Fantasy Baseball Today - Top Prospect Report: Dylan Crews Picking Things Up! (Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Dylan Cruz is heating up. Let's discuss on fantasy baseball today in five. Welcome into FBT and 5 on Saturday, August 24th. I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White and the five prospects on the verge. Jason Dominguez with the Yankees, Kobe Mayo with the Orioles, Dylan Cruz with the Nationals, Davidson de Los Santos with the Marlins, and Dalton rushing with the Dodgers. Two names here, Scott.

Starting point is 00:00:26 Dylan Cruz, I know, has been picking things up at AAA, and Dalton rushing, I believe this is his first time on this list. It is. It is. I'll start with Dylan Cruz, who is still not quite blowing the lid off AAA, but he did have a four-hit game on Wednesday. By the time you listen to this, hopefully he's built off that and had a few more big games. I think he stole a couple bases in the four-hit game.

Starting point is 00:00:53 So there have been a few more peaks for Dylan Cruz at, at AAA and all the data under the hood stuff that we value so much looks great in terms of quality of contact and plate discipline and he doesn't strike out much, all of that. You understand why Dylan Cruz is such a highly regarded prospect. I just wonder if the nationals are going to force the issue if he's not blowing the lid off, AAA, like I say. I think the chances are better than not. The folks on the nationals beat have seemed pretty.

Starting point is 00:01:28 optimistic that Cruz will get a late season look, but it remains an uncertainty. As for Dalton rushing, this is a catcher prospect for the Dodgers, but he recently moved up to AAA and has been playing a lot of outfield there because obviously, at the major league level, they have Will Smith. He's not going anywhere. I don't think the Dodgers are down on rushing's potential to be a catcher, but the path is clear in the outfield.

Starting point is 00:02:01 And he seems to be holding his own there. He's certainly doing things offensively. The power's been good. He's reaching base at a very high clip. And I could see potentially to Oscar Hernandez shifting over to right field, allowing rushing to get some playing time, at least as a platoon player, he bats left-handed in left field in September if the Dodgers are looking to infuse a little more offense there.

Starting point is 00:02:26 I will point out also. So, okay, so I'm uncertain Dylan Cruz is actually going to be up. I'm uncertain that Dalton rushing is actually going to be up. And yet they're in my five on the verge because I just don't think we can be that hopeful that an impact prospect is going to make it up rest of season. The best chance is Jason Dominguez. He was one I would clearly stash at least in five outfielder leagues. But the others, you know, Kobe Mayo's second on the list. He didn't actually look that good when he was up.

Starting point is 00:02:55 So that kind of tells you where we are in terms of stashing prospects and redraft leagues. It's not a promising group. Not that they don't have long-term appeal. Just it's not the short-term appeal, I'm not sure, is really what we're hoping for. And five prospects who are on the periphery. These are some names that have been making some noise lately. And Nick Kurtz, a first baseman with A's, actually was just drafted in this year's draft. I believe he was a top five pick.

Starting point is 00:03:23 We have two pitching prospects on the list. Quinn Matthews with the Cardinals, Bubba Chandler with the Pirates, and then two catchers on this list, Drake Baldwin with the Braves, and Theron Lorenzo of the Tigers. Yeah, so let's start with Nick Kurtz, who we've talked about Christian Moore.

Starting point is 00:03:42 He's the first prospect from that draft class, the most recent draft class featured here, because he made it to AA very quickly. Well, now Nick Kurtz has followed suit. He made that same jump from, low A to double A, skipping high A, because he was just totally crushing low A, getting on base ton, showing massive power potential. He's a big left-handed hitting first baseman.

Starting point is 00:04:08 I've seen people make a Matt Olson comp based on his size and how much raw power he has, and that he plays in the A's organization. So maybe it's a little too convenient there for Nick Kurtz, but it was just the fourth overall pick, and so far he's living up to his promise. others who you mentioned here so Quinn Matthews we've talked about him before he's climbed a couple levels this year big breakout has gained velocity and become a huge

Starting point is 00:04:38 strikeout to walk guy in the miners it took him a while to get going when he made that second lead to double a but his last four starts there have just been huge Quinn Matthews has 37 strikeouts to four walks in those four starts and I think you could make a case for him as the third best prospect in baseball third best pitching prospect in baseball, I should say, behind Jackson Job and Noah Schultz. So Quinn Matthews is definitely big up-era, one of the biggest up-arrows for any prospect this season.

Starting point is 00:05:06 Bubba Chandler, another pitcher, has made a big leap in the Pirates organization, much better control, has good swing and miss stuff. He's been pitching well lately for them. And then the two catchers here, Drake Baldwin and Thiron Lorenzo, Baldwin in the Braves organization, he's gotten a lot better just since making the leap to AAA. He's actually walked more than he struck out there as of this recording and is hitting for power too. So he suddenly looks like a legit prospect and not just somebody who shows up high in the prospect rankings by default because it's an organization without many prospects. Drake Baldwin looks like a potential keeper.

Starting point is 00:05:47 And Thiron Thiron, Thiron, Thirono, hard name to say. He came over from the Dodgers in the Jack Flaherty deal, now with the Tigers. And there was some talk like, oh, they got a legit prospect in return for Lorenzo, but the numbers didn't actually look good. Well, that's changed since he's joined the Tigers organization. He has been crushing it, and you can see why they were interested in acquiring him now. All right. For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, the Odyssey app,

Starting point is 00:06:20 or anywhere else podcasts are found. Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball today and five, and we will be back again next week. Bye-bye. Mount Podcasts.

Fantasy Baseball Today - Top Prospect Report: Dylan Crews Picking Things Up! (Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 Podcast)

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