Fantasy Baseball Today - Prospect Report: Matt Mervis & Heston Kjerstad in the Second Half? (Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:02 Could Matt Mervis rejoin the Cubs in the second half? Find out next on Fantasy Baseball today in five. Welcome into FBT and 5 on Saturday, July 22nd. I am Frank Stamfield, joined by Scott White, and the five prospects on the verge of getting the call. Jonathan Aranda with the Rays, Matt Mervis with the Cubs, Ronnie Maricio with the Mets,

Starting point is 00:00:26 Heston Kirstad with the Orioles, and Colt Keith with the Tigers. Look, these are all names that we've talked. about in the past. But Matt Mervis stands out as someone who could rejoin the team. Heston Kirstead. Could we possibly get another Orioles prospect up with the team? Yeah, I hope so. We have talked about them before, but not in the Five on the Verge. We do have a bit of a reshuffle here with some recent prospect promotions. And of course, the Five on the Verge refers to the Five Prospects most worth stashing in Redraft

Starting point is 00:01:00 Leagues. It isn't necessarily the Five Closest to Get. getting the call. But what I'm saying is these five are at least worth considering stashing in those redraft formats. So Matt Mervis has gone down to AAA and performed like he always has in the minors, no matter what the stop was the past few years, hitting over 300, OPS over 900, just doing typical Matt Mervis things down there, probably verging on getting another shot in the majors. It didn't go well the first time around.

Starting point is 00:01:30 He did have a 50% hard hit rate in the major. So there were some positive signs. And plus just now that he's gotten some exposure, he knows what to expect more. It's not uncommon for a player to do much better his second time around. Maybe it hinges on a Cody Bellinger trade. Not necessarily. They're splitting first base between Jared Young and Trey Mancini right now.

Starting point is 00:01:57 So they can make room for Mervis. Yeah, Heston Kirstad, let's talk about him, because he has been, I think, one of the most impressive, one of the people who's improved his stock the most in my eyes, one of the prospects who's improved at the most of my eyes. Because, you know, he was drafted second overall behind Spencer Torkelson in 2020, then had myocarditis right away,

Starting point is 00:02:20 then had a hamstring issue last year. So really, this has been his first full, healthy season. And he's lived up to that second overall pick billing and then some. The contact skills have been much better than I thought they'd be for Heston Kyrstad. Specifically, in-zone contact rate for him is over 90%. Which, like, when he swings at a ball in the zone, he doesn't miss.

Starting point is 00:02:41 And powers his carrying tool anyway. So he's providing plenty of power. He's hitting for average two. I'm not sure what it'll take to get him in the Orioles lineup. It took so long for Colton Kouser to get a chance, and he's not even getting every day at bats now. But maybe Kirstadt will be trade bait. Or maybe somebody will get hurt.

Starting point is 00:02:58 There's a way. I also want to mention here, Colt, Keith. of the tigers. He is young, but he's, he's, he, he, they haven't been able to slow him down in the minors this year. Clearly a breakout season. He dominated double A hitting for average in powers, moved up to AAA, continued to do those same things. And you might think, oh, the tigers are out of it. Why would they start his clock now? Why now? I would just wait till next year, or September at least. Well, look what the pirates have done. They don't look like they're going places and they keep calling up prospects. It's not outside the realm of possibility that the

Starting point is 00:03:31 would call up Keith to play either second or third base. It is a bit more of a gamble. I don't think it's a certainty he gets called up in the second half, but it is a possibility and the numbers look great. Heston Kirsten, Kirsten, by the way, I guess there's a possibility the Orioles can trade away Ryan Malkassel or something to free up some playing time as well. I wouldn't rule that out as well.

Starting point is 00:03:53 And with Kirsten, I saw him in the Arizona Fall League last year, big leg kick, but also big power. He was in the home run derby, and he was just crushing balls. So, yeah, very excited to see if Kirstad gets an opportunity here in the second half. Five prospects on the periphery. They're making some noise lately. Brooks Lee, a shortstop with the twins, Roman, Anthony, an outfielder with the Red Sox,

Starting point is 00:04:16 Yvonne Melendez, first baseman with the debacks, Gabriel Gonzalez, outfielder with the Mariners, and Troy Johnston, a first baseman with the Marlins. Scott, any quick notes here on this group? Brooks Lee's hitting for more power. All of a sudden, he was a high draft pick last year. I think a consensus top 50 guy coming into this year. And put the bat on the ball, drew enough walks early on at AA,

Starting point is 00:04:42 but the power was lacking. It started to come around recently, so that's good to see from Brooks Lee. Roman Anthony, somebody to get on your radar if he isn't already, a 19-year-old for the Red Sox in high A, putting up great numbers there. And really, like, he's earned a lot of, of attention recently because baseball prospectus

Starting point is 00:05:01 released its mid-season top 50 and they had Roman Anthony in the top 10, which was the highest I've ever seen him. So that's going to get some eyeballs on him. I do also want to mention Yvonne Melendez here of the Diamondbacks. You know, first base prospects are, it's hard to get excited about him because they have such a difficult path to the majors. But he was the Golden Spikes Award winner in 20. 22. That's the best college player gets awarded Golden Spikes Award, and that went to Ivan Melendez.

Starting point is 00:05:37 Big power, big, big power. He got off to a cold, a very slow start at High A this year, but has caught fire in his 49 games, his last 49 games heading into Thursday. So it might be a little outdated now, but over that 49 game stretch, Melendez hit 22 home runs. including four in his first three games after moving up to AA. I've seen him compared to Pete Alonzo before as a big power prospect who just kind of got overlooked into lower minors because he was a first base and the difficult path and all of that. That's obviously going to be hard for Yvonne Melendez

Starting point is 00:06:21 to live up to that, but you've got to like the comp. I love how Scott said, make sure Roman Anthony isn't available in your dynasty leagues, and I just checked the Scott White Dynasty League and he's on Scott White's teams. Of course. There you go. For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast on Spotify,

Starting point is 00:06:41 Apple Podcasts, the Odyssey app, or anywhere else podcasts are found. Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball today in five. And we'll be back again next week. Bye-bye.

Fantasy Baseball Today - Prospect Report: Matt Mervis & Heston Kjerstad in the Second Half? (Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 Podcast)

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