Speaker 1Boxing fans, mark your calendars. Ryan Garcia puts his welterweight world title on the line against hard-hitting top contender Conor Benn, plus undefeated Australian superstar Jai Obataya takes on Noel McCallion. Saturday, December 12th, all live on Paramount+. The feud between Garcia and Benn reaches a boiling point in one of the biggest fights of the year. The best part? There's no pay-per-view. The entire event is included with your Paramount Plus subscription. Saturday, September 12th, stream Zufa Boxing's Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn, live on Paramount+.
Speaker 2Ten under-the-radar prospects you need to know in Dynasty. Up next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express. Welcome into FBT Express on Thursday, September 10th. I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White. Let's take a look at ten under-the-radar prospects you need to know in Dynasty Leagues. And up first, we have Josiah Ragsdale from the Cardinals who came over from the Brewers in the Dustin May trade. Scott, what do you think? What do you have on Ragsdale?
Speaker 3Yep, yep. And just to clarify, these are prospects for deeper Dynasty Leagues. I've been able to pick them up in some of my 24 teamers. If you play in a really deep Dynasty League where the prospect pool is stretched, yeah, these guys are very interesting. Josiah Ragsdale at AA has put up a stat line to rival Josue de Paula, batting over 300, 24 homers, 36 steals, OPS near 1,000. Because he walks so much. And has pretty much kept it going since being traded to the Cardinals in the Dustin May deal. Slash line's a little bit worse, but power, speed, the speed gets 70 grades from evaluators. So with that plate discipline and the emerging power, I'd say Ragsdale is kind of a big deal.
Speaker 2All right, what can you tell me about Cam Canarella from the Marlins organization?
Speaker 3I think he should be the heirloom to the Cardinals. I think he should be the heirloom to the Cardinals. He's more of a line drive hitter and tends to go the opposite way. And the highest end exit velocities are lacking, sure. The average exit velocity is pretty strong, though. And Canarella, 15 home runs, he's shown enough functional power there that I think he could be kind of a Walmart version of Carson Bench.
Speaker 2All right, this next name up is one that I'm actually pretty familiar with. Yankees Twitter has been all over this one. That is Yostin Peña, 18-year-old outfielder in the Yankees organization.
Speaker 3Well, Yankees Twitter may be all over him, but he's still a fan. He's still not placing that high in the actual prospect rankings, at least the latest updates out there. Maybe that'll change in the offseason once everybody gets a look into him. I generally don't like hyping up 18-year-olds in rookie ball because you can end up sinking a lot of years into a lost cause that way. But Peña has now progressed to be on rookie ball. He's gone to full season ball, low A, and has continued to slash, 323, 389, 552 there in 24 games. Six homers, 10 steals. He's hit the ball as hard as 114 miles per hour there as an 18-year-old. So there's significant power. Obviously, some potential for failure being so young and so far down the ladder still, but I feel a lot better recommending him now that he's in A ball.
Speaker 2All right, next up we have Brian Rincon from the Phillies organization. Scott, what do you have on Rincon?
Speaker 3So you kind of understand the slow buy-in here. Rincon entered this season with nearly 800 minor league at-bats and had hit only 206. But he's had an offensive explosion this year. Reached base at better than a 400 clip, walking 91 times, and he's been a 20-20 guy. In fact, he's probably going to end up being a 25-homer, 30-steal guy. And is a great defender. At shortstop. So I think there's still some hesitancy to buy into him offensively. But the two skills that clearly stand out are those on-base skills and the defense. And with those two at shortstop, he's for sure going to get a serious look in the majors, Brian Rincon. And if these power speed contributions this year turn out to be even halfway legitimate, he'll probably matter in fantasy.
Speaker 2Next up, we have... We have Boston Smith, a catcher in the Mariners organization, actually came over from the White Sox in the Luis Castillo trade.
Speaker 3And prior to that, he came over from the... Nationals? Nationals. The Nationals and the Curtis Meade deal. So he's been traded twice, Boston Smith, in the last calendar year for players we've heard of. But he's produced the best numbers of the three, granted in the minors. But still, 1,000 OPS. He's walked nearly 100 times. He's hit over 30 home runs. He kind of reminds me of Ben Rice, Boston Smith does, in that he's not getting any attention from prospect evaluators, despite putting up incredible numbers. And I think part of it's just they don't expect him to stay a catcher, so it makes for a much more difficult defensive path. But if Boston Smith continues to do what Ben Rice does, which is just mash everywhere he goes, then he'll fit anywhere, as we've seen with Rice. So the power's legit. He is especially good at elevating to his pole side and obviously takes a lot of walks, too. So I like Boston Smith a lot.
Speaker 2Let's take a quick break. We'll be back right after this. Welcome back, FBT Express. We are continuing on with 10 under-the-radar prospects for those who play in Dynasty Leagues. And next up, we have Axiel Plaz, a catcher in the... Yes, we do.
Speaker 3Axiel Plaz has an OPS around 900 at high A this year. And that's at age 20, for the most part. He recently turned 21. So OPS around 900, while striking out about 17% of the time, so that doesn't seem like it's going to be an issue. We don't have StatCast data at high A, but... But Axiel Plaz played a good portion of last season in low A Bradenton, which is the Florida State League, where they do have StatCast set up. And there, as a 19-year-old, he had an average exit velocity of 92.3 miles per hour and a max of 113.9 as a 19-year-old. So, like, big boy power, and he makes a lot of contact, and he's a catcher. So Axiel Plaz, I think, very much on the rise.
Speaker 2Next up, we have Brandon Compton of the Marlins, yet another. Outfield prospect in the Miami organization.
Speaker 3Yeah, and he was their second-round pick last year, so people who follow the draft closely may have heard of him. But he's been very little discussed during the season, actually, despite probably going to be a 30-30 guy. He's spanned three levels in his first professional season here, up to 35 homers and 20s, 27 steals, with nearly 100 walks. Now, he strikes out too much. It's a familiar problem for a player who puts up ridiculous power numbers in the minors, and oftentimes it could be a deal-breaker. I'm not saying Brandon Compton is can't-miss, but the upside here is readily apparent with all those homers, all those steals, all those walks. And just to put the power in perspective, he was part of the MLB draft combine prior to the game. Prior to the 2025 draft, where he was taken in the second round. It's the fifth year of the MLB draft combine, and he hit the hardest three balls in that event's history, in that, the hardest three of any hitter to come through there in the five years it existed. So, Compton, lots of power. And already on the precipice of the majors at AAA.
Speaker 2Next up, we have Carter Graham, a first baseman in the Reds organization. What do we need to know about him?
Speaker 3So, he is 24 and is only at AA. That's likely to raise an eyebrow. He stalled out at high A, spent his age 22 and 23 seasons there, didn't do much of anything. Third time was the charm this year, put up monster numbers, moved up to AA, which is a big step up the ladder. Pitchers, it's like a pitcher-friendly level. And he's continued. He's continued to mash Carter Graham since moving up to AA. So, whatever was going on with him in high A the previous two years, he seems to have legitimately figured out after the move up to AA, slashing 281, 394, 507, between the two stops, 28 homers, a near 1,000 OPS, batting over 300, lots of walks, good at pulling the ball in the air, so the power should definitely play well at Great American Ballpark. He is a right-handed hitting first baseman, Carter Graham, but he has appeared some at third base and left field. this year, so trying to expand as versatile I think has a decent chance of being a real contributor for the Reds.
Speaker 2Next up, very fun name, Avery Owusu-Asiedu of the D-backs. And look, if this guy's going to be a thing, I've got to think of a nickname for him.
Speaker 3Yeah, he's a fun player too. So 26 homers, 27 steals. Batting average is only around 240, but here's the crazy part. And why Owusu-Asiedu is on this list. He was batting 169 as recently as July 21st and has just gone on a tear since then. Like a 1,200 OPS in 40 games since. That's where he's hit most of his home runs, stolen most of his bases. The strikeout rate has also dropped 8 percentage points during that time. Now, most of it's come after his move up to double and he's been able to win a lot of games. So that's a good thing. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. He's also a Amarillo, which is a very hitter-friendly affiliate. So that may have something to do with it, but he's also produced on the road there. So I think Owusu-Asiedu has figured it out and should start to get some more attention as a prospect.
Speaker 2The last name we'll talk about here today is Danielle Ortiz, a third-base prospect in the Cardinals organization.
Speaker 3So he's a guy who caught my eye last year. I actually drafted him in the Scott White Dynasty League. He slacked. He slashed 300, 416, 462 between two levels last year and stole nearly 40 bases. So I like the on-base skills, a little bit of pop there, the steals. Wasn't doing much this year, missed two months with a wrist injury and then didn't look right at the plate the following two months. But last 30-plus games, Danielle Ortiz has come to life looking more like the guy we saw last year. In fact, with more power, 291. 383, 600. And that's a double-A now. So he is at a level where you have to take him seriously. Great plate discipline, obviously. And there's a power-speed combo here from a third-baseman.
Speaker 2And those are 10 underrated prospects. Scott actually has an article out on the website CBSSports.com with 13 no-name sleeper prospects to target in Dynasty League. So you can read about a few more in that article as well. For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to our full-length podcast, Fantasy Baseball Today, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else podcasts are found. Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball Today Express, and we'll be back again this weekend. Bye-bye! Bye-bye!
Speaker 3Paramount Podcasts
PodcastTranscript AI