Fantasy Baseball Today - William Contreras #1 Catcher? Week 6 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (4/26 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 26, 2024

Edouard Julien continues to swat home runs (2:53). ... Is William Contreras the top catcher in Fantasy (7:32)? ... Our latest prospect spotlight is on Orelvis Martinez of the Toronto Blue Jays (12:27). ... News (18:32): Zack Gelof went on the IL. ... Add Nate Lowe or Ty France (23:23)? ... Any interest in Javier Assad or Simeon Woods Richardson (31:16)? ... What are Rhys Hoskins and Ha-seong Kim up to this season (36:23)? ... We have questions regarding Mitch Keller, Jose Berrios and Mackenzie Gore (38:26). ... Which two-start pitchers are we targeting in Week 6 (44:55)? ... Nate Lowe leads the sleeper hitters for next week (54:10). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (56:55). 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, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

in to Fantasy Baseball today on April 26th. Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White. Today on the show we have three hitters we haven't talked about, a brand new prospect spotlight, week six sleepers, two star pitchers, and much more. Let's get things started with the players of the night. All right, Scott. Who you got? Player of the net.

I guess player the day, there was only one night game. Yeah, you think we could start earlier, but we didn't. it. It's my fault we didn't for what it's worth. Frank, Frank texted me, he's like, what time you want to go today? And I just, I said, I just thought we'd go at the normal time. But anyway, Edward Julian, two home runs. A big day for him. One of the home runs, he actually pulled. One was hit to the opposite fields, like most every other Edward Julian home run. And that brings him up to seven home runs.

on the year, which is a nice total, considering April isn't even over yet. Nice total considering how often he, how often he, you know, how his swing is not optimized for home runs in terms of the very high rate of going to the opposite field and, you know, generally not, well, you know what, he's actually putting out the ball in the air a little more this year. So that's good. Good power production for Edward Julian. The strikeout rate is still way too high.

He's still just kind of a strange player to figure out. He's still, you know, not exactly somebody who deserves to be in the lineup against left-hand to pitchers. And so I remain pretty skeptical of Edward Julian's potential to make a real impact in fantasy. So nothing really changes about how it. I feel about Edward Julian based on this two home run game. But since he did just hit two home runs, you probably wanted me to talk about him. And there you go. Such a weird profile. I know we talk about it a lot, but he walks.

He also strikes out. He's got a 32% strikeout rate. He hits the ball hard. That's a good thing. 90.3 average exit velocity. He barrels it up. It was a 12.8% barrel rate entering this game. My guess is that's only going to go up. But only a 13% line drive rate. And the expected numbers are very bad. Now, maybe over time, Julian will just be one of those players that outperforms expected numbers. It's certainly possible. I'm not going to rule that out. But it remains a very weird profile for fantasy.

He's 61% rostered, has six games next week, only one lefty on the schedule. Worth mentioning in a small sample size this season, 5 for 15 with one of his seven home runs against left-handed pitching. So he's performed. We'll see if that earns him some more playing time. The twins love to platoon all their players. And the last lefty they faced was just Wednesday. The day before the two homer game. And Julian was out of the lineup.

He has started against, he started twice against lefties. He started against two of the four lefties. Is that right? One, two, three, four. No, two of the five lefties. He started against two of the five lefties, the twins of face. So he isn't in a strict platoon. It seems like they are giving him,

more chances against lefties. And the better he performs, the more of those chances will increase. But I don't know. It's, yeah, and the leaves where Julian is available, it's hard to imagine the second baseman you have instead would be worth dropping for him, I would say. In the leagues where he's already rostered,

well, okay, he might be your best second basement because those are deeper leagues. He's just in kind of that no man's land in terms of his roster rate, where he's probably rostered everywhere he needs to be. But, you know, we'll keep monitoring it. If he gets that batting average up and the home run production continues, then that might change the thinking. Maybe he'll have more of a Nolan-Gorman year than Nolan Gorman himself. Certainly possible.

Worth mentioning that earlier on Thursday, Zach Gelloff was placed on the aisle with a strain left oblique. So you could be looking for a second base replacement there. Julian is 61% rostered, someone you could look at. Scott, would you take Julian over Ahmed Rosario and or Luis Garcia? Those two are the top added second baseman on CBS right now. I'd take them both over Rosario. I mean, I'd take the other two over Rosario. Julian versus Luis Garcia, I think they're very similar in terms of my interest level.

And incidentally, they're both among my sleeper hitters for week six, spoiler alerts. If we're just going to do the short-term thing, Julian is a couple spots ahead of Luis Garcia. But, you know, Garcia has shown some inclination to run this year if you need speed more. And I do suspect if he sustains what appears to be a breakout, I do suspect Luis Garcia will be a better source of batting average as well. So it kind of depends on what you need.

All right. My player tonight is going to be William Contreras, who is off to a great start this season. he went two for four with a sock and a shoe, his fifth home run, his second stolen base, the home run, 114.4 exit velocity, 448 feet. He crushed it. And so far this season, batting 365, five homers,

23 runs, 22 RBI, two steals, and a 1019 OPS. William Contreras is doing everything so far this season. He's crushing the ball, 94.9 average eggs of velocity, and he's doing this despite a 60% ground ball rate. So if he manages to put the ball in the air even a little bit more, the limit does not exist. The sky is the limit right now for William Contreras. Earlier in the week, Scott, we didn't mention this on yesterday's podcast,

our rankings, risers, and fallers, because it wasn't a huge move. But I did move William Contreras up to my number one catcher in both formats. He finished as a huge move. Anytime you have a new number one in position, that's a pretty big deal. I was regretting that I didn't mention on that show. I moved Zach Wheeler into my number one spot at SP, which I know you already had him there. Yes, join me. And I've been tempted to do the same thing at Catcher.

William Contreras actually did finish ahead of Adley Rushman last year in Roto, right? I don't think it points. I think it points. Rushman was ahead, though it was close in both instances. and I just felt like there was more that could go wrong for William Contreras and I still think there's more that could go wrong for William Contreras. Adley Rushman, I think, is just going to be like a metronome from year to year and has such a prominent spot in the Orioles lineup.

Let me see. As Contreras, so yeah, pretty much everyday Contreras has not caught. Somebody pointed out to me on Twitter that he has started every single game for the Brewers this season. Okay, so every game he hasn't caught, he's started at DH. Yep. And so you can't say

Rushman has anything on him in terms of playing time. I thought maybe the Gary Sanchez signing might interfere with that too. But, I mean, he's particularly with Christian Yellich down. And maybe even if Christian Yelich was healthy, Contreras is like the centerpiece of the

Brewer's offense, I feel like. It wasn't clear that he'd be able to follow up on his big 2023 and now it's becoming clear. So I may do that too. It's, I don't know exactly what's what my hang up is with moving him ahead of Adley Rushman, but I may do it too. I don't know.

For some reason, I don't want, you know what, you know what it is. It's just a natural sort of resuscary. to doing something too fast, you know? Because what I want to do least of all with my rest of season rankings adjustments is move a guy head and then the next week I'm moving him right back behind. You know, like if I'm moving William Contreras ahead of Adley Rushman, I want to feel confident that I'm not going to move him back in a week or two. because it's hard to take myself seriously if I'm doing that, I think.

So I might give it a little longer. But yeah, they're basically one-on-one-a-catcher in whatever order you want to put them. I know that, you know, I was going to say I looked into the stackcast numbers and William Contreras was better than Adley, and that's what reinforced my decision. That is not true. Adlea Rutchman's expected batting average is 335. His expected slug is 512. So I don't know that I jumped the gun necessarily,

but the fact that Contreras was the number one catcher in Roto last season, he has not sat out a single game this year. I was okay making that move, moving him up to the number one catcher. There will be some regression. He's obviously not going to hit 365. He has a 435 Babbup early on in the season. So that will come down a little bit, but a 280 hitting catcher,

25 home runs, maybe like five to seven steals. That's pretty awesome, catcher. And you got to say, Brewer's cleaned up in that three-team deal between the Braves and A's and them, right? The Braves getting Sean Murphy primarily. The A's getting Estuary Ruiz primarily. Brewer's getting William Contreras. It's looking like they won that deal so far.

Yep, I think that's fair. Let's get into another prospect spotlight. Okay, finally, we're moving away from the Orioles, but we're sticking in the American League East this week, and we're going to talk about Orelvis Martinez of the Toronto Blue Jays, a 22-year-old infielder in 19 games at AAA this season. He is batting 316 with six homers, 18 RBI, and a 1018 OPS, 92.5 average exit velocity,

1-15.2 max exit velocity, the very impressive numbers there for Martinez. The Blue Jays are currently running out the likes of Isaiah Kiner Folefa, Ernie Clement in their starting lineup. It feels like at some point they could use a jolt. And Oralvis Martinez would make a lot of sense. Scott, what have you seen so far? What does the prospect profile look like?

And could we see them up with the Blue Jays soon? Yeah, so I think jolt is the right word to use for Or Elvis Martinez, who at least coming into Thursday's action, I haven't seen the box score from today. But coming into Thursday, he had hit six home runs in his past eight games. And the biggest highlight among them was a 469-foot grand slam that he hit 113.8 miles per hour.

Some big league power, clearly. But it wasn't even his hardest hit ball of the year. He had one that he hit 115.2 miles per hour, which only five major leaguers have topped this year. Shohei Otani, Giancarlo Stanton, Fernando Tatis, Vladimir Guerrero, and Juan Soto, or Elvis Martinez, only topped by those in terms of max exit velocity. And throughout his rise in the Blue Jays system, power was considered his calling card. It was a standout tool. he's gotten a lot better in terms of making contact

and isn't quite so pull-heavy. So he's become a better all-around hitter without compromising that power. And I'll point out, yeah, the Grand Slam hit 469 feet. That was great. But basically all of the home runs he've hit have been absolute tanks like that. So we're talking transcendent power here

for Eralvis Martinez. He's played second base almost exclusively in the minors this year, but he came up as a shortstop originally. He has plenty of experience at third base. The Blue Jays could use help in either of those spots, second or third. And given what Or Elvis Martinez is doing at AAA, I got to think he's arriving sooner than later. Is he a stash on the level of like a junior year? Caminero or Joey Loperfito. I don't think I'd drop either of them for Er Elvis Martinez, but obviously if he gets called up first,

it's kind of just a matter of who you think is going to get called up first, right? You know, James Wood, some people are motivated to stash him. I think the fact he didn't get called up when Lane Thomas went down puts him more toward the back of the prospects to stash. That's James Wood. I would say Kyle Monsardo. He's also been on a home run binge recently in the minors. So he's kind of in that discussion as well. If we're ranking the top 10 prospects to stash,

I would say or Elvis Martinez is among them. Where exactly he ranks on that list, that's where it gets tricky. I think I would still have him behind Junior Caminero for sure. Him versus Loper Fido is a little bit closer, although I know Loprafito just continues to smash home runs in the minors as well. But yeah, this is a name that should be on your radar. I think he could be up soon.

The name again is Arelvis Martinez of the Toronto Blue Jays, and he was one of Scott's five prospects on the periphery this week. Make sure to check out the latest prospect report, which is live on the site, cbsports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. Quickly promote a few things. A reminder that you can download and follow our five-minute podcast, FBT and 5, wherever you listen. since a podcast. We'll have a bonus prospect podcast coming out every Saturday of the season.

Also, if you enjoy the show, make sure to drop us a five-star rating and review on both Apple and Spotify. We really do appreciate it. Let's take our first break. When we return, we'll have the news and notes right after this. Welcome back in the news and notes. As I mentioned, Zach Gelloff was placed in the IL with a strain left oblique. Max Schumann started at second base on Thursday. Framber Valdez will return to start Sunday against the Rockies in Mexico City. Reminder, do not start him in daily lineup leagues due to the high altitude of Mexico City,

but also we typically like to play it safe when a pitcher is returning from injury. Yeah, Mexico City higher altitude than Coors Field and also that's a smaller ballpark. I mean, Coors Field is a huge ballpark. Yeah. But apparently, I don't know exactly the dimensions for Mexico City, but apparently it's smaller.

One of the two games there last year was a total shootout. both teams scoring in double digits. The other was a 6 to 4 game. Framber Valdez being a ground ball pitcher. Maybe it'll go okay. But yeah, I'd rather play it safe and sit him, particularly since it's his first start back. And Ronel Blanco, by the way, is, I think he's still that.

He's not the one who got pushed back, is he with Framber Valdez returning? I don't think so because he's not a two-star pitcher for this upcoming week. So, yeah, I would also sit Ronel Blanco. Yeah, he's expected to start Saturday. I'd also say him. And obviously the Rockies pitchers you don't care about. I was just going to say the same thing. Nolan Jones has missed two straight due to back stiffness.

Hopefully he's back in the lineup this weekend for that series in Mexico City. Max Scherzer's next rehab start will come Tuesday at AA. J.P. Crawford was placed in the aisle with a grade one right oblique strain. Dylan Moore started at shortstop Thursday against lefty Andrew Hini. Cabr Ruiz was reinstated from the IL on Thursday. He was batting fifth in the Nationals lineup. Nick Povetta will make at least one rehab start before rejoining the Red Sox rotation.

He's resumed throwing off a mound. Alec Marsh was placed on the aisle with a right elbow contusion. He was hit by a comebacker on Wednesday. X-rays came back negative. Jackson Meryl was scratched from the lineup due to right groin tightness. He's expected to return to the lineup on Friday. Henry Davis has started just two of the past six games for the Pirates. and I doubt he's rostered in one catcher leagues anymore,

but if he is, would you be looking to drop Henry Davis, Scott? Yeah, I think so. It's disappointing. It's disappointing just on performance. I think you could make the case to drop him in a one catcher league because there are enough good catchers to go around in that format, striking out more than 30% of the time. So you kind of understand why he's losing it best to Joey Bart.

I don't think that's going to be a permanent arrangement. Bart's striking out quite a bit himself and has a high ground ball rate for all the home run these hits so far. But there's not much evidence yet that Henry Davis is going to turn the corner and live up to what everybody hoped for when the pirates took him number one. So if there's an interesting catcher out there who you feel more confident is going to help you. in the short term, I'd be fine making that move. Speaking of Joey Bart, you mentioned his name there, Scott. Any interest in deeper two catcher leagues? He hit another home run in seven games.

He's betting 304, three homers, eight RBI, and an 1168 OPS. Yeah, sure. But like I was saying, I think that's going to be more of a short-term arrangement. I doubt he's going to displace Davis permanently and be the Pirates primary catcher and keep putting up fantasy relevant numbers all season. So I think the math changes a little bit there. If you're talking to two-catcher league, it's much harder to drop Davis.

And if you are going to pick up Bart, I don't think Davis is the one I'd want to drop to do that. Yeah, I would agree with that. The Dodgers are giving James Paxen an extra day of rest, so his next star will come Monday against the debacks. He is no longer a two-star pitcher this week. One more news item here. It looks like junior commend.

narrow left today's game in the minors with a quad injury. Oh, no. We don't have like a lot of details. But, you know, just something to keep an eye on. Obviously, if it's an injury that keeps him out for a couple weeks, he's still a prospect while we're stashing. But if it's going to keep him out for a long time, then maybe not. That is the same injury he went on the IL with, right?

I believe it was a quad. It may have been. Yeah, I think it was a leg injury of some kind, yeah. Ah, so that, if he re-injured the same quad, I don't love the sound of that. So once we learn more, we'll let you know about Junior Camerreiro, but obviously that, that sucks. Let's talk some waiver wire hitters from Thursday's action. We already mentioned Edward Julian. Any of these two first baseman interests you if you do need help at the position,

Nate Lowe, still working his way back, but he went one for four with his first home run, of the season. He has now hit third in the Rangers lineup two games in a row, and he's 65% rostered. The other name here is Thai France. He hit his first home run of the season. He's batting 266 early on with a 676 OPS. But if you remember, this offseason, Ty France went to drive-line baseball, trying to improve his swing. And the stat cast data looks really, really good for Thai France early on. It's 91 mile per hour, average exit velocity, tons of line drives, expected stats look awesome. Scott, if you need help at first base,

who would you rather pick up Nate Lowe or Thai France? I just want to say real quick again about Junior Cominero. It's not clear that it's a quad injury. Okay. That's how little we know about it. But yeah, anyway, between Nate Lowe and Thai France, I'm going to say Nate Lowe

because he has his run-in-R-BI production. for no other reason because the run-in RBI production is going to be bolstered by that juggernaut Rangers lineup. Thai France, I am interested in on a lower end level because of all the work he put in this offseason, the adjustments he made at Drive Line. And I do think better days are ahead for him. But he's somebody, I think you can wait on a little longer than Nate Lowe. Nate Lowe, a week from now. Like, he's my top sleeper hitter for this week.

So a week for now, it might be too late to make a play for him. All right. Three names in five outfielder leagues. What a way for Pete Kerr Armstrong to pick up his first career hit. He steps up to the plate in Wrigley Field with the game tied in the sixth. And he blasts a go-ahead to run Homer. He's 28% rostered seven games on the schedule next week with only one lefty. Jerks and ProFar continues to hit well with the Padres.

Two-for-four with his third home run added three RBI. He's got an 872 OPS early on in the season. And Brenton Doyle, someone we haven't talked much about, three for four with a walk, two steals and three runs scored. He is betting 3.30 with three home runs, 16 runs, four steals, an 898 OPS. Still striking out a lot. I don't really see anything in the stat cast data that stands out to me much, but it's got any interest in these three names in five outfieler leagues,

Pete Coral Armstrong, ProFar, and Brenton Doyle. Well, I would say ProFar is the most usable right now. In fact, he was a sleeper hitter this past week. I don't think it's going to last. I don't see a lot of underlying under the hood changes for Jerks and ProFar, like you were saying, about Brent and Doyle. So it's more of a hot hand situation. Certainly in Points League's profile would be the most interesting, but those tend to be shallow. Doyle and Crowe Armstrong.

If you're betting on upside, I guess I'd have to say Crowe Armstrong. I talked about just on yesterday's show. about my concerns for him. It was encouraging that he got in the lineup right away. That was the home run he hit was definitely a solid, solidly hit home run. He also struck out twice in the game. And I remain skeptical.

I remain skeptical. And I'm not even confident the Cubs are going to play him every day. Though, as you point out, only one left hand are on the schedule. that helps them have a chance to settle in right away. And I guess we'll find out pretty early how much legs this latest stint in the majors has for Crow Armstrong. How much legs, how many legs?

I don't know. I probably should have chosen a better word there. And then finally, Brenton Doyle, like he's not going to hit 330, obviously. Could he hit 250? because there's enough power and speed there. He stole a couple bases today. He's up to four steals.

That if he hits about 250, he might be pretty serviceable in fantasy, certainly in five outfields leagues. That strikeout rate is below 30%. So still high, like you point out, but it was like 35% last year, which is almost untenable. It's tenable now.

And like I said, some power, some speed. I'm open-minded. I'm open-minded to Doyle being a fifth or maybe even fourth outfield type in Roto leagues. I'm not saying there's a lot of urgency to pick him up if he's available there. He might already be rostered in five outfields or leagues. But there's a chance. Would you take any of those names over Williare, Abraou, or Andy Pahez,

who we spoke about on yesterday's podcast? not a chance I agree two names in deeper five outfielder leagues Hunter Goodman got the start for the Rockies and he blasted a home run one for four with three RBI and in the minors this season

he was hitting 298 with seven homers and a 1042 OPS Trevor Larnick has been raking since being recalled by the twins two for four with a run scored he's nine for 24 overall he's got two homers an 1137 OPS once upon a time there was

some prospect enthusiasm for Trevor Larnick. He hits the ball really hard, has had trouble making contact. In a small sample, I mean, he's doing exactly what you want to see him do. It's got any interest here in deeper five outfielder leagues, Hunter Goodman, Trevor Larnick.

Well, Larnick was almost among my sleeper hitters for this upcoming week with only one left-hander on the schedule for the twins as well. He's Larnik himself as a left-handed hitter. And he's off to a great start, as he said, and he's hitting the ball very hard. And maybe this is the time he finally breaks through, but I've gotten faked out by Trevor Larnock more than once in a past because he has a stretch like this. And I'm looking at the exit velocities, and I'm like, this guy's the real deal.

And then it all falls apart. And so, you know, a 5% rostered probably deserves more than that just as a speculative pickup. but I wouldn't say I have a lot of confidence in the long run. I do prefer him to Hunter Goodman, who I'm kind of surprised just some of the commentary around Hunter Goodman that I've seen. There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for him.

And I don't know, maybe it'll work out. Like, he clearly has power. He's playing a course field. if the right combination of circumstances come together, maybe he could be a really nice find. But I'm betting against it. He's a converted catcher playing in a very big outfield, a right-handed hitter who doesn't have good on base skills.

It just feels very like Evangattis-y to me. I don't know how many people listening remember that guy. But it kind of worked out as well as it could for Evan Gattis. but normally that profile, the plotting corner man who doesn't get on base at a particularly high rate, normally that doesn't go anywhere. And I think the fact he's just filling in for Nolan Jones, who isn't even on the IL, I'm not even confident the playing time's going to be there for Hunter Goodman. So he feels very much like a quadruplea player to me, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

Let's slide over to the Waverwire pitchers from Thursday's action. Three names that stood out, Javier Assad continues to pitch well. He was up against the Houston Astros. Houston, we have a problem. What is going on with them? I mean, they have one of the worst records in the American League. It's just crazy stuff. They need for Amber Valdez back desperately.

Javier Assad, five and two-thirds innings, one run, five strikeouts in this one. He has a two ERA on the nose, a one whip, and he's 67% rostered in line for two starts next week against the Brewers. And at the Mets, Simian Woods Richardson was solid against the White Sop. five innings, two runs, six strikeouts with 11 swinging strikes, and Alex Wood turned in his best start of the season, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't want to talk about Alex Wood. Any interest got in Javier Assad or Simeon Woods Richardson?

I don't really want to talk about them much either. I guess Javier Assad's worth talking about because two ERA, one whip. I'm not just rounding down. That's exactly what is ERA and WIPR. and that's very good, obviously. The results on batted balls are different from what we've seen from Javier Assad in the past. He's become a fly ball pitcher this year, and it's not particularly hard contact. So fly balls that aren't hit hard are outs oftentimes, and I think that explains the low whip.

Is he going to sustain numbers this good? No, I mean, his walk rate's still high, his strikeout rate's still kind of low. I think he's no more than a streamer pitcher in the long run is Javier Assad, but he could remain a streamer pitcher, and that's more than anyone would have expected coming into the year. I'm curious about Simeon Woods Richardson just because his velocity is way up this year. It hasn't changed the results in a meaningful way yet. The start was decent.

not enough that I'm particularly motivated to pick it up to go pick up Samin Woods Richardson, especially since it was against the White Sox and it was merely decent. But I don't know. We'll keep monitoring him. It's, you know, at one point last year, you didn't lose me, did you?

You've been kind of in and out a little bit, but it hasn't been bad enough for me to break to make. Come on. I just did that. just broke us. All right. Simeon Woods, Richardson. What was I going to say?

I don't even remember what I was going to say. Totally, totally derailed myself with that. Sorry about that. I think what you were going to say is, if you're in a deeper league and you're desperate, he faces the White Sox again next week. So just something I did want to mention, you know, young pitcher facing the same lineup twice. I don't love that aspect, but it's the White Sox. No, what I actually was going to say is there was a point early last year when Cole Reagan's

velocities were way up, but he didn't seem to be performing, so it was just like whatever. And then suddenly he did start performing and the rest is history. So I'm not saying that's how it's going to go with Simeon Woods Richardson, but something to pay attention to. All right. Well, let's take our final break when we return. Three hitters, well, not three anymore. We already talked about contraris. Two hitters we haven't talked much about. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in. Let's talk about a few hitters that we have not many. much so far this season. We mentioned William Contreras up at the top. What about his teammate Reese Hoskins went three for five with a double, two RBI, and his first stolen

base? He's batting 226. He's got five homers and a 772 OPS. Plate discipline looks pretty good so far and the stat cast numbers look pretty interesting. He's barreling it up. He's hitting lots of fly balls. It's a 553 expected slugging percentage. So mildly interested in Reese Hoskins, maybe in like a by-low kind of way in a deeper league. And Hassan Kim had just kind of picked up

where he left off last year. I guess he left off kind of badly, but you know what I mean. He had a great season last year, just not a great September. He went one for five with his fourth home run. He's got 17 runs, 17 RBI,

seven steals, a 339 on base percentage. He's walking a lot. He's doing a lot of the things that we saw him do. last year. So, you know, we had some speculation coming in, but so far, so good for Haasun Kim. It's got anything to add on him.

And any interest in maybe looking to acquire Reese Hoskins if you need power in a Categories League? Sure. I kind of feel like Reese Hoskins and Hassan Kim have basically performed like Rees Hoskins and Hasam Kim and have done what we asked them to do. And so there's not a lot to see here. I guess their batting averages are both a little, like 15 to 20 points below what we're expecting.

But 15 to 20 points this time of year is like accomplished in a day's work. You know, it's tomorrow that may not be the case. So if anybody is looking at Reese Hoskins' 226 batting average and saying, oh my goodness, what's wrong with him? I'll just politely say, you don't know ball because that's how it works sometimes. Reese Askins looks fine. House on Kim looks fine. If you can get them for less than they were drafted as, go for it.

Let's slide over to the pitchers. I have three pitcher questions. Mitch Keller has allowed four earned runs in four of six starts so far this season. Up against the Brewers, it was five innings, four runs, seven strikeouts. Jose Berrios's velocity was way down at the Royals. Five innings, two runs, three walks to one strikeout. It was cold. It was rainy there.

I saw this tweet from Arden Zwelling, who covers the blue Blue Jays on Sportsnet. He said, Jose Burrios, whose velocity was diminished in adverse conditions today, said that as the rain picked up, he had trouble gripping the ball and was slipping on the mound. Quote, it was a tough day with the rain and the mound, but we found a way, we figured it out, and we competed. And McKenzie Gore put together another quality start up against the Dodgers.

It was six innings, one run, four strikeouts with 17 swinging strikes on 102 pitches. The velocity was up even further, and the start. He averaged 97 miles. miles per hour on his fastball. And it's a 312 VRA. The whip is high, but strikeouts look really good. The control has been manageable for McKenzie Gore so far. So here you go, Scott.

Three questions. First, have you moved Mitch Keller down in the rankings at all? It's been kind of a slow start for him. Second, any concern about Jose Brioz's velocity drop in the start? And three, how much are you buying this McKenzie Gore breakout? Okay. I will take those questions in order. Have I moved Mitch Keller down at all?

I don't think so. And I've been tempted to, of course. I've tried to resist that feeling because I don't think the pitchers I have ranked behind him are particularly sure things either. And I feel like this is part of the Mitch Keller experience where he has to feel his way through it. He's got so many pitches and mixes up the selection so much. And he's one of the biggest tinkerers among starting pitchers. And I don't think he's going to settle for these kind of numbers.

I think he's going to keep tinkering until he finds something that's working better for him. So I'm reluctant to sell him short. You know, I think I have him. I think, where do I have them now? Do you have the rankings open? I think it was 34 last I checked. Okay. I may have moved him down some. I don't know. 30 to 50, you could almost put them in any order. So I guess it's, I'm kind of making a statement by leaving Keller that high.

I'm just trying to reassure everybody. You know, I think better things are coming. How about? So don't sell them short either. How about SP 30 to SP 60? Because I have moved Mitch Keller down to 57 and, it's more so, it's kind of the Carlos Rodon effect where I just think other pitchers have surpassed him so far this season. So every name that I pull up, it just so happens Mitch Keller is getting pushed down. Yeah. Well, I mean, Carlos Rodon's very different because he has basically two pitches that were ever any good.

I wasn't comparing their pitch mix or anything, just their situation, I guess, so far. I think Rodon's totally lost and I think Keller's feeling his way through it. So, yeah, I guess that's a difference in my confidence in them going forward. I get what you're saying. You think just enough pitchers are just as interesting or more interesting than Keller that he's just kind of fallen behind in the pack. But I think some of those guys will drop off, and I think Keller will remain a decent starting pitcher.

So that's the answer to the first question. The second question, am I worried about Jose Barrios's velocity drop of about one? No, the fastball was down more. The fastball was down more like three, right? Yeah. So his opponent in this start, Cole Reagan's, his velocity was down across the board, too. It was down like one to one point five on everything, 59 degrees, rainy weather. I buy what the Blue Jay, I buy the Blue Jay's explanation over Jose Barrios.

And in fact, if anybody was underwhelmed by Cole Reagan's start, I would say don't worry so much about that either. It was poor conditions for pitching. And for what it's worth, Cole Reagan's got his first win in this start. So I think it's officially scored a complete game. They called the game after five innings because of what. Yeah.

Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. So, you know, if Burrio's velocity remains down at his next start, then we say red alert, but not right now. And then Gore,

McKenzie Gore. How much are you buying the McKinsey Gore breakout? Mostly. Is that enough of a... Is that enough of an answer? Mostly. I'm mostly buying it. I think the strikeouts...

I think a lot of the encouraging signs we're seeing under the hood for McKinsey Gore aren't reflected in the actual numbers yet. I was looking up the strikeout rate. It's 10.7 per 9 now. So that's pretty darn good. But, you know, hasn't been going deep into starts, struggling to get wins since he pitches for the nationals.

Just how impactful is he in fantasy? How impactful can he be? I question that. I have him. I think I have him outside my top 50 in the starting pitcher rankings. It's definitely the upside for more from Gore. And I particularly like that of his 17 swinging strikes in this one, 11 came on to fastball against the Dodgers.

Yeah. So I see a lot that I'm liking about McKenzie Gore, and of course he has a terrific pedigree, was the top pitching prospect in baseball, not so many years ago. Throws very hard, especially for a left-hander. There's a lot to like here, and I'm encouraged. But if he doesn't meet the full extent of his potential,

I think just given the team context and the fairly restricted workload, it's going to be difficult for him to make like a huge impact in fantasy. He might just be kind of a middling fantasy option. Let's get into our week six preview. And as always, we'll start off with the schedule. 24 teams with six games next week. And there are six teams with seven games,

the Nationals, Yankees, Mets, Marlins, Cubs, and the Orioles. What about the Rockies? Well, they have six games next week. They are all on the road. starter sit these fringy two-star pitchers. Only one place to start, Scott. Garrett Crochet, going up against the twins and at the Cardinals, the twins, the team that just crushed him.

What do we do next week? Crushed. Yeah, they did crush him, didn't they? They're still a very good matchup, and so are the Cardinals, for what it's worth. They're a bottom five offense as well. Yeah, I think, I think. We got to hold our breath and start Garrett Crochet again. Because if you can't start him when he lines up for two with matchups this good,

it's hard to make the case to hold on to him at that point, isn't it? And look, he bounces back. It could be huge. It could be a huge 50-point week for him in CBS head-to-head leagues. So I think the upside, I mean, the whole reason you start a pitcher when he's making two starts is for the upside. And I think the upside for Garrett Crochet, Big Batmiss, or with these two matchups, is such that you got to just do it. You got to just do it and hope for the best.

And if it doesn't go well, trust that you made the right decision from a logical standpoint. And then maybe reassess Garrett Coals or sorry, Garrett Crochet's value after that. I will say it's unfortunate he's making two starts this week of all weeks. Because otherwise it would be an automatic sense. but it's all he figured it out, right? Yeah, I would say so. I think so. What about Luis Severino?

He is home against the Cubs and at the raise. Yeah, so I don't love what Louis Severino's been doing so far. I think he's lost a lot of what made him appealing in the first place. Doesn't look like he's going to be a big bat misser. But he's been stable and he's making two starts and the matchups are okay. So I lean yes on Luis Severino. Dean Kramer up against the Yankees and at the Reds. Going to leave that one for points leagues.

Those matchups are pretty scary. Dean Kramer, his good starts are very good. Oriel's offense backing him up tends to work deep into games. So I think in points leagues I could understand, okay, maybe one of those starts turns out to be pretty good and maybe one not so good, but you're getting kind of two bites at the apple there, and I think it's worth it in that format.

But in categories leagues, probably better to protect your ERA and whip. Kent to Maeda is home against the Cardinals and at the Yankees, I believe, coming off his best start of the season. Not saying much, but yeah, it was his best start. The velocity was up a little, though still not where we've seen it from Kentimaeada in the past years. So I'm going to say no to Maida. We mentioned Javier Assad earlier at the Mets and home against the Brewers. You know, the rank list I sent you, I had him in the no thanks category.

even behind Maida, but I think right now I'm deciding to move him up into the head-to-head points tier with Dean Kramer. And I think with those matchups, with the way Assad's performed so far, you'll want to take advantage of those two starts

in points leagues. Stephen Mats is coming off his worst start of the season, but the matchups next week at the Tigers and home against the White Sox. He's been so bad. He's been so bad. and we talked earlier this week about how maybe the White Sox

are just, and the White Sox are like, they've scored like 20 runs fewer than any other team. Something like that. I can give you the exact number. So coming into Thursday, it was 18 fewer runs than any other team. And so maybe they're just so historically bad offensively that anybody,

you want to start literally anybody who's facing them. But I think Stephen Matt's with the way look this year. That's that really tests that theory for me. I'm going to opt out. All right. Let's get into the two-star pitchers you do like, the ones that you are looking to add and stream for next week. Yes.

So the two-star pitchers I do like, my favorite, is John Gray, who has been really good in his last four appearances. Three of them starts. His slider has played up. He's gotten a lot more whiffs. He has a 156 ERA during. that stretch. And his matchups this week

are the Nationals and the Royals who actually rank pretty high in terms of runs scored, but they're cooling off. They're not going to keep that going. I think it's already starting to end for them. And so I love John Gray with those two matchups. Only 68% rostered.

Sean Mania gets the Cubs and the raise. His last couple starts weren't that great, but I think he's, I think with the adjustments he made with Drive Line, with the sweeper and the change-up. I still think he's somebody to consider streaming basically every week and with the two starts.

I'll run Sean Mania out there. Trevor Rogers has been decent for the Marlins, not working deep into games, but the results have been okay. And his matchups this week are the Nationals and Athletics. Another one of those teams, the athletics, especially, but really both of them we like to pick on. when we're streaming pitchers.

Yario Rodriguez gets the Royals and the Nationals, two good matchups. Hasn't gone five innings yet, but I think just by virtue of him having two matchups there, you know, he might get 12 to 15 strikeouts for you. And that would be worth it even if you don't have much hope for a win. Bailey Falter, okay, this one, this is a fun one. I don't think Bailey Fultor is very good. He's pitched fine so far. The strikeout numbers have been kind of all over the place.

And I've seen enough of Bailey Fultor in the majors to think he is nothing more than a space filler at the back of the rotation. But his matchups this week at Oakland versus Colorado. So I am going to go against my instinct here, even though I don't think Bailey Fultor is a good pitcher. This goes against my usual process, but the matchups are so good at a time of year where we've really seen pitchers capitalizing on those bad matchups. And I'm going to trust Fultor to do the same. He's only eighth on my sleeper pitchers here. It's not like everybody needs to pick him up, but it's something I'd consider. And Chris and I spoke about Bailey Fultzor earlier in the week.

He had a good start where he got all these whiffs on his fastball. His fastball this season, I don't notice that he's doing anything different. differently with it, has a 0.069 batting average against a 0.086 slug and a 22% whiff rate. Yeah, I just, I don't buy it at all. The expected numbers are good too, though. That's what's weird about it. Yeah. No, I, I, I, yeah, no, I get that. I just think it's, I just think it's fake. I just think it's something weird that's happening here at the start of the year because beyond that, I don't see, like, I don't see an explanation for why the expected numbers are that way.

other than his fastball has performed well so far. So I'm not buying it. But anyway, two great matchups this week. What about the single-star streamers? Who are you looking at? Edward Cabrera also gets the Rockies on the road. I don't think his Charzard tendencies really depend on matchups, but that one's too appealing to pass up.

Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Cardinals. Scott, if anything, hop out, hop back in. I'll run through your single-star streamers, and then we'll get you, we'll get you back up here for the sleeper hitters. All right, so the single-star streamers

that Scott was breaking down, Edward Cabrera up against the Rockies. That start is coming in Miami. And Jack Flaherty, 78% rostered. So this is a shallow league play. It is also a revenge game for Jack Flaherty, going up against the St. Louis Cardinals. Lance Lynn, speaking of revenge games,

he's going up against the Chicago White Sox, 72% rostered. Reese Olson, it's a good matchup against the Cardinals, and Reese Olson has been a little bit inconsistent this year, but he does have some strikeout upside, and Eric Fetty, who makes another start this weekend, so we'll see what he does in that one, but obviously had a double-digit strikeout start in his last outing,

and again, it is a pretty good matchup there at the St. Louis Cardinals. All right, Scott, you were back. I ran through your single-star streamers. I heard. Let's slide over to the hitters, the best hitter match. matchups for next week, the Marlins, the Cubs, the Pirates, the A's, and the Rangers, the worst hitter matchups, Red Sox, Angels, Braves, Mariners, and Astros. Who are your top sleeper hitters for week six?

So this was one of those weeks where, you know, I order them one through 10, obviously, 10 sleeper hitters ranked. But like, there's not really a strong preference. They're all just kind of interesting and none particularly more so than the others. I have Nate Lowe at the top of the list here. As you pointed out, the Rangers have the fifth best hitter matchups this week going against the Nationals and Royals rotations. Missing Cole Regans for what it's worth.

I think that's right. Yeah. And, you know, I don't think, I don't think Nate Lowe is going to be as available as he is for long. As I said earlier, as we talked about earlier on the show, Edward Julian, I think, is a fine play this week, given that the twins are facing one lefty, and they're also facing the White Sox pitching staff in three of their games. As we also mentioned, I like Jesse Winker.

No, we didn't mention that. We mentioned Luis Garcia. I have Luis Garcia here, Jesse Winker here. The Nationals aren't among the teams with the five best matchups, aren't among the five best trigger matchups, but they are playing seven games this week, and they do have several squishy. pitchers on the schedule.

So I like the way Winker and Garcia have performed so far. I think it's a good time to take advantage of that. Jock Peterson. I like him a lot this week. We know how hot Jock Peterson can get. I think this could be one of those three or four Homer weeks for him. Are we doing okay, Frank? There is a little something there, but I think you're back.

It's that time of night, huh? It's that time of night. I'm telling you. We're fine all day. until we want a podcast at 1.30 in the morning. Okay. Will Benson and Jake Fraley, I think, are good plays because the Reds have no lefties on the schedule either.

And let's see, who else? Mark Kana, it's been hot lately. The Tigers have good matchups. They're not among the five best, but they have good matchups going against the Cardinals and Yankees pitching staffs. Brian Dela Cruz, with the Marlins having the best matchups. He's the only hitter from their line.

who I could think to recommend here. And finally, Brent Rooker. Batting average is very low, but he's been powering up lately. And with the athletics having the fourth best in her matchups, I think he's a good play. All right. Well, let's wrap up with some of the leftovers

from Thursday's action, and then we'll get out of here. Some pitching leftovers, studs being studs. Zach Wheeler turned in a quality start. He was at the Reds, six shutout innings, only one hit allowed. Four walks to eight strikeouts with 16 swinging strikes.

Luis Castillo turned in a quality start at the Rangers. It was six innings, two runs, six strikeouts with 15 swinging strikes. Yoshinobu Yamamoto has turned in back-to-back quality starts. He was at the Nats. Six shutout, seven strikeouts to one walk. Only nine swinging strikes on 67 pitches, but he did a much better job limiting hard contact in this start.

Anything to add on those names, Scott Yamamoto, Kestio, Zach Wheeler, just kind of doing their things. Yeah, I think so. With Yamamoto, he threw 72% of his pitches for strikes in this one. And there may be a bit of a George Kirby thing going on where it's just, he's too in the zone, too many fastballs down the middle, and that's, it's not like it's really a problem, you know, just like it isn't with George Kirby. He's a good pitcher who puts up good numbers, but he's,

Is he going to live up to those like top five, top 10 expectations people put on him with the strikeouts, particularly? Is he going to live up to the strikeout upside we thought he had? Well, Kirby never has. And I'm kind of wondering if Yamamoto will. It's nitpicking because I think he's going to be very good and he has been very good. But it is, it's an observation worth putting out there. If you give me George Kirby with 12K per 9, I think I'd be pretty highted about that. Well, you know, he had less than a 10% swinging strike rate in this one.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, obviously 12K per 9, not many pitchers are capable of achieving that. But I'm wondering if Yamamoto is really going to be able to do that, given the way he's been pitching so far. We had uneven starts from these three. Cole Regens, which we spoke about. It was a range short and start, five innings, one run, four strikeouts for him. Justin Verlander, he was at the Cubs,

four in a third shutout innings, three hits, four walks, that's kind of uncharacteristic, but did have seven strikeouts and 16 swinging strikes, obviously just his second start of the season, and Nestor Cortez turned in a quality start against the A's, but didn't have his best stuff. It was seven innings, three runs, allowed two homers in this start,

only four strikeouts, only seven swinging strikes. So again, kind of, I think, uneven starts for all these, anything to add on Cortez, Verlander, and Regens. I mean, Verlander got a lot of whiffs on his fastball, which was interesting. If he keeps doing that, he's going to have a better season than last year. And the last name on this list is Freddie Peralta. He was awesome. His first, I think, four starts leading into this one, but he struggled with control.

He gave up five runs, five walks, five strikeouts, 13 swinging strikes on 91 pitches. Straight fives. Straight fives for Freddie Peralta. Even after this start, it's a 318 ERA, a 0.99 whip, 12K per 9. There was going to be some regression with the walks at some point, and obviously it all came in this one start here. Yeah. Hitting studs being studs, Raphael Devers, with two, three-hit games

in the two games since returning. He went three-for-five with a run scored. Jose Ramirez had himself a big game. It was three-for-five with his fifth home run, added four RBI. Bryce Harper returned from the paternity leave with a bang. two for three with his fifth home run. Julio Rodriguez was moved up to leadoff with J.P. Crawford now on the I.L.

He went two for four with his seventh stolen base, and Trey Turner had five hard hits in one game. He went three for five with a double and a run scored. He's off to a nice start betting 336, 20 runs scored, six stolen bases. Anything stand out here, Scott, Trey Turner, J. Rod, Harper, J. Ram, and Devers? I mean, I guess just the fact that how quickly Julio Rodriguez has corrected his batting average. And obviously the home runs are still lagging. I don't think any of us ever expressed concerned about Julio Rodriguez. And I would say that a lot of people out there who are rostering him are now less concerned too.

Bullpen updates for the Brewers. Yoal Paiomps entered in the eighth inning with a one-run lead facing 7, 8, and 9. in the Pirates lineup. He gave up a double and a walk but got out of it. It was Trevor McGill who got the ninth inning. He pitched a clean inning for his first save. What are we doing? What are we doing?

I just dropped a hundred on Pi-Ops in the last Fab run for TGFBI. What are we doing? I still think Pi-Ops is the most likely to get save opportunities, but maybe it's a... Pat Murphy, what are we doing? Yeah, and they use them to...

face the bottom of a lineup. That also included O'Neill Cruz. So maybe it was all about O'Neill Cruz. Perhaps. Who is the most dangerous hitter on the Pirates, even though he was batting toward the bottom of the lineup. But I don't know.

Trevor, Trevor McGill spent a portion of this season on the IEL and maybe he's coming in to muck things up. For the Guardians, Emmanuel Class A struck out one for his eighth save for the twins. Griffin Jacks entered with one out in the ninth. Runners on first and second, a four-run lead. He had an error behind him, but got the final two outs for his fourth save. Yohan Duran should be back soon.

For the Cubs, Hector Nairns got the ninth with a two-run lead. He walked two, but picked up his third save, 32% rostered. Yes, saves on back-to-back days. In one of those games, it was a solo homer. Today, two walks. He has nine walks and nine innings overall. Yeah. It's not perfect. It's, well, I mean, counsel's gone to him every time since removing Al-Zalai. So clearly, Neris is the reliever to have from the Cubs bullpen right now. But he's got to pitch better in order for that to last, because he really hasn't pitched that well this year. For the Mariners, Andrus Munoz got the ninth with a one-run lead.

He converted his third save for the Rockies. Justin Lawrence got the ninth with a one-run lead, struck out one for his second save. He's only 9% roster. It would have to be a pretty deep league to have any interest there. For the Dodgers, Evan Phillips, struck out two for his seventh save.

And for the Oakland A's, as we always say, Mason Miller was amazing. He allowed a hit, but struck out three for his sixth save of this season. To stream or not to stream, on Friday,

we've got Reese Olson up against the Royals. Maybe Luis Heel at the Brewers. Trevor Williams at the Marlins? This was that horrible day. That horrible day we were referring to yesterday, and it hasn't gotten any better. Yeah, Olson, Rees Olson is clearly the one.

Yeah, those are, I don't know, Jose Buto against the Cardinals might be okay. Maybe, yeah. But I'm not loving it. On Saturday, we have scrolling up and down. Mitchell Parker at the Marlins, that could work. Casey Mayes against the Royals, maybe. Jose Soriano against the twins? That's the one.

That's the one. In fact, he was among my 10 sleeper pitchers for the week we're playing out currently because of that matchup against the twins. So I think he's definitely the choice from Saturday streamers. That's Jose Soriano. What about Paddock on the other side? Any interest? No.

All right. Well, let's go over to. Sunday, I just realized that I wrote Paul Blackburn at Oakland. That doesn't make sense because he plays for Oakland. He is going up against the Orioles on the other side. Albert Suarez has the luxury of facing the Oakland A's. Lance Lynn at the Mets, maybe. Zach Lattel is at the White Sox.

That looks pretty good. Yeah. Actually, Lattel in there. Lattel's too rostered to be part of this. Is he? I think he's over 80%. Oh, my bad. Could be wrong.

I mean, is it really upsetting to hear that Letell against the White Sox is a good start? Is that like some people want to hear that? Yeah, he's 82% roster. Wow. Yeah. So obviously he's the first choice, but his roster rate would tell you that. Albert Suarez against Oakland, I think is a good play, probably my second favorite play. Well, if we're not counting Letel, it's my second favorite play of the weekend behind Jose.

Soriano. That's Albert Swares against Oakland. Also from Sunday Slate let's... I think Fetty against the Rays and Keaton win against the Pirates are pretty good. Yeah. Yeah.

That's it. All right. We're done here. Ending the show on a high note. We're going to wrap the hair for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We will be back again next week.

Bye-bye.