Fantasy Baseball Today - Second Half Sleepers, Breakouts & Busts! (7/17 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

The home run swing-off in the All-Star game was awesome (0:40)! ... Let's kick off our sleepers for the second half with Zebby Matthews and Luke Keaschall (7:00). ... Don't sleep on Ha-seong Kim (13:25). ... Chase Burns is the clear breakout candidate for the second half (24:25). ... It's about to happen for Roman Anthony (30:06). ... Now is the time to sell on Drew Rasmussen, Kris Bubic and Clay Holmes (46:12). ... Let's wrap up with a few more second-half busts (53:27). 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, welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, July 17th. I am Frank Stample, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers.

Today on the show, we have sleepers, breakouts, and buss. for the second half of the season. But first, the National League took down the All-Star game. What did you guys think? It's pretty fun, pretty cool stuff. I don't think I've ever had more fun watching an All-Star game, to be honest. Like, that was fun. Like, and I could have said that even before the swing off.

They just between, you know, the comeback for the AL, the ninth inning, come back to tie it. I mean, really was just like the last three-in-off. they scored all six of their runs and the tribute to Hank Aaron was great. That was really cool. Yeah, it was really cool. Yeah, it was, the, you know,

the miced-up players, it was a little too much of that, but there were some great moments that came of that. I think Kershaw especially was enjoyable. So it was a fun All-Star game, and then the swing off, which I did not expect to like. My thinking was,

not that it's a bad idea necessarily, but just the specifics around it were too stringent maybe, is the word. Because it was nine swings for each side. And I'm thinking, okay, just nine swings to hit as many home runs as you can. That number might be zero. This might be a total dud, but it wasn't, clearly. Only one person who came up didn't hit a single home run. And that was your boy, Jonathan.

He came close. It came close, yeah. That was the only thing. is there was just some logistical stuff, like interviewing the players before each round when they had nothing to say, and we're just like, I'm just going to try to swing three times

and hope something good happens. That was a little awkward. It kind of took the air out of the building every time. The fact that the every fan in the lower level behind home plate left made me think that it was going to be a real bad time. I don't know if you guys noticed that, but like when they paned behind home plate,

there were like 12 people there. I wonder, if people even knew this was a thing because up until two outs, bottom of the ninth with two outs, I didn't even know this was a thing, to be honest. Apparently they announced it. Most of the players didn't know it was a thing. But I thought it was great.

Like, it was just a Ronda going last and the AL needing a home run. I was like, I don't know about this. He's a good hitter, but doesn't have a swing geared for power the way those ALNL guys did. I was like, I don't, this might be a little anticlimactic. but it was, I had a great time. It was very climactic because he banged one. Yeah.

I would have gone out probably in most states. I don't know the actual data on that, but just because that light is so high in Atlanta, I imagine it would have gone out in a good number of stadiums. I'm willing to say at least Yankee Stadium. I mean, I still would have take, that would be just to tie it up and then, you know, would still have Pete Alonzo going. So I still imagine the NLW would have won, even if it went out. But you never know.

It's only three swings for Alonzo. But yeah, I mean, a big part of. If it was just how into it the players were, like they, I feel like that sold the concept. I feel like I think I'm stealing this take from somebody on Twitter, but it's true. Like just how excited the players were. Like even the catcher, remember the catcher on Schwabber's second home run? Like it was so obviously gone and it was to tie the score. And he like did a fist pump as who were the catchers?

Were they just the bullpen catchers or? It should have just been Cal Raleigh's brother. I think it was part of the Dodgers coaching staff, just like the person throwing the pitches was. But yeah, no, it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. And it's kind of a shame that it's only to resolve a tie score in the All-Star game. So it's so rarely going to happen. And I think that's the way it should be.

You don't want it in regular season games, Scott? No. Honestly, let's do it in spring training. Spring training. Yeah. Well, they don't do extra ratings anyway, right? Exhibitions. I have no idea.

I guess that's right. Oh, world series. Come on. Let's have some fun. And then there's also the take. This is the most annoying take. Like, the second guessing of the choices over who to send up for the swing off. It's like, okay.

Yeah, I mean, Judge and Otani would have been great. They obviously weren't still in the building. Yeah, those dudes were long gone. Terrick Scoobled came back out in street clothes. Like, it's just not. not worth getting angry about it. It was fun to watch. Both teams had a chance.

Everybody, everybody, a good time was had by all, clearly. That's the most important thing. But it is fun for angry Yankee fans to just make fun of Aaron Boone for, ah, he can't even manage the All-Star games. So let's just get that take out there as well. I also thought the ABS Challenge system was a huge success too. I loved it.

I loved it in spring. So ready for it. I think that's the way to go. Yeah, like let's get this. regular season games next season. The strikeout to end the American League rally to potentially put them ahead in the top of the night that ended with it tied. And for the third strike for the third out, Edwin Diaz challenged it.

And it just barely clipped the corner. I mean, as close as you possibly could. And just seeing that was in itself thrilling. Seeing the image of the strike zone put up was in itself thrilling. What I thought was interesting going back to, because we used the ABS challenge system in spring. And I think it was like exactly 50% of the hitter challenges were successful and like 47% of the pitcher challenges. So it's really just a coin flip. These guys don't really know as well as we might assume they do.

I thought that was interesting. That when it was used with major leaguers in spring training, it was right about 50-50. Yeah, and a cool part of it that I hadn't seen done before is the catcher receiving the ball challenging a pitch because I saw that happen in the All-Star game as well. And look, if anybody knows what's a strike and what's not, I mean, it should. It's going to be the catcher receiving the ball,

or at least it should. So, yeah, I thought it was awesome all-around, ABS Challenge System, the swing off, Contract Cros, just awesome stuff. So, yeah, All-Star Game is in the books, and now we turn our attention to the second half, and Chris, you are going to kick us off with a sleeper. Who do you have a sleeper for a second half?

All right, which one do I want to go with? I'm going to go with Zebby Matthews, who is about 30% rostered, so I think he qualifies for this. I know we hyped him up a lot in the early parts of the season, but he's been dealing with that shoulder injury, made his first start on a rehab assignment, and look great.

Nine strikeouts over four no-hit innings. I still think Zebby Matthews can be a very, very good major league starter. He struck out 30% of hitters in his four starts before the injury. I know he wasn't great overall, but I think the stuff is there. The control is excellent. He just has to be a little better at limiting hard contact. And I think Zebby Matthews has some real sleeper slash breakout potential in the second half of the season because he should be back pretty soon.

after the break. Yeah, so he's been on the IL with a shoulder injury. Shoulder, yeah. For most of the season here, but yeah, did rack up a ton of strikeouts early on. And the velocity was fine in his rehab start. Yeah, and in that lone start, as you mentioned, four shutout innings, one hit zero walks, nine strikeouts.

So Zebby Matthews looks ready to contribute. 37% rostered, so widely available if you're looking to stash someone heading into the second half. I'll give you another stash candidate on the same team. Luke Kishel. Top prospects here for the twins who got called up back in April. He looked awesome in a small sample size, only seven games, but he hit 368. He had five walks, five steals, 90.8 average exit velocity.

He suffered a fractured forearm. He's currently working his way back, went down to Florida recently, taking live batting practice before he goes out on a rehab assignment. So it's not right out of the break. He'll be ready, I think more like a late July, early August. but if early this season was any indication, or even what he's done in the minors, it's a jack-of-all-all-trade skill set here, hit for batting average, get on base,

a little bit of power, good amount of speed. Twins clearly gave him the green light early on this season as well. So Luke Keishel, 25% rostered. Scott, do you have any interest in either of these guys, both twins, Zebby and Keishel? Oh, yeah, both. I think they're both great picks. I wanted to talk about Keishel a little more especially

because he walked like twice as much. much as he struck out during that stint stole the five bases. I like him so much. I've had him stashed in a couple leagues all this time. Same. Just looking forward to this return. And I feel like it's so rare to see a hitter call-up succeed like that immediately, the way Luke Keishel was earlier this year, that, you know, I've had my nose in prospects

all day, really all week, but especially today, because. By the time you're listening to this Thursday, my midseason top 50 will probably be up on the site. Now, for my midseason top 50, I don't actually number prospects who've already debuted in the majors, but I do show within the numbered rankings where they would be if I was willing to rank them like prospects. and Keishel would be 21st among all prospects. So that's how Induoam I am. All right, Scott. Well, on to you.

Give me a sleeper name here for the second half. Sean Mania, who returned just before the break in a relief appearance, looked great. Struck out seven and three in a third innings. He's going to be back in the rotation for the second half. It's available in about a quarter of CBS leagues. I would imagine half of Yahoo, maybe even more of ESP. And that appearance he made was telling for a number of reasons that he still had the lower Chris Sale-inspired arm angle that he just developed randomly in the second half last year. And that it was still as effective as it was getting so many whiffs, so many strikeouts, so many wiffs on the fastball especially, something that Sean Minai hasn't had for most of his career.

I'm not just saying he's going to be a useful pitcher. I'm saying he's going to be a must-start ace in the second half. Because he basically was down the stretch last year. I'm trying to because this game log I'm looking at includes the postseason. So I'm trying to figure out where the regular season ended. But looking up those numbers again for Chris Sale, was October 2nd the last day of the season? I feel like it was October 2nd. No, that was the playoffs, right?

That sounds like the playoffs. else. Yeah. Okay. Let's say, okay, yeah, I think it was September 27. Okay, so with that new Chris Sale-inspired delivery, Sean Maniah over his final 12 starts last year. Significant sample, 12 starts.

309 ERA. The whip was, it was under one trying to calculate it right now. 0.85 whip. So 309 ERA, 0.85 whip. a 14% swinging strike rate, which is basically what Terrick Scoobel had last year. Scoobles is higher this year. But that's what Mania was doing over his final 12 starts last year.

And the K-per-9 was 9.9. So basically ace numbers for Mania down the stretch last season. I think he's going to pick up where he left off in the second half now that he's healthy again. Yep. I love that call as well. 77% rostered on CBS and 45% on Yahoo. So Sean Minaya out there in a lot of Yahoo Leagues

if you need some pitching help here in the second half. Before we get to more Sleepers, just a reminder to sign up for the FBT newsletter if you haven't already. Subscribe on the website at cbsports.com slash newsletters. And if you're watching on YouTube, you can scan the QR code that will take you right to the website where you can sign up for free.

And big thanks to those watching live right now. Make sure to hit the like button and subscribe on YouTube as well. Let's take a break. We'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today continuing on with some sleepers for the second half and Chris back to you Who you got? We're only doing one more right? Yeah, I mean I'll give you an opportunity to kind of rattle off some honorable mentions, but let's focus on two names for each category that we're I guess most confident in I am all right well most confident okay well that changes or your favorite I don't know what I was gonna throw like one you want to talk the most about I want to throw a name we really really haven't talked much about, at least as far as for his offensive skill set. That's Denzel

Clark from the athletics, who I think there's a little PCA here. You know what we were talking about the other day, how maybe we need to bet on young guys with big tools. And Denzel Clark has big tools. I know he's mostly just been a defensive contributor so far in his major league career. And I think he might already be the best defensive centerfielder in baseball, which is going to keep his bat in the lineup. And he has a 40% strikeout rate. That's prohibitive. That's way too high.

But he's, I think, 97th percentile in sprint speed. That's what you'd expect given his defense. His max exit velocity is like 113.4 miles per hour, 89th percentile. So the physical tools are there. And despite the high strikeout rate, I actually think that's a lot. Clark has a pretty good approach at the plate. His chase rate, it's a little higher than average, but it's not peak her Armstrong level. His in-zone contact rate, 77.5%. That's low, but it's not alarmingly low. So I think there's probably a little bit of an approach issue here where he's not

being aggressive enough. That was certainly an issue for him in the minors. He wasn't tapping into his power in the miners as well, but I think there are big physical tools here for Denzo Clark, and obviously it's a great ballpark, and he's going to play a lot. So plus power and elite speeds, a good tool set to build on. And I think his approach at the plate is better than you would think given his strike out rate. So I am, I think we're going to see some flashes for Denzo Clark. Certainly not the one I'm most confident in. If we were going with that, I would actually say Reed Detmer's. I think it's going to be the closer for the Angels and has looked awesome over the past month and a half. So that's a sleeper I really like. But

Denzel Clark, not a name we've talked much about, but I think there's some upside there. Yes, very deep league appeal here. Six percent rostered is Denzel Clark. So for those who play in the deepest five outfielder leagues, I'm sure he's available. You can stash him, coming out of the break and see what he could do. Great ballpark to hit in. Obviously, solid lineup. Again, that is Denzel Clark. For me, another, I guess, deeper-ish name is Hassan Kim from the Tampa Bay Rays.

24% rostered. He's now shortstop only on CBS, but only appeared in six games thus far. He already has a home run and a steal. He also has a 107 mile per hour batted ball. And Chris, you pointed this out when it happened. I think that's a really good sign for somebody coming back from a shoulder injury that he's driving the ball with force, at least early on here.

And just two years ago, 260 batting average, 17 home runs, 38 steals in 152 games with the San Diego Padres. So I could see something like a 15-home-er 30-steal pace in the second half,

which I think would make Hassan Kim a serviceable middle infielder for those who play in Roto League. Pretty good plate discipline, too. So I think in points leagues also. I agree. People are sleeping on the potential of Hassan Kim, who, by the way, made one start at second base before the break.

So if he picks up eligibility there. I also just point out, I think 30 steals is probably, a 30 steel pace is probably closer to the floor, the way the rays have been aggressive this season. I mean, going back to last year, Jose Caboero has been one of the most aggressive base Steelers in baseball. And Haysen Kim, has been a, now it's aggravating that they're both here. He's been a good base stealer in the past So yeah, I think that's a great call All right, Scott, another sleeper for the second half

This is a preseason sleeper Or maybe it was a breakout A guy I liked prior to the season And everybody's given up on him He's 15% rostered now Because he's been hurt But he's not He's supposed to be back by the end of the month

And it's Ryan Mount Castle Yep I mentioned him in my stashes In the WaverWire piece earlier this week Yeah him homering just twice in 200 plate appearances was honestly one of the weirdest most inexplicable things I've ever seen given that it coincided with the year that they moved in the left field fences at Camden Yards. No, even when the fences were comically deep, Mount Castle showed better power than that. And you look at the exit velocity readings, they're still great.

I mean, average eggs of velocity, 60th percentile, but max exit velocity, 98th percentile. Like, this guy certainly hits the ball hard enough to send it over the fence. And his pull air rate, which, okay, maybe that explains it, he's just not angling it off the bat properly. But his pull air rate was the highest it's been since the 2021 season when Ryan Maltcastle Homer 33 times. So between the fence change and... the better pull air rate, like, it seems like he should have been killing it before he went on the IL with his hamstring injury. Like I said, he should be back by the end of the month.

And I think it's going to go much better for the final two months of the season. Again, only 15% of roster now. Ryan Mountcastle, if you need power, if you need corner infield help, good time to pick him up. I do have some honorable mentions. I'll quickly run through. I'll give you guys the opportunity to do the same as well. Colt Keith, former top prospect with the Tiger, his quality of contact has really stepped up lately. Last 24 games heading into the break, hitting 321, four homers, 943 OPS, 93.2 mile per hour, average exit velocity for Colt Keith, who's also been leading off against right-handed pitching.

Andrew Vaughn, I think a deep league name, getting a chance to play with the Brewers with Reese Hoskins out until mid-August. Tiny sample, only five games, but he's gone six for 14 with two home runs and hitting the ball extremely hard. Brandon Walter, a name we have talked about here there with the Astros, getting a chance to start in Houston, has impeccable control, two pitches with a whiff rate over 34%. He is 26% rostered, and good old Shane Bieber, working his way back from Tommy John surgery, had a rehab start in the Arizona Complex League on Tuesday night.

He threw two shutout innings with five strikeouts. Guardians need all the help they can get. They might be sellers, they might kind of do a combo, buy-sell thing at the deadline, but once Bieber's ready to go, I think late July, they're just going to let him go. I think he has the option to enter free agency. So I do think he could be a big help down the stretch here. Any honorable mentions for you guys?

I'll go on the same idea of Shane Bieber and give you Kyle Bradish, who is probably a little behind Bieber in his. He hasn't made his first rehab start. Bieber did, I believe, on Tuesday. Wednesday? Tuesday? Blake Sinell also did, by the way. We haven't talked about any news, but I saw that. They opposed each other in that game, actually.

There you go. That's a big one. But Kyle Braddish looked like he was making the ace leap before the injury. So definitely him. Kyle Teal, I think, has more than held his own at the major league level. And now I think it's time for it to take the next step. He has a 375 expected whoa, but that's actually the third best of any catcher. So far this season, at least among players who have the same number of played appearances as him. Christian Moore and Bryce Matthews are two interesting prospects.

I don't know if Bryce Matthews is going to get the playing time, but I think he's a really interesting talent. Had 10 homers and 25 steals before getting promoted to the Astros. Astros. David Festa, I still think guys who have 2 40% whiff rate pitches can be good. Call me crazy. And Ronnie Enriquez, I think he's going to be the Marlins closer in the same. second half. Homer.

I think he might just be really good. He's got a 335 XERA, and he is one of seven pitchers in the entire league with four pitches with an above average whiff rate. Ronnie Enriquez, Marlins Closer. Nice. That's pretty good. All right, Scott, a few names for you? Chris, talking up a couple of relievers.

He never wants to talk about relievers. I like it. I didn't bother to look at relievers this time, so I'm glad you're picking it up for the rest of us. Okay, so I am going to just give you a couple names here. One is Austin Hayes, who I feel like I shouldn't be able to mention here as a sleeper, but he's still rostered in only like half of CBS Sports Leagues. Only because, I assume it's only because he's been on the IL, what, three times this year.

Yeah. But it's hit great when he hasn't been. And I think that'll continue now that he's in a part much better suited for him. And Jack Cagliome. he's batting 140 with a 264 slugging percentage. Scott, we were supposed to save him for the breakouts. Well, sorry. Spoiler alert.

259. So like I said, he's batting 140 with his 264 slugging percentage. His expected stats are 259 and 462. So actually pretty good. Stackast feels like he's doing pretty well here. He's striking out only 21.7% of the time, which is great for a rookie with his ability to impact the ball. And more than anything, he is a high-end prospect call-up who is approaching the two-month point of being in the majors. He's been in the majors about a month and a half.

I've observed over the last five years or so that it usually takes these guys the highest-in-hitting prospects two months to really find their footing in the majors. I think there are enough underlying indicators here for Caglione that he is absolutely going to fit the bell. Completely agree on that. The average home run distance for Caglione, only four home runs, but 428 feet on those four. And his max X of velocity 11.1 miles per hour. Tricow rate looks good. Elite, 90% zone contact as well. So I agree. I think it's coming here for Jack Caglione.

Let's move over to the breakouts. Chris, you are up first. Who do we have? Second half breakouts. Okay, we'll go with an obvious one to start. Oh, shoot. And that's Chase Burns. Cincinnati, did we all have him?

No, I'm sorry. I'm interrupting you. That was rude. I just realized there was another name I'd put under breakouts that I mentioned, mention it's leavers. I'll mention him in their breakouts. It's fine. Go ahead. Chase Burns, Cincinnati Red's starting pitcher.

I know he has a 619 ERA 163 whip, so maybe there are some of you who are still skeptical, but I think that 10 strikeout game against the Rockies was the start of Chase Burns figuring it out. He's basically Hunter Green in terms of the stuff fastball that sits in the high 90s, gets a bunch of whiffs. Slider is an even better whiff pitch, one of the best, I think, potentially in baseball. And I just straight up think Chase Burns is a better talent than Jacob Mizziarowski. I know Mizirowski's been better so far. I think Burns, you're sacrificing a little bit of swing and miss with Mizziurowski. Mizzerowski doesn't miss as many bats, but he limits hard contact a little better at least so far.

I think Burns has a chance to be really good in both regards. The stuff is just really, really high end, and I think he could be an absolute must-start difference maker down the stretch. So again, my mid-season top 50 doesn't officially include prospects, who've already debuted, but if it did, Burns would be second overall, Mizorowski would be 12th, so I agree with you. There you go. Chase Burns, by the way, just to back up what you were saying, Chris, about stuff. 110 stuff plus through four starts.

If he were qualified, that would rank sixth, along with Spencer Schwellenbach, and it would be better than Jacob de Grom, Hunter Brown, and Paul Skeen. So I agree. I don't think it would be better than Jacob Mizzerowski. I think he's like 119 right now Yeah, that's pretty nasty stuff for him as well And I know Scott will appreciate this

If you eliminate Chase Burns A start against the Red Sox Where he was allegedly tipping his pitches His other three starts He has a 345 ERA 140 whip That's high, we don't like that But 25 strikeouts of our 15 and two-thirds innings, yeah, that sounds pretty good

for Chase Burns I mean the game log I only see one big Miss Fire in there Yeah All right breakout for me and I am going back to the preseason well, and I kind of feel like it's just injuries that have prevented this from happening.

I think it's going to happen now in the second half. Jordan Westberg, who missed over a month with a hamstring injury. He also dealt with a finger injury where he missed like a week's worth of games recently. But in 21 games since returning from the hamstring, he is hitting 293 with six homers, 17 runs, 15 RBI, 927 OPS, 93.8 average exit velocity with a 15% barrel rate during that time. Still 91st percentile in sprint speed. So just stay healthy.

They have improved the ballpark for right-handed power. I think everything is there. Big power coming for Westberg. Mixes in a handful of steals or whatever it might be the rest of the way. I think it's happening. I think we get a big second half here from Jordan Westberg. All right, Scott, over you for a breakout in the second half. So I don't mean to sound like a broken record with this one,

but it is the one I'm most confident in, and it is Addison Barger. Like this is going to happen, guys. I understand it hasn't happened as quickly as we would have liked it to. It didn't for Jonathan oronda either, though there were some injuries that played a part in that. But this data is just amazing, pretty much across the board. Average Xelosity 95th percentile,

max 97th percentile expected batting average 86th percentile expected slug 91st percentile that that comes out to a 285 batting average 537 slug that's what stat cast expects him to have oh wait a minute is underperforming that because the pole air rate is low no it is it is bright red in its own right so he is angling the ball properly he is impacting it in an elite way and look the actual stat line itself is is fine. It's 823 OPS. So I don't know that I need to sell the skills that hard for Barger. But I think we're going to see greater consistency in the second half. And I think we're eventually, like maybe the biggest drawback is that he sits against left-handers occasionally. But I think something is going to happen with as talented of a hitter as he is. He is going to get on some kind of heater that convinces the Blue Jays,

we just can't take this guy out. and then the rest will be history at that point. Addison Barger will be a must-start fantasy player, hopefully, for the next seven, eight years. Yep, Addison Barger up to 75% rostered. So still out there in a quarter of CBS leagues. Maybe those are points leagues where you do obviously want volume and you want a ton of plate appearances. And, you know, Barger not playing against Lefty, so I get that.

But I agree, Scott. The data's too good. And he's already, you know, shown the massive upside here. If he goes on a heater, hopefully that can improve the playing time as well for Addison Barger. Let's take our final break when we return. We'll give out a few more breakouts for the second half and then talk about some players to sell. The bus. We'll do all that right after this.

Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Breakout for the second half. Chris, the first name you gave us was Chase Burns. Who is next? I'm just trying to figure out which way to go because I've got one that's really not obvious. but I'll go with Roman Anthony, who has been underwhelming so far, but, boy, you don't have to look very hard to find reasons to be really, really excited about him. 93.8 mile per hour average exit velocity, that would be tied with Matt Olson for the seventh highest mark among all hitters if he had enough played appearances to qualify. and when he elevates the ball,

Roman Anthony does even more damage. 98.9 mile per hour average XIVA velocity on fly balls and line drives. That's behind just five hitters. You know who's not ahead of Roman Anthony among those five? A little guy named Aaron Judge, ever heard of him? When Roman Anthony elevates the ball,

he hits it harder than Aaron Judge does. I am not at all saying Roman Anthony is in the same universe as Aaron Judge. Please do not misunderstand. It is just saying that all those superstar projections and talks about the skill set and all the reasons we were excited about Roman Anthony are still very much there.

And then the approach at the plate really isn't bad. It's a very low chase rate, roughly average swing and miss metrics. I think when you look at places the Roman Anthony needs to improve. One, we say this about young guys all the time who hit the ball hard. He needs to elevate the ball a little more often.

He does not hit the ball in the air to the pull, side very often. He has a 58% ground ball rate. Those are prohibitive when you're talking about being a productive major league hitter, especially if you want to be a power hitter. He is not that yet, but I think he can be. And then I think Roman Anthony is probably on the passive side of the passive versus patient divide. His overall swing rate, 38% league average is 47. His swing rate on pitches in the zone is 56%. League average is 67. So he needs to do a better job. Like he doesn't chase.

That's a great thing. He probably needs to be a little more aggressive and chase or go after the balls that he can do damage on. But that stuff's going to come. He's 21 years old. He's super tooled up. He's putting that into games already. I think Roman Anthony has a chance to be a James Wood type contributor in the second half. The type of guy that we're talking about next year is a top 50 pick.

if all goes right. And it's already started for Roman Anthony, too. 15 games before the break. He was hitting 373. Only one homer because of the ground balls. But six doubles, 14 runs, 965 OPS. The strikeout rate down to just 18% over his final 15 games heading into the break. It might happen for him in less than two months.

I really don't think it's worth, I mean, you offered a lot of good data there. I'm not even sure for a talent as obvious. is Roman Anthony, a prospect that high end. I'm not even sure it's worth looking into the data until they've gotten two months. That's how committed I am to this process. All right, another breakout for me in the second half is going to be Noel V Marte,

who kind of is having a breakout season here, but it's just been derailed by an oblique injury, so he missed two months of the season. His season has kind of been up and down, kind of a microcosm of his career, right? It's like, came up, was awesome right away. Then he had the steroid suspension, and obviously was terrible last year,

but in 28 games, he has hit 284 with six homers, five steals, 884 OPS. That is a 30 homer, 25 steel pace over 150 games. Strikeout rate is down to just 16%. His max exit velocity 1 16.7 miles per hour. I think the last key here, if we really want to maximize power output, is getting that ground ball rate of 51% down a little bit.

But, I mean, even with that, everything that we've seen from Noel V. Marte has been awesome so far. So 69% rostered, I feel like he's a must-add or must-raster player. He's 23 years old, so this is, you know, he's a baby.

I think Noel V. Marte, you know, everything got derailed with the PED suspension last year and some people kind of wrote him off. I think this may be the start of the sort of career where he's just being drafted in the top five at his position

year after year because between the low strikeout rate, the high-end exit velocity readings, the strong inclination to steel bases. Like this is a genuine five-category talent. And yeah, I think I have him as a breakout canon for the second half as well. Between Marte and Addison Barger, third base might be getting a nice infusion of talent here. And it's one of the infield positions I could use it the most. that's good. One thing I do want to say with Marte is the idea that everyone wrote him off, I think that's true. And part of it for me was that the Reds seemed to have written,

seemed to have written him off coming into the season. Like, he didn't really have a, they didn't give him a chance to make the major league roster. So that for me was like, oh, they seem pretty out. But, hey, they gave him a chance and he's taking advantage of it. So I'm, I'm thrilled to see that. Yeah, like he was so bad last year after he came back from the PED suspension. I think he was probably going to begin in the minors either way because they still had Jamer Candelario. They were trying to salvage his contract and they had a Christian Incarnacio Strand.

They just had so many options. Why force the issue with Cotel Marte? I assume that was thinking there. All right, Scott, well, you mentioned both names. I have to put you on the spot and ask. Who do you like more rest of season, Addison Barger or, Noel V. Marte. Ooh, I just said Addison Barger's the one I'm most confident in.

I think if it's a Dynasty League, I'm more likely to invest in Marte, but for this season, I'll say Barger. Can I add one more third base eligible player in there who made my breakouts list? Sure. Where's Cam Smith rank among those two? Dynasty he'd rank second. But this year I put him third. It's not because I don't think he's good or think he's going to have a better second half than first half. He just, I don't think he, I don't think he's going to deliver the power of barger.

I don't think he's going to deliver the speed of Marte. So he just kind of is a little more limited in that way. Yeah. He is a little held back by his launch angle so far. It's a lot of line drives and ground balls. And Chris, I think you made this or someone. made this comp and you kind of referenced it before but you know he got a lot of alec bohm comps coming into the season as like a long-term kind of projection and I don't

want to put that as a ceiling obviously he can become a better player than that but it looks very alec bo me so far for uh camp smith which is a good thing you know a alec bohm is a good player you know alex bohm is a good player you wanted to mention as a breakout oh gosh i got i got a ton all right let's go i'm gonna do i'm gonna do a chris tower special here usurper, Yvonne Herrera. Ah, yes. I think it's sort of like I was saying for Austin Hayes. I just typed in Yvonne Hayes when I was looking up his numbers.

It's sort of like I said for Austin Hayes, Yvonne Herrera, I think the time missed with injuries this year has kind of caused everyone to overlook just what a monster he is. And like, hey, it's, okay, you could say. he was overachieving or had been to some degree until very recently. But I think Yvonne Herrera may be legitimately as good as his 320 batting average in 923 OPS. He's available in a quarter of CBS league still. He's eligible at the weakest position at fantasy.

Now he's going to be a full-time DH. And now is, yeah, part of the reason I like him to break out, which really just comes down to staying healthier, is because they're sticking him at DH virtually every day, it sounds like. So that should keep him healthier. And I think he's going to hit so well that he is going to be the rare sort of catcher who you could stick in a utility spot. Like if you already have a great catcher, you already have Cal Raleigh or whatever, fill in the gap, whatever must start catcher you have,

I still think it's worth picking up of Von Herrera because he's going to get those full-time mid-batson because he's got to be a monster he's going to be a monster and i think uh while you could dismiss it as small sample noise and get frustrated with all the the fits and starts of his first half it's going to be obvious in the second half that this is this is a stud and please please ivan herera if you can convince oliver marmole to give you six more games at catcher this season because we need catcher eligibility for next year. So right now, Yvonne Herrera is at 14 games. We need 20 games played this year to get it for next season.

There's been talks that he's mostly going to play DH in the second half. So I don't know, might be a close call heading into next season, whether or not Herrera will have catcher eligibility. I do have some honorable mentions here, and we'll give you guys the opportunity to do the same. I had Roman Anthony on the list as well. Jason Dominguez, another one where it looks like it's kind of already started 16 games heading into the break. He was hitting 359, two homers, 11

runs, four steals, 935 OPS, 93.7 average exit velocity. He is now leading off against right-handed pitching. Might not play against lefties. Probably shouldn't play against lefties, but it does kind of limit some of the upside, but against righties, he might just

be a monster the rest of the way. Dylan Cruz, hoping that he's back early in the second half. He dealt with this insane oblique injury that kept him out two months of the season, but we know there's a world of talent here, there's power, there's speed, 70% rostered, so maybe a name you want to stash. And an oldie but a goodie, he's not really old, but we've talked about him a lot this year. Reese Olson, just stay healthy, man. 2.95 ERA, 124 whip. He has two

pitches with a whiff rate over 45%. He's throwing his four-scene fastball less. It's exactly what we wanted from him coming into the season. So yeah, I think just stay healthy and Reese Olson could have a pretty big second half. Chris, over to you. any honorable mentions for breakouts. Reese Olson is also on my list. Wyatt Langford's another one that I think the breakout may have already started. He was hitting 324 with like a 950 OPS in the nine games since coming off the IL. Even had four steals in those nine games.

That was great to see. Adley Ruchman, I know we're going on like a year plus of him being pretty bad, but the underlying numbers are still very good. I still expect Adley Ruchin may be a difference maker at the catcher position. I've got Cam Smith on there. The one that I was hinting at that I think is a bit of a long shot, but I remain enamored is Michael Soroka. I know he's got a 535 ERA, but we also know that ERA has very little predictive value,

especially over 70 innings or so. only eight pitchers have underperformed their fit by more than Mike Soroka has this season. And you might think, well, that's just because he gives up a lot of hard contact. O contrar, my amese, because he has a 321 expected ERA. That is the 21st best mark in baseball. He gets a lot of strikeouts. He limits walks. He doesn't get hit as hard as you might think.

I don't actually believe Mike Soroka is a low three's ERA pitcher. I think there is must-start potential here. So I'm going to keep looking dumb on Mike's Roca. And then, Reiseloglesias. I'll throw another reliever out there. I think he's just the Braves closure the rest of the way. He's been awesome for like the last month and a half. He's still available in 30% of CBS Fantasy leagues.

If you need a closer, go pick up Bryce Helroglesias. Might be a breakout closer on another team too. I don't think it's crazy that they trade him away. It might be a setup man on another team. It's possible, yeah. Was that correct French that you used just a minute ago? I think it's mon ami. I was just being funny by saying my amis.

Okay. I don't know French. I don't know French either. I think it means my love. You know what I can say in French? 1,900-20-suit, which will tell you the year I took French. I'm not going to speak any French. I don't want our podcast to get demonetized.

I don't know what that means. It's, you know, like, pardon my French, yeah. Oh, there you go. Michael Soroka. Love telling jokes that land with a thud. I love it. Thanks, guys. You know that there will be at least 5% of the audience that tweets you tomorrow, Chris,

and they're like, I love that joke that you made. I hope so. I hope we got some dummies like me out there. Mike Soroka, by the way, just wanted to point out, 19.3% K-minus walk rate this season. Among starters with at least 60 innings, That is the 21st best mark. It's better than Lazardo, Yamamoto, Christopher Sanchez, Matthew Boy, Chris Bubbage.

So there are some signs there for Soroka. Can he put it together? That is the question. Scott, a couple names here that you want to rattle off for breakouts? All right. Augustine Ramirez, the year the catcher continues. He's been very good, but he's underperformed his expected stats by a pretty significant degree. And he's another rookie hitter who, like, you know, if we're giving him.

these guys two months to come around he's well ahead of the curve so far yeah uh jonathan oranda i i know like he's already broken out he disappointed everybody at the end of the all-star game but he was there you know um i think i think we're going to find out in the second half erin boon had the right idea because i think we're going to see a power spike for jonathan errol like i want more i think we're going to get more i think the home runs are going to pick up as the weather he's with now that the weather's heated up and uh on Atlanta it'll surprise people how many home runs jonathan ironda hits from this point forward uh Mitch Keller with the expectation he gets traded I think he will be a breakout in the second half just by virtue of winning more games and here's the guy

I should have mentioned for sleepers Joe Boyle yeah big control and like control was always a disaster for him in the miners that's why he's been traded twice but huge improvement here in his first year in the raise organization the stuff is amazing. The stuff is so good. If you want a bold prediction for the second half, a bold prediction is Joe Boyle will be in the top five for strikeouts in the second half.

If he's able to get the innings, but it seems like they're motivated to find them the innings in some form or fashion at this point. That was my next question. In what role will we see Joe Boyle? If they want to go back to using Rasmussen for at least five innings per start, I just don't know how it happens for Boyle unless they go six-man rotation or maybe they give Todge Bradley the boot.

They have had an amazing run of health with their starting rotation. That has to end. It just has to. And I think once that happens, Boyle will not look back. All right. Well, let's wrap up with busts for the second half. It sounds like we have two names and all of us came up with the same names. So I don't know how many others will be able to provide.

I've got eight. All right, Chris, why don't you kick us off? I won't take the two guys that I know you guys have written about or are going to talk about. So I will go with, I feel like they're, Drew Rasmussen. I'll say the name first. I think you mentioned the Rays are going back to using him for the plan is five innings per start.

I don't think that's going to last, though, because they've said pretty explicitly he's got 150 inning limit. He's already up to 91.1 innings. Just do the math. Just do 60 divided by 5. That would be 12 more starts if they don't want to save anything for the postseason. Now maybe they don't... Sorry, I dropped something. It's fine.

I thought your cat just wrecked your room. Drop something down the stairs. No, I think it hit a shelf on the way down. Okay. But never mind that. If you go 60 innings, five innings per start, that gives you 12 more starts, most players are going to get, if they stay healthy, about 14 more starts the rest of the way. Maybe the A, the raise skip a start here or there or go six-man rotation to get Joe Boyle in there or something.

Either way, that's going to limit Rasmussen's upside and his utility. And then if we're talking about five innings per. start, well, that's not a lot of upside either, especially for a guy that doesn't get a lot of strikeouts, especially for a guy who's RP eligible, whose best format should be head to head points. I don't think he's going to be very valuable there. And then I think there's a chance that they just go back to not using him as a normal starter anyway. You know, they can say they're going to throw him five innings, but I don't know if that's

going to last. I think if they want him available for the postseason in some form, they're going to have to handle him a lot more conservatively than that. So I think there's a realistic chance that Jurassicism just doesn't have much value for fantasy, especially when you think of how Garra Crochet pitched in that kind of usage last year. That's tough.

That's really, it's hard to get out of your normal routine and still try to get the best hitters in the world out. That's really hard to do. So I just think there's a lot of ways things can go wrong. for Drew Rasmussen, and there's basically no upside the rest of the way. Like, I think it's even beyond just the last couple outings where he went to three innings. Like it for much longer than that, I'm just not sure that Drew Rasmussen has had a lot of practical use in fantasy for as good as the ERA and Whip are.

In Roto, he has because. Yeah. But then you don't get strikeouts from him. But you don't get strikeouts. I don't know what it went long. loss record is I can't imagine it's very good with as short as his outings have been. Yeah, I'm not sure. So, not that he has a lot of losses, but just that he doesn't have many wins, I would assume.

He's got seven. That's pretty good, actually. It's okay. It's going to be worse. It's going to be worse. I agree. I think in shallower leagues, you might already be thinking about dropping Rasmussen, and that's fine.

All right, Scott, well, there's two pitchers that we're eyeing. I will let you choose one, and I will take the other that we look as a bust. All right. I'll be a turncoat here because Chris Bubich is probably the player I've gotten the most credit for this year, is breakout. And I buy the breakout, but it's long season. And you know the problems with pitchers who are converting from relief in the second half of the season. It catches up to them. And I think we're already seeing that from Chris Bubich.

So his last six starts of 486 ERA, only a 12% swinging strike rate, which isn't a bad swinging strike rate. But prior to that, prior to those last six starts, the swinging strike rate was 15%, which is an excellent swinging strike rate. So his swinging strike rate has gone from excellent to just decent as his ERA has begun to spike. and the Royals don't appear to be playing for anything in the second half. They seem to be out of the playoff race. It's an interesting situation because, I mean, Bubich really for the first time is in our purview here in fantasy, but it's sort of like Garrett Crochet last year.

He's a lot of service time already. He's a free agent after next season. So if there's any pitcher, like I feel like that Garrett Crochet usage last year in the second, half last year was pretty unprecedented and we haven't seen a team limited pitcher in quite that way before but if it makes sense for any other pitcher this year boobitch would be the one like preserve his wrap him in bubble wrap if you don't think you're going to be able to sign him long term preserve his trade value till the off season when you could hopefully uh hopefully unload him for a huge prospect

package like the white sucks did with garret crochet uh so um i'm i'm a little worried about boobich's effectiveness for the rest of this season. I think he's still think he's very good. I think we're going to like him heading into next year. But I would consider him a sell high candidate right now. Good time to sell him. Yeah, definitely. If you can get top 24 starting pitcher value for Chris Boobich right now, totally agree. I think that's something that you should look into doing right now before he just continues to have bad starts like he did before the break. The other name that we were referencing is Clay Holmes. And I think there could be some workload issues here. Again, he's already up to 103 and a third innings.

Last year, it was 63. He hasn't thrown this many since 2018. So I do wonder if the Mets will kind of limit his starts down the stretch. They did have Sean Mnaya piggyback him in that final start before the break. Now, they're going to use Maniah as a starter, so I don't know that they have another, you know, just obvious piggyback reliever. But I can see them limiting homes. And on top of that, the walks have been a huge problem for him lately. The last five starts before the break, he had more walks than strikeouts, 16 to 15.

That came with a 468 ERA and a 152 whip. So if anyone is still clinging to the early season success, the overall numbers still look pretty good here for Clay Holmes. I would try to sell him for top 40-ish starting pitcher value if you can get that in return. Back over to Chris. I just want to add, I think Clay Holmes, there's a decent chance the second half is just a disaster for him. a great story and he's accomplished a ton this year and it's been awesome for him and for the Mets. But yeah, I think it could fall apart in a big way.

I've got a bunch of other names and if you guys are short, I can throw a bunch of them out there at you guys. Let's see. Let's go. I have some names. This one stinks because he's so fun. I think Jacob Wilson is an obvious so high candidate. As much as I like him, as much as I like what he's doing, he's probably not. not going to hit 332 forever.

Luis Arias has only done that once in a full season. Wilson might be a better hitter than Arias, but the actual data doesn't really back up the idea that he's a significantly better hitter than Luis Arias. He pulls the ball marginally more frequently than Arias. I think it's like two percentage points more in the air. His average X velocity is actually slightly lower than Luis Araya's, including online drives and fly balls,

which would be the one place you might think. He could have an edge on him. His expected batting average is only 287. He's hit for a little bit of power, stolen five bases, but not a ton. I think there's a chance Jacob Wilson hits $290 the rest of the way, and that's awesome for most players.

But as we've seen with Arias, if you're that limited elsewhere, it becomes pretty empty pretty quickly. So that's another one. What's that? It's just funny that like you're scaring people with a $290 batting average. I get it. Like that would be worse than he's been so far.

It'd be useful still. But I think people are talking about Jacob Wilson like he's a star. And I don't think he's that for. So I made this point with Jacob Wilson before. I'm basically willing to throw the data out for him because like we did the same thing throughout his minor league career. And he just kept doing it. and he's kept doing it in the majors. And like, I don't think it's, I don't even really think it's a hollow batting average.

The power production was better. It hasn't been so far. Yeah. And that was true in the miners, too. Like, just like, this guy shouldn't hit any home runs, but he hits a decent number. And he's also, how many, he's, how many stolen bases? Five. Five.

So it was not a complete zero in that category either. I don't know. Maybe I'll be wrong. Maybe this will be, maybe, maybe I'm being Pollyannish about J. I bet against him so many times. I understand he's a rookie, so it sounds weird to say. But I do these prospect rankings, and I always suppressed his ranking and was continually proven wrong. And at some point, I'm just willing to say, okay, this guy's just a freak that the data can't measure. It's possible. 20 games before the break, by the way, I just want to mention with Jacob

Wilson. Last 20 games, he hit 205 with one homer, zero steals, two calls. Two calls. stealing and a 558 OPS. I know he's been battling a hamstring injury, so maybe that kind of contributed there, but he has slowed down over the past month as well. So help me again. He slowed down a little bit in June, even before that. It wasn't, he still hit 323,

but it was only the two homers. It was the one steal. Counting stats were really mediocre. So it's just, he kind of has to hit like 325. unless he's truly like a 15 homer guy, but I just, this feels like Stephen Kwan last year. Remember,

we were like, oh, maybe Stephen Kwan can be a non-zero source of power, and since then he's kind of been a zero source for power. I'll also throw Trevor Story out there. I think what he's done is probably sustainable, but we've also seen what the downside can look like, and it was about as bad as a major league hitter can look for,

a month. He had a 432 OPS in May. I just think the downside is the downside being that low makes him worth trying to trade when he's doing well. And he might be outside of Byron Bucksson the biggest injury risk in baseball. Yes. Zach McKinstree is a remarkable story. There's basically no reason to believe that this is real. He's 30. He's outperforming his ex-loba by like 40 points. I have zero confidence in this. And then I'll throw a Roldus Chapman out there as kind of a stand-in for Kenley Jansen and Kyle Finnegan and David Bednar and all the other closers who might get traded in two weeks time.

The Red Sox are in it, baby. Ten game winning streak. They're in it. In it to win it. They're buyers. I think they might be. Yeah. Might be legit.

Look, there are my A.L. Choice for A.L. champs coming into the season. I had them winning the ALEs coming into the season. So there you go. We're not far off. Scott, any names? you want to rattle off before we wrap up. I'll rattle off a few names for you.

I don't think you mentioned this one, Chris, though my mind wandered at one point. I'll admit Nathan Avaldi. I did not mention that one. Yeah, I know you've been on it as much as I have. So 158 ERA. The lowest ERA he's had in the past, in the past 12 years is 363,

and he's got a 158 ERA right now. and he's 35 years old. So it's, I don't think he's learned any new tricks. I think he's had a great run. And we've seen him have great runs before. But. They always end.

Yeah, they end. He is throwing his secondary pitches more and. It's a little different, I understand. But like, the control is, I actually think on a skills level,

he's pitching incredibly well right now. I just don't think he's likely to pitch this while moving forward. Yeah. And there's obviously significant, significant injury risk with Nathan Avaldi. Yep. And it's kind of the same take for Ranger Suarez. This is the third time he's had a run like this, where he looks like Greg Maddox, basically, with a microscopic ERA not walking anybody.

And each of the first two times it unraveled, and it unraveled in a particularly destructive way. And so I'd be afraid of the same thing happening for Ranger Suarez. Again, he's pitching great right now, legitimately. But I just don't think it's in a way he can sustain. Matthew Boyd, I know you've brought that name up more than once also, Chris. I think he's fine. I think he's going to remain a serviceable pitcher for you. But he's overachieving it basically every way.

And, you know, if you could trade him, what has he actually been in fantasy? He's been like a top 15. Yeah, I think pretty close to top 15. If you could trade him anywhere close to that. Chris and I did our fantasy all-star team from the first half last week, and Matthew Boyd was one of my top three, because I think he was SP 13 in the first half of the year. He was unreal.

Unreal. And then a couple, well, no, I'll just do this one-hitter. Byron Buxton. For obvious reasons, I think... I'm going to pretend to say that. I don't know how high you can really sell on him because the reasons are so obvious, and it might just be worth gambling on this four point per game player sustaining at this one time. But realistically, that's not my expectation.

I have no argument against it. Yeah. I just hope it doesn't happen. And then P. Kroomstrom, okay, that's our show. We'll see you guys tomorrow. All right. We are going to wrap there.

We are headed into the second half of the season. and Chris, we'll be doing so without you. So enjoy your time off, buddy. Well, just next week. Well, yeah. You made it. You made a sound we're going to be doing the whole second half without. I'm still around.

We're entering the second half without Chris, but he will go back. Still doing the newsletter. I'm still here. Imagine? I just... You call Pekra Armstrong a bust again, and I just kick you off the podcast forever.

There's never come back. You've worn out that one. Like 12% of our audience might not be opposed to that for that specific reason. Yeah. No, I'll be back. It's just, we got people staying in our guest room and

I can't, like, sometimes when people stay, I can just be like, oh, you sleep on the couch. And I do my podcast. My mom's coming. I can't force my mom to sleep on the couch. I still think that we should get a mama towers like in on the podcast one day

and just like come hang out, but. I don't think my mom could name a single active baseball. player. All right. Well, we tried. We are going to wrap there for Scott Chris. 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. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts.