Fantasy Baseball Today - The Return of Cristian Javier & Ranking Young Hitters! (8/12 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

Cristian Javier returned with a solid outing (3:38)! ... Zebby Matthews racked up nine more strikeouts (8:18). ... News (15:19): Josh Hader did not pitch on Monday because of shoulder soreness. ... Let's rank all the young hitters that have emerged recently (27:04). ... Will Warren or Jose Soriano (38:45)? ... It was a pretty rough night for stud pitchers (47:47). ... Hey, real quick (53:15): Jazz Chisholm has been struggling and James Wood is showing signs. ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens, streamers and Team Name Tuesday (58:27). 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. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What's up and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, August 12th. I am Frank Stanfield, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show.

Welcome back to Christian Javier. We're going to rank some young hitters. And outside of Javier, it was kind of a rough night for pitching. Some big names that did not perform very well. So we will take a closer look at that. Chris, you're out in the big city of Montreal. How was it? Lovely, lovely city.

I'm trying not to be like big city New Yorker guy and like every city that I go to that isn't like Tokyo. I'm like, oh, nice town. nice old town you guys got here. It's a lovely place. I had a great time. I am at the big age of 37. Too old for bachelor parties.

That is exhausting, man. It's like, I'm happy. My buddy Brendan loved spending the weekend with him and his, but like, I came, we were at the airport, three of us who flew back to New York City, and we were like the walking dead. Like, we did. this like combat archery thing, which is basically like dodge ball, but with arrows. It was very fun. You do it for like an hour. The arrows have like soft tips. We're not like, you know,

Legalis shooting orcs or anything. And man, just like doing that for an hour, felt like I was going to die. I still feel like I might die. So yeah, it's fun weekend. Don't die, Chris. Believe it or not, happy to be back. Happy to you back to my normal life. All right. Well, let's do. Jump in. Can you believe it? Wow. All right, Scott, we'll start with you. The return of Christian Javier.

What did we see? Yeah, this was pretty interesting. I thought my expectations were very low. He didn't look great on his rehab assignment. And prior to Tommy John's surgery, it's not like he was the Christian Javier that we once knew, who was a borderline ace and fantasy. That was back in 2021 and especially 2022.

but it had been a while since we saw that version of Javier. Like I said, not great on his rehab assignment. Not great in the first inning. Gave up two runs right away, and I was thinking, okay, good thing I did not recommend starting using a two-star Christian Javier fresh off the IL. But then he pitched four scoreless innings after that. So if you're keeping track at home, that's two earn runs in five innings. Five strikeouts, three hits allowed. a solid stat line for his return,

10 swinging strikes on just 85 pitches, so that's a pretty nice rate. But I think maybe the most telling thing here is that his fastball was up nearly two miles per hour from when we last saw him pitch, 1.8 miles per hour, which brought it to an average velocity of 93.5, which is where it sat in 2021 and 2022.

When again, Christian Javier was a borderline ace in fantasy. And, you know, it had great shape, induced vertical break 19 inches. So it's like that was kind of what he lost that caused him to fall off the map because it was a profile that was really dependent on having an elite fastball. And he showed signs of maybe regaining it here. He also threw a much firmer change up. It was up like four miles per hour from when we last saw him. And so that's interesting too.

I'm not sure if that's going to be a big game changer or not for Javier. But mostly I was interested in the fastball and the way he pulled it together after that rough first inning. I think, well, I'm sure he's highly available. in fantasy and I think this start was enough given Christian Javier's history that you might make a little play for him see see if it can be of some use down the stretch. Also worth noting that Baseball Savant has Javier throwing a new sweeper instead of the slider that he had traditionally thrown. I think that's probably a categorization error. I think so. I think they just reclassified the best. Yeah, because his slider always had a lot of sweeper ish tendencies anyway.

A ton of horizontal movement. Velocity was based, velocity and spin rate were basically the same. I'm assuming it's the same pitch more or less. But when he was good, that was a really good pitch for him too. It had a 40% whiff rate in that 22 season. So yeah,

I think it's definitely more encouraging than I expected based on how his rehab assignment had been going. I hadn't really taken Javier all that seriously. but now I think we should. Yeah, he also threw a new sinker as well, according to Stack has. He used it 14% of the time here. So just mixing in a few different looks here where, you know, in the past, he was predominantly fastball slider.

So, you know, perhaps expanding the repertoire in his return here. And it'll be interesting to see if he can maintain this velocity. We see a lot of times, you know, guys in their first start back, maybe they're amped up, the velocity's up, and then maybe it comes back a little bit. but pretty encouraging successful debut here for Christian Javier, who is 41% rostered on CBS, pretty widely available. Scott, towards the end of the last week, we spoke a lot about Jacob Lopez.

He had a great start on Thursday night. Who would you just take a shot? Who would you rather take a shot on right now? Jacob Lopez or Javier the rest of the way? I am inclined to say Javier because prior to that 10 strikeout effort for Jacob Lopez, I'd kind of given up on Jacob Lopez, and he always seemed like a long shot, just because not traditional upbringing, I guess, to find a word to use. So, yeah, I'm going to lean Javier here, but I may change my mind if Jacob Lopez goes out and dominates the raise when he pitches against them this week. All right, Chris, over to you for your player of the night.

I will go with Zebby Matthews, who kind of just continued to do Zebby Matthews things in this start, nine strikeouts to one walk. That's pretty much what we're accustomed to seeing from Zebby Matthews. And he also gave up three home runs in this start. Now, it was only three solo home runs, so he almost got the quality start. But I just continue to think that Zeb Matthews is one of the more interesting, and talented young pitchers in baseball right now. And it just comes down to, I don't think,

he's got a 445 expected Wobon contact since making his debut and for some context. Matt Olson and Bryce Harper have 444 ex-Wobos on contact this season. Turning every hitter you see into Matt Olson and Bryce Harper is bad. Just getting that out there, that's a really bad thing to do. You should not do that if you want to have a six. success as a major league pitcher. But that is quality of contact metrics are so noisy for pitchers. It takes two years to have a really good sense of who is and isn't good. I think it's fair to say he's not good. I don't think Zebby Matthews is going to be, you know, Kyle Hendricks when it comes to

in terms of contact. Suppressing quality of contact. Yeah. But like Terrick Scoobal, I believe has the worst single season in the past five in terms of quality of contact allowed back in 2021. Now, he's remade himself as a pitcher, but that's just to show that in 2021, Terrick Schoolboy had a 454 expected well-bond contact. The next year, before his big breakout, before he was really good, he was at 346. These things can flip really quickly. I wrote for the FBT newsletter just kind of about how, like, FIPP is so antiquated in that it assumes pitchers basically have no control over the quality of contact they give up.

That's not right, but it's not 100% wrong either. Pitchers, quality of contact for pitchers is very noisy. Bet on strikeouts, bet on elite walk rates, and that's what Zebby Matthews has. His 21.2% career K-minus walk rate would be the sixth best in baseball this season, I think, just behind Joe Ryan and just ahead of Nathan Avaldi. Joe Ryan is a guy who had 1.8 home runs per 9 in 2023. It's 1.14 over the past two seasons and suddenly he's one of the best pitchers in baseball. I could see a Joe Ryan type of run for Zebby Matthews. I think the upside is that high and I want to bet on that upside.

So it wasn't an amazing start for Zebby Matthews and he has been mostly bad for fantasy especially. But I still think this guy is super talented. and I still think that talent is worth betting on. I mean, you get a nine strikeout start. Yeah. And I don't know. I was, I had him as, which how high was in my sleeper pitcher rankings this week? He was up there.

And I was counting this one as a win. He didn't technically win the start. But like it was a good enough start that from a sleeper pitcher that I was, I was happy that I recommended Zebby Matthews. I will point out that he did He did double his change-up use It was up of one mile per hour And it just seemed to play much better

Than we've seen that pitch in the past So a lot of his whiffs in the past Have come from the slider But in this particular start Kind of broadening out his arsenal He got at least three whiffs on four different pitches So we're seeing already Zebby Matthews I think

mature into a more complete pitcher just a few starts into his career. I'm with you. I think the upside is huge here. I'll join you guys in remaining intrigued here in Zebby Matthews. And Chris, I know you brought, you bring this up about a few other pitchers. I think like George Kirby is the most obvious example. Just feels to me like Zebby Matthews maybe throws too many strikes. His zone percentage entering the start was 54%. League average 48.8%. So, um, Look, we love K-minus walk rate, but also, if you're throwing too many strikes, I mean, you could be prone to giving up some hard contact and obviously some home runs and things like that. So that's something that's about to me.

I don't know if maybe he needs to, like, live on the edges more or even just like consciously throw more balls. Or just be willing to let batters go, you know? He gives me a little bit of Spencer Schwellenbach vibes. I don't think he's that good. Schwellenbach figured it out a lot quicker than Zabby Matthews did. it's a lot of similar building blocks. Maybe not quite as deep of an arsenal of swing and miss pitches, but a lot to like about Zabby Matthews.

Well, let's rank the three. Zeb Matthews, Christian Javier and Jacob Lopez. I would go Matthews, Javier Lopez. I agree. All right, my player of the night, Coulson Montgomery, but we'll get to him in just a little bit. I want to keep things moving here. Big thanks to those watching live on YouTube.

Make sure to hit the like button and subscribe if you haven't already. Let's take a break, and we will be back. right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. We did get some pretty big news here on Monday night. Josh Hader was bypassed for a save, and then it came out that he's dealing with left shoulder soreness. So he last pitched on Friday.

He threw 36 pitches over two innings in that appearance. He's thrown 32 plus pitches in an outing three different times since July 8. So they have really been kind of working Josh Hater. And that pitch count, those pitch counts have been driving up there pretty high. for Josh Hater. Lefty, Benet Sousa, got the final out for his fourth save in this game here. Brian Abraeu was not available because he recorded five outs on Sunday. But if anything does happen to Hater here, he's going for testing. We'll learn more in the next day or two.

My guess is it would be Brian Abraeu, who is next up. He is 28% rostered. Yeah, and that's like he's been one of the best eighth inning guys for about four years now. he's got 13k per 9 this year er a under 2 3 the last 4 years he's got like a 220 era total over the past four seasons he's been one of the best reviews in baseball yeah yeah he's he's fantastic the one hesitation is that i'm looking at the pecking order in their bullpen and he is uh among their highest leverage guys it's him and a bunch of lefties so like would they want to lose the versatility of the righty there by confining him to the closer role.

I guess it wouldn't be the biggest shock in the world if they played matchups more at the end of games, particularly if this ends up being minor severity for Hater, like a minimum. A minimum I.L. I think he will go on the IL because they're talking about him getting tests to determine the severity. And usually if you take it that far, it's at least an I. outstant and obviously it could be potentially a lengthy one so yeah i think abrayu brian abray who's definitely the guy to invest in here and if it does end up being him i mean excitement level is similar to kate smith and randy rodriguez in fact it it might be even

higher than those two if we find out that abrayu is like firmly in the role A couple of shallow league replacements there. Again, if Hader does go on the IL. Cade Smith, who's right around 73% roster. David Bednar at 72%. He closed out the Yankees win here on Monday, four-run lead. Kind of looks like he is stepping into that closer role as well.

Randy Rodriguez, who we spoke about a lot around the trade deadline. And then some deep league names, if you're looking at saves. Obviously, Brian Abraeu, who we mentioned. But Jose Ferrer, we have him. Phil Mayton, who picked a bowl. a win here on Monday night. He kind of looks like he's stepping in as the Rangers closer as well. So there's a good amount available right now if you are in need of saves in fantasy. Bobby Witt Jr. was back in the lineup after missing Sunday with back stiffness.

Aaron Judge will not play the outfield in this current series against the Twins. John Carlo Stanton did get the start in right field on Monday and he homered once again. Yordaun Alvarez took live batting practice on the field Saturday. It's a small step forward. We're still waiting for some type of timeline to be announced here for Alvarez. Cole Regens will throw a bullpen on Tuesday, his first time throwing off a mound, since going on the aisle with a rotator cuff train back in early June. Byron Buxton was reinstated on Monday, and he returned with his 24th homer of the season.

Terry Francona said he met with Chase Burns on Monday to discuss how to handle workload restrictions with Chase Burns. down the stretch. He's up to 100 and a third innings this season. After throwing an even 100 last year at Wake Forest, he didn't throw anything in the miners last season. So he can probably get up around like 125, 130,

and maybe they want to cap it around there. Are you guys still holding onto Chase Burns even with the workload restrictions? Yeah, I mean the upside is so high. We saw him get 10 strikeouts in his last game. Four straight starts.

Four straight. that was waterlogged. Fort Gray with double-digit strike. Yeah, I mean, like it's... I don't know if anybody's done that this season. No, I'm pretty sure that's the first time, like, he made history, having that many double-digit strikeout out,

outings in his first, like, eight or nine starts. Quietly. Yeah, if we throw out. Because I think, did Skeens even have that many in his entire rookie season? Oh, I don't think so. I don't think so either.

So anyway, yeah, tons of upside here. You have, you gotta be a way. of it. You know, I actually, by the time you're listening to this, it may be up on the site. I'm going to highlight some pictures who I think may be coming up against workload restrictions. And of course, Chase Burns is on that list. I don't know that you could sell high on them really since the ERA is inflated. I don't know. I mean, maybe if he goes out and has another great start next time you can. I think you just enjoy it for however long it lasts. There may be a natural restriction here with Hunter Green coming back from the aisle this week and Nick Ladolo soon to follow.

Unless they're going to kick both Nick Martinez and Brady Singer out of the rotation, then I imagine it's going to be Chase Burns, who is put off to the side for a while. but you know any injury could change that and so it may be a situation where they pull back on him skip a turn here and there because the rotation's full maybe a two-inning relief appearance at some point but that doesn't mean he's permanently out of the rotation and he's going to be of no use in fantasy anymore I think you should absolutely continue to hold burns

despite the innings concerns. The Brewers haven't decided yet whether Jacob Miziarowski will make a rehab start before being activated from the IL. Shane McClathan underwent a surgical procedure to try and address the lingering nerve issue in his left arm, ending any chance of him returning here in 2025. Always felt like we were heading this direction, unfortunately. Yeah, he wound up making zero starts in the majors this season, and it's been quite a while

since we've seen Shane O'Mack. By the way, the last time a pitcher, 22 or age 22 or younger, had more double-digit short. strikeout starts in a season than Chase Burns was Scott Casimir back in 2006. Jeez. That's pretty impressive. Yeah. Rookies were allowed to throw a lot more innings than two. Yeah.

Yeah, that's pretty. I mean, he's only made like, what, nine starts? I think I saw some quotes from, like, Mitch Keller was opposing Chase Burns over the weekend, and he said he found himself coming to the top of the dugout to watch Chase Burns. pitch. That's kind of crazy. I mean, you don't hear other pitchers saying stuff like that. So it's, I'm just saying I've gotten a little bit of pushback for the Chase Burns might be more talented than Jacob Mizirowski take. Who's pushing back on the Chris? The book is not written yet. Who's pushing back? I mean, Chase Burns came up. He was the top pitching prospect of baseball.

Like, I think you're. But that was weeks ago, Scott. I think the pushback you're getting is from a minority, a vocal minority. That was weeks ago. Yeah. We're totally different people. Yeah. Tanner Scott could be clear to face live hitters at some point next week. Jack Caglione is scheduled to begin his rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday.

Grayson Rodriguez underwent successful right elbow debridement to remove a bone spur on Monday. He's officially done for the season and hopes to be ready to throw off a mound early in the off season. Lars Neupar left Monday with a bruised left knee. Evan Carter took batting practice on Monday and could begin a rehab assignment as soon as Tuesday. The raise were called the outfield prospect Everson Pereira. They acquired him from the Yankees in the Jose Caballero trade. And this season in the minors hit 21 home runs, nine steals, 868 OPS. Really good average exit velocities, well just exit velocities in general.

Any deep league interest in Everson Pereira? Not a lot. not a lot he has improved the strikeout numbers at AAA this year once we've already seen failure at the major league level from a prospect particularly a guy who's not like

the highest end prospect I think there's understandably a lot of skepticism that comes with the return trip and there's just no rush to make a move just we'll see how it goes with Everson Pereira I think it's just yeah

give us a reason to add you first, you know? Yeah. It's kind of like Chase Dallender, who was a better prospect, but just like him getting promoted today, it's like, we got to see something before we go out and add you once you've already failed, I think.

Perrera, by the way, did start here on Monday. It was against the lefty. He went two for five with a double and a run scored he had two strikeouts. My guess is, considering he's a right-handed bat for the raise, probably only going to play against left-handed pitching to start his career there. But we'll see.

Maybe his role can expand. And we have some prospects who were recently moved up from AA to AAA in the past few days. Blue Jays pitcher Trey I Savage and Mets prospects, Jet Williams, Jonah Tong, Carson Benj, and Ryan Clifford. So once a prospect is in AAA, you could be a really good week or two away from getting the call up to the majors. So just wanted to mention some names who perhaps we could see in September. or Carson Bench I mean he was He had his believers coming into the year

But he went bananas at double A And I think Carson Benj is quickly emerging As a top 25 type overall prospect Provided he I guess this late in the season We can probably assume he'll retain Rookie eligibility for next year even if he does Get a look in the majors

It's like three more days I think Before the rookie deadline passes anyway, so yeah. I think it's a little different team to team, but yeah, I know that's, it's coming up. It's just 45 days to the end of the season, I think. Yeah, these guys are all going to beat Bubba Chandler to the majors.

Yeah. August 15th, I think we were talking about Samuel Bessio last week's guy, and you said August 15th was kind of marked as the day. I was like a games, but I think Chris is right that it's 14th. Yeah, it's 45. So I believe August 15th, if a player has no major league service time, August 15th, they get called up. I wrote about this for yesterday's

FBT newsletter. It's on the second. Now, they're still with 45 days left. They might have to limit at bat some because you could also lose rookie eligibility by exceeding 130 at bats. But the Orioles have done, they did this before with Gunner Henderson,

so I think they're well versed. So Samuel Bessio, not likely to lead off for the Orioles is what you're saying. I don't think so. More likely to, I don't know, somewhere in the bottom. We'll see. Ranking Waverwire hitters and some young names here, some exciting names.

Coulson Montgomery homered again, his 10th home run in just 32 games. He now has an 876 OPS, and he is top 12 in ISO since being called up on July 4th. That is better than Cal Raleigh, Vlad Jr., Pete Alonzo. So, I mean, the man is hitting for power right now. Which is how you know it's not going to continue. Of course. Right? Like this is a, his 162 game pace, as of yesterday, it was 47 home runs.

I'm guessing it's over 50 now with another home run and another day. He hasn't done really anything else. And so like when his home run pace normalizes, not to say Colson Montgomery isn't a good power hitter, he is. I mean, the peak exit velocities, you know, we saw that one Sunday, like 115 miles. per hour home run. Like the guy can hit the ball really hard. But there just aren't that many players in all the majors, like who can sustain that kind of home run pace.

And so what is left for Colson Montgomery once he inevitably cools on the home runs? And I'm not sure. I mean, the strikeout rate is around 28%, maybe a little higher now since he struck out twice Monday. I think he's talented. I think you're fine using him in roto leagues where you have all those hitter spots to fill. But there will come a point where you'll probably need to bench him because it'll cool off. And it might not go well at that point.

Where do you guys rank Colson Montgomery among the other young bats that we were so excited about this weekend? Or, you know, the past week or so. So I actually wrote what I thought was a pretty cool little article about the five surprises. rookie hitters, most of them being recent call-ups. And I rated them all according to their utility for 5x5 scoring, their utility for point scoring, and my confidence in their legitimacy, because I feel like it's a trade-off between those two, right? Like, how good, how helpful is this guy going to be if he is legitimate and how confident

and am I that he's legitimate, you know? Like, because a lot of times with legitimacy, we're just guessing, right? So, you know, you're willing to take a bigger risk on a guy who you know can be impactful. And so Colson Montgomery questions about legitimacy, but I think also questions about utility, especially for points leagues because of how much he strikes out. So I would say weighing those two factors, how legitimate. they are how useful they're going to be if they are legitimate i put i put at the top of the list lukeeshel and jacob marcy one and two and kind of a separate tier um i have isaac collins in the

column too he's the one who's been around pretty much all year certainly uh been an everyday player since about mid-june so isaac collins i would rank third behind those two and then Colson Montgomery and then warming Burnabelle. I don't know if there's other rookie hitters you want me to consider, but that's how I ranked them in the article. I do enjoy your use of baseball emojis in the article too. Yeah. Yeah, you know, I'm a baseball writer, you know.

Look at that. The Yankees blasted four homers here, but want to focus on Ben Rice, who went two for four with his 17th home run, 113.5 exit velocity, 415 feet. And all of a sudden, he has started six straight games and 11 of 13. Some of that did happen when Aaron Judge was on the IL, but Judge has been back for a week now,

and Ben Rice is still playing a lot. Austin Wells has sat two of the past three days, and he is in a crazy funk right now. So he is kind of losing out on some playing time here. They're playing Ben Rice more a catcher as well. So 72% rostered the young hitters, young exciting bats here. Like Ben Rice or Drake Baldwin more? Yeah, did you guys talk about Ozuna playing a lot more lately?

Yeah, we talked about that yesterday, yeah. Yes. Baldwin. I like Baldwin more. Like, I think Ben Rice has a bright future, and you look at his, you look at his stack has page, it's kind of a head scratcher why he hasn't been more productive. Obviously, he got off to a hot start, but it's been a few months of really marginal production. And the playing time hasn't been that bad, really, certainly by the standards of somebody who's catcher eligible.

His expected batting average is 90th percentile, his expected slug is 95th percentile. And that's with a great polarity, good plate discipline. Like, Ben Rice should be cooking. And for whatever reason, he's not. I think it's in his future. but we've seen a lot more from Drake Baldwin, I feel like this year. And even with the interferences of Ozuna, preventing Baldwin and Sean Murphy both from playing every day,

I think Baldwin is opening up a gap on Sean Murphy in terms of playing time. So I see him as must start across the board. All right. Some deep league corner infielders here. Josh Bell has been hitting better over the past month, or so. He went one for four with his 15th homer. Last 37 games, he's batting 325.

Only six homers, but an OPS over 950 during that time. And Tyler Locklear, two for five with his second home run. He has played 10 games with the Dback so far, hitting 189 with two homers, 653 OPS, and a 35% strikeout rate.

So, I'm going to throw a few more names in here. CJ KFiths came up recently for the Guardians. He's been hitting pretty well. Ryan Mountcastle is back for the Orioles as well. How would you guys rank Locklear, KFIS, Mountcastle, and Josh Bell, some deep league corner guys.

I think I would go, I kind of want to just go with the young guys and just take the mystery box element, but like, it's not like Locklear's been great. He's striking out a ton. Kaffis, I just don't have a lot of faith in it.

I'm almost inclined to go Bell, Mount Castle, and then the young guys, but like, because, But Josh Bell, he's never a mid-700s OPS bet, right? He finishes every season as a mid-700s OPS bet. But it's two months of a 600 OPS, and then three months of an 850 or 900 OPS.

And it's like he's never what he actual, what his season long numbers look like. But right now he's hot. We know that Josh Bell is a super productive hitter when he's hot. So I, yeah, I think all four are very similar. If you want to take the flyer on the young guys, that's fine. But I also just think we know when Bell is hot, he's really good.

We're assuming Tyler Locklear and CJ Capus can get there. But that hasn't happened yet. So in this case, there's kind of a mystery box element to all of them. And you might as well take the one that's a little less mysterious, I guess. Does Mount Castle, he hit the long home run in his first game back? Is that his only hit since returning? Uh, no, he's, he's one for, or he's two for ten. Yeah, it's only three games, right?

Yeah. Um, so, you know, doesn't really tell us anything, but it, I, I just bring it up from the perspective of what kind of urgency is there to add Mountcastle. It doesn't seem like there's much urgency. Mm-hmm. So I get your, like, Bell, Bell is the least exciting to me, but I, I get what you're saying, and he does seem to look 337 in his last 29 games. Ex of velocity is up during that time,

line drive rate up during that time. It's backed up by the underlying data. So maybe it is best just to go with the hot hand here. Of the young guys, I prefer Locklear because of the speed element. Remember he had two attempted steals in his first case. It looks like none since then, but he had 18 steals at AAA prior to his promotion. So that seems like it could be part of Locklear's game, but obviously still a mystery box at this point.

One name I wanted to ask you guys about as a potential drop is Austin Hayes. He was out of the lineup for the second time in three games. He has been struggling mightily. Last 20 games hitting 162, zero homers, a 438 OPS, lots of ground balls. a 25% strikeout rate, which isn't terrible, but how do you guys feel about Austin Hayes? He's still 48% rostered. He's been bad, and the underlying numbers all of a sudden look really bad.

305 OPS over the past 250 plate appearances. If you just go to the last 50, it's 219 ex-Woba. That's horrendous. So, yeah, I think Hayes is droppable. He, yeah, it's not unreasonable. for him to be losing playing time. They've got a they've got to find room for Noel V Marte in the outfield and yeah I'm disappointing but yeah I think we're there. All right let's take our final break when we return I've got a few waiver wire

pitchers some other rough outings man it's like Logan Webb and Yamamoto it's we'll talk about it right after this. Welcome back in fantasy at baseball today. I have two very shallow waiver wire pitchers here. Will Warren Quality start against the twins, six and two-thirds innings. Two runs with seven strikeouts, zero walks. Last seven starts, it's a 284 ERA, 124 whip. Obviously, whip is on the high side there. And Jose Soriano, a great bounce back start against the Dodgers.

Six shutout with six strikeouts. Both are between 75 and 80% rostered, so it's probably, you know, 10-team league stuff we're talking about here. But who do you like more between Soriano and Will Warren? Soriano more. I think Soriano is good as long as he gets out of his, as long as he stays out of his own way, basically. I think he beats himself. And he beats himself with enough regularity that he's kind of a fringy fantasy option. We saw him get throttled last time out against the Phillies. But that was like a one bad start. In his last, how many is it? Six now, I think. best ground ball pitcher and baseball throws very hard I'd like to see him work in the splitter a little more I think to give him more looks but a lot of it's just throwing strikes

which he didn't actually do at a great rate in this start so you know it's not everything but it would help will Warren has the interesting fastball I kind of liked that in his previous start he was featuring it more than ever 54% but got back to normal use on the four seamer in this one, 33%. I don't know that the secondary arsenal is good, like obviously got a good result against a depleted twins lineup,

but I don't know that he's really landed on his best method of attack here, even though I do see some skills for Will Warren. Yeah, my takeaway on Will Warren is not, he's not bad. He's certainly not hopeless. I actually think he's over-rastered at 79% though. Yeah, I actually don't quite get it. Like, I know the last, I don't know, four weeks, three weeks have been pretty good for him, but it's also been a much lower strikeout rate and still pretty bad control.

Like the last seven starts, he's got a 284 ERA. That's great. Well, it's 33 strikeouts over 38 innings and a 124 whip. It's not a 124 whip's not bad, but it's not helping you much either. No, it's not helping you at all. And so it's, and for the season, it's a 434 ERA and a 137 whip. So it's just, I just find him largely uninspiring. More than anything.

Part of why the roster rate so high as he was a two-star pitcher with good matchups. In fact, both Soriano and Will Warren were among my sleeper pitchers this week. So, so far, so good as far as those go. All right. Any interest in these veteran pitchers? was great at the Giants, six innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts, had 15 whiffs on 84 pitches and completely changed his pitch mix in this one, just doing the Darvish tinkering thing that he very often does. Chris Paddock, go ahead. But you know what I've noticed with Darvish,

and it's always such a headache to try and look at Darvish's pitch selection from start to start and compare it to the season rates to see what he's changed. But I actually did notice a change here. So obviously he's had two really good starts now, not a row, but he's had two really good starts this season with one bad start in between. His two really good starts were as high as four seam use of the season. It was 15% in the first one, 30% in this one. And for the year, he's throwing it less than 10% at the time. Maybe over it now that he just had a 30% game.

But I hope that means he's kind of narrowing down. Because we've seen stretches like this from Darvish in the past where he's got that huge arsenal and he doesn't seem to know which pitch to feature more at which time. I'm hoping he's like zeroing in on that four seamer and that maybe we'll get more consistency from him moving forward. Yeah, I saw Anino Seris tweet, this is the most, the highest percentage of fastballs,

four seamer and sinker, because he also took the sinker 27% of the time. The highest percentage of fastball by you Darvish in a start since 2018. So that's a pretty long time. How was he in 2018? Was that the Cubs year? That is not a question I can answer off the top of my head.

2018 was the first year with the Cubs and he was terrible. The worst season of his career. All right then. He only made a Cubs for three years. He was with the Cubs for three years. Yeah. Yeah. The last year being 2020 when he was the runner up for Syung.

Who is he runner up to? Yeah, he had that huge run in 2019 in the second half and they carried over in 2020. See, we can remember things. Trevor Bauer, I believe. That sounds right, yes. Two other vet pitchers here, Chris Paddock, solid outing at the White Sox, five and two thirds. Innings, one run, four strikeouts.

He's made three starts with the Tigers, two good and one bad. and Jose Kitana turned in a quality start against the pirates, six innings, one run, three strikeouts, 10 hard hits in this one. Jose Katana kind of defies everything that we look at at a pitcher outside of just he has veteran guile and he knows how to just pitch deep into stars and keep runs off the board.

But I'm assuming you guys like Darvish to most of these three. Darvich, Kintana and Paddock. Not to keep tweeting my own horde, but Paddock and Kintana were sleeper pitchers too. Man, this is like the best week of the year. In both of those cases, they're two-star pitchers. I can't imagine a league where you didn't add them for the two starts where you'd want them moving forward.

Yeah, that's probably true. And they're only about 50% rostered. Yeah, that's Paddock and Kintana, right? Yeah. Would you guys take Darvish over any of the names up top, the Zebby, Jacob Lopez, and Christian Javier? No. Would not be surprised if Udarvish was better than Will Warren the rest of the way, though.

You know what I'd do? I'd wait to see how Jacob Lopez's start goes this week. Sure. And if he turns back into a pumpkin after the 10 strikeout game, drop him for Darvish. All right. That's fair. Some deep league names here, Taiwan Walker, solid start. Chase Dolander was okay in his return to the Rockies.

And Cade Cavali just wanted to mention not nearly as good, his second time out here, against the Royals, four runs allowed over five innings and did not generate nearly as many whiffs. Anything to add on those deep league names, Taiwan Walker, Dolander, and Cavali. I was moderately intrigued when they announced that Dollander was being called back up, but then I looked at what he had done

and Triple Ice is getting sent down. And I think it was nine walks to 11 strikeouts and 12 innings over three starts. It was horrible. So it was good to see him not pitch poorly today. but yeah I still think clearly a super talented pitcher Chase Dallender but he's got a lot of work to do on his approach and I'm not sure that the Rockies are the team I want to bet on figuring that out

I wanted to follow up on Cade Cavali since I think he was somebody we led off the show with last week when he returned and he missed a lot of bats in that start the velocity was way up on his fastball, like one and a half miles per hour. And I wondered if it was a Mick Gable situation where he was just really, really worked up for, in this case, Cavali's return to the major second major league start, but after a couple of years away for injury. Well, the fastball was up again. In fact, it was up more like two miles per hour from where we saw it in the minors this year and his previous stint in the majors. but the result was a lot worse.

So I'm not sure there's enough to get excited about here for Cavali, but that's where things currently stand. Still throwing harder than we expected, but not getting the results to make it worthwhile. I think the stuff is okay. I think it was command in this one. He didn't have a single strike on his sinker, called or swinging through 16 of them.

Only 25% in the zone. Overall zone rate was only 45%. I think there's clearly talent here with Cade Cavali. I just, it was worth adding him after the first start just because it was relatively impressive, but not a must roster pitcher by any means. Bit of a rough night for pitching here.

We'll quickly run through some of these names. First up, Garry Crochet got knocked around in Houston, four innings, five runs, five strikeouts to one walk. Just his fourth start with more than two earned runs all season in 24 outings. So obviously he's been elite. Any concern here from Gary Crochet? Not because he had a bad start,

but he's now exceeded the inning C-through last year, and he's got like eight or nine starts to go if he stays on a regular turn for a team that's fighting for a playoff spot. And it's worth noting he had never, like last year he threw, 70 more innings than he ever had in a season. So, yeah, that's, we just don't know what it's going to look like for Gare Crochet.

I assume he's still going to be awesome. I'm still ranking him as a top five pitch of the rest of the way, but it's totally uncharted territory for him. Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a rough outing at the Angels. Six earned runs over four and two thirds. He walked five through 61% of his pitches for strikes. Just the combination of walks and hard. contact, a disaster here for Yamamoto, who actually was pitching well before this. Last four starts, 146, ERA and a 0.93 whip.

Any concern on Yamamoto? No, I mean, the poor control was uncharacteristic, and I don't think there's any reason to believe it's going to be a longstanding issue. You understand why it ruined his stat line this timeout, but I don't think it's going to be an issue. You know, he's about 40 innings, 35 innings higher than last year's mark two, because he missed so much of last year with injury. But he had a couple 193 innings seasons in Japan,

so I don't really think, I don't really think workload is something we need to worry about with Yamamoto. Next up is Logan Webb, who allowed four runs over six and a third innings here. Not a completely awful outing, but just the whip, man. And just the whip every time I notice because I have Logan Webb in lots of leagues. And he now has over his last nine starts a 153 whip. And it's lots of hard contact, line drives. His bad dip is around 400 during that stretch. So the strikeouts were great.

Last two outings before this one. But the whip has been bad for almost like a third of the season. It just seems like his sweeper isn't playing well. Because even in the back-to-back double-digit strikeout efforts, Webb just got one swinging strike on his sweep. in each of those starts. And so like the change-up was great. And so when the change-up's great, he's great.

But if he seems to have lost the sweeper, and that doesn't mean he won't gain it back in time to finish strong. But I think that's what's going on with Logan Webb. And it makes him a little less appealing. I still would have a hard time sitting him in any league, I think. It's also worth noting. He had one earn run aloud. heading into the seventh inning.

I'm not sure how many of the hits against him came, but it wasn't, I don't think it was like, I was watching the game. It wasn't a home run. I don't think it was like a. Freddie for me had a two-run homer off him. Oh, it was a home run. Okay, so it was the, yeah, okay.

But no, you're right. Like, he was kind of cruising until the fifth or sixth inning and then just kind of crumbled on him later. Yeah, it was one run in the sixth, and then three more in the seventh. The Padres are kind of a tough matchup, too, for him, just because, While the strikeouts were better in his last two starts, that was against the pirates.

The Padres don't strike out at all. So it's just kind of a tough match up there for Logan Webb. Surprisingly, both Ryan Nelson and Nathan of Aldi had rough starts against each other. Nelson, five earned runs over five and a third. Just leaned all the way into his fastball through it. 84% of the time in this one. What are you doing? What are you doing, Ryan Nelson?

60%. Push 70%, but 83, way too much. He had 13. on the fastball, but yeah, it's, like, his, his slider is actually a pretty good pitch. I don't know why he doesn't throw it more. So it's, he just remains a very interesting picture. Because if he throws his fastball less than 60% of the time, he gets crushed. Yeah.

Apparently, when he throws his fastball more than 80% of the time, he also gets crushed. Yeah, this just all highlights why as good as he's been for relatively long, I still have so much trouble getting excited about Ryan Nelson. It's just, it is so hard to succeed on this many four seamers. I just feel like even if it's a very good pitch, at some point it's going to catch up to him. And maybe I'm being unfair to him. I know it's basically been a full year of Ryan Nelson pitching at like a mid-3 ZRA or better. But I've never had a lot of faith in it, I would say.

All right. And Nathan of all the five earned runs over five innings here, three homers allowed. It was his first time that he allowed more than three earned runs all season. That's over a 20-start stretch here for Avaldi. Anything to add with him? I mean, he had like a 101 ERA and his first seven starts back from that elbow inflammation. So I'll give him a pass for this one. All right.

Hey, real quick, hitter edition. I want to mention some names here, Jazz Chisholm, one for three with a sock into shoe, his 20th home run, his 15th steal. But he was struggling before this previous 25 games, 204 batting average, 572 OPS, 28% strikeout rate and just pretty bad quality of contact. Any concerns over Jazz Chism? I kind of feel like this is who he is.

He's kind of a shrieky player. Yeah, real quick, this is who Jazz Chisholm is. Fair enough. James Wood showing signs of breaking out of his funk here. I know he was bad for the past month, but it's now three straight multi-hit games and has hit leadoff in four straight. So perhaps some good signs.

Mm-hmm. Yep, I think he's fine. I was never worried, and I remain un worried. Roman Anthony, two for five with his third home run of the season. He's doing so much well right now. Good eye at the plate, hits the ball extremely hard. The final step here, and I think it could take some time, is launch angle optimization because he has a 54% ground ball rate, and that is basically what has held back the power so far for Roman Anthony.

Yeah. Can't really put it. any different way than that. You said it. All right. Well, what about Alex Breggman? I just will add, it's like James Wood last year. The fact that Roman Anthony is this good and holding his own this well, despite being

super unoptimized for power, says a lot about the quality of his skill set. It also is worth pointing out that James Wood hasn't exactly figured that out this season. He's managed to be very good in spite of it, but he's still leaving some crumbs on the table, maybe bigger than crumbs. And so that's just to say that Roman Anthony may not do the same thing. You know, Roman Anthony may not make the big leap next season or he might be a first router. I think that's all within the realm of possibility. Alex Bregman, welcome back to Houston, his first time back in a Red Sox uniform,

two for four with his 15th homer. And in 23 games since coming off the IL, he's hitting 305 with four home runs and an OPS over 850. so he hasn't been as good as earlier in the season, but he's still been pretty good at Alex Brighman. Zach Netto continues to produce three-for-three with a double-dong. He's up to 19 homers, 21 steals in just 100 games. I just wanted to give him some love here because 64th overall player in Roto for Zach Netto, he missed like the first month of the season.

And 3.1 fantasy points per game entering Monday. That was better than Gunner Henderson, Corey Seeger, O'Neill Cruz, Bucie bets. So just I moved to the head of two of those in my rest of season rankings. Cruise and bets. Yeah, I think that's reasonable. I mean, he it's not just that he's been better

like the production has been better. He's also just the underlying data is better across the board. His play discipline is still very bad, but he's overcoming it with just excellent quality of contact this season. In a way that just keeps getting better every season. So yeah, I don't think there's too much to be skeptical about here.

I've also moved Bo Bichette and Jeremy Pena ahead of Cruz and Betts. Yeah, I mean, obviously Betts has been struggling for a while, and O'Neill Cruz, I mean, the strikeout rate is just untenable for him, so that has been a pretty big problem there. Shea Bengaliers continues to rake ahead. Another home run here on Monday. 33 games since coming off the IL.

He's sitting 338 with 14 home. home runs and an OPS over 1050. His teammate, Tyler Soderstrom, also doing his thing lately, hit his 22nd home run. Last 30 games for Soderstrum hitting 290 with eight home runs and a 940 Ops. Any anything on Langalears or Sotershren. Man, Langalears is gonna finish with a higher Ops

than Matt Olson this year, isn't he? It's looking that way. You guys lost the trade. Seems like a chance. Yeah. I mean, lost the, Lost the William, the Sean Murphy trade, lost the Matt Olson trade. I mean, Olson's having a fine season, but Langalears is really, uh,

I mean, because it, this season, I mean, there's a, there's a, there's a, the strikeout rate is much improved, you know, like the biggest knock on Langaleers is a hitter. It's not such a knock anymore. And now he's just hitting knocks. and I think he's I think he's a stud catcher in fantasy Also very good to see Tyler Sotom figuring it out it looked like it might have just been an April thing

But now we're we're getting a little Return to form there that that is nice to see It doesn't necessarily mean Tyler Sotom is a star But like his current production Is mostly backed up by his underlying numbers and now it's not just a really good April and not much else. So that's all very good to see for him. All right, some other hitting leftovers here.

Mentioned Yankees hit four-home runs in that game. Cody Bellinger hit his 21st. Stanton hit his 11th. 11 homers, 31 RBI and just 41 games for Stanton, man. He has been really good since returning. Kyle Schwerber tacked on another homer, one for four with his 42nd home run. Bryce Terang remains red-hot.

his 11th home run. He has five homers and two steals in nine August games. Salvador Perez hit his 21st home run. He's been very good for quite some time now. Corbyn Carroll hit his 26th homer. He's homered in four of his last five games and he's having a pretty big second half.

Geraldo Perdomo hit his 12th home run. He also has hit very well in the second half. Just one of the more improbable seasons that I can remember here. 78 RBI are tied for most among short stops. Geraldo Pard

he's tied with Boba Chate so far this season. Wyatt Langford, one for four with his 16th home run. Shohei Otani is on fire again. Hit his 42nd homer. In the second half,

he has 10 home runs, five steals, and OPS over 1100. So, kind of looks like he's coming for that MVP once again. Junior Caminero. Now has five home runs

in his past five games. He is up to 33 on the season. I think when he gets to 35, you got to play the full song. Again? I think so. All right. We can make it happen. And Max Muncie has four home runs in seven games since coming off the IL.

If you want, the updated numbers since getting the glasses. 297 batting average. 16 homers, 59 RBI, and OPS over a thousand. That's since early May there for Max Muncie. You know, I saw something similar with Tommy Fam, where he, got like new contact lenses in mid-June and has actually been pretty good since then. Seeing the ball important in baseball. Who knew? One pitching left over here. Andrew Abbott took a tough loss against the Phillies,

seven and two-thirds innings, three runs, six strikeouts, 18 whiffs on 104 pitches. Nice bounce back for him after two rough starts in a row here. Control had been a big problem lately, but zero walks here against six strikeouts. anything on Andrew Abbott. I've been a little surprised at how quickly I've seen some people willing to give up on Andrew Abbott. And I say that as someone who is very skeptical of Andrew Abbott for a long time. He's not a low-to-Z-R-A pitcher, but I don't think he's someone that you drop after a couple of bad starts either. I generally believe that Andrew Abbott's a must-raster player in fantasy.

really do you actually saw people giving up on him after a couple of shaky starts it's not like either was an out now disaster that's what I was it wasn't like oh I'm he's done but I was but I've seen some like oh I need to see more from Anderan it's like I was surprised that like it's just too iffy starts it wasn't it didn't seem like enough to yeah especially since the three before then were great especially since he still came out of that latest one with a 234 ERA I guess, I think Abbott's good. I think we're still sorting out how good he is. There is a mild inning concern with him because he is now about 15 away from last year's total, which I believe is also a career high. So, you know, eight or nine turns, you think five innings a turn,

it's going to put him 40, 45 innings still together. go, there's a little bit of wiggle room there. I mean, in theory, he should be able to surpass his previous high by about 30 innings, and he's on pace to do that. So it should be fine. It's just the Reds are competing for a playoff spot if they fall out of the race because, you know, it's kind of an uphill battle for them to get in the playoffs. If they fall out of that, will they take it easy on Abbott?

Something to consider, but it's just a, it's a pretty distant consideration at this point. I mean, kind of feels like they should just. go six-man rotation. I know that leaves the bullpen an arm short, but they don't have anybody obvious to take out of the rotation, and they need to manage innings for a bunch of guys anyway. So once Lodolo and Green are back, that feels like that should be the decision. Call to the bullpen here for the Yankees. I mentioned David Bednar did close it out with a four-run lead and just kind of feels like the Yankees closer now. 72% rostered on CBS with the Phillies, Matt Strom and Yuan Duran unavailable.

Orion Kirkoring got the ninth with a three-run lead. He struck out one for his third save. For the Tigers, Kyle Finnegan entered in the eighth with a man on first. Tie game retired the next three in order. Tigers took the lead in the ninth, and Will Vess came on and struck out one for his 17th save of the season. Is that best first save since the trade? It might be a second, but I know Finnegan had the last three before this.

Yeah. I'm sorry. I just reacted. Someone in the comments pointed out that Jeffrey Springs was one of my sleeper pitchers for this week also. In fact, he was number one. He was number one on the list. So all the good done by all the others. Yeah, well vest had not had a save since the first game back from the All-Star Break. I like that Chris didn't care about that at all. That's fine. That's fine. We'll move on to more important things. Yeah, you know, I saw Jeffrey Springs had a bad start, but, you know, it's Jeffrey Springs. He was really good up until then, and yes. You don't have to beat yourself up, Scott. You know, people, that's what people like to hear.

Yeah, like here. Just Scott beating himself up. Don't ever say you're wrong. My self-flagellation. That's their end of that. For the Royals, Carlos Estavis walked one but picked up his 30th save for the debacks. Somebody named Andrew Hoffman attempted to go for a two-inning save. with a one-run lead.

He retired the eighth in order and then gave up a solo home run in the ninth. The debacks would wind up losing in extra innings. For the Rangers, Phil Meaton got the 10th with the Manfred Man at second. Tie game, he retired all three in order and he wound up with the win. For the Padres, Mason Miller in the eighth,

struck out the side. Robert Torres in the ninth, clean inning for his 33rd save. For the Angels, Kenley Jansen picked up his 22nd. And for the raise, Pete Fairbanks, picked up his 20th save of the year. To stream or not to stream on Tuesday, we have Jansen Junk at the Guardians, Logan Allen against the Marlins, Matthew Libertor against the Rockies in St. Louis,

Jack Leiter against the D-backs, Emmett Sheehan at the Angels, Nestor Cortez at the Giants, Jacob Lopez Home Against the Rays. Given that he was on my sleeper pitchers for the week as a one-start option, I think I got to go Jacob Lopez against the Rays, not that it isn't without its worries. He had a rough start against them on June 30th and was with them last year. And that's, they might have a particularly good read on him. But these others are all pretty grummy. So I don't mind Nesta Cortez.

And then I wouldn't be surprised if either side of the Jansen Junk Logan Allen start went well. But I don't think either pitcher's good. So I don't want to say that with any amount of confidence. Emmett Sheehan might have like a. a five-inning seven strikeout start against Angels. So if you're into that, that's kind of the upside case, but it could happen. And then on Wednesday, we have Shane Smith against the Tigers, Michael McGreevy against the Rockies in St. Louis, Cam Schlittler against the twins, Kate Horton at the Blue Jays,

and J.C. Ginn against the Rays. I don't actually trust Caleb Horton, despite the good results lately. He's not getting a lot of strikeouts. Kate, Kate Horton. Kate Horton What I said, Cam? Caleb Horton Who's K, that's someone

I don't know Kyle Orton Probably an author somewhere Michael McGreevy versus Colorado is probably my favorite I could see Cam Schlettler having a good start against the twins as well I picked up McGreevy in a few deep leagues

To stream this week against the Rockies He pitches to contact I don't think he has a particularly high ceiling but against the Rockies, I think it could be fine. Horton's pitching well, but he's also, the pitch counts have been limited lately, and Toronto's pretty tough,

so I think I'd probably put McGreevy number one for Wednesday. That's what I said. That's fine. It's fine. I don't love it. Like it'll either be a quality start where he strikes out like three, or it'll be a disaster.

All right. Team name Tuesday, let's wrap things up here. This one is from, these are from Ryan. Rass, Rass M-Rasmussen. Rasmussen? I don't, I don't get that one. Chris doesn't get it. None of us get it.

Keep it on the DL. Sure. I guess I'll know. You bet. Yep. Maybe he meant D.L. Hall. Could be. ESPN 8, the auto.

Doesn't really work. The Ocho, but auto, auto Kemp? Something like that. I don't like it. Sally sells Kishel by the seashore. Yep. Yep. Planet Sheehan.

Planet Sheehan? I don't get that one either. obscure references here from Ryan. Yeah. McGill T. as charged. That's a go. I got that one. And Boiling Point.

Yeah. I like Boil Boys. That's my favorite Boil Team name. Any Brooklyn 9-9 fans out there, Boyle Boys? Oh, yeah. Let's do it, man. It's a good show. Pretty good.

From Amazing Larry, some classic rock-themed ones, Bachman Turner Oberdrive. Yep, yep, yep. Electric Light Torquistra. Absolutely. Berrios Speedwagon. Yeah. And Carlos Santana.

Pretty straightforward, yeah. I get that one. From Brad, as the resident dad on the podcast, maybe Scott will appreciate some Dr. Seuss-themed team names. Horton hears a woo. Yep. All right. Green, eggs and femme.

Sure, you got the green with the E on the end for Hunter. How the Gritchick stole second. Yeah, it's a stretch. Yeah. And hap on pop. Yeah. I was saying it could be Zach Pop for Pop. Right, right, right.

Right. These are from Shane, frankly, Scott Towers. Oh. Yeah. Yeah, we never got ones like this. And Chris P. Stowers. I do tower in some rooms, yes. Crispy Stowers.

Yeah, that works too. All right. And I see you highlight this. Should I not read this one, Chris? I don't know. I couldn't find it. Oh, I was just trying to figure out what the... I recognize the reference, but I wasn't...

I do know this reference. All right, so this one's from Dan. Shanual, Shanual, a first baseman's erotic journey from Milan to Minsk. This is a Seinfeld reference Yes, it was a Of course I would never get it A fictional musical I think in Seinfeld

It's just a movie I think Rochelle Yeah I remember that being Like one of the That's like one of the pantheon episodes of Seinfeld right That's one of the ones people talk about

Well because it had a big guest star in it I think that, that helped. Who was the guest star? I tried to remember who it was. Was it, uh... I'm not seeing anybody in the, uh, in the cast listing that stands out. Bet Midler. Oh.

Okay. That's a, yeah. Yeah. No. No? Maybe. Okay. Sorry.

Yeah. They make a later episode. There's a musical adaptation of it. So there's the movie and then the understudy. The understudy is the one with Bet Midler. You are correct. Okay. Never doubt.

So made a couple appearances. All right. We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy at 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.

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