Braxton Ashcraft's Upside & Buy-Low Candidates! (5/22 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

[MUSIC] >> Happy Cuckaboo Friday and welcome in. >> Top fantasy baseball today on May 22nd. I am Frank Stanford, joined by Scott White, today on the show Braxton Ashcraft backed up. Scott ranking him as his SP25. Maybe it's too low, who knows? Should we keep the faith on these three players and >> Scott he doesn't know. >> Yeah. >> Let's go. >> Yeah, any time we get a chance to prove how little I know. >> I'll tell you what Scott does know and that is the lyrics to Backstreet Boys songs. >> Yeah, I guess I was kind of singing that before we started recording. >> I feel a little loopy this week, having gotten enough sleep. And I get kind of sing songy when I'm loopy. >> I have noticed that I think almost every podcast before we've started this week, you have been singing song before we start in the stream yard. >> I like it. >> Today was Backstreet. >> Back. >> That's the name of the song, Backstreet's Back. >> I couldn't tell. >> Everybody knows this song. >> I know the song, I don't know what the name of the song is, but yeah. I'm an in sync guy myself, but whatever. Boy bands of the 90s, they were awesome. Anyway, let's jump in. >> My goodness, unbelievable. >> Well, let's get things started with my player of the night. That is Braxton Ashcraft. He was awesome up against the Cardinals. Seven innings of One Run Ball. Nine strikeouts, 12 whiffs on 98 pitches here. Five on the slider, three on the fastball, two on the curve, two on the sinker. He did use that slider more in the start. And it looked pretty good. His fastball and curveball performed well. Both of his breaking pitches are just really good. Entering this start, each of them had a whiff rate over 37% on the season. His fastball and sinker, while they got hit hard last year, that was the biggest question I had about Ashcraft. I knew his breaking pitches were good coming in, but so far the season, his fastballs have actually fared well. They're not getting destroyed like they were last season. He threw a bunch of strikes in this one. And all of a sudden, he's down to a 289 ERA 103 web over a strikeout per inning. 48% ground ball rate. He gets whiffs. The expected ERA is good. He's been consistent. He's giving you length, six innings and seven of 10 starts. He's really good. I don't know that I need to tell you that's got. That's what I've been trying to tell you, Frank. I wrote him up as a breakout before the season. You know, you have to tell me, Scott. Well, you were, you were, you had a hard time buying in once it actually started. So my biggest concern with Ashcraft, who I considered more of a deep sleeper coming into the season, didn't push him that hard then, was because he had only entered the rotation late last year. And a lot of the starts were like the three, four inning variety. And he looked really good. He looked even better as a starter than he did as a reliever. The swinging strikes went up. It's got a ton of ground balls. That's a great combination and a great path to success. And so like the path to success was there, but just given how Ashcraft joined the rotation and how early those hooks were. I just wondered how solid he was as a starter for the pirates if they would give him, if they would commit to him in the rotation fully. And if they would give him the kind of runway he needs to be an impactful fantasy starter. So once he went six innings in his first two outings to begin the year, that's pretty much when I was sold. Because it's like, I like everything else about Ashcraft. If they're letting him do that. And it's only gone better from there. So he went seven innings in this one that makes now four of his last six starts. He's gone seven innings or more. And only three times has he gone less than six. So he's like a workhorse on top of everything else. And yeah, prior to the start, I ranked him 25th, confidently rest of season. I think I think that's more likely to be too low than too high. I guess the one hesitation still when we're talking rest of season rankings for Ashcraft is last year he threw 118 innings. I believe if I can add this up quickly, is that right? 118, 70 plus 48. Yeah, 118. Yeah. Between the majors and minors. So, you know, at some point, particularly if they're letting him go six and seven innings with consistency, at some point, he's going to reach a number where the pirates may want to pull back. But I'm not going to worry about that today. I'm just going to enjoy what Ashcraft is doing and say I knew it all along. Am I balling the rankings now? I have Ashcraft and SP 33 before this start. I have Bradish ahead of him. Yeah, like you can leap frog, Bradish. Gavin Williams is kind of, I don't know, like I think Gavin Williams is someone you just leaving your lineup. They'll be highs. They'll be lows. But I think I probably would prefer. I think Ashcraft is a lot more consistent than Gavin. Do it a month. Keep moving. Keep going. Parker Messick at 30. Keep going. I don't know. Messick's really good, man. Messick's got those short outings. Yeah. Messicks are hot mess. It's not hot mess. But he's got those short outings. And then I just have like a huge injured tier of like Logan Webb, Glass Nell, Reagan's freed and Hunter Brown. So if you wanted to, if you wanted to push Ashcraft out of those guys, like I totally get it. I see how you have met a SP 25 of all the, I guess like Ashcraft or Freddie Peralta. That's where I'm at. It's not a crazy question. I mean, Peralta is what he is. Like he's long track record. I think he's going to be fine. But track record is usually like a mid three Z array and like a whip that's not great. And you know, he doesn't go super deep into his start. So yeah, that might be a real conversation. I think of all the things that have happened this season. The breakout pitcher really has come true fruition, right? It's between Camp Schlillar and Nolan McClellan. I know his last star was good, but everything before that, his last star was bad. Everything before that was really good. Like Chase Burns has been awesome. And then we can match. Cliplers last start with seven strikeouts and Nolan McClellan six to run innings. Oh, Nolan McClellan. So I'm clean. Okay. That has everyone except for Bob a Chandler has pretty much come through on the breakout. Okay. So that has been one of the few positives, I guess, of this season. So yes, very confident in Braxton Ashcraft. If you have them, I think you have a legit SP three and someone that could keep climbing up the rankings if he continues to perform. Let's go over to use got your player tonight. Oh, wait, he's on your shirt. He is. The shirt that was a gift from you. So many years ago, Spencer Strider. Let's talk about Spencer Strider. He threw a season high six and a third innings had a season high nine strikeouts. It was what his third start. So kind of kind of silly to call it season high, I guess. But for the most part, he looked good. I continue to be encouraged about Strider. He did a give up three home runs. You can't give up three home runs very often. Expect to get away with it. There were three solo home runs. But even that is very best Spencer Strider was someone who was susceptible to the long ball. That's just going to be part of his game. And you have to accept that that's going to happen sometimes. But overall, I continue to be encouraged by what he's doing. He had 15 swing strikes on 100 pitches. I think we can all calculate 15% swing strike rate. Four on the fastball, which continues to run a with rate closer to where it was two years ago, three years ago, than where it was last year and caused him so many issues. So four on the fastball, six on the slider. That's never been a problem. Four on a change up that he threw 14% of the time. And he's also been mixing in this curve ball more often. So overall, the change up in the curve ball, the usage is still low. I mean, it's higher than it's been in the past. He kind of traded off him and he uses change up versus how much curve ball. Overall, the usage is low. But between those two and the slider, he knows three pitches with better than a 50% with rate while that fastball with rate is also improved. And then you look at the characteristics of the fastball, you can understand why the with rate has bounced back. It was actually down a little bit the velocity in this start. Ninety four point eight is what he averaged on the fastball. It had 19 inches of induced vertical break, which is the shape that he used to throw it when he was at his most dominant and getting tons of with with that fastball. So my thesis for straws. writer coming into the year was, okay, maybe he'll never recapture the velocity on the fastball. But if he can recapture the shape of the fastball, or if he can expand his arsenal so that he has other weapons to go along with that slider, I think he could still be good. It looks like he may have done both of those. He may have recaptured the shape of the fastball, and he may have brought into his arsenal with, again, three pitches now with better than a 50% whiff rate. And so I think this is shaping up to be a year with a ton of strikeouts from Strider. If nothing else, the ERA may be on the high side again, it may be mid-threes. But I think he's going to get so many strikeouts that you don't care that much. I think we should be thinking of Spencer Strider as a must-star pitcher again. Subject to change, of course. Analysis never ends on the day it's given. But right now, that's the way I'm leaning with this. Yeah, I think your thesis is exactly the way that we all felt here on the podcast. And I agree. I'm encouraged by the secondaries have looked really good. And the IVB being up on that fastball today really stood out to me. 19 inches is a really, really good sign there for that fastball. He does give up hard contact at times. And again, he's going to give up some home runs here there. That's always kind of been a bugaboo there for Strider. So I agree that the ERA could run a little bit high. But overall, I'm pretty encouraged just right now eyeballing it, solid SP3 kind of locked in there right now for fantasy. Yeah, I would say so. All right. Let's take with those bravo's for a second. I have a bonus name here. Just kind of give a shout out to Michael Harris, man. He is on fire this season. He had two more home runs, three RBI. He has had second in the lineup, two games in a row against the right handed pitcher. No Drake Baldwin. He's on the aisle. So it looks like Michael Harris is now occupying that spot in the lineup. I think that's really good for his fantasy value right between Akunya assuming he's healthy. Left this game with a thumb injury. It said it's a precaution. But between Akunya and Olsen, that is just that is a prime time spot in any lineup. That's one of the best spots to hit in any lineup in all baseball. So Harris now up to 298 batting average 11 homers and 848 OPS. And he's hitting the ball harder than ever. He's barreling it up more than ever. The expected stats love him. I'm looking at Michael Harris is just a legit outfielder too. He's I think he's to the point of the player we wanted him to always be. He could run a little bit more. He only has three steals so far. But he's doing things that we've always wanted him to do. He's now doing that this season. Yeah, yeah, he is. I think there's going to be, he's going to give back some of this because the exit velocity is running so much higher than they've ever run before. He's always been a guy who's hit the ball pretty hard, but this is kind of next level in a way that strikes me as unlikely to be sustained because it's not like his swing speed has improved or I guess his fast swings rate is better than last year, but not that different from 2024. It's not other than the exit velocity itself itself. It's not so different than the Harris we've seen in the past. Having said that, the Harris we've seen in the past was really good for fantasy with the exception of 2024. It's still so strange to me. Maybe strange isn't the right word, but it would catch people by surprise what his actual production is in points leagues. Yeah, I did notice that the other day. It's like 2.6 points for a game or something. Yeah, it's gone up obviously with the two-homer game, but that's always been the biggest obstacle for Harris. I mean, it's another year where he's batted low in the lineup for the most part with Drake Baldwin being down. He's hitting higher and I don't know me. I haven't heard the latest on Ronald D'acunius thumb. Maybe he's down again. So that would keep Harris high in the lineup. That's part of it for points leagues is just, even though the percentages look good, the counting stats trail because of how low he tends to hit in the lineup. He never walks. That's like you have to be a really good home run hitter, not just a pretty good home run hitter to make up for that in points leagues. I'm not saying Michael Harris isn't worth starting in a points league, but 2.6 points for game is less than Jacob Marcy. It's less than Spencer Stier. It's about what Christian has run this year with his 174 batting average. So it's just not Harris's format. Right. The category's leagues a different story, but that's always been the case for him. It just seems like it's even starker this year. Yeah. And last point I'll add on him, the launch angle up a little bit this season. So while hitting the ball as hard as he is, his average launch angle up from seven degrees to 10 degrees this year. I mean, that's, it's minimal, but it's big for him because he's always hit way too many ground balls. So putting the ball in the air more and obviously much better things happening here for Michael Harris. You wouldn't consider him a sell high, right? It's got, I mean, you said he's going to take a little bit of a step back. I would probably agree with that, but I wouldn't put him in the sell high category. I am not imagining you could sell high enough to make it worth it, but you know, it is always to, it's always a matter of what you're actually getting. Could a sell high scenario exist for Harris? Yeah, sure. I, it could because he's not even a top 20 outfielder for me, but I doubt you're going to get such a clear, return clear upgrade for him that it's, it's worth even pursuing. All right. Just a reminder that you could find Scott's week 10 sleepers and two star pictures on the website, CBS sports.com/fantasy/baseball or on the CBS fantasy app. We'll also have our usual FBT express coming out this Saturday where we discuss week 10. It will be in your audio feed and on YouTube. Also, we will not be live this Sunday night Memorial Day weekend. We will have a mailbag dropping Sunday night slash Monday morning. Let's take a quick break. A correction real quick. Michael Harris is my 19th outfielder in roto. So he has a top 20 outfielder for me, but my point is just I rank some guys ahead of him. So in theory, a sell high trade could exist. How much lower is he in a point? Good questions. So again, 19th in roto and points. I'm probably going to have him too high. I'm 23rd that feels too high. I probably haven't been a similar range out of imagine, but yeah, yeah. All right, let's take a quick break. We'll be back right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's hit the news and notes. As we just mentioned, Ronald Cunia was removed early with left thumb pain. The brave said it was a precaution. We'll see if he's in the lineup on Friday. Tarek's Google threw a successful 35 pitch bullpen on Thursday. That's at least the third time he's thrown from the mound since having that surgery. And already have to 35 pitches. I have to imagine a rehab rehab stint is coming pretty soon here for school. Bad news for Robbie snelling. He will undergo Tommy John surgery ending his season brutal blow finally gets his shot, only gets to make one start and then instantly has to have season ending elbow surgery. Probably won't see him until the second half of next year. Hey, now we get another prospect. The pirates called up Esmeraline Valdez. He is 22 years old. He crushed the Arizona fall league. I actually got to see him in the AFL home run derby. He made it to the finals against his team. And I think it was Tony Blanco, Jr. He used it in some bombs. Definitely a fun guy to watch. He in 46 games this year at triple A hit 253 with 10 homers and 88 OPS walks a lot. Pretty good play discipline hits the ball hard. I'm just not sure how much he'll play since the pirates recently called up the password. You'll stings in Garcia. And neither of them were in the lineup here on Thursday. It was Jake Mangum who started over both. So 5% rostered is Esmeraline Valdez. What is your interest level for fantasy? It's low. It's low because of the playing time issue and because Valdez is a I'd call him like a second or third tier prospect of borderline top 100 guy. Maybe it's a more relatable way to put it. There are some issues here that don't show up in the data. Like he could struggle with major league velocity. He could struggle with more advanced breaking balls. That's what the scouting reports were saying coming into the season. I'd have to dig a little deeper to see evidence of strides made in those areas. That was the scouting report coming in even though he hits the ball hard, even though he draws a fair number of walks. And he was hitting only 253 at triple A. So probably has something to do with that. Ultimately though, if he plays well, he'll get more playing time and it'll become more interesting in that case. So this year at triple A, if I'm reading this correctly, Esmeraline Valdez had a 457 x-Wolba against forcing fastballs, but also a 35% wave rate. So that is really high. Yeah. It's fastballs. I think he crushes them when he makes contact. But he also looks like he's going to see much better velocity overall in the majors than at triple A. Yep. Jared Jones will make his fifth rehab start Saturday at triple A and he has looked great so far. he 67% rostered. I think he is pretty clearly a must stash. No, he's a person, Frank. Is he a mustash? Jar Jones is that what we're talking about? Yeah. Okay. Yes, he is. Yes, I have him 67th, which I think would make him rosterable in all leagues. And I mean, he's throwing triple digits on his rehab assignment and was an exciting pitcher before the, it wasn't Tommy Johnson's surgery. I think he had the internal brace procedure. That sounds right. Yeah, it was looking good though. The pirate's rotation right now, skeens, Keller, Majinsky, Ashcraft. I don't know. That might be the end for a Boba Chandler once, Jar Jones is ready to join the rotation. Not the end, but the end for now, I guess. He clearly needs to go back to the minors and work on things. I think. I mean, I don't, I don't think Carmen Majinsky is hot stuff and he has bullpen experience. So they could go that route again, just sending Majinsky to the bullpen. But yeah, I think it's, I think it's something they have to consider as much trouble as Boba Chandler has had throwing strikes. Lars Newbar is aiming to return on June 1st. He is two for eight with a home or so far. And four games during his rehab assignment, six percent roster. So widely available. I mean, this is a five outfield or league type play here. But are you looking to stash Lars Newbar. I mean, he's been a perennial disappointment even when he wasn't coming back for major injuries. So I, 15 gamers. This is how I think you can wait and see how he performs. This is my latest Willie Calhoun. I always thought Willie Calhoun was just going to be amazing. And I would never give up. I've always felt the same way about Lars Newbar. I just can't quit, man. I mean, it was a breakout pick for me as recently as last year. I bought into that whole working with Nolan Aranato to improve his pull air rate and didn't really, didn't really manifest. So burdened me once, shame on you, burdened me three or four times. Well, I just like getting burned. Brented oil was placed in the aisle with a left oblique contusion. I thought maybe Cole Carrig would get the call here. But instead they called up Chad Stevens. So we will have to wait for Cole Carrig. Roman Anthony was shut down through Thursday. He felt lingering soreness in his wrist when swinging a bat on Monday. Believe he's going to try again on Friday. So we'll see what happens there. Jose Caballero is expected to be activated on Friday. And it was Spencer Jones who was option back to AAA after Thursday night's game. So it appears that Anthony Volpe will stick around. Not exactly sure what the alignment is going to be here. It's Caballero just back as the starting shortstop to they maybe play Volpe and Caballero. Caballero together and sit Ryan McMahon. I think there's a few different options here. But Caballero was playing really well before he got hurt. And obviously is a great source of stolen bases. I think you could pretty easily drop Spencer Jones, right? Yeah. It always seemed like a long shot that he would amount to something certainly in this first cent. But really period. It seems like a long shot. He'll amount to something because his issues with contact are so extreme. Trink Risham who left early Wednesday with a left knee injury had his imaging come back clean. Cody Senga has been cleared for a rehab assignment. We'll have to see a lot from him before we consider picking him back up in fantasy. Nathan Church is expected to go on the aisle Friday due to lower body fatigue. And the Marlins acquired re-signs from the Reds in exchange for Zach McCambley. Let's talk waiver wire pitch. That's one less potential obstacle for no LV Marta. True. True. Marta is still crushing the Miners Man. It's yeah. I don't know. I don't know what it's going to take to get him back up in the majors. Man, it's I think it's mostly just defense. Like if they see enough defensively from him in the minors, I think that's one they'll call him up. But that's probably the thing that's holding him back most out of action. Two of their starting outfielders are batting under 200. Yeah. And Marta has mostly been playing center field. Like almost exclusively now. Let's do it. Get him up. Yeah. It's it's an interlite. It's a guy with defensive issues moving him to the more prominent spot is is a choice, I suppose, but maybe it works better because the angles off the batter cleaner. I don't know. I have heard some people maybe it was even you who mentioned like he is a former shortstop prospect. I think someone that typically has come up like playing up the middle. It's just an easier transition to put that guy in center field. So yeah, if they have the athleticism for it and maybe they believe he does. Yeah, I could be. Waiver wire pitchers from Thursday's action are these four anything more than just streamers. Joey Cantillo, a strong start at the Tigers, five and two thirds shut out with six strikeouts. He had 16 whiffs on 98 pitches and he is 69% roster. He's a spark for those endpoints leagues. He also faces the nationals next week. And they are first in baseball in Woa against left handed pitching. And what are Audrey is through a gem against the Rocky seven shut out innings with four strikeouts only seven whiffs on 99 pitches. I didn't see much in the start. His fastball velocity was up 1.1 miles per hour. I think it was mostly just Rockies first game away from Cores field. And that's why we liked E-Rod as a streamer in this spot. But yeah, look next week he gets the Giants in San Francisco and they're really bad against lefties. So I think he's probably really they're really bad. Bearing. Yeah, I think E-Rod's in the conversation is a streamer for next week as well. I also think if you can get anything for him in a trade, I would pull the trigger on that immediately. Kate Kvalli was great against the Met seven innings, two runs, nine strikeouts, nine whiffs on 84 pitches. He's at the Guardians next week. And Luis Severino, he was nasty at the angels seven innings of two run ball 10 strikeouts to zero walks 18 whiffs on 97 pitches. He threw 75% of his pitches for strikes. Here it is. Try and hit it and they could not hit it. So Severino, he's home against the athletics next week. He has pitched very poorly in Sacramento. Scott are any of these four. Severino Kvalli, E-Rod and Joey Cantillo, anything more than just streamer types? Maybe Kvalli, he continues to have some interesting starts. This now with nine strikeouts here against the Metz. And remember the last time he faced him, he had 10 strikeouts. That makes it four of his last, no where's the stat. Eight strikeouts or more for Kate Kvalli and four of his last six starts, which is not something every pitcher is capable of. And his curve ball, it plays really well. It's got a 45% wif rate on the season. So there may be something here for Kvalli. I'm I think I think it's these worth investing a roster spot in because he at least shows a glimmer of upside and is kind of a mystery box relative to some of these others. I agree with your take on at Wartur Rodriguez that he might be, he might soon be the ultimate sell high guy. If he has another good outing against the Giants, which seems likely. He's just had a string of favorable matchups here and come through with it, but nothing under the hood looks that impressive. I got to say this was probably my best week here week nine, probably my best week of the season so far for sleeper hitters and pitchers because I know Kvalli was on that list. Rodriguez was on that list. I think was can't can tell on that list. Maybe I don't remember for sure, but there were some others earlier in the week. It was it's been a good week for those. And Rodriguez will be honored again next week. Yeah, I think that makes sense. Would you take any of these four over JT Gain or Walbert Arrania, who we spoke about earlier in the week? I think I would take Kvalli over them. What about Zebby Matthews? Kvalli over Matthews? Yeah. Yeah, because Matthews I have behind those other two again and Walbert. What about Ben Brown? I think Ben Brown, close call with him in Kvalli. I think I slightly favor Brown. All right, two relievers who are getting stretched out as starters here, Spencer Miles of the blue jays he pitched well in bulk relief at the Yankees four and a third shutout innings with six strikeouts. He had nine whists on 63 pitches. That's a 14% swinging strike rate. And he is a sparkle ready as SP and RP eligibility. And he might line up for two starts or two bulk relief appearances next week. Zach Agnose of the Rockies. He made his first career start. He's only pitched out of the bullpen so far. Five shutout innings four strikeouts. He had nine whists on 71 pitches, a 13% swinging strike rate to very deep name sky. We're talking a only and only maybe 15 teamers or like deeper points leagues, but any interest at all in a Zach Agnose or Spencer Miles. I tried to get interested in Miles especially because his previous outing, not technically a start because he's following openers, but it seems like they're stretching Spencer miles out for a starting role. His previous outing was good to five strikeouts in three and two thirds, scoreless innings, and then he had the six and four and a third scoreless innings. So it seems like, hmm, this looks like a big batmissor, but not really. I mean, swinging strike rate is like 9% on the year, and that was with a lot of short relief outings where you'd expect it to run higher. Ground ball rate is very good for Spencer miles, 52%. But the odds are already against him so much that I think I need more than a high ground ball rate to care. And mostly, I'd put him maybe in the Griffin-Jack's range of interest because I think Griffin-Jack's has some of those same strengths and weaknesses. Max is probably preferable just because he's a bigger name, but that's where I'm putting Spencer miles right now. And that's for Zach Agnos. I think if he pitched for any other team, I might be able to muster some interest in him. He gives up a lot of weak contact, varied arsenal, a pretty good swinging strike rate too. It's just not going to work in Colorado and the long run. It's just not. Yeah. I think in deeper leagues, like road starts, I'm a little interested just because he entered this outing with three different pitches that had a Whiff rate over 44%. His slider sweeper and splitter. And as he mentioned, he limits hard contact. He had really good numbers in the minors as well as a reliever. He did not make a start in the minors ever, but he was really good down in the minors. So, yeah, I wish he was on a different team, but 15 teamers and only on the road. Maybe, maybe Zach Agnos. Are we keeping the faith with these three Kyle Stowers, George Springer and Sandy. Sandy, you got rocked Kyle Stowers, two for four with a double dong. He is only up to three home runs so far. He's got a 694 OPS plate discipline is actually a little bit better than last year, but his average exit velocity, his barrel rate is way down. His bad and ball distribution is just like all over the place right now. His ground balls are up. His fly balls are down so far and just it's hard to do damage. It's hard to for power when that's the case. So have you lost faith in Kyle Stowers? God, where are you out on him? I was losing faith and then he had a two home or game. Yeah, I just don't I don't know that he's had enough time to really to really draw any firm conclusions with him because of all the time he missed with injury. The exit velocity is down by a little over a mile per hour, but plate discipline looks pretty normal, hard hit rate, pretty normal, bad speed, normal, what it was last year, now. I think it's I think he's been cold and maybe this two home or game turns that around and his exit velocity is climbed because of it and he starts to look more like the guy who was last year. I think that's a plausible enough scenario, maybe even the likely or scenario that it probably does pay to keep the faith on Kyle Stowers. And Springer is a similar case in that he missed a lot of time with injury and so there have been these fits and starts and I just think he deserves more time, especially I mean, he was a monster last year. So I think that justifies giving him a longer look to the big improvement for him last year. He was kind of a poster child in terms of the increase in average bat speed and fast swing rate swinging with more intent and get doing more damage on that. And I was going to say those have held those numbers average bat speed and fast swings rate. They it looks like they've slipped a little since the last time I checked, but they're still much better than 2024 or 2023. They've slipped a little bit from 2025. And now maybe they'll bounce back if they've slipped a little recently. Bottom line though is I think Springer deserves more time. Not saying you have to start on particular in a three outfield really, but I want to drop them. Would you it's harder to do for Stowers, I guess coming off a two home run game, but would you look to buy low on these two if you can? I mean, it would have to be really low. It's certainly in a three outfielder context there on the verge of being dropped. So they'd have to be really low in that scenario. And I'd be okay with it. In a 15 team, well, not necessarily 15 team in a five out of the field or league, let's say, where you can't imagine them being dropped. Would you would I buy low on them there? I have been thinking about that for Springer specifically. I've been weighing what's the offer I've been weighing. I can't remember what it is exactly, but I've thought about it and I haven't gone there yet. And I know you have a scenario like that too in one of your leagues where you think it have given up a closer 15 team leagues so close yourself extra value for Springer. And you haven't quite been able to pull the trigger yet either. I would like them. I would like somebody to just gift wrap them for me. Yeah. I would like somebody else to drop them so I could go pick them up. That's really what I want to happen. I had an offer to give up Brian Baker and South Freelink for Springer, but I just didn't feel like it was low enough to I have three good closures, but I was like, I don't know, I didn't feel like it was low enough to to give up for Springer. And then 12 seemed like you'd probably do that because it's easier to replace those saves that Baker gives you. What about Sandy? Hit hard by the braves here. Six innings, nine hits, six runs allowed, two homers allowed, only three shrykouts. I mean, despite his swinging shrykrate being up this season, his shryk out rate is 6.2 Ks per nine. And look, his first three starts. We remember they were all amazing. He was, he had a complete game shut out. He was going for another shut out earlier on in the season. His last eight starts since then, a 576 ERA and a 165 whip, six K per nine over three walks per nine. So are you keeping the faith with Sandy? Do you start them next week at the Blue Jays? I don't think you have to. I might particularly into points league. I think Sandy Alconto is a point league specialist, basically. It doesn't mean you can't have him in a categories league, but you know, you're you're knocking, you're digging the strike out rate for Sandy Alconto. It was 7.3 per nine last year. It was 7.4 per nine prior to his injury in 2023. Like historically, he hasn't been a very good strike out pitcher. He'd run higher rates prior to that, but he's never had a strike out per inning in his career. So that's just not really like more than that. He's a workhorse. He's a keep the ball on the ground guy. And you hope the whip doesn't climb too high. I think in the long run, the ERA is going to be better than it is right now after the start. He just had. But I don't think he is, when it comes to keeping the faith on Sandy Alconto, it just depends what you mean. Do I think he is a good enough pitcher to keep on a fantasy roster? Yes. But I don't think he's going to be that big of a deal for fantasy either. And that was my contention with him coming into the year too. So not necessarily a must start pitcher at this point. No, got it. No. Let's take our final break when we return. Where are we at on Carlos Rdahn and Jose Soriano? We'll get to Scotty as a no and much more right after this. Where are we on these two pitchers? Carlos Sordon. He was solid against the blue jays. Five innings of one run ball. Seven strikeouts of three walks. He had 18 whiffs on 95 pitches. His velocity down quite a bit like fastball 1.7 slider was down two miles per hour. He got a lot more drop on his slider in this one. The whiffs were great. He needs to get the walks down it. It's only been three starts so far. And then Jose Soriano, a quality starting in CF Ludic 6 and 2/3. Two runs. Seven strikeouts. One walks 17 whiffs on 103 pitches. And I know it has been rocky of late. His previous four starts before this one. 614, ERA 150 whip. So nice to see him bounce back here with a quality start. Scott, where are you right now on Carlos Sordon and Jose Soriano? I think this was actually the velocity drop there for Carlos Rodón was actually kind of encouraging because the velocity dropped basically to where they were last year on the fastball and slider a little lower than last year. But more like where they were last year than where they had been his first couple starts. And I think that's going to help him command the ball better because even though his velocity was down last year, that was the best year he had in a long time. And you know, he got a good result here with the blue jays. The walks, you know, he still had three of those in five innings. But there's more to commanding the ball than just how many walks you give up. And obviously you know, 18 whiffs on 95 pitches. Like you can't ask for more than that. that. So I don't think he lost anything by giving up that velocity. I think it's an encouraging development for Rodon. Uh, who is the other one you asked me about Jose Soriano? Jose Soriano, yes. Yes. I mean, he still has a 244-ERA and a 107-Whip. So how much you're really going to complain? It was nice to see him walk just one. And that's the biggest issue for him with all the improvements he's made this year, the four-seamer mixing it in, throwing the split or more, having this broader arsenal and seeing the whiff spike as a result. I think all of that is still, still points to this being a breakout season for Soriano. But the walks, you know, more often than not, he issues three walks or more. And so that gives him less margin for error and probably is going to lead to his, with being a little higher than you want it to be in the long run. He still has more to give back seeing as it's 107 now. I think we're going to see it finish higher than that. But I never move Soriano higher than 35th in my starting picture rankings. And I think some of the downside we're seeing here recently explains why 35th is still great. 35th, you know, that's a number three and a 12 team league. But it's why I would never really entertain the idea of moving him into the top 20, let's say. And I would be fine using both of these guys next week. Rodon is 63% started. He's at the Royals. They are 21st and WoW against lefties. And Soriano is at the Tigers. They are also 21st and WoW against righties. And Soriano has been much better on the road this season. So totally fine getting both of those guys back in your lineups if you didn't already have them in there. Two names who might be better than we thought. Casey Mies took a tough loss against the Guardians. Six and two thirds, two runs, four strikeouts to zero walks. He had 12 whiffs on 95 pitches. He's got a 247 year a 0.98 whip. Kato walk looks pretty good. His fly ball rate is way down so far this year. So I think there will be some regression there. But he entered to start with a 12.3% swinging strike rate and a 2.97 XERA. So I don't know. Like Casey Mies, we haven't really talked much about him, but he's been pitching really well. And on the other side of that game, Brian Roqueo, three for three with two doubles and his ninth stolen base. He's now hitting 290. He's got four homers, nine steals, 796. Hope yes. I brought this comp up to I think it was Chris last week. I kind of see a little bit of like her although, Prado Mo here for Brian Roqueo, lowering that strike out rate, making a lot of contact this year, lots of line drives. He's running more. I'm not saying he's going to get all the way to where Prado Mo was last year, but I see a little bit of Prado Mo here in Brian Roqueo. And he's only 66% rostered. So still out there in some leagues. What do you think Scott? These two might possibly be better than we thought Casey Mies and Brian Roqueo. Yeah, I was feeling that way about Mies even before he went on the IELs. So it's nice to see him pick up where he left off. He's giving up weaker contact. 88 miles per hour on average. He's got a much better swinging strike rate over 12%. He'd been pretty average in both of those areas before and now he's decidedly above average. And you see it in the IRA estimators. I mean, you you want to say his 247 ERA Casey Mies is too good to be true. His FIPS 256 and his expected ERA is below three also. So what he's doing seems like it has has staying power here. I think he's probably had some good home run luck. That rate is too low to be true. And you know what you point to the other ERA estimator X-FIP. It's 377, which probably also would suggest he's had good home run luck. But you know, I think he'll finish probably somewhere between where the 256 fit in the 377 X-FIP is. And that's going to be a pretty good picture when everybody would love to have. I don't know what to make about Brian Roqueo because there's so much blue there on this tech has page like even worse than Predomo. And the expected stats are pretty pretty bad. He's producing and it hasn't stopped yet. In fact, the production keeps getting better. So there is a league where I'm just riding it out. I had Trevor story in that league and okay, the best I could do off the waver wire at that point was Roqueo and so far so good. But I am having trouble buying into him as like a legitimate somebody you can lean on all season. Would you rather have Roqueo or on Hill Martinez, both second base eligible? New Martinez is kind of the same way, but a little bit stronger overall. I think Martinez, I think the power is going to be as more likely to stay with him more likely to continue. Mm-hmm. You know what? I think I just made that thing. What I said about Brian Roqueo, copying him to Predomo, I think I actually said that about on Hill Martinez last week. Now that I think about it, but you know, that makes more sense. All these guardians hitters are just kind of blending together in my mind, but they're all doing good things so far. So yeah, look, the underlying stuff is not so good for Roqueo. The best thing has been the strike out rate dropping so far this year. And I think that's been a big contributor here. I think you're riding out. I don't think he's like a must-roster like in point-seeks or anything like that. But yeah, he's performing now. That is Brian Roqueo. Let's get into Scotty doesn't know. Scotty doesn't know. Oh, Scotty doesn't know. Oh, for those who are not aware, Scotty doesn't know from the 2004 classic Euro trip. If you haven't seen it, what are you doing? You got to go watch it. So not what the kids don't watch that one with the kids. No, no, no, don't watch that one. The kids. That is a fair point. I have four players here. We'll see if we can get to all of them. Scotty, are you ready? Yes. For those who haven't been with us for this game before the way it works is I am going to give Scot a near impossible stat on a player and he is the guest switch player it is. The point is for him to get it wrong and then we play the setup. Scotty doesn't know. So here we go. And again, it's like almost impossible because he has like the whole player pool to choose from. Yeah. And I don't give him any clues. I just give him one stat. Though I eventually caught on last year that you were mostly highlighting players who stood out on the current day. And then I pointed that out to you and so you stopped doing that so much. Three of the four players on this list did not play on Thursday. Oh, yep. Okay. We're going to be here in that song a lot then. All right. Among qualified hitters in May, I have the second highest expected Woba at 452 in May, second highest X-Woba 452, which is a massive number. I can keep guessing, right? No, it's just one guess. Oh, it's just one guess. Oh, that's true. You got to get it wrong. And that's the only clue you give me. I forgot how this game works. That's the only clue you get. Second best X-Woba in May. Oh gosh. Somebody who's been good in May. I gotta come up with an answer. You would not expect it because I cannot believe that this player was as high Spencer steer. The answer is Michael Bush, who so far in May is hitting 306 only two homers, but 16 RBI and OPS over a thousand. His average exit velocity for the month is 94. He has an 18% barrel rate and eight barrels total, but only two home runs. So feels like he's been a little bit unlucky so far in the month. Usually the conversion rate is like 60% of your barrels typically go for home runs. So the fact that he only has two home runs in the month with eight barrels, I, if people haven't realized that, you know, Michael Bush is heating up, I would try and buy. I mean, I would have said that all along. I like Michael Bush a lot coming into the season and he started off really slow, but I the underlying stuff in May looks awesome here for Michael Bush. Yep. He's coming around. I don't think I've lowered him in my rankings at all. I've moved some players past him like South Stewart, obviously. Yeah. And more economy guys like that. Yeah. Yeah, but I think I mean, I don't know. In the long run, Bush might still be better than Merikami. I don't think that's far fetched to think, but yeah, I rank Merikami ahead for now, but I agree. Bush is a by low. All right. Next up, I have the lowest qualified batting average in the national league at 178. I think I want to say one of those reds outfielders I was referring to earlier, but I'm going to guess somebody higher in the NAT. 178 lowest qualifying batting average in the National League. It's bad. So bad. Matt Chapman. Now I have to look up how low match happens batting averages because that's a pretty good. good guess. Matt Chapman is at 226. So what's funny is the player that I have here is Mani Machado. But he is tied with a reds alfiler. So you would have said TJ Friedle. You would have got a right to hang this guy. But it's Mani Machado who's hitting 178 on the season. We haven't talked about him. He does have the seven home runs, but only one steal a 603 OPS. The bat speed looks fine, but the average exit velocity is down over two miles per hour. His barrel rate has been cut in half. The expected stats look terrible. Any 33 years old. So I'm just wondering if I don't know. Is age catching up to Mani Machado a little bit here. It could be. You start to worry about it when a player is in his mid 30s, and particularly one with this much mileage. I mean, he started so young. One thing I like to look at for age related decline is pitch type splits and how they're performing on the fastball in particular. So he's never been that good against. Well, it's been for pretty much as Padre's career. He hasn't been that good against the fastball, believe it or not. And I want to say it's gotten especially worse this year. I think the likely a scenario is Machado. I still rank him fit the third base. I think the likely scenario is he heats up bounces back. This is all becomes just a bad dream. But strike out rate is up. And he's in his mid 30s. And it could go another way. It's kind of crazy that the Padre's have been as good as they have this year. They're 29 and 20 with Machado and Tati's just being so terrible. It's kind of scary. Like if those guys actually get going, how good can the Padre's be? You know, it's and even Jackson Merrill. He hasn't been could either. So I don't know who's hitting for them. Gavin Sheets. I guess that is a good observation. It's very very. I mean, Ramon Lourianos called way off. Yeah, who is hitting for the Padres? It was pitching for the Padres beyond Michael King. Randy Vaskis has been okay. Yeah. That's a good point. G. Alito. I don't know. It's look. It's just amazing. It's Mason Miller. Mason Miller, all 29 wins. I guess. I don't know. That's that's a pretty weird one there for the pot. Miller for MVP. There you go. All right. Next up, over the past three seasons, my fantasy points per game have dropped from 3.7 to 3 to 2.6 this year. 3.7 to 3 to 2.6. Oh, I might know this one. Uh-oh. I know you look at fantasy points per game a lot. Jaren Duran. The answer is Gunner Henderson who still has 10 homers and six deals this year. But he is hitting 220 with a 6.87 OPS. His average EV is down over two miles per hour. The expected stats are bad. His ground ball rate is down. He's hitting more fly balls. His pole air rate is way up. A career high 29%. He's also chasing pitches more. So I feel like he's pressing a little bit. But he's doing what we've always wanted him to do putting the ball in the air more. But sometimes I worry Scott that guys who have always hit the ball in the ground more than usual. When they try too hard to put the ball in the air, it feels like sometimes it might throw them out of whack. And I feel like that might be happening with Gunner Henderson right now. Well, what can happen is the launch angle. The swing itself can get too steep. And so the back goes off plane and you see a big strike and spike, a big spike and strikeouts, which is exactly what we've seen from Gunner Henderson this year. Uh-uh. So I, I do think, and this is totally head cannon for me. But I think he's over compensating for a year where he underwhelmed with phone runs. 17 home runs last year after hitting 37 the year before he wants to get those home runs back. And I think he's over compensating. And that's why he's struggling like he is. I don't know whether to take that as encouraging or discouraging because on the one hand, it's an easy fix. Oh no, let me say that differently. It's a simple fix, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's an easy fix. If he's gotten out of whack mechanically, that can sometimes be hard to relearn that or sometimes can be very easy. And so I do have some concerns about Gunner Henderson at this point. I think the upside is so high that I don't want to do anything. I don't want to do with anything silly and give away my season. But I would consider shopping him if you could get what would be a good target. Probably you probably couldn't get like a junior commonero type or anyone who was drafted in basically the same range as Henderson. Who the old Rodriguez? I mean, maybe I feel better about Rodriguez than Henderson. I just don't know how realistic that is. I mean, if you're if you're if you're playing needs off each other, I guess I guess it's more likely. And shortstop has been a frustrating position this year, even though there's a lot of good players at it theoretically. A lot of them have underage. So somebody out there may come knocking for Henderson and be willing to willing to give the goods. But yeah, that's a tough case. All right, let's get to the last one here on the list. And here's your clue. My OPS is down from 820 last year to 648 this year. It could be anybody. It could be anybody. Anybody. I mean, it couldn't be Aaron Judge. It couldn't be any. No, I don't know. I'm saying it couldn't be. No, I don't think is I don't think it was that high last year. I'm just going to say it. Teosker Hernandez. So the answer is Tyler Sodershroom, who is right now hitting 196 with five homers and a 648 OPS. And his average exit velocity is down a little bit, but the barrel rate still looks good. Expected stats are down, but not completely awful. He's another one where like the ground ball rate is down, which is what we wanted, but the fly ball rate and the pulled air rate are way up. So I wonder again, it's like the same thing. Like is he trying too hard to hit for power? His zone contact is actually up. And so that I'm pretty encouraged by, but still 96% roster. He struggled. Should he be Scott? Do you just continue to hold and write it out with Tyler Sodershroom? I mean, for the most part, yes. I know in some of the shallower leagues where first base is plentiful, where I'll feel just plentiful. Frankly, if it's a three, I'll feel the league. That probably means you're stashing Sodershroom on your bench. And that's always hard to do with the hitter in the shallower's leagues and points leagues, especially where you want pitching volume. So I'm a little surprised his roster rate is still 96%. I'd be reluctant to give him up too, because I think he's probably going to bounce back. And he was obviously a stud last year. But yeah, I could see him getting squeezed in some of those shallows leagues if this continues much longer. I would be hesitant to give up on any pretty much everyday players in the athletics lineup. Because again, once the weather heats up in Sacramento, like the ball is just going to fly out in that ballpark. So I would be more inclined to buy on any of their struggling players, not Lawrence Butler. I mean, that's a, I don't know, that may be beyond repair. But of these four, Scott, are you confidently, would you confidently try to buy low on all of them? Sodershroom, Machado, Gunner and Michael Bush. Most confident on Bush, I would say. But I would try to buy low on, yeah, I try to buy low on all of them, sure. Anderson still is the most upside, but he probably has the clearest concern too. All right, let's wrap up here with some leftovers from Thursday's action. Dylan Dingler had a big game two for four with a double in his ninth home run. He's only hitting 241. His underlying stuff remains amazing. He's hitting the ball hard. Pulled air raid is a barrels expected stats. If you have Dylan Dingler, even in a one-catcher league, I would just keep the faith. There's a lot to like with him. Brandon Lau continued his strong season. He hit his 13th home run. Ivan Herrera has turned things up two for four with his sixth home run as well. The problem for him, his ground ball raise is is up quite a bit. And that has kind of hindered the power production. But any thoughts on those three? Scott Dingler, Brandon Lau and Ivan Herrera? Um, not really. I'm not as optimistic about Dingler as you. And I'm not really sure I have a great explanation for why. He does all the things we want, Scott. I know, but I guess I guess part of it is just I mean those un underlying numbers look great last year too. And he underperformed them quite a bit. It's not that he was useless. I'm not saying he doesn't have his uses. I just, I don't know if in the long run, he's going to be, he's going to be worth sticking with in a one catcher league. All right. The call to the bullpen for the Guardians Kate Smith was unavailable hunter gattis picked up his first save for the Met's Devon Williams got the ninth with a one run lead. He picked up his seventh save for the blue jays. Louis Varland unavailable. Jeff Hoffman struck out to for his fourth save and for the athletics, they took a one run lead in extras and it was Mark lighter junior who entered in the 10th inning. He picked up his fourth save. Jack Perkins hasn't pitched since May 19th, which makes me think he should have been available. I guess that was only two days ago, but I need an, I don't think he pitched particularly well there. But do you, do you still think Jack Perkins is the guy? I don't know. The athletics have kind of been annoying all year. And they have been and I mean Jack Perkins didn't do his self any favors when it seemed like he was stepping into the role. Right. I think he's the best reliever clearly. They're most talented reliever. But he fumbled the bag, Frank. He had it and he fumbled it. And so now it's all up in the air again. All right. The stream or not to stream on Friday. We have Connor Prelip at the Red Sox, Noah Cameron against the Mariners. Grayson Rodriguez against the Rangers. I love the matchup, but I don't think you could do it. Jeffrey Springs at the Padres and Trevor McDonald against the White Sox. My top choices here would be. What did I say yesterday? I think Connor Prelip and Trevor McDonald and Jeffrey Springs. I would struggle to pick a favor between those three. I don't love any of them. But I think they will limit damage at the very least. I would probably rank them Springs Prelip and McDonald of those three on Saturday. We have Christian Scott at the Marlins, Grant Holmes against the Nationals, Eric Fettie at the Giants, Adrian Howes or against the White Sox, Stephen Colock against the Mariners, JT Ginn at the Padres, Lucas Giledo against the Athletics, Walbert, Arania against the Rangers and Zach Galen home against the Rockies. You know what the number one offense in baseball is? Nationals? Yeah. I don't know. I just don't know. You don't know how? I don't know how. They have two good hitters. Yeah. It's it's I keep waiting for them to move down and instead they moved up. They've passed the braves and the Dodgers and the Yankees. It's as somebody who bet the Nationals season long win total under not feeling good about it. I mean, the pitching still awful. Maybe not Kate Cavali, though. Okay. So bottom line. I don't want to start. I don't want to stream Grant Holmes against them. Instead, I will stream JT Ginn. Let's pick on the Padres since we just pointed out how bad their lineup is. Walbert, Arania and Zach Galen. I think probably the reverse order of that Galen against the Rockies or Rainia against the Rangers and Ginn at the Padres. I actually like the reverse order. I like Ginn, Arania and Galen in that order yet. Okay. Fair enough. Then on Sunday, we have Andrew Painter against the Guardians, Matthew Libertor at the Reds, Kate Armontero at the Orioles. Brandon's brought against the Dodgers, Peter Lambert at the Cubs, Noah Schultz at the Giants, foster Griffin at the Braves, Reed Deppmer's versus the Rangers. Not great. No. And so when things aren't great, you default to Reed Deppmer's because at least under the hood, it looks good. And you hope, you hope some magic happens. I know, like, I know people are tired of us recommending Reed Deppmer's. And frankly, I'm tired of it too. But there's not a lot of options, you know, at least there's at least there's something there that you can look at with optimism. Andrew Painter probably be my second choice. Third, I guess Noah Schultz, mostly because of the matchup at San Francisco. Yeah, that is a risky three. I get it. I would probably go Deppmer Schultz and Painter in that order, but not with much confidence there on Sunday. We are going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again next week. Bye bye.