Fantasy Baseball Today - WAY TOO EARLY 2026 Bold Predictions! (9/1 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

Chris and Scott start things off with the not-so-bold predictions before things get spicy (4:15)! ... Now for the bold predictions, beginning with Noelvi Marte (11:09). ... The Marlins will have a top-five rotation (15:00)! ... Ozzie Albies will bounce back to be a top-three second baseman (18:40). ... Konnor Griffin will make the Pirates' Opening Day roster (21:50)! ... Brice Turang will hit 25 homers in 2026 (24:00). ... The Orioles and Braves will both be playoff teams (27:54). ... Jakob Marsee will have more combined home runs and steals than Jarren Duran (36:30). ... Chase Burns will be a top-12 starting pitcher (40:11). ... Matthew Boyd, Andrew Abbott and Colson Montgomery will be overvalued (42:12). ... There will be a bunch of awesome catchers (48:16). ... Wyatt Langford will be a top-12 outfielder (53:00). ... Jacob Lopez outperforms Joe Ryan (54:30). ... Jurickson Profar will finish as a Top-24 outfielder (56:56). ... The guys wrap up with some more rapid-fire bold predictions (58:55). 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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hello and welcome to Fantasy Baseball today. I am Chris Towers here with Scott White, and it is Labor Day. And we are here with a little pre-recorded, evergreen fantasy baseball.

today. And if you've been listening to the pod lately, you know, we've been throwing in some 2026 kind of discussions. And that's all today is going to be about. We're getting ahead of ourselves. We've got a month left in the baseball season. And Scott and I are going to give some bold predictions for the 2026 fantasy baseball season. And Scott, you usually have a piece in early September, mid-September, talking about this. So we're going to, we're going to bring that all together. We've done some brainstorming. And I want to start with some examples of not so bold predictions, just to calibrate.

I want you to just let's make sure that these, I didn't put them on my bold predictions list. So I want to make sure that these are properly not bold. Okay. I, I am a little bit concerned about getting into a conversation about is this. predictions sufficiently bold because things got a little heated when we did that in the preseason and it's kind of not the point but the idea is it's this is not the likeliest scenario no this is not the likeliest scenario and i'm not even necessarily don't hold it against us it's it's just kind of us throwing hunches out there yeah and rationally yeah hoping like we have hopes that this could happen. In our minds, these hopes are realistic. They're plausible, but they may not be the likelyest scenario. And so I'll start off with some not bold predictions. Number one,

Sandy Alcantra, Spencer Strider, Blake Snell, and Dylan Deese will probably be among my most drafted pitchers next season, which is just to say, by the dip. By the dip. I'm glad to hear you say that on Strider, because it seems like there's been a lot of negative strider sentiment on the show. I mean, look, it's got to be like outside of the top 100 or that range for me to really consider it. But I don't think it's likely that he's completely broken. I think getting a whole normal offseason should help. I was really encouraged by his last start and the fact that he were, I think it was called Maven was the facility he worked with in Atlanta. When they skipped him for that one turn, he came back and his fastball had better shape.

It had better shape, and that's the biggest thing Strider needs to regain in order to return to being a high-end or, yeah, high-end. I'll say high-end fantasy option. Another not-so-bolded prediction. I will not. Wait, can you say those pitchers again? Sandy Alcounter, Spencer Strider, Blake Snell, and Dylan Cese. Okay. Okay.

Four pitches, I will. Snell might be pretty expensive. That's always the question. Like, does he do it again? like sub 1 ERA in September and everyone's like, well, Blake Snell's got to be a top 10 pitcher again. We'll just forget how frustrating the experience of actually having Blake Snell on your team is. That's the one I was least certain about, but I'm going to stick him in there for now. Okay.

We'll see. I will not be drafting Kodi Senga, Lucas G. Alito, Brian Bayo, or Gavin Williams, which is just four pitchers who success this year, I have no faith in being real. and I don't think any of those four are actually very good. Gavin Williams is the one that he's certainly super talented. And so he could make some changes to his approach that could make me rethink that. But for now, those four looking like I'm not going to draft them. Could I say, I mean, the way things are going right now, nobody might draft him next year.

Nick Kurtz will probably be a mild disappointment. That's not bold. That's not bold. I'm sure I think you have a Nick Kurtz-centric bold prediction coming. I'll just throw it out there. We're probably going to have between the two of us close to 40 bold predictions. I don't know. It depends how long we talk about them.

We might have to go rapid fire at the end. But my contrasting bold prediction to yours is Nick Kurtz will be the number one first baseman in fantasy, which maybe bolder would be to say he'll be the number one first baseman. been drafted in fantasy, which I think is in the realm of possibility. I think that's just where it's going to be. You think it's going to be there? I think unless he just like. And round two, late round two.

Yeah. Unless he strikes out like 40% of the time in September, I think we're rapidly heading towards a round two, Nick Kurtz. The only, yeah, I guess the only hesitation there is that Vladimir Guerrero's had a pretty great second half and obviously has the track record and the name value. and so maybe he gets the edge over Kurtz. But I'm wanting to rank Kurtz number one next year. So yes, and as long as September, his September justifies that, I think he'll be there for me.

I'm leaning towards him being the number one first baseman for me as well. I was pretty skeptical of that around the All-Star break, but his strikeout rates down to like 20% in August. He's continued to rake. He just looks really, really good. And then, one more and so. disappointment like what are you thinking all right you know like the matt olson seasons after everybody gets super excited about matt olson which has happened a couple times in his career where he's like still good it's like 36 home runs and a 250 batting average and everyone's like yeah he was great but it

wasn't what we thought he would be that that's i i think that where he's like the number four first basement a mild disappointment because i think people are going to look at it nick kurtz is probably going to end up with 30 plus homers in about 120 games and people are going to look at look at that and say that's a 45 homer guy for sure next year maybe a 50 homer guy and he could be like he's got a great ballpark he's a tremendously skilled player but it is a situation where like hitting 40 plus home runs is really hard sure if he's a 35 homer guy next season who hits 250 that's a really good season and is probably disappointing i'm not saying that's the most likely outcome he's showing a lot of growth with the hit tool especially as the season's gone on yes yes that that's the thing like

I think the batting average for Kurtz is going to be more forgiving than it is for Olson. It could be. The home ballpark helps. And then one more not so bold prediction. I'm going to have no idea where to rank Herald or Pardomo. Just I have no idea what to do with that guy at all. It's, you know, we were talking on Thursday's podcast about Brian Wu's 25 straight starts of six plus innings, being really unexpected or Dalton Varsho turning into a legitimate power hitter,

Geraldo Proto's breakout and the fact that the underlying numbers completely back it up, I don't really know what to do with that because I did not think this was within the realm of possibility for him as a hitter. And I've maintained my skepticism. It looked like that skepticism wasn't a bad idea around July and he's come roaring right back in August. And I believe he's a top like 15 hitter in both points and Roto this. He's batting 365 in the second half as of the recording of this.

It's pretty good. Yeah. No idea what to do with that information. He has, did you mention he's been the number one shortstop in head-to-head points leagues this year? Number one. He's top 10 or top 15 in both formats overall, I think. Yeah.

At that loaded position. Yeah. It's boggress. It's amazing. It's like, I think I'll have a hard time getting him in the. top 12, and I don't mean that as a slight to him. It's just there are so many short stops that I have the utmost confidence in, who have huge upside as well.

And so he's just going to kind of get pushed out for me, Perdomo. All right. Let's get your first true, bold prediction before we hit our first break. All right. I mean, I guess you gave the Nick Kurt's one, but... Start it off. I want a nice spicy one. Okay, how's that?

Hit us with the cayenne. Noel V. Marte. Ooh. Has more head-to-head points than Ellie de la Cruz. Interesting. Okay. Okay. Now, notice, I didn't say he's better than Ellie De La Cruz in fantasy outright.

I specified the format. You got Noel V. Marte, a low strikeout guy. Ellie de la Cruz is a high strikeout guy, but still, the amount of steals volume Ellie de la Cruz gets and two points per steel leagues adds up to a ton of fantasy points in addition to the power and everything else. But I think, this is my way of saying, like, I think Noel de Marte is a stud in his own right. And in the right format, I could see him at least hanging with those first round types in terms of overall production. I think the batting average is probably going to be better than Ellie De La Cruz. It's the growth. Pretty confidently, I could say that, actually.

It's the growth in strikeout rate that's been really outstanding for him. Well, I guess he's kind of just doing what he did as a rookie, actually. Right, right. I guess I had forgotten you was a 20% strikeout rate guy. The second season with the PED suspension was the outlier for Noel V. Marte. Throughout his minor league career, he maintained low strikeout rates. But I think the power's legit. He's a factor in stolen bases as well.

I just think there's huge upside here. And that's another one where I'm trying to imagine how high we draft him next year. It'll largely depend on how September goes, I think. I'm almost rooting for him to have kind of a lackluster September because then Noel V Marte will be more affordable and I can have more shares. Because I think, I'm convinced. He's the real deal. He is going to be third base and outfield eligible next season, right? Yeah, 30 in the outfield, 38 in the infield.

So, yeah. Okay. That'll be a nice little bonus as well because third base is not looking great for 2026 as things stand. And with that, we are going to take our first break of the show. We'll be right back. All right. Welcome back to fantasy baseball today. I am Chris Towers here with Scott White, and we are talking way too early bold predictions for the 2026 season.

And allow me a Homer bold prediction to start mine off in earnest. We've been burned by this team's pitching staffs like three of the past four seasons, I think. But the Marlins will have a top five rotation in 2026, led of course by Yuri Perez, Sandy Alcantra. Edward Cabrera because they're not going to trade Edward Cabrera or Sandy Alcantra this offseason. They're going to make an earnest effort to start competing. That is part of the bold prediction. There are several, it's like a Russian nesting doll of bold predictions in here. So I'm going to start with Yuri Perez.

You didn't even mention Robbie Snelling. I think Robbie Snelling would be a big part of it. I'm going to get to it. That's one of the little guys inside of the nesting doll. But we're going to start with Yuri Perez takes the leap to being a top 12 starting pitcher. I pointed this out on the podcast the other day, I believe, but as exciting as like Jonah Tong is, right? He's super exciting. We're very excited to see him.

He is two months younger than Yuri Perez. Yuri Perez made his major league debut 27 months before Jonah Tong did. And I've pointed this out many times. starting pitchers who make their debut at age 20 and accumulate at least 80 innings, I'll just go through the list. Jose Fernandez, Felix Hernandez, Cecey Sabathia, Jeremy Bonderman, all right. Yuri Perez, Zach Grinke, Clayton Kirschaw, Oliver Perez, Rick Porcelo, Madison Bumgarner, and Jordan Liles. All right, Jordan Liles and Jeremy Bonderman, they stick out like sore thumbs.

They're the outliers. Those were two really bad teams that called pitchers up way earlier than they knew. needed to. Everyone else on that list had at least one season as a top 12 starting pitcher. Now, Oliver Perez and Rick Porcelo, I think it was just one in both instances, but they got there. The track record for guys who are this good, this young at the Major League level is really strong. And eventually, Yuri Perez is going to be a top 12 starting pitcher. I think he's going to do it next year. He's got some things working against him.

His feel for his secondaries hasn't been great coming back from Tommy John surgery. gives up a lot of fly balls. But it's a good home park. The stuff is great. I think the curve ball especially will be better next season. And I'm very excited about him. I'm also going to say Sandy Alcounter and Edward Cabrera, top 24 starting pitchers. And yeah, let's go ahead and say two of Ryan Weathers, Robbie Snelling.

And here's the name. I don't think we've said on the pod, maybe not in a long time, maybe since he was drafted. But Thomas White, who's just got huge stuff having a very nice season. I think he's gotten to AA. Does he have a sub 2 ERA at AA this season, I think? He's been very good. I think so. We did highlight him, Frank and I did, on Fantasy Baseball Today Express episode two weeks ago.

Yeah, Thomas White is, I think, in the discussion for best pitching prospect remaining. I could put a handful of pitchers in that discussion, but he's in it. And Robbie Snelling has had a real bounceback season this year up to AAA now. He's been dominant at AA. So lots to like here. Max Meyer, Noble Meyer, Carson Milbrand, Brackson Garrett. This is another situation where the Marlins could have some depth next season, although attrition will obviously take its toll,

but I think things are setting up very nicely for the Marlins in 2026 to be a very, very good pitching team. Famous last words. Scott, why don't you hit us with another bold prediction? The Braves, like my fandom of them and how, effective, I think, players are in fantasy. I think I'm, I've always shown over the years that I can compartmentalize that, but because the Braves have so many oddities and like,

they're the team maybe with the most storylines this year. Do you think that's fair to say? Sure. Things that went askew for one reason or another. So I think they're the team that lends itself best to a bold prediction segment like this. So I have a lot of Braves related. ones. And I'll go with this one, which I teased on a Thursday show. Ozzie Allbee's bounces back as a top three second basement. Top three second basement. You were asking me

on Thursday, top 12 next year? Well, I'm going to say top three here. At least the boldest version of myself is going to say that. I've been encouraged by the way his second half is gone. I have pointed out before that when you dig into the numbers, one of the things that stands out most is his lefty-righty splits and being a switch hitter. He's always been just kind of average from the left side and really makes up for it from the right side. He crushes lefties. And that hasn't been the case this year. He's been normal from the right side, basically, or from the left side.

And much, much worse from the left side. Did you say that backwards? It's very possible. It gets confusing because he bats. Yeah. It's facing lefties from the right side, facing righties from the left side. The less predominant side,

he normally kills it and he hasn't this year. He's been terrible. And that happens with switch hitters sometimes because you kind of have to do double the preparation, right, of a normal hitter. And that's why I've said before, I think switch hitting is overrated and maybe not so many hitters should do it.

But in any case, I find that encouraging because our theory for Ozzy Albiz prior to me noticing that was that just the environment, it's a more, it's, it's, the ball hasn't traveled as well in 2025 as it has for most of Ozzie Albiz career. And because he's on the margins there in terms of how hard he impacts the ball, maybe it just crushed him. I don't think that's necessarily the case. I think he's had some issues from the right side that he. can fix. He has agency over it. He can do something about it. He's certainly young enough. He's still in his 20s. He's got a great track record, got a great pedigree. It was a big prospect from the time he was 17 years old. I think he's going to figure it out. And there's always a chance that the ball does carry better last year because there hasn't been a lot of consistency with that

over the years. So second base being a weak position with few true standouts, I think Ozzy Albiz could absolutely get back to being one. All right. I'm going to go with this as a bold prediction, and it might be too bold, but that's okay. Connor Griffin makes the Pirates opening day roster in 2026. They have not been very aggressive about promoting their prospects. We've spent a lot of time talking about that with Bubba Chandler for about the past five months. and the vibes are absolutely rancid in Pittsburgh around this team.

I want to say Bob Nutting has been spotted at PNC Park twice and he was getting mercilessly booed in both situations. This is a team that seemed like they were set to take a big step forward in 2025 and they absolutely did not, mostly because they didn't try. I think they have to go for it. You're entering the final cheap season of Paul Skeen's, career. You're going to have Bubba Chandler. Jared Jones will be available at some point. I think the pirates absolutely have to go for it. They've got to pull out all the stops.

And look, maybe Connor Griffin debuts before his 20th birthday is too bold because he doesn't turn 20 until next April. Right. As a 19 year old, that's. But he has been arguably the biggest riser in prospect circles this season. He's had an absolutely dominant season. He's up to AA as a 19 year old. He's only played eight games there, but already has five steals at AA. He's, Connor Griffin for the season is hitting 3.30 with a 924 OPS, 64 stolen bases, and 16 home runs as a 19 year old across three levels. This is arguably the best prospect in baseball. And if it's not on opening day, I don't think we wait as long to see Connor Griffin in 2026 as we did for Bubba Chandler certainly,

but maybe not even Paul Schemes. I think we see Connor Griffin very, very early because the pirates have to show that they're trying. And I think the best way they can do that is give Connor Griffin an honest shot in spring training. Start him off at AA, and if he gets off to a good start, I think we see him very, very quickly next season. So that is my bold prediction.

Spicy, I hadn't thought of it. Probably not going to happen, but I like it. Let's see. here. I'm going to go with another second base one. Bryce Terang hits 25 home runs. Okay. Now, he's up to, as of this recording,

I think, 14. And 15 now. 15, actually. Wow. Maybe by the time you're hearing this, it'll be 17. And you'll be like, that's not a bold prediction. But, yeah, of those 15, nine have come in August. And it just seems like

this is a leap he's made. The biggest change is that his exit velocities have exploded this year. He was 85.5 average exit velocity's rookie, very, very in the blue. 87.0, as a sophomore,

still very bad. 90.7.7. this year. And the max exit velocity has risen correspondingly. So, like, this has kind of been bubbling under the surface for Bryce Terang. What's changed here in August that has allowed his home run production to take off is much, much better pull air rate. And, you know, that's the sort of thing that can go up or down, too, over the course of the season. So it's not like who he is in August is exactly who's going to be going forward.

But this is something, this is like a known thing. among hitters, hitting coaches. This is part of the process of making hitters better, is that elevating the ball in the air more to take advantage of their exit velocities. So I don't think it's just happenstance. I think this is something Tereng has been working on. And that's absolutely true because one thing I noticed very early on in the season was that his swing speed was way up.

His swing speed was 66.2 miles per hour last season. It's 70.3% this season. His fast swing rate, which is swings above 75 miles per hour, has quintupled basically this season. And that was evident very early on, even though the production didn't show it. He was, he's changed his batting stance. He's brought his feet closer together. He has opened his stance. That all suggests to me a guy who is trying to open up, hit the ball, the pull side more, and swing the bat harder.

And that's exactly what we've seen. And now it's bearing fruit here in the second half. And so if you imagine Bryce Terang as a guy who can hit 20 or as I'm saying, 25 home runs, this was someone who stole 50 bases in 2024. Is a 25 homer 40 steel season in the range of outcomes for Bryce Durang? Probably with a pretty good batting average, by the way. He's back up to 287 now, yeah. So how high end are we talking? Obviously, I'm laying out the best case scenario, but I think.

think it's a plausible scenario for Terrang. I said Ozzy Albi's top three second basement next year. The other two might be Cotel Marte and Bryce Durang. Well, you know who the number one second baseman this season is, right? It is, I do know this. In Rodo, at least, according to the Fangraphs auction calculator, it is Bryce Terang. Is it? Yeah.

Okay, I didn't know it. I think Mikel Garcia is tops and points. That would make sense. His plate discipline is very good. And Terang was top five last season. I think we might have all had him as a bust coming into the season. And in some ways, we weren't wrong because he has not replicated the 50 steel season and will not come close. He's only got 20.

He's not a bust. He's clearly not a fun. But yeah, we got that one wrong. He's a much better hitter than any of us gave him credit for. Did not see this power growth coming at all. Not at all. All right. My next bold prediction is the Orioles will be a playoff team in 2026, led by top 12 catcher adly rutchman and top 24 starting pitcher Kyle Bradish all right that's say that again

the Orioles will be a playoff team again in 2026 led by top 24 starting pitcher calbranish and top 12 catcher adly rochman which one did I steal the the full team one okay so I'll let you get into that first and then I'll give my my sister prediction I guess it's just it's like everything that could have gone wrong for the Orioles has gone wrong, right? Like, uh, Grayson Rodriguez was supposed to be the ace. He hasn't, he's not going to throw a single pitch this season.

Uh, like really, Trevor Rogers. And I don't know. Has anyone had, I guess Ramon Luriano and Ryan O'Hern before they traded them, has anybody had a season where they even lived up expectations for the Orioles.

Trevor Rogers, okay. Jordan Westberg, I mean, the injuries have been really annoying, but if not for the injuries, he would have hit 275. He's on a 30 homer pace, 100 runs, 70 RBI. I think it's fine to say Jordan Westberg, if he was healthy, would have lived up to expectations. I think every single other player on this team has been a disappointment.

Brian Barker, who they traded away? It's kind of like the Braves last season. and I would have pounded the table that the Braves were going to make the playoffs this year and obviously that didn't work out. So there's no guarantees here, but this team is still, their core is so young.

They have had multiple core players put together MVP caliber seasons before. I still think there's talent in the pitching system. I think Samuel Bessayo is going to be an impact player for 2026, no matter where he's playing. I think we get an Adley-Rutchman bounce back, like I said. I just can't believe that Adley-Rutchman's just done as an impact player at 27. I think Gunner Henderson has a better season.

I think they do go out and trade for some pitching. They've still got a couple of top prospects who've got some intrigue, especially in the outfield. So I just think there are many more ways for things to go right for the Orioles in 2026 than to go wrong. And I think Kyle Braddish is a legitimate ace when he's on the mount. So I said Brian Barker.

It's actually Brian Baker was the good reliever. They traded away. So I messed up my own smart alecky response. It serves me right. Okay. So my bold prediction that goes along with this one

is the Orioles and Braves both reach the postseason. I think everyone will agree. These are the two most disappointing teams this year. The three of us, Frank and the two of us, we all actually left the Orioles out when we were predicting. So we kind of saw this coming to some degree. I don't think any of us expected to be this bad.

Yeah. For me, it was almost. We all had the Braves in the post. I think you had the Braves winning the World Series. I think I had them winning the World Series. Yeah. So to follow up on what you were saying about the Orioles, I still think the offense is loaded.

There's still a ton of offensive talent there. We got the worst case scenario for some of them. Some of them are still coming up like Passayo. And I imagine Jackson Holiday takes a step forward next year. I think we might see Enrique Bradfield on the opening day roster if he has a good spring. For however much good, that'll do, yes. But really, it's the pitching staff. It looked abysmal coming into the year.

And it has been abysmal. but Kyle Braddish returning, Trevor Rogers breaking through. Hopefully, Grayson Rodriguez will be healthy next year. And I imagine they're going to be one of the teams in on Dylan Sees or Framber Valdez or both. Say Ocantor or Edward Cabrere if they get traded, although they're not going to be. The upside of having all these young hitters is you have a lot of money to work with. And they haven't fully capitalized on that yet. I think this humbling experience will cause the Orioles to do that this offseason.

And then as for the Braves, it's another situation where everything that could have gone wrong went wrong, especially offensively. And we're already seeing the turnaround here in the second half. They are averaging 5.5 runs per game as compared to 4.1 in the first half. And that takes you from the bottom third of the league to like the best offense in baseball. And a lot of it is just, okay, Michael Harris is back to looking like himself. Jerks and ProFar is back from the PED suspension and better than ever. Ozzy Albies showing signs of life again. So they had, for the first half, they had four black holes in their lineup.

Those three and Nick Allen, the shortstop, kind of the known black hole in the lineup. And when you have that many automatic outs, it doesn't matter how good all the hitters are. You just can't get any offense going. So just replacing those automatic outs with competent bats, which just happened naturally through progression, through I guess maybe regression would be the better word. It's made a huge difference.

And I don't think they're going to just accept having that one automatic out at Nick Allen. I think it's been a humbling experience for them too. And they're going to make a push for a shortstop who can actually hit, whether it's Bo Bichette, free agency. I've said all along, and this is kind of flown under the radar, I think. But they were famously inactive this past off season, basically just brought in pro far. And a lot of people were scratching their heads over it. It was to stay under the luxury tax threshold so that they could reset the penalties and have much more money to work with next year.

So I think they're going to go hard and free agency, bring in Bichet. Maybe they'll be going after one of the. those starting pitchers too. But, you know, in the first half, they had great pitching, bad hitting. Now they have great hitting. But, you know, Strider's still coming back. Schwellenbach's hurt. Sales been hurt.

You know, they're going to get those guys healthy again, maybe bring in another pitcher. And I think they're going to be great next year. And I think the Orioles are going to be very good, too. All right. Let's take one more break. And we're right back. And we are back on FBT talking way too early 2026 bold predictions. And Scott, well, let's get.

another one from you. Another one for me. I teased this one, so I better put it out there. Jacob Marcy has more combined home runs and stolen bases than Jaron Duran. That's, you know, as soon as you start, like literally as soon as you said more home runs and RBI or more stolen bases and home runs, I thought you were going to say Jaron Duran. And it's, it's an interesting comp. Yeah. You know, both sort of not really huge prospects, a little bit of a late bloomer thing. I think Jared Duran was a little older when he finally established himself as an everyday player. But I like that one. Tell me more.

Well, I just. And we got into this a little bit on Thursday. Jacob Duran, or I'm sorry, Jacob Duran, I combine their names. Jacob Marcy is the kind of player who, going. by the normal ways we evaluate hitters with the Stackast data and everything, you think is pretty fake what he's doing.

But looking at the finer points, how good he is at working to count, how prolific he is on the bases, which Stackcast doesn't really account for in any significant way, how well he is at elevating to his, well, he does, I should say, at elevating to his pole side.

And it all adds up to exactly the sort of player who is, destined to dramatically outperform those metrics. And then you look at the minor league track record. It's very good. He did have a terrible year in 2024, but mostly that was just a stinker batting average. He still had over 60 steals, over 90 walks.

I think maybe he got a little too Homer happy, and since he doesn't have the raw power there, it's more about angling it properly off the bat. You could see how that could lead to a lot of flyouts in a bad batting average. But other than that, Jacob Marcy's been great in the minors and it's continued in the majors. And he's just capable of contributing in so many ways that I think this is going to work out. I think he's going to be a great fantasy asset.

And, you know, Jaron Duran, I think it's less about him than Marcy. But I'm kind of indicating what I think the upside is for Marcy with this bold take. Very interested to see what happens with Jaron this season. He is entering his second year of arbitration. Red Sox obviously have a super crowded outfield. I think he's a pretty obvious trade candidate, so it's going to depend where he lands. But that's going to be an interesting one to watch because he's had a down year for sure. Do we think he can get back to that 2024 level ever again?

It'll probably depend on where he ends up. But that'll be one to watch. Yeah. And I feel bad about that one in retrospect because I feel like I talked myself into Jaron Duran being a true second round talent in fantasy. It seems so obvious now that he kind of peaked in every way he could. Like he kind of gave us his 90th percentile outcome, 100th percentile outcome, whatever you want to call it. I mean, what was tough was he was exactly as good in 2024 as he was in 2023.

If you look at OPS. Yeah. On a per plate appearance basis. You know, he hit for more power. but overall, he was very, very similar. And that's how I talked myself into it. But I think in my core, I knew better, you know, you knew better. He's been very bad against lefties, which certainly has not helped.

And he's still been good. He's just not, he's more like a fourth, fifth rounder than a second rounder probably. All right. I'm going to give my next bold prediction, and that is Chase Burns is a top 12 starting pitcher for fantasy in 2026. We said bold. You're not leaving much room for the actual top 12 pitchers. Well, you know what? That that's fine. We've already mentioned what? Two? I think only two. Cowbrass was only top 24. I'm being reasonable there. Look, Chase Burns, he's got a 524 ERA, but we all know he's better than that. He had one disastrous start against the Red Sox where he gave up

five runs in a third of an inning. He's had one other bad start so far at the major league level. Other than that, he has been exactly what we expected. Now, you can't just take away two starts out of eight and say, ah, if you take away that, he's, but Chase Burns, I believe, is already top five in the majors and starts of at least 10 strikeouts because he has four of them in eight starts. I think he has some of the absolute best stuff in baseball. I think on a pure talent level, he's as good as Hunter Green already. and I think there is comparable upside.

And the thing about the two bad starts that Chase Burns has had so far at the major league level is those might be the only two bad starts he's had in like the last two years combined between the majors, minors, and college. It's the first time he's ever really struggled and he's come back from it already. I know he's dealing with the injury right now. I don't really think this is I think this was an injury of we need to limit his innings and get him on the IL and if you want to do that with a pitcher

you can find a reason to land them on the IL so I'm not too concerned about that I think the stuff is outrageously good and I think Chase Burns has the upside to pitch with absolutely anybody in 2026. All right.

Let's hear yours. Let me give a negative one because there's been so much positive. We've been too positive. Matthew Boyd and Andrew Abbott. Double dip here. Matthew Boyd and Andrew Abbott both have an ERA over four. Okay. Over four.

So this is a profile that for whatever reason has had a lot of success this year, it's the left-hander, like the control and command lefty with flyball tendencies whose strikeout rate is passable. Not very good, but passable. And for whatever reason, that's worked out, those are the two biggest, those are the poster children for it, Matthew Boyd and Andrew Abbott. But I think it's so environment dependent that profile and so reliant on them being exceptional in terms of control, like difficult to replicate levels of control. That there could be slippage on a couple fronts there for both of them. A, their control could just let B, the environment could play better for hitting next year.

The ball could be traveling better. And that might be enough to crush them. So I think both of them, Matthew Boy and Andrew Abbott, I plan on fading next year. Just, you know, there is that looming, how is the ball going to play this year? Question going into every new season. And so if one season shows players who, um, rely on it being at that same extreme, the ball playing to that same extreme, then they are guys that you should probably fade the following year just out of the uncertainty of it.

And in both instances, these are guys who have right around average strike out rates right around 22%. Good command, good control. They're both right around 6%. I think league average is like 8.5% this season. But what really makes them both stand out is the quality of contact that they're allowing. It's 353-X-Wobon contact for Andrew Abbott. It's 354 for Matthew Boyd. That's two years in a row now for both of them.

Not two full seasons in Matthew Boyd's case, but they've both had really good results on balls and play two years in a row. And maybe that's just who they are now. But that's really tough to, like when your biggest skill is limiting hard contact, your margin for error is so slim because that is something that is really noisy for pitchers from one year to be. particularly when you're a fly ball pitcher like they are. So I like both of them. I've also had trouble making sense of both of them over the past couple of seasons.

So I do not really have a problem with that. And let's stick with another negative one. We've been too positive so far. Nobody likes that. Let's take a shot at Colson Montgomery, who will be way overdrafted, no matter where he's drafted. for 2020 6. I think the power is real. He has, he hits the ball reasonably hard, 114.5 mile per hour average X velocity. That's a very good mark. He hits the ball in the air to the pole side a ton. That is pretty much all Colson Montgomery does. And he, he was very bad

at AAA this season. At one point, he got sent back to the, um, the, the comment. complex league, I think, to work on his swing. And after he came back, he was much better. And maybe something clicked. Maybe he just figured it out. He's always been super talented. He's always been a top 10 prospect. Maybe I'm being unfair here.

But his plate discipline is really bad. He's showing very few skills at the major league level besides hitting for power. I think this is a really iffy profile. It's giving Zach Gelloff vibes, except Gellor. Gailoff has the stolen base upside to, you know, balance it out a little bit. The peak exit velocities are much higher from Montgomery than Gelloff. Yes, but the plate discipline might be worse. It's pretty bad.

So this is just, it's mostly just to say that I don't want to draft one-dimensional players like this. because one thing I like to think about is how many ways can your season go right? Like, if something goes wrong for you, do you have a plan B? And there are, like, you look at like A. Oh, Hennia Suarez and how bad things have gotten for him when things have gone bad. That's kind of a comp that you can make for Colson Montgomery. I think Suarez is just a much better hitter overall. But even saying that, Suarez, has had really, really bad seasons,

even outside of Seattle, which we know was a bad place for him to play. If you're just that one-dimensional, you can have a 25 homer season, which is not bad. That's a lot of homers. It's not enough if you don't do anything else well. So that's my concern with Colson Montgomery.

What was the actual bold prediction again? He's going to be overdrafted no matter where he's drafted. I don't know what his ADP is going to end up. I would guess right now, Colson Montgomery is like a top 150. pick for next season. And I'm not going to touch that. 150?

I'm just thinking given the age and the production we're seeing from him, I would guess. Yeah, I was trying to come up with a negative bowl prediction for Colson Montgomery, too, and just couldn't find one I was satisfied with. And he went with the, it was a really vague one. Yeah, I mean, maybe that's what I should have done. Get sent back to AAA, I think, is within the realm of possibility. hits under 200. I think any of those

could work, but I did go with the purposefully vague one. All right. Let me drop one here for you. Okay, this is a loaded one. At least five catchers, at least five catchers finish

with more points than the number two catcher this year. So it's been a great year for catchers. But I'm saying we're just kidding. started. Like things are going to get even more, uh, fertile here. Fertile? Why'd I say fertile? That was a weird way to pronounce it. It was a weird word to choose in general, but you know what I'm saying? It's going to be good at catcher. It's going to be studly. It reminds me of the

term shortstop took maybe about 10 years ago, where it used to always be one of the weakest positions in fantasy and like nobody thinks of it that way anymore. It's always loaded. It just seems like teams have emphasized offense more when developing catchers, which is weird because they've also kind of emphasized defense more, but whatever, just for whatever reason, a lot of good hitting catchers have appeared on the scene. So among those who I think could be that number two catcher, and I guess I'll drop a couple of bonus bowl predictions here too. We're running out of time, so it's probably a good time to do that. One of them is William Contreras, of course, who's looked totally great in the second half.

And is currently the number two catcher in fantasy, at least in points leagues. Yes. And so another bold prediction I have is William Contreras has a career season, which is saying something given some of the seasons he's already had. I think he's still great in that discussion for next year. Another one who could finish second, Ben Rice, who will retain eligibility at the position. Hopefully he's just playing first base.

Yeah, he might be the Yankees' primary first baseman. If Paul Goldschmidt is gone, Cody Ballinger could be gone, too. Not that he's played a lot of first base this year. But I think it's Ben Rice's job. And a bold prediction I have for him, he hits over 290 with an OPS over 900. That's what the underlying numbers say. I think he's shaping up to be a stud. And it's not just that, oh, statcast got it wrong with Ben Rice.

Clearly, he's not that good. I can't find anything wrong with him, really, as. the hitter. Like the pull air rate is great in the venue where that should pay off the most for a left-handed hitter. Hits the ball really hard. The thing is, the plate discipline. Last year, his underlying numbers were way better than what he actually produced. And that was part of why I was starting to hype him up in the spring. And then he had a great spring and was, I think he had like four batted balls last in the spring that were harder than any he had last season at AAA or the major league level. But yeah, he's been, I think the, I think the,

The ceiling is number one catcher if Cowrally has a downseason. Some other catchers who could outperform the number two catcher this year in fantasy points. Augustine Ramirez, I think he has the profile to do that. Samuel Bessio, if he retains catcher eligibility, which so far he's on pace to do. He's played catcher far more than anything else. Hunter Goodman, I think, is certainly in that discussion. Let's see, who else? Shane Languiliers?

haven't mentioned. Langalears, it might be hard for him since I'm specifying points and he doesn't walk at all, but he's good. Drake Baldwin, I think is in that discussion. And I would, well, Will Smith haven't mentioned him. I think even Adley Rushman, we've seen that before. Yes, I was going to save that for the end, but I'm not out on Adley Rushman either. I doubt he's,

going to rank much higher than 10th for me going into next year, but I do think he has the kind of upside. We're talking about a catcher. So load a position, better days even to come, five guys with more points than the number two guy next year. I'll also, you didn't mention it, but Yvonne Herrera, he's going to have catcher eligibility. No, he's not going to have catcher eligibility. He's not. So I was flirting with a bold prediction for him, kind of a bonus one here. Yvonne Herrera is must start even without catcher eligibility.

I'm not sure I'm willing to commit to that bold prediction. I just, to the extent that we commit to bold prediction. He's not going to be a D. He's going to be D.H. only is the problem. Right. Is he going to be Victor Martinez?

Yeah. He might. I mean, his underlying numbers are phenomenal again. So there's a lot to like there with, uh, Yvonne Herrera and a bunch of actual catchers for 2026. So I like that one. I will go with a guy that I was kind of out on at price coming

into the season, but I'm going to say Wyatt Langford becomes a top 12 outfielder for 2026. I am fascinated to see what happens to his price because he is having a much better season than he did last season. He had a 740 OPS last season. He's up to 785 right now. That's despite going on the IL three separate times with an oblique injury, which is the hardest injury to come back from four hitters for the most part. his plate discipline has taken a step forward from last season his underlying numbers are even better he's on like a 27 homer 26 steel pace over a full season and i kind of feel like his adp is going to be lower than it was coming into this season it shouldn't be i think that would reflect a little bit of bad decision-making on our parts from last year and maybe a little bit of bad decision-making in 2026 but i

think Wyatt Langford, for all that he's been overhyped so far, I think is still a tremendously talented player who does almost everything we want guys to do right. And the degree of difficulty for him this season should not be overstated. It's been very, very tough. And he's having a pretty good season despite that. So I think we finally see the true breakout from Wyatt Langford next year. All right. How do you like that? this one, Chris. Jacob Lopez outperforms

Joe Ryan. Spicey. I think that's perfectly reasonable. I think, look, Joe Ryan is having a Cy Young

caliber season this year. He's been incredible. But that's, like, Pablo Lopez has been that guy before. Like,

it's not like Joe Ryan in 2020. No, no, no, no. No. No. You misheard me. Jacob Lopez. Oh,

Jacob Lopez. Outperforms. Joe Ryan. Okay. No, I don't. I don't love that one. No, you can't get on board with that. Part of it. No, I make that comparison. Yeah. The reason why I'm making that comparison is it's hard to remember now. But Joe Ryan kind of was Jacob Lopez before Jacob Lopez. Dominant minor league numbers. Nobody gave him any credit because the stuff just didn't rate that well. The fastball didn't throw very hard. There wasn't much to go with it. But he had great control. And mainly that fastball had great shape and we have a little better idea we can we can quantify that a little better now and the way it

has great shape so joe ryan is a very low induced vertical break guy and the way that works is you want to be above average you want to be below average you don't want to be right in the middle you want to be that is right that you don't want to be you don't want your fastball to come in in a way hitters are accustomed to see because then they're just going to throttle it and that matters even more than the velocity of the fastball. You can make up for an ordinary shape there with great velocity, but you can have bad velocity and a great shape, and it can work out.

You can miss a lot of bats. Joe Ryan showed it. It obviously translated to the majors. Now, to be fair, his stuff has gotten better since then, but he was pretty darn good from the beginning. And I think Jacob Lopez, if he is legit, and it's gone on for long enough, You know, obviously dealing with a bit of an arm issue now, but it doesn't sound like a serious one.

It's gone on long enough that I think we need to take that possibility seriously for him. He's another good control guy. I think if things go right for Jacob Lopez, his trajectory is going to look very similar to Joe Ryan. And so I'll go ahead and be bold and say he's even better than Joe Ryan next year. All right. I will go with, you didn't do a Jerks and ProFar specific one. I haven't. No.

No. Jerks and ProFar is a top 24 outfielder in both points and roto, which he's been a lot better than that since coming back from his suspension. So it might not even be that bold, but I don't think anybody's going to take that seriously. And I will buy the dip if people are going to be skeptical of Jerks and ProFar in 2026. Here's the funny thing about Jerks and ProFar. So I have Jerks and ProFar in, I have a bunch of leagues. but one of the leagues I have them in is a 2014, very deep, 24 team SIM League, where Sim League, meaning you set lineups and the teams actually interface.

It's still based on real life stats, but they have some way of calculating it. So the way one team's players perform affects the way your team players perform. And, you know, it's more of like a game setting, though. And so OPP is even more valuable in a Sim League, much more valuable, I would say, than a traditional fantasy league. I have gotten so many offers for jerks in ProFar, and none of them have been anywhere close to me accepting it.

Like people recognize that he's doing really, really well right now, but they also don't think there's any legs to it, is what that is telling me. So I've had an easy time rejecting all of it. Head-to-head points per game pro far is second only to Aaron Judge. None of us think he's that good, but like, clearly he's good because it's the second. I think he was top 12 in head-to-head points league's last year. And I think he's been a top five outfielder in points and roto since coming back from his suspension on July 2nd. He's just been absurdly great.

Yeah. Yep. All right. Let's hear one more from you. One more, just one? Well, can I rapid fire through a few here? Absolutely. Yeah, we're running out of time, right?

we'll stop how about yeah but just stop me if you want to get into it more i guess uh jonathan ironda doubles his home run total you got to tell me what his home run total is it's 12 currently okay uh i think that's reasonable amazing because his ops is almost 900 yeah but he hits the ball hard enough that he can absolutely hit more home runs than he has i think he's had some bad luck there obviously injuries have slowed him down too he's shut up come back, but I think even if he gets to 15 home runs, I'm willing to stand by this bold prediction, Jonathan Aronda.

Spencer Strider bounces back with 200 plus strikeouts. I almost wonder if that's bold enough because, of course, he was closing it on 300 in 2023. Yeah, I mean, that even with him not being great this season, you know, he would only need about 180 the innings at this level to get to 200 next year, which that's asking a lot from a guy who's only done that once in his career. But I think that's interesting.

If anything, I'm just saying he's going to be healthy and stable next year. That's as much as anything, that's what that bold prediction is saying. Shane Boz, you're going to love this one. Shane Boz blooms into an ace. Now, by ace, I don't mean a top 12 fantasy pitcher. I mean the best pitcher on the race. But if we've talked about it a lot, the flashes he's shown this year. He has three double-digit strikeout efforts and two nine strikeout efforts aside from that.

And a couple of stretches where he looked like he was putting it all together and then it just fell apart. I think he's close. I think maybe he'll work this off season to regain that slider. He lost with Tommy John's surgery. But the upside is there for Shane Baz. I'm not going to give up on him. Dylan C. Bounces back.

And it's pretty straightforward. I mentioned William Contreras having a career season. Okay, Brian Reynolds gets traded and goes on to deliver his best OPS in five years. Okay. I have to specify five years because five years ago he had a 9-12 OPS. It's hard to see him topping that. That seems unlikely, yeah. Yeah.

But my point is just, he seems fine I don't know why he's underachieved so much but he seems fine I think about it kind of reminds me of Boba Schett last year I guess there were some health things going on with him but I also think just getting out of Pittsburgh would help

yeah and any kind of trade like it's a pretty poor park for left handed pat for left handed hitting but it's also just an extremely poor park for left handed power specifically I think Frank and I were talking about maybe the Yankees they've been linked to Brian Reynolds pretty

heavily. They could probably use a first baseman next year, I think, because I think Brian Rouse is going to have to move out of the outfield pretty soon. So that was the one that I thought. We don't want that to happen for Ben Rice's sake. Well, yeah. Okay, Roman Anthony leads the Red Sox and home runs. Okay. Sal Stewart, here's my prospect related one. Sal Stewart overtakes Matt McLean at second base. I mean, you could argue that should happen in September. It may. It may happen in September.

Though Stewart's better position may be third base. He's gotten enough exposure to second. But really, it's kind of a downer take on Matt McLean as much as anything. And then my last two here, Shane Bieber places in the top five in Sy Young voting. I wanted to go top three. but I think Scoople I was going to say you've got visions of your

Bayley Ober bald prediction still hurting you yeah I was kind of retreating from that one as soon as I made it but that is something I said this time a year ago Bailey Ober saw young winner but yeah Shane Bieber top five so

penciling in scoble and crochet for two of the top three spots saying Bieber top three felt like too little margin for error. So I'm going to say top five. I think he's great. The fact that the velocity gains from his time with drive line that he picked up prior to

22.84 that they've held on even after the long recovery from Tommy John surgery. I think Bieber's going to be great. And finally, Andrew Vaughn is a top 12 first basement. I'm buying it. All right. I will go through a few as well.

Jackson Merrill will be a top 12 outfielder. I think by the dip, here still a supremely talented player with a ton going right for him just hasn't been his year i think he's going to be awesome next year that's another one like i wanted to have a similar bold prediction to him i just couldn't figure out the specifics of the prediction but i yeah because top 24 seems too high 24 didn't seem bold enough top 12 feels tough yeah um but i'm i'm playing a flag there i don't really have any concerns about jacks and merrill long term um let's see christian campbell is a

top five second baseman in 2026. He was really bad from like May to July, but he's turned things around at AAA. I still really believe in the talent. I still think he's got a long-term future with the Red Sox. They're already paying him. They've got that long-term contract, so they have an incentive to get him back in the lineup next season. I still believe in Christian Campbell's all-around skill set. okay this is a weird one but everybody forgets the lessons of 2025 and as soon as we see Jared Jones pop 98 in a you know I don't know if he's going to get into any spring games next year but he had the internal brace procedure so he might be ready to throw by spring training and as soon as we see a 98 mile an hour fastball from him everybody's going to get way too excited

and forget everything that we learned this year watching Spencer Strider and all these other guys coming back from Tommy John's surgery and struggling. So that's a slightly weird one, but I wanted to get that one in there. And then Jordan Lawler is a top 12 player somewhere. I don't know. At some position. I don't know what he's going to be eligible at. Right now, if he doesn't get to the majors, I think it would be second base because he

only appeared. It would carryover. Oh, did he place mostly second during a short time in the majors? appeared in eight games and five of them were at second, so it would be second. But if he does get called up in September, I would imagine he's going to play more third base. So it might be, the road might be clearer at third base for Jordan Lawler. But I just want to reiterate, because I've seen a lot of pessimism every time we talk about Jordan Lawler. And there's always people in the chat.

I think it's just fatigue. Yeah, he's been, he's only 23. He just turned 23. he's had for the fact that he made his major league debut, what, back in 2023, he has only had 56 played appearances at the major league level so far. You can't learn anything from any player about 56 played appearances. So I don't hold that against him. This is still a guy hitting 328 with a 990 OPS at AAA.

Yes, it's the PCL. Yes, it's Reno. It's a great hitting environment. It's like a 30, 45 pious. at the AAA level. I think Jordan Lawler is still a potential superstar, especially for fantasy. It's a very well-suited profile for fantasy. And whenever he's guaranteed an everyday job, I'm going to be very, very, very excited about Jordan Lawler.

And I think it's going to happen at least in 2026. So that is our bold predictions, our way too early, bold predictions that we are writing down in, We are chisling them into stone. We believe all of these things for 2026. Please throw these back in our faces. We want full credit for them, but we don't want you to blame us if they don't happen. They're bold.

That's the great thing about a bold production. You can never be wrong, only right. And that is going to do it for fantasy baseball today. We'll be back tomorrow to recap everything from the long weekend's games. We'll see you that.