Fantasy Baseball Today - Orioles Promote Top Prospects, Young Pitchers With Upside & More! (8/18 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

Junior Caminero has hit 35 homers (3:21)! ... The Orioles promoted both Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers this weekend (5:00). ... Nolan McLean looked good in his debut (16:40). ... Hurston Waldrep has changed his pitch-mix (20:44). ... Ben Rice had a huge game on Saturday (27:00). ... News (31:00): Zack Wheeler went on the IL with a blood clot in his right shoulder. ... The Dog of the Weekend goes to Max Fried (39:57). ... Jurickson Profar and Ramon Laureano keep on hitting (46:13). ... Does Dean Kremer deserve more respect (51:40)? ... Start or sit these pitchers (58:05)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:04:49). 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

He did it. The crazy son of a gun, he did it. Cominero! Can you name the Ray who hit that drive over the fence that makes 35? Comanero. Cominero. Well, he's kind of slow, unlike Jackson Meryl, but his lightning quick as compared to Will Ferrell. Comanero, whoa.

Cominero. Swings not long, zones not wide. You practice hacks, make pictures when I hide. Cominero. Cominero. Finally beating out all the utility swords. Service time manipulation is matter for the courts. Commonero.

Commonero. Every ball off his bat's like a laser hot beam. He's a pillow mash, bump, and crashline driving machine. Comonero. Cominero. Cominero. Oh, Cominero. Over the fence that makes 35, Junior Commonero.

Welcome in some fantasy baseball today on Monday, August 18th. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, the Orioles called up the Big Gun. Samuel Bessio and Dylan Beavers, impressing outings from some young pitchers. We have some other waiver wire ads and start or sit decisions, plus much more. But it was only appropriate, Scott, to begin today. podcast with Junior Caminero, whom you made a song about in the preseason. And you know what?

You just kind of threw a little lyric in there. Over the fence that makes 35. And here we are. 35 home runs in. Boom. 35. And it's actually that I didn't want to change the number from the original Canyonero song from The Simpsons where it was smells like a steak and seats 35 for this giant SUV. I thought, you know, 35. That's pretty bold. That's pretty bold prediction for Common Arrow. But here we are, not even, not even to September. We got like six weeks to go. He's at 35. I like how he took all the wind of this out of our sales by going, by striking out four times on Sunday. That was pretty cool. We don't have to talk about that. But we celebrate the good times, not the bad. And yes, I think he deserved it with his 35th

home run already. Junior Cominero. Oh yes. 35 homers, 85 RBI, five steals, and 826 OPS on the season for Camerro. And remember, his season really turned around back in May when he started working with his hitting instructor from the Dominican Republic and kind of got his mechanics back on track. And here we are. He entered Sunday as the 17th overall player in Rhodo, which is crazy. The fourth highest scoring third baseman in points leagues, 3.3 fantasy points per game. tremendous season there for Junior Kemenaro. Before we get into our players of the night,

I think we got to start with these Orioles prospect promotions because some massive names here. We get catcher Samuel Bessio and outfieler Dylan Beavers both called up this weekend. Basayo arguably the top prospect in all of baseball, 21 years old. This season at AAA was hitting 270

with 23 home runs, 966 OPS, crazy exit velocities. He was in the lineup as the DH here on Sunday. He was batting six. one for four with two RBI and actually robbed of his first home run of his career, which is pretty crazy there. Hazu Sanchez, robbed two home runs in that game, which is just bananas. 40% rostered on CBS is Samuel Bessio just a must roster player?

I'm not sure how much he's going to play. What do you guys think? I think he's going to play pretty much every day. I'm not actually worried about playing time for this season because they've already talked about, I can't remember, Mansellino is his name. Yeah, Mansellino. Then are a manager for the words. Yeah, he's already said he's going to play DH.

He's going to be the number two catcher. And he's going to play first base. So I'm not actually worried about Samuel Basayo playing the rest of this season. I do have one concern. And, you know, I'll see comments sometimes where I get accused of being a negative Nelly and I don't want to be that and so I I want to couch this as just this is something we need to think about the rest of the season with Samuel Bessayo the Orioles have 38 games left he needs 20 games next season to be eligible at catcher he needs majority of his games Samuel Bousai was probably not going to be eligible a catcher next season yeah well it's it depends where he plays the majority of the time well how how would it work if it's a plurality If it's, if, well, a plurality, it would, it would go to catcher.

As long as his combined games in the field are more than the added DH, at least on CBS. That's how we do it. Okay. So if he plays 19, 20 games at DH, he's DH only next year. If he plays. But if he plays 18 and then plays 10 at catcher and 10 at first base, he's catcher next year? Yeah, Ty would go to what he had previously. Okay.

And those would combine for more. On CBS. Now, I think some of the other sites do it differently. Okay. But kind of the rationale for that at CBS is like you don't get the, you clearly played the field more than you DH. So you're just getting penalized for your versatility if we make you only DH. I do think there's a pretty good chance he's just DH only though. Yeah, I mean, first star was a DH.

Although, and I haven't committed the name to memory yet either because he's just. just an interim manager. But he said he was excited about Bessaiu at first base. It was the actual word he used and he kind of said it twice. So I imagine we could see a lot of them there. Interestingly, Ryan Maltcastle was the one out of the lineup for this first game Sunday, not Kobe Mayo. I imagine there's going to be some trading off with all three of them and potentially Bessayo spelling Adly Rushman behind the plate as well. And he's exciting.

He's really exciting. He, my mid-season top 50, I had Basayo second, but I really debated putting him first. I went with Kevin McGonagall first, Tiger shortstop prospect. And really the reason for that was because Basayo is going to be such a tough defensive fit. It's, it, it, there just seems like more opportunities for a team to give up on him if he's, if it's not going well right away. when it's, you know, he's not really a catcher probably long term. And so that just limits him to DH in first base. And that's tough.

It's tough to break in at those positions. But if we're just grading, if I was just rating them purely on their statistical impact for fantasy, I would have put Basayo number one. Because he hits the ball as hard as just about anybody in the majors. I mean, Max average exit velocity of AAA, I kept comparing it to Kyle Schwerber. You could use Shohei Otani if you want. Maybe that's more impressive, but I didn't want to go. I didn't want to oversell it, you know, by comparing Besaya to Otani. The strikeout rate was fine down there.

Like, he's a masher of the highest order. Now, that doesn't mean he's going to hit the ground running. We rarely see that even from the best hitting prospects these days. But we've seen it very recently from kind of some second tier or even third tier hitting prospects between Jacob Marcy and Colson Montgomery. Like, it's not unthinkable. that that could happen for Bessio. In theory, we should be excited that he's catcher eligible because that's the weakest position to fill.

We've talked all season about how it's just been crazy deep this year. I mean, Francisco Alvarez is still like 35% rostered, and he's been incredible since coming back from AAA. He has been. He's been starting a third of the time. And we're thinking Bessio is going to play more than that. So in one catcher leagues, like what is the line? that I'd be willing to drop this guy to take a chance on Basayo.

And that's what I struggle with. It may just be that you take a shot on him anyway because he'll be good enough to use in your utility spot, particularly if he's playing more than the average catcher. But certainly I'd take him over like Alejandro Kirk or J.T. Rooney Utoe or Logan O'Hoppy over Sean Murphy, probably a close call with Drake Baldwin. Yeah. So that makes him a borderline.

top 12 catcher. Yeah, that's where I think it is. Close call with Augustine Ramirez, I think. Especially in a points league just because Ramirez, but Sayo's plate discipline should be much better than Ramirez. Yeah. Yeah. So that's about where I put them and that's conservative.

That like I'm trying to be more conservative with top prospect callups since they've so often disappointed in the immediate. But, you know, it could be a top five catcher over the final six. weeks here and I don't think anybody would fall out of their chair if that was the case. What about Dylan Beavers? He is a 24-year-old outfield prospect first round pick back in 2022 and 94 games at AAA this year hit 304 with 18 home runs, 23 steals, a 934 OPS, 24% rostered. He started both Saturday and Sunday. What size leagues are you guys looking at

Dylan Beavers? Certainly five outfielder leagues. Probably just five outfielders. Probably just five outfields. Little League's for now. But he's been one of the biggest risers among prospects this year. He was not a top 100 guy. He was not a top tier prospect in the Oriole system at all until this year. And he made a huge leap. He was both hitting the ball. Let me see if I get this right.

Yeah, he was hitting the ball harder and making more consistent contact. And usually there's a tradeoff between those. to see a player make a leap in both of those areas in the same year. It's kind of, I guess, not... If you knew that going in, I guess it wouldn't be so surprising that Dylan Beaver's breaking out, but he is, and he's had a huge season at AAA, and I think absolutely somebody who could matter moving forward. It's just a question of how soon.

Yeah, I agree with five out for the leagues on Dylan Beaver's air, 12 teams or deeper, obviously. I picked them up in Tout Wars, which is 15-te-Roto, five outfielders, OBP instead of batting average. I got them for $23 out of a $1,000 budget. So, you know, at this point, there's not much money left in FAB, but, you know, about 2% of the budget. I saw that there were higher bids in other places for Dillon Beaver's,

but lots to be excited about there. Power, speed, could be good batting average. And still a solid ballpark, I guess, from the left-hand side, He's a left-handed bet, right? Did I just make that up? He is a, yeah, left-handed bat. He is left-handed, yeah. All right.

His own contact rate was nearly 90% at AAA, so it's not just, it's not just that he walks a lot and keeps the strikeouts under control. Like he doesn't miss when he swings, basically. It's a good sign. He's third among the top 100 prospects who have gotten called up of the past five days, let's say, right? You'd rather have Bessayae. You'd prioritize McLean and Nolan McLean and then Dylan Beaver's ahead of Owen Casey. Yeah, I think so.

Right now, I think ahead of Owen Casey. Long term, I think O'NCase is still the better prospect. There's just, there's no path to playing time right. I was, and maybe I'm kind of holding it against, strangely, I'm kind of holding it against Bessaya that he's catcher eligible because any, in every one catcher league, I feel pretty settled at catcher. Sure. So I just didn't have much interest in pursuing him.

As big of a prospect as he is, maybe that's kind of dumb. But like I had a need for another pitcher in every league. And in some leagues, I needed an outfielder. Again, pretty much just five outfielder leagues, which are also two catcher leagues. So, yeah, on average, Bessai over beavers, I would say. But McLean might be the most universally usable to start. out and so maybe we should talk about him. All right, well, we will do that in just a second.

Let's take our first break. When we return, we'll get into players from The Weekend. A bunch of young pitchers who impress will do that right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. Let's get into the players of the weekend. Oh, my goodness gracious. Oh, my. And let's start with Nolan McLean.

Chris, you're up first. Nolan McLean made his Major League debut on Saturday for the New York Mets. This is a guy who probably was not a top 100 prospect coming into the season, but has absolutely pitched his way into that discussion. Baseball prospectus had him 34th in their midseason update. Fancraft's had him 53rd overall, so has been a really big riser, and he looked really good in his Major League debut. It was five and a third shutout innings against the Mariners,

and it's the Mariners on the road. So that's a genuinely tough matchup. Eight strikeouts, four walks, the command, especially on the front. fast balls was not great, but boy, those two secondary pitches, the sweeper and the curveball for Nolan McLean looked really, really good. He gets a ton of break on them, I think I was seeing on the sweeper. The curveball looked really good versus lefties. He threw it 17 times against lefties, 28% of the time. Got 11 swinging strikes on 91 pitches. That's a solid mark. Four with the sweeper five with the curveball.

So he's got a weapon for lefties and righties, which you can't always say for young pitchers. I think there's a lot of upside here. I think Nolan McLean is pretty close to a 100% must roster pitcher. There might be some workload concerns as we get closer to the postseason with McLean just because he was, I think it was 110 pitches last season. he's up to 118, 119 now. So, you know, if they want him available in the postseason,

I have no idea if that's the plan. It gets a little dicey. There might be some short starts, but gosh, who are we adding right now that we're not saying that about, you know? Like, I'm not sure looking ahead that Jacob Mizorowski's going to get six innings in any start the rest of the season.

So I think Noel McLean is, just about as close to a must-ad pitcher as you can have at this point of the season. And part of what the Mets are very smart and part of what they liked about him and what a lot of prospect people liked about him is he's a two-way player. So he's kind of a late developing. It's a little bit of the Spencer Schwellenbach thing, right? Remember he was a shortstop in college, right? Yes, I think that's right.

He gives me some Spencer Schwellenbach vibes in the way he's taken off and really broken through, made the leap to the majors relatively quick. and stuff looks really good. His command is not as precise as Spencer Schwellenbach's, but the stuff might be better. Yeah, I mean, Schwellenbach is kind of in a different stratosphere as far as command goes,

just for every pitcher in baseball. Yeah, he's kind of George Kirby level, yeah. Yeah, he's forgetting the word I want to use, but yeah, he's at the tip-top there. Well, McLean. It's McLean, right? You were, was it, you were kind of saying McLean? Maybe.

Okay. You can't rely on me to know pronunciations. Well, just for the audience sake, if they're trying to, if you're trying to type this guy's name it, it's MC-L-E-A-N. It sounds like McDonald's introducing a new healthy menu item. Yeah, yeah, sure. That's it. That control would be what I'm most worried. And he walked for in this one.

To me, it was kind of like, okay, if you told me Nolan McLean was making his major league debut, what would you expect? that that start to look like. And it was, it was pretty much just like this. Because he got a ton of ground balls, 50, 50, 55%. A good strikeout total. A lot of walks.

And so if he, if he keeps doing that, it should be good. But, you know, there's some downside risk with the control there. The two most added pitchers on CBS right now are Nolan McLean and

Hurston Waldrip. Scott, your player of the weekend. Yeah, Hurston Waldrop, and I was prioritizing him over McLean. I don't know if I was alone there when I was putting in my bids. You guys can tell me. But he had another great outing here, this time at Cleveland, six shutout innings, two hits allowed, two walks, seven strikeouts.

He got a ton of whiffs, 14 on 95 pitches. That had been missing and made me a little skeptical, but he got him in this one and eight were on that splitter, which is by all indications, I mean, ever since the Braves drafted him in the first round a couple years ago, that splitter for Hurston Waldrop was expected to carry him. What's changed for him this year is that he has faded his foreseamer in favor of a sinker. And that seems to help accentuate the splitter better.

It seems to pair with it better. and just yield better outcomes for Waldrop overall. That is something that he picked up actually because of Sean Murphy. When Sean Murphy was rehabbing, I think it was that fractured rib earlier this season. He worked with Waldrop at AAA on developing the sinker. And he would really start to take off toward the end of his time at AAA. He's put together three great outings. One technically wasn't a start because he started the next day, a game that was rain shortings.

But they were all starters length and a combined two earn runs between the three of them and now he's getting some whiffs. And, you know, with that pedigree as a former first-round pick, I'm starting to buy in a bit. I don't think it's an open and shut case by any means, but relative to what else is out there at starting pitcher on the waiver wire, I think there's a lot to like here in Hurston Waldrop.

Yeah, I think in the past he was, it would be overstating it to say he was one pitch pitcher because he technically threw three different pitches, but his fastball was always bad. His command of his slider was not great. And so, like, I remember, Frank, we were in first pitch, Florida, and he pitched Braves, Blue Jays. And I remember, like, checking Twitter and seeing a bunch of highlights of Hurst and Waldrop Splitter, because it was a legitimately impressive pitch. And he was awful in the start. But there was the high, the highlight was the splitter. And it was like, he needs the rest of the arsenal to come around.

And maybe it's just as simple as, you know, the sinker has gotten much better results than the four seamer so far. And maybe it's just he can command those pitches better. Maybe they just aren't great pitches on their own, but they, they tie the room together in a way that the previous Arsenal couldn't. So, yeah, I think he's been really impressive.

I might prioritize McLean, but I think they're both clearly the top pitchers to add right now. Yeah, I think I lean with Wal-Drip because at this point of the year, you're really taking it week-by-week basis, and Waldrop gets the White Sox this week, and McLean gets the Braves in Atlanta, which, all right, the Braves have been up and down,

but they still can hit the ball when they're going right. So it could be a little bit of a tougher matchup there, but I agree. I mean, these two need to be, you know, the top priority pitchers right now, outside of, like, Jacob Lopez, who's already up to 79%.

I think Christian Javier's right there. I know Sunday was weird. He left with like an illness, so I don't know what's going on there. But what he showed in his first start, I think, was as impressive as what we've seen from these two guys. If he could keep it up. And so we didn't get to see that in the second start because a big key to not that the result was even that impressive for Javier and his first start back. But the velocity on his fastball was back to 20, 21, 22 levels, which were when he was good. Everything was way down in velocity.

In his second start, he left with an illness. So we kind of just have to throw it out, and it's a big question mark still. I actually removed Christian Javier from my sleeper pitchers for this upcoming week going against Baltimore, just because I didn't feel like I had a good read on him yet. And I added the athletics pitcher Jack Perkins is his name, who had a pretty good outing over the weekends facing the twins this week. Good swing and miss stuff for pitch arsenal. So that's where I stand on Javier. I do have them quite a bit behind these others.

One reason why I prefer Waldrop to McLean, pretty narrow margin, but you brought up the innings issue for McLean. And not just how many innings does he have left, but we've seen now Waldrop go six innings and back to back. And if McLean's struggling with pitch counts with the walks, how often is that going to happen? I did want to mention a couple other young pitchers here who really impressed this weekend.

And I think they're very clearly behind the names we already talked about. But Cade Cavali had a great start against the Phillies. Seven shutout innings with five strikeouts. Had 12 whiffs on 90 pitches here. And there is no doubt the talent is there. Like his pitches have a ton of movement. He's upper 90s with the fastball. It really just comes down to command, which obviously is a big part of development for a pitcher.

And part of why his numbers were so bad in the minors. But man, the stuff is definitely there. The curveball especially looks awesome. But even his change-up, his change of head is crazy, crazy movement. And Luis Morales, who, again, a deeper league name here, but he's a prospect in the athletics organization. He had a good start against the Angels, five innings, one run, five strikeouts here. So more deep league names, but anything that you guys would like to add on Cavali and Luis Morales, because I was impressed by both. I put Cavali ahead of Morales.

I think he's been more impressive. It's been two great starts, one really bad one. And he was terrible at AAA in a not small sample size. The jury is certainly out on Kade Kavali, but the stuff is impressive. He throws 97 to 100. It doesn't have great movement profile, but velocity can overcome that.

And Kavali's been impressive enough that at least, I wasn't super moved to add him in any 12-team leagues, but I could consider it at least. All right, my player of the weekend is going to be Ben Rice, putting the old Homer Yankee hat on here, although actually I am not wearing a Yankee hat right now. Huge game on Saturday. Three for five with his 18th home run,

seven RBI in that game, and he is basically taking over as the Yankee starting catcher. And he's also getting some games in at first base. Paul Goldschmidt, much better against lefties this season. But they are prioritizing getting Ben Rice's bat in the lineup. He has started 11 straight. He's looked much better in the second half overall. And we've talked about this all season.

The stat cast numbers for Ben Rice are amazing. He is 95th percentile or better in barrel rate, hard hit, average exit velocity, XBA, X-B-A, X-Lug, and X-Woba. So maybe we're just starting to see those numbers catch up to where they should be as hard as he's been hitting the ball this season. He's 75% rostered, so not really out there in too many leagues, catcher first base, but I thought it was worth mentioning after a big game like this, and the fact that the Yankees are prioritizing getting his bat in the lineup as consistently as they are. I mean, so that's another catcher who clearly has tons of upside by the stat cast data. Like, I can't find much wrong with Ben Rice's hitting profile. I guess the line drive rate could be higher, and maybe that's part of the reason why is batting average of suffering,

but that's not the stickiest stat to begin with. So I bet on it. He's catcher eligible. He's playing every day. Like, is that a guy you take over Samuel Bessio? Oh. That's, yeah. I mean, there is an alimableness.

of Samuel Bessaya could be anything. He could even be Ben Rice, at least based on what Ben Rice is doing this year. The Yankees are so hard to figure out right now. Goldschmidt ended up only missing like two games with that knee injury. And I think he appeared in one of them as a pinch hitter. John Carlos Stanton didn't play this weekend.

Aaron Judge is still D8. So like, if Ben Rice has a bad defensive game behind the plate, do they freak out? and go away from him. I think there's playing time risk with so many players here that it makes it hard to buy into anyone. But Ben Rice does rate out as a pretty average, probably below average catcher if you take everything into account.

Like his framing is okay. He's been a decent blocker. Bad arm or bad pop time, I guess, would be the better way to put that. But clearly they think it's worth. worth it right now, especially with Austin Wells, kind of the same thing happening as last year, where he's hit that wall in the second half. So yeah, I think Ben Rice is absolutely in that top 12 discussion. The fact that he's not clearly a top 12 catcher right now tells you a lot about the strength of that position right now, which has been one of the defining storylines of the season, frankly. I would hope I don't have to make that decision, but, Scott, it is a very good question. I think I would lean with Ben Rice. I think the playing time might be a little safer, but flip a coin. I'm thinking Bessio just because

what has Ben Rice's roster rate actually? 75%. Yeah, it's up there. It's pretty high already. There aren't, I would guess there are very few one catcher league where Ben Rice is available. Probably. Although I'm still using him at first base in several leagues.

Well, that's the thing. And I was saying, I wonder if I'm penalizing Bessio's unfairly, like I'm penalizing for being a catcher just because, oh, you don't need a catcher. If they're playing every day and they're as good as we think they can be as hitters, then they're absolutely worth starting in another position.

And that's something that goes against fantasy orthodoxy, fantasy baseball orthodoxy as well. You would never play a catcher eligible player anywhere but catcher. What are you crazy? But this year might be the year to do that with so many good options. All right. Big thanks to those watching live on YouTube. Make sure to hit the like button and subscribe if you haven't already. Let's run through the news and notes.

We got some big injury news this weekend. Zach Wheeler went on the aisle with a blood clot near his right shoulder and could explain why he's been struggling. I know he got pushed back recently from a start because he was dealing with a shoulder issue. It turns out it's pretty serious. Last six starts a 454 ERA 125 whip. Huge loss for fantasy. Huge loss for the Phillies. Doesn't have a timeline to return.

So there's no replacing Zach Wheeler. He's a top three fantasy pitcher. Obviously, if you need help in the interim, the names we spoke about, Nolan McLean, Hurston Waldrip, Jacob Lopez, Christian Javier, names like that. But yeah, this is a massive loss. We're always talking waiver wire pitchers.

I mean, I'm sad because, like, this, he's not going to get his Sigh Young now. No, no. And at his age, only two years left. He's committed to pitching only two years after this one. Like, he can't be sure he's ever going to. And, like, look, this is a potentially serious health issue beyond the baseball ramifications.

You know, there have been, it happens a lot more in basketball, but Chris Bosch's career was ended by blood clot issues. So it's a, you know, it's a really scary situation. Hopefully, you know, he's totally fine, but it's a really worrisome condition to have to deal with. I guess this could lead to Andrew Painter maybe getting an opportunity. Yeah. It's, he's been terrible.

He's like, he, he started out just kind of underwhelming, but it's gone like Bubba Chandler's season where he's just been terrible. And how much of that is developmental, like they're having them experiment with different pitches and sequencing and whatnot, and how much of it is he's not good enough to pitch in the majors. I think we're going to see him either way,

just so just to get a head start on evaluating him for next year, giving him some major league exposure. so he doesn't come in wide-eyed next time. They don't need him right now. They were going with the six-man when Wheeler was in because Taiwan Walker's been pitching well. So now they're back down to five-man. And so I don't think we're going to see Painter tomorrow.

But at some point over the next six weeks, I think he'll make two or three starts probably. And I don't know that we've said this. Wheeler is probably out for the year. They haven't given a timeline, but just given the treatment usually required for blood plots and the amount of time that takes. I think we can safely assume he's out for the year for fantasy purposes. Another pitching injury, Chase Burns was placed in the aisle Friday morning with a flexor strain in his throwing elbow. Terry Francona said the best case scenario is Burns only misses a few weeks.

He could start throwing again as soon as this week. But, you know, they were kind of up against it right now, trying to figure out, you know, workload limitations and things like that. So this kind of works itself out for now. Obviously, Chase Burns throws extremely hard and he's a very exciting pitcher, young pitcher, so they're going to play it safe. But it sounds like they're not that worried about it, at least. I think they found a good excuse to limit his innings,

just like the Brewers did with Jacob Missouri. I'm not saying that it's a fake injury. They're pitchers. There's always something if you need to put someone on the IL. But yeah, I think this is as much about preserving innings as his health, especially since he's going to be throwing almost immediately. Yordon Alvarez will begin a rehab assignment at AA on Tuesday and could be back within a week. Josh Hader is expected to miss the rest of the regular season with that left shoulder strain,

but hopes to return in the postseason. So you can go ahead and drop Josh Hader. in redraft leagues there. Ronald de Cunia was activated from the IL on Friday, so make sure to get him back in your weekly lineups. Yohan Duran was carted off the field on Friday after taking a comebacker off his right ankle, but then he was back out there for the save on Sunday,

so he seems to be all right. Jackson Meryl left Sunday's game with an ankle injury, but Meryl said he's hopeful to, hopeful he'll be able to play on Monday. Starters sit Jackson Meryl, who obviously has had a disappointing season. Yeah. For what reasons?

Yeah, easier to sit in a points league for sure. I think I had to have an erotel league, I'd probably still start him, but I think points is an easy-ish sit right now. Cole Reagan's threw a 20-pitch bullpen with increased velocity on Friday. He's working his way back from a left rotator cuff strain. Tanner Scott threw a 22-pitch simulated inning on Friday, and the Dodgers are in desperate need of bullpen help, so we'll see where that goes.

Marcus Simeon missed Saturday after getting hit by a pitch on his wrist on Friday, but he was back in the lineup. and actually homered on both Friday and Sunday. So perhaps Saman getting back on track. Kyle Stowers was placed in the IL with a left oblique strain. We lost a few third basemen to the aisle this weekend. Matt Chapman with right hand inflammation. Max Muncie of the Dodgers with a right oblique strain,

and he will miss more than the minimum. Still expects to return before the end of the regular season. Francisco Alvarez left Sunday night's game with what looked like a jammed thumb that he suffered on a slide. You might need a replacement for this. I eat a replacement for this week, and he was actually having a big weekend. He had six hits, a homer, five RBI. And as you guys pointed out, he was hitting really well since coming back from the minor.

So hopefully we get good news on Francisco Alvarez. George Springer returned from the concussion IL on Saturday. Brendan Donovan. Can I give the exact numbers on Alvarez? Just because I always think that makes the point even more. So 21 games back from injury. He's batting 323, four home runs, and OPS near 1,000. And this is a guy who has a sub 20% K rate on the year now

after having some struggles with that earlier in his career. It's a shame he's doing it breaking out this year, Francisco Alvarez, because it's hard to get him in the top 15 even. But he looks like he's coming around. You're muted, Chris. You really want to talk, but you're muted. The average XVlocity since he came back from the IL is like 94 miles per hour, too. Wow.

That's really good. Finally tapping into the power, which was supposed to, to be the big carrying tool. Brendan Donovan missed all three games this weekend with a sore left foot and sore groin. Marcelo Meyer will require season-ending surgery on his sprained right wrist. Josh Lowe was scratched on Saturday with right oblique tightness and then out of the lineup again on Sunday. That's the same oblique that he hurt earlier this season and the same one as last season, so I would expect him to land on the IL.

John Carlos Stanton sat out all three games this weekend in St. Louis. Apparently he was dealing with some lower body soreness after playing three straight games in the outfield earlier in the week. And the Red Sox signed, or are signing, Nate Lowe, after he was released by the Nationals. Want to mention one of their prospect promotion, not nearly as heralded as, you know, the Orioles guys, but the Cardinals promoted outfield prospect, Nathan Church, who is 25 years old, hit very well in the minors this year, 329, batting average, 13 homers, 16 steals, a 9-11 OPS, 1% rostered, very, very deep league name here. But Scott, he's someone I know that you were tout.

What do you have on Nathan Church? Yeah, I wrote about him in the prospects report once earlier this year. Very, very good contact skills. He has a 95% zone contact rate and only a 10% K rate at AAA this year. That would explain why he said for average. Also doesn't put the ball in the air a ton, which helps batting average. But it's kind of surprising because the exit velocities are pretty crummy and he doesn't hit many fly balls.

He still managed to hit 13 home runs and 385 played appearances. I mean, a lot of this you could point to and say, you know, there's some Jacob Marcy here, but I don't know that we should treat that as the rule. You know, I think Marcy's the exception in a lot of ways. And the biggest difference between him and Nathan Churches, Marcy puts the ball in the air a lot. Church doesn't much.

So it's interesting enough minor league numbers that I want to take Nathan Church seriously, but I have doubts, and then there's going to be, it's going to be sparse playing time anyway in all likelihood. So I think it's more just a scouting situation for fantasy than using him.

Yeah, I think I put some claims in on him in the NL Only League. That's about it for now, I think, for Nathan Church. Other names placed in the aisle this weekend, Victor Scott with a left ankle sprain which is what caused Nathan Church to get promoted. Alan Rodin went to the 60-day IL with a thumb injury and Logan Evans with right elbow inflammation.

All right, Chris, let me throw it over to you for the dog of the week. And New York, we have a Max freed problem. He continues to struggle mightily, five innings, eight hits, seven earn runs, one walk, six strikeouts, nine whiffs on 94 pitches this weekend. He's just, he's been bad for. like a month and a half now you go back to the start of july it's a 680 era a 159 whip a 19.3% strikeout rate the phip is above 450 as well so it's not like it's just bad luck i don't know um

he's dealt with forearm issues obviously in recent years but it doesn't seem like that's the issue velocity seems fine this stretch coincides with that blister that he dealt with and and that's the kind of thing where you can pitch through it, you can be healthy, but if you're favoring the finger, you have to adjust your grip or something like that. We saw it with Nick Ladolo last year. It really sidelined his season, but I don't know. This has gone beyond regression to the mean now, I think. So I think you have to be pretty concerned. Not in the long run that like Max Free will never be good again, but I don't know what you do with him at this point. I think I still start him, but yeah, it's rough. I think you could be a little bit more pick and choosy. I mean, again,

it's kind of hard to, you might bench him for the start where, you know, at six innings, one run, eight strikeout, something like that. But he gets the Red Sox this week. They're second in Wobah against left-handed pitching. So it is a tough matchup. Obviously, struggling. It does coincide with that blister again. Everything that I've read and heard is that he's past the blister. And I've seen some people bring up the possibility of fatigue. The Yankees have really leaned on Max Fried this year with no Garrickole. They've treated him like their ace. And he's thrown a ton of innings more than really on a per star basis he's done before. So I guess that is a possibility that, A, it's the blister, but perhaps it's also kind of fatigue taking over here in the second half as well. I think if you're like stacked in your pitching staff or you picked up some of these more intriguing options lately, maybe you can get away from him, but I get it. It's tough. Scott, what are you doing with Max Reed? I'm probably starting him, particularly if the discussion is that he's healthy, that it's not related to this blister. In terms of how the pitches are rating, it doesn't seem like much has changed there. He is getting giving up harder exit velocities. He is, uh,

What was the other number I found? He's giving up harder exit velocities. 88 on average. It was 86.4 through June. But, you know, 88's not bad by any stretch. The ground ball rate is lower during this time. It was 53% through June. I think those exit velocity numbers I gave wrong now, looking at my notes.

But I know the average exit velocity is down. I know the ground ball rate is down like 10 percentage points during these struggles and Max Fried is a ground ball pitcher. I was just looking through his past years the last time he had an eight start stretch this bad. And I didn't find one by the time you guys started talking to me. He did have an eight start stretch at the end of last year with a 434 ERA, but that's not as bad as 680. But I think in the long run, if you, I think I probably started. because I don't see enough that's wrong here to make me think that he's not going to turn it around. And I think if you're guessing, it could be a situation where we talk about with Sonny Gray and Dylan ceased to a lesser extent where you end up, okay, he had a good start. I'm going to get him in my lineup now. And then he turns around and has a bad start. And you might just drive yourself crazy.

Like Max Freed is clearly one of your top five pitchers. And I think you just start him except if you're stacked, like you said, Frank. Freed did have a stretch like this in 2021. Eight starts, 647 OPS. That's the only one in his career, but it's ERA. Sorry. So it's not a total outlier, but it's... And that was a great year for him.

It was already good by that time. It's not exactly something that we've come to expect from Max Freed. So certainly an outlier there. All right, let's take our final break. And when we return, we've got to get through a lot in the next, I don't know, 20 minutes. So we'll see how we do. We'll take a break and be back. right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Taking a look at some Waverwire hitters

from the weekend and some shallow league outfielders. The guys from the triple threat match last week, they just keep on hitting. Jerksson ProFar hit another home run on Sunday. And in August, he's got a 427 on base, four homers, three steals, 969 OPS. Ramonle Oriano hit two more home runs this weekend. Lordes Griel had a big series in Corres Field, two homers, seven RBI, and one steal, how are we ranking that group? ProFar, Luriano, and Guerriel. Gereal's last.

Gareil's last, regardless of format. I think I give the edge to L'Oriano in categories, 5x5 leagues, roto leagues, whatever you want to call them. I give the edge to ProFar and points since, I believe he leads the majors in walks since the All-Star break. That's how much he's been doing that.

I will say genuinely surprised at the five steals from ProFar. That's the same as Luriano has all-season. season in a larger sample size. So in in roto, you know, that could give him a little bit of an edge, but Luriano's been the much better overall hitter. So I think that's fine. Yeah, Scott, you're right about the walks, by the way. It's not even it's not really close either. ProFar has 26 walks in the second half. Wow. Next closest, Otani, Trout have 21 each. So, wow. 26 walks and in 26 weeks. In 29 games. Yeah, it's pretty good. Not even six weeks. Like

A month. A little over a month. Barry Profar. A couple of their names here. Big weekend for Alejandro Kirk, two for four with a sock and a shoe. How about the wheels? His first career steal. Oh my God.

Do you see they let him keep the base? Did they really? That's not a joke. That's like a cunea stealing 70, but no, it's Kirk stealing one. He was carrying the stolen base during the postgame interview. I don't know if he took it home with him.

Nice. And then another home run on Sunday. day. You know, Kirk's having a fine season, but he's very clearly behind Ben Rice, Basayo, Drake Baldwin Group, right? Yes. All right. Lenin Sosa, two more home runs this weekend. Just quietly having a solid year. 273, 16 home runs, two steals, 745 OPS, 43% rostered. Does that number need to be higher? Does that sound right for Lenin Sosa? I kind of think it should be higher. I don't know where this has come from, but I might prefer him. to Colson Montgomery. I know Montgomery has more pedigree, but I think Sosa's been more

impressive in the stretch that they've basically both been good for about the same amount of time. I know Sosa was up longer, but he didn't really get going until July, but his quality of contact metrics are actually shockingly good. 284XBA, 484X slug, 91 mile per hour, average exit velocity. Yeah, I think Lenin Sosa, the fact that he's also eligible everywhere on the infield except for shortstop and I guess catcher if you want to be pedantic about it. I think he's kind of impressive. I don't know how long it's going to last because he has really, really bad plate discipline,

but Colson Montgomery has bad place, but he doesn't mean too. He walks, Montgomery walks a fair amount, but he does strike out at a crazy rate. So it's some differences there in terms of the plate discipline. I just wanted to point out with Sosa, he was pretty productive his last couple years in the minors. Never got much attention as a prospect for it. But, I mean, especially 2022, which was AA, AAA. He hit 315, 23 homers in 881 OPS. Then the following year at AAA, 271, 17 homers, and 820 OPS.

A little worse, but still good. And, you know, maybe it's just, he's added a little legs of velocity since then, which isn't abnormal. And showing that production carries over sometimes, which is kind of one of the lessons I feel like of this season. Yeah, he's an interesting profile. He's super aggressive, but also doesn't swing and miss at all. I mean, his, you know, he's got good bat to ball skills. His zone contact is 90%. I mean, that is pretty awesome stuff there for Lenin Sosa.

Two names indeed. Keeper leagues. Colby Thomas is picking things up with the A's, two home runs this weekend. Last four games. He has seven hits, two homers and a steel. He did not start Sunday against a righty, but he started the four games before that. Two lefties and two righties there. And Paul DeYoung is making some noise with the nationals last seven games. 3.79, four homers, 10 RBI, one steel. Very deep league names here. Were you guys interested at all in Colby Thomas or Paul DeYoung? Definitely not DeYoung. Thomas is an interesting power bat who's pretty flawed because he's like the worst play discipline-wise of both Lenin Sosa and Colson Montgomery. Lots of strikeouts, very few walks. But there is a path for him being just to throw an athletics comp out there. Chris Davis, the one with a K. Like if everything goes right for Colby Thomas, he may have.

that kind of upside. So it's, I'm not saying it's a high percentage chance he's going to turn to that player, but that's the profile we're talking about with Colby Thomas, who did hit a lot of home runs in the minors. All right, let's get into the Waver Wire pitchers. And is it time to give Dean Kramer more credit? He had a great start at the Astros, seven shutout innings, seven strikeouts, 21 whiffs on 114 pitches. He's gone seven plus innings in back-to-back starts, just one earn run total during that span. He's throwing the splitter more. And and he gets a ton of whiffs with it. 57% rostered.

He gets the Astros again this week. What do you guys think? Should we give more credit to good old Dean Kramer? I don't really know how to answer that question. Should he be added? Like he has a 389 XERA for this season. That's six-tenths of a run lower than it was last season. And he's basically been a four ERA, like four-one ERA pitcher three straight years.

that's probably just what he is. He's on a really nice run right now. You know, really since the start of kind of June, but really lately there's been more strikeouts. So I think he's fine. I think he's perfectly usable, but like a double dip against Houston, that could go really wrong,

and I really wouldn't be surprised. I think he's probably pitched overall to what his talent level is. Do we think it's possible because we've seen transformations like this from Fromber Valdez, who was always a good fantasy option, but when he throws his curveball closer to 40% of the time, he becomes an incredible fantasy option, and then when he throws it like 25% of the time,

he's a little vulnerable. Like, could Kramer, we've seen him throw that splitter more like 30% of the time rather than 20% of the time in these last couple turns? It is a great pitch for him, and he's gotten a great result. Like, I know that's 30% versus 20% practically speaking. How big of a difference does that make?

Well, could it, could it make, given that it's such a good pitch, could it make Dean Kramer more reliable and maybe higher upside than we've perceived him to be? Would you like an unsatisfying answer? Maybe. But an honest one? Maybe. Maybe. Yeah, like I.

It would let's see it happen first, I guess. Yeah. I think it's fine if you want to play the hot hand because he's running like a 320 ERA over the past three months or whatever it is. I think that's perfectly reasonable. But if you're asking me whether I'd rather take the chance on Nolan McLean or Hurst and Waldrop, it's going to be the young guys every time because Dean Kramer is 29 years old. He's a very well-established mediocre pitcher. There's nothing wrong with that.

And mediocre pitchers go on runs like this sometimes. Yeah. It happens fairly regularly. I know there was a stretch last year where we were talking about Kramer pitching well. You know, like 80th percentile outcomes happen around 20 percent of the time, which is pretty frequent when you think about how often other things happen 20 percent of the time. That's about how often Max Fried gets a strikeout, you know? Fair enough. All these but goodies here.

I've got four names. They all pitch well this weekend. I'm just going to focus mostly on matchups for this group. but Clayton Kirshaw is at the Rockies this week. Charlie Morton gets the Astros. Justin Verlander is at the Padres, and Jose Katana is home against the Giants. Any interest in those four after some more solid starts?

So Kintana, as a streamer, I think he's pretty good this week. He has, he's facing the Giants who have the lowest OPS by a lot against left-handers this year. And five of his last seven outings. Kintana six innings or more, which has been a problem for him in the past. Doesn't seem like a problem for him now. All right, some names in deeper leagues. I'm just going to throw a bunch of names your way. If any, stand out.

Go for it. Jansen Junk, strong start, Jason Alexander. No, not that, Jason Alexander. Joey Wenz, a strong start at the Guardians. Braxton Ashcraft, who does have some prospect pedigree, had a nice one here for the Pirates. And Orioles pitcher Brandon Young was awesome at the Astros. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning of that one. any of those names stand out in deeper leagues here.

You know, I was at a party on Saturday night, right? That's when Brandon Young was pitching. And I got the notification. They had a perfect game through seven innings. And I just put it on my phone just to follow it just because I didn't want us to have to do the thing. Because he's not good. And it would have been awesome if he got a perfect game. That would have been great for him.

He's not like totally without merit as a major league pitcher. But as a fantasy option, there's just very little to get excited about with a 26-year-old with his track record. Great start though. Awesome, awesome start, Brandon. But no,

nothing there to get excited about. I think I looked to add Jason Alexander in a points league, but that was the only one. Ashcraft, I don't think he's uninteresting. It's just we need to see him with a longer leash. He only got up to 61 pitches in this one.

You can't count on a 61 pitch guy being fantasy relevant. So if he, if, if Braxton Ashcraft gets a little bit more leash, yeah, maybe there's something there. But of this group, I think Alexander's the most interesting and he's not particularly interesting. Well, I agree with what you're saying about Alexander being the most interesting in Ashcraft theoretically being interesting. But I might be a little more interested in Jason Alexander than you. and it's a weird profile because he's been kind of this minor league journeyman type, 32 years old. But then when you look at what he actually looks like, he's giving up recently here, three starts exactly like this in August, basically. High ground ball rate, very weak contact, and not a totally insignificant number of strikeouts.

So, you know, it's a long shot, but in some of those 15-team-type leagues, you need long shots at pitcher because McLean and Waldrop, you're just going to get priced out of them. All right. Next up, starters sit these pitchers. Jacob Mizirowski made his return at the Reds, and he struggled. One in a third innings here, five runs, three walks, three strikeouts through just 52% of his pitches for strikes. I have no idea to make of the workload or how much they're going to let him pitch. He's only 26% started on CBS

and he's at the Cubs this week. I think he's tough to start in a points league. He could go out and pitch five innings and strike out nine and be very worth starting in Roto but I think in points it's going to be low floor and relatively low ceiling. I'm going to say

that I would be surprised if Mizorowski was worth starting again this year. because I think they're going to have to restrict the workload that much and are going to be motivated to so that he plays some role for them in the postseason. I don't know at what point I say, okay, it's fine to drop them. I'm not there yet because there is that off chance he throws six innings. And next time out, and I just, my hunch is wrong. You know, my hunches are wrong sometimes.

But my hunch is I'm not going to feel compelled to start Mizorowski again. All right. Next up we have McKenzie Gore, the classic Charzard here. It's two strong starts in a row. This one against the Philly, six innings, two runs with seven strikeouts. And that's back-to-back quality starts, at least seven strikeouts in each. He gets the Mets this week. What do you guys think about McKenzie Gore?

Am I wrong to say that it would almost be less annoying if he had just been bad the last two starts? Just because then it would at least be consistent and you would have some sense of what to do with him. but like I'm going to start him. Yeah, I think we're back to starting it. But I have no, like trust is not in the vocabulary when you're talking about McKenzie Gore. I think he's in the Hazel's Lozardo category where he could get 10 strikeouts in seven innings

and I wouldn't be surprised. He could be chased in the second inning and I wouldn't be surprised. I think they're roughly equally likely, unfortunately. Next up we have Louise Heel, who was solid again this time at the Cardinals' five. and a third, one run, four strikeouts to three walks here. He's 79% rostered. I mean, I guess could be out there in some shallower leagues. 33% started. What do you guys think about Luis Heel?

I think he's probably a Charzard. We will see it play out that way. His strike rate in his three starts has gone from 57% to 66% to 60%. If you're not familiar with those numbers, that's dreadful to pretty good to bad. He managed to get away with a bad one in this latest start, but only had five whiffs on 83 pitches. I'm pretty underwhelmed by Louis Heel. I understand why he's as rostered as he is, but I'm going to predict that that goes down before the season's over.

It'll end up being less than 79% roster. Next up we have Dr. Jekyll and Mr. I mean, Dylan Cease, who lost all of his control. at the Dodgers. Three and a third innings, five runs, three earned six walks to two strikeouts here. He had looked better recently before this one. 66% started gets to Giants this week. Just keep starting to let's cease. I guess, yeah. Like I, I don't envy you over. Who cares? I don't know that your season's necessarily already over, but like I don't envy you.

I don't envy you people who have Dylan cease, but I'm just telling you, what I do. It's a bad situation. And I think if you play around, like I was saying earlier in the show, if you mess around with it, chase the good start, you're going to end up missing all the good starts and potentially getting only bad ones. Or he may go on a great run and you'll be thrilled to have him at that point. But I think if you just sit him, then you're leaving a lot potentially on the table. On the other side in that game, Blake Snell pitched well, six shot out innings, only three strikeouts but had 15 whiffs on 96 pitches. I think you have to start him.

I'm just surprised he's only 70% started on CBS. So just a reminder to get Blake's nail back in your lineups. That's crazy. Feels too low, yeah. Yeah. Aaron Ola made his return on Sunday, and it was a rough one. At the Nationals, two in a third innings, six runs allowed, four strikeouts to one walk.

Kind of interesting, he had a 700 babb against in this game, only four hard hits allowed. Admittedly, I didn't watch it. It was like the early game here on Sunday. but that seems perhaps a little bit unlucky here for Aranola. Do you start him again this week against the Nationals? No. No.

He did not feel like a must start even before he went on the IEL, and he didn't come back looking like one. So he may be kind of crashing out here. His velocity has been down across the board this year, and it wasn't that high to begin with. he looks like a mess I will say I'm more inclined to start Aranola for this start than I was for the last one

just because I don't think you should start pitchers coming off a three-month IEL stint just that just as a general rule it doesn't always work but that you should give them a chance to get their legs under them it's it's tough to get your rhythm And pitching's a lot about rhythm.

And Jose Barrios is going through a rough stretch right now, allowed seven runs against the Rangers, and over his last nine starts, he has a 589 ERA and a 149 whip. Still 77% started and at the Marlins this week. How do you guys feel about Jose Brrios? Not great. I think...

I think he's Jose Barrios. Well... This is just what happens. This happens every year. He's getting worse. He's getting worse. His strikeout rate has fallen. It dropped a lot last year, and it's remained down this year.

I mean, typical Jose Berrios lands at about a 375 ERA 115 whip, right? Which is worth writing out in most cases. I don't think he's going to end up there this year. Maybe you'll surprise me, but I just think he's, I think he's less, I think he's less than what it used to be. I think he's closer to like a Dean Kramer or maybe a Mitch Keller. he's less than he's less than must roster. All right, again, that is Jose Brrios.

I wouldn't be surprised if he, you know, goes on a good run again. I mean, he's inconsistent at times, but yeah, he is going through it right now, and I would not want to start him this week against the Marlins. Some hitters who are streaking. Trevor Story stayed hot, two-for-four with a steal on Friday,

sock in a shoe on Saturday, and I went all the way back. Last 67 games since May 30th. He's hitting 290 with 13 home runs, 13 steals and an OPS over 850. So Trevor Story has been a must-start hitter for a long time now. Shay Langalears, two more home runs this weekend and 38 games since returning. 316 batting average 16 homers and OPS over 1050.

And Michael Harris continues his big second half. The update here, 378, eight home runs, two steals, and an OPS over a thousand. Anything to add on those three? Hit a long home run with a Curious George bat Saturday. The bats this weekend were cool. The Players Weekend was cool stuff. He had like five different ones that he alternated. I think that was the only time he used the George Bat.

Maybe he used it once again Sunday. But yeah, he's looked great. And it seemed like the turnaround would come eventually. We just weren't sure how long it would take. It took so long that I don't think it's going to validate the people who drafted Michael Harris. but it obviously improves his standing for next year. I also think it's fine to not view him as like, we've kind of just penciled him in the top 100 pick,

basically his whole career. And I don't think we can do that for 2026. But he certainly has that kind of upside. I've always thought he was overrated for fantasy. It was a lot of projection. Yeah. So I don't have him anywhere this year. I had him as a fade coming into the year.

But now I think he's going to, to be valued correctly, how he should have been valued all. Like, he's a good player. I'm just not sure he's a fantasy stud and this year shows why. Yeah, the overall numbers, he's up to a 253 average 14 and 14. It wouldn't surprise me if by the end of the season he gets to like 270, 2020, which is... Pretty decent season, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it turns out to be a solid year, but probably still a little bit underwhelming

for where you drafted him, obviously. Some hitting leftovers, is Christian Yellich, a huge game on Friday, 4 for 5 with 2. two homers and five RBI. Cow Raleigh, another big weekend, seven hits, two homers and another steal. He's up to 14 steals in the year. Like, what is going on? His player's weekend bats were great too. That's crazy.

Francisco Lindor is heating back up. He has five straight multi-hit games during that stretch. 13 hits, three homers, and two steals. Jazz Chisholm continues to run wild, sock into shoe on Friday, and he has seven steals in his past six games. Jose Altuvae is sock into shoe on Saturday. Aaron Judge starting to wake up a little bit. bit home run on Saturday and has two homers in his past five games. And Alec Bome returned with a

bang on Sunday, came off to IL with two for four with his ninth homer three RBI in that one. Anything to add on this group before we move on? Not for me. It is perfectly predictable that Francisco and Doran Wonsetto have been awesome during the Mets' worst stretch of the season and they're getting all of the blame for it when it's just that their pitching has been terrible in the second half. You mean Juan Solo? He only hits solo home runs, Chris. Sure. Yeah. I mean, it's mostly their pitching. Their pitching has been terrible. I know their pitching's been terrible. Yeah, like Juan Soto isn't pitching, but it's some, you know, it's just not working out.

Maybe he should be for $700 million. Oh, you're not wrong. Some pitching left over. Shota I. Managa had a great start against the Pirates, seven innings, one run, six strikeouts. Garrett Crochet, great start against the Marlins, seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts. Nathan Evaldi, another great start this time at the Blue Jays, seven innings, two runs, six strikeouts. Anything to add there before we move on? Not for me.

All right, here we go. I'm just mailing it in. Let's go. You know, it's been a long weekend. We can, you know, speed it up here. We're running out of time. Yeah, part two, Andrew Abbott, great start against the Brewers,

seven shutout with seven strikeouts. Logan Webb, great outing against Tampa Bay. Seven shutout with seven strikeouts, zero walks. and George Kirby got hit very hard by the Mets in that Little League game, four and two-thirds, 12 hits, seven runs, three walks, four strikeouts. Anything here on Kirby, Webb, and Andrew Evett. Let me start with Webb, I guess.

Webb had a good start. He's been kind of good start, bad start lately. He had a good start because his change-up was spectacular. It may be spectacular. It got a bunch of whiffs. It got a bunch of whiffs in this one. And that seems to be the key for him lately because he's lost that sweeper. The sweeper keeps getting like one width, two whiffs.

You know, it's not doing much of anything for him. That's been going on for close to a couple months now. So when the change-ups on, he's fine. But when it's a little less than great, that's when he seems to struggle. So I expect that to remain the case going forward, a less consistent Logan Webb. And then as for Kirby, he looks like he had. righted the ship here previous four were all quality starts what's strange about it though like Kirby's his his

defining characteristic is elite control right usually top of the league are very close to it and strike percentage during that four-star stretch with the 144 erie he just he was throwing strikes at just a 64% rate which is league average. Even for the season, it's down. This one, he threw only 60% strikes, which is low. And you can kind of understand if George Kirby has bad control in the game,

it's not going to go well. Also really bad defense behind him. Yeah, Julio had a few plays he missed up. Yeah. Which we don't normally get. Julio's one of the best in the league. So it kind of feels outliers. It's, I kind of,

because I know Chris brings up the point sometime, well, maybe Kirby throws too many strikes. That hasn't been the issue this year. That hasn't been the issue for him this year, and it wasn't in this start either. Chris, I do know that you wanted to mention Sean Mania real quick. He's giving up four plus runs in three straight. What's going on there? Yeah, I just wonder if the league adjusted to his new approach.

And because he streamlined his pitch mix when he lowered his arm slot, and he's just fastball slider now almost exclusively, you know, does he have a another adjustment to make to the adjustments. That's, I don't know. That's the concern because his strike rate is still very good, 27%. But his swinging strike rate is down to 10.9%. That's his lowest since 2020. He just has not been as effective this season.

And I do think he's pretty fringy right now. Yeah, I don't think shamanai is a must roster pitcher. And he gets the nationals this week. so. I think he's a fine streamer versus the Nationals, but I can't say I have a ton of confidence in it. Yeah, I want to say he's must start against the Nationals. You know, outings have been short. The runs have been high. I think he's a streamer right now. I think you could drop them potentially to make room for Hurston Waldrop or Nolan McLean. Call to the bullpen for the Rangers on Friday. Phil Mayton entered in the eighth with runners on first and third, a two-run lead. He gave up three runs,

took his fourth-blown save and fifth loss. And then on Sunday, Sean, Armstrong got the final four outs for his fourth save. Somebody on Twitter was asking us, you know, is Sean Armstrong the next name up? I guess it kind of looks that way for now. Unless you guys feel differently. I don't know. I honestly do not have a strong feeling about this one.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't know that that would go well, turning to Sean Armstrong. You know what? He's been better this year than I thought. He's not a solid season here. Yeah. Yeah.

His track record's not very good, but he's been surprisingly good this year. So maybe they will get him. He's got better numbers than Phil Naton even. So maybe that makes sense. For the Yankees on Friday, David Bednar got the ninth with a one-run lead. He struck out two for his second save with the Yankees. And then on Saturday, he entered with two outs in the ninth, a four-run lead. Two runners on.

He got Yvonne Herrera to pop out. And there you go. His third save and just kind of looks like the go-to guy for the Yankees right now. For the Rockies on Friday, Victor Vodnik struck out two for his fifth save, and then on Saturday, he also picked up his sixth save. So Victor Vodnick is currently the Rockies go-to guy. On Sunday, he was unavailable. Juan Mejia picked up the save there.

A lot of saves for the Rockies. I mean, that's like a third of their season total. Yeah, yeah. They're coming around. How about those Rockies? For the Nationals on Saturday, Jose Ferrer. Got two shout-out innings for his second. second save and he is up to 17% rostered.

Cole Henry got a save recently, so I think it's a bit of a mix and match but would still bank on Jose Ferrer getting most of those for the Tigers on Saturday. Will Vest entered with two outs in the seventh. Two runners on, one run lead, he got out of the jam, stayed out there for the eighth. He also got out of a jam in that inning and then Kyle Finnegan got the ninth with a three-run lead picked up his 24th save and his fourth with the Tigers kind of feels full-blown like what it was early on this season with Tommy Canley and... But maybe a slight advantage to Finnegan

when Vest had the advantage over Canley before because it's four to two. Four to two is the saves count since the Tigers brought Finnegan over. For the athletics on Saturday, Sean Newcomb got the final five outs for his first save. For the Marlins on Sunday, Anthony Bender got the ninth with a two-run lead. He allowed two base runners but picked up his fourth save. The Marlins do not have a closer and they never will ever again.

For the Dodgers on Sunday, Alex Vessia recorded the final five outs and picked up his third win of the season. To stream or not to stream and just let everyone know, Scott does not like any of these pitchers, but he's only doing this as a favor to all of you because you want streamers. Occasionally, I actually like one. All right. I don't think I'm going to today, though, scanning through the names. I wouldn't, like, I wouldn't be surprised if Liberator had a good start. I wouldn't be surprised if Dustin May had a good start.

He's coming off one of his best starts of the season. That's their face in Libertor Marlins, May, the Orioles. Nestor Cortez against the giant team that can't hit lefties, maybe. That's not a terrible one. And then I actually think this is a decent day. I don't think any of them are can't miss, but Jack Leiter at KC, Brady Singer at the Angels. I think these are actually decent options today. Leiter at Casey is my favorite, I think.

I would probably go Nestor Cortez second on that list. And then on Tuesday we have Michael McGreevy at the Marlins, Sagano's at the Red Sox, Shane Smith at the Braves, Jacob Lopez at the Twins. I don't think he actually qualifies. He's like 79% rostered. But you know what? That probably makes them 59% rostered in Yahoo.

And he is a very attractive play at the Twins, especially coming off the two starts Jacob Lopez just had. That's the only one I like out of this group. Yeah, Emmett Sheehan at the Rockies, but I don't like that too much. Yeah, if I had to choose... You got five good innings. If I had to choose a second, it's probably Shane Smith at the Braves, but... Yeah.

Don't love it. It's been hot lately. Yeah, sure. We are going to wrap there for Scott and 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. Thank you.