Fantasy Baseball Today - Ranking Waiver Wire Pitchers, Mason Miller's Debut & a Dynasty Buy (4/20 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 20, 2023

Shout out to Scott White because Johan Oviedo was great again (1:15). ... Is Brandon Pfaadt coming soon (5:30)? ... Luis Garcia was tremendous for the Astros (10:25). ... Let's rank waiver wire pitchers (16:31). ... What happened in Mason Miller's debut (19:20)? ... What about these less exciting pitchers (27:43)? ... News (30:10): Max Scherzer was ejected because of a sticky substance on his hands. ... Who are the latest waiver wire hitters available (39:45)? ... Should you look to buy this player in dynasty (48:15)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (51:08). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  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, @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/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 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 lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. What's up and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday. April 20th, Frank Stamphill, joined by the Chris's Towers and the Welsh.

Today on the show, we're going to recap all of Wednesdays. action, more waiver wire pitchers will break down Mason Miller's debut and much more. Before we get started, please like this video and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating. Really appreciate it and it helps a lot.

Let's jump right in, Players of the Night. My, oh my, from the legendary Mariners broadcaster, David Nehouse. And with that, Towers will start with you. Oh my goodness gracious, Player of the Night. Scott White, who said to start Johan Oviedo at Corse Field. I would not have done that. And Scott turns out to be correct. Johano Vieto had an excellent start on Wednesday.

Now, it's Wednesday, right? I always forget my schedule is weird. Sure. Six strikeouts, one earn run, three hits allowed with three walks, only three hard hit balls in this outing. 13 swinging strikes on 84 pitches. 10 of those, of course, coming on his slider. it's a really, really good pitch.

It's been really, really effective for him. I still have my concerns about how sustainable Johan Oviedo's performance is so far, because I'm not sure, even with a fastball that averages 97 miles per hour. I don't know how good any of his other pitches are beyond the slider, but the results have been excellent. He solved Corse Field. I do think it's worth pointing out just as a general rule that coursefield is such a weird environment. that like good or bad,

I don't ever know how much you can really take from a start there just because it's so different than any other place. And it's like, it's sort of random when pitchers do well, but he did well, you know, and that's continuing a trend for Johanaviedo. It's been a very impressive little run so far for him. And yeah, I, I, has to be, I think, 100% rostered at this point.

Johan Oviedo currently 66% rostered. He is a SPARP on CBS. So he has RP eligibility for those who play in points leagues. And you can beat the waiver wire by adding him now because it looks like he does have two starts next week. Up against the Dodgers, another test, and at the Washington National. So kind of has those Jekyll and Hyde matchups going on for next week.

I'll save the comparisons for later because I have a bunch of other pitchers I want to talk about as well. And we'll compare Oviato to Mackenzie Gore and Kyle Bradish and Mason Miller as well. We'll save that for just a little bit. but yes, Johan Oviedo has looked really, really good so far.

Awesome slider. Strikeouts have been there, keeping the walks down. And the pirates are actually, the pirates are actually hitting the ball so far. So yeah, getting some run support too. We'll point out,

he's had the one huge strikeout game, the 10 strikeout game, very impressive against the Cardinals. I don't want to take away from it. Strikeouts haven't been quite there. The other four or other three starts, it's been four, five, and six,

15 strikeouts and 17 in the third inning. So, you know, just, Something to keep in mind, we're dealing with very small sample sizes. We're dealing with a guy who has never performed anywhere close to this level as a full-time starter. So, you know, we'll see. But it's been very, very impressive so far. You know what I'm curious about when I think of like Oviedo, when you said he's a must start?

I must want to take like, who are all the like really bad teams overall that are going to just struggle with wins? And like how many must-start pitchers exist out of all of those guys? So it's like the A's, none. I mean, there could be an argument. Do you want to put the pirates in there? You're saying Oviedo. What are the other like really bad teams? The Tigers?

Is there, is Eduardo Rodriguez a must? I don't think he's a must roster now. Okay, so what's another, what's another like trash team? I don't know if you put the Reds in there. Royals, I don't think the Royals have one. Nationals. Nationals. I can't, the Gore may.

So I mean, like what I'm saying is. Gray are in interesting, but I don't know. Certainly not must start for Gore and Gray. So is Oviedo, the number one bad. team pitcher is what you're saying? Hunter Green and Nicodolo. Yeah. Are in that conversation.

Okay. If you're putting the reds in there. You know, yeah, I think those are probably the, the other best options. It depends how you feel about like, I think the white socks are better than they've been so far, but, you know. They've also got a better offense. Like I kind of look at it as like not just bad pitching staffs,

but like just bad offensive support that's kind of around them and tools. So. Well, then the Marlins in that. in that category too. Yeah. Yeah. We're not going to put Sandale Ocontra quite in that territory. Yeah.

He is going to be excluded. So it's like Oviato is in a small group of what we would probably typically not suggest to people like, you know, pitchers on bad teams. That's right. Welsh, oh my goodness gracious for you. You're actually going down a different path here. Who do you have? Oh, my.

Madison Bumgarner. How are you still here? Oh, my. You know what? Nothing is surprising of what happened with Madison Bumgarner. except that he's still pitching. That's about it. So, oh, my goodness gracious,

how do the Diamondbacks continuously let this happen? How do they let him give up all those runs? You know what's awesome too? He started the game. Madison Bumgarner started the game. Two relief pitchers on the Diamondbacks ended up having more swinging whiffs,

more whiffs than Madison Bumgarner actually had in this game. He looked as bad as he always does. He had four total whiffs on 34 swing pitch. And 80 total pitches were in there. It's garbage. The fastball, not good. Curveball, not good.

Every pitch, not good. And it just comes to, like, it comes to a head. And finally what you're seeing can let you guys know, some of the Diamondbacks radio personalities that are around here that, yeah, I would call them like, they're fed. They're fed from the, you know, when the team and people start to give them information, when they speak, it's because team personnel are starting to tell them. And one of these guys, John Gambadoro, said there is no chance under any circumstance

Madison Baumgartner pitches this next game, whether it's a ghost injury or they completely cut it off. Also, he had that little incident with Contreras. He's just such, he's just, he is such a cancer to baseball right now. I want him to go away and this team and a Diamondbacks team, as we've all said this and does not say anything new here, but if they take themselves seriously to be winners, there's no chance that this guy can continuously go out there while Brandon Fott, too, of the whole thing, you know, long term about him, but it's interesting. His stuff plus numbers haven't been great so far in the minors. I was looking at, you know, Cyrus's stuff plus, but no pitcher had better stuff plus that went

into the 80 pitch range. It's just very interesting. All of the pitches in high stuff plus numbers are guys that go about 50 pitches per game. Brandon Fott is averaging 87 pitches a game. Guess what? 87 Brandon Fought pitches, whatever he does, is better than Madison. bum garner. So why he's there, I will not understand. Oh my goodness. You're muted, though, Towers. And the way his contract is set up, he's due $23 million this year. Then it drops to $14 million.

And that's a lot of money. You know, the Diamondbacks aren't the Red Sox or the Yankees. But like the fact that that contract was front loaded, it probably makes it a lot easier to get out of. I would be shocked if they cut him right now. But you don't. not take a bullpen roll. And it's a clear cut that he will not take a bull. There's no chance he's going to take a bullpen roll. The best way that this can happen, and this is what they should do, is they've got to phantom injury him. There's just no other way around it because he's going to be a huge distraction to the team. And, you know, the positive that they've had going for themselves this entire time is that Brandon fought not only in the minors. It's very funny. I actually spoke to

Brandon fought one day where he was piggybacking Madison Bumgarner that day during a spring training. and that has continued in on the season, where he is kind of the same schedule as Madison Baumgartner, probably not a super crazy thing that the Diamondbacks did here. So the expectation is, this has got to be the last straw. Literally the only thing that anybody can clamor towards is the money. And at some point, winning teams have to look past the money just a tiny bit,

especially when that person is causing, single-handedly causing losses. This is a negative war player. Madison Bumgarner got to go. And Brandon fought. He did get knocked around in his first start at AAA this season, but then he's been much better in the past two. Four and two thirds, one run, five strikeouts. And then his most recent start, five innings, two runs, five strikeouts in that one.

And correct me if I'm wrong, Welsh, but I just checked the Reno box score. And he didn't start on Wednesday night. So I assume he's probably going to start tomorrow on Thursday. Is that it? Yeah, it's funny. While we were doing all this too, I was actually going to the savant leaderboard page to see if he was up on there. And I'm guessing he's going to probably. probably go tomorrow, which, here's something I would watch.

Here's something I would watch if he does pitch tomorrow. Let's see if there's a pitch count. Maybe he's been going 87 pitches a game. What if you see him go 50? That might be calculated and be a little bit of a telling story if the Diamondbacks don't announce something for next week. So Brandon Fott is 39% rostered on CBS right now, and I know that he is in Scott's top five prospects to stash right now,

the top pitcher to stash. So if you're looking for that next guy, we've had so many call-ups already this season. We'll talk about Mason Miller in just a little bit, but Brandon Fott is that next name that you want to stash. Especially if, look, if you're playing a points league, Brandon Fought threw a bunch of endings last year. I think he's someone that if he pitches well,

they're going to let him go six. He's going to give you quality starts. He actually led the minors in strikeouts last season as well. So just so much to like Brandon Fott, make sure to stash him now if you can. Oh my goodness gracious for me is Luis Garcia of the Astros. I know there's like five different Luis Garcia's. But he was off to a slow start,

and we were getting some questions, tweets, people asking, what do we do with Louise Garcia? He's off to a slow start. He's been rock solid in his career. He's not an ace, but he's just like your prototypical SP3, SP4 in the rotation. And he pitches on a really good team. And he was fantastic on Wednesday night. Up against the Blue J's seven shutout with nine strikeouts,

23 swinging strikes on 92 pitches. That is a number we usually see from the likes of Jacob de Grom. 19. 19 of them with his cutter. 19. Raising. 19 quifts on 34 swings. That's a 56% whiff rate.

That is like a 35% swinging strike rate overall. Those have different denominators, which is confusing. What's the highest single pitch? Like, I would love to know, like, what is the highest single pitch in recent history of whiffs? Like a fastball or a curveball. Like, what is the, that's an insane number off of the cutter. That seems like that's got to be near the top. Yeah, that is a tremendous.

And it's always been. A great pitch for Luis Garcia, even entering this start while he's gotten off to, you know, a rough start overall. His cutter this year has a 42% width rate, and it's always been a really good pitch for him. So I don't know if this is something he can maintain throwing that pitch over 50% of the time consistently. But man, using it more, it looks like that could be a recipe for success for him. He kept the walks down in this start, still averaging 10.3K per 9 on the season. And as I mentioned, he's been rock solid. And I think this is just kind of his start to get back on track.

So if you were looking to buy low, I would say that window has probably closed. I don't think you should try and sell based on this. I think you're probably going to wind up getting what you expected out of Luis Garcia. I guess the one caveat with him is coming into the year, he was one of those pitchers that, you know, he had the long delivery and he's rocking back and forth. And I guess we kind of had some question marks about how that would work, because he had to change his delivery this season with the new rules being implemented. Wells, is that something that worries you when it comes to Louise Garcia?

Yeah, I think so. I think like there's a lot of like overall worries with pitchers in general about like the pitch clock adjusting things, not to make it about this, but another one we've kind of seen, maybe like Alec Manoa. We were talking about this today on ITL. He struggled so much. And he was kind of a slow pace of game type of guy. And that maybe comes back to a little bit of a weight question and how he's adjusting in

between. This obviously wasn't that with Luis Garcia. but he had to go from rocking the baby to making quicker pitches and decisions. And it's like we're kind of seeing full throttle. I think that's a worry anybody that has anything unique or on a negative side of unique to moving quickly, that was a worry. And Luis Garcia was the poster child of this. I don't think I actually would have put Alec Manoa in that. So yeah, I was worried about that.

But the adjustments have come and they've come at the expense also of a pitch becoming plus plus at this point. If that whiff rate is going to continue to go on with a cutter, it's going to give him the arsenal and the ability to move through hitters at a degree that really might be a buy at this point. Maybe Luis Garcia can be purchased in the trade market for a little bit less than you would actually think what his production is actually getting you. So you're not looking to sell high, right? I mean, I'm always open to selling high,

but that singular pitch I think is really interesting on a fantastic team for a guy that can go deep into games. And one of the things we kind of like, oh, he's picked at him about was that slow pace and that's kind of change and he's adjusted to it well. So I think it's actually working in his favor. So I'm open to both. If someone wants to give me like, you know, original Luis Garcia price, let's go. If someone wants to overpay because of these big numbers, we're talking about him, I'm probably also listening to that as well. I just think he can overperform what his name brought in in that draft season.

Okay. So I have Louise Garcia ranked at SP 59. Scott has him at SP 53. Chris Towers, you have him down at SP 69. So if anyone's willing to pay like, I don't know. I need to move them up, yeah. Top 50. No, not even like top 45, top 40 value, then okay, maybe look into it.

But that's probably not going to be the case for Luis Garcia. On the other side of that start, I do want to give a shout out to Jose Barrios, who got back on track here. Seven innings, two runs, only three strikeouts going up against Houston. Incredibly efficient. He only needed 77 pitches to get through seven innings against. The Astros lineup, obviously it's not the Astros lineup we're used to, but still had 10 swinging strikes, and he leaned all the way into that slurve that he throws. He threw it 49% of the time, excuse me, and that was only 35% usage entering the start.

And don't look now, but Brios has allowed two earned runs or fewer in back-to-back starts. I don't know that he's quote-unquote back, but these are encouraging signs. So if anyone dropped him, like someone dropped him in my Doubt-Wars League. 12 team head to Points League with Roto-style lineup. So it goes pretty deep. And I actually picked him up. And in Tout Wars,

you pick someone up, you have to start him. So I start them this week. And damn, I feel pretty good what I got from Jose Barrio. So yeah, I think we're kind of building

some momentum with him. Let's talk about some... Unfortunately, I can't find a way to search for the most swings and misses by one pitch type. I was going to give you so much, like, I was a prehist bow.

We're not worthy because I was like, how are you going to find that? I mean, that James Paxton got 25 swings and misses with his fastball in a start back in 2018. So there's a fun fact. Wow. Not really useful, but just impressive. I think it's super impressive.

Someone find that for us. Big Maple coming soon to a Red Sox rotation near you. Maybe not. He pitched in relief today and gave up like five hits in a row. Didn't get an inning. Did he actually? Wow. I didn't.

I always see him in the dugout. I just assume that he is always on the Iel. I didn't even hear that he was back. Well, I would say good for you. It was rehab appearance. Oh, a rehab appearance. Okay.

Even worse. Let's get into those waiver wire pitchers. We mentioned Johann Oviedo already. Let's put them up against some other names that look good. Mackenzie Gore turned in another quality start up against the Orioles, six innings, three runs, seven strikeouts, 18 swinging strikes on 103 pitches. The only issue for Gore recently has been the walks.

Four walks exactly in three of four starts. But I've been pretty impressed by the way. with numbers for him. Kyle Bradish, awesome in his return at the Nationals. Six shutout with six strikeouts there, 11 swinging strikes on 92 pitches. And Griffin Canning, solid once again, at the Yankees, five and a third, two runs, four strikeouts, 14 swinging strikes on 100 pitches. That is a great ratio. He's using a four pitch mix, and he averaged 94.5 miles per hour on his fastball.

That's more than he's ever averaged on the fastball. So I think this is really encouraging stuff. Chris Towers will start with you this time. How would you rank Oviedo, McKenzie Gore, Kyle Braddish, and Griffin Canning? You are muted, sir. I think it's Oviedo at the top, Gore. I'll give Canning a third on that list. And then...

Damn. No love for Kyle Bradish, huh? Yeah, it's... I mean, look, it's a good park. It's a decent situation suddenly, Baltimore. But I don't know if there's a ton of upside there. So I'll go with the other three guys ahead of him. But I'm keeping an eye on him for sure.

You know, the swinging strike rate in this start was pretty good, but not overwhelming. Gore, I really want to believe. But he's just, he's so fastball heavy that I, like, he's so fastball heavy and the control is so middling that like I wonder how sustainable the, the swing and strike rate is. He did get nine swings and misses with the fastball today, which is very impressive for a fastball. But yeah, that's my only concern. It's like what we saw last year,

where even when he was doing well early on, it was just like, how sustainable is this? The walks are still a problem, 16% over the course of his four starts. So I think he's a little behind Oviedo, but I don't want to say there might be more upside there just because Oviedo is showing quite a bit of upsides.

side here, but I do think Gore has a path to having something click and turning into a really, really good pitcher. Braddish is another beat the Waver Wire two star pitcher for next week too. It looks like he's got the Red So at the Tigers next week. So solid

matchups for him, 26% roster. Griffin Canning, if you're just looking for a single start streamer for next week, it looks like he's going up against the Oakland A's. That is a fantastic matchup. Speaking of those Oakland A's, let's talk about the debut of Mason Miller, who we were so excited about to talk about yesterday, made his debut, which, by the way, that now marks three weeks in a row recording on a Welsh Wednesday night that we got a prospect, a pretty big prospect, making their debut when you're here. So I absolutely love it. Let's get Brandon fought on next Wednesday, right? I mean, it could line up. You never know. We could get that line up. I don't know. Let's make it happen. Mason Miller up against the Cubs, four and a third, two runs allowed, five strikeouts for him, 10,

winging strikes on 81 pitches. Five of those came on the fastball. He had a mostly three pitch mix, 63% fastball usage, which he averaged 99.4 miles per hour on. 22% slider, 14% cutter. 15 of his fastballs were 100 plus miles per hour.

42% rostered. It looks like he will line up for two stars next week as well. Welsh, what did you see from Mason Miller and where to see rank amongst that group that we were just talking about? Yeah, so, I mean,

there's a lot that's just like, like mind blowing about the whole process because I've been pretty vocal lately. They're like, Mason Miller is super exciting. He's someone I talked about in the AFL because this guy hit, I remember the day he hit 102 in the AFL

and everyone was buzzing about it. They're like, whoa, you know, who is this guy that's putting up these big, big velocity numbers? But the thing I can't overcome and I don't know how it plays out, he has 30,

not even 30 professional innings. Now he does, but he didn't before this. Yeah. And this is a cross since he's been with this organization, he got a few in the AFL and this is a bad, horrifically bad team.

And I just don't know how this is going to play out. I guess it doesn't matter in the short term if we want to look at it because he was good. He did do something that looks like it was a little bit different. He's kind of been a fastball cutter and then trying to implement the slider a lot more. It looks like the comfortability

is there and he threw that slider more than the cutter in this one. But he's like just big spin numbers. He attacks the zone. He feels very Hunter Greenish in retrospect, except this is a, like in the first year, because Hunter Green is, you know, almost mixed in with a slider. Mason Miller does not have that. He was 63% fastball in this because he's got this big overpowering fastball. So the end of the day, it's all exciting. One walk, the command was not a problem in this. But overall, I would say watch the command long term.

He kind of reminds me of, I don't even know if I said this to you, Frank. We were talking about Lodola the other day. And he reminds me. me of Lidolo in the thing, this is what I'm worried about. How deep will Mason Miller get to go into games long term here? Are they going to put a pitch count on him? He's a guy that throws a lot of pitches, big fastballs, get strikeouts like Lidolo, and Lidolo can be 80 pitches into the fourth or something like that, and they let him go a hundred so he can get qualified wins. I don't know if Mason Miller is going to get to that. And that's my worry about the value. So kind of putting it all in, and by the way, I feel bad because I feel like I'm the only person that's like a little poo-poo-y,

about him. Everyone's like, oh my God, our saviour's here. Mason Miller. Giff, Giff, Giff. Everyone's going nuts about it. I'm just like a little bit tapered down. I think from an excitement standpoint, I think you could put Miller at two. I want to put Gore at one, but I'm going to

put a bit two because I'm really impressed with Oviato, especially with that slider usage. I think that's just such a good key for young pitchers. It's what I wanted Dre Jameson to do, throw the slider more than the fastball. So I go Oviato. I'll go Gore. And then I think I'll put Miller right in that group. And then I'm with Chris.

It's like, you know, canning, Braddish is kind of on the back end. But from an excitement standpoint, Miller has the highest upside. But I just don't see how he pitches the whole year. But what the hell do I know? And I think those are all very, very reasonable concerns that, like, I will worry about if he becomes 100% rostered. And then we start talking about, hey, should I trade him for player X? You know, right now when we're talking about a guy who's,

what, 20% rostered, 30% rostered? 41% rostered. 41% rostered. The long-term upside is not really the question. It starts to become the question when you're asking, should we trade him for Luis Garcia, you know, or somebody in that range, you know, a Reid Detmerz or a Patrick Sandival,

like somebody who has plenty of upside in their own right, that's when it's like, okay, no. that he's got injury concerns. He's got innings concerns. He's got injury concerns because he's struggled to stay healthy since being drafted. And so, yeah, those are real concerns for another day, I think. Yeah, my concerns are about the chaos. At the end of the day, you go pick them up.

I picked him up in a league. You do some fab. I personally, I would not drop more fab than I would have on Taj Bradley. I think I would probably do maybe 60% of that, whatever that is in your mind. I was more aggressive on Tash Bradley than most. A couple people like, why you spend so much early?

Tosh Bradley's amazing. I'm not treating him like Tosh Bradley. So you should pick him up and you should try to get him. And you can worry about those things later. But for you guys that start asking the questions, hey, should I drop read Detmer's? You know, should I drop this guy and that guy and what chaos should I do? That's what people are asking.

What should I do this? That's where I'm like tapered back of like, is it going to go five? Like if he had 15 starts, being in Oakland A and, and a guy that is going to probably have a hard time getting into the fifth? Like, how many wins do we think he's going to have? And that is a stat we have to think about. How much run support is he going to have? And will the command ever be an issue?

I am being way too dad about it. Just go pick them up, have fun, but don't go crazy. I'm telling you guys, you stay out late. Come home, keep your cell phone on and don't stay out too late and be safe. That's what I'm telling you with Mason Miller. That's your dad talking. Chris, did I hear some kind of like cat fight in the background? The cats decided to start fighting, which is usually.

So mad about my Mason. Yeah, they're usually great. They're usually sweethearts, but yeah, for some reason, they just, they, they just started fighting. I apologize for the, uh, that's an omen. For the cat fight. All your fad on Mason Miller. Drop all your fab on Mason Miller.

Don't listen to me. The cat, I started a cat fight because of it. Two pitchers that I had as, uh, potential drops. Brady Singer hit hard once again. Mike Clevenger, he was quite bad. I just, I wasn't buying it all along because like the strikeout to walk numbers are not good. And his underlying metrics are, our, are quite bad as well. Chris Towers, are you okay dropping Singer and Clevenger for, I don't know, all of these names, basically?

Yeah. Oviedo. Mason Miller. My cat just jumped on my desk. So you saw her tail if you're watching. That was approval. I'm totally fine. Like, Singer, I thought there were some interesting stuff. Obviously, the stretch last year. And then he was another Royals guy who came out throwing harder. the extension was longer, all these changes, but his slider's been awful so far. It's been getting hit hard. It hasn't really been getting whiffs.

So yeah, I think it's fine to drop him. Oh, my guy. If you've looked, he is the bottom one percentile and average EV, bottom one percentile hard hit, bottom two percentile and expected ERA, bottom two and expected batting average, X-Lug, and bottom 5 percent barrel. Remember when we all loved all those royals pitchers? Chris Boobidge and Yeah, exactly. Remember in those days

when those easy days? Yeah, and the thing with Singer is like, he really leaned into the slider last season and it helped fuel the breakout and it's just it's not been there for him. Let's take our first break and when we return, we'll talk about a few other pitchers here on Fantasy Baseball Today. Ever dream about buying Fantasy Baseball

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or head to Paramountshop.com, Paramount Shop, where products are paramount. A couple other pitchers that I had, not nearly as exciting as the ones we've already mentioned. Eric Lauer had a strong start at the Mariners, 7 and 2 thirds, two runs, four strikeouts in that one. Calquantral turned in a scoreless start at the Tigers. He did leave early because he took a line drive off of his leg. Taiwan Walker has now turned in back-to-back quality starts. He was at the White Sox in this one, six and a third, two runs, three strikeouts for him. And Nick Martinez had his best start of the season, up against the Braves of all teams, seven shutout,

strikeouts and I did have one more. Marco Gonzalez, where did this come from? No clue. Six innings, two runs, nine strikeouts for him. Welsh, anything with these slightly less exciting pitchers, Marco Gonzalez, Nick Martinez, Taiwan Walker, Calquantral, and Eric Lauer. Eric Lauer's always interesting. Remember last year he had that like insane early season run where his fastball was like elite reliever esk. It was like the most, it was the most dominant single fastball of any starting pitcher. So, like he can tear that thing on. So I guess I'm always kind of maybe watching him. Tewan Walker.

Tewan Walker is the one that I kind of like, I keep going back to hard hit has gone down, K percentage, kind of wavering. The only thing that has been bad is he's just been walking a whole bunch. But I think early season on stuff has taken way. He's on great team context in there as well, by the way.

I mean, obviously the Phillies are going to do great work in it. And overall, you know, one of the bigger changes, I guess we've seen is the split finger, has been a decent amount more. He was a primary, just by a little last year fastball. He's gone, and it was 29 to 27% mix. It's 36% on the split finger this year and 25% on the fastball,

both better batting average against so far this year. So his primary pitches, hitters are not really getting a hold of. He's got a great team behind him. So I kind of like Taiwan Walker. I kind of target him and half decent matchups as a guy that you can play bets on. and try to get into spot starts. Speaking of matchups, if you are just looking to stream any of these guys for next week, Eric Lauer looks like he's going up against the Tigers,

and Calquantrol has the Rockies. That start is in Cleveland. So obviously, you get the Rockies on the road. That's much better. Last thing on Lauer is, I agree that fastball was great last year. So far, it is down nearly three miles per hour compared to last season. He is averaging 90.6 miles per hour compared to 93.3 last season. Let's get into some news.

notes crazy scene out in Los Angeles as Max Scherzer was ejected for a foreign substance either on his hand or glove. Both Scherzer and Buckshaw Walter argued that it was a mixture of rosin and sweat, which would be legal technically. Shurzer is now facing a 10 game suspension as well. Something that I saw on Twitter is that apparently Phil Cousie, umpire Phil Cousy, has been the umpire in all three of the ejections that have taken place so far. So I don't know it's clearly just something about him. Chris Towers, like, do you have any take on this?

Because I feel like it was a pretty wild scene out there in L.A. I don't really know what to think. I mean, there's been a lot both towards the end of last season and then in spring training this year, of talk about pitchers have figured out something to get their spin rates back. You know, just league-wide spin rates have not quite gotten back to like the spider.

era, but they've been higher than they were immediately post crackdown. And whether it's sweat and rosin or sunscreen, whatever, there's clearly something going on. There was a report earlier in the season or before the season that MLB was going to crack down on it. It could just be Scherzer got unlucky. But, you know, the way this works is they confiscate the glove and they'll test it. And, you know, that'll be the determination to see if he's going to be suspended for 10 games. So we'll, we'll find out. But I certainly hope he isn't suspended for the teams where I have Max Scherzer. That's that's about all I can say. I don't like, I don't have concern that like,

oh no, Max Scherzer's not going to be good anymore. Like that I don't think that's a concern here. One thing that annoys me most about just umpires and referees and sports is the lack of consistency. And this happened with Domingo Hermann a couple of days ago over the weekend where he was warned about something that was on his hands, go wash it. off. He came back out for the next inning and apparently it was an issue again and they left him in the game and you know, the twins manager Rocco Baldelli got ejected as a result. I don't blame him, but there needs to be some consistency. Like if Phil Cousy is enforcing this and other umpires aren't, then why not? Like that's just the thing that annoys me so much about like that's what I was

going to mention by the way because I think that was like, I think a lot of people were kind of assuming that you said the spin rates are back up that there might be just some agreement across the board. that, hey, this, whatever this is, I don't know what this is, by the way, but whatever this is is is going to be accepted. And that is fueled by that whole Domingo Hermann situation, where they were just like, hey, I told you to get rid of, you know, they're like openly talking about it. Nothing's happening.

No big issue. And then to your point, you then have, you know, the, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, consistency between ums, it's a really bad look. It's a bad look. Obviously, it should be fixed, have some, whether you're using it or not, I kind I don't care. I'm one of those people. I just, if you're going to use some substances, just be consistent, have the umps be consistent. But this is just like a bad look overall.

And sure lost his mind too. Also, I swear on my kids. He was swear on my kids that I didn't use it. And I really hope that's going to be the case when they check out that glove too. Yep. Trevor Rogers left to start early and was diagnosed with left form tightness and Welsh. Immediately my brain goes, Yuri Perez. Are you going to get Yuri Perez? And I just checked. And so far, his first two starts have not been so great in the minors. Yeah, I don't think he's, I mean, he's definitely a possibility. And I love all the work that he's done with this team and with Sandy O'Conra in the offseason. But I think he's just like a, I think it's just too early for them to put that, especially with where Rogers is going.

It's fun, but, you know, he's not in that conversation. Like, we're talking a little, like Ricky Teeteman is someone that might be up soon, but he's only had two starts since his injury. I think we're like a month away from really getting to, because all we've been focusing on is what? We've been focusing on like Brandon Fott and Mason Miller and everyone's everybody on the planet's focus on Tanner Fiby. In about a month, we'll start turning our attention to like Yuri Perez and Ricky Tiedeman. Those are the guys we'll start thinking about it. It's a little too early, but I agree with you on the Trevor Rogers. It kind of gets your brain going.

The fact that Perez is repeating AA, I think, is the sign that he's probably like, he probably needs a good stretch before he's really in consideration. And he had the 4080RA at AA last season. It was 19. His strikeout numbers were amazing. But they probably want him to to prove he's overmatched for or overqualified for AA before they call him up, I would guess. Jorge Mateo was removed from Wednesday's game due to right hip discomfort, which is unfortunate. He's been one of the best players in baseball so far this season.

Initial tests on Carlos Rodon's back came back normal. The Yankees are still waiting on a few other tests before determining the next steps for Rodon. Mariners GM, Jerry Depoto, believes that Robbie Ray could return in the middle of May, but that's just a guess at this point. Ray hasn't resumed a throwing program yet. I'm not really sure how Jerry DePoto came up with this timetable if he really has nothing to back it up, but this was a report, so I am reporting it to you.

No surprise, but Tage Bradley will remain in the Ray's rotation and is scheduled to make his next start Monday against the Astros. Is it been weird at all? Can I just add, is it been weird that every start is like, every start is, like, like, yeah, we're going to start on this time, guys. Why is it? I think it's weird that there's no commitment. I don't know what's going on with the race.

Like how long it took them to put springs on the IL, how long it took them to confirm was coming up. Yeah, it's, it's very strange. Like, I don't really understand it. I've been just super weirded out by that situation where there was just like, hey, good news. I think Mark, I'm forgetting his name. Mark Topkin. Yeah, he was just like, hey, good news.

He is going to start this day. And it's like, yeah, isn't he going to start all the days? Why isn't he? Yeah. Why is he going to be the guy? It doesn't, at this point at least, I don't need to be told that Tosh Bradley's going to make his next turn in the rotation.

But apparently we do. Apparently we do with the race. So just, yeah, I'll keep that in mind. You all own him now, so you don't really have to worry, I guess. Maybe they can save $40,000 by sending him down for a week. And maybe that's what it is. I don't know. Sounds like a Marlins move. Would not surprise me with Tampa Bay.

Corbin Burns is still scheduled to start Sunday's game against the Red Sox. Good news on him. Ramon Luriano was placed on the IL with a left. groin strain. Stalling Marte left Wednesday's game due to neck stiffness. Carl's Carasco is dealing with a small bone chip that is causing swelling and discomfort in his right elbow. He went on the IL on Tuesday. Garrett Mitchell was placed on the IL with a shoulder sublixation and we'll go for an MRI on Thursday. And Welsh again, the the prospect senses are tingling. I started thinking about Sal Freelich, but apparently he was not in the lineup on Wednesday

because he was dealing with a jammed thumb. Don't like that not good i watched by the way that live happened it was in extra innings and garrett mitchell was trying to launch the ball from center field to throw them out uh at home and i mean he threw it and he went down grabbing that shoulder so i don't think that's it's not going to be anytime soon so i actually think regardless of like the jam finger thing it might be sneaky to go and you know get south freelik in there just because i fear that this could be maybe a longer thing because those type of injuries i mean maybe again i'm wrong like that type of like shoulder thing i don't that's going to be like a short-term thing.

And they might look for like a more long-term option. And South Freelick is that guy that everyone was pissed when Joey Weimer got the call-up because Freelick has absolutely been dominating, was great in the WBC. So maybe this news will give you an opportunity to sneak them on a roster before it becomes official maybe over the next week or so. Just me speculating. And in case people are wondering, what can I get from Sal Freelig? I've heard Stephen Kwan but better comms.

It's hard to say because Stephen Kwan has actually been really good so far in the majors. but that is the type of player that you're hoping for with South Freelick. Alex Wood was placed on the IL with a hamstring strain. Manager Gabe Kapler said Ross Tripling has a good chance to move into the rotation. The Rockies reinstated Daniel Bard from the IL. Yohan Moncada is not expected to be back from the IL by the end of this week. He's been out with a back injury. Josh Donaldson has been pulled off his rehab assignment

and underwent an MRI on his ailing right hamstring following a setback. Adam Wainwright through three innings in his first rehab start at AA. He's 48% rostered. He's a deep league player. It's not much upside at this point. The Dodgers placed Miguel Rojas on the IL with a hamstring injury. Trevor May

was placed on the IL with anxiety related issues. His teammate, Danny Jimenez, was transferred to the 60-day IL. I don't know if the Oakland A's will ever get another save opportunity. But if they do, I think it's probably going to go to Zach Jackson, but that's just my guess. Maybe they'll troll us all and then they'll announce

Mason Miller is going to be the closer. That would be the great troll. I mean, either way. I guess he'd have value for fantasy, right? Yeah, it would be fine. Hunter Gaddis was optioned to AAA. The Guardians could turn back to Gaddis to make starts in the future, or they can go with Tanner Bybee.

So just another name to pay attention to there for prospects. Speaking of prospects, Guardians called up Brian Rokio for their double header and then immediately sent him back down. So he's like kind of on the fringe. He's a name to know in case there's like an injury. I know Ahmed Rosario has been dealing with a back injury, so just remember the name that's spelled R-O-C-C-H-I-O. N-Manuel Valdez was called up by the Red Sox,

though it sounds like that could be temporary as well. He went two for four, also had an error in his debut. Let's get into some Waverwire hitters. Man, we have talked for 40 minutes. We have not talked about hitters at all on this podcast. So I do apologize, but I think there's a reason for that. I think deciphering pitcher changes this early in the season and velocity jumps and pitch mix changes

and really figuring it out early on can set you up for the long term of the season. So I think it makes sense to really focus on pitching this early in the season. Every start that a pitcher makes is more information than any given game for a header. Right, right. I think that's just the long and short of it.

Some outfielders that could be available. Brandon Marsh is really hot to start the season so far. He went two for four with his third home run. He's batting 368 early on. We spoke about him last week. and I think his strikeout rate was around 20%. That has shot all the way up to 31%. He's still hitting the ball hard,

but don't love those strikeouts for Brandon Marsh. Josh Lowe keeps playing well whenever he gets an opportunity, one for four with two RBI, two runs, and his third stolen base. Alec Thomas finally on the board with his first home run. He is betting 176. His expected betting average is 298. He's hitting the ball really hard,

and he's not striking out, but a lot of that has been on the ground. So that's been the issue with Alec Thomas. Trevor Larnick hit his, second home run and Joey Gallo. First game back, two for five, hit his fourth home run. A lot of these names are widely available.

Chris Towers, they all offer very different things. I'll ask you about points leagues and then Welsh, I'll ask you about category leagues. If you're looking to add one or two of these names in a points league, who stands out most to you? I don't necessarily love any of these guys

in a points league, actually. I think they're all probably better in Roto. If I had to pick one, it would probably be Alec Thomas, for points leagues just because the plate discipline here is better than it is for anyone else. Josh Lowe, if I thought he was going to play every single day, I'd be very excited because I really like what I've seen from him. But it just hasn't been the case for him and it's the race. So I don't think it's going to be the case.

So Alec Thomas, I really like the skill set. I really like what he's shown. He hits the ball hard. He's athletic. He doesn't strike out. It's just a lot of those things were true last season. then the production wasn't there. For some reason, he's just struggled to figure it out.

But his expected Wobah is 349, his actual Wobah, 2.34. That's a massive, massive gap. And, you know, playing half your games in Chase Field, guys tend to underperform their expected stats, but not by 120 points. So I think Alex Thomas remains very interesting. And he's playing. He is playing a lot right now.

So if you're looking for volume, you can pick Alec Thomas up and hope he just keeps doing what he's doing and eventually the numbers will come. Wells for you, any names here that stand out from a category Roto League perspective. Yeah, I mean, I think like you said with Alec, you got to keep him in mind. The one thing I would add to that well is the Diamondbacks are the fastest, you know, most running team in baseball. When they get on the base paths, they are going. Alex Thomas actually got called out for a stolen base. I think today or yesterday, pretty much watch every game. So that's a guy. He's going to keep running. And if you do see a mold of the batting average,

back up. He's going to get on base more, which will equal more stolen base opportunities. So I think that's good. I'm very interested in Brandon, uh, Brandon Lowe. The only thing is is like, wait, wait, Brandon Marsh or Josh Lowe? Because he said Brandon Lowe. Oh, did it? Well, I think that Brandon Lowe, actually, there was Brandon Lowe. Yeah, yeah, I mix them both together. Josh Lowe is very fascinating because of the big counting stat numbers. The problem is, is the worry of consistent playing time. So I go back to Brandon Marsh and Brandon Marsh with like, he's going to play. He's going to keep going. I don't like the strikeout uptick.

But the one thing I'm also trying to focus on is in very short sample size, as these swing up and down. And that, you know, we saw a lower strikeout percentage a little bit early on, that he can keep leveling this out. And I think that type of hotback can keep going. So he doesn't provide the stolen bases, but I think all three of these guys have a home. I just think Brandon Marsh is probably the most consistent.

Alec Thomas actually probably has the best stolen base upside. And if Josh Lowe were given the opportunity, he's probably the most well-rounded. So, you know, pick and choose, you know, follow your own journey there. If you need a catcher in a two-catcher league, Jonah He has been playing very well. He went two-for-four with his third home run. He added three RBI and three-runs scored on Wednesday.

He is batting 3-11. The plate discipline has been solid. He's hitting the ball hard. 38% rostered is Jonah Heim. Again, that's more for two catcher leagues. And then in deeper formats, Towers, two names that stood out to me, Leone Tavaris. We've seen flashes at times.

I think he's always been more of like a potential than actually like realized potential so far but he went three for five with a double, triple, two runs, two RBI. Jaron Duran very sneakily is back with the Red Sox. He has started three straight games. He's got four hits and a stolen base during that time. So maybe he's made some adjustments. He was someone we were excited about last year.

We're talking like 15 team, five alpha leagues. But any interest in Lioti Tavaris or Jaron? I like the way you phrased it. He's sneakily back with the first. Red Sox like they didn't like they didn't know he climbed over the green monster and got in got in on the laundry cart and just popped up he's like hey everybody yeah jaron jaron geron jaron is a guy that i continue to be interested in um you know at triple a he's played 139 games total with 29 home run 28 home runs and 36 steals so there's clearly an interesting

skill set and if he shows anything i'm going to be interested in him so i'm probably more interested in him than Tavares, although I don't know how long Duran's going to stay up. We've seen this countless times over the past couple of seasons. They'll call him up for a week, send him back down. So he's going to have to earn his spot, but I think it's a really interesting skill set if he does figure it out. Some signs of life from the prospect. Zach Netto went two for three with two doubles. He was betting ninth on Wednesday.

That was with everybody in the lineup. Taylor Ward leading off Trout and Otani, obviously were in there. And Eddie Julian, that's what they call him on the Twins broadcast. So I guess that's what we're going with. He does not want to get sent down. He showed that on Wednesday. He went three for four with his second home run, two runs and two RBI in that game as well.

The pirates were awesome in Corpus Field this past series. And I think I found the points league ad, Chris, if you need an outfielder in a points league, Andrew McCutcheon, two for five with his fourth home run, more walks and strikeout so far. He's sitting here and there because, you know,

he's the veteran's day off or whatever. But given the plate discipline, I think he's got four home run. runs in three steals. He looks rejuvenated in a Pirates uniform. And I really like what I've seen so far in the deepest of leagues. Rodolfo Castro, he's got an everyday role now with O'Neill Cruz. He went two for six with his second home run. And he had like three batted balls over 95 miles an hour or two over 105, something like that. Obviously, you know, course field. But yeah, he had two, two batted balls over 105 miles an hour today. Rodolfo Castro did.

Yep. You know, Austin Gombrough will do that, Chris. Yeah. That's fair. If you, if you, if you, you, you go up against Austin Gombr, I'm pretty sure you'll get like a 100 EV off or something like that. Connor Joe, I'm going to mention the name again. Everyone knows I love Connor Joe. Three for five with a double, three runs, four hard hit balls in that game, has started seven of the last eight games for the Pirates, just got his revenge series in there against the Rockies.

He's three percent rostered. I think it's still mostly an NL only, but if he continues to play every day, might work his way into 15 team league discussions. So just remember, let's pay attention to the, the playing time with Connor Joe. Let's take our final break, and when we return, we got some Worryometer wake-up,

a player potentially to buy in Dynasty Leaves. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back, and we had a few players on the Worryometer yesterday that woke up in a pretty big way on Wednesday. Tommy Edmund, he went three for four with his second home run,

five RBI, three runs scored. He finished a single short of the cycle. It's always so interesting when that... The easiest one. I know, right? What's happening? Juan Soto. Juan Succo, sorry.

He heard us yesterday. He went two for four with his fourth home run of the season. The only run scored in that game between the Braves and the Padres. Jose Ibrahim, some good signs. Two for four with two RBI in that game. Should you be looking to buy this player in Dynasty Welsh?

I want to get your thoughts. Spencer Torkelson went two for three with a double, hit his second home run of the season, 109.8 exit velocity, 417 feet and he's posting some pretty interesting numbers right now he's hitting the ball hard the distribution of his batted balls looks better than it did last year so far this season it's still very cold in Detroit this time of year so I think you know as things start to heat up maybe we could see the ball fly a little bit better there as

well what are your thoughts man I feel like Torkelson from a dynasty perspective is probably one of the hardest young players to figure out I agree and you know Pulling back the curtain, Frankie and I were talking about this a little bit because I think Scott and I did this in the office. We're both still a little bit, and I think I'm speaking for him a little bit, still interested in Spencer Torkelson

and still kind of want to buy it. And I think it's too early to completely have written him off. He's in the max EV 87, top 13 percentile, top at least 50 percentile, 60, I guess 35 percentile and hard hit numbers. That's still there. He's made some improvements off of last year.

Those EV numbers are. up. He's whiffing a lot less, showing a little bit more speed. I mean, he's just, he's trying to get there. He's got a 245 expected batting average as well. If we were to get a 245 batting average consistently through the year, I really do think there's a possibility that Spencer Torkelson could tap into 25 plus power on this bad team. That's, I still believe in this guy, still believe who he is. You've also seen a decrease in his strikeout percentage, which is a plus. So I want to be a believer that he is a, cheap option in 15 plus dynasties that you can still go out. And I don't know if you want to do the one for one we were talking about. But like, I think Torkelson is in a really sneaky spot where

like there are some prospects that are poking around in the majors are close that you could probably get Torquelson for or even less in league. So I think the power numbers are real. And I think he's starting to make those improvements. It might just take another year or two. But, you know, watch out. Watch out. You get 20 plus homers and a serviceable batting average from Torkelson this year. Something that's very interesting with his plate discipline as well is, according to Fangraphs, his chase rate is nearly 42%. League average is around 30%.

So he is chasing a ton of pitches. His swinging strike rate has not gone up. It's the same as it was last year. So I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing, but the fact that he's being more aggressive and he's not swinging and missing more and his strike rate has actually come down, I think that's a good thing. So I don't know.

I like what I've seen from Torkelson Under the Hood a little bit so far. In redraft, I think you get him for probably dirt cheap, right? Like, probably a free agent in most leagues. And in Dynasty, I still think Torkelson's pretty interesting. So don't give up yet.

Let's get it to some leftovers. A few pitchers worth mentioning. Drew Rasmussen, solid at the Reds, five shutout, seven strikeouts. We know that he could pitch well against bad teams, but can he do it against the good ones? His only real test this year

was against the Blue Jays, and he pitched poorly in that outing. So I think that remains to be seen. Alex Cobb was solid at the Marlins. Five innings, one run, eight strikeouts for him. Noah Cindergarde now has a quality start in three of four outings, revenge game against those Mets. Six innings, two runs, two strikeouts for him.

And the overall number still look really bad because his one blow-up was like a blow-up. It was bad. But three quality starts outside of that. I'm kind of encouraged by Noah Cindergarde. Chris, it seems like you want to say something. Yeah, I don't know, man. So like Noah Cinder, like if you had told me three years ago, four years ago,

that Noah Cindergarde would be Kyle Hendrix now, I would not. Because like that's basically the profile right now. He's had unbelievably good control. He's his change up is awesome. It's basically his only swing and miss pitch. And he's giving up no hard contact. But he's also not getting strikes. He's not strikeouts.

He's not getting swings and misses. It's just a weird. weird profile and he might be able to make it work. Look, it's possible that Noah Sendergarde can keep this up and, you know, keep the walks down and be a useful pitcher for fantasy, but it's just weird. It's just, it's, it's boggling my mind and I don't know what to do about it. Something he has been good at so far is limiting hard contact. I think that's it's harder to like, you need a bigger sample for something like that to stabilize. So we just don't know if we can actually trust it yet.

But entering Wednesday, his swinging strike rate was 12.3%. He didn't get much in this start, but 12.3%. I mean, that's actually pretty good. So I don't know. I remain confused. That's the word I'll use on Noah Cindergarde. Justin Steele is now 4-4 in quality starts. This one at the Oakland A's, six innings, two runs, five strikeouts for him.

And Charlie Morton has now turned in back-to-back quality starts at the Padres, six innings, one run, five strikeouts for him. Welsh, anything that stands out from this group, Morton, Steel, Cinderguard, Cobb, Rasmussen. Well, right, you know, it's funny in betting a little bit. I actually want to say Rasmussen might have had a similar swinging strike percentage as Noah Cinegard. I want to say it was around the 12s as well, so just throwing that out there. Justin Steele.

Justin Steele again is just a big old red baseball savant page as far as like the hard hits. He's not giving up. He's still striking guys out, which you love to see. It's a career high K percentage currently with a. career low walk percentage. He's expected ERA is stupid. It's like one, four, two, but as expected is just around three. He just really is one of those like sneaky.

I don't want to call him an ace, you know, because he's not like a top 30 pitcher, but he's just one of those guys that's going to put up some big, big performances. The Cubs have been playing a little bit better. And I'm very much into Justin Steele. And for anyone who's skeptical about Justin Steele being a two-pitch pitcher, his fastball is in the 83rd percentile in spin rate. So that's something that helps it play up. And it's not to the same level as Christian Javier,

but that's kind of what it reminds me of. You got this deceptive fastball, high spin, and then you have a really good slider to go along with it. And that is how Justin Steele is succeeding right now. And he's using it more. He's using it more this year. I mean, you talk about all of that, those spin numbers. He is using that 56% last year.

He's up to 60% this year, and it's a 26% whiff rate. And he's doing all of this as a two-pitch pitcher. This is like, you know, not as talented Spencer Strider type of stuff. This is fastball slider, fastball slider. but he's got up almost 40% whiff rate on his slider right now. So, I mean, he's getting it done in a probably non-traditional way that you really want like in two pitch pitchers, but that fastball plays up in a bunch of different areas

that it's also making that slider even more effective. Some hitting leftovers. Jeremy Pena went one for three with a sock and a shoe. Third home run and fifth steel of the season. He is batting just 211 early on, but at least he is giving you that power and speed. Whitmerfield went two for three with a double and an RBI. and I heard on the Blue Jays broadcast

that Witt has earned everyday playing time. The first couple of weeks, he was playing like four, five times per week, but he's batting over 300. They like what they've seen. What Merrifield's going to play every day, moving forward. Yandy Diaz, looks like he's kind of breaking out. Two for four.

With his sixth home run, he had nine all of last season. He already has six. The exit velocity, 11.5 off the bat. It's back-to-back home runs, back-to-back games with a home run for Yandy Diaz with the improved. launch angle, towers. Someone asked me,

would I drop Catelle Marte or Miguel Vargas for Yandy Diaz? And I kind of struggled, and I said no, but I don't know if that is the right answer. And then, of course, I had a Twitter warrior, a Twitter fantasy analyst say, oh, what are you talking about? You have to pick up Yandy Diaz.

I'm like, Cotel Marte has a pretty extensive track record. His best has been better than anything we've seen from Yandy Diaz. And Miguel Vargas is a top prospect. no, I'm not going to drop those guys for him. I might do with McGill. It's like we talked about yesterday. This might be your only chance to get,

Andy Diaz. And if it is a breakout, the risks of not adding him are probably greater than the risks of dropping Miguel Vargas. Because until Miguel Vargas starts to hit, he's not necessarily going to get added. And so I think it's a situation where you might be able to pull that off. I don't know.

I'm really struggling with that one because I believe in Catel Marte Amigal Vargas, but what Yandi Diaz is doing right now, like we said yesterday, if he was breaking out, it would look exactly like this. And so I wish Catel Marte still ran.

That's the one. That's the one thing. I did. I was watching the game, I think it was yesterday's game, and he was on first, and he just had his hands on his knees, and he wasn't moving.

And they did that spot where you can look to the first basement, And that was a moment where I was like, wow, this is, this team is running at all costs. There's no chance that guy is going. He is not moving whatsoever. Those numbers are not coming. Those stolen base numbers are not coming. Yeah, I feel like Cotel Marte's hamstrings are like, when you see in a movie,

it's like a rope is about to break and it's hanging by like just that one thread. Like those are Catele Marte's hamstring. So he's just like, nah, I'm not going to risk it. Trey Turner had his first real breakout game with the Phillies. He went three for five with a sock and a shoe as well, his first home run, his fourth steel. He's batting 321 early on. Brandon Nimmo, awesome game. He went 5 for 5 with his first home run of the season.

110 exit velocity 431 feet for the home run. Anthony Volpe went 2 for 4. I actually think it's Volpe and I keep saying Volpe and it's probably I'm just messed. I heard the announcers do it three different ways. I've heard them do Volpe, Volpe. I've

don't kick yourself, Frank. Yeah, he went two for four with a walk and his eighth stolen base. Again, it's like patience. You know, it's to take some time. And in five games in the leadoff spot, he has five hits, a home run, and two steals. And even with LaMayhew Healthy now, they're batting Volpe in the leadoff spot. And he's performing well. So, you know, one thing I do want to go back to is Nimmo does have three steals, which matches his total from last season. That is interesting. You know, we, we know he loves to run to first

base, but now he's also starting to run to second. And he's actually a good athlete, 87th percentile sprint speed, 84th percentile last year. So it's possible that he could be like a 15 steel guy. And I think I said before the season, I would find him a lot more interesting if he was a 15 steel guy because he's going to give you pretty good average, great on base percentage and like 10 to 15 homers.

But without the speed, it's like that's a pretty middling profile. All of a sudden, if he can steal 10 to 15 bases, Now you're talking about a four category contributor. So I, that's something to keep an eye on with with Brandon Nemo. And his stackass page is covered in red too. So yeah, is maybe a buy high right now on Brandon Nimmo.

15, 15. He was one of, I think, 10 hitters with 100 plus runs scored last year. If he stays on the field, he's like 111, didn't he? He's gonna be a productive player. He steals more.

He might have more runs. Yeah. Aaron Judge went one for three with two walks and his sixth home run. I don't know if you guys saw it. Awesome. moment in the first inning of that game. He robbed Shohaya Otani of a home run in the top of the first, and then in the bottom

of the first, he hit a two-run home run. I'm officially going to say he's in the lead for the MVP race now. Yeah, let's go. Robbed a home run from his primary competitor and then hit one. That's his version of being a two-way player. Exactly, yeah. He just has to do that 29 times. Just imagine if he hit the home run off of

Otani. Oh, gosh. Twitter would have lost its mind. It would have. Let's get into some bullpen updates for the Royal Scott Barlow pitched in the ninth inning, down six runs at the time. He gave up three more runs. His ERA is 9.45. I think we are firmly in the Aroldus Chapman camp at this point. For the Phillies, a three-run lead.

Gregory Soto pitched in the seventh. Craig Kimberle in the eighth. Jose Alvarado in the ninth. That is saves on back-to-back days for Alvarado. You need to add this guy. If you need saves, 34% rostered. I think he has 19 strikeouts to zero walks so far this season. One of you guys gave me credit for adding him.

yesterday in the Dynasty League. I know exactly what you're guys. I looked at your team. I'm like, Chris, why didn't you start Alvarado? So, so much for that. For the Mets, David Robertson got the eighth inning with a two-run lead facing the top of the Dodgers lineup. He allowed one run.

Adam Adivino got the ninth with a three-run lead. Also allowed one run. He picked up his third save. All of a sudden, David Robertson is clearly in the fireman role. Like, the biggest spot in the game, they are going to pitch Robertson out of the bullpen. and then that means it's going to be out of Vino getting more saves as well. So I think both of these guys have value for fantasy right now.

For the Brewers, Devin Williams was unavailable. Matt Bush got the final two outs for his first save. And then the regulars, Emmanuel Class A got his sixth save for the Giants. Camillo DeVall pitch in the ninth with the game tied. Taylor Rogers. That was an iffy one. He nearly blew that one for the Giants. He's had multiple appearances like that so far this season as well.

The only issue is his main competition. Taylor Rogers has looked quite bad so far this season as well. For the Padres, Josh Hader walked one but picked up his fifth save. Let's wrap up with to stream or not to stream. And we will start with Thursday. Kentomite at the Red Sox. Uh, sure. Silence is deafening. Uh, yes. Yeah, well, the towers goes first. Towers goes first. I mean, that's our, our rhythm. Fair enough. Tanner Howick versus the twins. No. No. Luke Weaver at the Pirates. Nope.

No. James and Tyone versus the Dodgers. Not the worst one, but no. Nope. Michael Waka at the Diamondbacks. Nah.

I'm not going to fall for it again. No. Roanzi Contreras versus the Reds. Nope. I would. I could do that. Yeah. Reds on the road?

I think it's okay. Oh, yeah. Matt Strom versus the Rockies. No. That one's out of Colorado. Yeah, it's in Philadelphia. First, first start away from Corst Field.

Yes, Matt, I'm a Matt Strom guy. You get Matt Strom out there. There's another, six strikeouts guaranteed. All right. Very specific number. I love it. Ryan Nelson versus the Padres. I wouldn't.

Nope. Complete fail on my part. Gosh, it's the end of the podcast. It's Fernando Tatiste. Oh, my God, yeah. Gosh, what a fail. God. It is Tatis Day.

No, wait. I apologize. Uh-oh. is that one guy in the chat telling us that Fernando Tautis is going to hit 2.30 this year with 10 home runs or whatever it is. You know what we should do, Frank, whatever his home run prop is tomorrow. Yeah, smashing whatever it is. Let's do it, let's do it.

Sean Menaia versus the Mets. Nah, no. And Michael Grove at the Cubs. Nope. No, sir. On Friday, you say Kikuchi at the Yankees. Gosh, it could go well, but I can't do it. Also going to pass.

Drew Smiley versus the Dodgers. Nope. Mitch Keller versus the Reds. Yes. I could, again, I'll pick on it. I'll go with Mitch Kelly, yes. Tyler Wells versus the Tigers. Nah.

Nope. Brax and Garrett at the Guardians. He's my second favorite here, but, you know, don't love it. Pass. J.P. Sears at the Rangers. Nah. No. Seth Lugo at the Diamondbacks.

Lugo might actually be my second favorite. Yeah. My second favorite to say no, too. He's been up and down. And Stephen Matt's at the Mariners. Nope. Sure, no. All right, four towers and the Welsh.

I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.