Fantasy Baseball Today - Top Prospects to Draft & Stash! (3/25 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)
Episode Date: March 25, 2025First up is Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki (4:23). ... Dylan Crews should steal a bunch of bags this season (9:49). ... How safe is Jasson Dominguez's playing time (12:48)? ... The Red Sox have a Big Thr...ee including Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer (19:55). ... Jackson Jobe has all the stuff but what about the strikeouts (27:05). ... Matt Shaw and Cam Smith are very affordable prospects in Fantasy (31:05). ... News (38:10): we got an update from Shane McClanahan. ... These prospects will be up on Opening Day (47:15). ... Stash Bubba Chandler and Quinn Mathews (52:37)! ... When might we see Andrew Painter with the Phillies (56:31)? ... When might we see the rest of these prospects (58:22)? 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
Transcript
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Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports.
Got a fantasy question?
Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com.
Get ready to win your league.
Well, fantasy.
Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris.
It's about time to talk about everybody's favorite prospects.
Welcome into fantasy baseball today on Tuesday, March 25th.
I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White.
Chris Towers. Today on the show, we are talking top prospect for the upcoming season.
Who to draft? Who to stash? Who might we see in the second half? Later on in the season,
we will wrap up with some IL stash rankings because there are so many injuries, not enough
IL spots. You might have some tough roster decisions to make. Well, it depends how many IL spots
your league offers. You know, I'm kind of into the Tout Wars policy of unlimited IL spots. That would be
my favorite, but you know, we got plenty of leagues with five IL spots.
You can have more IL spots.
There is no limit to the number you put out there.
And in my experience, more is more.
I prefer not unlimited personally.
Like somewhere between zero and unlimited is my preference.
I'm not going to like go on the record saying what I think is ideal, but I think more
than zero.
Do it.
fewer than infinity.
Five.
I think five's a good number.
Three to five.
Three to five.
Somewhere.
I think five this.
I think the standard.
What is the standard?
It depends on the what is true.
I get the thought process behind
like 15 team leagues having no IL spots just because the player pool is already
so diluted on the waiver wire that if you don't force those tough decisions,
you're just going to end up with no activity on the wire.
I get that.
I can sympathize with.
it. So it probably depends on league size and all that too. We've already derailed the podcast. I'm sorry,
Frank. It's all good. Let's talk about top prospects. The names you need to know for this season and a lot of
these names we've talked about all offseason. But we'll talk about them again. There's some people just
catching up on the podcast getting ready for the start of the season. And we will begin with Roki Sasaki
of the Dodgers, a 23 year old phenom who came over from Japan this off season. He throws very hard with an 80 grade
splitter, but questions about the fastball shape and overall command plus an extensive injury
history here, a very exciting prospect, but seems like he is being elevated a little bit too
high for our liking in redraft leagues. Scott, your thoughts on Rokey Sasaki, not for Dynasty,
but for this season. For this season, I mean, he's going to be one of the highest drafted
rookies. I guess the only one really in competition with him is Dylan Cruz.
right? Yeah, they're actually going right next to each other.
Yeah, it is too high for me.
And I think what we've seen from him so far between spring training and the one,
uh, one start in Tokyo, it's, it's run the full gamut because the first spring start,
he was throwing the fastball 98 like he was two years ago in Japan. It looked like an elite
offering in its own right wasn't the whole, the whole package wasn't so dependent on the
splitter. Uh, but then he came right back in a second spring start and it was 90s.
And then in Tokyo, he walked everybody, which is something.
The velocity was there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But was it there in an authentic way, I guess?
And like, this is something that's top of mind for, for, like, he, when he was a free agent, he,
Roki Sasaki in his interviews with teams, asked them, what's wrong with my, like,
what can I do to get my fastball back?
So this is something that's top of mind for him.
It's something he's worried about and it's it's kind of been all over the place so far.
If it is closer to 98, it can be a great pitch in its own right.
But given the shape of it, the suboptimal shape of it, if it's only down to 96, like we saw last year in Japan, it gets hit pretty hard.
And then it's just a question of how well he commands everything, how far the splitter itself can take him.
He also has a pretty good slider.
but that's that's something that's still kind of a work in progress for Roki Sasaki.
So there's a lot of questions here.
And I haven't even addressed the biggest question of all,
which is what kind of workload is he going to take on as a 23-year-old
on a Dodgers team that's getting to the playoffs,
no matter how many innings he gives them during the regular season,
has an injury history already.
I imagine they're going to tread lightly with him in terms of workload.
and that's almost the bigger issue than performance.
Like inning for inning, I imagine Sasaki will be usable,
but will it be over enough innings to justify the cost.
The NFBC ADP over the past week for Roki Sasaki is 110.7.
He's going just after Hunter Brown and Luis Castillo,
just ahead of Freddie Pralta and Zach Gallen.
We have them a little bit lower in our ranks.
Roki Sasaki SP 33 for Scott, SP 35 for me.
SP 35 for me.
SP 50 for Chris, who is making a statement.
No Roki Sasaki on your teams.
It just, if there weren't workload concerns, I could maybe overlook the, I think some of the
concerns about like the fastball shape and command, it's a little nitpicky, right?
Like, if we thought this guy was going to throw 160 or 170 innings this season,
I don't think I would care that much because I think he is talented enough to.
be a good major league pitcher.
And eventually, you know, from a dynasty perspective, I think I don't care very much about
the nitpicks at all because I think he's certainly one of the most electric arms in the
world.
But when we're talking about probably 140 innings max and even then, it's probably 140
innings.
Like Tyler Glass now might throw 140 innings this season and be a lot more impactful
than Rokisaki one because he's just more of a sure thing.
thing and two, because he's going to go six plus innings when he's healthy.
And it's just he's probably going to get hurt.
Sasaki, I don't know if he's going to go six plus innings all that regularly.
I don't think he's going to make many two-star weeks.
I think there are going to be a lot of in-season limitations in addition to the season long
limitations.
And so once you start adding workload and performance concerns, that's where it's just not
really worth chasing when there are so many talented pitchers out there.
And so, like, I think Roki Sasaki is a better talent than Jackson Job, like the people who study prospects across the board have him ranked ahead of Jackson Job.
I'm not sure it's worth 90 picks.
And I don't think it has been all spring.
So that's where the concern for me with Roki Sasaki comes in where I think he'll probably be good.
But he's going ahead of Freddie Peralta.
Like, I know Freddie Peralta is a pretty good major league pitcher.
And I know that if he's right, right, he's going to throw 170 innings.
So that one's an easy call for me between Sasaki and Peralta.
And you mentioned Jackson Job.
It's not 90 picks.
It's 115 over the past week.
So Sasaki is right around 11.
And Jackson Job is at 227.
So pretty big difference between those two.
We'll talk about Jackson Job a little bit later on.
Dylan Cruz of the Nationals, first round pick in 2023.
second overall ahead of Wyatt Lankford got called up late last season, hit 218 with three homers, 12 steals in 31 games.
Too many ground balls, but he did hit the ball hard.
He displayed some strong plate discipline as well.
Looks like the speed is legit, ready to contribute in that area.
But we do have some questions here about batting average and power right away this season.
With that said, Scott, I do think we have a pretty long leash here with Dylan Cruz on the nationals.
Yeah, that's the main thing why I'm ultimately more invested in crews than people who've been listing might suspect because it's not like I've been hyping him up like crazy.
But I do think he's in the nationals lineup no matter how it goes.
It's not a situation where he's going to get sent down, first of all.
Second of all, he stole 12 bases in his 31 games in the majors last year.
So very prolific base dealer, I think even if he hit.
it's 2.30, he's going to be pretty much startable across the board just because of how many
bases he's stealing. And then the plate discipline, the fact that that's been a plus for him,
even in the minors, I think makes that true even in a points league with all the steals
and with the fact that he's going to have a decent number of walks and not a terrible number of
strikeouts. Even in a three outfield or points league like that, you're probably just going to
keep him in your lineup.
batting second for the nationals.
That's going to mean a lot of it bats, a lot of runs, a lot of RBI.
So I think those are the points in Cruz's favor.
Now, is he ready to meet his upside?
I would have liked to see him hit a single home run or a single double this spring.
He did have two triples.
So, you know, there were those.
But in 65 played appearances, just the two extra base hits.
The strikeout rate also crept up, I guess, toward the end.
He had 19 strikeouts and 65 plate appearances.
That's pretty high.
Probably nothing to worry about since we do have a sample of him in the majors.
But it's, you know, I didn't see obvious signs of growth that I would have liked to see.
So don't want to put too much stock in that.
It doesn't negate everything I said that Cruz has going for him.
And it's still possible that he takes this huge leap this year.
Yeah.
You know, part of the, part of the issue with him having.
good plate discipline and good exit velocities in the majors.
You know, those obviously would suggest a lot of upside.
It was true in the minors, too, and he didn't put up huge numbers there.
So there may be something we're not accounting for here,
but he's so young and is of such a good pedigree.
And he has those data points in his favor that I do think the ceiling is significant.
And if he needs it, that's just a bonus.
I think you're fine even if he does.
Next up we have Jason Dominguez of the Yankees.
We've heard the name for years.
He got called up in 2023.
Surprised everybody with four home runs and eight games.
Turned out he needed Tommy John surgery.
He rejoined the Yankees late last season.
Didn't do much there.
Still just 22 years old.
He looks poised for an everyday role in left field.
He has some pop.
He's got some speed.
Good eye at the plate.
Chris, what are your expectations for Jason Dominguez this season?
You know, both Dominguez and Cruz,
it feels like the,
I wish the quality of contact was better for both, I guess,
because that that was supposed to be a big calling card for both of them.
And so far at the major league level,
they haven't really shown a ton of ability to drive the ball consistently.
There was the A games in 2023 where he had four home runs,
but otherwise it's been pretty mediocre quality of contact.
So I am less below.
on Dominguez than I am on Cruz.
I think the plate discipline's worse.
He, Dominguez is probably more on the wrong side of passive versus patient as a hitter.
Like he'll draw walks, but it's not necessarily because he's got this super discerning
eye.
He doesn't like choose which pitches to swing at at the best rate.
So I'll take Cruz.
I think there's a higher floor and a similar ceiling for both of.
them. I don't know if I drafted Dominguez at all this year. And in fairness,
Cruz is going significantly ahead, but I do think there is, well, what, like 20 picks ahead?
25. Yeah. I do think there's more playing time risk for Dominguez. And that would be true if the
Yankees, that would be especially true if the Yankees had anybody to back him up, but they do not.
So the leash is probably pretty long, but he, like, Dylan Cruz might be a really good defensive
player. And Dominguez has looked pretty shaky.
So I think they're both fine where they've been going this year, but I would much rather
have Cruz. I think the one thing that helps Jason Dominguez, because I agree the exit
velocities haven't been there so far in a really small sample size in the majors, really high
pull rates throughout the minor league level, in a small sample in the majors. So as a switch
hitter who will hit mostly from the left hand side in Yankee Stadium. Pulling the ball in the air,
obviously will be a good recipe for him there. Have you seen that they added that on baseball
savant now on player pages? They have a like pull in the air, opposite in the air. And yeah,
for his brief minor league career, 17% pulled right in the air. That's right around average,
which is what you want to see. Dylan Cruz, it's only 13%. So yeah, that's a little bit of a concern.
Are we, because let's cite the actual numbers, because I just talked up the exit velocities for Cruz.
Dominguez is about the same.
It was during his time in the majors last year, 89 mile per hour average, 109 max.
Which for a player, first getting into big leagues, like, that's pretty good.
Yeah.
That doesn't strike me as a level, like a high level of concern there.
It's not that it's a high level of concern for me.
it's just in Dominguez's case more so than Cruz because there's a lot more strikeouts in his profile.
He's not going to put the ball in play as much.
It's I think the quality of contact needs to be better than just pretty good.
And I think they've both just been pretty good in terms of the quality of contact so far in the majors.
Dominguez directs it a little better in the air to the pole side, those things.
but I've been disappointed by the lack of high-end raw power from both of them.
That would be my biggest concern for each.
Also worth noting their max ex-velocities and the miners were a couple miles per hour higher.
So we have seen it from them before, just not in the brief time in the majors.
All right, before we hit our first break, I should have promoted this sooner,
but we'll be on CBS Sports Network today.
When you are listening, March 25th, at noon Eastern Time, you can watch live on your television
or on the CBS Sports app through your cable provider.
And I posted this on Twitter and there were lots of questions.
A lot of people excited too, which is nice to see.
But lots of questions about like, are you guys going to be on every day?
No.
This is a one-time thing.
But if you want to watch this live, feel free to do so again, noon Eastern Time CBS Sports Network.
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Baseball cards of your boys, Scott, Chris, and myself, earning himself a spot in the FBT
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We'll take a quick break.
Be back right after this.
Welcome back in fantasy baseball today.
Continuing to break down the top prospects entering this season.
Let's talk about the Red Sox Big Three.
Christian Campbell, who's expected to play second base, Roman Anthony and Outfielder,
and Marcelo Meyer, who is a shortstop in the organization.
Campbell, someone we've talked about a lot this offseason.
He was probably the biggest breakout prospect in all of the minors last year,
where he hit 3.30 with 20 homers, 24 steals, will be on the Red Sox opening day roster.
Roman Anthony, who is arguably the top prospect in all of baseball.
He's only 20 years old and made it all the way up to AAA last season.
Looks like a potential five category contributor for fantasy.
and Marcelo Meyer, who was a former first round pick back in 2021.
He hasn't posted the gaudy numbers in the minors.
He's dealt with some injuries,
but he is expected to hit for both batting average and power at his peak.
So, Scott, we've got some names kind of all over the place for redrafts here.
Campbell, I think we're obviously drafting.
Are you drafting and stashing Roman Anthony?
And what about Marcel Meyer?
Yeah, I think Roman Anthony is one of the top,
top prospects to stash, maybe the top prospect to stash among those who actually aren't going to have a job on the major league roster,
because I think it'll be pretty quick before, it won't be long before the Red Sox call him up.
He's already mastered AAA after the All-Star break last year. He hit 353 with eight homers and a 1022 OPS in 52 OPS in 52 games, a greatly improved strikeout rate.
so Roman Anthony arguably the top hitting prospect in the game up in the within the first month and a half basically something like that I don't know the thing is it's just it's a tough path like they they've got a lot of guys none of they have nobody who should Jared Duran but besides Jared Duran nobody who should be an actual obstacle but they've got a lot of major league.
caliber outfielders.
I should have worn my Jurassic Park shirt today.
Yeah.
Finds away.
I don't know if it's an injury to somebody or maybe will you're a brave just kind of, you know,
underwhelms at the plate.
That's certainly possible.
But it's going to happen, I think.
They can't keep him down for long.
Yeah, he's got a great approach at the plate.
He hits the ball really, really hard.
Roman Anthony does.
Really good quality of contact.
149 weighted runs created plus across double A and AAA as a 20-year-old.
last year, that was the 15th highest in affiliated ball, the 15th highest weighted runs created
plus.
I do want to point out, however, that right at the top of that list was Christian Campbell.
He had a 180 WRC plus last year.
Number two had a 160 mark.
He was the best hitter in the minors by a wide margin last season.
Yeah, oh, he was great.
Like there's a reason why Chris.
Christian Campbell went from being basically on nobody's radar to a consensus top five prospect overall.
It was huge.
It's for me, it's just a question of is he really major league ready?
Because of these three prospects, whether it's Anthony, Marcelo Meyer, or Christian Campbell, Campbell looked the least impressive this spring.
He looked the least ready to get a major league opportunity.
But he was the front runner for that coming in.
And so I think the Red Sox just rolled with it.
Yeah, I have, you know, I noticed in their spring game today,
or I don't know, it wasn't technically like a grape for league game,
but an exhibition game.
They actually had David Hamilton at second and Christian Campbell in left field.
So that is one possibility.
I doubt they're going to run out there with the same lineup every day.
I don't mind that, though.
Yeah, I mean, Campbell, my thinking is like, could Campbell strike?
struggling out of the gate be Roman Anthony's ticket to the majors because Campbell's playing
so much outfield rather than second base. And so I would watch for that. Obviously Campbell's the
one you've got to give priority to because he actually has the job. But Roman Anthony is of the
same caliber, if not slightly better of a prospect. And then there's Meyer, the one who doesn't get
talked about here. Who might have a clearer path to the majors than Anthony.
just because it's Trevor Story gets hurt.
That might be all it takes for Marcel Omeyer
and Trevor's story gets hurt.
Well, really, Trevor's story getting hurt
opens up a path for any of these
because Don Raphael could go to shortstop
or David Hamilton or Campbell himself
has some experience at shortstop, sure.
So that is maybe the clear,
if you are going to project an injury,
that seems like the most obvious place
to project it Trevor's story at shortstop.
Marcelo Meyer, I think, because he doesn't have the gaudy numbers, he gets overlooked.
But this has been consensus top 15 prospect.
For both Baseball America and MLB.com, Meyer has been a top 15 overall prospect four years in a row.
And there have been injuries that have kind of suppressed his numbers at times, Frank, as you mentioned.
I'm trying to remind myself what they were.
I was saying a back injury last year?
He had a shoulder impingement in 2023 and a lumbar strain in 2024.
But he's looked great.
I'm not sure if he has a swing that's optimized for power.
Yeah, it looks like, well, last year, the ground ball rate ran pretty high,
but in previous years it, and he has a nice pull rate.
So I think, I think Meyer is a better prospect than just a glance
that the minor league numbers would have you believe.
I do think maybe the ceiling is for fantasies lower
than for these other two.
You know, an upside case for Meyer
might be the current version of Bobauchet
who doesn't steal bases
with a lower outcome being something like the current
Zander Bogarts.
Maybe that's the range of outcomes for Meyer.
But he has impressive in his own right
and you could see him,
even though he doesn't get talked about,
as much as the other. So you could see him having a big role this year. Yeah, 142 WRC plus last year for
Marcella Meyer. That's that's a very good mark for a middle infielder. There were 18 NFBC drafts just
here on Monday and Christian Campbell's ADP was 218.3. I think I mentioned that over the weekend it was
around 260. So just getting that confirmation that he's on the opening day roster, he's moved up like 50
spots in ADP. And I know yesterday, Chris, you said you'd be willing to take Campbell inside the top
200. So he is creeping closer to that. You know, I know people will still be drafting the past
the next couple days as we get to opening day. So if you are, just keep that in mind if you want to
take Christian Campbell on your team. Let's talk about Jackson Job of the Tigers. He's 22 years old,
and he is a name that we have heard for years. First round pick back in 2022 out of high school.
He's got big stuff, high 90s fastball with big spin on his break.
pitching pitches trying to make it translate into more strikeouts we really haven't seen in the
minors yes we saw strikeouts even though last year strikeout rate was down a little bit but
not as many strikeouts as we would like to see during spring training here he has been named
to the tiger's rotation and is a spark for those who play in head to head points leagues
Chris do you think jackson job should be drafted in every league not just head to head points leagues
someone out there might play in an eight team league and probably not there but yeah
Yes, any normal league of a reasonable size, yes, I think Jackson Job should be drafted in the 200-ish range where you're generally looking for upside.
And he has plenty.
And the thing with Jackson Job is when you watch him, when you look at any Stuff Plus model, pick your favorite, they all say that he is elite and the eye test matches it.
It looks great.
And the stuff plus models, when it leaves his hand, look great.
And then he doesn't get, he has a 17% strikeout rate this spring.
And it was like 25% last season with a 12% walk rate.
25% strikeout rate is a decent rate, but not for the best pitcher in baseball at the minor league level.
So it's a question of why doesn't the result match what we're seeing?
And the answer could just be as simple as he's not trying to strike everyone out right now.
He's working on things this spring.
He brought his curveball back.
He added a sweeper.
He was throwing a sinker.
All of these things could be the explanation could be that just he's working on process rather than results.
And as soon as the game start counting, he might ramp up the strikeouts and be a legitimate difference maker.
I think that upsides there.
I just wish I was more confident that that is the explanation,
especially because, Scott,
I think you're going to say this,
but he talked at the beginning of spring
about making those changes to his arsenal
in order to put batters away more efficiently.
And he didn't.
So I,
look, if Jackson Job was running like a 35% strikeout rate this season,
we might be drafting him as a top 160 player.
So it's not that I think he's being overdrafted.
I think he's in.
the right range of the draft where the upside is worth taking a gamble on without having to
sacrifice and pass on more sure things where like that's what you have to do with Roki Sasaki.
That's why I'm much more likely.
I've been much more likely to draft Jackson Job all spring.
I think I haven't been five leagues.
I don't think I have Sasaki Nenei.
But I wish I felt more confident that Jackson Job was going to immediately make a difference.
I mean, he's getting drafted.
I get from a pure numeric perspective, it's about 225 over the last five days on NFBC.
NFBC, it's not a huge investment.
But it is before some pitchers I like a lot.
It is before Grant Holmes.
It is before Sean Minaya, who I don't think is going to be out for long.
I guess those are the biggest, too.
But there are some other interesting ones in that same range, too.
I'll just say, like, I just don't think Grant Holmes has the upside that Jackson Job does.
I think Grant Holmes might have a somewhat high floor,
but I don't think there's going to be a point this season
where we're talking about Grant Holmes is like,
wow, this guy is changing people's fantasy seasons.
I think there could be that upset with Jackson Job.
So it's fairly easy for me to put Jackson Joe ahead.
All right.
Let's move over to two third base prospects,
although one of them likely to play the outside.
outfield. So Matt Shaw of the Cubs, he's 23 years old, first round pick back in 2023. He's got power and
speed. Last season in the minors hit 284 with 21 homers, 31 steals, 867 OPS. The Cubs made that
trade for Kyle Tucker this offseason basically handed Matt Shaw the keys to third base. He's up on
opening day. He played both games in the Tokyo series. He was batting fifth in the lineup in both
of those games. And the ADP on Monday still
very reasonable for Matt Shaw. 221.3.
And Cam Smith is the other name of the Houston Astros.
He was acquired in the Kyle Tucker trade this offseason.
First round pick in last year's draft. Now on the verge of being on
their opening day roster, likely to play right field.
It looks like at this point, a monster spring where he hit
342 with four home runs and 1129 OPS. He looks ready.
It's also a really small sample.
sample size. The ADP on Monday is
264. Scott, what do you think
about the redraft price
tag for both of these guys right now?
Shaw around 220, Cam Smith
in the 260 range.
I think it's great
and we were making
for the show we're going
to do live tomorrow
afternoon and noon.
We were submitting
our award picks
and I'm not going to tell you who I actually
picked but I was tempted to pick these two
for rookie of the year for their respective leagues
because they do have
they have a lot of upside,
obviously a lot of hitting ability,
but they also have
full time of bats as long as they
continue to hit up to their capabilities.
They will be playing every day.
And I don't think they're getting enough credit for that.
They are similar, Shaw and Camp Smith
in that
their hit tool kind of stands out over the raw power.
They're both good at driving the ball the other way, for instance,
and could that compromise their power potential?
It's possible, though the production, Shaw,
the production they've both had so far.
Limited time, Shaw has one additional year in the miners,
but they both made a very quick climb to the major.
So we're not talking large samples for either of them.
But what we have seen from them, the production is pretty unimpeachable.
Shaw got off to a slow start last year.
It still ended up hitting 284 with an 867 OPS.
Obviously, if you shrink that to the final four months or whatever it is, the numbers look even better.
He's going to be a base dealer.
And he hasn't gotten much playing time this spring, which I think has also helped to keep his value down,
because there hasn't been a chance for hype to build with Matt Shaw,
but he struck out twice in 25 plate appearances.
That's pretty impressive on its own.
So I like both of these guys a lot.
I think the cost you get them for is totally worth it.
You know what I like about Matt Shaw?
What?
There's an obvious aesthetic comp when you watch him play baseball,
especially when you watch him hit.
And it's Hunter Pence.
He has like the swing is very,
very, very similar to Hunter Pence.
If you remember Hunter Pence had that weird, like big leg kick,
kind of hitchy swing.
Also probably a decent comp for who he could be as a hitter.
You know, Hunter Pence, like a 275, 280 hitter, 2020.
Most seasons are right in that range.
That's pretty much what I'm expecting for Shaw.
Maybe a little more speed.
He did steal 30 bases last year.
But I like that one because it's just easy.
He's just Hunter Pence.
Just watch and play.
He's Hunter Pence.
And then Cam Smith,
we have so little data on him that you kind of really do have to rely on the scouting
reports a lot more.
And they mostly suggest that there's above average raw power here.
It's just he hits a lot of line drives.
The cop I've seen it in several places is Alec Boem.
Obviously, I think you're hoping for a higher upside outcome than Alec Bone.
But as a median, that's not bad.
You take that.
Like what stands out to me in Shaw's minor league profile specifically,
and I did kind of reference this, but to put a finer point on it,
he had more opposite field batted balls than pulled batted balls,
which you don't often see.
And I think that's going to, between that and the low strikeout rate,
I reference that we've seen this spring,
I think he might end up surprising for batting average.
I don't know if it'll be as a rookie, rookie hitters.
You know, I'm trying to lower my overall expectations for them,
and I think ADP would suggest everybody is.
But I think that's one aspect of Shaw's profile that isn't getting enough attention.
He hit over his final 80 games in the minors last year at 318.
All right.
Again, that was Matt Shaw with the Cubs and Cam Smith with the Astros.
Both names should be drafted in your league regardless of what the format is and really the size too.
So go check.
If you drafted a little bit earlier on, just make sure Matt Shaw and Cam Smith are not free agents in your league.
Let's take a quick break and we'll be back right after this.
Welcome back in.
Let's quickly run through the news and notes.
We'll get back into prospects in just a bit.
Shane McClanahan said Monday that he remains without a timeline but acknowledge that his left arm is already feeling better.
He's starting the season on the IL due to nerve irritation in his left tricep.
Mookie Betts was out again on Monday but did complete a workout at Dodger Stadium and he intends to play Tuesday against the Angels.
He did keep solid food down today.
So progress.
Sounds like we're talking about a baby.
Hashtag puke watch for Mookie Betts seems to be doing better.
Yeah, it was a positive report today.
I think I only went too far on the Fantasy Baseball Today Express where I said I might just pass him up in round two and see if I can get him in round three.
I think now that it's looking likely he'll be in the opening day line.
mid-round two that we talked about seems appropriate
given the amount of weight loss that he's had.
Vinnie Pasquantino has been diagnosed with a grade one-plus
hamstring strain but said he plans to play on opening day.
Not so sure that I believe it, but I'm happy to be wrong because...
He's not the only one saying it.
The Royals manager was talking about how he didn't have to play all six games
of the first week, and obviously
DH is a possibility with Salvador Perez
playing first base, and it's in the middle of
the hamstring, the injury,
which they think is better.
I wanted start him in week one,
even if he avoids the IEL,
because there's a chance that doesn't
last long or that he does end up sitting
a couple of those games. And I think
this is the first time on the podcast this year.
We've talked about a player
in terms of starter sit, as opposed to
draft or not draft.
So I'm taking past Guantino out of
lineup if I have any reasonable replacement for round one. But I think it's probably a coin flip
at this point, whether he goes on the I. I agree with that.
Grayson Rodriguez played catch from 90 feet on Monday up from 75 feet last week. He's slowly
building up after dealing with the elbow inflammation. We haven't heard about the pitcher Otani
in a while, but he's set to throw a bullpen this Saturday, his first time throwing off a mound
since February 25th.
Josh Young left Monday's game due to
a neck stiffness.
Doesn't really have too much time, so
hope it's not too bad. Landon Rup
has made the Giants rotation over
Hayden Birdsong.
Rup had a strong spring,
375 ERA, 0.75
whip, 14 strikeouts over
12 innings. Is Landon
Rup worth adding only 6%
rostered, and
he's a spark on CBS?
I'm
more interested in Birdsong, but Rup is not without interest.
And I do wonder if Birdsong would have made the rotation, if not for the very mild injury.
Yeah, it's a cracked fingernail, right?
Yeah.
He only made it through, what, a third of an inning?
So.
And that might explain his only two walks of the spring, which aren't even officially recorded as such,
because they didn't happen in a Cactus League game.
So I think Rup is fine, but probably closer to the Luis Ortiz range of Sparps than the Jackson Job range.
All right.
I just don't know enough about him.
I feel like it's, you know, he's older.
He's 26.
And he's been up a couple times before.
I guess it was just last year when he came up.
But mostly to work out of the bullpen.
And, you know, he had a lot of walks.
He didn't miss that many bats.
He's looked impressive this spring, and I know some people are really excited about Landon Roop.
I think I need to research him more because I just, he's never been enough on the radar until this very moment, I feel like, for me to have formed an opinion.
I think I'll say for Hayden Birdsong, like if you drafted him, if you picked him up off the waiver wire already, hold on.
I suspect he won't get the 10 appearances necessary out of the bullpen to gain relief pitcher eligibility because the,
need him in the rotation sooner than that.
All right.
Jack Kohanowitz will be in the Angels rotation with Reed Detmer's headed to the bullpen.
Any deep league interest in Jack Kohanowitz?
No, not really.
I'm disappointed that Reid Detmer's isn't in the rotation.
I understand it.
He hasn't exactly earned it over the course of the last couple of years.
But I think Kohanowitz is really boring.
It's a really big heavy sinker, one of the hardest sinkers in the game, and he just doesn't miss any bets.
He had 3.4K per 9 and 11 starts last year.
9.4. That strikeout rate is less than half the Major League average, and his highest at any level as a prospect was a 21.4% mark back in 2022.
that came with a $499 ERA at A ball.
So I think he's just a streamer.
All right.
Parker Meadows was placed on the 60-day IL
with that nerve issue in his right arm.
That means he cannot return until late May.
Sunny Gray has been battling the flu, apparently,
which sapped him of strength.
It kind of feels like pretty convenient timing
for a story like that to come out.
Not doubting that he's sick.
I'm just saying, why didn't we hear about it sooner, you know?
Christian Walker remains on track to play on opening day.
He played six innings on defense and hit a home run in a simulated game on Monday.
Corey Seeger was out of the lineup due to a sore calf.
Just something to watch.
Seeger lengthy injury history.
Sounds like the Cardinals are planning to bat Mason win ninth on opening day,
which means Lars Neupar will be the leadoff hitter and not so great for Mason Wins' value.
This one's funny because he was,
I think he led off every single appearance in an official spring game.
Yeah.
And then they played this, I don't know what they call it, this like weird exhibition game.
Yeah, by Bardot between the spring training and regular season and he's batting ninth all of a sudden.
He had a miserable spring.
Bad spring, yeah.
He was terrible.
So it's hard to argue with it.
It's deserved.
Newpar should be a lead off hitter, frankly.
As good as he is getting on base.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I have them both on multiple teams.
I mean, I hope it works out.
And maybe Mason win hits and he moves back up the lineup.
Yeah, opening day lineup means exactly that.
Opening day lineup.
This could change in a week if Mason win hits well and Lars Newport doesn't.
But it's not what you want to see.
Yep.
Got to keep things moving to get back to prospects here.
Kyle Gibson is aiming to be ready for the Orioles around May 1st.
Bryce Serang played in a minor league game on much.
Monday and is considered a full go on opening day.
Nolan Jones is projected to start in right field against right-handed pitching for the Guardians.
The Padres optioned Luis Camp Usano to AAA.
Elias Diaz will be the primary catcher with Martine Maldonado serving as the backup.
Carmen Maginski will begin the season as the Pirates fifth starter.
That means no Thomas Harrington or Bubba Chandler.
And last season in relief, Majinsky actually was, he did some okay things.
Underlying numbers look pretty good here.
Any deep league interest in Carmen Maginsky?
You're not going to hear it for me.
No, just for the record, it's spelled like it.
It's spelled Maladzinski.
Yeah, M-L-O-D-Z-I-N-S-K-I.
So if you do play in an L-O-only league, I think that's probably the only place.
I would be interested in him, but it's fitting that the pirates are going with random
relief conversion guy who wasn't all that good in relief
instead of one of their multiple exciting interesting prospects
because they didn't spend the offseason trying to win.
Why should they try to win once the season begins?
Yeah, and it's not like they just did that a year ago with Paul Skeens or anything like that, right?
Maginsky, by the way, he is RP eligible.
So just a name to know in deeper points leagues
where every single spark is rostered in your league.
Philly's president, Dave Dombrovsky said he's hopeful Ranger Suarez would pitch sometime in April.
He's starting the season on the aisle with a back injury.
The Yankee signed Ryan Yarbo to a one-year deal after he was released by the Blue Jays this weekend,
and he will offer some depth to a team that desperately needs it.
And sad day from my boy, Connor Joe, didn't earn a spot on the Padres opening day roster.
So shame on you, Padres.
Let's get back into prospects.
And some deeper league names who will be on.
on the opening day roster for their respective teams.
Kumar Leiter and Jack Leiter with the Rangers.
Jacob Wilson.
What did I say?
Kumar Leiter.
Kumar Leiter, yeah.
So there you go.
A little fusion ha!
Between those two.
Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter with the Rangers.
Jacob Wilson with the athletics.
Drake Baldwin with the Braves.
Alan Rodin with the Blue Jays.
Max Muncie with the Athletics.
Shane Smith with the White Sox,
Will Warren with the Yankees.
So lots of names.
here, pick and choose, like some of your favorites.
Do you target any of these names in deeper leagues as prospects who can maybe make an
impact early in the season?
Alan Rodin is one I definitely target in any five outfielder league and the first
run of waivers in some of those formats where he went undrafted.
I made sure to make a healthy bid on him, something like 6% of my budget.
And I'm hoping, I think the skill set is there, and I'm hoping that he just,
becomes a permanent part of the Blue Jays lineup,
potentially even moves up to the leadoff spot
because of how good his on-base skills are.
So that's probably my favorite.
Rodin, I think there's power too
that hasn't been fully realized.
He's already excels at elevating to his pole side
and can get more out of that.
We have talked about Kumar Rocker and Jack Lighter
a lot already since they were competing for jobs
and kind of both won jobs by default,
of all the injuries the Rangers had.
Neither had an amazing spring,
but they both had highlights.
They both had moments.
Lighter introducing that spike change
that was kind of inconsistent from start to start
in terms of velocity and effectiveness.
So I don't feel confident
it's going to be transformative for lighter
and he still has the walk issues.
Meanwhile, Kumar Rocker unveiled
a slower breaking ball than the slider that wowed everybody last year.
And in the start where he did that, he didn't throw much of the slider.
So I don't know what that means.
That might be an indication that Rocker has a third offering that's going to allow him to take off.
But since we didn't see a ton of evidence from it this spring,
I'm seeing him more as a fringe rosterable guy as lighter is.
Drake Baldwin is someone who's expected to fill in for Sean Murphy early on in the season.
So in deeper to catcher leagues, I think he's a name that you can at least look at early in the season.
Jacob Wilson expected to hit for big batting average, but is there anything else?
Well, this spring, he has four home runs in 18 games.
I'm not saying that we should buy it necessarily, Chris, but it is at least a little intriguing,
giving his, given his bat to ball skills that we're seeing some pop here in spring.
And he hit for a little bit of pop at the minor league level last season as well.
So there is a little bit of evidence of him being able to put the ball over the fence.
It's not, it's never going to be even, I would be surprised if he has any 110 mile an hour bad at balls.
He didn't play very much in front of the stack has cameras, unfortunately, this spring.
but it's, I think Max is out at raw, at average raw power.
And because he's such an aggressive hitter, he probably won't even get to average in-game power.
But I think you can hope on a Luis Arias type of outcome and potentially a little better because he's young and maybe can learn how to elevate the ball to the pull side a little more and maybe be a 15-15 guy at his peak.
I know he talked about doing...
I drafted Jacob Wilson a decent amount in my deeper roto leagues.
I think I have him in my A-L-only league
and my 15-team Roto leagues.
He did talk about doing strength training this off-season
in an effort to hit the ball harder.
And so maybe the four home runs the spring were the fruits of that.
He did play in the Cactus League.
And so that's a very...
favorable environment for hitting no matter where you go.
And obviously the Luis Arise path for him, if he's able, if that's all he ends up being, if he doesn't add power, that's a narrow path.
There's one player in the majors who's capable of performing like that.
And there have been a lot of guys over the years who we've thought could make that.
And it usually doesn't work out.
Yeah.
Again, that was Jacob Wilson of the athletics.
Just want to give a shout out to Shane Smith of the White Sox who had a good spring.
He was the top pick in the Rule 5 draft, and he made the opening day roster for the White Sox.
And did we get confirmation he's in the rotation for them?
Because I didn't see that right.
Has not been confirmed one way or the other as far as I've seen.
If he's in the rotation, he's another name that you can look at as a spark in some of those points leagues as well.
Top names to stash.
There are two clear names for me.
And if there's anyone else that comes to mind for you guys,
I mean, we're going to talk about a lot of players.
But the two clear ones are both pitchers.
And Bubba Chandler with the Pirates,
who is 22 years old, first round pick back in 2021,
throws massive heat and he's got these breaking pitches.
And obviously the Pirates have done pretty good job with their pitching development.
And Quinn Matthews of the Cardinals,
who was one of the top breakout prospects among pitchers last year,
saw a Velo increase.
He was treated like a workhorse in the mine.
Scott, these are two of the highest priority stash prospects for me.
What do you think about Bubba Chandler and Quinn Matthews?
Yeah, I agree.
In a couple days, I'm going to come out with my top 12 prospect stashes for the start of the year.
And they might, are they the only two starting pitchers on it?
I believe so.
I believe these are the only.
You took painter out.
So yeah.
I took painter out because we know he's not going to be up until June at the earliest.
So, yeah, Chandler and Matthews would be the only two.
I rank them back to back among my prospects.
I do have Chandler higher because he's a more conventional type of prospect.
And with the control strides, he made the past couple years,
there doesn't feel like as much downside risk there.
Very effective fastball, very effective change up.
a good three pitch mix.
Quinn Matthews, though, I may be more excited for because it's unconventional,
because he has that analytically friendly fastball that looked like it might play before he
upped his velocity by three or four miles per hour and went on to have the best
strikeout total of any minor league pitcher last year.
And he's a great control guy himself.
It feels like the bottom could fall out of that,
Like if he just can't sustain last year's gains.
But it was there this spring.
But it was there this spring.
Yeah.
So I think there's a lot to get excited about there.
And both of them have easy ways in to the rotations for the pirates and the Cardinals.
That's the one thing I will say, though, is if there's a hurdle, neither is on their team's respective 40-man rosters.
And both the Pirates and Cardinals have guys who are on the four.
40-man roster who could get called up ahead of them in and the cardinals case i think it's just
michael mcgris i know tink hens is on the the 40 man but he has just not put together very many
innings in the miners so i would guess they'll find a way for quinn matthews ahead of tink hans for
the pirates they are not interesting for fantasy but braxon ashcraft and mike burroughs could be
rotation fillers and thomas errington too and top well he's not on the 40 man but yeah he's
in a similar spot.
They actually have a very interesting
AAA rotation, the Pirates.
Maybe more interesting
than they're actually
actual Major League rotation
outside of Paul Skeens.
But because the Pirates have been
so passive this offseason,
I worry that
Chandler's not going to get
jumped ahead of
Ashcraft and Burroughs
if an opportunity
comes up early.
The only thing with that is
when the time came to call up skeins,
they called up skeins.
When the time came to call up Jared Jones,
they called up Jared Jones.
Yeah, it could be.
They're probably managing Chandler's workload
and have the added benefit
of maybe getting some service time
of benefits out of holding him back.
But I think if,
I think once it's clear he's ready, he'll be up.
I hope so.
You guys mentioned the name Andrew Painter of the Phillies,
not expected to be up until June or July.
And a couple of years ago, it seemed like he was about to break camp in the Phillies rotation as a 19-year-old,
but suffered a forearm strain.
He needed Tommy John surgery.
Still working his way back.
He pitched in the Arizona Fall League.
Looked pretty good out there.
But the Phillies obviously want to slow play him, which I think makes sense.
It's just an asset with this talent as a pitcher.
And coming back from TJ surgery, it makes sense.
And he is healthy.
He is healthy.
He pitched in the Arizona Fall League, as you said.
to build him up, have a delayed buildup so that he's available at the end of the year can be
part of their postseason run. I think it makes sense. And we did mention at the top of the show,
Roki Sasaki and Jackson Job, who's the better pitching prospect? It might be painter.
It might be painter. I might nominate painter for the actual best pitching prospect in baseball.
Yeah, he also spent, he dominated like to an absurd degree with basically just fastball,
curveball slider.
And as part of his rehab, he worked with
Cole Hamels is the guy that he worked with
on the Phillies to develop his changeup.
Looks like it's going to be legit four pitch mix.
The stuff is out of this world.
Yeah.
And if you're looking for a guy in the second half of the season
who could make a Paul Skeens like impact,
it's Andrew Painter.
Yeah.
But hard to stash him in leagues without minor league spots, right?
It's not going to be on the I.L.
It's going to take a long time.
But there are a lot of leagues that do play with either a minor league spot or an NA spot,
like it might be on Yahoo.
So if you have that spot,
and Chandler and Quinn Matthews are already on other teams,
then yeah,
I think you can devote a spot like that to someone like Andrew Painter who will be up later this season.
We have a lot of other prospects.
I'll just quickly introduce them and you guys tell me,
A, whether or not they're worth stashing and B,
when you think they might be up this season.
So first up here, we have Jordan Lawler of the debacks.
Chris, is he worth stashing in redraft?
When do you think he might get the call?
Whenever Eugenio Suarez, Herald or Perdomo, or Cotel Marte get hurt.
He theoretically could play center field or the outfield,
but I don't think he's ever done it as a pro, so it's the infield.
And I think it's just as soon as there's an opportunity for it.
Kobe Mayo of the Orioles, Scott.
When do you think we could see Kobe Mayo and his,
he worth stashing? I think something would have to go wrong for a corner infielder, maybe a corner
outfielder, not that Mayo would play in the outfield, but they have some movable parts there
that could allow him in. So, you know, it could happen pretty soon. It went horribly for him,
his first taste of the majors, as was true of Jackson Holiday last year. So it doesn't, it's not
like it knocks him out of having a important future.
fantasy. Kobe Mayo is among my top 12 prospects to stash, but I do want to clarify the only
prospect, the only minor leaguer, let's say, who I think is stashable mostly across the board in
almost every league is Roman Anthony. Yeah. Like it would have to be a pretty deep league for me to
stash Mayo or Loy Loller or or Bubba Chandler or any of the others we've talked about who aren't actually,
who don't actually have a job yet.
All right, Chris, what about Brandon Spro?
When do you think?
Brandon Sprode of the Mets, by the way, I should read off the team names.
When do you think we could see him this season?
He struggled a lot at AAA when he got there,
so I would guess they're going to let him get his feet wet.
This is another one, though, that it's probably just
when an opportunity opens up with injury,
he will probably be among the first to get the call.
But that's complicated with Shamaniah and Frankie Motas
working their way back from injury.
Because if the injury happens when Manaya is ready, it's going to be Manaya.
If the injury happens in late May, it might be Montas.
So I think it could be a while for Sprope.
Scott, what about Chase Doander of the Rockies, who is a pitcher in Colorado?
Yeah, the only true fantasy standout over their entire history was Ubaldo Jimenez,
who I believe plays third in Sy Young voting one year.
Yeah, he had like three really good years.
So odds are against Dillander being anything worthwhile, but he is in any other organization, he'd be a huge prospect for fantasy.
And I do have some hope for him just because his fastball is so good.
It has those modern characteristics that make it a good swing and miss offering.
So maybe it won't be as impacted by the thin air environment.
It was hit or miss this spring, though.
And I don't think put himself in a position to get called up.
early enough for us to stash him.
Four catcher prospects who could make an impact this season.
Dalton rushing with the Dodgers,
Augustine Ramirez of the Marlins,
and then Kyle Teal and Edgar Caro of the White Sox.
Chris, how would you rank those four just on potential impacts
for this season, rushing Ramirez, Teal, Caro?
That's the order, I think.
And I think there's rushing and Ramirez are pretty close
because rushing is the better prospect.
Ramirez has a very interesting profile though because he had 25 homers, I think 23 steals.
Last year, he was productive at AAA and it's the Marlins.
So he's not exactly being blocked by anybody good.
So I think we could see him first before rushing.
Rushing, it's just they've tried him out at a bunch of different spots.
They also have really good players at every spot that they've tried.
They've tried him out of catcher, left field, right field, first base.
And it's like, it gives him it's like maybe just one injury at any of those spots.
But it's like he's not playing over Michael Conforto, Teoscar Hernandez, Freddie Freeman, or Will Smith.
So he does need at least one injury, maybe two.
I'm throwing my hat behind rushing here because I actually am stashing him in Tout Wars,
which is a league with infinite IL spots.
It makes stashing a prospect and a reserve spot easier.
and because I just totally neglected catcher that whole draft on purpose,
but I would have liked for slightly better catcher options as the ones I got.
Anyway, I think the path for rushing is part-time backup to Will Smith, part-time outfielder,
and he'll be able to cobble enough of bats together that way.
The fact that Will Smith, they're talking about he'll have to sit more this year to manage that foot issue
gives me hope that we'll see rushing sooner than later.
Scott, do you have any interest in Emmanuel Rodriguez, an outfielder with the twins,
and Luke Keishel, someone who can kind of move around for the twins as well.
He's coming back from Tommy John's surgery,
but lots of excitement around both of those prospects.
Do they make an impact this year?
Yeah, they're great prospects, and they'll probably be up at some point this year.
I don't think it'll be early enough,
barring just a catastrophic series of injuries for us to stash them ahead of time.
But they're getting close.
they both are great at walking.
Rodriguez has some strikeout issues,
but also really strong skills and loud tools
and has survived a really high strikeout rate
every step of the ladder so far.
So his prospect stock keeps rising.
She also mentioned Walker Jenkins,
who might be the best twins prospect.
Yeah, he is the best twins prospect.
He's still a teenager,
so that would be pretty aggressive.
But I could see him being a September call-up.
He got to AA last year.
It was only six games,
but he will probably start the season there.
Yeah.
Christian Moore of the Angels, Chris,
do you think he can make an impact here this season?
I think on any other team,
we're probably talking about a September call-up,
but because it's the Angels
and we know how aggressive they are
and they have a roster that is makeable.
I think there's a decent chance
we see him sometime in April
if he gets off to a hot start, yeah.
By the way, Jenkins turned 20 in February,
so not a teenager anymore.
Scott, we've talked a lot about Zach Veen,
and we are upset that he is down in the minors.
Is he worth stashing in the meantime?
He is among my 12 prospects to stash.
He'll probably be on the lower end of that list
because he isn't the caliber of prospect
that some of these others are,
but he used to be.
And if you buy into the theory that injuries,
I mean, he played through a lot of injuries over the year.
that have really held back his production.
If you buy into the theory that that's what tanked his prospect stock,
which I kind of do.
And given the way his spring went,
I think in five outfielder leagues,
you should try to hold on to Zach Veen.
Next up is Chandler Simpson of the race.
They traded Jose Siri away this offseason.
They're going to give Johnny DeLuca a look in center field.
But Chris, if that doesn't work out,
Chandler Simpson looks to be next up.
Yeah, the problem is the raise almost always have their top.
Spex play a full season at AAA before they called them up.
And Chandler Simpson has only played half a season at double A.
So in any other organization, it's kind of the opposite of the Angels.
In any other organization, the fact that he's likely to start the season at AAA means it
could be one injury away.
But the Ray's tend to let guys simmer down at AAA.
So I would be surprised if we saw him in the first half of the season.
I should mention with Chandler Simpson, he hit 3.50.
last year with 90 runs scored and 104 steals.
He also had one homer and 29 RBI.
Yeah, but he knows what he is,
which is what I like about him.
He is not Willie Mays Hayes from Major League 2.
He's Willie Mays Hayes from Major League 1.
And that being said,
if Jacob Wilson is trying to take the narrow Louisa Rise path,
Chandler Simpson is trying to take the narrow Xavier Edwards.
path, which we don't know is even a durable path for Edwards.
So it's, it's a tough case.
Some big names that I'm not really expecting up until the second half, maybe like September
for all these names here, but Carson Williams with the raise, Travis Bezano with the
Guardians, Jack Caglione with the Royals, Nick Kurtz with the athletics, and Jet Williams
of the Mets.
Do you guys disagree?
Do you maybe think they could be up sooner, anyone from that group?
Yes, I think Caglione and Bazauna in particular could force the issue.
Caglione had a huge spring.
There was a lot of talk about him.
We should also mention Bryce Eldridge on this because they were talking about him potentially making the opening day roster.
It didn't happen.
It didn't even come close.
But he's another first baseman with big power who could be up fairly soon for the Giants.
I'm going to guess Kurtz beats both Caglione and Eldridge.
It's just a guess.
They're all on about equal footing.
But in his draft year, Kurtz made it to double A.
And appears to be on the fast track for the athletics.
So Caglione and Kurtz are both among my 12 prospects to stash.
Shoot, I'm going to reveal the whole list on this podcast.
Bazana just missed.
I wanted to get him in there.
But they have won Brito, another second base optioning in Cleveland, too.
They like a lot.
And he might be ahead of Bazana in the pecking order,
unless Bezana just forces the issue.
Yeah, that's the thing is he might be so good.
Number one pick in last year's draft.
He might be so good that he just makes timelines irrelevant.
All right.
Well, we were going to do IL stash rankings,
but we just kind of ran out of time here.
Maybe we'll do it on Wednesday nights podcast,
but if we don't get to it,
make sure to check out the article on the site.
Chris put a lot of work into that,
and you can find out which players you should be stashing on your IL.
We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris.
I am Frank.
Thanks as always for tuning into Fantasy Baseball today.
please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify,
and we will be back again tomorrow.
Bye-bye.
Paramount Podcasts.
