Fantasy Baseball Today - Prospect Report: Hold Royce Lewis, Stash Miguel Vargas and Scout Corbin Carroll (5/21 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 23, 2022

Download and follow Fantasy Baseball Today in 5! You can find FBT in 5 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else podcasts are found. You're going to want to hold Royce Lewis even though he just got demoted. Miguel Vargas and Michael Busch are two names to pay attention to. Don't be surprised if Corbin Carroll gets the call this season. 'Fantasy Baseball Today in 5' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why was Royce Lewis sent down this week? I have no idea. Let's talk top prospects next on Fantasy Baseball today in five. Welcome into FBT and 5 as always. Make sure to follow and stream us on Spotify. Today is Saturday, May 21st. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White. Five prospects on the verge, who you should be stashing right now,

Adley Ruchman, Royce Lewis, Joe Adele, Grayson Rodriguez. Nolan Gorman was originally on this list when Scott published the article on Thursday, he's now being called up. Miguel Vargas would enter the top five, but it's also worth mentioning Max Myers-Hurt. He's landed on the IL. There's a whole bunch of stuff going on with these prospects, Scott.

Who would you like to talk about? Yeah, I had to bump Max Meyer, even before I found out about the nerve issue in his elbow because his last two starts were so bad, which maybe explains it. It's not expected to be a long-term absence for him, but obviously his promotion is not imminent. I thought by this point Adley Rushman would be up.

He got cold last weekend. And I think that prevented the Orioles from maybe calling him up as soon as expected. But he's picking it up again. He homered him back-to-back games recently. And I don't know. By the time you're listening to this, it's possible he's on his way up. Royce Lewis, yeah, let's talk about him. So I think given the way prospects have had a harder time, by and large,

breaking into the big leagues over the past two, three seasons, the fact we saw Royce Lewis have immediate success, I mean, that makes him a higher priority stash than most prospects, right? We've already seen he's capable of handling himself at the major league level. Why he got sent down, you know, it sounds like they're not, they don't want to put him, they don't want to have him bounce all over the diamond yet they don't want to put that kind of pressure on him.

So they're going to have him do it a little bit at AAA first. And according to Derek Falvey, their president of baseball operations, they're saying, you know, maybe he can become that super utility type for them in the short to medium term. So hopefully that means he's back up soon

after just a little bit of exposure to the outfield, especially. So I would continue to stash Royce Lewis. Let's see. Yeah, Miguel Vargas is interesting. He's the one who we're going to add in place of Gorman. And I could have gone with Michael Bush instead. Both have been tearing it up for the Dodgers in the minors this year. The reason I'm going to give the edge to Vargas is because he's been in AAA all along. Bush just got promoted there from AA and I think he homered in his first game. The Dodgers have the best offense in baseball so far, but the one position where they've struggled to fill consistently is second base,

which is where Bush plays. But if they wanted to call up Vargas instead, they can move Max Muncie, who's primarily played third. They can move him to second and have Vargas and Justin Turner split third base DH duties. So either one of them, I think, there's a good chance they're up sooner than later. I'm not sure who the Dodgers would go with first. I think Vargas, you know, the strikeout rate is so low at AAA, and he just looks like a complete hitter.

Bush, shown a little more power, is an elite on-base guy. But, again, I think maybe Vargas looks just a little bit more like he's biting his time. We've got to see Bush at AAA more. So he would be my preference between the two. but I imagine we'll see both this summer. Five prospects that are on the periphery. These are prospects just doing something recently, and it's worth noting.

Corbyn Carroll with the Diamondbacks, Joey Weimer with the Brewers, Andrew Abbott with the Reds, Lenin Sosa with the White Sox, and Bryce Miller with the Seattle Mariners. What do you have on these five? So yeah, Corby and Carol, I think, once, you know, Rodriguez and Bobby Whit,

they've already graduated, Rushman's soon to follow. I think Corby and Carroll's probably going to be the best prospect in baseball at that point. I don't know if we're going to make it to the preseason rank list next year, because I don't know how the Diamondbacks hold this guy back. He's hardly gotten a chance to play between the pandemic and health injuries, less than 100 minor league games under his belt, but he's a AA, and he can do no wrong, basically.

The home runs and the steals, they're both in double digits, and the hit tool might be better. that might be his best hit his best tool of all he gets on base a ton like just a well-rounded player corvin carroll and i think it's possible he forces his way to the majors this year i'm not saying that's a sure thing but like i said he can do no wrong joey weamer of the brewers was a 27 homer 30 steel guy last year at a ball and he didn't show up high on any prospect list. People were writing them off

because his hit mechanics are all weird and they just didn't think it translate to the upper miners. Well, he's at AA now, the upper miners, and he's doing basically the same thing. About double digits,

by the time you're listening, maybe he will be double digits in both home runs and stolen bases, striking out a little more, but he hits the ball so hard that I'm not sure it's a major concern for him, plus he has a pretty good walk rate. So Joey Weamer

looking more like a true high, end prospect, I would say. And yeah, I'll highlight Lenin Sosa here because he's probably the least recognizable name for the White Sox, the middle infielder. He's batting around 350 this year.

And it's kind of, it feels like kind of a Jose Miranda situation, because Sosa always showed good contact skills in the minors, but the power has suddenly surged this year. And the explanation is similar. Like he just, he had such good contact skills that he swung it too much because he knew he could hit it.

But now he's like being more selective at the plate waiting for pitches he can actually drive and driving them. So if you're looking for a Miranda-like surprise pickup in Dynasty League's Lenin Sosa, give him a shot. For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Stitcher, your smart speakers or anywhere else podcasts are found. for listening to Fantasy Baseball today in five. We'll be back again on Monday morning. Bye-bye.