, we were talking him down. You drafted Sean Mania.

Same thing. If you drafted somebody who's, I don't know how many leagues this would be true in, but if you drafted like a Michael Waka, who obviously has. a limit on his ceiling. Yeah. Could be useful, but has a limit on his ceiling. Then maybe you could swap him out for Jose Soriano just to see where this goes. But nobody that you have real hope for as far as upside, I think.

Yep, yep. I think we're all in agreement there. Let's get into some other opening day overreactions. Paul Skeens, what a waste of a first round pick. My goodness. Couldn't get out of the first inning and Chase the Lodder just hit a second home run of the game. Go, baby. Hell yeah.

Oh, my gosh. He's the best ever. Paul Skeens is not the best ever. Couldn't get out of the first inning at the Mets. Four hits, five runs allowed, two walks, only one strikeout, but context is needed. Let's put the blame where it belongs in this one. O'Neill Cruz, what in the name of Little League happened in that game? My gosh, he two back-to-back batted balls.

the center field, completely butchered both of them. And I'm watching the game. The broadcast is talking about Paul Skeens. Like, what is wrong with Paul Skeens? Oh, he pitched into WBC. Those are going to be the headlines around the league. I'm like, are we watching the same game?

He just got four outs. It's not his fault, dude. I mean, the broadcast didn't go easy on Cruz what happened either. Yeah, no, it was uh, it was, look, Paul Skeens was not as at his best, but he wasn't great. This, I mean, him not getting out of the first inning was not his fault.

No, I mean, his average exit velocity, the average exit velocity against it was less than 80 miles per hour. There's one hard hit ball against him on the day. It was the triple, right? I think the triple that O'Neill Cruz probably should have caught. So, yeah, so the first play to describe them for those who didn't see it was a hard hit ball. I don't know if it was officially a hard hit ball, the hard hit ball, Chris, you're saying it was. it was hit pretty well to center.

He broke in on it at first. And so then he had to race backward after it. And it was close enough that he probably would have catched it if he just broke the right way initially. I mean, it was that that's not, that was apparent to everybody watching it. It's not like me with my vast baseball knowledge was able to detect that.

And then the other one was, it looked like he just lost it in the sun, which can happen. to anyone, but considering it was on consecutive batters. Yeah, obviously, that is the story of the Paul Skeen start, why he had such an ugly line. I'm not saying he was the sharpest, but he deserved a lot better than he got.

He obviously would have stayed in longer if those two plays hadn't happened. And nothing to worry about with him. I think next start, he's going to be all the more motivated to dominate. I do wonder what it means for O'Neill Cruz. he stayed in the rest of the game. So it's not like his manager yanked him right after that happened, which would have been, I think,

excusable if he did. Yeah. But I was actually, because obviously this isn't his first time in center field. He played there all year last year. And he was, he was terrible defensively. He was,

I think he was really bad early last season. If you remember, the storylines early on. He was a disaster like this. And then I think he settled in, at like okay overall but yeah it was never good out there I don't think no so and and you know apparently defense was a big focus for him this spring and they were feeling like he was in a good place Paul Skeen's had him as a center fielder last year and still had a sub 2ERA so it's probably

the sky probably isn't falling here but I know you both in particular were of the mind that maybe maybe if this year goes poorly enough for O'Neill Cruz, he could find himself in a part-time role. I still think that's unlikely, but if he plays center field like this, it becomes much more likely. Did you guys see Joelle M. Bede's tweet at all? I saw it just a little bit.

I will say like, I should probably tell people what it was. He said, O'Neill Cruz, get ready to learn DH, buddy. Wow. It's a great bit. And I love that Drell and Beat is watching baseball in the middle of a day on a Thursday. That delights me.

It is one of those things where it's like, get through one season. You know, I don't want to be that guy, but it is like, you know, the guy who can't stay on the floor is taking shots. You know, I don't know. Let's go to the other side of this game. The New York Mets, opening day overreaction number two. two. The Mets will be the best lineup in baseball this season. That's right. We talked about Carson Benj. Francisco Alvarez had a big game, two for four with his first homer. 109 exit velocity, 429 feet. Luis Robert, two for four,

with two RBI, a walk, an incredible pad against Paul Skeens. I'll be honest, I have not watched a lot of Luis Robert over the past couple of years. But what we know about him in terms of his plate discipline and how aggressive he typically is, he does not walk much, at least he hasn't in previous years. Ten pitch walk against Skeens, fouled off some

close pitches, took some other really tough breaking balls out of the zone as well. It's like, who is this Luis Robert? That was an amazing at bat by him. And then obviously you have all the studs that are up top, right? Like Lindor and Soto and Bichet. So I look, I don't get anything.

from their number three hitter in this one. 0 for 4 with three strikeouts for Bichette. I don't actually think the Mets will be the best lineup in baseball, but man, I think they could be like one of the three best in baseball. They have that kind of upside, absolutely. I mean,

who's their weakest hitter? Marcus Simeon, Brett Bady? Brett Badey. I mean, on some level, I like them both as sleepers. Carson Binge,

obviously is unproven, but he has a ton of upside due. Their nine hitter, Francisco Alvarez. could be a 30-homber catcher if he stays healthy. So it's, look, there's a lot that could go wrong here too. I mean, Louise Robert injury risk. Jorge Polanco has extensive injury history.

You know, now that you mentioned, Luis Robert might be the worst hitter in this lineup. Simeon obviously showed some signs of decline. I think he's going to bounce back in a stadium more better suited for a swing. but obviously no guarantee of that. So like, you know, it could go wrong, but I don't think opening day was necessarily a total fake out here. Like there's definitely a ton of upside for this lineup.

Yeah, if the overreaction was the Mets are going to have a great lineup, my reaction would be the, you know, the meme where the astronauts are out in space, they're looking at the Earth and it's Ohio and it's like it was Ohio, and it always was that, that, I think the Mets were always going to have a good lineup. Yeah, they were always Ohio. That's why. Oh, is Ohio. That's why my overreaction was that they will be the best.

I mean, I guess they could have that upside, but, you know, the Dodgers lineup is pretty good. Yeah, I think the one with Show Hey, Otney, Friday Freeman, Mookie, Best, and Kyle Tucker. Well, probably going to be the best. Probably. That wasn't the highest scoring lineup last year, though. They didn't have Kyle Tucker. They didn't have Trent Grisham, baby. That's who they didn't have.

Opening day overreaction number three. Trevor Rogers is legit, and his ADP was way too low. He's picking up right where he left off. seven shutout innings, three hits, four walks, five strikeouts in this one, and a completely new pitch mix. He ditched his sweeper and slider. He used a new cutter and curveball. I believe he was working in some of those in spring training as well, but they look pretty good. He threw 64% of his pitches for strikes. Granted, good matchup against the Minnesota Twins, but I think all of us collectively, even more so you guys earlier in the offseason, you guys were all in on Trevor Rogers. And it's only one start,

He's doing what he did last season. I mean, the second half of your statement, I wouldn't say it's an overreaction because I was saying it all off season. He's going too late. Is he legit? Legit isn't he going to repeat a sub 2ERA from last year? I'd still bet against that.

I'll go as far as to say no. Yeah, okay. No, he's not going to have a sub 2ER. So what does legit mean? Is he? Must start pitcher? He's a top 30 starting He's a legit top 30 starting pitcher, yeah

For where I was Was? Yeah, I mean his ADP was around SP 50 So right Yeah, no, I think he was definitely under value And we ranked it that way I mean, Frank, I'm not sure if you You were quite as aggressive

But I think I got him up to like 31 By the end of draft season, so Yeah Yeah, you know, he walked four in this one You'd like to see him tighten that up a little bit but for sure. I mean, 70 things on opening day is hard to complain about no matter what. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's less, you know, I don't mean to probably sounds inconsistent to harp on Mizzerowski's walks, harp on Jose Soriano's walks, and then dismiss Trevor Rogers. Well, it doesn't have the same history there, you know. Pictures, pictures are different. Yeah. They have different history.

You have different, they have different strengths and weaknesses. If somebody does something out of character in a start, is probably just not something you need to worry about. But if it's very much in character, then okay. Kind of worry about it. Next opening day overreaction, this one's for Chris. James Wood is in big trouble. O for five with four strikeouts.

Let me remind you that in the second half of last season, a 39% strikeout rate for James Wood. And he had a 34% strikeout rate this spring, I believe. and hit like 103. He had one, two, three, four, five, six swinging strikes on, geez, like not that many swings. Yeah, 35% K-rate in 16 spring games for James Wood.

Yeah, it's too early to say anything definitive. It is literally too early to say anything definitive, except that Chase Delahotter is going to be the rookie of the year. Um, but look, we wanted to see something from James Wood and we saw nothing in this game. And we saw nothing from this spring. And outside of, I think the last like six games of the year where he hit five home runs to sort of salvage his second half, we saw nothing from him like July 1st on. So or July 20th on. So yeah, I think it's perfectly reasonable to be worried, especially on a day when basically.

everyone else in the nationals lineup did well. You know, they scored 10 runs on, uh, they scored six runs off Matthew Boyd. And then two more off Ben Brown like that that was to, to see James Wood do nothing and, and actually, you know, have four strikeouts actively have a very bad game. It's too early to say anything definitive, um, but it's worrisome for sure. Yeah. And yeah. We all added them James Wood to bus 2.0.

didn't we? Yeah, he was on my 1.0. I didn't have him in Busts 1.0 or 2.0, but he was always a player that it was just like hard for me to press draft on him. Yeah, I didn't draft any of them. Yeah. And I drafted a lot of Pekro Armstrong who I always pair those two because they looked like first rounders in the first half and then collapsed in the second half.

But I think that the inflated runaway strikeout rate for James Wood was the clearest red flag for the two of them. So here's a question. Is there some demotion risk here? Of course. We just saw the highly touted former top prospect playing center field for them get sent down. Do we think like how safe do you think James Wood is? Oh, I mean, look, the nationals can't afford to mess up that investment.

Yeah. And they're obviously not. They're obviously not playing for anything this year. So they have to make sure James Wood gets right. If the swing is messed up or if the book's out on him and he just needs to see more pitches in a lower pressure environment to kind of learn to close that hole in his swing. Yeah, I think that's very possible.

I know people are highly invested in him. So I don't want to send them into a panic, you know? At all. Like I'm not saying it's one. It's one game. Likely. But it's definitely in the realm of possibility. Last one that I have here, Andrew Abbott's spring was nothing to worry about.

Let me remind you. He had a 11.72 ERA, a 204 whip, 23 earned runs over seven and two-thirds innings with six home runs allowed this spring. And then goes out on opening day against the Red Sox, a formidable lineup. Six shutout innings, seven hits, one walk, four strikeouts. didn't get many whiffs in this one, but threw a ton of strikes, 71% strike rate in this one. And it was a really encouraging start. Yeah, to quote our guy Preservius in the chat, nobody's spring has ever been something to worry about.

I don't think that's entirely true. Like Carlos Estevez velocity being down five miles an hour, that's fine to worry about. But Abbott, you know, look, Cincinnati is a really tough place to pitch, right? We know that. It's a small ballpark. The dimensions are very hitter friendly. And he has survived there as an extreme flyball pitcher. One of the most extreme flyball pitchers in baseball, I believe. Because he induces a lot of weak flyballs and a lot of like 370 foot fly balls, right? And so most of the time, those are not going to go out.

Arizona is a much tougher place to pitch when we're talking about, especially outside of Chase Field, when we're talking about those spring training ballparks that are an elevation in warm, dry air, like the ball just flies. And we saw what was it, nine Reds players had an OPS over a thousand this spring, I think was the, was the stat. I'm not shocked that Andrew Abbott struggled in Cactus League play. But it doesn't change how I view him. And now nobody thinks Andrew Abbott is a superstar or an ace or anything, but he has been a very productive pitcher for three straight years. now, despite, you know, at least the more traditional peripherals, not really buying it. But this is a case where if you look at the XERA, he wasn't as good as his 287 ERA last year,

but he's been below four each of his first three seasons in the majors. Last year was 356. So he's a funky pitcher. He's weird, Andrew Abbott. He doesn't get a lot of strikeouts. Last year was right around average. The control was much better last season, but he generates a lot of weak contact. And so, It's not a pitcher you ever get excited about during draft season because Andrew Abbott's never going to win you your league. And that's what we're looking for when we're talking about those pitchers in like the 60 to 70 to 80 range of the position is who might be able to break out, get 200 strikeouts. Andrew Abbott's never going to strike out 200. But I think he was just undervalued all spring. Yeah.

Because he's a good deep league pitcher. A rock solid guy to have on your team. He's a good deep league pitchers, one that can give you an easy profit or what I think could be an easy. easy profit. Maybe he doesn't turn out to be like a top 24 starting pitcher, but if he's the SP 60 drafted and he performs like a top 40 starting pitcher, that's still a pretty big win for him. So, and that might happen again. I mean, he's, he's kind of just like a blind spot for me. I feel like he's a blind spot for a lot of people. You're right. I just, I don't, I never got excited. I never drafted Andrew Abbott, but he has, he was really serviceable last season.

My last overreaction here, the ABS was really cool. I don't know if everyone agrees. but it was really interesting to see when and how it was used. There were, like, every team was very different, specific, particular about when they were going to use ABS and who was allowed to use it. Roman Anthony had a full count strikeout that was reversed to a walk on a challenge, which was just really cool to see from a, you know, a hitter as young as Roman Anthony, but obviously he has really good control of the strike zone. but I don't know if you guys have any quick thoughts on the ABS, but it was pretty cool.

I will say my wife did roast me when we were watching the first game between the Yankees and Giants because there was one where I was like tap in the top of my head. Like, come on, challenge it. Were you rubbing your belly while you were doing that? Yeah. Yeah. I think I yelled at the TV like, tap your helmet. My wife was like, what are you talking about?

I think I'm going to Yankees' home opener next week. When the Marlins are in town, I'm just going to be tapping my head the whole game. After every pitch. Angry, red-faced, overly emotional baseball watcher is going to give himself a concussion doing that, doing that gesture. That is an unintended consequence I hadn't considered. But yeah, I'm starting to feel a little sore. Yes.

Don't go to sleep. I love the challenge system. I mean, to me, it doesn't feel like a new thing because we've seen it. So many iterations of it already. Obviously, more in trial runs or in the mind. minor leagues, but I was sold on it already. And it will be, now that it's more widespread, I don't think I watched as much baseball as you today, Frank, that I could compare how one team used it versus another.

But that will be interesting to see. And because, now, the one thing I'm a little fuzzy about, if they're successful on a challenge, they just keep that challenge, right? So they could challenge indefinitely as long as they're right. Yep, correct. Yeah. Okay. And if you lose both your challenges in regulation, you still gain one in extra innings.

So you would get one back if you lost both of them within the nine innings. What I like about it is it, because I know some people are like, why not just go full ABS if you have the technology, get them all right? Well, I mean, obviously baseball is a game of tradition and umpires are a very fun part of it. And I like that it, they make, the challenge system makes kind of a game of it. It creates an added tension that wouldn't exist if, you know, every pitch was just called that way. And you'd be losing the umpire element, which is a very fun and just something every, through all of baseball history, umpires have been a big part of the game. obviously. So I like that the tension of seeing it on the big train. I like that it's very quick

and breezy and that it doesn't overtake or slow down the game. I think it's the perfect way to do it. And I hope it's embraced widely so that we keep it and we keep the umpires. All right, let's take our final break. When we return, oh, I don't know, the news and notes 45 minutes in. We'll talk about that right after this. Welcome back in, Fantasy. baseball today reacting to opening day. And let's run through the news and notes. I mentioned earlier, we woke up, bad news. Jackson Trio has a fractured hand.

He will miss two to four weeks, hoping to return sometime in April. Again, we did a podcast about that, so check it out. Jake Bowers was his fill-in here, and he went two-for-five with a home run and three RBI. The home run, 108.6 exit velocity, so very deep league outfield replacement, probably will play against right-handed pitching in the meantime, I would imagine, four Bowers there. Tanner Bybee, this is one we have to watch out about. He left with a trainer as he was warming up for the sixth inning. I think I saw it was cramping. Turns out, it is right shoulder inflammation. Oh, okay, no, I was given some false information on social media then. Okay. That is not good for Tanner.

One of the last things you want to hear. Yeah. Before he left the game, five innings, three runs, seven strikeouts, three homers allowed, but was doing some interesting things. Changed up the pitch mix from last year. It was mostly fastball change-up cutter, and he had 15 swinging strikes on 78 pitches. So some good, some bad. The home runs obviously bad, but the whiffs look pretty good there. But now this injury on top of everything, something to watch. You know, look, shoulder is not good for any pitcher, obviously. Nico Horner and the Cubs are in agreement on a six-year extension. I haven't seen any figures on this. Have you guys seen anything?

Nico Horner? Nothing yet, right? What would you think? 100 million? Yeah. I think he's got like two years of club control left probably. Yeah, I mean, he's a better real-life player

than fantasy player. He's a four-win player. Four years in a row. He's a great defender, yeah. So it might even be more than 100 million, honestly, but we'll see. Zach Wheeler is scheduled to throw three innings and or 50 pitches in Saturday's rehab start at AAA.

Josh Hayter will begin facing hitters by mid-April. He's working his way back. from bicep inflammation. Paul Seawald is likely to get the first save chance for the debacks. So if you're playing a deeper league with saves, he's a name to look at there. Updates on Blue Jays pitchers. Trey I Savage's Velocity was up

during a very effective appearance in a minor league game on Wednesday. Very effective was the, I believe the quote from the GM there, not mine. I wasn't there to watch it. Shane Bieber and Jose Burrios will both throw off a mound this week. Jackson Holiday. set to begin a rehab assignment Friday at AAA. Twins manager Derek Shelton is still undecided on a closer.

He said, quote, it's going to be a little bit of a meritocracy. Guys are going to pitch themselves in or out of certain roles. We have to monitor that as the season starts. But I believe the three that we've been speculating on were the three that were mentioned. It was Cole Sands, Taylor Rogers, and Justin Topa, although Topa had a terrible spring. Pave and Smith was scratch. from the lineup Thursday due to left elbow

soreness. He also dealt with left forearm soreness earlier in spring training. So something to watch there with Pavin Smith. I did have some lineup stuff that I wanted to quickly mention here as well. David Hamilton started at third base for the Brewers against a right-handed pitcher. Shane Smith, it was not Luis Renhifo in the lineup.

Thought that was notable. The Nationals against a big game too. Yep. Hamilton. I have him as a deep league waiver target we'll talk about a little bit later on. Nats versus a lefty, James Wood let off, even against the lefty. Andres Chaparro was that first base batting second. Dale and Lyle, despite a lefty, was the DH batting fourth. Joey Weamer in right field batting fifth.

He hit a big home run. CJ Abrams dropped down to sixth in the lineup against a left-handed pitcher. For the Cubs, they were facing a righty today. Matt Shaw was in right field filling in for Sayas Suzuki. Moises Bia Starros did get the start at D. against a right-handed pitcher. For the Astros against a righty, ESOC Paredes was in the lineup at third base,

batting third, Correa at shortstop batting fourth. No Jeremy Pena in this one. Sounds like they are bringing him along slowly. Yeah, he was playing in a minor league game, I think was what I saw. He was actually at their spring training facility. No, in Sugarland?

I think he was with Skeeters. So they just played a man down today. Yeah, they just go on the I.O., right? They played 25, so maybe he's not going to play this weekend. I don't know what the plan is, but he was not with the team on opening day from what I saw, or at least early on the day. I know he hasn't played much since coming back from that injury. He only played that one exhibition game, but he homered in that game,

so I just kind of thought he would be ready to go, but maybe not. The Padres against a lefty today. They had Miguel Anduhar at DH batting fifth. Gavin Sheets still in the lineup, lefty on lefty, batting sixth. No Nick Castellanos. We'll see if that remains to be the case. Against the lefty. Yeah, I don't know.

If he doesn't play against a lefty, when is he going to play? I don't know. Sandra Bogart's had four batted balls over 100 miles per hour in that game, I believe. Huh, pretty good. Tampa Bay against the lefty, Jonathan Aranda, and Cedric Mullins were the only lefties in there. Aranda actually homered off of lefty, Matthew Liberator in this one. Yeah, he did. He had four hard hits in this game.

The home run was over 400 feet, so good for Jonathan Aranda. And the Rangers against the lefty. and not in. Not in. Yes, definitely worth mentioning that. The Rangers against the lefty, Andrew McCutcheon was at DH batting fifth. Sam Haggerty was in left field batting ninth,

so no Evan Carter in the lineup. And then for the Dodgers, Miguel Rojas started at second base, batting ninth. That was against the righty. No Alex Freeland in the lineup for the Dodgers. We are learning about bullpens. Do any of these matter?

The Angels. Drew Pomerant's pitching the eighth inning. And Jordan Romano got the ninth. He allowed to walk, but he picked up the save. Just a reminder. His ERA last year was 823. His whip was 145, but they need someone to close out games, and he's only 8% rostered.

And his velocity was down even more from last year. Not that it was a huge drop last year, but it dropped a little and dropped a little more just like this spring. That being said, he's probably the Angels Gloser, until he's not. Among the situations we're going to talk about today, this is the one that comes closest to mattering. If you have been desperate for saves, I do think Jordan Romano should be someone you're looking to pick up. Not a high degree of confidence that he deserves to be a closer and can remain a closer, but a high degree of confidence, a fairly high degree of confidence that he is the closer right now.

So 12-team Roto leagues are deeper. probably should be added. Is that fair? Yeah. I mean, anywhere Kirby Yates was rostered, then Romano should be rostered. Yeah. And let's remember, it doesn't sound like a long-term thing for Yates.

So it... Yeah. I don't know that Romano necessarily even has to blow it to be out of a job eventually, but I think right now he is the guy. But if he picks up three to five saves and just looks fine while Yates is out, he'll probably just hold onto it.

The more solid he looks, the more likely is to keep it. Sure. For the Cardinals, Matt Svanson came on for the sixth inning in this game with the game tied. He was charged with three runs on three hits. Jojo Romero started the seventh with a two-run lead. That was a crazy game, by the way.

It was tied 1-1 going into the sixth. The race scored six runs. Then the Cardinals in the bottom of that inning scored eight. It was just like a wild game back and forth. Jojo Romero started the seventh inning with a two-run lead. He recorded two outs. It was Riley O'Brien who came on, got the next four outs. And then that left Ryan Stannick for the ninth inning.

He walked three, did wiggle out of it for his first save. But, man, his previous two years combined before this, Ryan Stannick, 509, ERA 145 whip. I kind of think Riley O'Brien is just like their highest leverage reliever right now. Yeah, that's the impression I got. The biggest takeaway from this is just a mess. That's the biggest takeaway. The secondary takeaway isn't even, oh, Ryan Stannick.

It's, oh, Matt Svanson. I don't know. I don't know that you're going to be as prominent part of the closer mix as people were presuming by the end. By the end, he was the highest drafted Cardinals reliever. And he may still be the best. He may still factor. But based on what we saw here, I think the one I'd want to roster most is Riley O'Brien. Yeah, I mean, you come in the sixth inning and give up three runs.

You're probably not getting the next save. I feel pretty confident in that, at least. Yeah, it's not a guarantee, but I agree Riley. O'Brien would be the one if there was one. Yeah. Anything to make of this for the Nationals, Clayton Beater was using the eighth inning with a four-run lead at the time.

He was facing 6-7-8 in the Cubs lineup. He walked two, struck out one. The Nationals tacked on two more runs, so it's now a six-run lead going into the ninth, and lefty Ciano Perez got the ninth inning. He faced the heart of the Cubs lineup. He struck out two. Closed out the game.

But it was, you know, nearly a safe situation. and Beater was using the 8th and then Perez in the 9th. Any thoughts there with the Nationals? Beater was a long shot. I still think he's probably the best shot, even though he came in in the 8th instead of the 9th. But that could change quickly. I mean, it's, if you're in a league where every save source is rostered

and they're hard to find on the way of why I think you just hold on Beater right now, but it remains a long shot. And then the last situation for the Tampa Bay raise. The raise are going to raise. Garrett Clevenger on in the sixth inning with a two-run lead, runner on first. He gave up back-to-back singles, then a sacrifice fly. He was relieved by Griffin Jacks. Again, in the sixth inning, we thought he might be the closer.

I mean, he still could lead the team in saves, but it's just kind of weird usage. And then that was a one-run lead, runners on first and third. He allowed a sack fly, and then a two-run home. Homer again in the sixth inning. You could argue that was the biggest spot in the game. And so they just felt that they needed to use Griffin Jacks there. But it was still kind of weird to see him using the sixth inning. I don't think he's the closer.

I don't think they have A1 the closer. So I think it's going to be a lot of this. It's going to be a lot of mixing and matching and playing matchups and using Griffin Jacks. He's probably their highest leverage reliever. And so that should make him the primary closer. I don't think it's ever going to be a situation where Griffin Jacks is getting 80% of the save opportunities here. That's probably fair. I wouldn't drop Griffin Jacks.

I know like some people were freaking out telling me that they're going to, I'm just going to drop Griffin Jacks. I would not do that. I would still hold on to him. Would have been interesting to see how it turned out if they held onto the lead. Would it have been like Brian Baker in the ninth inning or something like that. So we'll see. Next save opportunity for the raise. Let's talk about a few waiver wire hitters here.

two names if you need specific categories. And, you know, waiver wire hitter this early in the season, it's if you're chasing power, if you need speed. But two for power, Jake Berger, three hits, Homer, 438 feet. He was limited by injuries last year,

but had a combined 63 home runs over 2023 and 2024. And then Dominic Canzone, Scott, you gave out Canzone as a sleeper. Double Dong here on opening day, 24% rostered. I think if you specifically need power, both are totally fine to target Jake Berger and Dominic-Hanzone. Yeah, I mean, Berger, it's worth noting the injury he played through specifically, or at least the one he ended up having surgery on it after the season, was a,

I want to say it was a wrist tendon tendon or something? It's like a wrist tendon sheath or something like that? Rist tendon sheath? Yeah, I was trying to think that was the right phrase. But yeah, I think that's what it was. And so obviously, wrists are pretty important for hitting the ball hard. So it is possible that Jake Berger goes back to being an all or nothing power hitter as opposed to what he was last season, which was a nothing hitter. So, you know, he was a very useful player for from 2024 to 2020 or 2020 to 2020.

I think he was a little overrated. But look, 30 bombs is 30 bombs. And he's capable of that. So it's, um, it's worth keeping an eye on for sure if you're if you need a corner infielder. Yeah. Now, Canzon, I think, is better than Berger. But since I have, I don't know how much he's going to play. I mean, I think he's going to play against all the righties.

How many of the lefties he plays against will determine how useful he is in fantasy. I don't see much need to add him outside of five outfielder leagues if he's available in yours. But he's very good. I mean, just look at the numbers he put up during the majors last year. Look at the eggs of velocity. And he's in this game, four batted balls over. 100 miles per hour. The two home runs were 108 and 109. He killed him. And he does that often. So if we had assurances from the Mariners, he was an everyday player, I think Canzone would have been

on everybody's sleeper list. But that remains the concern, even though he had a big game against a righty starter. If you need speed in a five outfielder league or even a three outfielder head Ted Categories League. Victor Scott, he is incredibly fast. I don't know if he's a good hitter. He's probably not, but he had three hits here on opening day, and he had two steals. 34 steals last year.

Back in 2023 in the minors, he had 94 steals while batting 303. Any chance, Chris, that maybe this could be the year that Victor Scott breaks out. I think we were hoping for it like two years ago. Yeah, I don't think there's

enough bat here. He's a 20 to 22% strikeout rate guy without any power whatsoever. It's just, it's really hard to make that profile work. Now he's, you know, 25, I think. So it's not impossible that there's room for growth.

But I think you basically only look at him for stolen bases. But if you need stolen bases, you know, he'll give you that for sure. Yep. I think Dylan Dingler still just a name for two catcher leagues, but he had a great game here. Two for five with his first home run.

He had four hard hit balls. The Homer 106 exit velocity, 403 feet. And last year, while the numbers didn't really like jump off the page, his expected stats were really good. 290XBA 475 X slug there for Dylan Dingler, who once upon a time had some prospect status and he's 27% rostered. So he's probably not out there in two catcher leagues.

I think that's probably those are the leagues where he needs to be rostered for now. Some deep league names here. Chase Midroth, blasted a home run off of Jacob Miziarowski. 107.7 exit velocity is his new max EV in the majors. Brady House, two for five with a homer, one 10.8 exit velocity, and that's coming off a big spring for him. Reese Hoskins reached base four times here in the night game, three hits, including a double. 112.3 exit velocity of Logan Gilbert. So maybe he's not dead yet. Reese Hoskins.

I mean, he was on like a 25 homer pace last season. Yeah, it was just injuries. Yeah. So I, you know, when I wrote my waiver, our column for week one, he was on there as a, you know, deep league target for first base. It was good to see him and Kyle Manzardo in the lineup together because I think there was, you know, I think when they first signed him, I think the concern was that's going to be a platoon. But I think they just need both Kyle Manzardo and Reese Hoskins in the lineup as often as possible. because honestly those might be their third and fourth best hitters. Yeah.

Scott, I think it's mostly just like 15 teamers for now, but Chase Midroth and Brady House, they were two prospects of note as well, and they have full-time opportunities ahead of them here. Yeah, I had Brady House when we did our Deep Sleepers episode. He was somebody I pointed out for the big spring he was having, and he definitely has power. I know he didn't show much of it

just seemed a bit overmatched in his first taste of the majors last year. He had a very up and down minor league career too and he was first drafted. It was a big year for short stops, hyped up his power potential, rough start in the minors, then came back,

had a great year, moved back up in the prospect rankings, then followed it up with a bad year. It was a lot of that for house. So I think he may just be one of those players that needs some adjustment period. Sort of like Michael Bush. Michael Bush, not as extreme as House,

but his minor league career followed a similar trajectory, and it took him a while to find his footing in the majors. Clearly, he's very good now. Could happen with House too. There is, I think, more downside risk than Bush because the plate discipline's on opposite planets, but he's going to play a lot, House, at a weak position,

and then the power is legit. Three names in even deeper league. So we're talking NL only or just scouting these, names in like 15 team mix for now. David Hamilton, one for two with two walks, two runs, and a stolen base here. Again, started at third base for the Brewers against the right-handed pitcher,

and he will gain third-base eligibility. Nathan Church, Scott mentioned the name earlier, three-for-four with two RBI, big season in the miners last year, and Joey Weamer, once upon a time, a prospect as well. Three-for-three with a walk, two runs, and a hard-hit Homer, 110.5 exit velocity.

Scott, do you have any thoughts? I know you mentioned Nathan Church earlier. Yeah, I mean, I was kind of joking because he is a rookie and he had a big game. And he did have a good year in the minors last year. It was mostly built around batting average and you have to be pretty skeptical of that. He's only part of the Cardinals lineup because Lars Neupar is out. I don't know that they view him as an everyday player long term. So we'll save Nathan Church for the deeper leagues.

And who was the first one you mentioned? I had David Hamilton and Joey Weamer on there as well. Yeah, I mean, these are obviously just deep league choices. Church might be the most interesting at the three. Though I did like David Hamilton going into last year, you may recall when I thought he was going to be the Red Sox starter at second base. A lot of steals potential there, and he showed it here on opening day. It's encouraging that he was in the lineup against a righty

because more righties pitched than lefties. but I still don't know that the playing time's going to be enough for him to matter and even like 12 team roto leagues. Old faces in new places, Brandon Lau and Ryan O'Hern. Welcome to the Pirates, Brandon Lowe, 2 for 4 with a double dong, two homers, three RBI, Ryan O'Hern, two for four with his first homer. Brendan Donovan, lead off Homer with the Mariners. He had two hits in that game.

Freddie Peralta's debut with the Mets here. not great. Five innings, four runs allowed, seven strikeouts to zero walks, two homers allowed, both to Brandon Lough. Yeah, he was awesome. Eight out of nine times.

Yeah, to everybody except for Brandon Lowe. Against 92% of the pitchers he faced, he was great. 14 whiffs on 80 pitches. Like, I just, he gave up two homers, but I thought everything under the hood looked good there for Freddie Peralta. Chris, any other thoughts on the old faces in new places? No, I just, I think we're going to have another year

where Brandon Lowe was just wildly underrated in drafts and I don't really get what people don't like about him. It's just injuries, but he had a huge year last year and he basically didn't move up in ADP. It was wild. Yeah. Pitching clunkers, but I didn't see anything wrong under the hood for this group.

Matthew Boyd, Nick Pavell. Nathan Avaldi, Shane Smith. All pretty rough starts here on opening day. Matthew Boyd, actually, Velocity was up, and he got a ton of whiffs here. Did you guys see anything that actually concerned you with any of these, or it's just bad start? Sweep it under the rug. Well, I'm a little concerned about Shane Smith,

because he basically showed nothing this spring. I liked him going in. I liked what he did in the second half. But it was a rough spring, and then he follows it up with a rough debut here. less than like Paul Skeen's average eggs of velocity against was less than 80 miles per hour. So it wasn't getting hit hard out there. But the characteristics on some of the pitches was different, like the change-up was up in velocity,

which you don't necessarily want a change-up to go up in velocity. There are reasons why you might. But it seemed like he got to a good place. That was part of him thriving in the second half was what he was doing with the change-up. So, you know, he's obvious. not a well vetted proven asset Shane Smith I'm not saying I'm dropping him after this start or anything but I he might be I would say he's definitely on the thinnest ice of these pitchers I mean he's 87% rostered there's got to be some

pitchers who are lower rostered who are more interesting Shane Smith like Burroughs is 57% I think or yeah that I will say give him the next start at Miami I do think Shane Smith is really interesting Don't get me wrong. So I don't know that I go as far as to say there's got to be pitchers who are more interesting. But Mike Burroughs is more interesting. I have more faith than him delivering on his upside than I do Smith. I do think I want to mention Nick Pavetta just because he had the arm thing during spring training.

He was a bust for me anyway coming into the season long before that. His ERA was the lowest of his career, but his peripherals were actually worse than previous years. last year. So it's not great to see him struggle in his first start. I'm not saying that I'm giving up on Nick Povetta or that anybody should, but it's certainly not what I wanted to see from him. Got a lot of whiffs, low exit velocity against. It was mostly just one bad inning where he couldn't find the strike zone. Yeah, three walks in the first inning is not really like him. But yeah. So unless unless it's connected to some health issue, that one, he had in spring training, I wouldn't make much of it. But obviously there is bus potential here

for Pavetta. We had a bunch of aces just being aces. Terrick Scuba, Garak Crochet, Christopher Sanchez, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Joe Ryan. They all had great starts here on opening day. Chris, anything that stood out to you for these aces that you feel is noteworthy. No, these are all dog bites, man. Stories, I don't think there's anything really to say. I just We'll point out, Gary Crochet's velocity was weird in spring training. He had just like an uncomfortable weird spring. He was very frustrated by it, but he looked like himself. So zero concerns whatsoever about Garrett Crochet moving forward.

And then, you know, we didn't see a lot of Joe Ryan this spring. I think he only made two starts because of that back injury. So it was good to see him just looking like himself. He threw his curveball a little more. He barely threw that pitch last year. He threw it 16% of the time. He got four whiffs on it. That was good to see.

but no, this is what you expected from all of these guys. So, you know, just with Ryan and Crochet, it was just good to see. I have pitching somewhere in betweeners. They weren't great. They weren't bad. They were just kind of, eh. Hunter Brown had nine strikeouts, but also four walks. Only lasted four and two-thirds innings in that game.

Logan Gilbert, five and a third innings, three runs, seven strikeouts. used the new cutter 18 times. That's kind of interesting. Matthew Liberator coming off a pretty big spring. He was, okay, five innings, one run, two strikeouts there. Drew Raspison, five innings, one run, two strikeouts for him. And in classic Kevin Cash fashion, Kevin Cashin, he pulled Raspson after 73 pitches and the raise instantly blew the game. This is never not going to be the case.

I know. It's a Rasmussen thing. If you drafted Drew Rasmussen and you're mad that he got pulled out for five innings, you don't know who you were drafting because that's just... You don't know ball. That is always how they are going to use Jurassicson. It's just it's never going to change. Kate Kavalli's final line was not great, but he had a new curb ball.

And some of the aspects of his game look kind of good. Zach Allen, not great against the Dodgers. I mean, it's the Dodgers, but his velocity was up. So, Scott, anything to add on the in-betweeners, Gowan, Cavali, Raspicent, Liberator, Gilbert, and Hunter Brown? I already get the sense that Liberator, all the whiffs he was racking up this spring, was a spring fake out. I had that inkling already, so, you know, it's a biased opinion. But it did not continue here in this one start. And I didn't see, I didn't see much explanation.

for it. His fastball has a slightly different shape. He's getting more cut on the four seamer. I don't think that was a good enough explanation for why he was pitching better, though. I don't think he's particularly good. And this was a revenge game against the race. Let's not forget. So I would be, you know, if I threw a late pick at Liberatora because of the Big Spring

and Jose Soriano was out there. There, that might be one. That's my next question. That might be one I'd think about. Yeah, I think I'd probably make... Not automatic, but... I think I'd make that swap. The shallower the league, the more likely I'd be to do it.

I think Libertor is exactly the kind of player you can drop for anyone moderately interesting. Yeah, sure. Some hitting leftovers here. Roman, Anthony led off against the lefty, and he performed well. Three for four with a walk and a run scored. One of the singles was 112.3 miles per hour. another was 1.10.2 so man already flashing those high end

ex-velocities for Roman Anthony Andy Paez we were all wrong two for four with a homer three RBI 400 foot homer for him Geraldo Perdomo I was wrong how could I homered off of Yamamoto two for four with a home run there 398 feet on that one for Prudomo South Freelik had a big game one for three with a home run

and two walks. I was wrong. I was not really a South Freelich guy. So big L for me. I got my face. I like Sal Freelick as kind of a weight 30 picks after Stephen Kwan goes and just draft Stephen Kwan type of guy. And, you know, getting batting average that late in the draft.

It was, you know, it felt like I always kind of needed that at that point. We already talked about Yorda on Alvarez. Call to the bullpen. We talked about a lot of these already, but just, uh, closeers getting safe. that we expected. The first save of 2026, by the way, went to Ryan Helsley. So congrats to him. He actually looked really good. For the Red Sox, I rolled his Chapman, picked up a save. Velocity was down, so let's watch that for him. Yohan Duran came on and got the final two outs for his first save. And then Cade

Smith closed out this night game, picked up his first save of the season. And with that, we have to wrap up with Scott's favorite. To stream or not to stream. It's never too early, Scott. The people want their streamers. You better not be streaming yet. Under 75% rostered on CBS. Honestly, Scott, you can just choose a lot of the names

you brought up as like sleepers for week one. Yeah. We could go that route. On Friday, there's actually not many games on Friday, but I think Mike Burroughs against the Angels is the most interesting by far. By far. Yeah, he should not be as available as he

is on CBS leagues. Yep. On Saturday, I circled four names here. Will Warren at the Giants, David Peterson against the Pirates, Christian Javier against the Angels, and Chad Patrick against the White Sox. I think they're all solid. Yeah, I have this sinking feeling that Renaldo Lopez is going to, like, throw 89 miles per hour

and be effective for a couple starts. It's going to be really headache-inducing. But I would not actually want to stream him. Who is that? Ronaldo Lopez. He faces the Royals on Saturday. I would rank these Will Warren, Chad Patrick, David Peterson, and Christian Javier.

It's the right order. Okay. You know, if you want a real wild card for Saturday, Joe Boyle against the Cardinals. This is on Wild. Yes, big time. And then on Sunday, we have Grant Holmes going up against the Royals, Max Meyer against the Rockies in Miami,

Brandon Sprode against the White Sox. Stephen Mats and Dustin May are facing each other. Slate Sikoni at the Mariners. Did some interesting things this spring, and I know Nick Pollock likes him, so always following Nick's advice for pitching. And then Eric Lauer against the athletics. Who are your three favorites for Sunday?

Igo Meyer versus the Rockies, Holmes versus the Royals, and probably May versus the Rays, although I did start Stephen Mats in one league as a spark. I like Sproat. I like Meyer, Holmes, and Spro. Yeah, Spro, that's a good one. I overlooked them.

Sproote, yeah. Holmes, I think, is my favorite of the three, but Meyer and Sprote are makes sense, given the matchups. All right. Opening day is in the books. We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. 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, and we will be back again next week. Bye-bye. Mount Podcasts.