Fantasy Baseball Today - Players About To BREAKOUT, Week 16 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers! (7/4 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 4, 2025

Addison Barger is picking things back up (2:40). ... Eury Perez just had his best start of the season (7:55). ... Robbie Ray turned in the second complete game of his career (10:17). ... News (15:21): Corbin Carroll surprisingly started a rehab assignment on Thursday. ... Jose Soriano and Dustin May both had great starts on Thursday (27:11). ... Xavier Edwards is hitting for batting average but not swiping enough bags (35:11). ... Let's take a look at eight players Frank thinks are about to break out in the second half (41:20). ... Time to preview Week 16 with the schedule, two-start pitchers and sleeper hitters (54:41). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:05:30). 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

And happy 4th of July. I am Frank Stamfield, joined by Scott White. Welcome in to fantasy baseball today. On the show, we'll have players about to light it up in the second half. Big pitching performances from Robbie Ray and Yuri Perez. We'll preview Week 16. Also, happy birthday to Chris. Make sure to hit him up on socials, Twitter, Blue Sky, wherever you find him.

Hit him up. Send him a happy birthday. Let's jump in. Oh, my goodness gracious! All right, Scotty. Who you got? Play a night. I got to go with my guy, Addison Barger, who you may remember.

It was mere days ago that I assured you, even though he was in the doldrums right now. I was insisting that you still roster and cherish Addison Barger because I was so certain that he would come through. And well, he's been coming through here. Last three games, six for nine, two doubles and two home runs. On Thursday in particular, he did about half of that damage, three for four with a home run and two doubles. He is now batting on the year, Addison Barger, 272,

and slugging 521. I mean, those are perfectly respectable numbers in their own right. good, you might even say, 272, 521. It's expected batting average 291. His expected slug 533, even higher. Spectacular numbers, you might even say. And, you know, anybody can look at the bright red bars on his baseball savant page and say, yeah, this is a really talented player. His exit velocity is 95th percentile, average edge velocity.

Those expected stats I was telling you about basically all 90th percentile. And of course, we all know it's not as simple as that either. We see players with that kind of profile still underachieve sometimes. But the addition this year of that pull air rate, I think, especially when you go look back at some of the historic underachievers by the stat-cast metrics, you'll see that it. A lot of times it comes down to that. Those expected stats aren't really accounting for the spray angle off of the bat. And it makes a world of difference. So, okay, yeah, bright red bars for Addison Burtier,

but maybe he's underachieved because the pull air rate is low. Nope, not the case. His pull air rate is bright red as well, 24%. So it seemed inevitable to me. that he would come around. And you know what? It's happening. It is happening right now for Addison Barger,

who, along with George Springer, just destroyed my Yankees, a four-game sweep, Blue Jay's sole possession of first place. So shout out to them and all Blue Jays fans everywhere. Barger, 59% rostered, third base and outfield eligible. And honestly, I think probably more useful

at third base right now. Just based on the way the position has played out, based on the fact that we just lost Max Muncie. He's placed in the IL and expected to miss at least the next six weeks. So that kind of feels like the most obvious Max Muncie replacement, Scott. Bad timing. Muncie was on fire. But boom,

if you could just replace him with Addison Barger, that feels like a pretty good swap. Yeah, I think Barger needs to be rostered regardless of your need. To be perfectly honest, I think, as much enthusiasm as I've had for Jonathan Aronda over the years, and you feel like, oh, I should have listened. Should have listened to Scott on that Jonathan Aronda guy. I'm telling you right now that Addison Barger might be just as good. All right. Well, speaking to those Blue Jays real quick, I wanted to mention George Springer's week here as well. Three for four with a double dong on Thursday.

In four games against the Yankees, he had eight hits, four homers, seven runs, 11 RBI, and one steal. Did all of that again in four games. He's now batting 281 with 15 homers, 10 steals, and an 891 OPS. So he did have a bit of a lull there in early to mid-June,

but he has picked things back up and he is back on track and really having a resurgence season. One of his, I mean, probably the best that we've seen in like, I don't know, the last handful of years from George Springer. So shout out to him. Great season there.

Yeah, you don't expect that at age 35 to have this big of a bounce back. Another thing you don't expect from a 35-year-old, career high average exit velocity for George Springer this year. He's got a lot of history there. In fact, has his career span the entire history of Stadcast? It has. And this is the highest average exit velocity he's ever had. Yeah. And I brought this up to Chris the other day.

I was watching the Yankees Blue Jays game, the Blue Jays broadcast for some reason. And they were talking about Springer consciously trying to lift the ball more this season. And it is reflected in the stats. I believe the fly ball and barrel rate are both his highest since 2021. So he's trying to lift the ball

and clearly hitting the ball hard. And when you do that, good things are happening here for George Springer. Let's get into my player of the night. It is Yuri Perez who had his best start. of the season. Six shutout innings, one hit, one walk, seven strikeouts had 20 whiffs on 80 pitches. Great matchup right now. Minnesota Twins not really hitting the ball, but overall, still a great performance here. Season highs innings and strikeouts. First time he's even completed

five innings this season, let alone six. So nice sign here from Yuri Perez. The fastball was otherworldly. 13 of his 20 whiffs came on that pitch. It had 18 inches. of IVB as well. And surprisingly 74% rostered Scott. So that means, you know, maybe after a little bit of a rough start, which we should have expected, you know, young guy coming back from Tommy John surgery, maybe he was dropped in a few leagues.

He's at Cincinnati at Baltimore next week. So I think if anybody dropped Uri Perez or if he's out there in a shallow league, change that. Go at him now. Yeah, I mean, he's too available. and he's my number two sleeper pitcher for next week after this start. Now, the twins lineup has been pretty gross lately, so you've got to factor that in.

He really leaned into his fastball and slider, and this one basically ditched his third pitch, the curve ball, which had been missing no bats. It had like a 7% whiff rate, which is terrible for any pitch, but especially a breaking ball. So it seemed to work. and kind of oddly

since the velocity was down but he has great stuff nobody should be doubting that for Yuri Perez it's totally understandable that he might have a rough transition back to the league after coming back from Tommy John's surgery

but I think you know maybe the twins lineup accelerated it but I think it was inevitable that we'd see Yuri Perez be good again before

the end of this season. I do have a segment coming up later on. Players, I think, are about to light it up here in the second half. And Yuri Perez, I think, totally, you know, fits in that conversation. Obviously, you can add him. I don't know how easy it will be to trade for

him after his best start of the season, but yes, I do think it could be a pretty big second half here for Yuri Perez. Wanted to give a shout out to Robbie Ray as well, who had a dominant performance tossed the second complete game of his career. This one at the deep ass.

That's the second. Yeah. That surprises me. As long as he's been around, former Cy Young winner, just the second complete game of his career. I guess, you know, with as many walks as he's had in his career, probably not all that efficient going, you know, he used to go deep into starts. But, you know, obviously nine innings is pretty tough for anybody, especially someone who's not that efficient. So, yeah, second complete game of Robbie Ray's career. He had seven strikeouts to one walk, 14 whiffs.

on 102 pitches against the debacks. Kind of an uneven one here. Look, I don't want to take anything away. You'll take a complete game anytime you can get it. But he did give up 12 hard hits in this game. 93.7 average exit velocity, but he leaned a little bit more into the slider and the curve. Both of those pitches were good.

Didn't throw the fastball as much. Robbie Ray, Rocky start to the season. Again, he was kind of coming back from some injuries the past couple of years. but when you look at it, three earned runs or fewer in 17 of 18 starts. He's down to a 268 ERA 109 whip. Bonafide. Bonafide must start pitcher.

I don't think anybody's thought about that. Rocky's start in a long time. I see you and I both have him in our top 15 starting pitchers rest of season, and Chris has him in the top 20. So Robbie Ray is, if he's not an ace, he's ace adjacent. Yeah. I don't know

there's much else to add on that. Just, the only thing I will bring up is, you know, he's got a 268 ERA. His FIP is 345. His ex-fip is 367. So, you know,

maybe due for some regression at some point. I'm not sure that he deserves, you know, a mid-2s ERA. Maybe it's more like low to mid-3, something like that.

But, you know, I don't want to quibble too much. Robbie Ray has been awesome this season. I don't think you should. Yeah. And again, we rank him as a top 15 pitchers. So he's pretty awesome.

Scott, happy 4th of July, man. What do you got going on this weekend? Anything fun? Yeah, going on vacation. There you go. I don't even know if I asked you. I don't know if I wanted to tell everybody ahead of time because maybe they'll tune out with me not here.

No, they prefer Chris. No, we're totally kidding. Scott's going to be back next week. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, cool. Where are you headed or you don't want to reveal that? You'll have a bunch of groupies following you around, you know? You know, no play is that amazing, just somewhere else in Florida.

All right. I got a long drive ahead of me, so we got to wrap this thing up. Yep, there you go. Let's keep things moving here. Hope everyone enjoys, obviously, stay safe and, you know, enjoy all the baseball. We've got a bunch of day games. Look, what, I don't know what is going to happen in the subway series, but both the Yankees and Mets have been playing pretty terrible over the past, like, two or three weeks.

So I have no idea what's going to happen. and it's probably going to be a crapshoot. Before we hit our first break, a reminder to listen to our 10-minute podcast, FBT Express. We had a prospect episode that came out yesterday. We have our weekly preview that's going to be in today's FBT Express feed. So make sure to download and follow wherever you listen to podcasts. And big thanks to those watching us live.

Make sure to hit the like button and subscribe on YouTube as well. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's hit the news and notes and some surprising news, I think. Corbyn Carroll began a rehab assignment at the Arizona Complex League on Thursday and apparently trying to return before the All-Star break. It seems pretty aggressive, Scott. He's dealing with a chip fracture in his wrist.

I don't think the debacks would put him in harm's way if this can make the injury worse. but I've tried to play doctor on this podcast before, and I've failed many times. So it's, yeah. I think there is a tendency among fantasy analysts to overreact with injuries, to make them out to be a bigger deal than they are. I don't know exactly why maybe they're just playing it safe. Maybe they're just naturally glass half empty.

I don't know. I try to counter that by maybe. be being too optimistic with injuries sometimes, but when it gets right down to it, each one is its own thing. And I would take this as very good news that Corbyn Carroll after only three weeks of being sidelined is already beginning a rehab assignment. Mentioned this before, but Max Muncie was placed on the IL with a bone bruise in his knee. That's Max Muncie of the Dodgers, of course. He will be sidelined at least six weeks, and it does stink because he's been so hot

since putting those glasses on since the start of May, he's just been so good. Dave Roberts said that Tommy Edmund will take grounders at third base. They plan to use Edmund, Kike Hernandez, and Miguel Rojas at third. Like you said yesterday, Scott, it would be nice for fantasy if they would just play Edmund a third. So Hessung Kim could just play more at second. The fact Edmund's taking grounders at third, I think, shows that's at least a possibility that high sunk Kim could get a chance to apply his 360 batting average to a full-time role.

Not that I think he's a 360 hitter in the long run. The exit velocities are pretty sad. But he should hit well enough and steal plenty of bases and obviously be a part of the Dodgers lineup. So that would be my preferred scenario. And it is probably worth celebrating. I don't know, six weeks is a long time. We only have 12 weeks left. So Muncie is going to miss at least half of the remaining season.

But still, this seems like a minor miracle that he has no ligament damage on that play. I don't know if you saw the replay in slow motion, his leg bending sideways. I didn't see the actual play, but I saw the aftermath of him just laying there for five minutes. Yeah, yeah, it wasn't good. All right. But this is good. No ligament damage. Amazing.

Max Muncie Replacements in fantasy. Addison Barger, who we already spoke about. Other names, Miguel Vargas, Royce Lewis, Jake Berger. Those are some in shallower leagues. And then in deeper leagues, Caleb Durbin has been hitting well. Same with Joey Ortiz. Nolan, if it's specifically home runs that you're looking for. And possibly Max Muncie of the Athletics.

Replace one Muncie with another. Again, those are just some names for the deepest of leagues. The corresponding move for the Dodgers was they recalled Estuary Ruiz. Remember him with the athletics? He's now with the Dodgers. 66 games at AAA. Hit 292 with eight homers, 38 steals, 852 OPS.

I don't see a place where he could play, Scott. I think it's just keep an eye on it because he was putting up some monster numbers in the miners. Looking up the exit velocities, 85 mile per hour, average exit velocity. That's going to be hard to overcome. Not impossible, but hard. That's really bottom of the league kind of stuff.

You know, he wasn't good enough to play for the athletics, but now he's good enough to play for the Dodgers. Or at least be a part of the Dodgers roster. We'll see how much Estuary Ruiz actually plays. Yordon Alvarez was given two injections in his right hand after a specialist determined that he is dealing with inflammation. Matt Chapman is expected to begin a rehab assignment at AA on Friday. Clark Schmidt left early due to right forearm tightness

and previously underwent Tommy John's surgery back in 2017. And interesting timing, Scott, because if people listen to our FBT Express podcast that came out yesterday, you brought up Yankees prospect Cam Schlittler, who is a pitcher who has dominated the minors this season. He's made five starts at AAA. Now he is coming off his worst start of the season, unfortunately. But if Clark Schmidt has to go on the IL,

they might not really have a choice. I mean, it could go back to Alan Weinins, but I don't know that they want to do that. Yeah. Yeah, Schlitler is at AAA. As you said, he was doing great until his most recent start. And I believe he's 24, right? So he's at an age where, yeah, 24,

where it's kind of like, okay, now's the time, now's the time. You're not in the majors yet. You get to 24. If you're good, If the organization believes in you at all, it's probably time to give him a look. Yeah, they'll have to clear a 40-man spot

because he's not on the 40-man roster yet, but I would say Cam Schlittler, if you're looking for a potential upside to play at starting pitcher, he fits the bill. He's 6-foot-6. Kind of the traditional two-pitch power arsenal, fastball slider, but he throws them like a combined 90% at the time. But they both gained multiple miles per hour velocity this year.

The sliders gained like five miles per hour velocity. It's it might be basically a different version of a slider because of how much velocity it's gained. But it averages about 90. And yeah, Schlitler is built for strikeouts, I would say. Another prospect note here, the White Sox are promoting one of their top prospects, Colson Montgomery on Friday. He's 23 years old.

We also talked about on that fantasy baseball express podcast. That's right. All the hits. First round pick back in 2021. Lots of ups and downs in his minor league career. He has hit under 22 years in a row. He has a 33% strikeout rate this year. But he has been performing lately.

Previous six games before the call up, 440 with four homers and a 1580 OPS. 12% rostered Scott for Colson Montgomery. are you looking to add stash in any leagues right now? It'd have to be pretty deep. I think the default expectation now when a hitting prospect gets called up is struggle bus. It's going to take a couple months, really, for him to find his footing.

And that's for the highest end hitting prospects. Now, Colson Montgomery's been a pretty high-end prospect over the years. Last three years, Consensus top 50 guy. It's not the same as top 15, obviously, but it's not nothing. But he was pretty bad at AAA last year, got a pass for that, still being ranked so high. And then it was terrible to start out this year. Strikeout rate was close to 40% about a month in. So we got sent to the complex league, like rookie ball, to work one-on-one with the hitting director,

which I think it's worth noting the same thing happened to McKenzie Gore late in his minor league career and obviously he managed to turn it around. So it's not like a death spiral, but it showed Montgomery was in a bad place. Now, since returning from that stint at rookie ball, the strikeout rate is still high. It's like 28%.

But that's about what it was last year. So, you know, hopefully it's a sign of improvement. improvement there from Montgomery, but it's really only the last week where he's gone off. He had a couple of two homer games just in the last week to Colson Montgomery. It seemed like maybe he was getting back on track. He produces big exit velocities. And for as much as he strikes out, the plate discipline profile is actually not that bad.

So it's kind of surprising. Like by the data, Colson Montgomery looks like a stud. but the performance hasn't been there until just the last week. I'm surprised the white socks are making this move, but I would, again, the default expectation struggles. I think that up goes double in Montgomery's case, given his recent history here in the minors. Luis Ortiz of the Guardians is being investigated by Major League Baseball

due to a possible gambling-related offense. He was placed on paid leave. Joey Cantillo was called up to take his spot in the rotation and Cantillo does have strikeout upside. He also walks a lot. I think he's a name to watch in deeper leagues. He did start here on Thursday, three and a third shutout with five strikeouts against the Cubs.

3% roster does have RP eligibility, so just a name to watch. Let's see what happens with Joey Cantillo. Boba Chet has misfortune with right knee discomfort but did appear in this game as a pinch hitter and then took over at shortstop. So hopefully ready to do that. to return on Friday.

Max Scherzer has been clear to start Saturday against the Angels. Kodai Sengu will begin a rehab assignment either Saturday or Sunday and could return before the All-Star break. Sean Mania will make one more rehab start Tuesday. If all goes well, the Mets would like Mania to make his season debut July 13th against the Royals. And speaking of the Mets. That's the last day before the All-Star break.

That's exactly right. The Mets also placed Paul Blackburn on the IL with a right shoulder impingement. So they do need reinforcements right now. The raise reinstated Hassan Kim from the 60 Day IL. He came over from the Padres this offseason. Had shoulder surgery back in October. We know he could be a useful player in Roto. He's got a little pop.

He's got some decent speed. 19% rostered. He's shortstop eligible on CBS. Scott, looking to add or stash Hassan Kim anywhere right now? Yeah, I'd pick him up over Colson Montgomery. I think he's he's obviously proven himself in the majors that 2023 season he played over his head the power is not quite as at the yet 17 home runs that year power's not quite that good but great base dealer and he's going to be entering a good lineup I assume he's going to play every day because he's a they've been that the raise have mostly been playing taylor walls who can't hit it all but is a great defender well Hassan kim's a great defender too so I imagine he'll just take over there. Yeah, yeah, I like that as well.

And just a reminder, this is Ha-Sung Kim, who formerly of the Padres, now on Tampa Bay. The other Kim is Hessung-Kim, but it's spelled H-Y-E. Hes-Sung Kim, he's on the Dodgers. So just to clear that up for everybody. The Angels plays Christian Moore on the aisle with a left thumb sprain. They promoted Chad Stevens, who is a 26-year-old,

who was crushing AAA 307 batting average, 14 homers, nine steals, 9-24. OPS. AL only leagues. I think that's probably a name to know, Chad Stevens, but in no league shallower than that. Let's take a look at some waiver wire pitchers from Thursday's action. Scott, your boy, Jose Soriano, bounce back with a big start at your Atlanta Braves. Seven shutout with seven strikeouts. Had 13. Who to root for? Who to root for? Yeah, 13 whiffs on 101 pitches here. But obviously, nice bounce back after allowing eight earned runs in his previous outing. And it looks like he does line up for two starts next week.

He does. I said Yuri Perez is my number two sleeper pitcher for next week. Didn't I say that or did I just think it? I think I said it. Yeah, you did. Yeah. Well, the reason he's not number one is because Jose Soriano is after this start, this makes three out of four that were absolutely dominant.

And then the 1-8 run disaster. But in that start, his velocity was down quite a bit. across the board. So we were kind of scratching their heads over that. That means Soriano was looking at something, dealing with something physically that would take him out of the discussion in fantasy. Well, velocity was fine, and this start against the Braves. And he continued to throw strikes at a higher than usual rate, 66%. He did not throw the slider much at all.

So that was one of the things I was crediting for his recent dominance was featuring the slider more to play off his curveball. He only threw five sliders in this one. So he really just leaned on that curveball. But he threw a bunch of strikes. The velocity was good. And I think Jose Soriano himself is good. And two starts this week. One of them being a good matchup against the Rangers.

Yeah, I like them. And Soriano's up to 75% rostered. Same with Yuri Perez. So only out there in some shallow leagues on CBS, but I checked Yahoo. They're both only 40% rostered in that format. And I'd imagine even more widely available in ESPN. So depending on where you play, take a look for those guys.

What about Dustin May? He was awesome against the White Sox, seven innings, two runs, nine strikeouts to one walk. only had 10 whiffs on 86 pitches here. Velocity was up quite a bit between 1.3 and 1.7 miles per hour on his sinker fastball in cutter. And just kind of changed the pitch mix up here. You know, he got away from the sinker.

That is a pitch that gets hit very hard through his four-scene fastball more, and it was very good for Dustin May in this one. And he needed a good start. Previous four outings, a 643 ERA, and a 171 whip. 75% rostered. So another one just, you know, shallow leagues at the Brewers next week. They're starting to hit better.

So I think very clearly I would have Dustin May behind both Soriano and Yuri Perez. Yeah, I'm not sure Dustin May is as useful. I think he's very talented. But it always looks better. He's like an aesthetically pleasing pitcher rather than one who gets the, the kind of results you'd expect for as hard as he throws, as much movement as he has on his pitches. If he qualified, if he had enough innings to qualify,

Dustin May would have the sixth lowest swinging strike rate in baseball. And his ground ball rate isn't nearly as high this year as it's been in the past. And he's bad at throwing strikes. He issues a lot of walks. So I think Dustin May is a fine streamer, and I had him as one of the sleeper pitchers for this week, this past week against the White Sox, the start he just had.

but I'm not as enthusiastic about Mayo for all as I am. Soriano, who by the way, I shortchanged just a minute ago. I said three of Soriano's past four starts were absolutely dominant. It was four of the last five were absolutely dominant. I left out the 12 strikeout game he had against the athletics. All right. Well, come on, Scott. You were giving me some weird looks.

I was afraid Robo Scott had appeared. No, no, no, no. Are we good? No, no, no, you're all good. It's been a little choppy, but I think we're mostly all right here. All right. A couple other waiver wire pitchers here from Thursday. Jake Irvin turned in a quality start against the Tigers, six innings, three runs, four strikeouts.

He also has a 471 ERA and a 129 whip. Kate Horton had the best start of his career. Seven shutout innings with five strikeouts. Had 11 whiffs on 90 pitches. This one against the Guardians. I think you can stream almost anybody against the Guardians right now. they're just so, so bad offensively. You know, looking into Kate Horton's pitch mix,

his secondary stuff looks really, really good. His sweeper and change-up, they look like elite pitches. The curveball looks serviceable. The problem is that his fastball just gets destroyed. So he's got to figure something out there, but I think there are the ingredients here for a good pitcher with Cade Horton, who was at the Twins next week. Maybe that could work out as well.

and then Logan Evans pitched well for the Mariners up against the Royals, five and two-thirds shutout with three strikeouts. Much more deeper league name here, 8% rostered. But any of these names stand out, Scott, Logan Evans, Kate Horton, and Jake Irvin. I mean, I don't know that we need to say much more about Jake Irvin. He's kind of been the same guy for two years now. And he'll have occasional good starts. but in the long run, pretty fringe.

I agree that Kate Horton, look, he's a top prospect, obviously. So I don't think it's a stretch to say Kate Horton has a lot of upside here. And I think he is falling into the trap. A lot of young pitchers do where their fastball isn't that good, but they throw it a ton. He throws his fastball more than 50% of the time. and you need to have a good fastball to get away with that in the majors. So it's just it's just a matter of him learning that and learning to feature his secondary arsenal more,

which you point out is quite strong. Particularly, I want to point out the change-up in this start since it did. It was such a good outing for Kate Horton, seven-shot out innings. He threw his change up more than twice as often as he had been. percent versus 10 percent. It was responsible for eight of his 11 whiffs in this start. That changeup entering the start against the Guardians had an 059 batting average against and a 61% whiff rate.

So I think more than doubling its usage is a good plan for Kate Horton. And I'd like to see him do more of that. Yeah. And he also did face a left-handed heavy lineup. So I think that contributed to him throwing the, change it more as well. But it's interesting. You know, that's another thing.

Like if your change up is that good, you should probably just throw it against both-handed hitters. I was listening. Tom Glavin was the color commentator on a game I was watching recently. And he said like that was a turning point in his group. He'd always heard that his change-up, you know, you only throw it against right-handed batters. Obviously, he was a left-handed pitcher.

Only throw it against right-handed batters. And just one day he was like, look, this is my, best pitch. I'm just going to throw it against anybody. And Hall of Fame eventually opened its doors to him. Yeah. And I mean, I think the interesting thing with Kate Horton is his slider was supposed to be

regarded as his best pitch, right? I don't know that we thought too much of the change up here. But yeah, I think throwing the fastball less and throwing those secondary pitches more could be a nice recipe here for Kate Horton. Let's quickly run through some Waverwire hitters. And Xavier

Edwards, two for four, with two runs and his 15 steal. He is 70% rostered out there in a few leagues, but in 27 games since returning, he's hitting 324, only four steals. I know we talked about this guy, but we just need more speed, man. More speed from Xavier Edwards. Yep, we do. I was like hoping you would take over there. He's been hitting a lot better. It's hard to project anybody to be a guy who hits 300 plus regularly, which obviously Edwards did, you know, he hit 328 as a rookie last year, and he hit 330 at AAA Jacksonville that same year prior to his promotion. The year before, Jacksonville, he hit 351.

Easier to do in the minors where defenses are much worse. But then he came up to the majors and hit 328. like I said. So, you know, we had some hope that Xavier Edwards could be that true and very rare standout and batting average. And he hasn't been in a sophomore season. He's been fine. He's batting. He's probably batting close to 290 after this game, right?

But if that's, if he's only going to hit 280, 290, then with, with a guy with zero power, he's got to be an elite base dealer. And he's merely been a decent base dealer. this year. So yeah, let's see those steals pick up as the batting average has picked up here recently. Yeah, he's up to 286 overall. That is Xavier Edwards. Who do you prefer between

the Marlins? Xavier Edwards or Otto Lopez? Well, I mean, Otto Lopez has been better recently. I will point out this stat. So

over his past 25 games, 296 with four homers and four steals. That makes him the, that makes him top five both at second base and shortstop and points links during that stretch. So Lopez has been more useful, particularly over the last month or so. But I do think Xavier Edwards has more upside for fantasy

in either format because he doesn't strike out much for points leagues. And if he does go on like a 50 steel pace from this point four, that's going to add up to a lot of points. I don't think Lopez has that ability. I think in a points league I would go with Otto Lopez. And, yeah, I mean, it's probably situational. Like, if you just need speed, obviously Xavier Edwards makes sense. But I think anywhere else, I think Otto Lopez, you know,

he's just more well-rounded right now. And I take him in a points league as well. But it is close between those two. Speaking of teammates, what about Rockies? Tyler Freeman stayed hot two-for-four with his 12th stolen base. and he is 30% rostered, widely available, second base and outfield eligible. And Tyro Estrada doing his thing,

three for four with his second home run for RBI. He is now batting 317. He's got the OPS up to 775. It does have one steal. I would like to see a little bit more speed out of him, but Scott, both guys producing right now, who do you prefer between those two if you just need a middle infielder somewhere?

Tyler Freeman or Tyro Esrata? Freeman. Freeman. I do think Estrada has more over-the-fence power, but I don't think he has a lot of over-the-fence power. And I think he's getting, I think his batting average is more inflated than Tyler Freeman's right now. And I think Freeman's the better base stealer.

By a substantial margin maybe at this point, I know Tyler, I know Tyro Estrada had a couple 20 steel seasons with the Giants, but he hasn't shown as much inclination to do that in either of the past. two years. And last name here for deeper leagues, Michael Conforto, maybe turning things around last seven games, hitting 276, three homers, eight RBIs.

So if you play in very deep five outfielder leagues where you really just need someone that's playing, we thought Conforto would be good, terrible start, maybe it's happening now. So I might want to give him a look in those very deep five outfieler leagues. Let's take our final break when we return. I've got some names I want to throw at Scott.

Players, I believe, are about to light it up. Does Scott agree? We'll find out right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. This is my kind of cheesy segment take on Fourth of July. Ha ha, players about to light it up. Here we go. I did have Yuri Perez on this list, but we spoke about him earlier.

I think that one's pretty obvious. And Corey Seeger. But man, I have mentioned Corey Seeger so much in the past like two weeks. He's kind of started to light it up, right? Yeah, he already has. So I might have cheated for a few of these players. But you let me know, Scott. You know, I'll throw the player at you and you hit me with a thumbs up or thumbs down.

I'll let people know on the audio listening side. Is that all I have to do? I don't have to say anything. Yeah, of course. You can say whatever you want. This is a podcast, Scott. Go for it. You said you'd let them know.

The first one. This one's pretty obvious. But Austin Riley, man, I know it's been an underwhelming season to this point. I think he's about to go off. He is still hitting the ball very hard. Historically, July and August have been his best months by open. P.S. Scott, I think it's about to happen. I think Austin Riley is about to just blow people away. What do you think? Yeah. That's a thumbs up. I agree. I just wrote, was it this week? Yeah, it was just this week.

About 12 struggling studs here at the approximate halfway point, which ones I still believe in, which ones I'm losing faith in. Austin Riley was one of those I still believe in. You gave a lot of the reasoning already. But to give the exact number, numbers in July and August, his whole career, July and August, 290 hitter with a 910 OPS, all the other months, 263 hitter with a 793 Ops, which is, by the way, pretty close to how his numbers look right now. So, yeah, I think, I think that, look, the strikeout rate is up for Austin Riley this year, too. And maybe it stays up and he doesn't have as big of a July and August as he's had in the past. it's possible, but I would bet on him finishing the year stronger than he started it. I did make the swap here finally in my rankings, though, and I don't know, we'll see if maybe Austin Riley makes me regret it, but I put Junior Camerreux ahead of Austin Riley rest of

seasons. So we'll see. Kind of hedging my bet here. I do like Austin Riley to break out of this, though. What about Mike Trout? Always an injury risk. We know that. But he's batting just 231, 785 OPS.

He's been kind of middle. but 92.4 average extra velocity, his highest since 2019. The expected stats look awesome here. Again, I don't have a crystal ball. I don't know if he's going to stay healthy, Scott, but just based on the data, I think Mike Trout's about to do it.

What do you think? So, yeah, he's got the 275XBA, the 559X lug. How is he underperforming? Well, his pull air rate is way down. That's that's it. That's always the explanation. It's probably not always the explanation,

but that's usually the explanation when a player is underperforming, a hitter's underperforming his expected stats by that much. Doesn't mean he's pull rates, pull air rate's going to remain down. I mean, that's, that stat is, I assume, is susceptible to change as any other.

But it does explain why, why you have to look a little beyond the expected stats. I don't know. Maybe they should rework that expected stat formula to factor that in. It seems like an important piece of information there, stat cast. I'll also note for Mike Trout, this is his fourth year and five with a 28% strikeout rate. That's something that might catch a lot of people by surprise. He's become a big strikeout guy.

Yeah, I mean, I would guess Trout's numbers improve from here. I don't think we can count on him being a stud, in a large part because his season could end any day. We've all experienced that. But I see him as must start while he's healthy still. Okay, so is that kind of like a thumb in the middle? Yeah, I forgot the whole thumb thing. Yeah, in the middle.

It was kind of wavering, and then I went, boom. Thumbs up. All right, Scott's in. This one, I think you're going to buy in as well. Mentioned the name recently. Roman Anthony, he's hitting 200 with one homer, one steel, 637 OPS. Underlying plate discipline metrics still look very impressive here. 93.9 average exit velocity.

And a 13% barrel rate, that is despite a 56% ground ball rate. So when he manages to put the ball in the air, it's good contact. We just, we got to get this ground ball rate down. a little bit. Struggle with that in the minors. I think it's going to happen any day now, Scott. I think Roman Anthony's having a big second half. His name is Roman.

His name's Roman. We're doing the whole gladiator thing with thumbs up, thumbs down. Okay, thumbs up. Or Roman Anthony as well. And look, I don't even really care what the numbers are. They could be anything.

I just think for a hitting prospect of this calendar two months minimum. You got to give him two months minimum to show something. And in Anthony's case, it may take far less than that. All right, we might have found our first thumbs down here.

We'll see. Jason Dominguez has been having some nice at bats lately. I've been watching him very closely. He went four for five with his 13th steel here on Thursday. Last seven games, he's hitting 452 with three steals.

Only has six home runs in the season. That is a bummer. But he has 13 steals now, as I mentioned, I think the Yankees should give him a look at leadoff. They've been using kind of Grisham, at least versus right-hand pitching. He's terrible against lefties. And they have Goldsmith for that. And they're looking to shake things up.

I think we could get a big second-half scout. What do you think? Jason Dominguez, am I reaching? Now, you could argue he's a big prospect, like Roman Anthony, maybe not quite as big as Roman Anthony, but pretty close. And so why don't I give him the same best? benefit of the doubt. And it's because he's playing two out of three games.

That's it. And I mean, the way that's happened to Ben Rice, the way that's happened to, even Cody Ballinger, right, he's not playing as consistently as he should. He would in most situations. And it's only become more crowded since Giancarlo Stan returned. It would help if Dominguez was performing better, this performance. this four-hit game is kind of in isolation. Strikeout rate is very high.

The polar rate is very low. He's a guy in development, so I'm not saying, you know, Jason Dominguez doesn't have a bright future still. I think he does, but I just don't think he's set up to be much of a fantasy asset this year. I don't know what happened.

Like, wasn't Trent Grisham headed to the IL? I don't know what happened there. He pulled a Hunter Goodman on us. Yeah. And then he returned and started. Yeah. let off on Thursday.

So it's just like, you know, Grisham has kind of slowed down. I know he hit a home run in either this game or the other day, but I don't know. It's possible. I'm just, I'm not going to invest a lot of fantasy capital and Jason Dominguez. I don't even think he's must roster. This one, I'm also, I'm cheating with this one a little bit, Scott, because he's kind of already turned it around, but I think he's going to turn it around even more. And that is Grant Holmes, who, over his last four starts, has a 157 ERA, 4,000.

14.1K per 9, the problem is that he has a 130 whip and five walks per nine during that time. But if you look at his location plus on Fangraphs, it's actually 101, which is above league average. I don't think that his command is actually this bad. I know it has been this year. Maybe, you know, as a starter, it is harder for him to locate his pitches. That's totally possible. But at least based on the location plus metric, I think the control is going to get better, Scott. and I think the whip will get better.

And obviously the strikeouts have been tremendous. So I kind of think it's all going to come together here for Grant Holmes in the second half. So let me look at a couple things here before I rule. So you said last four starts, 19.1% swinging strike rate, which is insane. That would be a record if he could sustain that over a full season, 19.1 for Grant Holmes. I traced the turnaround to May 2nd, which is going back 12 starts. And that's really when the slider clicked for Grant Holmes. He had his first nine strikeout game.

By the way, he has a total of five games with nine strikeouts or more now, does Grant Holmes? Which is crazy. So since then, then those 12 starts, a 15% swinging strike rate, which would have led the majors last. year. So it's still really good. This is it seems like it's pretty much just that slider. Sometimes he mixes in a curveball that plays off of it, but that just seems like a ridiculous pitch for Holmes. And so maybe he has to stay out of the strike zone. Like he commands pretty well, but he just can't live in the strike zone that much since

his arsenal so limited. I don't know. It's sort of like Mike Trout where I'm fine with him as he is, but I'm not, I'm not, I don't really see him getting better. He might get better just because his last 12 starts are more indicative than his season line. So I'll give them, you know, slight thumbs up here, Grant Holmes. All right, what about Sandy Alconcant for last five starts? It's a 434 ERA 114 whip that also includes a seven earned run outing last time out. but the control has been much better. 1.6 walks per 9. During that spin, 106 stuff plus, 108 location plus.

I think maybe he can be reinvigorated by a trade here. So what do you think it's got? Sandale O'Connorah, big second half. A trade would change things, obviously. His supporting cast is terrible. I don't think a trade's a foregone conclusion, but there aren't going to be many sellers, is my read on things.

And so the Marlins might be able to take advantage of that and get a really juicy return for Alcantara. Yeah, the control's been better. Sorry, cough came out of nowhere. Control's been better, and I think that's the biggest key. But he's, I know he's a former Cy Young winner. I've always felt like Sandy Alcantara for fantasy isn't quite as good as the reputation he has. So, look, it's more likely he gets better than worse from here. So I'll give him a thumbs up, but it's not with a lot of gusto.

All right, last two names on the list. Reese Olson looks like he was breaking out before this injury, but he's returning today here on July 4th, 296 ERA 117 whip. He gets whiffs over a strikeout per inning. He gets ground balls. All the underlying metrics seem to like Reese Olson. And the other name is Chad Patrick. So much deeper league name, I don't even know if he's going to, you know,

be in the Brewer's rotation next time he's supposed to pitch. But last 30 days, I was just kind of messing around with some leaderboard stuff. He is 16th in swinging strike rate and 11th in Stuff Plus during that time. So just kind of intrigued me there on Chad Patrick. What do you think about him and Reese Olson, maybe having a big second halfs? Yeah, well, the last time we talked about Chad Patrick, I was saying, I think I kind of like him now. because back when he was sustaining a low ERA, but it seemed like he was overperforming.

He didn't have much going on apart from the low ERA. Well, the ERA started to rise, but so has the swinging strike rate. He's missing a lot more bats now. You gave the number already. I will tell you that in his last eight starts, a 13% swinging strike rate, which is, you know, kind of a top,

15-ish rate and 66% strike rate, which is also very good. So I think there's something like here with Chad Patrick. I do think he'll retain his spot in the Brewers rotation. I give him a thumbs up. I think people are sleeping on him. And I give Reese Olson a thumbs up too. I've always been a big fan of him. And he was doing great before the injury.

All right. Let's get into our week 16 preview. So only one thumbs down, right? Yeah. for my Yankee, come on, man. Geez. What's that about Scott? I don't, I am a charitable Caesar.

All right. Well, we're on the same page. That's good. Hopefully those players can start to pick things up here. Now it's time for the week 16 preview brought to you by Travis Matthew, apparel designed for confidence and comfort no matter where the day takes you. And the schedule for next week, we have 20 teams with six games, 10 teams with 7. games, including the D-backs, Red Sox, White Sox, Reds, Guardians, Angels, Marlins, Padres,

Rays, and Rangers. What about the Rockies? They have six games, all of them are on the road. Sorry. Start or sit these two start pitchers. Just an interesting quirk about the schedule this week, the last week before the All-Star break. Every single team is spending either the entire week at home or the entire week on the road,

including the Rockies on the road. obviously. Reds, by the way, at home. All right. You do like that. Athletics at home. You like that for their hitters. Not necessarily their pitchers. Yeah. Yeah. True. Starters sit these two star pitchers

and look, some of these names might seem ridiculous that I'm even asking, Scott, but we keep getting questions about them. So, let's answer. Dylan Cease gets the debacks and Phillies. Must start. Clay Holmes, at the Orioles, at the Royals. I believe he has four plus walks

and three street. Yeah, it's been a little shaky lately, but these are too juicy matchups. So I have Clay Holmes in the must-start section of the pitcher rankings. I should probably elaborate on Cease a little bit since I'm sure a lot of people would rather not start him. You just got to take the good with the bad with them.

You just have to. And so, you know, if you start picking and choosing, you're going to miss out on a lot of the good starts that make up for the bad ones. once he's already accumulated. Like the talent is still there, clearly. Yeah. I mean, if you bench him,

you could miss out on 15 innings, three runs allowed, 20 strikeouts next week. You're good. Yeah, you're good. It's entirely possible. What about Tanner Bybee? Kind of similar situation,

up and down season at Houston at the White Sox. Again, really good matchups. I think, I think Bybee's must start for this week. This one's interesting. Jack Flaherty, he's been frustrating lately. he gets Tampa Bay, who last time he faced him, he got absolutely demolished. Also gets the Mariners.

Their lineup hasn't been, you know, that good. But he's prone to giving up home runs, and Cal Raleigh is on the Mariners. So I don't know. What are you doing with Flaherty against Tampa Bay in Seattle? The Mariners are actually in the top half of the league and runs scored. So, and so are the Blue Jays now, by the way. They've moved up a lot. So I don't have Jack Flaherty's a month.

a start two-star pitcher, but I have him at the top of the second tier, which means you're probably going to start him. I could see how in a roto league, if you're protecting ratios, you might not. But even then I probably would. What about Noah Cameron who gets the Pirates and the Mets? I would leave him for points leagues. Jeffrey Springs, home against the Braves and Blue Jays. Also leave him for points leagues.

Like I said, that Blue Jays matchup isn't as good as it was. and both of those starts for Jeffrey Springs in Sacramento, which is tied with Coors Field, according to the overall park factor rating, tied with Coors Field for most hitter-friendly park this year. What about your boy, Andre Palante, against the Nationals and the Braves? I could see starting him in a points league.

All right. And Will Warren against the Mariners and the Cubs. I think after as bad as that last start was, particularly with the Cubs being one of the two matchups here, I'd shy away from Will Warren, not to be confused with Will Whitten. Or Warren Wallace, remember that kid? No.

Who's Will Whitten? Who's Warren Wallace? Who are these people? Will Whitten is an actor. He was on Star Trek and also the Big Bang theory. It was kind of a recurring joke about how much Sheldon hated Will Wheaton. Somebody out there gets it. It was a highly watched show.

Not by me, obviously. No. What about two-star pitchers to add and stream? We've already referenced a few of these names. Who are the five that you have? The five that I have. Okay, so I have Jose Soriano. Obviously, four of his last five starts, great.

He gets the Rangers and the Diamondbacks, so one good matchup, one not. good. Yuri Perez, two pretty good matchups here at Cincinnati, so a tough place to pitch, but also at Baltimore, which is also a tough place to pitch, but the Orioles haven't, haven't produced much this year, and Perez just had this breakthrough start. We have not talked about Brady Singer yet, who is not that exciting, but perfectly cromulent pitcher, and Marlins and Rockies are his matchups this week.

Rockies, again, not at Core's Fees. So it's hard to imagine that going poorly for Brady Singer. Nick Martinez, I'm not totally sure he's a cromulent pitcher, but he gets those same matchups, Miami and Colorado. So at least in points leagues, especially with the relief pitcher eligibility there for Nick Martinez. I think you've got to do it. And then finally, Brian Bayo, he gets the Rockies on the road as well

and has been pitching much better with that new cutter of late. second matchup is against the Rays. And I believe that's in Tampa Bay. No, it's not. It's in Boston. But even so, tough matchup for Bayo there second time, which is why he's a little lower on the list. All right, who are the one-star streamers that you're looking at for next week?

Lucas Gialito gets those road rockies. So I think he's a must. Mitch Keller, coming off his best start of the season, gets the Royals, who are still dead last and run scored. Got to love that for Keller. Ryan Nelson, been great of late, spamming that fastball. The Padres are now 23rd in run scored, and that's who Ryan Nelson is facing.

Edward Cabrera, maybe he's good after all at Baltimore. It's a good matchup. And finally, somebody who didn't look so good here on Thursday, but I think he got coarsed. I think he got coarsed, and that's Brandon Walter. His pitches didn't have their usual movement at cores, which you'd expect. but still an elite ground ball rate, very high, very good control,

pretty good whiff rate on multiple pitches, I think against Cleveland, who as you mentioned, good matchup for everybody these days, I would consider rolling the dice on Brandon Walter. A couple other pitchers facing Cleveland this week, who didn't crack my top 10 here, Sean Burke of the White Sox. He's actually a two-star pitcher. First start is against Blue Jay, second against Cleveland.

Lance McCullors and Shane Smith. Of course, we've featured McCullors and Smith plenty in this segment this year, but they've both been so bad recently that I couldn't bring myself to put them in the top 10. They are facing Cleveland in Week 16, though. All right, what about the hitters? Best matchups for next week? We have the Reds, Marlins, Blue Jays, Mets, and Guardians, the worst hitter matchups, Yankees, Tigers, Phillies, Padres, and Pirates.

It's Scott, who are your sleeper hitters for week 16? A lot of Reds, a lot of Marlins, understandably, since they have the best two matchups. Top of the list, Austin Hayes, still only 51% rostered somehow. Had three IL stents, so that probably explains it. But in between those IEL stents, Austin Hayes, head-to-head points per game, 12th best among outfielders. And that's not even his best format, head-to-head points, right? So take advantage of those good matchups, Marlins, Rockies, Austin Hayes. A little further down the list, but I'll stick with them since the same team.

Spencer Steer, who did, he had his hand X-rayed, but it came back negative, and he was lobbying to get back in the lineup right away. So I think he'll be fine for next week. He's been hot lately. Spencer Steer taking advantage of those matchups next week. Matt McLean also been hot lately. So he's on this list. Addison Barger The show comes full circle

I have him I just think he's undervalued White Sox Athletics And those games against the athletics are in Sacramento So Barger big week ahead The Marlins I mentioned I got a few of those

I got Kyle Stowers Who's been hot lately Otto Lopez who we talked about Xavier Edwards who we talked about Stowers does have the misfortune facing three lefties. There are three lefties on the schedule, but as hot as he's been, he might play against one or two of them.

And the Marlins have seven games total. Second best matchups, as I mentioned. Josh Lowe is on this list just because he's hot and under-rastered. Who else? Who else? Luis Garcia, the Nationals weren't among the five best matches, but they have the six best matchups. And zero lefties. So good time to start Luis Garcia.

And finally, the Mets, you mentioned, Frank, they have the fourth best matchups. and one lefty on the schedule, which will help McNeil. All right, that was the weekly preview brought to you by Travis Matthew, apparel designed for confidence and comfort no matter where the day takes you. And here we are. Check out this floral print. Got my little American flag here already for the 4th of July. This is legitimately the softest polo I've ever owned.

It is great for the summertime. Scott, checking out that polo over there. similar to the one that I wore last week, not exactly the same, but it feels great. It's not exactly the same. I thought it was exactly the same. I got to tell you, like, it looks. Most shirts, I would say look better on the rack than on the person. This shirt looks better on the person than on the rack. And I got to say, like, every time I put on one of these Travis Matthews shirts, my wife says the same thing. She sees me, she's like, that's a nice shirt. Like, kind of surprised that I wouldn't be dressed like.

like a schlub for once. So, you know, it has an effect. There you go. Love it. Big thanks to Travis Matthew for making clothes for any occasion that are not only comfy but stylish as well. Let's wrap up with some leftovers here, Scott. On the hitting side, Augustine Ramirez hit his 13th home run. We've got the roster rate all the way up to 84%. Finally, thank you people for listening. Cam Smith stayed hot three for five with a double, a triple, and three RBI. Last 21 games, he's hitting 386 with four home runs and an OPS over a thousand. Cam Smith has arrived. Spencer Torkelson heating back up last seven games. He's got three home runs. He's batting 370. James Wood cannot be stopped. Five for five with his 23rd home run. Zach Netto with a bit of a wake-up game here. Three-for-five

with a sock and a shoe. He did not have a hit since returning from that shoulder injury. So nice to see him get back on track. Your boy, Jurexon Pro Far. Make it two for two. back-to-back games with a home run. Since returning, he's all the way up to 79% rostered. The Jerkson store called. Brandon Nimmo has been on quite the tear as well. Back-to-back days with a homer. I didn't realize it went back this far.

Last 35 games for Brandon Nimmo, 309, nine homers, seven steals, OPS over 900. So he has been awesome. Anybody stand out here? Scott, anything you'd like to add? I did notice Augustine Ramirez is up to 84% rostered. I don't know if you mentioned that. Yep.

You did mention that. Well, I reinforced it, all right? Because I wanted to put him in the sleeper hitters and I cun it. Yeah, Jerksson profile is looking good. I think that's the biggest takeaway here. Get him if you still can. Get him while he's hot. The Jerksson store.

It's running out of stock. Call to the bullpen for the Rocky. Seth Halverson recorded the final four outs. for his seventh save. He did allow a run on three hits in the process. For the Mets, Edwin Diaz struck out two

for his 18th save. For the Blue Jays, Jeff Hoffman allowed a hit but picked up his 21st save. He has pitched in four of the past five days. So lots of usage here for Jeff Hoffman. And for the Royals, Carlos Estevez got the final four outs

for his 24th save. He did allow a run on three hits, but has been one of the most reliable closers all season. to stream or not to stream on Friday we have Gialito at the Nationals Soroka on the other side against the Red Sox Kumar Rocker at the Padres

Slade Sacconi against the Tigers Charlie Morton at the Braves Eduardo Rodriguez home against the Royals and Adrian Houser at the Rockies I think Eduardo Rodriguez number one with a bullet here he was one of my sleeper pitchers coming into the week if you need a second and third choice

I would go Gialito and Soroka, but they're a distant second and third. I do agree with those names as well. What about on Saturday? Really just three names that stand out for me, Chad Patrick at the Marlins. He was also a sleeper pitcher coming into this week. Yeah, these other two I do not like nearly as much. But Jack Lighter coming off a good start at the Padres. You know, they don't swing and miss very much.

It's okay. And Dean Kramer at the Braves. been getting shut out a lot lately so it might work out it's dangerous they might drop a random 7a runs which they have a tendency to do which is why they're they're in the positive for run differential

and then on Sunday we have Trevor Rogers at the Braves as well Edward Cabrera home against the Brewers and Jacob Lopez against the Giants yeah I don't really want to do Trevor Rogers at Atlanta to, but Edward Cabrera against the Brewers and Jacob Lopez against the Giants.

I'd probably, I'd rather play it safe for Lopez because he may have, he may, uh, the, the pixie dust may have dissipated here for him. But Edward Cabrera against the Brewers feels relatively safe. All right, happy 4th of July to everyone out there, Scott. Enjoy the weekend. Stay safe, everybody. Please. We're going to wrap there for Scott.

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 next week. Bye-bye. Found podcasts.