Top Prospects to Stash! Twins Prepping for Kaelen Culpepper? (6/10 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Mike Sirota and Jaison Chourio Making Noise Who are the latest prospects to stash? Find out next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express. Welcome into FPT Express on Wednesday, June 10th. I am break sample Joy by Scott White and we did talk at length about Braden Montgomery and Cole Kerig on our full length episode. Should make make sure to check that out. The five prospects on the periphery, these are five names that are making some noise as of late. We have Mike Sirota of the Dodgers, Jaison Chourio of the Guardians, Josiah Hartshorn of the Cubs, Kellen Lindsay of the Dodgers and Luis De La Torre of the Giants. What do we have on this group? Speaker 2 Well, Mike Sirota, not to be confused with Mike Sirota, of course, this is an outfielder and the Dodgers organization came over from the Reds and the Gavin Lux trade and boy, what a mistake. The Dodgers have some great outfield prospects and Mike Sirota has been among the lesser disgust of them. But he's he's he's showing he might just be the best. He might just be the best. So he got called up to AA's 18 games ago. So split this year between IA and AA. He's getting getting up to the big boy leagues now. He is currently riding a 48 game on base streak and is on what amounts to a 3030 pace. Over 162 games. He's reaching base at A484 clip. It is only gone up with the move up to AA. So Mike Sirota looking like the real 1 and the Reds have egg on their face. Jaison Chourio is the brother of Jackson Churio and he's also an outfielder. He's in the Guardians organization. You may remember a couple years ago. If you're somebody who follows these things and if you're here, you probably are. Jaison Chourio was a consensus top 100 guy but had a really bad year. He had a really bad year, fell off all the lists. Now he is back doing things that make him interesting again. He is at AA 2, recently got moved up there, but it hasn't slowed him down. And for the year, Jaison Chourio is slashing 324-420-5500, hitting the ball hard, showing incredible play discipline, which is why that on base percentage is so high. He's not Jackson Churio. He doesn't have that kind of upside or that kind of power especially. But the the hit tool itself might be a little bit better, actually. And I think it's time to think of Jaison Chourio as a prospect again. Hartshorn, Lindsay, De La Torre: Periphery Updates Josiah Hartshorn for the Cubs. This may be a new name for a lot of you. He was drafted last year only in the sixth round, but debuted this year in full season ball. They they put him straight in a ball low way to begin the year. He's he's moved up to high a as a 19 year old. So they're really, really, you know, put put the pressure on Josiah Hartshorn right away and he has delivered on it. He between those two levels of a ball. He's slashed 3O543529, has nine home runs. Has he hits the ball with authority, which was known coming in that he could do that, But the surprise has been how good his hit tool itself has been. He's actually walked more than he struck out this year, again as a 19 year old in a ball. I think Josiah Hartshorn needs to be moving up people's lists. We have Kellen Lindsay here. Who Kellen Lindsay was the Dodgers first round pick in 2024. Known mostly for. Has his athleticism. At the time he was given 80 grades for his speed. He's been mostly injured since they took him in the first round of 2024, so we haven't seen him much. But behind the scenes, they've been working on his swing to get more impact out of it, and we're seeing it pay off here. Finally. He's only at low way, but Cal and Lindsay's still 20 years old. So it's not, that's not too crazy. A 20 year old at low way. He's batting 423 down there and he has ten extra base hits in 17 games, again for a guy with 80 grades, Sprint speed. So Dodgers may have done it again with Cal and Lindsay. A second baseman. He might be shortstop eligible in your league, but it seems like he's transitioning to second base. And finally, we have Luis de la Torre here of the Giants. He has 6.9 walks per nine on the year, so that's a problem. It was a serious problem at first. The reason I am highlighting Luis de la Torre here though, is because the walks have suddenly evaporated. In his last two starts, he has two walks spanning 11 innings in those two starts to go along with 21 strikeouts. So Luis de la Torre, great fastball, great slider, good math, bat missing ability. It's really just the control that's holding him back, but he may have turned the corner as far as that goes if these last two starts are any indication. Speaker 1 All right, let's take a break, and we'll be back right after this. Yohandi Morales and River Ryan's MLB Hopes Welcome back, FBT Express. The five prospects on the verge of getting the call #5 I believe he's been #5 three weeks in a row. We have Yohandi Morales of the Nationals. Speaker 2 He has been #5 over and over again and he continues to do the same things. Couple home runs since the last time we talked about him. He's got that slash line up to 341, four, 17592. He's got to get a chance here. There's nothing more he could possibly do. A AAA hitting the ball with a ton of authority, play discipline. You know, he chases too much, but not so much that it has to be a deal breaker necessarily. So I think the Nationals are still sorting out their infield between Curtis Mead and Luis Garcia. Maybe they just need to go ahead and give up. But on on Nassim Nunez's second base, let one of those other guys take over there and then they could call Morales up. I think could have been any today. Speaker 1 #4 On this list is River Ryan from the Dodgers. The problem here? What's holding him back? Eric Lauer all of a sudden is pitching well. Speaker 2 Yeah, Eric Lauer just had a good start and Ashley Riverine just had a bad start at AAA, gave a foreign runs in six innings. Overall numbers there are still good 33 strikeouts compared to six walks. A guy who averages about 98 on his fastball coming back from Tommy John surgery and was looking, you know, he, he got some time in the majors in, in, in 2024 before needing that surgery and it looked pretty good then. So, you know, the way starting pitcher is a, a spot could open up at any moment. There doesn't appear to be 1 right now for River Ryan, but he's 27 years old. The Dodgers are going to want to get something out of him sooner than later. Karson Milbrandt and Kaelen Culpepper's Ascent #3 On this list we have Karson Milbrandt from the Marlins. They have been dealt a lot of injuries so far this season. He's up at AAA. Who knows, maybe we see him soon. Speaker 2 We've talked about him a lot on this podcast, how he's been arguably the biggest pitching breakout this year, his first start at AAA. So they recently moved him out to AAA, made one start and it was fine in one respect. He threw 6 shutout and he's gave just two hits. He also struck out just one in those six innings. So that was a bit of a head scratcher and might make them think twice about quickly promoting him to the majors as as desperate as they are. Worth reminding you though, a AA Karson Milbrandt had 12.1 strikeouts per 9 innings and an 18% swinging strike rate. So one start of AAA probably doesn't tell us as much as those numbers do. And I I I don't think the the Marlins current plan for their starting 5 is sustainable. They got couple bullpen games happening every time through. I think they really need Karson Milbrandt to come up once he once he shows he's just as dominant at AAA as AA all. Speaker 1 Right #2 On this list is Kaelen Culpepper of the Twins. They've been rocking with a combination of Tristan Gray and Orlando Arcia. Ryan Creedler at shortstop. Feels like, yeah, any day now they could. They could turn it over to Kaylin Culpepper. Speaker 2 Yeah. And that's been true for a while now. I think what makes it all the more clear is that Royce Lewis back in the majors now and they didn't go right back to his their previous infield alignment once he returned at the start of the year, it was Royce Lewis at third base, Brooks Lee at shortstop. And it was only after Lewis got sent down that Lee moved to third base and that a very unappealing trio began playing at shortstop, led by Tristan Gray. That only happened when Lewis got sent down. Lewis came back, he's back. Lee's still at third base 'cause he's not very good at playing shortstop. And so Lewis has had to get his bats at second base. First base shortstop remains manned primarily by Tristan Gray. That's not a path forward for the Twins. I think it suggests they're leaving the path wide open for Kaylin Culpepper. His batting average Culpeppers dip below 250 a couple of weeks ago, but it's back up to 270 now to go along with 373 on base percentage. Fourteen home runs, 13 steals, an 869 OPS and no major defensive concerns there as far as I know. So Culpepper is going to happen sooner than later. Brewers Extend Luis Lara, Episode Wrap-Up And the number one prospect on the verge is Luis Lara of the Brewers, who just signed A7 year $31 million extension. Usually once we get these extensions, Scott, it's not far, not far off until we see that prospect in the majors. Speaker 2 And that's why Luis Lara has left to the top of the list here. You know now they're paying him Major League dollars to play in the minors. And the other reason why this usually signals a promotion is because it takes the service time issue off the table completely. He's cost controlled now for the next 7 years so they have every incentive to call him up. Not the least of witches. Their outfield kind of stinks apart from Jackson Cheerio, and this is obviously a really good team overall. They don't want to give away wins by wasting at bats on bad outfielders like Sal Frelick mainly, But Garrett Mitchell hasn't been great either. Mitchell's, of course, their center fielder, but that's that's Luis Lara's biggest selling point, a great defender in center, but he's also a great hitter, batting 338 at AAA, 450 on base percentage and 19 steals, more walks than strikeouts. And that gap is widening every time, every time we talk about Luis Lara. So like, the hit tool is plus plus here and a little bit of pop, too. The eggs of velocities aren't that great, but you know, for a 21 year old, they're not bad. He seems to know how to his swing seems to be pretty well suited for maximizing the power output and the hit tool. The stolen base ability is so good that you know, I, I think he could get away right now with not being anything special power wise. So you know, outfield's a major need, especially in five outfielder leagues. I think time to stash Lara away for the inevitable promotion. Speaker 1 All right, 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 later this week. Bye