Fantasy Baseball Today - Way-Too-Early First Two Rounds for 2025! (Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 What might the first two rounds of 2025 Dress look like? Find out next on Fantasy Baseball today in five. Welcome into FBTN5 on Saturday, September 21st. I am Frank Stanfield, joined by Scott White, and earlier in the week, you revealed your way too early. First two rounds for 2025, so let's jump in. The first round begins with Shohei Otani, who has created the 50-50 club all on his own, followed by Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr., Ronald Acuna, Jose Ramirez, and Mookie Betts.

Starting point is 00:00:33 I think the name that stands out here, Scott, is Acuna, who will be returning from yet another torn ACL. Sounds like you think he will be ready to go on opening day. Yeah, it'll be a month earlier than the last one. It'll be to the opposite knee. He did have some struggles returning from that first torn ACL, some continued pain in the knee. that he tried to play through, and it seemed to impact his hitting. It'll be on the less important leg,

Starting point is 00:01:03 the left leg, and he'll have the experience of having recovered from the first one. I think it'll go better. So, yeah, it is kind of a glass-half-full approach here for Acuna. Obviously, I reserve the right to shift him down the rankings if what we're hearing this spring warrants it.

Starting point is 00:01:23 But I think if things seem, fine this is the right spot for him because in Otani judge and wit you have three league breaking talents and after that you have really good players but just that that's where the drop-off is and I think Akunya as we saw in 20203 has the he's capable of being a league-breaking talent too so I the the upside is just so otherworldly that it's worth taking the extra risk that comes with them coming off knee surgery. Picks 7 through 12 in the first round, Juan Soto, Kyle Tucker, Gunner Henderson, L.A. La Cruz, Francisco L.A. LaCruz, Yordon, Alvarez. This all checks out for me. I don't think

Starting point is 00:02:13 there's anything too polarizing here. Maybe some people argue L.E. De LaCruz could be a little bit higher, but it all seems to make sense. That's the feedback I've gotten from people who've looked at the article here and there is an article up if you want to read my explanation for every one of these players is they want Ellie de la Cruz higher it is if you don't mind

Starting point is 00:02:35 an exaggerated bill an exaggerated build I should say if you don't mind an exaggerated built obviously Ellie de la Cruz is going to be an outlier for stolen bases but among the first rounders here he's also a liability in

Starting point is 00:02:54 and batting average, and I don't think that's going to change. I think 250, maybe 260 tops, somewhere 240, 260, let's say. And also, unless the Reds lineup vastly improves, he's not going to be a huge source of RBI. So he's going to be a liability in two categories while giving you a huge advantage in the one. If you like to build that way, fine. And look, I still don't them 10th overall,

Starting point is 00:03:18 but I would personally rather take an all-around threat like a Kyle Tucker Gunner Henderson over him. Into the second round we go Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Fernando Tatis, Julio Rodriguez, Corbyn Carroll, Trey Turner, and Terrick Scouble. We can do a whole hour podcast

Starting point is 00:03:35 on this group of players. But we finally get our first pitcher in here and look, some polarizing talents. Can Tatee stay healthy? Julio Rodriguez, downseason. And, you know, Carol had this huge second half, but, you know, the first half was anything but Yeah, those three after Vladimir Guerrero,

Starting point is 00:03:55 Ferdondo Tatez, Julio Rodriguez, and Corbyn Carroll. They're the ones, they're the most divisive ones. All three disappointed. Carol did mostly redeem himself in the second half, but even when he was playing well, the batting average was kind of in the 260 range, and it was more like a 35 steel pace than the 50 steel pace we saw in his rookie season.

Starting point is 00:04:17 It was actually a profile that plays better in points leagues than five by five. If those numbers translate exactly, is he capable of a higher batting average than that 260 mark? Yes, but it's hard to know exactly what to expect from Corbyn Carroll. And it's hard for me to imagine at this point

Starting point is 00:04:35 that he could possibly be better than he showed as a rookie that made him a top five pick overall. So second round here, the only question is does he need to go ahead of of Fernando Tatis and Julio Rodriguez or behind them or right in between? them I still say those other two have a higher ceiling and so I'm giving you look at their

Starting point is 00:04:58 stat cast page it's all read everywhere big time underachievers in terms of what stat cast said they deserved and I'm still going to trust in that given some of the monster seasons we've seen from Tatis and Jrod in the past back half of the second round Zach Wheeler Jaron Bryce Harper, Freddie Freeman, Raphael Devers, and Jackson Churio. Two names here, Scott. Big breakouts in 2024. Jaron Duran and Jackson Churio, in your opinion, worthy of second round picks. Yeah, I would say so.

Starting point is 00:05:35 Jaron Duran, I know we kind of perceive it as this out of nowhere breakdown, but breakout, I should say, out of nowhere breakout. But it does seem like a logical net. step from what he did in 2023 when a big part of a big part of the issue for him then was just playing time and the profile looks pretty unimpeachable to me for jaron durand so i i like him to follow up i'm not sure there's a big gap between him and corbin carroll when all things are said and done uh and then jack centauria i mean you look at june first on he was he was a stud and he did that at all of 20 years old.

Starting point is 00:06:17 So I think the sky's the limit for what he could be. I wonder if I have him a little too low here, ranking him behind quote-unquote boring types like Freddie Freeman and Raphael Devers. And by the way, Jackson Merrill, not far behind. All right. For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast,

Starting point is 00:06:40 or anywhere else podcasts are found. Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball. baseball today and five and we will be back again next week. Bye-bye.

Fantasy Baseball Today - Way-Too-Early First Two Rounds for 2025! (Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 Podcast)

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