Fantasy Baseball Today - Ranking Upside Pitchers & Way-Too-Early 2026 Thoughts! (8/26 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

Emmet Sheehan just had the best start of his career (3:04). ... Cam Schlittler makes it two strong starts in a row (7:08). ... Now is the time to stash Mets prospect Jonah Tong (10:28). ... Ian Seymour looked good in his first career start (12:18). ... Mark Vientos and Colton Cowser are waking up (14:22). ... News (20:00): Vlad Jr. returned to the Blue Jays' lineup. ... Lourdes Gurriel has been on a tear in August (26:41). ... Jose Soriano got back in the win column (36:05). ... What's the latest on Jacob deGrom and Bryce Miller (38:53)? ... We got a bunch of rough pitcher outings on Monday (43:53). ... Let's take a peek into the 2026 draft crystal ball (50:42). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:02:40). 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

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Hello, and welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, August 26th. I am Frank Stanful, joined by Chris Towers today on the show.

young players continue to emerge. We had some rough pitcher starts to evaluate, a bunch of them actually. We'll take a look into the Crystal Ball for some way too early 2026 thoughts and much more. Let's jump in. In a year that has been so improbable,

the impossible has happened. All right, Chris, so we know Hurston Waldrop and Nolan McLean and Cam Schlittler have emerged And you know what? Emmett Sheehan came out here on Monday and said, hold my beer. Yeah, he did. It was the best start of his career. 10 strikeouts, two hit, seven shutout innings against the Reds. It was, I believe, 15 swinging strikes in this one, including, let me make sure I've got the details. 19 swinging strikes on 96 pitches.

Six on the four seamer 10 on the slider. He added three on the changes. And the thing is we've known this was potentially there for Amishian all along. And that's what's made the last month or so so frustrating because we've seen these flashes from him just not consistently enough. You know, it was he's gone six innings in consecutive starts now, but he gave up four runs on two homers in the previous one. Five runs in five innings. The previous start had only gone six innings once before this one. He goes 96 pitches, seven innings of work.

And I do think you should probably be looking at him as a, let's say a can add pitcher, but probably somewhere short of must add. Like I think, you know, you mentioned Hurston Waldrop. He's done it for a little longer. Nolan McLean has plenty of prospect pedigree and has looked very good in his two starts. So I would put those guys ahead of Amishian, but sheen's probably in the discussion after those two guys. It's just can he be consistently good the rest of the way? And are the Dodgers going to have a long enough leash with him?

Obviously, look, if he's this good moving forward, then it doesn't matter. But if he's a little less efficient, if he gives up a couple runs early, do they pull him after five? that's been the case more often than not so far. So I don't want to say I'm fully on board with Amishian as like a must-add pitcher. But I think we should be pretty interested in what he's shown us here. Yeah, Sheen 44% rostered.

A bunch of names have emerged recently. We'll talk about Cam Schlitler in just a second as well. But yeah, 10 strikeouts, 19 whiffs on 96 pitches. In this one, he has two pitches with a whiff rate over 38%. and entering the start. So we know strikeout's not a problem here. Does give up a lot of hard contact. He does trend towards being a fly ball pitcher as well. So that could lead to some home runs here in the future. But I don't think there's any doubting. This stuff is really impressive for Sheehan. And the workload, 90 plus pitches, three starts in a row, I think is very encouraging.

One thing I do want to add, because I said, oh, I'm not sure if he's a must add. He probably is. I don't know if you've seen the matchup next week, but he is slated, I believe, to start either Monday or Tuesday of next week against the pirates. So he gets the pirates, and it could be potentially a two-star week for Emishian, if I have that correct. Do I have that wrong? What is the, because he started today, but he's not a, he doesn't look like a two-star pitcher for this video. Yeah. Are they using a six-man rotation or something?

Yeah, they are. Yeah, with Otanian. Yeah, they've been a six-man rotation for a while. So they only have five games left this week, so he comes up on Tuesday of next week. They're off Monday. So it's probably not a two-start week, but pitching against the Pirates,

I think you still start MS Sheehan next week. Yeah, I'm looking at Ross a resource. Unless there's somebody very obvious, oh no, Blake Snell isn't here. Why isn't Blake Snell here? Yeah, that would make sense. Yeah, it's Shee and Kershaw, Otani, Snell, Glass Now, Yamamoto.

So unless they have 70, games next week. He probably is also just a one-star pitcher, but against the pirates, obviously, you'll take that. So that's a pretty tasty there. Pretty, pretty nice for Emmett Sheehan. While we're talking about him, let's talk about Cam Schlittler as well. This is two great starts in a row. Back-to-back quality starts with eight strikeouts in each of those. He went six shutout, four hits, three walks, eight strikeouts in this one, 13 whiffs on 96 pitches. And the fastball was dominant once again, had eight of his 13 whiffs on that fastball. He's allowed two earned runs or fewer in five straight. Obviously up over six innings in back-to-back starts here.

He's up to 78% roster, so probably not out there in many leagues anymore, and he's at the White Sox later this week. So we've talked a lot about the matchups. They were awesome this week. If you're just comparing him versus she and Chris, because it sounds like McLean and wall drip are kind of maybe a tear ahead just ahead of these guys. Who do you like more between Schlittler and Sheehan? Well, if you're in a weekly transactions league, I think you could make the case

for having Sheehan ahead of Schlittler because Schlittler has the start on Saturday against the White Sox coming up. He would then start against the Blue Jays at home next week. I think you'd rather go Sheehan versus the Pirates over Schlittler versus the Blue Jays next week. And we are at that point in the season where I don't want to say next week is all that matters,

but it's kind of all that matters. You've only got four more weeks after the current one. So I think it's pretty, it's close. I think in terms of talent, Sheen might have the edge. Schlittler, I just, I don't know where this came from. Like he's been a decent prospect for a while. but this like dominant fastball that he has is incredible you know when he was coming up there was a really good piece on fan graphs like maybe 10 days before his debut and it talked about like

he's got this nice mid to upper 90s fastball that's got good characteristics and you know he's got the short arm stroke that that helps it play up and all that stuff and that was true when he was averaging like 96.7 miles per hour at AAA. He's averaging 97.9 miles per hour at the major league level. He hit 101 today. This was not in the scouting reports. Camp Schittler averaged 95 miles an hour last season at AAA. This is a huge, huge velocity jump, which is concerning for all the reasons that we often talk about, but it's August 26, man. There's there's no future to worry about at least this season. You just, if you've got him, you start him.

If he's available and you're in the 22% of leagues where he's available, go out and add him. But he's not a must-start pitcher for next week with the Blue Jays, unfortunately. Yeah, I would agree with that too. And honestly, the answer might be, why not both? She and Ench Liller, just having these guys on your roster and playing the matchups the rest of the way, there are. Although, man, there is one guy.

we're going to talk about who hasn't pitched at the major league level yet. Ooh. But boy, I don't know if we do we want to say the name now? Go for it. It sounds like Jonah Tong's going to get called up. He's only made two starts at AAA, but, you know, Sarah's had a piece on the athletic, I think, yesterday or today, looking at the best stuff plus ratings of pitchers still at AAA, and this included Bubba Chandler.

And Jonah Tong is far and away. the best. He's at like a 122 stuff plus, which probably isn't sustainable. But have you seen this dude pitch? It's very unique. And he gets a lot of strikeouts. Yeah, it's crazy. He looks like Tim Linzigum and he's got huge stuff. So he's got this really unique approach and he's got stuff that plays up on its own. Jonah Tong, it sounds like the Mets might call him up and go with a six-man rotation now that Frankie Montas is out of the picture. And man, man, man. he might be that dude in the final month of the season. And this is what the Mets need right now too, because they are not getting length from their starters. They're not getting a lot of production from their starters.

I mean, outside of like Nolan McLean who's come up, and obviously David Peterson has been good, but, you know, Kodi-Sanga hasn't been good for a while. Drop. Yeah, drop Kodai Senga for any of these names that we're talking about, right? They're just, they're more usable right now than someone like him. Jonah Tong, by the way, two starts at AAA, 11 and 2 thirds shutout innings, 17 strikeouts to three walks. And he has a 40% strikeout right over all this season.

Yeah, it's a 143 ERA.9 to whip, 179 strikeouts over 113 and 2 thirds. So just massive, massive strikeouts, 26% rostered. I would venture to say Jonah Tong is probably like the top prospect to stash right now, just because we have an inkling that he could be up. as soon as Friday of this week. So we spoke about him, we spoke about Schlitler-Shean. Also just want to mention Ian Seymour, who looked very good in his first Major League start here

against the Guardians. Five shutout innings, one hit, one walk, eight strikeouts, 10 whiffs on 67 pitches, five of those on the change-up, four on the fastball, one on the sweeper. Also a pretty unique pitcher here, and he relies mostly on a three-pitch mix, change-up fastball cutter.

He only averages 92 miles per hour. on the fastball. But again, we've talked a lot about like unique lefties and just doing things differently. I think Ian Seymour would fit into that category. He is a former top-ish prospect of note. Kind of fell out of favor a little bit, but he's, he was performing well in the minors this season, you know, 10.9K per 9. He's been pitching well out of the bullpen for the raise, and now he's getting stretched out. And this was a good first start. So I think he's very clearly behind all the names that we talked about. But in deeper leagues where we've looked into like Parker Messick or Luis Morales.

I think Ian Seymour is a name to look at as well. And especially head-to-head points leagues because he is a SPARP. Yep. And so I think, yeah, I started him in one playoff matchup. I think that was the only one. But yeah, I did start him as a SPARP this week. So I think Ian Seymour as a SPARP especially is pretty interesting. Do you like him more or someone like Parker Messick?

I think I like Messick a little more. He's more stretched out. Seymour did only throw 67 pitches in this one. It's the raise. So, you know, he might only throw 80 pitches in his next one, even if he's a little more stretched out. So I think that could hold him back enough. But I think Seymour's plenty interesting in his own right.

That changeup is a really good pitch. The whiff rate for that is really good for the season, right? 32%. Okay, it's not as good as I thought, but still very solid, getting very good results overall. I like Seymour, yeah. I do want to quickly talk about a few young hitters who have emerged lately as well,

you know, show some love on that side of the ball as well. But Colton Kouser is picking things up three for four with his 12th home run, three RBI. He is homered in three of his last four games and obviously coming off a really good season last year. He was second and AL Rookie of the Year voting. You know, this year he's dealt with a lot of injuries. The strikeouts are up 32%.

But looks like he might be, coming around. The quality of contact is still really good. He's 43% rostered. It has started eight straight games for the Orioles. And Mark Vientos, man, I think we need to start talking about this. Give him a little bit more attention. Two for three with two doubles and two RBI here. Last eight games, Vientos is hitting 387, five homers, 13 RBI, 96.5 average exit velocity, tons of barrels, putting the ball in the air, pulling it, doing exactly what we want. He has also started H-Trade. Chris, what's your interest level in either of these two? Colton Couser and Mark Vientos. I think both are mildly interesting. We've seen a decent amount of failure from both

of them. I think in Couser's case, he at least does have the excuse that he fractured his thumb, what, the second day of the season. I think third day of the season. So he never really had a chance this season. And maybe he's just now rounding in the form. I know he recently came back from a concussion as well. So it's just been a really tough season for him. But maybe he is figuring it out. Viantos was obviously better last season. And it's a small-ish sample size of him doing well.

But we know the talent is there. We know he's always had the raw power. It's just the approach is not great. He's 59% rostered. I think that's probably about right. You know, I can't imagine there are a ton of points leagues where I want to add Mark Viantos. On the other hand, third base is terrible. There are not a lot of good third baseman.

This is one of the things I'm running into. He's rostered in about as many leagues as Lenny Sosa for the White Sox, who is first, second and third eligible, I believe, now. And I think that one's probably a push. They're both bad play discipline guys with plus power. Viantos certainly has a better track record overall and was a bigger prospect. So if you wanted to prioritize Viantos ahead of Sosa and you need a third basement, I think that's okay.

And I would prioritize both over Brett Beatty, who I know is having a pretty good run. And also, the Mets, even before today, would they score 10 today? 13, I think. 13. Even before today, they had a 403 Wobo over the past 14 days as a team. Wow. That's pretty bonkers. So I know the pitching's been a problem for the Mets, but they're the third best offense over the past 30 days as well.

and if the pitching, I mean, especially if Jonah Tong and Nolan McLean live up to expectations down the stretch, they could be a really scary team heading into the postseason. Yeah, you mentioned the third base position has not been great. We've dealt with some injuries. You know, we lost Austin Riley and Addison Barger has slowed down here. You know, yesterday I brought up Royce Lewis and Matt Shaw. I like some of those guys. Coulson Montgomery, you know, he's hitting for power, but really not much else.

If we're just talking about pure upside, Mark Vientos might have the most of all those names that it's meant. I know Royce Lewis, yes, we still think he has a lot of talent, but again, we haven't seen it consistently for a while now. And just last year, Viento's 30-plus home runs and hitting in the middle of that lineup that's performing really well right now. So just would not surprise me if Vyntos kind of goes on a heater here over the final month of the season.

Before we hit our first break, just a reminder to like this video and subscribe. Big thanks to those watching. Yes, subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. Or if you've watched this all season long, stick around. Stick around for the rest of August, September. We're going to do a lot of fun things in the offseason as well. So we do advise everyone who subscribe throughout the season. Stick around here for the final month and for the offseason content as well.

Let's take our first break and we'll return right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. Let's run through the news and notes. Vlad Jr. returned to the lineup as the DH on Monday. He missed the previous five games with left hamstring inflammation. O'Neill Cruz could be activated from the concussion IL Tuesday. He played in rehab games over the weekend and it sounded like he was close to being activated on Monday. So if not Tuesday, I think within the next couple days for O'Neill Cruz. Jackson Trio will remain on his rehab assignment a few more days before being activated there. Cole Reagan's threw an up-down bullpen on Sunday and has now

completed five bullpen sessions. He's working his way back from a left rotator cuff train and we'll need a rehab assignment. So I think the best case is mid-September or something like that. Maybe we get Reagan's for like two or three starts. How stretched out will he be?

Yeah. You know, there are legit questions there. There are five games back of a playoff spot. So how much we get from him could come down to do they still have anything left?

If not, you know, mid-September rolls around. Maybe they're fine giving him a start or two and just let's make sure he looks good and then shut him down. That's within the realm of possibility, unfortunately. It has been confirmed that Kyle Brinish will make his season debut Tuesday against the Red Sox. His first start since June 14th of last year.

His rehab assignment up and down, but his last start looked much better. And he has great breaking pitches. We talked a lot about him yesterday. Kyle Braddish is someone to stash for now. We'll see how this first start, maybe if he makes a second start later in the week. If those two look good, maybe we're just throwing Braddish in our lineups next week. Scott and I are going to be doing a bold predictions for 2026 podcast later in the week.

And I am kicking around how high I want to make the, yes, you were looking a little fuzzy. I know. I'm out of focus. I'm trying not to make it up. focus on camera. And I'm, I'm toying with how high to put Kyle Bradish as my bold prediction for 2026, but I am very excited to see him back on the mound. And hopefully, you know, I think it could be a little iffy the rest of the way.

But if the stuff looks like it's back, I think he has top 24 SP potential for next season. Again, that was Kyle Braddish. Max Muncie of the Dodgers is expected to face live pitching on Tuesday. He is on the aisle with a right oblique strain. Jordan Westberg will not be ready for activation when first eligible on August 29th. He is dealing with an ankle injury. Jacob Lopez was diagnosed with a grade one flexor strain in his left arm and has been shut down from throwing. I don't think he's been placed on the IL yet, but I'm guessing that's going to happen. Anthony Volpe has sat out two straight after committing his.

AL leading 17th error on Saturday. Manager Aaron Boone said Volpe will remain the team starting shortstop. I believe he'll be back in the lineup on Tuesday. So they're giving him

a couple days off here. It's been just a really weird season for... Did that like three weeks? Stretch. Yeah, he still provides some power and speed, but the batting average is terrible,

the on-base ability. And you could kind of look past that from a real-life baseball perspective when he's providing gold-glove defense. But when he is leading the American League in errors, it makes it a lot harder to

I don't know what happened. It's like, it's not just the errors. Like his, his range, like his outs above average on baseball savant has gone from one of the best in baseball to one of the worst. It's really weird. He kind of has this like Yips thing going on this year too.

I feel like it's got to be a mental thing. It's a lack of confidence too. You see him when he's taking ground balls. He gets down to a knee like as a shortstop. You're not really, you know, you're supposed to like, charge the ball and be aggressive in things. So he's been just a lot more hesitant and not as confident this season. And I think part of his struggles as a hitter, he's now taking into the field. Again, that's Anthony Volpe. Anthony Santander has rejoined the Blue Jays in Toronto and has

progressed to hitting off high velocity pitching machines. He's still working his way back from a subluxation of his left shoulder and kind of crazy to think about what the Blue Jays are doing after, you know, their prized asset in the offseason has missed the entire year. Like, Sandin Dandere, when he's on, gives you like 35, 40 home runs and makes a ton of contact. And they've been without him and, you know, they're still one of the best teams in baseball this year. So shout out to the Blue Jays, man. The A's were called Zach L off from AAA in 33 games. Since being sent down, he hit 259, 11 homers, nine steals, 897 OPS down at AAA.

He's 17% roster. any deep league interest in Zach Gelloff here. I think this is one he's got to show it first before you have any interest in him. There's power and speed there, but he's been so bad since that rookie season. Francisco Alvarez is expected to begin a minor league rehab assignment Wednesday or Thursday. Ryan Weathers will begin a rehab assignment Saturday. He's been out since June with a strained lat and he's definitely has some talent. He showed up this spring throwing harder.

I think that's partially contributed to some of the injuries here. But even last year when he wasn't throwing as hard, he still was a valuable pitcher. So 21% rostered, are you looking to stash Ryan Weathers? Or do we just kind of wait until he comes back and see how he looks? We are at pitchers come in waves. And right now we're at a crest, I think,

would be the terminology when the wave is coming up. And so I don't think you need to make Ryan Weathers a super high priority. was pitching very well before the injury and there's a lot of upside here. 40% whiff rate on his change up and his slider this season, small sample size obviously, but there is plenty of upside with Ryan Weathers. I just given how many other interesting pitchers we have, I don't think he needs to be a high priority. Tyler Malley recently resumed throwing off a mound and could advance to throwing live batting practice in the near future.

He's been out since June with a shoulder injury. Jack Perkins, who went on the aisle with a strained shoulder this weekend, received an injection on Monday and has no timetable for a return. And Richard Fitz left Monday's game with an arm injury. I didn't see much else other than that. I didn't see anything there. Some other waiver wire hitters here outside of the Couser and Vientos group that we spoke about earlier. Lordes Griel stayed hot, one for three with a walk, and his 19th home run.

He's having a big August, man. 273, seven homers. 32 RBI in the month. We're 26 days into the month. He has 32 RBI. It's insane. 861 OPS. He's all the way up to 79% rostered.

I feel like this happens a lot with Lordus Gariel. It's like he goes on these month benders where he looks like one of the better hitters in all baseball. So I don't know if you want to chase that per se, but he's all the way up to 79% roster. Yeah, I don't think it needs to be much higher than that. All right.

Alejandro Kirk has, picked the power up one for two with his 11th home run and over his last eight games, hitting 300 with four homers, 11 RBI. Having a fine season all around, it's just, I mean, it's a conversation we have a lot. It's catcher is loaded right now. Ben Rice has emerged and he's all the way up to 88% rostered. You know, and then we get into the Kyle Teal group and Samuel Bessio and Drake Baldwin. Would you take Kirk over any of those?

Teal, Bessio, Drake Baldwin. I think I'd take Bessio over him for sure. And then Teal and Baldwin is a probably a coin flip. I think it's fine to have Kirk ahead of both of those guys. But Baldwin, I mean, if the playing time becomes more consistent, I think it's better. It's just he's back to being very much in an even split. Yeah. Next up, Jorge Polanco, three for four with his 20th home run for RBI.

And he had a really strong July, has regressed again here in August. just a really weird season for Jorge Polanco. His OPS by month, 1284 in April, 413 in May, 582 in June, 888 in July, now 653 here in August. He also has sat out four of the past 10 games. So at 59% rostered, I might even say that's a little bit too high for Jorge Polanco. Yeah, I mean, look, if you had told us before the season, hey, Jorge Palanco is going to hit 250 with 25 homers and 70 RBI.

and, you know, close to 10 steals and a high 700s, we would have taken that. We would have been pretty happy about that. But in practice, it's one of those ones where the overall numbers might tell a different story than the effect of actually having him on your roster. Yep. Big game for Andres Jimenez, two for three with a sock and a shoe, his sixth home run, his 12th steal, 13 games since returning in August, hitting 229, one homer, two steals. He's only hitting 220, but his XBA is 263.

I feel like he's been pretty unlucky all season. We also know who Andres Jimenez is. 34% rostered. Does that number need to be higher, Chris? I don't think so. I think I picked him up in our Memorial Magazine League this week because... He's only in Roto, yeah. Yeah, 12-team Roto as a middle infielder.

I lost Jordan Westberg, so I just needed someone who was going to play, and that's Andres Jimenez, so... And that is battle right now. That is. You and me and four. first place. You've, were you doing that well for a while? I feel like it's been a recent come up. Yeah, I was kind of in second, third place for a while there, but it's kind of just shot up here. So, uh, and it's really close. This is all throughout, right? Like, I'm in first place in this league.

This was for people wondering, we did a live auction before the season. Uh, and that's a league that we play out. It's the Memorial Magazine 12 Team Rotel League. I'm in first with 84 and a half points. Chris is in second with 81.5 points. I think five teams legitimately still have a chance. Because the top five are all 74.5 or better. There's only nine standings points separating. So it's going to be a fun one. Oh, yeah.

Next up, Matt Walner, two for four with a double dong three RBI. And he's just doing what he does here in the second half. 233, nine homers, nine 64 OPS. He's 23% rostered Matt Walner. It's, you know, 15 team leagues. If you need power, sure. But he also just has 32 RBI with 19 home runs. So I don't know.

He gets a lead off a lot, right? I don't know how useful Matt Walner actually is. It's just, do you need power right now or not? If you do, add Matt Walner. If not, don't add Mad Walner. That's, we have a very good sense for what Matt Walner is. And he's a very low on base percent or very low batting. average high power guy who doesn't do a lot else and you need to know if you can spare the batting

average or if you just don't care about batting average because you're just chasing other categories. And if that's the case, he's going to hit for power. You know, he gets hot. He's one of those guys. I mentioned with Vientos too where, I mean, Matt Wallner wouldn't surprise me if he just gets hot the rest of the season. He could hit 10 home runs from today on, from August 26th on. He is that type of power bat. He hasn't been leading off, but he's been batting clean up consistently against right-handed pitching. And his playing time, he has started four of the past seven against lefties, but just one of their last four. So it's kind of back in July, early August, he was playing against some lefties, but not as much lately there for Matt Walner.

Not really somebody I think you should add, but I just wanted to bring his name up and have a quick conversation about this. What happened to Logan O'Hoppy this season? Because early on, he was great. first 50 games, 264, 14 home runs, 816 OPS. Since the start of June, his next 50 games, 191, 5 homers, a sub 550 OPS. And his strikeout rate is actually lower now than it was in his first 50 games, and he's still hitting the ball really hard. So it's just funny the way that baseball works, I guess, but what do you make of this season here from Logan O'Hopi?

It's a weird one. Yeah, I mean, he's doing. some things well. Hitting the ball hard and hitting the ball in the air to the pull side, 23% pulled air rate with the raw power that he has. You would think that at the very least, he'd be a very viable, you know, kind of all or nothing power hitter at catcher,

which at least as a number two option is fine, but he hasn't even been that for really the last two and a half months since the start of June. He's got five homers. So I think his poor plate discipline has really caught up to him. You know, he's a guy who's got, you can live with a lot of chase if you make a lot of contact. That's kind of the Augustine Ramirez approach. Or you can live with some contact issues if you've got a really good approach at the plate.

You make the right swing decisions, which Cow rally is the guy I'm thinking of, but that's not very helpful as a comp for anyone. But Logan a Hoppy is one of those guys who does both poorly. And so that's where it's really, really hard to overcome. So I think that kind of explains the Logan a Hoppy thing. And look, in a different world, in a different season, he might be, you know, still a top 15-ish catcher. But with the way that position's gone this season, there's just there's no real need to use him outside of, deep two catcher leagues.

Let's take our final break when we return. I have a few waiver wire pitchers here. Where are we at on Jacob de Grom and Bryce Miller? We'll look into the crystal ball for next season, and we'll do all of that right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. I have three other Waver Wire pitchers I wanted to mention, and really in different sized leagues, right?

One in a shallower league, one in medium-sized leagues, and one in much deeper leagues. Jose Soriano finished one out short of a quality. start here at the Rangers. Five and two-thirds shutout, had six strikeouts to one walk. Changed up his pitch mix in this one, you know, mixed in other pitches, the splitter, the four-scene

fastball, not usually things that we see from Soriano. He's just so maddeningly inconsistent, man. Five plus earn runs and seven different starts this season. He's capable. There's talent. It's just, again, lots of inconsistency with

Jose Soriano. Shane Smith, a great outing against the Royals, seven shutout, one hit, one walk with three strikeouts here. Five starts since returning from the IL, 263 ERA, with a 0.99 whip for Shane Smith. And Johan Oviedo looked good in an abbreviated start here at the Cardinals, four innings, one run, five strikeouts to one walk. I'm not exactly sure why his pitch count went from 75 in his last outing down to just 53 in this one. But he's looked pretty good. I think there's some talent there.

We saw that a couple years ago as well. But one shallow, one medium, one deeper league. Chris, any thoughts, any excitement for Soriano, Shane Smith, or Johann Oviedo? Seeing as these are all two-star pitchers this week, I feel like there's not much reason for any of them to be more rostered than they are. Soriano next week gets the athletics at home. That's an okay matchup. They miss a lot of bats, but it's Jose Soriano. that there's really no, there's no saying what the next start is going to look like.

As you pointed out, it's just been maddeningly inconsistent. And I'm kind of done, you know, I've talked a lot about like Kevin Gosman with this, where every time he has a good start, there's kind of this like, uh-oh, it's Kevin Gosman. And it's like, no, he's, he is what he is now. And it's a high three ZERA. But that's kind of how I feel about Jose Soriano, where. it's not that he's bad necessarily. It's just that he's so obviously limited by his inconsistency. Shane Smith's one-star pitcher next week against the twins.

That's okay. As a smart maybe, at points? Yeah, as a spark, maybe, but we'll have to see what the two-star options look like. I think Ian Seymour's probably only going to be a one-start option, but maybe if they push him back, he could be a two-start option next week. So I would say you're interested in Shane. Smith and Yonovieto especially should mostly depend on what the schedule looks like next week for them all right where are we at on these two starting pitchers jacob de graham solid against the

angels it was his first start since being pushed back with that shoulder fatigue five innings two runs allowed seven strikeouts had 15 whiffs on 90 pitches velocity was fine in fact the slider velocity was up 2.2 miles per hour i'm not exactly sure that's what we want from jacob de graham at this point in the season. But he, the innings are climbing. He's up to 145 in a third his most since 2019. And if you just look at his yearly season log, I mean, last year it was 10 and two-thirds innings. The year before that, 30 and a third. So it would make sense that, yeah, Jacob de Grom is starting to get fatigued and worn down. He has thrown a lot of innings this season, something he hasn't done in a while. And Bryce Miller, not great in his second start,

here against the Padres, five innings, four runs, four strikeouts to one walk, still had 14 whiffs on 81 pitches. Very similar to his last start. He got the whiffs, velocity was up, but just giving up a ton of hard contact, gave up three home runs in this game. We just need to see more if we're going to have any confidence in starting Bryce Miller. Yeah, I think you could actually probably just drop Bryce Miller. We'll see how the start against Cleveland goes later this week if you're in a weekly league.

but I was open to the idea of Bryce Miller coming back from the aisle and figuring it out because of the velocity being up. But the results weren't good on his rehab start. They weren't terrible, but it was an inflated ERA, a lot of hard contact. And that's been the issue through two starts as well. And he's pitching through bonespurse in his elbow. So even if he's feeling okay, even if the velocity's up, the command has not been there. He's getting hit hard. I was interested in seeing what it looked like.

It hasn't looked very good. So I don't think 79% rostered is, I think that's probably a little too high. And if you see one of those other interesting options on the waiver wire this week, go ahead and drop Bryce Miller for them. I think that's fine. It seems like he's going to have to have surgery on his elbow in the off season. It probably won't be major surgery. But that's kind of enough to say, yeah, if it's not going well right now, I think we can just drop him.

And then DeGrom, yeah, if he's slowing down a little bit, you know, he got pushed back a few days with that shoulder soreness. And, you know, last eight starts, ERA, entering this start was 420. Two home runs per nine, that's bad. 30% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate. So mostly seems like it was a home run issue. He wasn't commanding as well. There's a really good piece on pitcher list. I think yesterday or today about that.

That's worth checking out. I think Jacob deGrom is still absolutely a must-star pitcher. He's clearly also not quite Jacob deGrom from the old days, and that's fine. 2026 value is going to be really interesting to figure out for Jacob deGrom coming off a massive bump innings, but also the first time he's shown he can stay healthy. still looks really good, still probably looks like a top 12 starting pitcher. I have no idea what to do with him for 2026.

You and me both, man. Look, I am rooting for Jacob de Grom from afar, depending on what the ADP is. Maybe I could be in. I think there will always be people that will talk themselves into Jacob de Grom because he is one of the most exciting pitchers of this generation. And again, from afar, I'm rooting for him

because I want him to kind of extend his career and have a real chance. at the Hall of Fame because I think he deserves that with as dominant as he was. But yeah, again, it's probably going to be on someone else's team unless we get some unforeseen discount on Jacob de Grohl. He was a top 12 starting pitcher in ADP this season. Was he really well?

In NFBC ADP, yeah. He was number 14 at pitcher and that was with Emmanuel Class A and Devin Williams going ahead of him. Not a great year for elite relief pitchers. No. And, oh, no, he was 11, because that's including Shoyatani, and he was not actually a pitcher. You know what? I mean, even this season, I'm looking at the player Raider now on Fangraphs. I would guess he's around top 12. He's the 11th best starting pitcher.

Yeah. So. And you look at guys ahead of him, he's going to probably end up out earning Zach Wheeler over the final month. Definitely Logan Gilbert. Definitely Corbyn Burns. Definitely Chris Sale. Definitely Cole Regans. Definitely Devin Seas. or Dillen sees, definitely Blake Snell. Among the pitchers who were drafted in the top 12,

it's only Paul Skeen's Terrick's Gubble and Garrett Crochet you'd rather have than David Jacob de Grom, which is pretty interesting. It's not like it's been a must, like a best case scenario for him, but that's still pretty good. A couple of rough pitcher outings here on Monday night. We'll just quickly move through some of these,

trying to figure out what to do with these names. But Tanner Bybee, another bad start, this time against the Tampa Bay Rays. five runs allowed over six innings, two homers allowed in this one. His velocity was down a little bit, and he has now allowed four plus earned runs in eight of his last 12 outings. Still 87% rostered, but you think he's all right to go, Tanner Bybee. Just drop him. Yeah, I, we haven't, there's been nothing this season.

Yeah, I mean, drop him for Sheet in and Slitler and all these guys. Any streamer for next week, I have to imagine I'm going to have more confidence than with Tanner Bybee, who has not out and strikeouts at all this season. Command has not been where it needs to be, and he's getting hit hard. I just don't see any reason right now for optimism with Tanner Bybee. Somebody you are not dropping or even sitting is Joe Ryan, who had a rough one at the Blue Jays,

five innings, six runs allowed, two homers allowed in this one. His first start with multiple homers allowed since April 20th. That's amazing. That is a testament to Joe Ryan because that was a huge problem for him in years past. anything that you saw on this start, Chris, or is it just a rough one for Joe Ryan? Stuff happens, is what I saw. All right, next up, Noah Cameron,

a rough start at the White Sox of all teams, right? They didn't have Colson Montgomery in the lineup. Five innings, six runs allowed, zero walks, zero strikeouts, two homers allowed in this one. Just couldn't generate any whiffs. He had four swinging strikes on 88 pitches. Velocity was down a little bit here.

He mostly has just been good this season, reliable, maybe not going as deep into starts as you want, but look, you can't argue with a 292 ERA and a 109 whip. Not a lot of strikeouts, but it's done a really good job, limiting hard contact. Where do you add on Noah Cameron, Chris? Is he someone that we need to hold on to? I think he's fine. I'm not, like, totally enamored with him as a pitcher or as a talent in the long run.

And he's giving me a little bit of Bowden Francis vibes from last season where you can talk yourself into what he's doing and there was a stretch where Cameron was getting strikeouts in July but that's gone that's completely disappeared his striker rate has completely collapsed in August he has 12 strikeouts and 27 innings now so I think from a long-term perspective no Cameron is not someone to be particularly excited about but

if you've been using him so far I don't see much reason to like freak out and drop him because the results have still been good it's a decent situation let's see what the next matchup is with so many of these guys a lot of it just comes down to what is the next matchup and Sunday versus Detroit

but then next week he gets the twins so I think you probably want him around for next week at least all right next up it turns out that Christopher Sanchez is human He had a bad start at the Mets, five in a third innings, six runs, five of those earned, three walks, four strikeouts. Struggle to throw strikes here, didn't have his changeup working, and obviously that is the bread and butter here for Sanchez. I just chalked this up to, yeah, stuff happens, kind of like Joe Ryan. This is a guy who's earned a lot of benefit of the doubt. All right, next up, Kodi Isanga, another bad start for him, this time against the Phillies, four innings, six hits, three runs, three walks, four strikeouts.

62% of his pitches for strikes is a little bit low. Fastball guy hit really hard. Eight starts since returning a 540 ERA, a 166 whip. Still 93% roster, Chris. That seems crazy for Kodi-Sanga. I know it's still like a 273 ERA. Yeah. But what have you done for me lately?

Nothing. Literally since June. Kodi Sanga, I don't think, has had a quality start. I'm not sure he's had like a decent start for fantasy in that stretch. Now, the upcoming schedules are, Likely versus Miami. At Cincinnati versus Texas versus Washington is what it looks like. It's not a terrible schedule, but we just have seen nothing from Kodi-Sanga.

He's not getting strikeouts. The command is still. The control is still really bad. He was getting away with it with a lot of weak contact early in the season, but that's gone away. I don't see much reason to keep Kodai Sanger around right now. All right. And last name up is Brandon Woodruff, who had a rough one. against the debacks, five and two-thirds, five runs, eight strikeouts to one walk.

Still some good here, 21 whiffs on 97 pitches. You'll love to see that, but he did give up some hard contact and kind of faltered down the stretch. So there are some questions about just like longevity, how deep he can go into starts and things like that. But the last two have been a little bit rough here. What do you think about Brandon Woodruff? Yeah, this is one. I'm going to go ahead and guess our buddy, Nick Pollock's going to tag this one with the careful Icarus. tag in his roundup tomorrow, which is just when pitchers are left in a little too long. He was cruising through five. I think he had one hit, no earned runs allowed through five innings, had seven strikeouts,

and then it was, I think it was hit, hit by pitch, hit Homer, and then he was pretty much done. So it's not like it was a disaster start despite the line, but I think you start to look at the trend. It's three starts ago. He only throws four innings because he was starting on short rest. And they said, okay, we're not going to do that again. He's going to start on five days rest every time. Well, that inherently limits the value moving forward. And then last week he's bad. This week he pitches really well and then runs out of steam. And it's like, is this guy just a five and dive guy now? Is it just give us your best 80 pitches and we're going to pull you out when that happens? That might be what we're looking at. Look, still 19

whiffs in this one. Fastballs were still really good. I don't want to give up entirely, but it looked like Brandon Woodruff might carry you to a championship single-handedly in his first six starts back. Now it feels more like he might

just be present for a championship if you get my drift. It feels to me a little bit like Drew Rasmussen with more strikeout upside for Brandon Woodruff, which again, that you know, that could be like a borderline top 40 starting pitch. I think I have Rasperson right around there and, you know, Woodruff is in the 30 to 35 range.

So I think he'll still, you know, have his spots where he can be valuable, but, you know, points leagues. Yeah, more valuable and right of than points for sure. You know, you need quality starts and things like that. You know, perhaps we shouldn't be relying on Brandon Woodruff to provide that. Let's take a peek into the crystal ball here. And just a guess, it's August 26th. Let's have a little bit of fun. What round do these players go in next year?

12 team leagues and up first, Junior Caminero. He will not stop. Four for five with two socks in a shoe, two homers and a steal in this game. He has four home runs in his past three games. He is up to 39 homers. That is the most homers by an age 21 season, in an age 21 season by a Dominican-born player, breaking Albert Poulos's record of 37.

So, I mean, just to give you an idea of some of the names, the history that is just being thrown out with what Camerro is doing right now, he's been incredible, Chris. The crystal ball. What round do you think he might wind up in next season? Second or third? I think in like the Manny Machado,

like where Manny Machado, Austin Riley, and Raphael Devers have been over the past like three or four seasons, which is always like two, three turn-ish. I think that's probably it. You're hoping for growth in batting average next season. He's been okay there, but not super impactful. Strike rate's not bad. It's 20%.

So you can imagine some growth there. And obviously the power is super, super legit. So I think anywhere outside of the top 20 will probably be fine. I think the second round for sure. I think it might be closer to like the one-two turn than the two-three turn, but... Maybe. You know, we are quibbling, and it's very early. Zach Netto, two-for-four with his 22nd home run.

He's having his best power month yet. Seven homers, 541 slug in August. He's got 22 homers, 23 steals, 800 OPS. We were worried about the shoulder coming in, Chris, but obviously there are no concerns. He's not done this two years in a row. What do you think about Zach Netto? Where might he wind up next season? Eyeballing it, I think you're looking at a top.

10 shortstop at least which probably puts him fifth round I was thinking like third or fourth maybe yeah I think that would you rather have him or C.J. Abrams That is really really close

I think I would lean with Abrams but it's yeah I think they'll probably go right next to each other to be honest. Abrams is probably going to end up with a better season than last year and I think the skill indicators are better than they were last year. He's cut his strikeout rate, batting average looks better, power looks a little better as well. I think there's a lot to like there, and he was right around 50 in ADP last season. So I think that's probably right around where he goes.

You'd probably take him over O'Neill Cruz, I think. But then everyone else who went above him last year, or everyone else in the top, 10 last year probably remains there. So I think a 4-5 turn for Zach Netto just eyeballing it. Yeah, that might sound, that sounds pretty good to me. Edward Cabrera bounced back with one of his best starts of the season this time against the Braves, 7 shutout, one hit, two Hawks, 10 strikeouts, had 14 whiffs on 100 pitches, his third start with double-digit strikeouts, and a nice bounce back after

allowing nine earn runs in his previous two before this one. really, really interesting name in Edward Cabrera. I mean, it might be easier to talk about from like what SP range does he go. Yeah. I kind of feel like maybe 25 to 30.

Is that too low? Maybe he's a low in SP2, like 20 to 25? I was thinking in terms of comps, Hunter Brown last season. Now Hunter Brown has obviously blown away his 80P, but he was SP 28. Okay. in ADP last season.

Very similar skill sets. Good, but not necessarily elite strikeout rates. It's probably around Pick 100, right? Something like that? Yeah, right over the 99. So I think that's probably he's got to finish it off. But I think the Hunter Brown comp makes a lot of sense. Similar turnaround time frame.

Brown didn't have quite the history of being bad that Edward Cabrera did. Well, let's not forget the first. two months of last season. Oh yeah, no, I know. He was, but Cabrera's been bad for years. Right. And, you know. And so I think, man, that's not where I thought it was going to go when I first thought about it. But yeah, I think right around 100, SP30-ish makes sense for Edward Cabrera right now. He's got to finish it off. Yep. Cowell-Rolley, the big dumper went boom. Once again, 50 home runs now on the season. Three homers in his.

his past two games. What do you think? What round for Cal Raleigh next year? Second. I don't think it can be first. Somebody might do it. But yeah, maybe it should be. I don't know.

It's just such a clear outlier, right? Yeah. But it's just... But here's the thing. Cow Raleigh has 50 homers and 14 steals. Crazy. Just crazy. he's on pace to finish with 60

take 20 homers off and you're still talking about a 40 homer 10 steel catcher that's a second round pick right at least second I mean what I'm wrestling with in my mind is will there be one person in every draft that thinks Cal Raleigh is a first round pick

there might yeah there might be it probably won't be me I mean, you look at, it's so hard to make the comp because Salvador Perez was 31 when he had that 48 homer season and Cowrally's going to be 29 next year. Very different workload situations over the years. Although then you have to keep in mind as good as Salvador Perez was in 2021. Remember, he was even better in 2020. It was just that shortened season.

So we got a glimpse of that. I'm going to say second round. I think so, too. There's enough power speed guys to. fill up the first two rounds. First round in a 15-team league is probably fine. Shea Bangaliers. He hit a 450-foot grand slam off of Terrick Scuba.

Are you kidding me? That now makes 11 home runs in August. 18 since the start of July. Has 29 home runs overall on the season. Five steals, 8.52 OPS. I am dubbing him the mini-dumper, Shea-Langal-Ears. What do you think about him?

Where might he wind up in drafts next season? Yeah, I mean, he's basically having Cow Rally season from last year and the year before, except... That's a good copy. Yeah, where did Raleigh go entering this year? 85. Langlars has a better batting average, but much lower RBI. I remember Cow Rally was coming off on his own right, a hundred RBI season in 2024. So I would think maybe the number three or four,

catcher, uh, I mean, maybe number two. And there's just a huge gap between number one and number two. Yeah. It could be like a sixth or seventh round pick. Yeah.

That, that's, I think that's where we, the problem is if catcher really is as deep as we think it is, do we also take a little bit of the inflation out? Just push them all down a little bit. Well, yeah, because coming into the season,

you had willing to Taurus at 25, yiner DS 60, Adley Rutchman 61, Wilson Contreras, 73, Salvador Perez, 74, Cow Rally 86. First of all, five people made a mistake. But second, like, if we think there are 15 legitimate, I would say 15 catchers who matter for fantasy, even if you don't need to start a catcher, which might be the case, do those 15 all go in the top 170 in a two-catcher league? or 150, but we don't need to push guys into the sixth, fifth round.

That might be the case. I think right now I'm leaning like number three catcher off the board, probably behind Cal Rally and Will Smith, who's just been remarkable and might win the batting title. And probably in like the sixth, seventh round range. Yeah. I think in two catcher leagues, he'll probably still go around there. In one catcher leagues, maybe it gets pushed down a little bit,

Maybe it's more like a ninth or tenth round pick, something like that for for Shea Langalears. Roman Anthony, we spoke about this last week. He hit another home run, 107.2 exit velocity, 410 feet, has four homers in his past 13 games. I think where we settled last week was like third or fourth round, I think, for Roman Antony. Yeah? Yeah, I mean, the problem is all the young outfielders that we got so excited about last year, Jackson Churio, Jackson Merrill, a little lower down, Wyatt Langford, James Wood, even Lawrence Butler, who was 5-6 turn,

they all steal bases. And Roman Anthony doesn't really have that skill. What's he got, like four? He has four, yeah. Yeah. And he only had three in the minors. He had 21 last year, but with only seven in, you know, 120 games so far, I think you can, you know,

not expect him to be much of a base stealer, maybe a 10th steel guy. So he really does have to be a very, very good hitter, but then you compare him to Jackson Turyo, Jackson Merrill, all those dudes. Groman Anthony might be the most talented hitter of that group, or at least the one. It's a different player. It's a different skill set. Yeah.

So I think three, four turn probably makes the most sense. Yeah. And last name here, Spencer Shrider. Of course, one of the easiest names to talk about right now. He bounced back with a quality start at the Marlins. Seven innings, one run, three strikeouts, had ten wifts. on 95 pitches. Still allowed a lot of hard contact.

He did move away from the fastball. I thought that was a good idea here for Spencer Strider. It's a nice result, but some of the underlying stuff here still not looking great. I mean, what do you think about this start and where Strider could wind up next year? Eyeballing last year's rankings, I think right around 36 makes sense. Sandy O'Connor was SP36 and ADP before the season. Jack Flaherty was in that range. Carlos Rodon was in that range.

range. Kodesa Senga was in that range. A lot of guys, like different ways, but very different, very different questions, but I think that's probably the right balance of upside and what we're currently seeing is the downside. I hope another year, another full offseason, a normal offseason can do him good and he comes back and he's averaging, you know, 96, 97 rather than 95, 96 next spring, but yeah, I don't have a lot. I can't say I have any confidence in it. It's just what if he does figure it out? Like, you know who a good comp for him might be is Robbie Ray coming into last season? And that's one that worked out really well. So that's, and he was SP 35 in ADP. All right. Let's wrap up here with some leftovers. On the hitting side,

Ben Rice hit another homer, one for three with two walks in his 21st home run. has five homers in his past 13 games and has started 17 of the past 18 for the Yankees. Jazz Chisholm picking things back up, one for three with his 25th homer. Last 13 for Jazz 262, six homers, eight steals. OPS around 1100 during that span. Brian Reynolds looks like he might be back. Two for five with his 14th homer. In August, he's hitting 310 with four homers, 10 doubles, a 961 OPS.

That comes after a 486 OPS. in July. So, yes, a much better balance back here, nearly doubling his OPS month over month. Alec Berlison had a big game four for five with his 16th home run. Andy Paez is a big game, two for three with a double dong four RBI, 93% roster. Maybe let's, let's hold on to Andy Paas for now. He's picking things back up. And Moogie Betts has been hitting for batting average for a while now, but we just need more power. Last 25 games, she's hitting 297. But four homers. two steals, 750-ish OPS.

It's okay. It's just, it's still not Moogie. Anything to add on these names? One with regards to Mooki, I don't think the MVP version of him's ever coming back. I know we've said that many times. He's 32 years old. I'm not ready to say that declaratively yet.

I think if we get an offseason of him getting away from that illness that kind of messed him up earlier on in the year. Maybe. Maybe again. I don't know. The one thing I will say, though, is over his last 50 plate appearances or so, um, his ex-Woba is up to like 370 or something. And that's not an incredible mark, but it's good enough for a guy with his back control and, uh, pull air power. So I think Mookie Betts is going to be fine moving forward. I do, the key question for Brian Reynolds when we're talking about 2026 is, uh,

where do we think he gets traded to? So I think that's going to play a big role in how we feel about Brian Reynolds. You think the Yankees might get in on that if he's on the market. He's almost certainly going to be on the market. The problem with Brian Reynolds is he's a terrible fielder. And they already have five DHS on their team. So I mean, they've kind of been linked to him for a while now. But I could see the Giants going for it.

I think we're going to see him transition into first base. Yeah, I could see the Giants going forward, although that wouldn't work if he's transitioning to first base. And obviously that would be a horrible landing spot. I think where Brian Reynolds ends up is going to play a big role in how we feel about him. Next year, I think he's fine, but probably not the top 100 guy he's been for a while. Some pitching leftovers, Max Scherzer was cruising until the sixth inning against the Twins. He wound up allowing four runs over six with five strikeouts. Two homers allowed in this one that ends his streak of quality starts at five.

Hunter Green struggled a little bit here at the Dodgers. Five innings, five runs, three of those earned. with three strikeouts, still had 17 whiffs on 99 pitches, velocity up in this one for both guys. I think both Hunter Green and Emmett Sheehan were really kind of jacked up for this start because velocity up on both sides of that one. And Terrick Scouble cruising until the seventh inning and then just kind of fell apart.

There were some bad defense behind him. He gave up a grand slam to Shay Langaleers. He gave up six runs, only one of those was earned. He also had 12 strikeouts to zero walks. I don't know what you're talking about. Six and two-thirds innings, one earned run, 12 strikeouts. It was an incredible start. One of the best starts of Terrick Scoobel's season.

He was amazing early on. And then it's just like, what happened in the seventh? It was crazy. He's the best pitcher in baseball. Zero concerns. I remain a little more iffy on Max Scher than certainly last time you Scott and I were on. We talked about him. I think I'm a little ifier on the skill set than you guys.

I think he's fine. I just, I don't think he's much more than fine at this point in his career. Look, being able to pitch competently as a 41-year-old or whatever he is, that's impressive. That's incredible. I just, I don't know if he's much more than competent. All right, some bullpen updates here. The call to the bullpen for the Red Sox,

A Rollis Chapman tossed a clean ninth inning for his 25th save. For the Marlins, Calvin Foshae, got the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up a solo homer but picked up his 12th save. The Marlins do not have a closer and they never will ever again. For the Brewers, Trevor McGill was unavailable. Abner Arebe picked up his third save. For the Cardinals, Jojo Romero started the eighth with a one-run lead. He allowed two base runners and then Riley O'Brien came on for a five-out save.

He did get out of the eighth and then gave up a game-time homer in the ninth. But he wound up with the win because for the pirates, Dennis Santana gave up a walk-off solo homer to Alec Berluson. he took his fifth loss of the season. To stream or not to stream on Tuesday, we have Parker Messick up against the Rays. Kyle Bradish in his season debut against the Red Sox, Bailey Ober at the Blue Jays.

Anybody else here? Andre Palante against the Pirates, Verlander against the Cubs, Charlie Morton at the Athletics. Morton's a high risk, high reward one. He could strike out eight. He could give up eight runs. I think Messick's my favorite of this group.

Ober's probably second and then Cowbratch I don't want to start him but that's definitely going to be the game I'm tuning into for sure Yeah I think I would go with Messick first as well and then Morton

and then Ober but yeah there is a lot of volatility with I guess all of them just because we haven't really seen Messick pitch very much but especially so for Morton and Billy Ober there And then on Wednesday we had Cade Cavalty at the Yankees Slade Sacconi is facing the raise.

We have Joey Wentz at the Marlins, U. Darvish at the Mariners, Ryan Bergert is at the White Sox, Colin Ray at the Giants, Luis Morales against the Tigers. I think U.Darvish at Seattle is by far my favorite. I actually think that's a good start, which I don't say often.

Then I like Ryan Bergert against the White Sox and that's probably it. Watch Carson Wisenhunt, watch Luis Morales, but I don't think I trust them. Yeah, I would agree with Darvish and Bergert. If you really need one, I like what we've seen from Luis Morales. I think that could work.

Cavali's pitched well. I don't want to throw him in Yankee Stadium. That's really risky, yeah. But if he pitches well there, then he might be someone that, you know, trust is a strong word, but we would be moving in that direction. with Kate Cavali.

Let's say that. Let's wrap up here with some team name Tuesday. These are from Dave Ashcraft Ketchum. It's pretty good. Cole Rayguns. Yep.

Classic. Set the bar low. Sure. Cruising down the holiday hills. Sure. Tay Oscar goes to. Yep. Young, Wild, and Freed.

Sure. Nakeasy beer? What is that? I feel like there is a beer brand, but I don't. There's like a hazy in there. Yeah. Oh, okay, maybe that's it. I guess it's, just like a hazy IP and a

Casey IPA. Seth Beer, is that what we're doing there? Sure. All right. Uh, Burger King. Sure. Yeah. Burger over rice. Yep. Burger with Kobe and Mayo. Sure. Kings of DeLeon. Yeah. And rushing hour. Absolutely. These are from Andrew, rainy Weathers with Augusto Wind. Yeah.

You're not the boss of me. Yeah Light Tawa Pawa Sure What does a Jock Pirates say YAR

Bro Yeah I like that one I like that one's good These are from Ralph And they are band names So here you go Chris Arcade Spires Yep that's a good one

Teenage Fam Club Sure Albi is on the radio Okay Yeah Guided by Royces That's very good Smashing Trompkins

Yep And ginkubis Solid These are from Ryan Julianned veggies I hate I hate chopping things In a Julianne style

That's the worst I don't not have the patience for that That's like really really thin Oh yeah Yeah You could tell I'm not a culinary Master by any means Yeah you know like

When you get like little potato sticks You know those Like a little fried potato sticks you put on like a burger or something, that's what a Julian is. It's a pain. Interesting. Robles cost me one million rubles.

Rubles? Yeah. Okay. All right. And Mr. McLean. Yeah. From Chris, from the naked gun.

Nice Bieber. I don't quite get the reference, but I like that. Man, it's been a long time since I've seen naked gun. I've heard the new ones great, but I have not had the chance to see it yet. Yeah.

Liam Neeson, that looks pretty good. And from long name Larry. All right, here we go. This is like a whole sentence. Between's doing choreos and working overtime. It's Veen along Days Bowl and I'm Tuckered Outman. Yeah. What is going? That is one that Scott's eyes would have just rolled all the way into the back of his head

if he was here. Scott doesn't have the Joie de Vieve to get through the team name Tuesday segment, you know. There's a little too much of a grouch. Yeah. All right. Well, that's a good thing you're here, Chris, because a lot of these are right up your alley. We are going to wrap there for 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. Mount Podcasts.