Fantasy Baseball Today - Prospect Report: Orioles and Reds Prospects Coming Soon? (Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:02 When might we see all these awesome Reds prospects? Find out next on Fantasy Baseball today in five. Welcome in to FBT in five. Today is Saturday, May 13th. I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White. And at the time that you're listening to this, Yuri Perez has already made his debut on Friday night, but we're recording this on Thursday.

Starting point is 00:00:23 So we're not going to talk about that. Instead, we're going to talk about the five prospects on the verge of being called up, which includes Taj Bradley, Jordan Walker, Christian and Carnaccio and Strand, Jordan Westberg and Colton Couser. Scott, I want to focus mostly on the Orioles, and then we'll get to the Reds in just a little bit here. But Jordan Westberg and Colton Couser,

Starting point is 00:00:44 these guys are mashing in the minors right now. Any idea when we might see them up with the Orioles? I think Jordan Westberg is going to be very soon because they lost Ramon Arias recently, and he's going to be down for a while with a hamstring injury. It's not a minimum IL stint situation. Here's what GM Mike Elias had to say. Mike Elias, I guess, had to say about it.

Starting point is 00:01:15 About Jordan Westberg. He's somebody that we're still monitoring and discussing and paying very close attention to it on a nightly basis. I think right now with the opponents we've got here coming up, we're going with this group. But we're keeping an eye on all those guys. him included. So what I interpreted that to mean is they called a Brian O'Hurna first basement instead of Westberg. Six righties coming up. So, you know, they probably just won

Starting point is 00:01:41 the big hulking lefty bat for that stretch, but they're going to need a more versatile defender, Westberg. It's capable of playing third base, primarily a shortstop. You play anywhere on the infield, really. And yeah, he's hit for a lot of power the last two years, especially this year of AAA. And it seems to be legitimate. Not especially disciplined hitter. I don't think the ceiling is super high. But if you're in the sort of league

Starting point is 00:02:10 where you're hurting for short stops off the waiver wire, any league with a middle end field spot probably, then you might want to go ahead and stash Westberg. As for Kouser, Elias was Elias, man, I don't know how to say his name. He was a little less optimistic in the timetable for him.

Starting point is 00:02:34 And there isn't a clear opening and Anthony Santander's heated up. But he is a really good, like a better prospect overall, I would say than Jordan Westberg, good on base skills. And I think we'll see him soon enough. All right, five prospects that are on the periphery.

Starting point is 00:02:50 These are just prospects that are doing something recently, not necessarily close, although some of these Cincinnati Reds guys. Let's talk about the Matt McLean, who is a shortstop with the Reds, L.E. De La Cruz, also a shortstop with the Reds. Henry Davis, a catcher with the Pirates, Ben Brown, a starting pitcher with the Cubs, and Hunter Goodman, a catcher with the Rockies.

Starting point is 00:03:10 Scott, let's talk about all the Reds hitters right now. Matt McLean, Ellie De LaCruz, and you did have Christian and Carnaccio Tran in the five prospects on the verge. We keep getting questions. When are these guys coming up? What order are they going to be called up in? It's pretty hard to pinpoint that. but if you had to guess, what would you say?

Starting point is 00:03:30 I would guess the order they're going to be called up is Christian and Carnacio and Strand is why he was in the 5 on the verge, Matt McLean and Ellie De La Cruz. Now, the most talented is Ellie De La Cruz, and in fact he had a game this week where he hit three balls more than 116 miles per hour

Starting point is 00:03:52 in the entire history of stack cast no team has had a game with three balls hit at least 116 mile per hour and Ellie de la Cruz did it himself resulting in two home runs one from each side of the plate mind you and a double the double by the way was the hardest hitball and professional baseball majors and minors included this year

Starting point is 00:04:16 so serious upside here also serious contact issues against minor league pitchers which is why I think they're going to slow play this. Obviously, the Reds aren't playing for anything this year. They could take their time with Ellie De La Cruz. But it is the sort of talent where you could see them just throwing caution to the wind

Starting point is 00:04:38 saying, heck with it, this guy is too good to be in the minors. Let's get him up. I could see that happening. I would bet against it, though. Meanwhile, Matt McLean, his numbers, leaving stat-cast measurements out of it. just the traditional baseball numbers for Matt McLean's are ridiculously impressed, more impressive than Ellie de la Cruz's, batting around 3.30,

Starting point is 00:05:05 about two-thirds of the way to his career high in home runs already. He hit for the cycle this past week. Second time in his mind of the career he has, in fact. And he's beginning to remind me a little of like an Alex Bregman type, because he's small. He doesn't have a lot of like raw power. but he gets the most out of what he has and he's obviously going to be playing

Starting point is 00:05:30 in of any when he gets in Cincinnati that is going to help him optimize his power as well. Great on base skills like Alex Bregman. The Reds' worst position this year has been shortstop. They don't have a good answer to shortstop, and that's primarily what both Elie de la Cruz and Matt McLean play. Actually, Ellie de la Cruz, Cruz between the two. He's the one already on the 40-man roster. It's another reason that muddles

Starting point is 00:05:57 the situation further. But McLean's two years older, and as I said, he has the better numbers. My guess is he'll be up relatively soon. But Christian Incarnacian Strand even before that. Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me, Scott, if they call up Encarnacian and Matt McLean at the same time, those guys seem to be knocking on the door. I agree with you on L.E. De La Cruz. The highest upside of this group, but a little more raw than those other two. And I think, Maybe they slow played a little bit more with L.E. D. LeCruz. We'll see him later on in the season. For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the Odyssey app, or anywhere else podcasts are found.

Starting point is 00:06:38 Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball Today and Five, and we'll be back again next week. Bye-bye.

Fantasy Baseball Today - Prospect Report: Orioles and Reds Prospects Coming Soon? (Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 Podcast)

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