Fantasy Baseball Today - Opening Day was a Lie! Zac Gallen, Ivan Herrera & More! (4/3 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 3, 2025

Zac Gallen just had the best start of his career (2:45)! ... Ivan Herrera just made Cardinals history (6:56). ... Rafael Devers picked up two hits (10:41)! ... Opening Day was a lie (14:30)! What happened with MacKenzie Gore and Jeffrey Springs? ... News (23:09): Gunnar Henderson might not be activated on Thursday. ... The Cubs offense looks like a juggernaut (29:20). ... Michael Conforto had his first big game with the Dodgers (34:30). ... Jack Leiter looks very good through two starts (40:58). ... These veteran bats are off to good starts (46:11). ... Oneil Cruz has made changes and Sonny Gray might be alright (49:41). ... Most aces were studs but some were duds (52:37). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (58:43). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @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/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. And first pitch, was a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. 13 strikeouts, 24 whiffs.

Zach Allen was untouchable against the Yankees. Welcome into fantasy baseball today on Thursday, April 3rd. I'm Frank Stamphle, joined by Chris Towers. Today on the show, we are here to tell you that opening day was a lie. We had some huge games from Zach Allen and Yvonne Herrera. The Cubs offense might be a juggernaut. They are awesome so far this season and much more, but let's jump in. Take a little whiff of that, big boy.

Take a whiff of that, big boy. Shout out to legendary Cardinals broadcaster, Mike Shannon. We will get to Yvon Herrera in just a bit. Chris, I'm so happy that you're on the podcast tonight because it was a big day for your boys. In particular, Zach Allen. Yeah, I, I, this was kind of the, it was a good way to end the first week of the season because I feel like almost everything that happened on Wednesday completely upended every narrative from the first week of the season, right? Like every player who was great in their first start, Ryan Pepio, we'll get to a couple of those guys. Not good today.

And all the guys that everyone was like, oh, he's finished. Zach Allen looked amazing. One of the best starts of his career against a Yankees lineup that is so good that I saw Colin Cowherds say that the torpedo bats are legal HGH today. And it's just like, it's a reminder. Wednesday was a reminder that the season is very, very long. There's a famous affirmism. You want to make God laugh. Tell him a plan.

Well, you want to make God laugh overreact to something in the first week of the baseball season because it will be very, very soon before you look very, very dumb. And I don't like looking dumb. So I try to avoid overreacting to things. And I think there was a lot of overreacting to Zach Allen's struggles last season. I think there was a lot of confirmation bias to him having a bad start on opening day. But he went out there tonight and just looked outstanding. 30 curve balls, 13 whiffs on them, 24 overall.

That might be the most that anybody's had to start this season. I know there were a couple of 23s. Maybe someone had 26, I'm remembering. I think Wheeler had 25 today. But either 24 is a lot of whiffs. And like I said, it's just a reminder that you don't need to overreact. And overreacting can often go very wrong. So, look, this doesn't mean Zach Allen is an ace again,

or that Zach Allen's going to be one of the best pitchers in fantasy. But I don't know, man, the way people were talking about him was like he wasn't capable of doing it anymore. And I never bought that. So I was very, very excited to see this performance from him. Yeah, and in particular, I like that he changed the pitch mix, throwing his fastball less, throwing the curveball and the change up more. So obviously you spoke about the curve ball, and it was amazing. But his fastball last season had a 92.6 average exit velocity against 368 expected Wobah.

It was a bad pitch. And it got hit really hard. The problem for him last year was that the changeup was not as good either. He was almost kind of a one pitch pitcher last season with the curve ball just being awesome for him like it always is. But two years ago in 2023, the changeup was a legit weapon for Zach Gallen. So it was really good to see that pitch working once again in this one

where he had five whiffs on the changeup as well. Obviously, like the curb ball far and away, like the best pitch in this start. Maybe the best we've ever seen from him. One of the best pitches we've seen all season. But it was very encouraging to see the changeup perform very well. here for Zach Allen as well. And I think it's a great point that you bring up just for everybody and us included,

because I think you and Scott are a little bit more grounded. All right. You are definitely more grounded. I am more... To be clear, sometimes to my own detriment. But I'm kind of like the opposite ends of the spectrum because I get a little bit too emotional when I'm like thinking about players

and having them on my teams. And if they do bad things, I start to think about, oh, well, oh, it might be a lost season. And I kind of get caught up in it too, but it is a good reminder that it's a really, really long season. Guys can have a bad first month. They can have a really bad first two months

and still turn out to have a good season. Corbyn Carroll last year. When all is said and done. So we just need that constant reminder that, yes, it is a very long season. And an awesome start here for Zach Allen. Great game for Yvonne Herrera as well, who made history for the Cardinals,

three for four with not one, not two, but three. A triple dong, six RBI in this game. Two of the homers were over 110 miles per hour exit velocity, one of which one 12.1 exit velocity here for Yvonne Herrera, the first Cardinals catcher in their history to hit three home runs in a game. And Chris, I know you were excited about Herrera. I think we were all kind of excited about Herrera,

but I remember you in particular, maybe more than anybody else on this podcast. And entering the season, the biggest question I had was, will he play enough? And I think that still might be a question here or there. It's a little bit of a question, yeah. But his offensive profile just looks really good. Made a lot of contact last year. It's a lot of line drives, hits the ball hard, had really good numbers in the minors as well.

It's just if he can play four out of every six games, I think that will probably be enough for him to border on being a catcher one the season. Yeah, it's been, what, three out of five? He started. He has started four of six so far. Okay, four of six, but he's been removed for a, for a defensive replacement by Pedro Paz a couple of times at least. So he only has like 17 plate appearances in those six games. It's a little, a little disappointing. I think it's a little frustrating.

On the other hand, that's pretty typical. Like, if he averages right around three plate appearances per game, that would get him close to 500 plate appearances, which isn't what the highest end guys at the position. get. But if he's good, it'll play. And I think this is one of those cases where he absolutely has a chance to play his way into more opportunities because he's clearly the best hitter among the catchers on this roster. And frankly, that might include Wilson Contreras. I don't, I don't feel super confident in saying that. But hey, Chris, it's one week. It's one week. It has nothing to do with Wilson Contreras. This is me just really liking Yvonne Herrera. I think he's a

really, really talented player. I've compared it before to what William Contreras did. Remember, he had that partial season with the Braves where he looked awesome. It kind of came out of nowhere, wasn't a big prospect, but had a good minor league track record. And then it turned out he was the best hitter at the position in the entire league. I don't think Yvonne Herrera's that. But the way he's kind of slid under the radar as a prospect despite putting up really good numbers and the way he hit the ball last season with really good underlying stuff. I think there's a really high ceiling here for him. And I think he should be rostered in every league.

Yvonne Herrera is 53% rostered. And I'm going to update my rankings here on Thursday. And just kind of eyeballing it. I think he's going to wind up like 13th or 14th that catcher right around Gabriel Moreno and Cabot Ruiz. In a one catcher league, if you just want to ride the hot hand, which is what you should do, then Yvonne Herrera,

after a three-homer game is one of the hottest hitting catchers in the league. So I have no problem doing that. In a two-catcher format, obviously if you have him, like, I don't think he's available anywhere. You're just going to continue to start him. But, yeah, it could be a breakout season here for Herrera. I just want to bring up a news item that was on the site for him. Even before this game, Yvonne Herrera will start throwing from his knees in hopes that it will help him better control the running game. So base runners were five for five on stolen base attempts against Herrera,

entering Wednesday's game. So that's again, just going back to what we were talking about, where he just has to be a little bit better defensively in order to get his, continue to get his bat in the lineup as much as we want for fantasy.

Oh my goodness gracious. Shout out to Raphael Devers, who picked up some hits, Chris. He's finally on the board here, two for four with a double and RBI. No strikeouts in this game. He had three hard hits with two of those over 109 miles

per hour off the bat. So a very, very good sign, something we need to see from Raphael Devers. And he entered this start with an average swing speed of 70.6 miles per hour, which was down about two miles per hour from last year. In this start, part of the problem is we only have the ones he put in play. So, you know, we can't say for sure what the average looks like, but 70.2 was his lowest. And he had two over 76 miles per hour. And he had two. And he was. was averaging 70.6. So that feels like a good sign because the biggest concern is obviously that he's just not health and that he just shouldn't be playing right now. And if that's the case, then I want to keep an eye on the bat speed.

If he can't get the bat speed higher, that would seem to be a sign that he's hurt. If it's just that he's not up to speed yet, then what you would expect is that as he gets more reps, that bat speed comes up, he starts to hit the ball a little better and we see the Raphael Devers of old. So I wrote a piece on the site today. Very timely, five things that might matter from the first week of the season. And one of them was Rafael Devers bat speed being lower. And already we see signs of it coming back. So that would be a huge deal.

All right. Before we hit our first break, reminder to sign up for the FBT newsletter. If you haven't already, CBSports.com slash newsletters. If you're watching on YouTube, you can scan the QR code in the top right corner. That will bring you right to the website where again you could sign up for free. Chris puts a lot of work in and gets delivered right to your email inbox every weekday throughout the course of the season. And big thanks for watching. Make sure to hit the like button and subscribe to the YouTube channel if you haven't already.

Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. Opening day flipped on its head. We already spoke about Zach Allen. I guess on the other side of this star, we could quickly mention Carlos Verdun, who was pretty wild in this one, six innings, four runs,

four walks, five strikeouts, and he only threw 58% of his pitches for strikes, and the velocity was way down. I would make the excuse that it was 42 degrees and raining, but Zach Gallen was pitching. Yeah, Zach Gallen was on the other side. He was pitching in the same condition, so look, everyone's different,

but it's clear that Carl Swardan was affected by that here. I think this is just part of the Carlos Rodon experience, but did you see anything else here? Yeah, I mean, look, when we were talking about that first start, you know, where Carlos Rodon was throwing a bunch more changeups and curveballs than we're normally seeing from him, the one thing that I did note at the time was that his change of command wasn't very good. And the curveball command wasn't great. He missed high a lot with the curveball and low with the changeup. And so You know, as promising as that performance was, it wasn't like, okay, Carlos Rodon's back to being an ace. It still felt like there was some stuff to work on it.

It was promising. I'm not giving up on him after this start. But yeah, this was a step back for sure. Yep. Step back for McKenzie Gore as well, which this is what we're talking about because on opening day, he looked otherworldly, biggest breakout star of the season. And maybe that will be true, but it wasn't true in his second start. At the Blue Jays, five innings, nine hits, three runs, two walks, five strikeouts.

Still had 12 whiffs on 95 pitches, but he allowed nine hard hits in this game, which led to a 471 Babbitt. I think that was really the biggest thing for him here, and the fact that his slider, he just didn't use it as much in his second start. But what do you have on McKenzie Gore? And it's not a surprise that he didn't use the slider very much because I believe they only have one lefty in the lineup against him. He didn't throw very many pitches against lefties overall. And the new slower slider that he debuted in that first start, yeah, he only threw 11 pitches to lefties, four of them, four seamers, seven sliders.

that seemed very obviously designed to get lefties out. Now, the thing that's a little frustrating is McKenzie Gore's always been much better against Wrighties in his career. And the issue has been getting lefties out. And so the hope was, hey, he solved the big problem, right? Well, no, the big problem is still consistency from a start to start and frankly week to week and month to month basis. That's really been the problem for McKenzie Gore. And so I remain interested and impressed by the talent and what he is capable of at the highest ends. But a fairly stark reminder that one start doesn't change anything for anyone, even when there are tangible things that we like.

Like this actually like Kenzegore's lucky it wasn't worse Because the Blue Jay is worse Smoking him He had nine batted balls With an average exit velocity of at least 95 He had outs on two separate balls That had an expected batting average

Of at least 670 So yeah This probably should have been uglier Than it was He's been teasing us for years And that might just be what the opening day start was. I'm not ready to write it off yet.

I still like the talent, but clearly not an ace, which, yeah. Let's talk about Jeffrey Springs who also took a big step back. He was going up against the Cubs, who might be a juggernaut. They put up 35 runs in a three-game series here

against the athletics in Sacramento. Jeffrey Springs, three innings, five hits, five runs, four of those earned. Four walks to three strikeouts, so more walks and strikeouts in this one. oddly enough, he only allowed one hard hit in this game, but obviously if you walk four batters, it's going to be tough for you,

and his fastball was just not good in the start. He gave up some hard contact on that pitch in particular, and it had a 31% zone rate. So it just seemed like he was falling behind a lot in this game and did not have his fastball working, and just a much tougher matchup. I mean, he went from the Mariners in his first start to the Cubs here in his second start.

So I guess just another reminder that Jeffrey Springs might not be all the way back to the pitcher he was, you know, pre-surgery with Tampa Bay. This was a weird one because when you look at the batted balls that he gave up, there were four hits on batted balls with an exit velocity below 80 miles per hour. But they were all of the soft line dry variety where it's like, okay, he wasn't crushed. But those are typically hits, you know, like they're they felt. in between the fielders. And so there's maybe a little bit of bad luck, but I don't think you can say it was the Babbit gods forsaking him. He didn't locate well.

I think the truth of it is just when that changeup is like elite, he's going to be really good. And if it's not, there are going to be problems. And that's probably just going to be an inherent inconsistency in Jeffrey Springs. skill set. So Jeffrey Springs next week is home against the Padres. He's 49% started on CBS.

I don't think that's a must start by any means. I think it's, it probably just depends on who else you have. I think in deeper leagues you're probably going to wind up using Springs, but if you play in like a 12-team points league, you probably have a better option, right? Yeah, that's one.

He has reverse splits for his career, I believe, and the Padres do have a couple of pretty good lefties in their lineup. Yeah, he's a huge reverse splits, actually. 780 OPS against lefties, 665 versus righties. Which I guess would make sense, right? Because the changeup is so important for him. So, yeah, kind of just, I'd say he's a fringy start for that one. Mackenzie Gore, by the way, scheduled to face the Dodgers.

So don't think you should use McKenzie Gore next week. two other players that swap places here on opening day. Pablo Lopez with a big bounce back at the White Sox. Reminder they are still an okay matchup to Hughes your pitchers against. Very good matchup. Seven innings, one run, five strikeouts. And this one, honestly, looking under the hood here, I didn't really see anything that was too impressive from Pablo Lopez,

but credit to him, he had a great start. And then Sean Burke on the other side took a big step back, four and a third inning, six runs, only one walk to, one strikeout to zero walks excuse me and I believe he only has four strikeouts through two starts so not seeing many whiffs here Chris anything to add on Pablo and Sean Burke yeah that's frustrating from Burke because he was a decent

strikeout guy and the miners often much more than decent even so you hope there can be some upside there if there's not there there's really nothing interesting there so I think at this point there have been a lot of interesting pictures on the waiver wire and Sean Burke's fairly low on the on the totem pole he's 54% rostered that's too much that's higher than Jordan Hicks that's right around Casey Mize I would take Mize and Hicks over

Sean Burke absolutely absolutely I think even like isn't Jack lighter around 60% so like he's not much ahead of a 68% now okay um but yeah I think Sean Burke is strictly a streamer right now he's got a lot to prove. As for Pablo, I never know how to talk about him really because like this kind of start is more or less what I expect from him in a good matchup. Like five strikeouts is a little disappointing, but I'm not going to harp on that too much. It's just a question of do we think he still has ace upside? I think there will be flashes of it. But this is more or less what you should expect from Pablo Lopez. He'll be very good. Just not an ace. All right. Let's quickly hit some news and notes before we get back into Wednesday's action. The Orioles might wait until the weekend to activate Gunner Henderson instead of Thursday. Thursday's a day game. 1 p.m. Eastern Time starts, so they might want to just give them an extra day and then get them ready for Friday's night game.

So don't be surprised if we don't get Gunner Henderson activated here on Thursday. Friday Freeman was out for a third straight game as expected. He's hoping to return Friday against the Phillies. No Freeman, no problem. They're 8-0. they just won they just swept the Braves, right? That's what are they

again tomorrow? Yeah, Dodgers are 8 and no Braves are 0 and 7. Oof, that is just Yeah, I texted Scott I was like, dude, that was a rough way to lose that game too because man, the Dodgers

had no winning, no business winning that game. They were throwing the ball around they were so sloppy and they still find a way. You know, when you have Otani walk off home run on Bobblehead night, yeah, you can do things like that.

Trey Turner returned to the lineup on Wednesday. He missed a few games with lower back spasms. He went three for five with RBI. Corey Seeger is apparently still dealing with some lingering cast sorenness. The injury popped up late in spring training. Not great for somebody who's dealt with a lot of injuries in his career.

So we'll monitor that one for Corey Seeger. Brian Reynolds has been dealing with right triceps soreness that impacts his throwing. That's why he's been limited to DH duties. And that's why Andrew McCutcheon has been out of the lineup for the past three games with the Pirates. Jack Leiter was removed from his start after 70 pitches due to a blister on his pitching hand. And I hope he's all right. I hope he can make his next start because the guy has looked great so far in his first two starts. We'll talk about Jack Leiter a little bit later on.

Tomoyuki Sugano has been cleared to make his next start this weekend in Kansas City. He left his debut after experiencing cramping in both of his hands. The Dodgers acquired Estuary Ruiz from the athletics in exchange for right-hander Carlos. Duran or Duran, probably just a pinch runner, I would imagine, for the Dodgers if he's even on the roster. Yeah, so I don't think he's even on the active roster. So yeah. Yeah, probably not much to see there with Estuary Ruiz. And Chris, it was a big day for contract extensions. The Padre signed Jackson Merrill to a nine-year, $135 million extension, which can max out at $165 million.

Also includes a $30 million club option for the $20,000. 35 season. He responded by going two for four with his second home run of the season. The deback signed Cotel Marte to a six-year, $116.15.5 million extension, which includes a player option for 2032. He was already under contract through 2027, but this new deal adds an additional three years, I believe it is, for $64 million in new money. And the Red Sox signed Christian Campbell to an eight-year, $60 million extension, which includes, club options for 2033 and 2034. And whenever I see extensions like this, Chris,

it's kind of hard for me to evaluate because obviously, like, this is life-changing money. And I cannot blame a young hitter for taking the extension now and then hopefully getting to free agency when they're in the prime of their career. And, you know, if they're good enough, then they'll get a huge second contract, so on and so forth.

But we have seen this play out the other way a few times, where, you know, Acuna and Albies take these early career contracts, and then it turns out they turn into superstars, and then they're, you know, playing for much less than they should be earning. So I see both sides, but I think I lean more with like, you're a young hitter. Yes, go ahead and get your generational wealth. Yeah, and the Braves ones were on the extreme end in terms of being team friendly. I'm never going to begrudge any player. Like, it's your money, it's your career, get what you want.

And I will say like in Acuna's case, he would have been a free agent this offseason. It would have been Acuna and Soto being free agents at the same time, which that would have been pretty bonkers. Yeah. But the torn ACL, that would have been crazy. Yeah. He would have been coming off his second torn Acio. I still think Ronan Ocuna at 27 coming off a second torn ACL gets 400 million. I mean, especially when you see what Soto got.

Yeah. Like that's a relative steep. I mean, it would have been a bidding war. I mean, it already was for Soto, but I mean, imagine if other teams are just involved in Acuna too. But in Acuna's case, it's also, he can still become a free agent at 30. So like, he's still going to sign a $300 million contract at some point. You know, with Campbell, he's 24, I think.

So this takes him up to 32, potentially 33, 34, I believe. So like, this is probably it. is in terms of like really big contract for him. Meryl, I think it would be what he'd be 30 when he's a free agent. So yeah, it's, you know,

it's different. I get it though. Christian Campbell was a fourth round pick two years ago. Like he was a part time player at Georgia Tech up until I think his last season there. So like I get looking at this situation and saying, I'll take the 60 million. Thank you.

Like that's, you're good for life on. 60 million. I will say, part of the reason I was not all that concerned about his struggles in spring training was because the Red Sox are smarter than me. Like they know him better. They've got smart people running their front office. They've got like computer models and stuff that I couldn't even dream of putting together. And they had no concerns about his spring training performance. and then a week into his career after that, they give him $60 million.

Yeah. Like, they believe in this kid. Why am I going to worry about him hitting 200 in 14 games in the spring, you know? Yeah. I totally get that. Let's move on to the Cubs. And I want to talk about this offense. And they might just be awesome this season.

I mentioned this earlier. They put up 35 runs in three games in Sacramento. They had 10 more runs here on Wednesday. they have 60 runs scored so far through nine games. Now, granted, they've played two or three more games than every other team in baseball, but the Dodgers have only played one game less. The Dodgers have 45 runs scored.

They're also a really good offense. The Cubs have 15 more runs scored in one more game played. So I don't want to make too many, you know, drastic conclusions based on this. But every year, Chris, it seems like there is, there are one or two, maybe a few offenses that just surprise us and really stand out. And it just makes their entire team great for fantasy.

And I'm kind of starting to get the vibe that maybe the Cubs can be one of those teams this year. Because you just look up and down the lineup and they're stacked. I mean, in this game, Sayas Suzuki did most of the damage, three for five with a double dung, five RBI. One of the home runs was 112.9 miles per hour off the bat. Matt Shaw had a couple hits in this one. Pete Coral Armstrong had a couple hits and his second steal. Nico Horner, who is still working his way

back from forearm surgery, one for four with a walk and two steals. Oh, and I didn't even mention Kyle Tucker who, you know, entering to Wednesday's game had homered in four straight games. So I kind of feel like you didn't mention Carson Kelly. I think the Cubs could be

one of those teams this year, kind of like the debacks last year or the Rangers a couple years ago where they're just all awesome. Yeah, well no. I mean, it it happens occasionally where everything goes right and maybe this is one of those years and and I think it's the depth of the lineup and particularly like swapping out Cody Bellinger who was fine for Kyle Tucker who is a legitimate MVP candidate my MVP pick looking pretty good so far just want to say but then like they added Justin Turner as a platoon option to to put with

Michael Bush. They called Matt Shaw, one of the top prospects. Peacore Armstrong. We have our doubts, but like, that's a good player with some offensive upside. And if he's the second worst hitter in your lineup, that might be, that might mean your second worst hitter is only like 5% worse than the major league average. That's really good. Miguel Amaya has some, some upside. That's the catchers, the primary catcher's name, right? Yes. Yeah, Miguel Amaya. I don't really think Carson Kelly is particularly good, but hey, he's been awesome so far, and I think he's hit lefties well in his career. So, like, yeah, this could be one of those lineups that if everything comes together, there's really no weak point. So yeah, no, they look pretty good. I do want to quickly point out

again, this series was in Sacramento. Susan Slusser, who covers the athletics, just put out a tweet, an article kind of covering what the ballpark has played like so far in Sacramento. And it seems like everything that they're hearing, short porch, heat, wind all point to a lot more high-scoring games this season for the athletics. How many home runs can someone like Brent Rooker hit here? So she put out an article, I haven't read it yet, but I want to point other people to it if you're interested in learning more about how Sacramento is going to play the season for fantasy.

Let's take our final break. When we return, we'll get into some waiver wire options. from Wednesday's games. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. Waiverwire hitters from Wednesday. It was a pretty light day. Not too much going on here, but got to mention Michael Conforto, who had his first big game with the Dodgers,

two for two with two walks. His first home run, he added three runs scored. He's 63% rostered. That's actually dropped down a little bit. The problem is that he has six games next week, and it looks like there are three lefties on the schedule. So as much as we all like Conforto, in a weekly league, it's going to get frustrating unless they just decide to play him every day. And it doesn't look like that's happening yet.

Yeah, no, that's the key. And they've got a lot of moving pieces. So he's been out a couple of times. And yeah, there's a decent chance he only plays four of those six games. I think he's very clearly Conforto behind someone like Lars Neupar. Yeah. Early in the season, right? Yeah, I think he can get there if they decide to just let him go.

But as with all things, Dodgers, they're playing for October. And Conforto's missed a lot of time over the years. So, you know, if playing him 70% of the time makes him healthy for October, that's probably for the best for them. I think I might take all three Cardinals outfielders over Conforto just because, like, I'm a sucker for volume. And sometimes to my detriment. And like in points leagues, I really kind of try to maximize games played and get hitters who just play as much as humanly possible.

And if Cofordo is not doing that, like, yeah, I think Lars Neupar, Victor Scott, who's off to a great start and Jordan Walker, who's done some interesting things, I think they're all going to play more than Conforto. It helps that they all have upside of their own, right? Like this is not like a boring volume play. This is volume edge on Conforto plus the best case scenario for Jordan Walker, Victor Scott, and Lars Newbar might be better or at least comparable to the best case scenario for Michael Conforto. Yeah. So I think I'm taking all of those names over Conforto. Hunter Goodman continues to play and continues to impress two for three with his second home run. This one came off of Zach Wheeler.

So really good stuff here for Hunter Goodman. he's clearly behind Yvonne Herrera, but once we talk about, you know, two catcher leagues, or if you're in a one catcher league in a week where he plays all games in Coresfield, like, yeah, that's going to play. Yeah, I saw Scott wrote rankings risers on the site today, and he moved Goodman up to his number 16 catcher. That sounds right. Yeah, that sounds right.

Connor Wong is my number 16. I would drop Connor Wong for Hunter Goodman. Like I'm actually, I'm frustrated that the Rockies are actually doing the right thing and playing the interesting young guy instead of the boring veteran for the first time ever. Yeah. And I'm only frustrated because they explicitly came out and said like a week or two into spring training that Jacob Stallings is our starting catcher and Hunter Goodman is the backup. Well, Hunter Goodman has started every game, one of them at DH. He started four behind the plate. It's not just the home run off Zach Wheeler.

You remember how good Christopher Sanchez was on Monday? The only run he gave up was also a Hunter Goodman home run. So the two home runs he's hit in the past two games were the only run the Rockies managed off of Christopher Sanchez, who we think might be an ace, and Zach Wheeler, who is at worst a top five pitcher in baseball. It's really impressive. And again, I've said it a few times, but. I think he's hit like 44 home runs in 150 games between double A and AAA. He's not a 40 home run hitter at the major league level,

but that's potentially difference-making power at the catcher position with no apparent volume concerns. I think he's must roster in any two-catcher league. Yeah, again, that was Hunter Goodman that we were talking about. Some names in Deep Release. Johnny DeLuca is contributing speed early on, two for three with his third stolen base. Harrison Bader hitting for power early on

one for four with his third home run Dylan Moore off to a nice start one for one with two walks a sock and a shoe his first home run his first steal and Wilmer Flores continues to mash to open the season one for four with his fourth home run

so all deeper league names here Chris like 15 team mixed roto and deeper than that but do you have any interest in any of these guys not really Moore has a little bit of speed. He's still like what, 23 bases last year? It might have been more than that. So yeah, there's some upside there. And obviously I think in 2021, he was a pretty valuable fantasy

player as well. So there, there's not a total lack of interest in any of these guys, but like Bader, I have an AL only. And that was mostly just that I desperately needed steals, which he hasn't given me any yet, I think. But I'll take three home runs. He's a slugger now. You can't steal when You hit home runs, Chris. Yeah, you can't steal home. You can't steal from home, I guess. Tied with Aaron Judge for the team lead for me, I think. But yeah, I don't think there's too much appeal in any of these guys.

DeLuca, I guess if you need steals, but there are probably more interesting options for stolen bases in your league. Go check out Victor Scott, who last I saw was still around the 50% mark. I don't have a ton of interest in any of these guys, though. Yeah, I think DeLuca for speed in a deeper league. And Wilmer Flores, just because he's going to play and he seems locked into their D.H. He has started all six games. I don't think he's all of a sudden like a 30 home run hitter. But, you know, until Gerard and Carnaccio returns, can Wilmer Flores hit 250 with like a 20 homer pace?

Yeah, I think that's doable. And he was pretty good in 2023, I think. It was a very bad 2024, but I guess he was. dealing with injuries the whole time. But he had, didn't he have 20 homers in, yeah, he had 23 homers in 2020.

He was really good actually. 284, 863 OPS. Not usually an everyday player. I think he's usually more of a lefty masher, but 134 WRC Plus for, he was awesome for Wilmer Flores in 2023. So yeah, he was pretty awesome then.

Let's slide over to Waverwire pitchers and James and Tyone turned in a quality start at the athletics, six innings to run seven strikeouts, 19 whiffs on 94 pitches here for James and Tyone. And Jack Leiter, who we mentioned earlier, pitched very well before leaving with that blister. He was at the Reds, five shutout innings,

one hit, zero walks, six strikeouts, 11 whiffs on 70 pitches, only allowed one hard hit in this game. And he's got 10 strikeouts to just one walk over his first two starts, which I think is just paramount for Jack Leiter here. I would assume that he is more interesting to you than James and Tyho. Oh, significantly more interesting.

I would say Jack Leiter. They have the same roster rate. Yeah, that's ridiculous. Jack Leiter has much more upside. This is one of those situations where I am not saying Jack Leiter is breaking it. But if Jack Leiter were breaking it, it would look like this. He's throwing, he threw five different pitches at least 10% of the time. He touched 99 and maxed out at 98 in this one.

There was a fun note that I think, I think Jack Leiter hit 99.1 miles per hour as his max. Hunter Green threw like 56 more pitches that were harder than that. Hunter Green averaged 100 miles per hour in that game. He was ridiculous today. All right, I got another Hunter Green fun fact. I don't know if we're going to get to him. So I want to make sure I get my fun fact in.

This was the eighth most 100 mile per hour pitches in a start in the stack cast area. He had 32 pitches of at least 100 miles per hour. Number seven was a Jacob de Grom start. The next six were all hunter green starts. Really? I thought Paul Skeens might have been in there somewhere. Nope. It was it was 700 green starts of it of at least 3,100 mile per hour pitches, I believe.

Yeah, that that's pretty bonkers. Anyway, Jack Lighter looked great. Again, I'm not saying it's going to be great forever, and he really struggled with command last year. If he was breaking out, this is what it would look like. I, you should probably drop James and Tyone, actually, because I looked up his current schedule because he's one of those guys. He's as good as the upcoming schedule for me.

And tell me if you want to start him against any of these four teams that he has coming up, if he stays on turn. The Rangers? No. The Padres. Maybe, but probably not. They don't strike out as the problem. Like, they're not like a great offense, but they never strike out.

Fair. The Diamondbacks? No. The Phillies? No. Drop James and Tyone. Yeah. I just, I don't think you want to hang on to a middling upside pitcher who you're not going to start for at least three weeks.

Yeah. And Jack Leiter, for what it's worth, is projected. at the Cubs next week, so I probably don't want to use him in that start either, but he does have more upside, and he's someone I would just want to have on my team to see where it goes. Chris, what did you think of Landon Rup in his first start at the Astros, four innings, four hits, three runs, four walks, eight strikeouts. He had 14 whiffs on 83 pitches. A unique pitch mix where he led with the curveball here, which has a massive spin rate. Is a spark on CBS. What do you think of Landon Rup?

that is interesting certainly not a run out and add him everywhere type of target but like the curveball looked awesome 11 uh was 11 whiffs with the curveball yeah 11 it was 14 I wrote change up here so I got to fix that

yeah 11 whiffs with the curve ball and then like the sinker and change up look very similar he tunnels them well they have very similar movement profiles but there's that velocity gap so like I can see it working out for him. I don't think the big strikeout and whiff rates were a fluke. This stuff is good. Just think the command wasn't there.

And he's got kind of a whipping motion that might make it tough to command consistently. So I think there have been enough interesting pitchers out there that I wouldn't make Rupp a priority. But in a deeper league, if Jordan Hicks isn't available, then yeah. Okay, Lander Rupp. Let's talk about two deep league names here. Connor Gillespie of the Marlins, pitched well against the Mets, five innings, one run, six strikeouts

with 11 whiffs on 73 pitches. He is also a spark on CBS, but you'd have to be in a pretty deep points league for that one. And somebody named Easton Lucas pitched well for the Blue Jays up against the Nationals. Five shutout innings with three strikeouts here, 11 whiffs on 74 pitches. Two very deep league names, Chris,

any interest in either. Easton Lucas or Connor Galisbee? Easton only if I need like hockey equipment. No, I don't have much interest in either with these guys now. All right, veteran bats who are off to good starts. Brent Rooker went one for Rur 4 with his third home run. He has started and hit second in all seven games for the athletic so far. Tommy Edmund, that's slugger Tommy Edmund to you.

Two for three with his team leading fourth home run. You know, Chris, this is another one kind of like your baiter. I was drafted him everywhere for steals. He's already giving me four home runs, so I wasn't expecting that. Nolan Aronado, two for three, with two walks, two runs, and two RBI.

So far this season, he's nine for 23, batting 391 with a 500 on base percentage. And George Springer, off to a very nice start. One for three with a walk and his first home run. He already has four multi-hit games and a stolen base on top of that. four veteran bats here who are off to good starts. Anything interesting stand out for any of them.

Rooker, Edmund, Aronado, Springer. Edmund has 12 homers and 60 games with the Dodgers if you include the playoffs. That's funny because I believe his career highs 13 for a full season. I don't know if there's anything there, except that it is a really good park. And obviously it's a great situation.

He's going to be hitting with runners on base constantly. So like, maybe there's some good pitches to hit too. Yeah, like maybe there's something there. Like, I do want to say like, I think the idea of lineup protection is almost entirely overblown. I think there's basically nothing there. But, and this might have been something that Aaron Judge or one of the Yankees coaches said last year,

because people are like, well, you're putting Swan Soto in front of him. And I think what they said was something like, lineup protection comes from having guys on base. Nearly all hitters hit better with runners on. on base. Pitchers pitch worse with runners on base. And so that's what it is for me. It's just if there's guys on base all the time in front of you, it's going to make your life easier. Pitchers are pitching out of the straits. They're less comfortable. So that would be the the way I would look at it with them. Nolan Aronado, I think this is potentially very significant.

And this is another thing I wrote about in the week one developments that might matter, which you should check out on CBS Sports.com. His bat speed, dropped from 71.4 miles per hour in 2023, down to 70.7 in 2024. And he talked about working all offseason to get that back up. And he is up to 72 miles per hour so far this season with his bat speed. And like, I don't, we're still early in using the bat speed data, right? We don't know exactly know, like, swing the bat hard is not necessarily proof of anything, although I also want to point out, Junior Camerro is now with Giancarlo Stanton,

not playing Junior Camerro is far and away. The highest bat speed right now. He's at like 81 miles per hour this season, which is bonkers, although Stanton was at 83 last year. But Arnado made a point of working on it, and he's doing it so far. He's hitting really well early on. He's one of those guys who has enough contact skills that you don't mind potentially sacrificing some of it to get to more power, although he hasn't.

He's not striking out at all. I think it's like 12% so far. So yeah, the dead cat bounce season for Nolan Aronado seems to be happening. One of my way, way, way too early regrets.

O'Neill Cruz, and I realized at the time when I called him a bus, I realized what I was doing and what his upside was. And so far, he has looked awesome. Two for four with a sock in the shoe that's already the second time he's done that this season. He's got two homers,

six steals, three hard hits in this game, two over 108 miles per hour, and the plate discipline so far, six walks to seven strikeouts, that's a 20% walk rate, 23% strikeout rate. He's also hitting a lot more fly balls, ground balls have been an issue

in the past. These are the things that I was worried about, and it's only a week of games, but so far he is doing a really good job at those things. It's like I said, if O'Neill Cruz was putting it all together, this is what it would look like. And I think the steals are the biggest things. He's always had that plus athleticism. We saw in the second half last season.

He was on like a 40 steel pace. And it's his second season back from the leg surgery that he had. So it would make sense. So yeah. Yeah. It's been a very promising sign. Not changing how I view O'Neill Cruz yet, but it's a very promising start. This one might confuse some people.

but Sunny Gray might be okay after all because if you look at the final line here you're not impressed. It's six plus innings. It's five hits, five runs allowed. Did have nine strikeouts, but he gave up two home runs in this game. He had 22 whiffs on 88 pitches,

11 on his sweeper, six on the fastball, and I don't want to say they left him in too long because he actually had a really good pitch count, but all the- I mean, they clearly did. All the damage was done in the seventh. inning where, you know, entering the seventh, he had allowed two hits, he had allowed one run, and then it was a single, a single hit by pitch, and then he gave up a grand slam to Logan O'Hoppy,

so, you know, obviously that ruined his line here. But the velocity was back up, basically where it was last season, got all these whiffs on his sweeper, you know, four-scene fastball looked great as well, and for all the consternation during spring training and the concerns, and I think they were warranted at the time. He's looked really good after two starts, I think, at least under, you know, under the hood. Yeah, I think this is one that was clearly way better than the line. And if you, if someone sees the line and thinks, oh, great,

Sonny Gray's done. I think there could be a buying opportunity because while I think he was at 75 pitches after six innings and like that shouldn't be too much, clearly it was, right? Like things fell apart from him in the seventh inning and, you know, he dealt with that illness. this spring. Maybe his conditioning's not where it needs to be, whatever,

but he looked great until he didn't. And I think that's a, I think that's a good enough sign to feel pretty good about Sunny Gray. Ace is gonna ace, scare crochet dominant at the Orioles here. Eight shutout innings with eight strikeouts. He had 14 whiffs on 102 pitches. And this is the deepest he's ever gone into a start in his career.

He's also coming back from first start after signing that contract extension. So a really good one there from Garrett Crochet. Zach Wheeler just carved up the Rockies. Seven innings, one run, 10 strikeouts. He had 25 whiffs on 105 pitches. Hunter Green, who we mentioned, seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts, 22 whiffs on 94 pitches. He averaged 100 miles per hour on his fastball.

I'm not exactly sure that he needs to be throwing any harder than he already was, but that is what Hunter Green is doing. And then Paul Skeens was dominant at the raise, seven innings, one unearned run with six strikeouts there. Anything else, Chris, on Skeens, Hunter Green, Zach Wheeler, and Garrett Crochet. Zach Wheeler's awesome. Paul Skeins is awesome.

Nothing to add there. They were awesome in the ways that they typically are. Crochet, the only thing is just he was awesome for eight innings, which he's never done before. I still have very, very minor concerns about how, he holds up being asked to go deep into games for six full months, but don't worry, don't worry about the future. Like, that's, the future is in the future.

That's someone else's problem. I think this kind of goes back to what you were saying about Christian Campbell, though. Yeah. Obviously, the Red Sox wanted to lock up Garrett Crochet, like, they traded a haul to get him, so they needed to get an extension done. But they were confident giving him that extension. On top of that, it was a really big extension with a lot of Garron. seed money involved.

And in my mind, if the Red Sox are willing to do that, then they just view Garrett Crochet as their ace. And they're going to let him go. Oh, yeah, I'm not worried about them limiting him. It's just a- Can he stay healthy? Yeah, well, can he stay healthy? What does it look like?

He's only ever done it for three months at a time, right? Like, can he do it for in August? I don't know, but I'm not going to, it's not going to change how I view Garrett Crochet. Ace is going to ace. Part 2, Cole Regans. Ah, I don't have it loaded up. That stinks. I don't have my little Reagan.

Anyway, Cole Regan's at the Brewers, five innings, one run, 10 strikeouts with 19 whiffs on 97 pitches here. Freddie Peralta on the other side, eight innings, one run, eight strikeouts to zero walks, 19 wifts on 97 pitches. The first time he has gone eight innings in a start since 2019 for Freddie Peralta. and Dylan Cease, a strong outing up against the Guardians, six and a third, one run with seven strikeouts. Chris, anything on Cease, Peralta, and Cole Regens.

I'll be honest, I wasn't even thinking about Freddie Peralta as like a draft target. He was basically off my boards. And then I saw a story from Matthew Trueblood, who writes for, I can't remember one of the Brewers blogs, but he's very good. And he mentioned, he wrote a story about how Freddie Peralta lost his mechanics.

They got wonky on. him last year. He had to move over to the first base side of the mound just to like be able to pitch to right ease the way he wants to. He fixed the mechanical issue. He got back to the third base side of the mound and he has looked phenomenal so far. He's throwing his curveball a little more this year than he has in the past, which is interesting. Through it more than the slider in the first start about the same this time. It looks really every everything looks really good for him. His command's been really good. He's got some of that Blake Snell in him,

where he tends to lose it without much warning. But he's looked really good so far. I think he's going to be a great, great value. One thing I wanted to point out with Dylan Cease was the velocity down quite a bit in this one. Fastball was down 1.4 miles per hour, slider down 2 miles per hour, and the changeup was down 3 miles per hour.

So it didn't affect the performance, obviously. it's not as many swinging strikes as we're used to seeing from Dillen Seas. It wasn't against the Guardians. They don't swing and miss a lot. But something to watch moving forward here with the velocity on Dillon C's. Aces not gonna ace.

These guys, not as good as we wanted them to be. Terrick's Goobble, oddly enough, against the Mariners. Five and two thirds, three runs, three walks. Still had eight strikeouts and 23 whiffs, but just not as efficient as we're used to seeing. Framber Valdez got

bombarded early on against the Giants, five innings, five runs, four walks to nine strikeouts. He gave up all five runs in the first two innings of the game. And Blake Snell, it's early season, Blake Snell, up against the Braves, four innings, five unearned runs, some bad defense behind him, but he also walked four and gave up eight hard hits, so yes, the defense stinks, but, you know, if you walk four and give up eight hard hits, you probably deserve a bad line anyway. So anything on this group? Terrick's Google stuff happens.

Frambervaldez, he didn't look comfortable. And this one, like his, it looked like his release points were super inconsistent. I haven't actually looked at the data, but that was just watching him. He didn't look like he was repeating well. And his command was off. That's usually not a problem with him. He had to lean on the curveball even more because he was struggling to throw the sinker consistently for strikes. I'm not concerned.

And then look, we are 10 years into the Blake's experience. If you are worried about Blake's now having a start like this after two starts, you should never have drafted him. You know what he is. You know that when he's good, he's amazing. And when he's bad, he's barely useful.

So just be happy it was five unarned runs. Fair enough. three other pitching leftovers Luis Castillo out dueled Terrick Scouble for the win. He went seven innings, two runs, five strikeouts here. Velocity is down a little bit for Castillo, but he is someone that usually

starts off a little bit slower. Ryan Pepio, he was mid up against the pirates, five innings, two runs, three walks, three strikeouts, and Clay Holmes, inefficient once again at the Marlins. You know, we're hoping to get a better start here from Clay Holmes.

And again, I don't want to overreact, Chris, but I just think maybe we were spoiled a little bit too much in spring, and we need to remember this is a career reliever turn starter. It's probably going to take more time than we initially thought, based on how good his spring was. But I think eventually he'll probably be pretty good, but it might take more time than we thought. Yeah, I am both not giving up.

up on Clay Holmes. Don't think he's dropable at all. And a little bit happy that I didn't quite buy in. Like I never moved him inside of my top 200 in Roto. He was there in points because of the RP eligibility and that that makes sense. But the Marlins did go pretty lefty heavy today. And he only had six whiffs against them. And that kind of highlights what my concerns about Clay Holmes were.

It just I think he's going to be really good against righties. he's got the arsenal for it. He needed the change-up or the cutter or the foreseamer to immediately be a very good pitch for him or there were going to be some issues. And none of them look like great pitches right now. That's not to say they can't be good pitches in the future, but it's a learning curve. And he's still on the wrong side of it. It's just it is frustrating that, I mean, if you can't trust him to be good against the Marlins, how many teams can you trust him to be good against?

Well, the good news is that he faces the Marlins again next week. So I think I would just leave Clay Holmes in there for another start. Like, obviously, if you have a better option, you can go with that. I don't think he's a must start by any means. But in a points league, if you drafted Clay Holmes to be a SPARP, yeah, against the Marlins, I'm going to use them again. So in a SPARP situation, certainly. In Roto, I don't think I've seen enough.

Look, it's possible I have worse options. Like, if I have Jamison-Tyon, against the... Rangers. Rangers. I'd probably go with Clay Holmes. Yeah.

Some hitting leftovers. Hey, Jackson Trio is still good. Three for five with his first home run. Two RBI. He had four hard hits in this game. Mike Trout is on the board with his first home run of the season. Logan O'Hoppy blasted a grand slam

off of Sunny Gray. I will never forgive you. Byron Buxton is on the board. Two for four with his first home run. It was 11.1.7 exit velocity, 446 feet for Byron Buckson. Luis Arise, clearly known for his power and speed, two for four, with a sock and a shoe in this game.

Fernando Tatees continues to run wild. He picked up his fifth steal of the season, and he stole home as part of a double steel. So that was Luis Arise taking off for second. They throw through to second base. Fernando Tatees takes off for home, they throw home, and everyone's safe. So there you go.

Pete Alonzo, big big. game in Miami three for four with his second home run. He had four hard hits in this game, including three over 113 miles per hour. And Xavier Edwards, big game four for six with a run, RBI and his second steal of the season. Lots of names here, Chris, but anyone that you wanted to quickly mention. I mean, I do think it is just worth mentioning with Fernando Tatis that he had shoulder and wrist surgery, came back in 2023, didn't look great, didn't. didn't look great last season, but was playing through that stress reaction for who knows how long. He's talked about how much it affected him and when he came back and all that.

So like, what if this is just the first time we're seeing Fernando Tatis healthy? For now. Well, sure. That's always a concern. But he's struck out one time, I think, so far. He's running wild. Yeah. I'm hoping we get an MVP caliber.

season from Fernando Tatis. Yeah, it's one strikeout to four walks so far for Tatis, so the plate discipline has been awesome so far for him. The call to the bullpen, some updates here for the Rangers. Chris Martin pitching the eighth inning with a one-run lead. He picked up the hold, and Luke Jackson got the ninth. He gave up a hit, but struck out one for his third save of the season. He's 45% rostered and just looks like the closers.

So if you need saves, I think Luke Jackson is at the top of the list. For the Pirates, their first safe chance without David Bednar goes to Dennis Santana, who we brought up yesterday. He walked one but picked up the save here. Colin Holderman pitched in the eighth inning, he gave up a run on a hit and a walk. He was relieved by Ryan Baruchy, who got the final out of the eighth inning. Dennis Santana, only 16% rostered. So if you had David Bednar in a deeper Roto League or you just need saves in a deeper category league,

then Dennis Santana is a name that you can look at. For the Royals, Lucas Erseg entered with one out in the seventh inning. Runners on first and second, he got the next two outs to keep the game tied. Carlos Estevez entered in the 10th inning with a one-run lead. He allowed the Manfred Man to score. He took his first blown save, and the Royals would eventually lose in the 11th inning. For the Blue Jays, Jeff Hoffman got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He gave up a run on three hits but converted his third save.

for the Padres, Robert Suarez picked up his third save. For the Mariners, Andres Munoz got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up three base runners, but struck out two for his third save. And they have a different manager this year. Dan Wilson, my early read on the situation is that they're just going to use Andres Munoz as the closer, which would be huge for his fantasy value. That could change, like, maybe if there's a huge situation in the seventh or eighth, they bring him in. but for now, I kind of feel like

and hope that they're just going to use him as the closer under this new manager. Yeah, I mean, if he's a 35 save guy, he could be the top close. Yeah, you're talking about a top five closer. Yeah, he's awesome. So, yeah, that's potentially huge. Yeah, again, that was Andres Munoz.

For the Giants, Ryan Walker was unavailable. Camilo Duval pitched a clean ninth inning for his second save for the Marlins. Calvin Foshae got the eighth inning with a three-run lead and promptly gave up a three-run home run to Pete Alonzo. So he took the blown save and the Marlins would eventually lose in extras. That is another point in the favor of Anthony Bender

who I have to guess is going to get the next save opportunity for the Marlins. I would think so, yeah. Yeah. For the Red Sox, the oldest Chapman got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He walked one but picked up his first save. For the D-backs, A.J. Puck entered in the ninth. With a four-run lead, there were two runners on base.

So we didn't start the ninth inning, but once they kind of went into trouble there, they brought on AJ Puck. He gave up a three-run homer to Anthony Volpe, which was like a Yankee Stadium special of all Yankee Stadium specials. But A.J. Puck did convert his second save in two days. I still feel the same,

but the fact that he's giving up home runs on back-to-back days, like maybe Justin Martinez, you know, starts to get a little bit more of a leash. A couple more save opportunities, but we'll see. And then for the Braves, Rysel Iglesias entered with one out in the eighth inning, a runner on first with a two-run lead. He gave up a walk, then a ground out,

then a game-tying double. He stayed on for the ninth inning where he gave up a walk-off home run to Shohei Otani. All right, so three fun things from that one. One, I believe Max Muncie's double to tie the game came after he stopped using the torpedo bat. That's correct.

He threw it away. So strike one for the skeptics. Iglesias came about three feet from giving up a game-winning home run to Kika Hernandez in the eighth inning, I believe. Yeah. And then Otani, like, if you watch that swing again, I don't know how he hit this ball 400 feet. It looked like he bailed out. Well, he's not human. I know, but like, it looks like the kind of thing that, like, maybe he fouls it off.

Maybe he hits a dribbler foul down the third base line. He had 400 feet the other way. It's unbelievable. Just completely freakish stuff. I don't understand how he can do that. Yeah, it wasn't a terrible pitch, man. I'm watching it back now. He hit a spot.

Yeah. Like, he nailed the spot. That was where the catcher set up. It was a fastball off the point. plate and he like it's just he's unbelievable man i do want to touch a little bit on the torpedo bat thing for a second with max muncie so i listened to the rates and barrels podcast uh today and they had on a i'm forgetting the gentleman's name but someone who specializes in bat everything like every type of like analysis on bats that you can imagine and it it was

really really informative but something he brought up was that to use a torpedo bat, you really have to get it tailored to you, to your swing. And Max Muncie didn't do that. I was watching the broadcast. He wanted to give it a try. And so he said, send me an average of all the torpedo bats

that you've made so far for players around the league, and I'll try it out. But based on what I was listening to on the Rates and Barrels podcast, that's not how it works. You really have to get these torpedo bats tailored to your swing and customized to where you hit the ball most frequently.

So, yeah, I don't think it's going to work for someone like that or someone like Max Muncie here because, like, again, you have to kind of like put the research in and you have to like go through the process of getting this done the right way. If you want it to work and, you know, we're still only a week into it. So we don't even know if it actually works. It works for one weekend for the Yankees. And so, you know, the jury's still out. So we'll see.

To stream or not to stream on Thursday, which I brought up yesterday. I swear the Thursday list was longer yesterday. No. There's nobody. I'll just read off the names, and I'm not using any of them anywhere. Carrasco against the debacks, Charlie Morton against the Red Sox, Antonio Senzatella at the Phillies, and Taiwan Walker against the Rockies. No, just no.

On Friday, anyone here, Jose Soriano against the Guardians, I think, could be okay. Nick Martinez at the Brewers, maybe. Uh, Zach Lattel looked good in his first start at the Rangers. Don't love the matchup. Yeah. Max Meyer at the Braves. I don't love the spot,

but the Braves are not hitting so far. The Braves have been bad. Max Meyer looked really good in his first start. Maybe it could work. The improvements that he made this spring looked legitimate, but I would prefer not to. I think he's the best one. Tyler McGill against the Blue Jays could be okay.

It could be okay. Yeah, Jonathan Cannon at Detroit, because it's a decent matchup in a good park. But I think Max Meyer is the most interesting here. Yeah, I would say I like Soriano the most against the Guardians, although they don't strike out very much. But I like him. I like Max Meyer.

I think Nick Martinez at the Brewers and Tyler McGill against the Blue Jays. I think all four of those are totally usable on Friday. We are going to wrap there for Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.

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