Fantasy Baseball Today - Top Pitching Prospects Entering 2024! Jackson Jobe vs. Ricky Tiedemann (Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:03 Let's break down the top pitching prospects entering 2024. Up next on Fantasy Baseball today in five. Welcome into FBT and 5 on Saturday, December 23rd. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Chris the Welsh. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all. Number one pitching prospect, not counting Yoshinobu Yamamoto, which technically he is a prospect. He would be number one.

Starting point is 00:00:26 We get that. Let's wait for him to sign. He might have already signed by the time you're listening to this. Number one is Paul Skeens of the Pirates, the first overall pick in this year's draft. Big dude, six foot six, huge fastball, has a slider and a changeup has the three pitch mix. He can command his pitches.

Starting point is 00:00:41 The one, I guess, maybe potential worry here, Welsh, is that he took on huge workloads at LSU. Is that something that concerns you? Yeah, I mean, I think it's always concerning anytime it got, I mean, people from major league levels were concerned. Like, why are we using him this much in college? Like, you don't want those bullets wasted. I would tell you, if Paul Schemes went to a team,

Starting point is 00:01:02 that was in any type of competition, just whoever, Braves would have been like that. I think he would have been one of those guys, one of the few, I think Mark Prior did this, that you just skip. I could have legitimately seen him skip

Starting point is 00:01:14 all of minor leagues to come up to the majors. I think that's where the usage is. His crutch people point at and why you wouldn't skip is there's a shape of a fastball type of an issue, which is going to become more about just the center point of how hitters are going to see it. It comes at 102,

Starting point is 00:01:29 but the shape argument is that people are to still have a pretty good beat on it. He does have a good slider, great slider, and he had a developing changeup he was using in college, which I think could be a plus pitch. I think those are things that are going to help with a fastball shape issue. He commands it. That's another thing that helps with shape.

Starting point is 00:01:47 So I think some of that stuff can be a little bit overblown. He is ready to pitch big innings. Like you said, the only thing you worry about is did all those big innings already get used in college? But if you're going to take the risk on a starting pitcher, do it with skings. The Pirates did it first. overall. So for those in Dynasty

Starting point is 00:02:03 leagues and first year player drafts, obviously lots to like there. Your number two pitching prospect is Robbie Snelling with the Padres who is the 39th overall pick in the 2022 draft, a 6'3 lefty, dominant first professional season here. 182 ERA, 112

Starting point is 00:02:20 whip, well over a strikeout per inning and it kind of sounds and feels like you are ahead of the market. You are more aggressive on ranking Robbie Snelling than maybe others are. Yeah, I mean I'm definitely am. And you could argue there's maybe some proximity to like, okay, well, he pitched in 2023 and he was really good.

Starting point is 00:02:38 We basing it all on that. No, we're talking about a plus fastball with a great curve ball. The guy's got three pitches. He commands 34 walks in only 103 innings this year. And he had a sub 2 ERA, 1.82. Young, young pitcher who pushed three levels with the Padres. I think getting to AA speaks wonder. as well with this organization

Starting point is 00:03:03 who's developed a ton of pitchers. I think it's being understated how great this past season was and how he, at his best, was at double A. The highest challenge of any of those levels, he was at his best. I think Robbie Snelling is being underrated.

Starting point is 00:03:19 I have him high, and based on other consensus ranks, I think he is a good buy right now. All right, your number three and four pitching prospects are Jackson Job of the Tigers and Ricky Teeteman of the Blue Jays, respectively. These are two names that obviously come with massive upside,

Starting point is 00:03:35 both dealt with injuries this past season, and both were out at the AFL, and you had a chance to watch both of them, what did you see from Jackson Job and Ricky Tiedeman? Yeah, their last starts, actually, they went against each other, which is great. Ricky Tiedeman, there's some warts, there's command issues,

Starting point is 00:03:48 there's major injury stuff. His fastball is not as electric as it feels. It didn't play up at 95-96. He had to command it in like 93-94, but he could pitch and he could pitch from behind. Like so he, or backwards, as they would say, like he could throw a change up in first pitch counts. And his change up is elite elite. So you got to love him, but there's some pitch tipping issues and some injuries where Jackson, Job, still a little bit more raw, big stuff, 3,000 RPM slider, four pitches.

Starting point is 00:04:18 But he was pretty predictable. I think you can fix that. So I put Job over Teeteman. There's injury risk, I suppose, on both. And I don't know if both can be impactful for this year, but they're both great bets. Somebody who might be impactful for this season is number five pitching prospect for you, Cade Horton with the Chicago Cubs. First round pick from back in 2022.

Starting point is 00:04:39 Very successful pro debut season, 265 ERA, a 1.0 whip, well over a strikeout branding. He's got a mid-90s fastball, two nasty breaking pitches with the slider and the curve. He's 22 years old. Sounds like he'll start at AA. Do you think there's any chance we see him in 2024? Yeah, absolutely. I think the Cubs approach in the offseason here is probably going to tell us a lot.

Starting point is 00:05:03 You know, if they have some reunions, Marcus Stroman's been thrown out there. You know, if they don't bring anybody else in, I think they have to stare at Horton. And, you know, everything he did speaks wonders. They gave Jordan Wicks an opportunity, great change up. This is a big more power pitcher. I told you Robbie Stelling's number. His whip was a little bit higher at 1-1-2. But Kate Horton, even one whip with 117 strikeouts, held batters to under a 200 batting average this.

Starting point is 00:05:28 year in a two and a half ERA. He absolutely can push the limits and he can produce this year. And that's one of the many reasons that he comes in at number five. Again, the Welsh's top five pitching prospects entering 2024. Paul Skeens of the Pirates, Robbie Snelling of the Padres, Jackson Job of the Tigers, Ricky Tiedeman of the Blue Jays, and Cade Horton from the Cubs. For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, the Odyssey app, or anywhere else podcasts are found. Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball today and five, and we'll be back again next week. Bye-bye.

Fantasy Baseball Today - Top Pitching Prospects Entering 2024! Jackson Jobe vs. Ricky Tiedemann (Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 Podcast)

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