Fantasy Baseball Today - Sleepers 2.0 & Jordan Walker's ADP Rise! (3/6 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 6, 2023

Jordan Walker had a monster game over the weekend (3:25). How far will his ADP rise? ... Let's get into Sleepers 2.0, starting with Trey Mancini and Jarred Kelenic (14:05). ... Riley Greene is looking to bounce back (24:43). ... Oscar Gonzalez offers an interesting skillset (34:00). ... Jose Berrios or Trevor Rogers (35:50)? ... Ross Stripling can help your WHIP (45:35). ... Chris will not quite Ketel Marte (47:00)! ... Why is Ezqeuiel Tovar going so late after Vaughn Grissom (52:47? ... Brandon Pfaadt looks like he's ready to dominate (59:15). 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.  Make sure to join our Fantasy Baseball Today March Madness bracket challenge here: https://picks.cbssports.com/college-basketball/ncaa-tournament/bracket/pools/kbxw63b2hazdeobwhayq====?pool-join-key=luc355rrnbhkblo9afv0ti95ozzbzg66&invited-by=ivxhi4tzhiytenztgq2dsojz&via-medium=copy&ttag=FF23_lk_cbssports_cbb_bpm_copySetupInvite Get Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection 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. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today, and welcome to Jordan Walker season. Monday, March 6th, Frank Stample, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we're doing Sleepers 2.4.

Oh, we've got a big week here. We'll hit Sleepers, Breakouts, Bus, each of the next three days. And we got Scott's Tout Warriors draft coming up a little bit later on in the week. So we'll recap all that fun stuff. Had an awesome time this weekend at First Pitch, Florida. Big thank you to Brent Hershey and Ray Murphy from Baseball H.Q. Putting on a tremendous event down at first pitch, Florida. Thank you to Steve Gardner for the invite to National League Labor.

We'll recap that draft on Wednesday as well. So we'll get some of Scott's Tout, War, some of my National League Labor. so you'll kind of hit all different kind of parties. Mix leagues, mono leagues, all that kind of fun stuff. Chris, how's the weekend,

bud? How you doing? Good. I just watched the last of us. And that was a super, super intense episode. No spoilers. And next week is the finale.

And boy, the internet's going to be a blaze when the finale drops. Because I don't know if you guys have ever played that game. The ending is wild. Chris, I played it. I played it last year upon your recommendation.

You don't remember this? I have a famously poor memory, Scott, but I appreciate that. And the ending, people are going to have some feelings about the end of this television season. And it's going to be really interesting to witness. Chris, is this just one season of the show? Is that just the end of it? No, they're doing a second season. They've already confirmed that.

Cool. Yeah, I had no idea. So I was very interested to know. Anywho, let's get into Jordan Walker and talk about the hype. And I don't want to talk. Scott's weekend was fine. Yeah, yeah, Scott, how's the weekend? Any partying?

Scott hate to ask him. I was going to bowling with some kids. Actually, we talked about, since we talked about my bowling frustrations, the last time I went bowling, I actually bowled the best game I had in quite some time. It had been a long time since I broke 100. I know that's not aiming very high. I got a 124. All right.

Curve. The curve was curving properly. I realized I was standing not in the right spot. And I needed to stand further left so that it had room to curve more. This is like when Francisco Lariano had to move all the way to the far end of the mound to get a slider, right? I mean, it's just like that. Just as important. The real quote unquote, real bowling players.

out there, bowlers, bowling players, bowlers. Bolsters. Bolsters are definitely just laughing at us right now because Scott, I'm in the same range as you. Like, if I bowl over 100, I feel great about it. And, you know, that's, in the grand scheme of things, I guess it's not really that great. Anywho, let's talk about somebody who is great,

or potentially great. Jordan Walker, and I don't want to make this entire podcast, like every single day we're talking about Jordan Walker, we're coming on here because just the other day, we had the Welsh on here, and he was talking about how much he loves Jordan, Walker this season. And also, if you're one of those people that, it's like, spring training doesn't matter,

this doesn't mean anything. A, you're no fun. And B, it does matter. And I'll tell you why in just a second. I was at the game Saturday. I was there live, again, down in Florida this weekend. Jordan Walker went four for four. He hit two home runs, one off Josiah Gray, one off of Cade Cavali.

Yes, not the stiffest competition, obviously. But both of these home runs were lasers. There's no exit velocity readings in the ball. ballpark, but these were missiles. They were out in a hurry. He also added a single, an infield single, so flashing a little bit of speed and a double in the game as well. Everybody in the park was buzzing about Jordan Walker while we were there. And I say that a game like this does matter in spring training because something like this gets Jordan Walker to that much closer to an opening day job. It doesn't necessarily mean that he will get it, but it does increase the

probability. So Scott, I'll start with you. How do you react to something like this? I get that is a small sample size, but we're now getting some pretty big games from Jordan Walker and spring training. Are you moving them up your rankings? If so, how far? What do you think about everything going on here? I mean, I feel like I already had him ranked a lot higher than the consensus. But it's been a goal in every draft of mine, regardless of what my needs were to get Jordan Walker. and I managed to do it in TGFBI in round 14 of that 15 team league. I also got him in round 14. Let's go!

So I'm trying to figure out exactly what pick that was. It was pick 202? 203. I got him at 200 and you're picking 8, so 203, yeah. Yeah. So, and I'm wondering now, because this pick came in before the 4403. for four two homer game over the weekend. And I'm wondering, okay, I got my TOWARS draft coming up,

also 15 team, Roto League. Where am I going to have to continue with this goal of mine to get Jordan Walker in every draft, which by the way, I haven't succeeded in that. It just aimed to do it. Where am I going to have to try for him in Tout Wars? And I believe you have some data on that, Frank. Yes, I do.

So over the weekend, there were 16 NFBC drafts that were done. The ADP for Jordan Walker was one, 143.9, just ahead of Ian Hap, Jorge Polanco, and Rowdy Tellez. There was also a mixed roto labor salary cap draft this weekend. Jordan Walker went for $12. It was the same price as Nick Castellanos. Now, that doesn't take into account his game Sunday, where he went 0 for 4 with a strikeout, pretty embarrassing strikeout against the finally unveiled ghost fork of Kodai Senga.

So maybe Maybe everyone backs off now Probably not Probably not I'm probably going to have to think Round 12 now in a 15 team league For Jordan Walker But I think it's worth it

And you know Before when we talked about him You know Even though I just said I was drafting a bunch of them It's because I think he'll be up sooner than later But I wasn't all that confident He'd make the opening day roster Not like I was for Julio Rodriguez last year

Or Pete Alonzo for a year years ago. I was pretty sure they'd be on the opening day roster and they were. You know, there's still a fair amount of doubt with Walker because it's hard for me to picture the Cardinals backing off from Tyler, Tyler O'Neill, Lars Neupar, and Dylan Carlson. I kind of feel like they've seen all they need to see from Carlson at this point, but I don't think they feel that way. But there is still that DH spot that has a lot of flexibility. and it's not like everybody has to have a committed everyday role the way the manager is talking.

It sounds like Jordan Walker may be forcing the issue. I'm giving it probably like a 60-40 chance he is on the opening day roster now. Of course, like the incentives have changed for front offices on this because it was before like, okay, let's wait a few weeks so that we can secure an extra year of control. But now it's if a player is on the roster from opening day to the end of the year, the key is they have to be on their opening day. If they finish high enough in rookie of the year voting or even high enough in MVP voting for the first couple years of their career,

then the team gets awarded draft picks. So it's like, do they value the control more? Do they value the draft picks more? I kind of get the sense they value the draft picks more. There's also. There's also the player side where I think if they hold them back and they finish, is it top three in rookie the year? If they win rookie the year,

they get the full year of eligibility anyway. So there's some risk in holding them back anyway. I hadn't heard that part. Yeah, that's the other part of the rule. Am I making that? I'm not making that up, am I? Say it again, Chris? That if a player doesn't have a full year of eligibility,

but they get, I think it's top two in rookie the year voting as someone said in the comments they get that year the full year of service time there there is something like that that sounds right um but probably which is just to say that there's both carrot and stick when it comes to service manipulation Chris what's your read on this latest situation because we're at an interesting point in draft season where we still don't know on Jordan Walker like yes we're hopeful that he can that that he's kind of like playing himself into an opening day job. But if we're talking about someone who's going inside the top 150 now,

who, okay, even if he gets sent down, like he's probably up within a month anyway, we hope. But what's your kind of read on how fast this is moving in terms of the rise in ADP for Jordan Walker? So it's as we're talking,

right? Like March 5th at 1057 p.m. I would say it's more likely and probably much more likely than not that he makes the opening day. roster at this point. However, Cardinals have a bunch of guys going to the world baseball classic. He's going to play a ton. It's possible that his next 20 played appearances end with two hits and nine strikeouts and it kind of becomes a moot point. But this is starting to feel like Fernando Tatis a couple years ago where it just, it didn't seem all that likely at the start

of spring. And then it just became inevitable. And in terms of whether he's worth drafting, we're talking about arguably the top prospect in baseball, certainly a top five guy by pretty much every accounting, put up really good numbers in the minors, has both the production profile and the scouting profile of a superstar caliber player. There's some risk that he's not going to live up to all that, but he looks completely legitimate. He's so talented. It's the kind of player that you want to see make the opening day roster. And it's the type of player that, you know, like you guys mentioned, you want on your team. Now, you can't do that in every draft.

And you and the three of us have the flexibility of playing 13 leagues and drafting 27 times. And so we're going to have chances to get Jordan Walk on our team. If it becomes to the point where he's a top 100 pick, which it very well could, then it's harder to justify. it's harder for me to say you need to take Jordan Walker with a top 100 pick if that's what it ends up costing

by the end of spring and you only play in one league this is definitely one of those like if you play in multiple leagues make sure you get some Jordan Walker but like well I'm going to have a hard time saying like yeah you should pass up Zander Bogart's to take Jordan Walker you know like that's tough

to yeah well yeah I think it's that high but Jordan what's Zander Bogart's 80p? pretty well inside the top 100, right? 86.6.6 overall. It's more like Reese Hoskins versus Jordan Walker. And this is where I think sometimes the fantasy analysis, I mean, we're pretty good on this podcast.

We keep the focus geared toward 12 team leagues, but so much of the fantasy, so many fantasy analysts are talking in terms of 15 team leagues. Like the vast, fast, fast, majority of the audience plays in 12 teams or fewer. And I think the shallower your league is, so this covers most of the audience, the more justifiable it is to take a chance on upside once you get beyond the true studs,

which certainly by the time you get to 100th in the rankings, you're beyond the sure studs. And so I think if we're talking to 10 team leaguers out there, I would say draft Jordan Walker however early you think you need to draft them to get him. You know, maybe not like the first six rounds, but at some point after that, at least his thing stand now. Like you said, Chris, over the next couple weeks, things may change. He may struggle and it becomes clearer that he's not going to make the roster. And then certainly his ADP would fall.

Still probably worth drafting at that point. Just get stashed for May 1st or whatever. But, yeah, I would say enthusiasm is rightfully very high. It should be about as high as it was for Julio Rodriguez at this time of year ago. All right. So Jordan Walker is on the rise. Worth mentioning that Dylan Carlson is dealing with an arm injury right now, so he will not throw again until Monday.

So if anything comes of that, obviously that makes it a little bit more clearer for Jordan Walker to get a job on opening day as well. Let's get into Sleepers 2.0. We did Sleepers Breakouts and Bus as one podcast back on January 31st. The names that we gave out as Sleepers then. Charlie Morton, Brian Dela Cruz, Miguel Vargas for Scott, Edward Cabrera, Brandon Lau, and Jesse Winker for Chris. and then for me, Routi Tellez, who also has moved up,

I've noticed over the past month or so, Reed Detmer's and C.J. Abrams, I could tell you that there was a lot of excitement for Reed Detmer's this past weekend, just in terms of panels and AL only, and people are pretty excited about Reed Detemers, and rightfully so. Let's get into Sleepers 2.0,

and Scott will start with you. I don't know if you have the rundown open, but we're going to do this in terms of two player pairings, and I've got your outfielder's first. Do you remember which ones you gave me? No. Okay. So you've got Trey Mancini and Jared Kelnick.

Ah, yes. Trey Mancini and Jared Kelnick, oh boy, this will be fun. Okay, so let's start with Trey Mancini, I guess. And it's kind of funny I'm bringing him up as a sleeper because a couple weeks ago on the mailbag podcast, somebody presented him as a sleeper. And I kind of poo-poot it like, yeah, I don't know. I think I've seen enough from Trey Nancini and he is who he is.

Well, I actually had the opportunity to draft him over the weekend in TGFBI right around the 300th pick, 280th pick, something like that, something basically in line with his ATP. And so I took a closer look at him, closer than I have since I made out my rankings in October. And I liked a lot of what I saw. for instance, he was 80th percentile last year and max exit velocity, and that was lower than usual for him. Usually he's between 90th and 100th percentile for maximum exit velocity. Maximum exit velocity is the best indicated of raw power. So it's not like he's one of these post-juice ball guys who shouldn't be able to hit the ball out of the park anymore.

Even his average exit velocity was pretty good, 61st percentile. And in previous years, it's been higher than that, closer to 7. 90th percentile. For somebody who hits the ball that hard, Trayman Sini doesn't strike out much, consistently below 25% with that strikeout rate. And though his numbers were pretty underwhelming last year, justifiably, you know, it's justifiable why he's going as late as he does

based on the numbers. Prior to the trade to Houston, he was batting 268. The overall stateline still wasn't that impressive because he was playing his home games in Baltimore with that ridiculous left field that was suffocating everybody's power. And he looked going into the season, like he'd be especially vulnerable to it,

even more than Ryan Moucassel. So he's hitting 268 in spite of that. He goes to the Astros where he's not playing all that regularly, and so his batting average plummets. And then I was reading about how there was a flaw in his swing during that time. Basically, it was leaking. And if you don't know what leaking means on the swing,

it's when you shift your body is out of sync with your hands, basically. You're shifting your body weight forward before your hands start moving. So it takes away a lot of your power. And Astros coaches discovered that and pointed it out to him late in the year, basically, like, in the postseason. So he didn't really have much time to work on it. But he worked on it in the off season. He feels like he's in a good place.

with it now. And I think there is a chance he could return to being like a, you know, 275, 280, 30 homer type in a more favorable hitting environment than where he spent most of last season with more regular playing time, obviously further removed from the year he missed with cancer and has had a chance to rebuild his strength, fix his swing, should get tons of opportunities with the Cubs. Even when Matt Mervis comes up, you know, presumably that means Eric. Cosmer's the one shifting out of the way for him and not train Mancini.

So I think he could be a nice fine lay. Hey, had a 115 mile an hour batted ball today. He hit a 400 foot home run. That was harder than any batted ball he hit all last season and the previous season. Hardest he's hitting than stackass history. 150.8? Yeah, 115.1. Was it 115.8? What did you say?

115.1.1. So yeah, right there. Those decimal places. In 2017, he had at least one harder than that. But that's, I mean, that's, look, it's not, it's not proof of anything. But look, I took him at 259 in TGFBI. So I'm happy. Like, that's my starting first basement.

I'm not thrilled with that. But I do think there's a chance in a fifth. Well, I have got, I've got a lot of outfielders, you know. I got Jesse Winker on the bench already. Hey. That's not bad. It's another sleeper that we've got. out on the list with Jesse Winker.

Yeah, but like, it's not the worst thing in the world. If in a 15 team league, I have a Trey Mancini bounce back in my first base spot. It could work out. It could work out. Yeah, that's the argument I'm making, right? All right, so that's Trey Mancini. The other one here is Jared Kelnick. Oh, Scott, you didn't hear?

You're not allowed to like Jared Kelnick. Well, that's what I'm getting to. Spring trading stats don't count, Scott. Jared Kelnick hit his. fourth home run of the spring on Sunday. Another just monster shot. I didn't see a distance for it, but went over the very tall batter's eye

that's in a lot of those parks in Arizona. In centerfield, center field. Just clobbered. All of them have been clobbered. The exit velocity readings on these have been comparable to only like the hardest hitters in all of baseball,

Aaron Judge and Jordan Alvarez. Like he had the game where he hit two home runs earlier this spring, he had three batted balls of a certain exit velocity or higher that was only five players in all of baseball accomplished last year. So like he has the upside, clearly. But I tweeted out during that two-homer game I was just referencing. Or actually it was the third home run he hit. So it was off a lefty.

He hit it to the opposite field. And I just tweeted out, look at that oboe power off a lefty. And these were some of the response. as I got to that tweet. Don't fall for it, Scott. He's a quadruplea who can't handle MLB when the games really count. Ah, if only spring training counted.

Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars saying, It's a trap. Don't do this, Scott. He's going to join the infamous Greg Bird's Spring Training Hall of Fame. That pitch found the middle. Doesn't he always do this in spring? So we all going to do this again. It looked like a BP pitch, though.

I hate this. Because I like, sort of related. I tweeted like just completely just offhand. Hey, Nolan Jones could play every day in Colorado. That might be kind of interesting. And someone was like, Nolan Jones is going to have to be good before it becomes in. It's like, yeah, of course.

Like, but we're, the point you're about to make is like, it costs nothing. Yes. Well, yes. So my point of bringing. that up isn't just to like vent to you guys. It's to say like here is evidence Jared Kelnick is a sleeper. Like nobody wants anything to do with him anymore. They've made it abundantly clear every time I tweet about him. And that's how you like that is the truest form of sleeper. A lot of times we talk

about sleepers and it's a bunch of guys everybody kind of likes, but they, everybody's, you know, trying to wait everybody out to get him at a range that still makes him a sleeper and sometimes the value gets forced up and they become not such a sleeper anymore as may be happening with Jordan Walker. But, and Jared, Jerich, Jerich has burned so many people through his first two seasons in which he hit like 165 over a season's worth of a bat. So it's understandable. Like, he's genuinely terrible. But he's being drafted around 300th on average now. Like a 12-team head-to-head league isn't going to get to pick 300.

So he's basically free. he's 23 years old still. That's the part I can't get over. Most prospects don't reach the majors for the first time until they're 23. So like if Jared Kelnick had just continued to do what he did in the minors and this was the year they were opening up the spot for him, our attitude toward him would be way different, you know, just based on the numbers he put up at AAA last year.

None of the four home runs has been off, has been off a breaking ball, I think is worth pointing out. In the end, the pessimism may be warranted. He still can't hit anything other than a fastball. But, gosh, he's still revealing the upside that got us so excited in the first place. And he hasn't just been sitting on his hands all off season. Like, he's tried to work to correct the things. I know he's made changes to his stance, among other things.

And it's just like, why not? Like, who's a better fifth outfielder pick at that very late stage of the draft? Or it doesn't even have to be your fifth outfielder, bench player. You know, like there's no harm in just picking Jared Kalnick and maybe this is the year at 23 that it all comes together. Now, there is something that the Twitter trolls are right about, Scott. And that's that Jared Kelnick usually does do this in spring training. So we saw it last year he hit three home runs with an 883 OPM. super small sample size, only 13 games, 2021.

He hit 300. It's already got more than that now. He hit 300 with two home runs. Again, these are like super small sample sizes, so I get it. But he's going super late, or he was, Scott, because I noticed, again, over the weekend, 19 NFBC drafts. NFC's a little bit different.

Obviously, they're playing for upside. But 242 is the ADP. Are you still all right with taking Jared Kelnick there? He moves up right around. Jesse Winker and Will Myers, other guys we like as sleepers. Would you take Jared Kelnik over both of those guys? I don't really consider downside for a pick after pick 200, let's say. It gets a little more complicated, the deeper of the league.

Yes, 15 team leagues you probably do have to consider downside until you filled out your whole starting lineup just because there isn't much of a waiver wire after as the season's happening. But again, for the average user, 12 teams or less. Just think in terms of upside after pick 200. I think that's a good general rule to follow. So that's a yes on Kelnick over Winker and Wilmire's? Yes.

All right. Well, let's take a quick break. And when we get back, we'll get some of Chris's sleepers here on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back into Fantasy Baseball today. Chris, let's get your sleepers here. You've got two outfielders up top as well, one of which posted two exit velocities over 106 miles per hour on Sunday.

which one was that? I didn't I didn't notice that one. Riley Green. I love Riley Green. He had a home run on Saturday, I believe as well, to the opposite field. And yeah, Riley Green's another one. Look, I love a post-hype sleeper. And Riley Green, one was better than you think. He hit 253 with a 682 OPS. That's bad. However, within the context of the 2022 landscape playing at Comerica Park, that was basically a league average hitter. Now, hey, league average, that's not great. He only stole one base on five attempts, only had five home runs in 93 games.

None of that is very good. However, this was a guy who we were talking about, maybe not the same way we're talking about Jordan Walker right now. Maybe not the same way we were talking about Julio Rodriguez last year. But like, he was a top five consensus prospect, a top five, their top 10 consensus prospect, top five in some spots. he has performed very well at the high miners 890 OPS at AAA 9.05 OPS at double A. He's got power. He's got speed. I think Riley Green, like, he struck out a little bit too much as a rookie and that's a problem. But when you actually like dig into the underlying play discipline numbers, he didn't really have a ton of swing and miss in his game. And he didn't swing at pitches out of the strike zone all that much. I'm not sure exactly. exactly what it was. I think there was probably some just like, you know, maybe a lack of

aggressiveness. His zone swing percentage was only 64%. He's got to be more aggressive on the pitches that he can hit. But like, he posted above average ex of velocities, posted max ex of ELO in the 86th percentile, hard hit rate 77th percent. Sprint speed 59 percent. And that was coming off a broken foot. Because, oh yeah, he broke his foot in spring training last year and missed the first like two months of the season. That's a really tough thing for a 21-year-old player to do during his major league debut is to try to come back from that and hit the ground running. So I just think he's an incredibly talented player. He's still a guy who I think we should be very excited about. And Riley Green tends to go outside of the top 175, his ADP at NFC overall is

197.8. I'm not sure what it is lately, but I haven't really seen it get pushed up too much. And I'm ending up drafting him pretty much every draft that I'm doing. So I've got him as a top 150 player. I'm very excited to have Riley Grant on my teams. And he's going to have a better home part because Comerica moved the fence is in in center field. So it won't be quite as cavernous. I think they made those changes specifically with him and mine too because he, so he only had only hit five home runs last year. And somebody did the research and found he would have hit three more with these changes.

so it would have been eight instead of five, which in less than 400 of bats is a pretty significant difference. His expected home runs by ballpark last year, lower at Detroit than any other venue. Several of them he would have had double-digit home runs as opposed to the five he actually hit. And this is with a horrible launch angle, like way too many balls on the ground.

He didn't go into a lot of detail, but I saw one piece this spring about how he is conscious of that, and wants to elevate the ball more. Yep. Again, it wasn't, not a lot of concrete detail. Maybe he won't actually, but at least we know it's on his mind and that it's something that he sees the benefit in.

So, yeah, I can get, feel, I can get enthusiastic about Riley agreed to, I guess is what I'm saying. And his ground ball rate, while it was bad last year, 56% in the majors, it wasn't really a big issue. If you look from 2021, and earlier, 47.6%, 43%,

43.8, 45. Those were his previous four stops in the minors before that. So, I'm thinking... It's perfectly fine. I'm thinking he could get... Riley Green could get that launch angle up. Chris, who would you rather have? Because I think this is a decision you likely have to make as probably your fourth outfielder in a lot of drafts. Riley Green or Lars Neupar. Well, in TGFBI, I just went with both. So you can get around that. But yeah,

I think I still have Riley Green ranked higher. Newt Bar is someone that I have moved up quite a bit since the start of the spring. Not because of anything he's done in the spring necessarily, but just a desire to have more Lars Newt Bar in my life. I do have Riley Green a couple of spots ahead in my outfield rankings. It's 35 versus 37. Jordan Walker over both. Because I had the decision Newt Bar versus Walker.

Unfortunately, somebody made it for me in TGFBI. I took a new is. So I went Walker. But now I think I just would have taken Walker anyway. I would take Walker over both. I would probably go with Walker over both. However,

yeah, it's partially because you have to. Right. It's the kind of thing where if you want Jordan Walker, you can't like wait until Riley Green's off the board and say, okay, now's my chance. Like,

or Lars Neumar's off the board because those guys are going to go way after him. Are you willing to miss out on? I guess in order to have Walker. I think Jordan Walker probably has more upside. Yeah, although that's sort of just doing the mystery box thing. Jordan Walker has not played and struggled in the majors, which we should be honest and acknowledge that the likeliest outcome for Jordan Walker

is that he struggles a little bit as a rookie. Hitting in the majors is really, really difficult. And like, it's possible he comes up in April. The ball's dead and it doesn't fly out like it did last year. He gets frustrated. He starts making chain. There's a lot that can go wrong. We've not seen this guy at the major league level.

You're talking about upside and that's the reason you take him. I would take him over Riley Green and Lars Newtbar, although I do not have it ranked that way yet. All right, Chris, who's the other sleeper outfieler you have? We've talked about him a lot. He was one of Scott sleepers. The first time we did this, Brian Dela Cruz from the Marlins. You know, I'm a big homer, always touting the Marlins offense.

You know how much I love that. No, he looks like a legitimately very, very skilled player. He's a stat cast darling. 82nd percentile average exit velocity, 90th percentile expected Wobah, which that's actually even more impressive than it sounds because he does not walk ever. And so that is just the bat carrying the expected Wobah there. And 96 percentile expected batting average, 94th percentile expected batting average. 94th percentile expected slugging percentage.

Yeah, better than Rafael Devers in both of those categories. I'm not sure I expect him to be one of the 20 best hitters in baseball. Let me rephrase that. I do not expect Brian De La Cruz to be one of the 20 best hitters in baseball. You can fake those kind of numbers over a small sample size, and it's very, very heavily weighted towards one really, really great stretch at the end of the season. September, even with rosters not expanding as much as they did in the past. Still, I'm a little skeptical of late season breakouts.

Brian De LaCruz costs like a 220th overall pick, I believe still. Yeah, 236.8 in NSD drafts. So this is not a sleeper in the traditional sense that nobody's talking about him because a lot of people like him. Well, it's interesting. If you don't mind me changing gears here a little bit. Go for it. Like, of all the players we're talking about now, De La Cruz might be one whose ADP isn't going up.

And I've kind of cooled on drafting it myself because folks on the Marlins beat were saying, oh, it seems like the Marlins are leaning toward giving that left field job to Hesu Sanchez instead. I don't know how right they are. I hope they're wrong. I think Brian De La Cruz deserves it a lot more. But it does give me some pause.

Sure. when, you know, I'm weighing my options at that point in the draft. And I think early in draft season, he and Lars Neupar were getting taken a lot closer. And now there's a big gap between the two of them. Although, like, there is a bit of a diminishing returns on the Lars Neupar and Jordan Walker excitement. You know, like, they can both play. But there is a little bit of a, there's a chance that they take away from one another in some way. Or more specifically, Jordan Walker takes away from Lars Neupar.

I think would be the more likely outcome. Yeah, I mean, those guys are, I'm not going to say directly correlated, but there is some correlation there between obviously all the Cardinals players and both guys play in the outfield. So yeah, no, I think that makes sense with Nupar and Jordan Walker. Few sleepers for me. I mentioned this on our outfield preview. Oscar Gonzalez, interesting rookie season last year.

He hit 296 with 11 home runs in just 91 games. He makes a lot of contact and he's loaded with tools. 91st percentile max EV, 88th percentile sprint speed. Don't love the ground ball rate at 51 percent, but he pulls the ball a lot. He obviously hits it hard, and he has a 31 home run season in the minors. Oscar Gonzalez does.

So I know people will point to the chase rate, extremely aggressive, but he still made a lot of contact. He had a sub-20% strikeout rate. You might say, okay, they'll throw him less fast balls this year. Okay, well, 283, batting average against breaking pitches, 277 versus off speed. So I just think there's a lot to like here with Oscar Gonzalez in a sneakily improving

Guardians lineup. I think just overall they've gotten better. They've added Josh Bell, Stephen Kwan at the top there. So I do like Oscar Gonzalez. The ADP is at 186.8. I would take Riley Green and Lars Nupar over him, but I think he probably should go right around that range. And then Jorge Saler, someone that's going super late.

This is for five outfielder leagues. If you need power, there's not many power options. that late in the draft. His ADP is 332. If you're like Scott, you probably don't need power that late in the draft. But something I've done a lot of is pair Jorge Soler with Jesse Winker. I like their skill sets together. You could get good batting average from Winker and then you get the power from Jorge Soler. Both guys are extremely injury prone. So I do realize there's a lot of risk involved there. But So Laird still crushes the ball, hits it really hard. And they're paying it. Like the Marlins don't really pay a lot of guys. So $12 million. I think he's going to play as long as he's healthy. So, so. Good OBP, loss of power for Jorge Saler in those deeper five outfielder leagues. Let's get back into some more Sleeper, Scott. We'll go to you, and you provided me two pitchers, Jose Berrios and Trevor Rogers. Ah, yes. Thank you for telling me their names.

So my argument for Jose Burrios is very similar to the one I made for Jack Flaherty in Sleepers 1.0, which is basically just, okay, for the past, five years or so we all were convinced this guy as an ace are pretty close to it and even more so in Jose Barrios' case he didn't have all the health issues Jack Flaherty had so he was

consistently delivering on that potential I always thought he was a little overrated sometimes he'd get drafted closer to top 12 when I saw him more as the top 24 guy but the point was that we all thought he was good and he performed well

so last year his second year in Toronto. So it's not like it was a venue change or anything. 523RA, 142 whip. Even the K-per-9 were down 7.8. So it was just bad across the board unexpectedly. And he did this as a 27-year-old without any obvious loss of stuff in terms of velocities or spin rates.

It was his control was still like we're used to seeing it. so it was really hard to make sense of what was going on for Jose Burrios last year which on the one hand makes it easy to ask well what's going to change for him this year so it's it seems like the Blue Jays have pinpointed the problem as being a matter of locating his fastball he was kind of leaving it more in the zone against left-handed hitters and specifically the the numbers on that pitch how much much harder the fastball got hit for Burrios last year. Average exit velocity.

So in 2018, 2018-19, 89.1 was the average exit velocity. Two lefties on the fastball. Last year was 92.5. So they were just crushing it. 381 batting average versus 239. So the results were clearly different and clearly different on that pitch. And one of the things we don't measure as well with the usual metrics we look to is location.

So I think that's a reasonable enough argument, considering he's going outside the top 200. And as I just said, once you're drafting beyond 200, it's not worth worrying about the downside so much. The odds of you dropping any player you take there is pretty high. We know what the upside is for Brios. And given his track record,

I think he's much more likely to meet that upside than most of the players you could draft at that point. So specifically as somebody who, who not big into investing big at starting pitcher this year who wants to take advantage of mid to late round bargains you know if if burrios had the kind of year he just had during the juice ball era and where quality starting pitcher with pitching was hard to find he would not have dropped nearly this far because it was hard to find a pitcher who was even capable of doing but what Barrios did. But because

pitching has developed such a robust middle class now, home runs aren't coming as easily, then Burrios is allowed to slide this far, and I think you should take advantage. And Trevor Rogers got the other one. I just looked at the ADP over the past couple of weeks, and they've gotten a lot closer together.

So I don't want to say that people are buying into just one spring start, but, well, Trevor Rogers made another start on this Sunday, and he looked good again. But his first start, I know he threw the change-up more. He got a few whiffs on that pitch. And when Trevor Rogers broke out in 2021, it was really on the back of that change-up.

So if he can get a feel for that pitch once again, then I don't think we'll see the player we did in 2021. But I think there's still a considerable amount of upside with him. Yeah, and as I pointed out, I mean, it's been a few weeks since I pointed out, but as I pointed out before with Trevor Rogers, it looked like he was getting back to that form last year. It was such a small period of time that it's hard to know what to make of it. So he missed a stretch with back spasms, had a chance to work on his delivery.

As he was rehabbing to come back, he had this amazing start at AAA, where he threw six no-hit innings and struck out 12. Then he comes back, Trevor Rogers, and his first three starts back from the IL, from that great rehab start, 295 ERA, 0.93 whip, 10.8. K per 9. His swinging strike rate was 13.1% as opposed to 10.7% for the injury.

So it seemed like he may have figured something out right then. Next start doesn't go well. He leaves with an injury. He's gone for a long time again. So we don't know where it would have ultimately ended up for Trevor Rogers. But at the time it was happening,

I was suddenly all the way back on board Trevor Rogers writing about him in the Waver Wire column after every start. And to see him back this spring and having immediate success only bolsters my enthusiasm for him as it seems to be other peoples as well. But again, he's still being drafted in a range,

even if you just look at the most recent ADP data where I think there's a clear case for Trevor Rogers being a sleeper. Remember, some people were like them as much as like Alec Manoa and Shane McClanahan last year. That's the sort of range Trevor Rogers was being drafted in. So don't sleep on the upside.

Who would you rather have, Scott Berrios or Trevor Rogers? Bereos. All right. Back to Chris. You also have two pitchers going outside of the top. I believe they're both outside the top 200. I believe so. I have Jameson Taiton and Patrick Sandoval.

We talked about Tion. Last week a little bit, he's introducing more of a sweeping slider to his repertoire because he really hasn't had that like go-to. who's swing and miss pitch. He's worked on the slider. The curve ball's been in occasionally. But the hope is that the sweeper can give him, you know,

that go-to put-away pitch that he's really been lacking. Because if you look at the last couple of seasons, he's got good control, you know, when he's healthy, obviously. He's got good control. He gets pretty good results on balls and play. 360 expected Wobon contact for his career. 368 is the league average over that stretch. So better results on balls and play than league average.

The problem is 21% strikeout rate last season, 19% in 2019. He's typically hovered right around or a little below average in strikeout rate. It's hard to be a really good pitcher if you do that. If he can just be a slightly above average strikeout rate guy, I think there's some room for Jamison Tyone to take a step forward. I'm like he basically costs nothing. I mean, if we're if we're comparing him, yeah, 247.2 is his ADP. Love taking a flyer on it.

I don't think there's like an ace outcome here for him, but the good Marcus Stroman seasons, maybe, maybe like a Chris Bassett like outcome. I think that's within the realm of possibility for James and Town. Patrick Sandoval, much more interesting pitcher, I think, a much higher ceiling there. It's a fascinating commentary on this state of fantasy baseball that a 26-year-old pitcher who just coming off a 291 ERA is outside the top 200. But one, the pitching is easy to find.

And two, we can look at what he did last season and know, okay, he was probably more like a high three's low fours, he wasn't actually all that useful for fantasy. I still think Patrick Sandibals got a world of talent. He's got that changeup that is one of the best swing and miss pitches in baseball. The slider took a step forward last season because the changeup wasn't working as well for him. He actually started throwing it a lot more overall, went from 17% usage in 2021 to 29% last season, but specifically, he threw the slider in 2021 about as often

against righties and lefties. Last year, he actually threw it almost more than twice as often against right-handed batters than left-handed batters. He is a left-handed pitcher. So that shows the confidence that he had in this pitch to throw, you know, the slider, which is usually the one you take advantage of your platoon matchup with. But he was throwing against lefties and righties getting very good results, 34% whiff rate, 261 expected Wobah allowed the changeup was still excellent, despite some struggles with it last year. I think if he can put it all together,

there is just so much upside with Patrick Sandoval in a way that's not being factored into his draft cost because he's typically been also very good on the balls in play as well. So we see that strikeout rate starts to get back up to where it was in 2021. and he has to go-to put-away pitches. I think Patrick Sandoval could finally put it together this year. Sandoval and Tyone, obviously you take Sandoval earlier than you would Tyone. They're a good pairing together.

I like finding players like this that complement each other's skill sets because Sandoval are going to be a high whip guy. James and Tyone, 1.13 whip over 177 in a third innings last year. That is really valuable. I don't know if it'll be that low again, but I think it's probably going to be sub 1-2. whip, and that's really valuable where James and Tyone is going. So maybe pairing someone like him and Sandoval together. I'll give you another whip pitcher who's pretty good, and he's also going very late.

It's Ross Stripling. He has an ADP of 271 last year, a 102 whip 301 ERA for Ross Stripling. Throw your best pitch more. That's exactly what he did. Stripling through his change up a career high, 27% of the time, nearly double as how often he used it in 2021. and the results on that pitch were great. 203 batting average against 20.9% swinging strike rate.

Nice park shift going over to San Francisco. It's a great organization to pitch for as well. So Ross Stripling, more of a higher floor guy. I don't know that the ceiling is insane, but a deeper league pitcher that could provide quality endings for you. That is Ross Stripling. And then Ken Tamayda is someone I've mentioned here and there throughout the all season so far.

Returning from Tommy John surgery that he had back in September, September of 2021, now 17 months removed. So the twins are saying that there are no limitations with Kentimaida. If you just look at his career numbers, they don't blow you away. 387 ERA 114 whip over a strike out for inning. That's a quality pitcher, 13.6% swinging strike rate. So Kentimaita is someone that I do like targeting quite a bit as well. He's going even later.

I mean, 32.8 is the ADP for Kentomaieta. Let's get to our final groupings here. we'll start with you this time. You have a classic Chris Hauer sleeper as one of these, and then a new guy, a youngster on the Boston Red Sox. Yeah, let's go back to Catele-Marté, because last season was kind of a disaster for him,

kind of a disaster for me, because I had Cotel-Marte on pretty much every single one of my teams, and that's a good example of why all my teams were bad at offense last season. But there is still, I think, a ton to like about him. He still makes a ton of contact, still hit the ball very hard last season at max exevalo 96 percentile. Average exevalo only 72nd, hard hit rate only 61st. So wasn't quite as consistent as he had been in previous seasons,

but I still think the hit tool here is very, very good. I still think there's some pop, probably not 30 homer power in this environment, but I still think he can be someone who hits 20 home runs, gives you a very good batting average. and is he outside the top 200 right now? No, he's close. He's close to it though.

Yeah, 197.8. Like, at a second base position that's really not very strong, I really like Jorge Polanco, I'll take him ahead of Catal Marte, but if I don't get him, Katel Marte is a very, very good, you know, fallback to the fallback. I think there's two clear players that people just have fatigue on. They're done. Too many injuries.

Cetal Marte. and Anthony Rendon. People are just out. They're going close to 200, and I understand why, but, I mean, based on what they, either what they've shown in the past

or just the team context with Randone, I mean, hitting in the middle of that Angels lineup, yeah, like, why not going outside the top 175 in AP right now? Cotell Marte is the one that's the hardest for me to understand, because, so,

okay, so last year happened, a lot of the underlying metrics were still great, as Chris pointed out. The stack has page still look pretty awesome for Ketalmard. I have 42 doubles still.

But let's leave last year out of it. Two of the three years prior to last year, Ketel Marte hit no worse than 318 with no worse than a 909 OPS at second pace. And my initial rankings, I had them more like 150th and I thought maybe I was fading them too hard. And then when the ADP data started coming out

and it's like, really? You're going to give me Catelle Marte for a late round pick? Okay. I know I have this plan where it's like, you know, I want an outfielder in round one, a third baseman in round two, second basement in round three. The least important of those is the second basement in round three

because of guys like Catele Marte who are lasting so late in drafts. And the other one, Chris, here is a Tristan Kossis. What do you got on? Tristan Kossis. One of the, he's probably one. of the top 25 prospects right now. He got up to the majors last season, didn't exactly tear the cover off the ball, hit 197, but did have a 76 76 OPS, walked a ton, hit five homers in 27 games.

The power is the calling card here. And that's going to be what carries him. Although I think the plate discipline can be pretty good too. It's just a bet on youth. It's a bet on a talented young player. It's a bet on a talented young player who should have a very good carrying tool in the power. And he's another guy who goes 229.2 is his NFC ADP overall. I would prefer to fill first base before that. Like I said, I did take Tremancini in my TGFBI.

Tristan Kossis was definitely part of my plan. If I had been able to get him, I would have been happy with him. I'm not thrilled to get him as my starting first baseman, but in a 15-team league, I think he very well could be of more than passable option there. I don't mind it. Honestly, 15 team leagues. You know, first base I've talked about, it's one of the few positions that affords you a chance to wait. I'd rather dip into that Christian Walker route, but if it doesn't happen just because, you know, I miss out on the run or whatever, either one of Miguel Vargas and Tristan Kossis is my first basement. I'm fine

with. I went with Vargas and TGFBI and then was able to, I think, I drafted Ty France the very next round, mitigating some of the risk. But Tristan Causes has looked awesome this spring. And even though he batted below 200, his stint in the majors last year, that was with five home runs. And how many it bats, less than 100? And he reached pace at like a 350 clip, even with that low batting average. So, like, I think he's legit. And he was in my sleepers 1.0, so I'm not talking about him here.

but I'm very high on Tristan Casas as well. Yep. Make it all three of us. Clean sweep on Tristan Causes. Five home runs last year. Three of them to the opposite field. One of those coming off of Garrett Cole. So he's got all fields power approach.

He can spray the ball to the green monster over the green monster if he wants to. I think there's a lot to like Patrice and Casas. I want to leave every single draft that I do with at least one of these fun prospects. I feel like you're willing to take multiple of these guys, which if they're benchback, I don't mind that. I don't know if I want multiple prospects actually in my starting lineup,

but Kossis, Tovar, it was Jordan Walker, but now he's on the rise. In a 15 team league, it's hard for me not to have multiple in the lineup. I kind of can't get enough of them because it's just, you go so deep into the player pool,

I'd rather take the upside. Yeah, Miguel Vargas is one of those as well. I just mentioned, Scott, another one of your sleepers here, but you've got two middle infield prospects in Ezekiel's Hovar and Oswald Paras. Well, and Ian, just as I was saying,

for Tristan Casas and Miguel Vargas, the other position where you could afford to wait a little as shortstop. Not as much. There's a pretty steep drop-off that happens a little earlier in the draft, especially if you're talking something deeper like a 15-teamer.

But then, even if you miss out, like, okay, you got a little too lax and the drop-off happened as you don't have your shortstop yet. Or if you're looking to fill the middle infield, middle-infield spotlight, I think Ezekiel Tofar and Oswald Parraza are two great options. They both showed plenty of power and speed in the miners. And specifically in Ezekiel Tovar's case,

because there's no competition for him as the Rockies shortstop. The Rockies aren't going to mess this one out, I promise. They don't have anyone else to play shortstop. They've made it clear Tovar is their guy there. They're not going to mess it up. They even lost Brendan Rogers. There's nobody else. I share in the enthusiasm for Von Grissom

taking over its shortstop for the Braves, but I feel like the enthusiasm should be even higher for Tovar because they profile very similarly offensively. One for sure has the shortstop job for his team and it's Tovar. And he's playing half his games at Coors Field, which means he's... All the offensive production is probably a safer bet, but especially the batting average.

and that's, you know, I'm not sure how much help he needs there anyway because he hit 319 between double and AAA last year, 927 OPS, 14 homers, 17 steals, and 71 games. So Tovar, he's going around 250th. And I really don't understand it. I always get caught waiting too long, and I don't think I've drafted him in a league that counts yet. But that's dumb of me because I think my expectations versus, where he's going, there isn't a much bigger discrepancy than for Ezekiel Tovar. Yeah, he's my utility in TGFBI.

Oswald Paraza. I mean, part of the reason I guess maybe I miss out on Tovar is because Paraza goes even later, around 300. You look at the numbers this guy put up in the minors last year. He hit 297 with 18 homers and 38 steals. That was in only 115 games. And that was after a horrible story. start to the season. Both him and Anthony Volpe, I guess it was really cold with they're playing their minor league games because their Aprils were disastrous. And then they caught fire. Paraza even more so. I will say that if you look at like the scouting tools in the case of Tovar and Paraza, you know, the 20 to 80 grades for contact hitting and power hitting, it's lower than the minor league numbers would suggest. So,

You know, that's something to keep in mind. I don't think it's so much of an issue for Tovar because he's at Coors Field and there's no competition. Paraza, because there's Anthony Volpe, who's also making a push to make the roster at some point. It gives him a little less job security. Also, there's Isaiah Kinerfalefa there. But I do think Oswald Paraz's contact skills are really good. I do think he's going to run a ton. And if there's even 15 Homer Power and it may be more, but if there's even 15 Homer Power,

he's going to be a great pick for you as a middle infielder. Can I do a quick public service announcement? Yes, please. Do not make the mistake I did in my Tout Wars draft where I used, I think, the last pick on Oswaldo Cabrera of the Yankees because they are back. I think they were back to back in the draft room. They have the same name. And I was just like, oh, God, I'll take him. And yeah, that was, it's unnecessarily confusing that they have two guys.

with very similar, I mean, the same first name, kind of. Almost. Yeah, Oswald O Cabrera versus Oswald. Yeah, that was very, I looked at it. Similar minor league numbers. They both have power and speed. I actually kind of like Cabrera too as an even deeper sleeper. Yeah, he just doesn't have as close to a secure.

But like, that was one that I just, I got to the end of the draft. I was like, wait, what happened? So that just be careful in your draft rooms. Yeah, I also, you know, make sure you're drafting the right. at Luis Garcia. Oh, gosh. Yeah, I mean, there are three out there.

I thought, it feels like there's eight of them. Gosh, I mean, there's so many Luis Garcia's. Be really careful in your, in your salary cap slash auction drafts. Yes. I actually wound up with a lot of these players

we're talking about. I got Luis Garcia. That wasn't really the plan. As my middle infielder, I waited a little bit too long in TGFBI. And then I've got Cabrera, Oswaldo Cabrera as my sixth outfieler. He's on the bench.

So I think there's some pop. There's some power. There's some speed. Cabrera can move around. It wouldn't surprise me if he starts in left field. I think Aaron Hicks is kind of toast. But yeah, Cabrera could play a bunch of positions too. Well, just in the 154 bats he got in the majors last year,

six home runs three steals. So over 600 of bats. That comes out to 24 and 12. Not that he's going to get 600 at bats in all likelihood, but, you know, very deep leagues. I think Oswaldo Cabrera is a bit of a sleeper. But not as much as Oswald Paras. That's the real one I'm highlighting here.

Scott, you did mention this, but I had a note, and we won't get to news and notes today. I'll save that for tomorrow. We've got some, like, injuries and things to talk about. But Aaron Boone indicated over the weekend that Anthony Volpe has a chance to break camp with the Yankees. And this is kind of the first time that we've heard the Yankees actually talk about that publicly. So I'm just a tad nervous about Oswald Parazana. I liked them a lot throughout the all season. I still like the talent long term.

But it just leaves a little bit uncertainty. I mean, I'd be happy to draft Anthony Volpe late too. Sure. Like a bench option, because even if he's not on the opening day roster, he'll be up soon. I think in the long run, it's going to be Oswald Paraza playing shortstop, Anthony Volpe playing third, obviously Glaber Torres at second. And so it's just going to take the Yankees being willing to turn the page on Josh Donaldson for us to see Volpe. Get him out of here.

I've got two more sleepers. They're both pitchers, and they're both going outside the top 300. Brandon Fott of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He's a pitching prospect, and that's spelled B-F-A-A-D-T. It's a very- You said B. Fatt, yeah, I probably just said- You wrote B. I know.

I combined his first and last name, so, I mean, it's been a- spell it again, Frank. It's been a long weekend, guys. Brandon F-T. You were out in the sun a lot, you know. P-F-A-D-T. That is the last. name. He's a pitching prospect with the Diamondbacks.

Led the miners with 218 strikeouts last season. 10 starts in the PCL, 263 ERA, 0.99 whip, 10.8K per 9. I don't remember seeing pitching numbers like this in the PCL since Zach Gallen. That's the toughest pitching environment in American professional baseball. Fott has looked really dominant so far this spring as well. He had to start over the weekend, three shutout, one hit, one hit, walk for strikeouts. Again, don't want to put too much stock into it.

But this is a prospect fighting for a job, and he's dominating. He's looking really good doing it too. So I still like Drey Jameson, but I think I love Brandon Fott. I think he's a more complete pitcher. I think there's more talent there. I think there's more upside. And Scott, you'll like this. 29 starts last year for Fott.

He went six plus innings in 17 of those. As a minor league pitcher, you don't see that ever. Like, it's, he's different. Brandon Fott is different. I think he could get like 150, 160 innings in the majors this season with the Arizona Diamondbacks, even if he isn't in the opening day rotation. So I'm fine stashing him. And Scott, if you're trying to talk, you've been muted for a while.

I'm running into an issue where I can only draft so many guys who aren't even projected for roster spots. Right? Like, I can only have so many of those guys on my bench, particularly if it's NFBC League, where you don't have IL spots. So that's why, that's like the only reason I take Drey Jameson. Like I think Drey Jameson's going to get the spot to open the year for the diamond.

I agree. Sooner or later, Zach Davies or somebody's going to implode and Fott's going to be up and it's going to be a thing of beauty. Is Zach Davies in the rotation? Because I think they're considering him for the bullpen as of now.

I couldn't have that wrong. I hadn't seen that. I mean, if that's true, then maybe there is room for more than just It is a, you know, it's one of those life finds away type things. Like Zach Davies probably not going to have a job for too long, which is not great news for my Scott White Dynasty League team. Because I'm pretty sure I have Zach Davies in the rotation. But you know. Yes. 24 team league. We all make concessions in that one. Nick Martinez is the last name I want to mention here. Last season, 3.47 ERA, 1.29 whip. The whip is high. There's too many walks here. But a good amount of whiffs. 11.9% swinging strike rate, has a deep pitching arsenal, five pitches that he threw 14% or more of the time last year.

Nick Martinez's curveball and change up each had a whiff rate over 30%. The Padres are kind of relying on him, too. The back end of this rotation is very shaky. He's looked good so far in the spring. Should get a bunch of run support. He pitches for a great team in the Padres. And he's SPARP eligible on CBS. I mean, I feel like this has kind of flown under the radar here,

but not a great spark year. We've got Strider, we've got Hunter Brown. After that, I'm pretty interested in Nick Martinez. So I think that he is a name. He's going well outside the top 300. You can get him with your last pick in a head-to-head points league. We are going to wrap there. A bunch of sleepers.

We'll have breakouts tomorrow. And again, we'll get to the news from over the weekend. For Scott, Chris, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.