Fantasy Baseball Today - Twins Promoting Walker Jenkins & League Winners Down the Stretch! (8/28 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 28, 2026

The Twins are promoting Walker Jenkins (2:30)! ... Chris Sale turned back the clocks against LAD (11:30). ... Joshua Baez is striking out a ton (19:50). ... What happened to Jacob Misiorowski's velo on Thursday (25:00)? ... News (27:44): Ronald Acuña had a mental rest day. ... Noah Cameron turned in another QS (36:00). ... Vinnie P is hot since returning (41:19). ... Who are some league winners down the stretch (48:44)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (1:04:17).Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for the newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters

Top Fantasy Baseball today on August 28th. I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we had a wicked pitchers duel in Atlanta. Four hitters having weird seasons. We'll also discuss some league winners down the stretch. But first, two weeks in a row, two Kokomo Fridays in a row, we are getting a top prospect promoted. Last week it was Kate Anderson, and this week we get

Walker Jenkins. The twins are calling up one of the top outfield prospects in all baseball to make his debut here on Friday, 21 years old, first round pick back in 2023. He was a top five pick in that draft, and he is a consensus

top 15 overall prospect in baseball. He is 41% rostered on CBS, only 12% rostered on Yahoo, so widely available. Scott is Walker Jenkins a must add. And what is the skill set that we're looking at here with Walker Jenkins?

Walker Jenkins. Very excited about this promotion. I think it's probably the most exciting promotion remaining. There could be some big prospects promoted still, but none that I feel as confident will be impactful in the way Walker Jenkins will be. He is almost flawless as a prospect, almost flawless. almost flawless. And that's been true from the time he was drafted out of high school as the fifth pick in 2023. It was considered very polished for his age, and he showed that at every step up the ladder, even with a lot of injuries along the way.

Like it didn't slow down his ascent. He's 21 years old now and making the majors. I mean, you don't often make the majors younger than that. So he did his part. Always has shown exceptional plate discipline. Once he got to AAA, it became clear. Even though his power numbers at times kind of lagged, the exit velocities were definitely there. And as we said on the show just yesterday, Frank, when we were speculating on the possibility of Walker Jenkins getting called up,

he kind of crescendoed here at AAA. Like it all looked good before then, but he had that final surge that propelled him to the majors. His 14 home runs in the minors this year, seven have come in August. He's batting over 800 for the month. I believe he has six steals in August 2. So fantastic plate discipline guy,

great hitter instincts. The power seems to, be blossoming here. The exit velocity showed it was always there. The reason I say he's almost perfect is the pole air rate is very low. And that probably helped to compromise the power somewhat. But I think it hits the ball hard enough and I think he does everything else so well that I'm not really concerned about it. I'm just pointing it out because if there was a reason Jenkins fell short of expectations initially, it would be because of that low pole air rate.

I don't actually think it's going to be a problem, though. I am immediately putting him 30th among outfielders in Roto leagues, and I'm putting 28th in head-to-head points. With the great plate discipline, obviously, he should be even better in head-to-head points. I guess it depends how much he runs. But the speed is there. Plate discipline's awesome.

I think he's going to play every day. Has good matchups coming up right away next week. So get him in your lineup, not to mention pick up. Walter Walker Jenkins. Yeah, the comp I made in writing about him for tomorrow's newsletter is, it's hard to come up with a comp with his broad skill set because he could legitimately be like an above average player in all five rhodo categories. Randy or Rosarena was the one I came up with because he's got better plate discipline than you think. He's more of like a 10% walk, 20% strikeout rate guy, whereas Jenkins and the minors was like, 14 and 14.

But that kind of like 20, 20, 25, 25 upside. Useful batting average is actually hitting 274 this season. I mean, Randy Rose Rain is a top 20 outfielder. So I do think that kind of upside is there. And it's kind of like Roman Anthony, but with a couple less miles per hour of exit velocity, Roman Anthony is like a legit elite raw power guy. Walker Jenkins probably more very good than elite. I think he's at 90.7 miles per hour this season max 112.

But I bring the Anthony comp up because that's another player who also so far and probably projects to underperform the raw power a little bit because the swing isn't super optimized for power. But look, those kinds of things always have tradeoffs, right? We talk a lot about guys not being optimized for power. But that can also be a bonus for your batting average. And the ability to cover the plate the way he does and make contact the way he does and impact the ball heart, that can also come with not necessarily being grooved for power in the way some guys are. So there are tradeoffs. I don't expect Walker Jenkins to be an elite power hitter.

He hasn't been for most of his minor league careers, really kind of just this month where he's hit for power. He's played his first 74 games at AAA. He had six home runs. And his last 18, he has eight. He did end up spending. Which is the final served you see a lot for big prospects right before they reach the majors. It all clicks. He did end up hoping happened here.

Spending one year and one day at AAA, which I thought was interesting. He got called up on August 26th to AAA last season. But yeah, I'm very excited. I think top 36 outfielder in both formats with a lot of room to grow beyond that. So someone who should be rostered in every league right away, I think. I think if Walker Jenkins maxes out his power projection is able to pull it in the air enough. And maxes out his speed projection, meaning he steals enough base. he's certainly fast enough to, and he's done it, you know, a fair amount this year in the minors.

If he maxes those out, I think the upside looks something like Kyle Tucker. And I don't mean this year's Kyle Tucker. Yeah, no, the good one. The good Kyle Tucker. Yeah, exactly. That's a good call. Yeah, he's a very, very exciting prospect who, look, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, right? Like, that's not everybody's ready for the majors when they get called up, no matter how good they are in the miners.

But if it works, it's going to work in every format. It's going to be very fantasy relevant. So I think this is absolutely a guy who should be rostered in every league. All right. So Scott mentioned top 30. Chris mentioned top 36. Would you guys take Walker Jenkins over really all the other young outfielder that have been called up either recently or early on in the season?

A lot of those guys have kind of fallen off. So I'm thinking about the Josh Baez, AJ Ewing, as Merlin Valdez, Sam Antinacci, Cole Carrig, who I know we like a lot. Would you take Walker Jenkins over all of those names? I ended up putting him one spot ahead of Cole Carrick, who is the highest ranked of those. So it was a tough call between those two.

Really, for me, it comes down to, I'm not sure how startable Cole Carrig is on the road in shallower leagues. I'm expecting you're just going to put Jenkins in your lineup, even in the three outfielder leagues and just leave him there. Maybe that'll be famous last words. Maybe he's going to go through a growing pains phase. But that's my expectation is that Jenkins is just going to be a fixture rest of season. Now, having said all that, I would hope I have a more boring outfielder to drop than one of those young guys.

I do think it's a little different with like, you know, Zach Veen or Joshua Baez where, you know, I think there are some limitations. I think either of those guys would be okay, but the guys that are a little more proven at the major league level, Carrig, Ewing, Carson Benj, I would hope I have someone a little more boring. Like I'm looking at one of my leagues just for reference.

I do have Max Clark. I'd be fine dropping Max Clark for him, although I would prefer not to drop Max Clark, and then I look at I have Cam Smith. If Walker Jenkins was available in this league, I would definitely drop Cam Smith for. That would be an easier call. All right, again, the twins promoting Walker Jenkins,

their top prospect on Friday. Let's get into the players of the night. Otter! That man is hot. And there is perhaps no man hotter right now than Chris Sale. Man, a pitcher's duel out in Atlanta. Scotty, your boy, Chris Sale. What a stud.

Yeah, we don't get many opportunities to talk about him since he is a stud, but he achieved a new level of studliness here. It seemed to rise to the occasion against the Dodgers, a series that had a playoff-off-like atmosphere. I believe all three of the games were one-run games, and the Braves bullpen was taxed here in the third game of the series. It was honestly taxed yesterday, Dylan Lee. had a bad outing, which is rare.

And Chris Sayah went the distance. Shut out the Dodgers in a 1-0 game. It was his first complete game. Wow, his first complete game since 2019. Really? Yep. Which was before the Tommy John surgery and everything. Yeah, wow.

He also threw a pitch over 100 miles per hour, which was the first time he had done that since 2018. So he was fired up, very efficient, didn't walk anybody, struck out 11, five hits allowed. He lowered his ERA to 206 this season. He lowered his whip to an even one. He now has 11.1K per 9.

And it was a 13th win. So Cy Young caliber numbers here from Chris Sale is obviously not going to win Syon. Jacob Mizorowski. Jacob Miserowski, but I think there's another thing holding it back. That's, I think probably the most,

we could obviously rave about this start, but the thing that actually matters more in fantasy is that he entered, even with those great numbers I just listed off, he entered as only the 17th best pitcher in head-to-head points leagues. And it's not a wins thing. It's just picked up win-13.

It's an innings thing. Yeah. And it's specifically a starts thing. The Braves have been so careful to preserve his health that this was only his 24th start. Most Aces are going on their 28th start at this point. So I don't see how that's going to change moving forward. Chris Sale, 37 years old.

I expect him to be good again next year, but I think this is something we're going to have to price in. beyond just injury risk, which, you know, maybe maybe that's a thing of the past. Now he's been really healthy two of his last three seasons and the one where he wasn't, he fractured a rib on a dive and play. It wasn't an arm issue.

He really hasn't had an arm injury in like four seasons, right? Because I think the year before he got to the Braves, it was, wasn't that the year he had like the bike accident and had like the fractured wrist and the rib, which I guess a fractured wrist is technically an arm injury? But you know what I mean. His shoulder got a little bulky at the end of his Siong season.

Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It wasn't. It wasn't anything too serious. But the point is, like, at his age, there's an established pattern here with how the Braves use him. And I think we need to remember

to artificially suppress his draft stock next year. In points leagues. in Roto he's still the number four starting pitcher before today. Okay, but he would be a stronger number four if he had four more starts. Yeah, no, it makes total sense what you're saying, but I think at this point it is a worthwhile tradeoff

for the Braves and for Chris Sale fantasy managers because I think if they pushed him any further, you know, that's when we're talking about, okay, again, like his age and the innings adding up and things like that. And it's like, at some point, there's probably a point of diminishing returns here for Chris Sale. So I think it makes sense for them to limit it. Yeah, that's a strategy. Yeah. And we just got to price it in is my point. Yeah. And we had that stretch in June where he wasn't even completing six innings consistently. But here in the second half, they have been letting him go further on a per start basis. He has gone six plus innings in each of his

second half starts here, that seven starts. And in the second half, 176 ERA, 0.76 whip, 60 strikeouts to three walks. I thought that was a typo. 60 to three K to walk ratio for Chris Sale in the second half. He has been awesome. And I also just want to, real quick, one thing, I know people are going to try to make the case that like, yeah, he's old. So you should downgrade him for that. I don't really think that's how it works. you look at the truly great pitchers, your Max Scherzer's and Justin Verlanders and those types of guys. Yeah, there aren't a lot of good 38-year-old pitchers,

but the thing you have to keep in mind is there aren't a lot of good 37-year-old pitchers. The pitchers who are great at 37 are probably going to be great at 38. I actually think when it comes to pitchers, guys in their 30s for Dynasty are like perpetually undervalued. And guys in their 20s are probably overvalued because you're actually probably more likely to get a good three-year stretch out of a really good pitcher who's 34 than out of one who's 24.

Right? Like the attrition rate is actually different. It's kind of the opposite for pitchers and it is for hitters. Once you've made it to the age Chris Sale is and still good, you're probably just going to keep being good for a while. If the hardest thing for any pitcher to, establish is durability. And if you

make it to this age as a starting pitcher, you're durable. Now, every starting pitcher is... Their next pitch could be a season ending injury, but like some pitchers never even...

I would say most pitchers never even make it to that point because it's just so taxing on the arm and they just their bodies just aren't capable of taking it. All right. On the other side, I do just want to mention, I mean, poor Yamamoto here takes a tough loss. His first pitch of the game, he gave up a solo homer to Drake Baldwin, and that was it.

That was all the scoring that was done in this one. Six and a third, one run allowed, eight strikeouts to one walk, 20 whiffs on 105 pitches, and he's been incredibly consistent. Three earned runs or fewer in 22 of 24 starts. He's gone six plus innings in 21 of 24. So the K-rate is down this year for Yamamoto, which is a little bit unfortunate, but I mean, you look at the ratios and in terms of, I don't know how many wins he has, but I just assumed it's a good amount. I heard on the broadcast, they didn't follow it up and check the work, but I heard on the broadcast that he had the most innings per start of any pitcher this year, Yamamoto.

So that sounds right. Workhorse. Now, this was only his 24-star, too. I just noticed the same thing, yeah. Because it's a sick, they've run with a six-man rotation all year. So, yes, workhorse, but for the impact it has in fantasy, not so much. Well, and he's tied for six. He's tied for six in the majors innings now.

Yeah. So he just goes deeper than sale. Yeah, so that's, he has about, I think, sales at 144 innings. Goes deeper than anybody. Yamamoto's at 158. So it's a slight downgrade relative to other pitchers, but he's not far from the non-Sandy Alcantra tier of aces in terms of innings. All right, Chris, over to you.

Who would you like to highlight here from Thursday? Oh, I'll go negative. I'll be the bad guy because I feel like we haven't actually talked about Joshua by as much since the three homer game. Now, I was off his first week in the majors, but I feel like I haven't been on a podcast where he's come up since he debuted. And unfortunately, things have gone about as poorly as the first game went well. He had the first game where he homered three times.

He struck out three times on Thursday. He had a double. That's nice. But still, three strikeouts. It is his fifth multi-strikeout game in his past sixth. it is his seventh multi-strikeout game overall, and he is up to a 40% strikeout rate. And this was always the concern that, yeah, the raw power is incredible.

But the swing and miss is untenable. And right now it's totally untenable. His approach at the plate is a mess. He's swinging and missing too much on top of that. So it just, I don't think it's happening for Joshua Baez. Look, he's talented enough that he could get hot and hit eight home runs in September, and we're talking about him as a top 120 pick next season. That wouldn't shock me.

It would surprise me, though. So I talked about this on his debut, the little bit of cold water I was sprinkling on it, that the book on him obviously strikeouts, but especially fastballs, elevated fastballs. and that debut was against Matthew Boyd, a pitcher who grows a pretty slow fastball, and all three of the home runs came off Boyd. So I'm seeing now on four-seem fastballs, he has yet to get a hit other than two of the home runs off Boyd.

His swinging strike rate on four-seemers is 28%. Joshua Baez. Swinging strike rate? Swinging strike rate. Oh, that is massive. Yeah. Yeah. And on top of all that, like, his chase rate is 40.

2% league average is 29%. So he is chasing a bunch. He is missing in the zone a lot so far. Actually, no, his zone contact is... Yeah, his own contact is only actually slightly below average. But he's chasing and, you know, his whiffs are coming when he's chasing pitches outside the strike zone. So, yeah, Josh Baez, I think if you obviously spent big fab on him in like a five outfielder league, I would hold on to him. But if you play in a shallower three outfielder league, especially a head-to-points league where you get penalized for strikeouts,

I think it makes total sense to perhaps ride the hot hand or even go with someone like Walker Jenkins over. Definitely drop bias for Jenkins at this point. Yeah. Yep. All right, let's take our first break. Just a reminder that Scott's Week 24 Sleeper articles and two-star pitchers will be out on the website on Friday.

And we will have our FBT Express episode breaking all that down on Saturday. We'll take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Before we hit the news and notes, I just wanted to quickly mention Jacob Miserowski's outing here from Thursday night because some people might see the velocity being down and obviously it causes a pretty quick concern for someone who throws as hard as Jacob Miserowski. It was six innings of two-run ball, six strikeouts, he had 12 whiffs on 89 pitches.

This is pretty interesting too. Per ESPN Insights, first pitcher since Doc Gooden, in 1985 to start a season with 25 straight starts of three earners. runs or less, which is amazing stuff there from the MIS. But the velocity, fastball down 1.9 miles per hour, the cutter down 1.8, the curve down 1.1. And I had someone in the mentions earlier telling me that the Miz was struggling with the Mound, and it was wet in that game, and there was rain in New York City, and then he spoke about it afterwards as well. So I think that is a pretty fair reason here for his velocity to be down. So I wouldn't overthink it too much of them.

I agree. Yeah, and I'm starting to get the sense that they're just going to let this go in terms of, like obviously he's already beyond his previous high innings. He's over 150 now. It's kind of surprising given the big lead they have in the Central, and they can afford to pull back the reins a little bit to make sure that they have all the ammo they need for Mizorowski in the playoffs. but they're not talking like they're going to do that.

And I find that surprising, but noteworthy, given that, obviously it'll have a big impact on the fantasy playoffs, whether they do that or not with him. Yeah, his ERA actually went up in this one, all the way up to 173 for the Miz. The whip did go down. 0.75 whip for Mizziarowski. He also has 13.2K per 9 on the season,

and he is the sole reason why Chris Sale is not competing for a Syung this year. Sorry, it's Chris Sale. News and notes. I don't know that he'd win it. I don't know that he'd be ahead of Christopher Sanchez, but. I don't know. Sanchez is kind of faltered a little bit of year lately. It's got a lot more innings.

Sanchez has a 262ER. 16 wins. But you meant Chris Sale has a 206 ERA. Yeah, I know. It's really good. But innings, like a difference of 40 innings is a big deal. But also a difference in like a one, whip on the nose versus 120.

That's also pretty massive. Yeah, I don't know that whip is a big Cy Young category. I'm not saying the voters don't consider it, but That's fair. I guess if we were handing out a Sy Young for fantasy pitchers, it's something I would consider. The news and notes here, Walt Weiss

gave Ronald de Cunia a rest day on Thursday and he has been bad since returning from the IL in 28 games, 188 batting average. Six homers, three steel, 614 OPS with a 27% strikeout rate. And notice his bat speed and fast swing percentage,

while much better than the rest of the league, it is down from previous years since returning from this injury. So, Chris, what's going on with Ronald Cuneo? Yeah, I mean, maybe, I want to say maybe he's just kind of going through it, and he's not 100%, you know, he's a little banged up. But he's actually been running more lately. I think he has four stolen base attempts in, like, his last 15 games. with three steals.

So that that's kind of surprising, given that we, I think all thought he was just kind of done running, at least for the rest of the season. So I don't know. I tend to think it's probably just a slump, but he hasn't been very good this season. You know, even when he,

even before the injuries, he wasn't hitting the ball great. And, you know, that's two out of the last three seasons now where he's not hitting the ball great. And, you know, maybe the injuries have just caught up to him a little bit. Would anybody be shocked if Ronald Cunia was the best player in the league in September?

I wouldn't. It wouldn't shock me, but I am starting to... Starting to think... I look, at 28 years old, I don't think he's done. But I do think there's a real chance that all the leg injuries he's dealt with are really starting to impact Ronald Cunia. I mean... Well, I think...

What does that mean? Does that mean he's developed some bad habits in his swing that he's going to have to sort out to compensate for the injuries or just from rust? I think that's very likely. Yeah. Does it mean that he doesn't have the strength

he used to have and can never get back to that? I guess that's possible, but that wouldn't be my lean. I will say, this is something I'm starting to think about some content I'm going to write maybe in September or October and

pretty terrible season for the first two rounds and drafts this year. I was thinking about that earlier today. I want to do the research, but I cannot remember a year where the first two rounds were this bad. Like, who's been, like Bobby Witt didn't get hurt, right? I don't know. He had an aisle stint, but it was a pretty short one. But he's like, like, man, everyone has missed a significant amount of time, or Holy Rodriguez and Paul Skeens.

Just been super disappointing. Yeah. So I came up with Otani's hasn't been as good as he could be, but he's been good enough to justify the pick. And Bobby Witt, I would put in the same category, not as good as he could be, but good enough to justify the pick.

And you'd probably say the same about Ali Dela Cruz. Yep. I think if we're ranking how beneficial players in the first two rounds have been this year, it's shocking to think. But Fernando Tatis, and, Terrick Scoobel would be pretty high on that list.

I mean, I think Junior Camerra has been the best pick in the first two rounds. Like, by far, just in terms of what you've gotten. And even he's, I think he's, no, actually, I thought he had slowed down. Then I looked up the numbers and he's been great in the second half. L.A. Dela Cruz has been pretty good. Jackson Churio, despite the injury, has been, we didn't talk about him, but he missed so much of the season. He's having, but he's on like a 30-25 pace now. Yeah.

No, I think he's paid off. It's hard to say. I'm looking at it now. The top 24 picks, which cuts off with Yamamoto. So I would put him in this, he has paid off. Yamamoto, Turyo, Schwabre, Camerero, Carol? Carol?

But again, it's like not as good as he could. But good enough. Tatee. Ellie. Ellie. I think you're like happy. It's like, Nine? Nine out of 24?

Yeah, I think that's it. You're happy with nine of the 24 picks. You're really happy with like three. Yeah, that's bad. It's been a really bad top 24, including just like, you got nothing out of Gary Crochet, nothing out of Gunner Henderson,

nothing out of Kyle Tucker, nothing out of Kyle Tucker, nothing out of Kyle Raleigh, nothing out of Vladimir Guerrero. It has been like bottom out bad busts. Not just like, oh, all right, he was drafted in the first round. He finished as like the 45th player. It's like, no,

These guys are bad, bad. And actually, the first time this occurred to me was when, so I think I'm running away with my Tau Wars League, 15-te-te-team Roto. I'm up more than 10-Roto points. I'm never comfortable, but I've been up double-digit points for a good while now. I drafted Ronald de Cunia in the first round of a 15-team league. That's pretty crazy, man. But it's like most people missed on their top picks, so it's okay.

And I drafted Pete Crow Armstrong in round five. That because it's the OBP league. That'll play. Great in OBP, yeah. That will play. So that was actually my first time. I keep looking at my Tout Wars team and it's like, man, if I've gotten anything out of Gunner Henderson, this team would be pretty good.

And it's just, instead I'm just, I know, Gunner Henderson and Kyle Tucker. I'm in six plays with Gunner Henderson and Kyle Tucker as my top two picks. Yeah. Come on. Come on, guys. I spent up for Ronald de Cunia in my Tout Wars League, and I'm in ninth place. So I did not get Pete Crowe Armstrong clearly on my team this year. Keep it on with the news and notes.

James Wood was doing base running work on the field Thursday. He's been out since August 4th with an oblique strain. Jake Bowers has missed three straight with shin splints. Bo Bouchette was out of the lineup after leaving Thursday with a left foot contusion. Dustin May, who left after just one pitch on Wednesday, could start Sunday. against the Texas Rangers. So yesterday I talked about how terrible this would be if you're playing a weekly lineup league

where you get literally just one hit against Dustin May and nothing else for the rest of the week. But if he starts on Sunday, he could remedy some of that. So that would definitely help. Nathan Avaldi resumed playing catch earlier this week, but still needs another 10 to 12 days before throwing off a mound. So I don't think he'll have enough time

to be back for the regular season, but I know the Rangers are right in that AL West, A.L. Wildcard mix. So if they do make, the playoffs, maybe Nathan Avaldi could be like a reliever option for them there. Roki Sasaki was officially placed in the IL Thursday

with a blister on his right middle finger. Willie Adamas got a second opinion on his elbow and is expected to miss three to four weeks, so not really expecting much from Adamas anymore this season. Both Eugenio Suarez and T.J. Friedel cleared

outright waivers. They will remain with the Reds and it sounds like it will be just on the Reds roster, again on Friday. My guess is Suarez will be in the lineup. I don't think Friedel was playing all that much for them anyway. Justin Robleski is expected to start a rehab assignment at AAA this weekend, and once he's ready, he will return to the Dodgers as a reliever. So don't think you need to hold on to Justin Robleski. Does the Rokie Sasaki injury change that at all? I know they're putting Lauer, Eric Lauer in the rotation for now, but I guess there's a possibility. I just don't know if there's

enough time for, not that Robleski has missed a butt. He hasn't missed that much time, but he probably needs to get a little bit stretched back out, right? I think they probably also needed to manage his inning anyway. Yeah, they did. Scott, when you were at that piece earlier, he was on that list, yeah. He was. Yeah. Follow-up imaging on Curtis Mead's fractured wrist came back

clean, and he started mobility, exercises, and strength work. It seems like he'll be able to make it back before the end of the season, assuming no setbacks. Again, now with the Red Sox, poor guy. I mean, his first game, he gets hit in the wrist and fractured it. Um, so Sounds like he could be back at some point in September.

And Bryce Eldridge rejoined the Giants after missing three games on the bereavement list. Some waiver wire options from Thursday's action. And I have two pitchers here, Noah Cameron. Shallow league name, he's already 76% rostered. But he did turn in another quality start. This one at the Blue Jays. Six innings, two runs, three strikeouts to two walks,

11 swinging strikes on 81 pitches. And he continues to emphasize non-foreseen fastballs, and I think that is a good recipe here for Noah Cameron. Over his last seven games, a 129 ERA, a 0.72 whip, and he gets the Marlins next week. So, I'm kind of interested in Noah Cameron. That's what CBS says. Oh, man.

I'm honestly, like, I probably need to put him in the Sleeper Pitchers article then. I thought he had already graduated from that. I thought he had gotten past the 80% roster ship threshold. I think he did. I think he did and then he must have got dropped. He got dropped for some reason because he's had the one-less fire in there. He was a two-star pitcher last week, right? Yeah.

That's probably why he got bumped up. But all he's been doing is. Still, with the kind of run he's been on, why one should just hold on to him. It's pitching well. Now, this is two starts in a row where he hasn't gotten many strikeouts. So that seems to be slowing down a little bit. And at the start of this run, his velocity was up. That seems to have leveled off too.

but he was good as a rookie last year and I think the approach he's taking now calling his own pitches much fewer for Seemers I think it's a winning approach for him I think he needs to be more than 80% rostered at this point I don't see him as somebody who's going to be a must start option long term I don't think Noah Cameron has that kind of upside

for as good as he's looked during the stretch. But I think he's most roster. A couple other... Marlins is a good matchup, obviously. A couple other pitchers that are in a similar roster range as Noah Cameron are Aaron Nola and Clay Holmes. I'm just trying to pull up Clay Holmes's matchup for next week. He also is a... So both Noah and Holmes are two-star pitchers.

Yeah. So Holmes is at Miami versus the Brewers. Aaron Ola is at the D-Backs and Home again. against the Braves. I'm assuming with the two starts, you would favor both Nola and Holmes over Noah Cameron? Well, since it's a good matchup

and a bad matchup for both, right? Yeah. I might favor Cameron in a categories league if I'm safeguarding ratios. If I'm just chasing, if I'm just chasing in the counting stats, then sure, the two-star pitchers. But if I'm having to safeguard ratios,

I might prefer Cameron. Obviously, in points leagues, prefer the two-star options. For what it's worth, the week after, week 25, he is slated to be a two-star pitcher. Noah Cameron. Yeah, Noah Cameron.

It would be versus Arizona at Boston. Kind of iffy matchups there, but... Yeah, Arizona's actually... I think that's a reason to hang on to him in a points league, too. Arizona's really good against lefties. They actually struggle against right-handed pitchers. So, yeah, not the best matchups, but I think in a points league for the volume for sure there with Noah Cameron.

The other name I have here is Hayden Wesnesty in a... How did I not realize this yesterday? Revenge Game. against the Yankees. Five plus innings, one run, six strikeouts to two walks, and he has allowed three earned runs or fewer in five of six starts. 386 ERA, 119 whip, not many strikeouts, but he's been okay, 39% rostered, and it looks like he lines up for two next week,

home for two against the White Sox and the D-backs. Chris, can I interest you at all in Hayden-Wesneski? At all is the right way to put it. At all? At all? Yeah, you can even. interest me at all in Hayden Wesneski, but not in

a 12-team Roto League. I don't think he's good enough for that. But in a points league, yeah, I think he's a perfectly fine two-star streamer. I don't think he's much more than that. But I think that's fine. I have West Nesky in

the points league only section of the two-star pitcher rankings this week, this upcoming week, so I agree. One thing that was interesting about West Nesky in this start, obviously a good one at the Yankees. The sweeper is his star pitch. It has a 160 batting average against in a 45% whiff rate.

And he didn't have it in this start. He threw it more than any other pitch, but it had two less inches of drop. It got zero whiffs on it. And he still turned in a good outcome. So I think that's a positive sign for Hayden West Neski. And I think he's on the fringes of rosterability. Yeah.

His change-up was actually really good in this start. He didn't throw it for enough strikes, but he did get a lot of chases on it, and four of the five swings he got four were whiffs. So an 80% whiff rate on that change-up. He got some really ugly swings against that pitch. And entering this start, both his sweeper and change-up had whiff rates above 40%.

So decently intriguing there for Hayden Wesneski if you're looking for a two-star pitcher for next week. some waiver wire hitters Vinnie Pee, baby Vinnie Pass Quantino is hitting well since returning from the IL 2 for 5 with a walk his ninth homer 3 RBI and 10 games since coming back

he's 13 for 38 3 homers 8 RBI 1 steal an OPS over 1100 He's all the way up to 81% rostered in CBS He is 68% roster on Yahoo I don't know is Vinny P back He only had like he's struck out in this game that was his first strikeout since coming back.

One strikeout in 44 plate appearances. So he's like doing everything right as a hitter right now. His average exit velocity since returning 93.6 miles per hour. That's up about four from his season average. His ground ball rate is down to 30%. He's hitting a lot of fly balls in the air. So right now, if any past Guantino is doing everything you would want him to do. And of course, he was a guy who hit more than 30 homers last year.

So I think we have to take it seriously. I can't say that anything fundamental has changed here. He might just be really hot, but we did just see him be more or less this version for a full season last year. So if you are in the position of needing first base help, I think he's, again, somebody to take seriously. Yeah, again, the position still remains loaded, but I did move him up to my 27th ranked first baseman,

that is ahead of names like Josh Bell, Kyle Stowers, Willie Castro, T.J. Rumfield, Alec Boehm. So if you're shopping in that area for a corner infielder, I would take Vinny P over all those. And one name I'm realizing now I have ahead of him, and I would probably make that swap is Christian Walker, who had a good game here on Thursday, but he really was only good in April.

And from May on, he's hitting 214 with the OPS below 700. So I would actually make that swap. Walker for for Vinnie P. I think that's fair. It's been a long, like he's, he's hit for some power still,

Christian Walker since April. But yeah, the 90 games prior to this one, he had hit 1.97. He was a sub 200 hitter. So it's, yeah, it's been,

he's back. He was back in April. And now he's back again. It's just, which is C-back too. He did the reverse of last year where he had a good second half and this year he had a good month to start

and that was it for Christian Walker. I do have two deeper names here. Kobe Mayo hit his 18th home run and in the second half 258 batting average, six homers 847 OPS. He plays against every leftie.

He has started against 15 of 25 righties in the second half. So, you know, about three, 50ths, 60% of the righties. Exactly. There you go. And they have those amazing matchups next week, the Orioles do.

So I wanted to mention Kobe Mayo and that mix as well. But somebody brought up a fair question to me. Blaise Alexander is close to returning. Just wondering if he can kind of mess things up for Encronosio and Treando and or Kobe Mayo here. What do you guys think about that?

He shouldn't. Yeah. He was playing pretty well before he got hurt. And he was playing a good. A good amount. But he's 27 and has never been anything more than a utility guy. So I, look, it's possible. I can't say no. I'm not managing the Orioles.

It's not like, well, and it's not like Kobe Mayo and Pete, or Christian and Carnassian Strand are so essential that they need to be in the lineup. So it's possible, Blaise Alexander comes back and screws that up. It's also like Kobe Mayo can only hit lefties. He is tied for the major league lead in home runs against lefties with 14 this season. Wow. He's tied with Matt Olson, which actually, that's cool for a lefty. Nice.

He is tied for 259th in homers against righties with four. He is really good against lefties and really bad against righties. But I shouldn't say the Orioles aren't playing for anything because almost every AL team is playing for something and nobody. actually wants it. They're like three games out of the wild card race. So they technically are playing for something. Like Kobe Mayo

is only 24. I don't. And obviously he was a much bigger prospect than Blaze Alexander ever was. So he's showing some signs of possibly breaking through here. I think it would

if I were running the Orioles, I'd want to nurture that as opposed to suppressing it. But I don't run the Orioles. Meanwhile, Christian and Carnacios Drand also had a huge game, and I think he's the biggest prize of all of these Orioles corner infielders.

Pretty similar case, though. He crushed his lefties. 650 OPS against Ritees and a thousand OPS against Latties. What helps for him is that there are seven games next week, three lefties on the schedule. There's also three games in Cores Field, and Cardassio's Duran has been playing a little bit more against Rides than even Mayo has.

I would put CES ahead of Mayo just for next. next week. Agreed. Yeah. I put him ahead of May of rest of season because they have, they have the same strength and weakness, but for an incarnation strand's case, the weakness is not quite as bad. And he seems to be getting preferred treatment in the lineup. And he's been a little better.

Yeah. All right. Let's take our final break. When we return, we've got league winners in September. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball today. we're taking a look at some players that could help us win the final month of the season. We'll call them league winners, but it's just players that have good schedules, that have good data,

guys that we think are going to have a good final month of the season. We've got some hitters. We've got some pitchers. Chris, why don't you kick us off with a hitter or two or three or four that you like in the final month? I'll just go with one. And it's Jordan Lawler, who I know people have probably grown sick and tired of hearing Jordan Lawler's name. He made his MLB debut four years ago, four seasons ago, I guess. He is still just turned 24, and he's been very good when he's been on the field this season. He's hitting

290. He has an 830 OPS in 20 games, only 20 games, but three homers, four steals. This is what we hoped he would be able to do when he finally got the opportunity. Injuries have been a real problem for him, but he's currently healthy. He's been productive since coming off the IL. It's a very small sample size, but he's playing. I think he started like six out of seven games as well. So I think it might be happening with Jordan Lawler. We've always been really excited about him. This is a career 907 OPS guy in the minors. You're talking about in the minors, it's like a 25 homer 50 stolen base pace per 150 games. he won't be that good, but I think he could be a 20-30 guy in the majors. I still think the ceiling is there for that.

And he's going to play a lot down the stretch. I'm pretty excited about Jordan Lawler, who is also eligible at the two weakest positions in fantasy, third base and outfield. So that helps too. So I got to bring this up. And I like Jordan Lawler. I wish this wasn't the case.

And hopefully it's just a short. term phenomenon. But so he's sat out he sat out again here on Thursday, right? He sat out three of the 10 games since returning.

My numbers weren't up to date, I guess. He sat out three of the 10 games since returning. It wasn't in the lineup for three. Maybe he came off the bench for some of those, but he was out of the lineup for three of the 10 games. The Diamondbacks have faced four right handers. In those 10 games.

So he has sat against three of the four right-handers. A diamond backs have faced since Jordan Lawler returned, which has me a little concerned they view him

as a semi-platoon player. Now, I brought up on the podcast yesterday that it may just be that because they've happened to face this high concentration of lefties, they feel like

Loller's getting enough playing time, and they could justify sitting them against some of the righties and over the long haul as the lefties spread out or they'll still want to give Lawler about the same amount of playing time. That could be. Or you could hit so well against the lefties that they decide they have to start it against the righties. That's a good point, yeah.

It is a real concern right now playing time. You can't take Max Kepler's bat at the line. I was just going to say the same thing. You know, like you just, when you've got three, dynamic, talented young outfielders, you have to keep Max Kepler and his 594 OPS out there. You have no choice. You could say the same thing about Lars Neupar.

He's hitting 218 with a 654 OPS. So I don't really get it, but it is a fair talking point. And for next week, the debacks have six games. There's only one lefty on the schedule. So that'll be the real test. Yeah, yeah. Next week for sure, that'll be a big one for Jordan Lawler. All right, Scott, over to you.

for a couple hitters you like here in September. So I got a head start on this exercise. 17 days ago, the article was published, where I looked at some hitters and pitchers that you could pick up and stash for the final six weeks. Of course, now we're down to the final four. So I mostly looked at this in terms of counting how many favorable hitter matchups remain,

how many series against weak pitching staffs remain for hitters. And Ty France stands out not just because he's hit well but because the Padres have they face the nationals, they face the Giants,

they face the Diamondbacks, they have a series at Coors Field and they have a series in Cincinnati remaining. The series of Cincinnati's this upcoming week and Thai France is among my sleeper hitters for this upcoming week. So he might be, as long as he remains unroastered enough, he might be just the rest of the way with as many favorable matchups as the Padres

are looking at. And of course, he's got OPS in the mid-800s overall. So plenty of reason to like Tyler France right now. The Yankees also have good matchups remaining. They face the Angels, among their eight series. They face the Angels, the Rockies, the Mets, the Twins, the Diamondbacks. So that's five good series in the eight. remaining. I think that's one reason you might want to stick with George Lombard.

Maybe you could put Spencer Jones in that category too, though I'm less confident in the playing time he'll get, and it might be matchup dependent. I have not spoken very highly of Tommy Edmund, and my doubts about him as a player at this stage of his career remain, and yet the matchups are really good for the Dodgers down the stretch. Among their eight remaining series, they get the Nationals, the Reds. The Reds again in Cincinnati, the Giants twice, both home and away. So those are some weak pitching staffs they're facing. Edmund's been hot recently. I think he's triple eligible, right? So a handy player to keep around. And then the Mariners. They get the athletics pitching staff twice, the Angels twice, and they have a series and

course field. So that should bode well for Dominic Canzon and Cole Young, neither of whom has performed all that well lately. And like it's worth prefacing this whole exercise. Obviously, we're in September.

The waiver wire's been picked over. These are all very flawed players I'm recommending. And like it's not me saying you have to start these guys down the stretch. But it's me saying, well, also, in September, players drop like flies.

Obviously, we've seen a lot of seizing injuries recently. And with only four weeks remaining, not many injuries last less than four weeks. So almost every injury from this point forward is going to be a season ender. So you may, there's a high chance you're going to need to plug one of these guys in. I agree 1,000% on the Mariners.

I think they could just go completely off the final month. They're hitters, that is. So obviously, if you have Mariners, hitters that are already, you know, way too rostered. I just think it could be a big month for J. Rod and Raleigh and Josh Naler and all those guys. But I do agree with Dom Kanzone, 72% rostered. They do have the two series against the A's. One of those also is in Sacramento.

So they have a series in Sacramento. They have a series in Coors Field. They get the Angels pitching staff for two series as well, and that's not a very good one. So I like the Mariners' bats a lot in September. Two others that I considered, they have good data, solid matchups the final month. You mentioned Spencer Jones. Last 30 days, 95.5 average EV, 25% barrel rate. And even the expected stats, 266XBA 56XLug, I'm just not sure if Aaron Judge returns.

It's not a guarantee still. But if he returns in mid-September, Spencer Jones could just get sent back down to the minors. Or he could be a fourth outfieler. So that very well could affect him. They're probably not going to bench Trent Grisham, right? They love Trank Grisham. He should not be playing center field. He's made, yeah, I know he's, yeah.

He's made some bad. He's got a really bad one yesterday. He's made some bad defensive plays. They probably should be playing Bellinger or Spencer Jones in center, but they love Trin Crisham. So I don't, I don't think that they would, they would bench him. The other name I wanted to mention was Tim Tawa, who is only 31% rostered, and last 30 days for him.

I've mentioned this a lot recently, but his date is great. 92.7 average EV 12% barrel rate, good expected stats. He's eligible all over the field like first, second, third outfield, I believe. And yeah, he's only 31% rostered. And the matchups are pretty good for Tim Tawa as well. Can I add one more? Yes.

You probably should mention him. Kael and Cole Pepper. He's only 37% rostered. He's been very good so far. He's been the underlying numbers are not quite as good, but still like 337X Woba. That's really solid. He's hitting the ball really hard.

There's a lot to like. It's a very fantasy-friendly skill set as well. So I think Kaelin Culpepper needs to be mentioned in this. I don't know what the schedule looks like. It looks a lot better now than when I did this 17 days ago because the Tigers pitching staff has gotten worse. He faces them twice. The White Sox pitching staff has gotten worse.

He faces them once. And then he gets the angels, the giants. Yeah. Yeah, it's not. It's not a bad schedule there for the twins. I just... Also benefits Walker Jenkins. I don't think...

I'm not necessarily saying Kaelin Culpepper's better than George Lombard or even as good as him, but the 40-point gap in their roster rate doesn't make any sense right now. I said just yesterday that I would rather have...

I think Cole Pepper has moved to the top of that shortstop trio rest of season, just based on what he's done and some of the underlying data there as well. Now, to be clear, you don't lose points for errors, so Lombard's not getting hurt.

that way. I had to get it. I had to get it in. Dude, what happened there? It's an extremely funny bit that he's turned into Anthony Volpey 2.0. His first, his first 10 games, he had like eight defensive runs saved and now he has an error in six

straight. Like, what is, that's just like, it's just funny. It just caught the yips over night. It was crazy. It's,

uh, you know the, the theory that like, evolution converges onto crab shaped bodies? You guys have heard Carsonid, Jason or something like that. You guys know this. Everyone knows this.

Carcinagin. I don't know what. I don't know how to pronounce it. All Yankee short stops converge on Anthony Volpey and eventually. Bring back D.D. Gregorius. That's what I say. Also the Rockies, I'll mention.

They have eight series left and five are at home. So if you're looking for some deep names, I mean, I guess Cole Carrick would play there. But even someone like, I don't know how many lefties there are, but, you know, Zach Veen against righties. And in a really deep league, Connor Norby's been playing and some of his data

looks pretty good too. So just throw those out there of some deeper names. Carsonization. Carcinization. All right. Any pictures that you guys like over the final month here?

I feel like NBC went through that for a while. I think there are two very obvious ones. Scott, you wanted to talk about Jacob Lopez, so I'll talk about Andrew Painter. Jacob Lopez, I think the case is much better because the track record of him succeeding at the major league level is longer. But Andrew Payner, what he's shown since he came back from AAA,

and especially in his most recent two starts, and really especially his most recent start, the fastball shape is back to where it was before his injury when he was the best pitching prospect in the world. And he has had to spend a lot of time this season working on the arsenal outside of the fastball. And now what if the fastball is back? to being even an average pitch.

Like if that can be, because it's been like a 10% whiff rate pitch for most of the season, if it can just be like an average four seamer around 19, 20% width rate, not get crushed, boy, the ceiling for Andrew Painter starts to get really interesting. And if it's a plus pitch, like it looked in his most recent start when he was averaging 18.8 inches of IVB at 97, 98 miles an hour, Andrew Painter could be a top 30 starting pitcher. the rest of the way. It's iffy. I would certainly wish that we had a bigger sample size of him looking like this because he's mostly looked really bad. But man, yeah, the upside could be really high for Andrew Panner. What we saw in his most recent start especially is for real.

And Scott, we all love Jacob Lopez and we fought beforehand, but you won the fight. So you get it. I won the fight because I have the matchups and that's the selling point. Maybe the biggest selling point beyond Jacob. Lopez. Frankly, we don't even need to go into matchups. He has probably the most under-roastered player, certainly the most under-roastered pitcher right now. Last seven starts, 233 ERA 103-109, 10.9K per 9. And we've seen this before from him. I understand his ERA 4, the season is still close to 5, but I think that was his evil twin who did most of that damage. And now we're see in the good version of Jacob Lopez. And then when you consider the matchups, there is really only one team with a stand-out

pitcher slate remaining. And it's the athletics. Among their eight remaining series, they get the Rangers. They get the Mariners twice. They get the Blue Jays. They get the guardians. They get the angels. So that's what, six really good series among their final eight?

I don't think any other team has like three. So that's another reason why Jacob Lopez is clearly the pitcher who needs to be added down the stretch. And I would say with that schedule remaining, J.T. Ginn is also worth holding on to, even though the strikeouts have slipped for him. And gauge jump. There's, there have been some extreme highs and some extreme lows, but hopefully it's going to be more high. looking at the series and the type of matchups

that remain for jump. Use them on the road. That's what I would say. At least for gauge jump. Those other guys you could probably just play anytime. But yeah, gauge jump on the road, I think, could work. A couple other teams that I noticed have really good schedules on the pitching side.

Toronto looks awesome. I can't really recommend anybody, but I mean, Dylan Cs could just go absolutely ham the final month of the season. And then the Tigers, Pirates, and Twins all stood out to me for good. schedules. But again, it's, there's no one that I really trusted there. It's like thinking maybe Bubba Chandler, the results have been better lately. He's not getting a lot of strikeouts, but

he's getting ground balls. He's limiting hard contact. He's looked okay. But the matchups look pretty good there for the pirates. So I think Bubba Chandler could potentially be useful here down the stretch. All right, let's wrap up here with some leftovers. Scott, I had four hitters having weird seasons. Christian Walker was one of them, so we got him out of the way. But the other three, Carter Jensen, one for two with three walks in his 18th home run. He is hitting 224. He said 18 home runs, but 720 OPS, 29% strikeout rate. Like, hits the ball hard, but, you know, the expected stats look pretty bad there for Carter Jensen.

So I just wanted to see how you feel about him overall. I'll mention the other two as well. Jack Caglione, just a monster game here. Five for six, 23rd home run, six RBI. He did hit the homer off of a position player, but home runs, a home run. His OPS by month, 7.51, 638, 1036, 615, 1155. Just kind of weird for Caglio. Who's had a very good season, but it's just, it's been all over the place.

And you can see the same thing for Jackson Trio, who went four for five, two socks in a shoe, two homers, a stolen base. He's up to 19 homers, 14 steals. But yeah, his OPS by month, 721. 1013, 588, 943. So three very different players, Scott, but any thoughts here on Churio, Cags, and Carter Jensen? Man, I'd be so disappointed if I found two socks in a shoe that would, like, ruin my whole afternoon.

Carter Jensen has been a disappointment this year. I was high on him coming in 32 games prior to this when he hit 153. I don't think there's any reason to bother with him outside of him. two catcher leagues. Caglione, okay, some months have been awesome, some have been bad, but the overall stat line looks pretty awesome. 282 batting average 23 homers, 832 OPS, and it certainly feels like he's trending up now

since his August has been monstrous. I'm going to make a bold prediction and say he has the consecutive big month here in September and reaches 30 home runs and heading into next year, we'll all think of Jack Caggleone as at least a top 25 outfielder, maybe even higher than that in Roto.

Yeah, I was going to say top 100 pick, right? Could be. That doesn't sound far-fetched for a top 25 outfield. Yeah, I think, well, because maybe the hype pushes him up there, you know, because he's still only 23, the upside. I mean, he's going to end up with probably 30 homers and almost 10 steals, right? He's at like 6 or 7?

Yeah, six steals. He's having a really good season. It's been a weird season, but I think... He kind of lived up to the preseason night. Yeah, no, I think... In a roundabout way. The breakout has... He'll end up there, I think.

So I think you're feeling pretty good about Jack Haglione moving forward. Carter Jensen, diving into the numbers, it's hard to come up with a good explanation for why things have been so bad for him. Like there's a lot of swing and miss in his game, but it doesn't look like it should be a 29% whiff rate. Because he doesn't chase. His in-zone contact rate is about average,

81% versus 82.7 for the league as a whole. I don't quite know what's going on there. I know when I looked into his numbers entering the season, There was a lot of like passive versus patient issues there where he didn't swing enough at pitches in the zone. But he's right around average there. I don't really understand why things have gone so wrong for Carter Jensen in a way that acknowledging that they have gone wrong and that that is real and matters. I think I'm going to, I think there's still some sleeper potential here. Oh, I think there definitely is too.

I know he's been bad, but I think he's still someone to keep in mind for your late round second catcher next season. Yeah, I haven't given up on it from a long-term perspective. I just, and I don't, at the risk of under-complicating it, I just chalk it up to growing pains. Sure, yeah. For a talented hitter. 23 years old, yeah. Yeah. That's for Churio.

23-year-old rookie. We didn't talk about Churio, but I just think he's having a full-on breakout. I know it's been up and down across the year, but. But you have to remember, he missed the first 40 games or so with a broken hand, probably 45 or 50. So he's only played 99 games, but his full season pace is 30 homers, 20 steals. He's hitting 283. The underlying numbers are excellent. His average exit velocity is up two miles per hour from last season.

It's career high. I think he's a borderline first round pick next year. And he's only 20. I think he just turned 22 earlier this season in May. been a borderline first round pick every year. But I think he's... The broken handmaid bone this spring kind of knocked him out of that this year,

but he's already a border. I think for the first time he's... Because it requires some projecting. I think it required some projecting to justify it. I think this is the first time that it's... You can just draft Jackson Turo as a top 15 player and not have to say,

well, he has to get better to justify it. I think, you know, his pace is something like 30 homers, 20 steals, 100 runs. It's only like 80 RBI, but it's still really good for a 22-year-old who may still get better. But he doesn't have to get better to justify it anymore. Do I have that timeline wrong, Churio? It was a broken hamate bone, right? I don't know if it was a hamate or just a hand, but it was...

We literally found out like the day, like opening day. Okay. So he wasn't a borderline. I remembered it being a world baseball classic injury. He was playing through it, but it was kind of cryptic, and like he was in the lineup and out. And then like we found out either on opening day or the day before, like boom, out of nowhere, they just put them on the aisle. Yeah, he was opening day. He got surgery.

So there you go. Yep. All right. Some pitching leftovers here. Garrett Cole turned in a quality start against the Astros, six innings, three runs, five strikeouts, 11 whiffs on 79 pitches. The two-run homer that he gave up in this start traveled 369 feet and would have been a homer in one out of 30 ballparks.

That was Yankee Stadium. So unfortunately there for Garikol and Trevor Rogers had a rough outing here at the Cardinals. Six earned runs over five innings, seven strikeouts to one walk. I kind of think it was a tough luck loss here for Trevor Rogers. Hard to say with six earned runs, but he gave up four hard hits total

and two of them were homers. Like, I don't know. It feels like he deserved better. But 72% started at the Rockies home against the Red Sox next week. What do you guys think about using Rogers there? The matchup's not so hot. I wouldn't want to.

Let's see here. Where did I put him into two-start? His previous 14 starts before this one, 257 ERA 105 whip. But that's the thing. Like, he had been so reliable for so long. He felt match-up proof. He just had a bad start. Now it's two bad matchups coming up.

I still have him in the advisable in most cases section of the two-star pitcher rankings, but I do have him behind Aaron Nola and Clay Holmes who are available in about a quarter of CBS League. I would really try to avoid it in a

roto league. If you're not worried about your ratios, then who cares, but there's real ratio risk there. I mean, there's always ratio risk with him. His margin for error is just super slim. That's ultimately my takeaway from the last two years of Trevor Rogers is that the difference between the good and bad versions of him is very slim. I think in this one he threw the change up less and the sweeper more.

I don't know if that really matters all that much. He just has to execute because his stuff's not very good. And so when he's executing, he's really good. And when he doesn't, he gets crushed. And what's crazy is as good as those previous fours, 14 starts were, he still has a 438 ERA and a 125 whip on the season, which is not great. I think you look at something like his 386 XERA entering the start. That's kind of what I expect from Trevor Rogers.

All right, the call to the bullpen, there was just one call, and that was to the Cardinals. Riley O'Brien got the ninth with a two-run lead, and he picked up his 34th save of the season. To stream or not to stream on Friday, we have Patrick Sandoval, the Yankees. Rhett Louder is at the Cubs. David Peterson is home against the Reds. Christian Scott against the Astros. Grant Holmes gets the Rockies in Atlanta.

Cody Bradford is at the Brewers. Luis Castillo at the Twins. Dean Kramer home against the White Sox. Jared Jones at the Cardinals. Quinn Matthews home against the Pirates. Andrew Painter is at the Angels. And then Brandon Young at the athletics. Ooh.

Well, Andrew Painter is an easy call. And that's the only easy call. Yeah, I think Grant Holmes is okay. I mean, he almost never goes more than five innings. But they should be good five innings against the Rockies in Atlanta. I think I said Christian Scott yesterday when forced to pick a third against the Astros. I think I might take David Peterson against the Reds over. Oh, yeah, I did say him.

Yeah, I did say him. Yeah, that's okay. He's actually been a lot better with the Cubs getting a lot of ground balls again. Yeah. And that's a good matchup. Christian Scott actually has really good underlying data. I looked into him as a potential league winner for September, but the matchups were not very good.

So I kind of moved off of that. But his K-to-Walk stuff and his XERA is actually really good for Christian Scott. But the Astro is kind of a tough match. I would take Peterson over him on Friday. Also just rarely goes more than five innings. Correct. On Saturday, Bailey Ober is home against the White Sox. Andrew Abbott is at the Cubs.

Walker Bueller at the raise. Martine Perez gets the Rockies in Atlanta. Cal Quantrell's at the Brewer. Shane Drohan, Home against the Rangers. Shane Boz at the athletics. And Merrill Kelly is at the Giants. Boy, this is

worse than Friday somehow. Shane Drone, maybe Shane Boz, I hate trusting him in Sacramento. Martine Perez, I think. Yeah, I don't have much faith in Martine Perez or Merrill Kelly, but I wouldn't be surprised

if they had good matchups. Robert Gasser against the Rangers, I think, could go okay. That's on Sunday, Scott. Oh, sorry. I jumped ahead. I'm sorry. That's all good. I like what Calquantrol is doing, but at the Brewers, I don't really love that.

So, yeah, I would lean Drow in, Baz, and probably Martin Perez on Saturday. On Sunday, we have Will Warren against the Red Sox, Andrew Alvarez, against the Marlins. Tyler Malley gets the Rockies in Atlanta. Max Scherzer against the Marrador. Senators, Seth Lugo at the Guardians, Zebby Matthews, home against the White Sox, Kumar Rocker at the Brewers, Robert Gasser against the Rangers,

Liberator against the Pirates, Zach Thornton, home against the Astros and Chris Bassett at the Athletics. Revenge game. Tyler Mallet's the easy one against the Rockies. Wouldn't be surprised with Seth Lugo

was good, wouldn't be surprised for Robert Gasser was good. I think I'd be surprised with the rest. Chris Bassett did some interesting things in his last start. His Velo was up a lot in that one. Sacramento is a tough place to pitch, but he seemed pretty satisfied with where he was

after that start, and obviously he's not far removed from being a bankable fantasy option. So I'm not saying I want to start on Sunday, but I am saying I'm intrigued, and if you're the person who streams like crazy, then I think best that somebody you have to consider.

Fortune favors the brave. or the bold. Picks for Sunday would be Bassett and Max Scherzer. Bassett with the interesting things, but tough matchup. Shurzer, good matchup, but he's, you know, like 48 years old and not very good anymore. I think the athletics are a really favorable matchup right now, to be clear. It's just a, it's a tough venue. Yeah, it's, you know, their lineup kind of stinks right now. Yeah, that line is very bad right now. Coorsfield light, but yeah, I get what you're saying. All right, we're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I and Frank, thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today.

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