Two More Prospect Promotions & Name That Player! (5/12 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS Sports Got a fantasy question email fantasy baseball at CBSi.com Get ready to win your league Now here's Frank Scott and Chris hey there welcome in to fantasy baseball today on Tuesday May 12th I am Frank Stanford joint by Scott White and Chris towers today on the show two more prospect promotions They just keep getting called up. We'll do name that player struggling hitter edition six games on the slate So you know how to do something the most drop players on CBS and much more, but let's start with the prospects it feels like a many Podcast lately have started with prospect promotions and here we are the meds are calling up outfielder AJ huing and The A's are expected to call up outfield or Henry Bolte on Tuesday AJ huing 21 years old fourth round pick in 2023 Recently promoted from double a to triple a he's only 21 as I mentioned so pretty aggressive just Promotions within the season here for huing Scott What do we see here with AJ huing? What is the skill set and what size leagues would you be looking at him in? So AJ huing is like the prototypical Lead off hitter and that he gets on base a ton. He has near top of the scale speed and makes ample use of it. He's still 70 bases last year great great hit tool and Mostly in the respect that like he enjoys hitting the ball to all fields and Doesn't strike how much had more walks and strikeouts in the minors this year and You know every time they tested him with the new level he Aced it and so here he is coming up to the majors at age 21 It used to be I mean, I guess it still is hard to be an impactful fantasy player without a lot of over-defense power, but we've seen it become more doable and recent years with players like Xavier Edwards and Chandler Simpson and I think you and has more punch in his back Than either of those two like he has enough power To get it over the fence if his if he was of the mind to do that his average his exit velocity's are about average They're not they're not bottom of the barrel or anything So there's room for him to grow into double digit Homer power, I would say but He should be pretty productive just as he is I think one of the questions I got On on X was Ewing or Sam Antonacci and I think that's a fair question, but I think Ewing is just better. I think he's more talented. I think I would make the swap plus He should get plenty of run here with the Metz I mean they were playing a lot of Tyrone Taylor in centerfield and that wasn't going very well With Louise Robert out Ewing has a chance to really lock down the center field job And I think the skill set is pretty interesting for fantasy Yeah, I think five out of their leagues especially in category leagues where you know if you're chasing speed batting average It's a really good eye at the plate here for hewing as well The other name getting called up Henry Bolte from the A's who's 22 years old a second round pick in 2022 he was destroying AAA hitting 348 12 homers 17 steals a 10 76 OPS interesting power speed prospect here The problem is that I'm not sure Where he's going to play for the A so while I'm intrigued by the skill set Just don't really see how it all works here Chris your thoughts here on Henry Bolte Bolte yeah, I have some concerns about how much he's going to play I would prioritize Ewing just because of that although I think Bolte Is probably the more interesting talent. They're kind of similar. They're both very fast. They both have Average ish raw power from what I understand Bolte it's a 57% ground ball rate. He has managed to hit 12 homers this season 14 in his first 71 games at AAA so If there's something there, I think that could be pretty interesting. He's got I think 19 stolen bases This season as well. So there's some pretty interesting stuff going on with him. It's just Some strikeout issues down to 22% this season, but it was above like 26 28% last season Not sure if he's going to play every day in Sacramento I will say they definitely have a type in Sacramento and it seems to be super tooled up outfielders who aren't necessarily optimized for production But I don't know that there are enough marginal guys in Sacramento's outfield that He could play his way into a pretty viable role. I would prioritize Ewing I think both of these guys are probably just road elite guys for now But I do think Bolte probably has a higher ceiling than Ewing for for a fantasy perspective It's just can he lock in an everyday role. I think it's pretty questionable I was kicking myself Seeing this Bolte news that I hadn't addressed him in the prospects report this year because I have in years past I mean he was always the sort of prospect that I guess prospect heads liked and you'd be like yeah, but he runs strikeout rates over 30% like how is this going to work? Who I don't care how athletic he has if he doesn't have the baseball skills But you see what he's done this year. It's like Whoa, that strikeout rate suddenly is an embarrassing and whoa. He's hitting the ball 90 miles per hour on average 113 max It's translated to a lot of home runs He hit nine home runs last year, which was a step back for him But apparently he was dealing with a wrist injury all of last year So that's saptum of some of his power. I think it's a very exciting skill set for Poulte and yet I'll see where he's gonna play I mean Lawrence Butler's been horrible and maybe the athletics are gonna be Signed to a long-term deal. So I don't know how much they're going to be willing to face him out But I think if Bolte had an end had an in that would be it I don't see it right now though. So you wing I agree you wing takes priority But I am excited about the prospect Bolte has made himself into this year I think it's gone from being like a theoretical prospect who actually like if top 100 lists were coming out today he would be firmly In that mix Yeah, looking at their outfield and dh situation they have Sotershrum they have Lawrence Butler Carlos Cortez has hit very well this year and then they have Brent Rucker at dh and Denzel Clark Started a running and hitting progression on May 5th. So that was a week ago and So he's getting closer to returning as well. I just I don't really know. I hope I'm wrong. I hope he finds they find a way to get him at that But it does seem pretty crowded there on the athletics roster How would you guys rank the All the recent outfield prospect promotions waltch mit ywing Bolte and Spencer Jones. So that's the order Yeah, I'm gonna put Bolte behind Jones for now barely just because I want to see how this playing time shakes out but if If Bolte came up and like had a clear pat the way waltch mit ywing do I think that would be a close battle between those three at the top uh, yeah, I go waltch mit over Ywing because of the power element. I do think ywing has the highest floor of all of these guys though Like ywing. I'm the most confident will be something It's just will it be enough to factor in standard size fantasy leagues I know you guys are saying five outfielder leagues for now and and that's fair. I mean three outfielder leagues They don't go very deep into the outfield pool So you don't really have to speculate on a recent call up who isn't the best prospect in the world But I do think you a skill set lends itself well to points leagues so that if he does deliver his 80th percentile outcome 75th percentile outcome something like that I do think he'll be a solid play and points leagues to the way I mean gosh Jacob Marcy has been and he hasn't even hit that well I think ywing does a lot of the same things marcy does but with a much better hit tool Yep, I think we're in agreement there again the big news the meds calling up outfielder AJ huing and the athletics calling up their outfield prospect Henry Bolte will see How much he gets to play there out in Sacramento Let's get into our players of the night. I don't believe it I don't mind All right, Scott over to you for your player the night All right, let's talk about Ryan Weathers who had a no hit bid going ended up allowing one hit and six and a third innings struck out nine 15 swing strikes Nine on the change up so that pitch played really well again. This is four great starts in a row for Ryan Weathers And I think it's the third time he's gone six innings or more. So he is giving better length here than his past durability issues. What have suggested? Yeah, third time going beyond six innings even since it was six and a third. So he's looked really good down to a three R a 111 whip. Well, more than a strike out per inning. Looks like a must start pitcher. I guess the big question, as we were talking before the show is how long he's a must start pitcher for the Yankees even because things are getting crowded with Carlos Rodon recently back in Garrett Cole soon to be right now. The bottom two in the rotation would be Weathers and Will Warren who have both pitched great. You know, you figure Rodon, cold or certainly in freed Schlitler there, certainly in. So let's start going six man. One of those two got to go. Now let's see how many innings did Will Warren throw last year? The Mariners have kind of opened the door. Will Warren was at 162 and a third. So we got a solid number to this piggyback situation with Castillo and Miller. I wonder if the Yankees would do something similar or maybe they just move to the bullpen. His innings accumulation, as I've already mentioned, has been limited over the years because of all the injuries. So just as a way to preserve his arm, that might make sense to pull back on him for a while. You got a figure like the five, the other five names there aren't staying healthy. All you have that never happens anymore. So even if Weathers gets bumped from the rotation, he'll be back. But it does seem like this is going to be a problem sooner than later and it's frustrating, but you need to be prepared for it. Yeah. I agree wholeheartedly with with Ryan, whether he's here, he's pitched really well so far. He's pitched much better as of late. They tweaked the pitch mix. He's had some starts where the velocity has been up or down. And what it comes out to nearly 11k per nine so far this season, the underlying metrics all look really good for Ryan, whether as well. But I don't think that the Yankees are going to go with a six man rotation. So as he said, one of Weathers or Will Warren, probably on the outside looking in, and this is just my feel. I don't know this, but it feels like they've always really liked Will Warren as a starter and he just, he has more cache in the road in the organization, just because like he came up with them in that farm system and everything. And they really do need bullpen help. Like the back end of their bullpen has not been good this year. And you know, maybe Ryan, whether as a kind of multi inning, six, seven or seventh eighth kind of weapon appeals to them. And so I think that's a real possibility. If you are selling, I obviously would look to get a pretty good return. Like sell high if you can. But there is a real chance that like two weeks from now, Ryan, Weathers is just a reliever and not even a closer. So I do think whatever role they move, Weathers in, presuming he's the one ruled out. And you know, just changing gears here very suddenly. It is possible that between now and then somebody gets hurt because that's just what happens to pitch or so maybe this never happened that doesn't even end up happening. But as things stand now, if we're presuming Weathers is the one moved out of a traditional starting role, I imagine whatever they moved him to would be something that kept him stretched out so that he could easily move back into the rotation. Should that need a rise? All right, Chris. How are you doing? Are we good? Are you? I restarted the computer. I think I haven't gotten the the problems that I was having before. So hopefully we fixed it. All right. Who's your player tonight? It's very important that we talk about Rocky Sasaki because I know people are so really excited about him. Now, like this wasn't a great start. He got pulled in the sixth inning, finished five innings, give up three on runs, fell short of a quality start, five strikeouts, one walk, but I think the interesting thing that I'm noticing about Sasaki is something that I had hoped to see. And it was in this start. He started throwing that harder splitter a couple of starts to go. And if you look here, you see the average velocity on the splitter was still up in this one. It was up at 89.2 miles per hour. But that's a little lower than it was before. And I think what we're seeing now is the emergence of multiple different versions of the splitter. If you, Stakas has a lot of trouble figuring out what's going on with Rocky Sasaki because there are clearly some sliders that are being categorized as splitters. There are some splitters being categorized as sliders. You kind of got to look at the spin rates for them. But I think what you're seeing is there are two different splitters that Rocky Sasaki is throwing now. One is more like 89 to 92 miles per hour with 800 to sometimes as much as 1300 rpms on the splitter. And then there are these other splitters more in the 84 to 86 mile per hour range, like where his splitter was last year and more in the 4 to 700 RPM range. They bleed together at times. Some of the harder splitters are like 780 rpms. But I think we are seeing harder splitter that he can throw in all counts. And then the traditional, let's call it a fork ball that he was throwing last year, that crazy pitch with all kinds of wild movement, that he's pretty much throwing only in two strike counts. And I think this makes Rocky Sasaki a little more interesting because now you've got bad foreseeing fastball. I think it's just always going to be bad or at least max is out at mediocre. But maybe you've got this, let's call it a splinker even. It's like 92 mile per hour. You can throw it in all counts. You can throw it for whiffs. You can throw it for strikes. And then you've got the fork ball. If you want to call it that, that's the traditional put away pitch. He'll throw the slider occasionally. I don't think that's ever going to be a great pitch, although he did get a couple whiffs with it. But I think we're seeing Rocky Sasaki start to tinker and start to maybe figure something out. I think the last three starts are the most encouraged. I've ever been by Rocky Sasaki in his major league career. And the obvious counterpoint there would be he's given up 10 rr runs in 16 innings. So how interesting is it actually? Maybe not so interesting. He's 52% roster in CBS sports leagues. I'm not sure that needs to be any higher. But I'm paying attention to Rocky Sasaki now. And I'll be honest, I didn't think I was going to get there after watching him this spring and early this season. But I think he's a pitcher to watch now. If not a pitcher to add, although I had a couple leagues in the past few weeks. Yeah, I don't think there's too much actionable here, but there are some good signs here. Two walks are fewer and four straight. I think that's a good sign for Rocky Sasaki as well. And regardless of how it's being classified on Statcast, they say that he's throwing a splitter and a slider. Those two pitches entering this start have been really good for him this year. The fastball has just been dreadful. It gets absolutely crushed. So it seems like he does have at least two secondary offerings that he can go to that are good fastball, not so much. But maybe starting to figure some things out there is Rocky Sasaki. Before we hit our first break, just a reminder to sign up for the FBT newsletter. If you haven't already, if you're watching on YouTube, you could scan that QR code. It will bring you right to the website, CBSports.com/newsletters where you can sign up for free. And you'll get all of Chris's work delivered right to your inbox every weekday of the season. Let's take that break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's hit the news and notes. Nathan of Aldi was scratched from his start Monday due to left side tightness. And it was pretty late in the day. So I hope anyone who has a vaulty on their team was able to get him out of the lineup. He is considered day to day, which seems better than I was expecting. I mean, it still could wind up in like as an oblique strain and he goes on the aisle. But for now, it doesn't sound like that's happening yet. So just a situation to watch there with Nathan of Aldi. Mokey bats was activated and in the lineup batting second Alex Freely was option two triple A. Let's check in on our buddy. Mokey bats see what happened here. That game is actually still going on right now. And he has gone one for four so far with a strikeout. So welcome back. Mokey bats. Two hard hit balls. Yes, that's good. Jeremy Pena will begin a rehab assignment at double A on Tuesday. Good news for him. Ryan Helsley has not been cleared to start a throwing program yet. He is on the aisle with right elbow inflammation. Junkarlo Stanton will undergo tests on his injured right calf in hopes of ramping up running this week. It just took one weekend of Spencer Jones for the Yankees to want to ramp up. Junkarlo Stanton here. Samo Basayo was scratched from the lineup with left knee discomfort. He is expected to avoid the I L. They don't sound overly concerned about that. Jose Caballero was out of the lineup Monday due to right a right middle finger injury. He'll undergo an MRI. He did come on as a pinch runner in that game and actually got caught stealing to end the game. So not great for that. But if he has to go on the I L, this could be Anthony Volpe's ticket back to the Yankees this season. Addison Barger was placed back on the I L with right elbow inflammation. He just returned Friday after previously dealing with injuries to both ankles. He unloaded a throw this weekend. That was 101. miles per hour and apparently did something way too cool. You got hurt messed up his messed up is arm there. And this one is annoying. Just want to highlight that Bryce Eldridge did not start Monday against Rocky Sasaki right hand to pitcher manager Tony Vitello said Eldridge will receive a chance to pinch it in every game that he doesn't start. It was Casey Schmidt at first base who just continues to hit really well. So I get why they want his bat in the lineup. And then Rafael Devers at D.H. who's actually hitting much better so far in May. So it's not ideal that Bryce Eldridge is not just playing against every right hand to pitcher. Because my I will point out it's the top of the ninth with no outs. So there are still some opportunities. But Bryce Eldridge has not your liar Tony. You're a liar. I just this is dumb. Like I don't say that lightly. But like okay, you feel like you need to have Casey Schmidt's bat in the lineup because he's been good so far. Okay, that's fine. Don't call Bryce Eldridge up. Right. But it just doesn't make sense to call him up. He's 21. He doesn't turn 22 until October. You don't need to call him up if you're not going to play him. He needs to be playing every day. I just don't see how this makes any sense at all. I feel like Tony the Tello is managing as if every game is like the world series. And like he he needs to he needs to win. He needs to do whatever he thinks he can to will the team to win when it's like they're clearly in a development mode. You know, like this Eldridge is up to develop. That's why he's there. And if he's not if you're not going to handle him in a way that develops him, he doesn't need to be there like Chris is saying. Just the from the unconventional way he manages the bullpen to know some of the lineup decisions he makes, I he doesn't seem to know what his job is. Is how I read it so far. I feel everyone's in over their heads in San Francisco. Yeah. It just does kind of come across that way. I got to say, it's just it feels. I don't even want to say rudderless because it kind of feels like there's like three different rudders all going in opposite directions. And nobody knows what the actual goal is. There's all these reports now of the giants like trying to offload the willy-at-domas contract that they just signed last year and trade away Rafael Devers and even like Logan Webb might be. Apparently anyone who has a long term contract is someone you might look at. You look at that team and it's like, yeah, it doesn't look very good right now. The long term prognosis of this team doesn't look very good, but why'd you sign willy-at-domas then? Everything just seems so short-sighted that they're doing. I don't why are you getting rid of Patrick Bailey when he has three years of club control left. I'm going to hit the reset like I just don't understand the, I don't know, the giants are confusing. I'm sure their their fans are even more confused than we are. Yeah. Like it's a long season. I think that they should like, let's see it through a little bit. Devers, a domes, these are guys that are proven commodities like I. Yeah. I agree. I would say that on them bouncing back to what degree that I'm not entirely sure, but like, yeah, they're veteran guys like, let's see what they could do and even match admin, right? Like he's done this a pretty long time. So, uh, well, we'll continue to monitor what's going out there. What's going on out there in San Francisco? All right. Some WeaverWire pitchers, a shallow lead named Joey Cantillo turned in a quality starting in the angels six shutout innings with four strikeouts. He had 14 whiffs on 93 pitches. Uh, did give up some heart contact in this one. I actually thought it was encouraging that he did not have his change up working and still found a way to, uh, turn out a pretty good start here. 75% rostered. He's a spark. Uh, he's gets the reds this weekend and then it looks like, uh, at the Phillies next week. Chris, do you consider Joey Cantillo just a must roster type pitcher or is he kind of still on that French? Oh, I don't think he's a must roster at all. No. I think if he wasn't a spark, I'm not sure how much interest I would have in him at all. I think in a, in a road, O league where the spark eligibility doesn't really matter. I think Cantillo, Cantillo's just a guy. Um, he doesn't really, he has an average strikeout rate. He walks a bunch of guys. I, I think he's fine, but I think he's a, a very expendable pitcher as well. Despite, I know the 298 ERA, the peripherals are not nearly as good. The whip is 132. He's basically, like it, it feels a lot like David Peterson. I'm sure he was like really useful for the first couple of months. It fell apart on him. I suspect it will fall apart on Joey Cantillo, but look at that. There are, I don't know, 90 pitchers, Ross starting pitchers, rostered in most leagues. Yeah, he's probably one of the 90 best. So I think that's probably fine. I just don't think he's one of the 60 best 70 best. So I think he's really, really boring. I don't say different pitch, but it just reminds me a lot of Mike Sorroca. I, I think Cantillo has one really good pitch with the change up. And I just, I don't know if he has anything else that's serviceable, although it wasn't this star, but typically that hasn't really been the case for him so far in his career. Where you guys add on Peter Lambert, who turned in a quality start, actually got off to a rough start here and then settled down nicely. Seven innings, three runs, six strikeouts against the Mariners. He had 13 whiffs on 96 pitches. His velocity was down in this one. He's a spark for those who playing headed points leagues. Scott, where do you land on Peter Lambert right now? I mean, I started. I'm in a couple leagues with the two starts this week and so far, so good. He has missed bats at a nice rate. The average ex of a loss. He's been pretty low. So limited hard contact. Miss bats at a nice rate. There's a lot of walks. And he's a 29 year old who spent most of his career in the minor leagues. And so there are plenty of reasons to bet against Peter Lambert. I think he's already exceeded expectations given that. He's on the fringes. He's on the fringes of roster ability. I am halfway expecting it all to fall apart, but just based on the underlying numbers we've seen when he's pitched so far, it doesn't seem entirely fake. Keep it in an eye on him, but very skeptical overall. I guess he's going to put it. I think he's mildly interesting. Yeah. He's got like good fastball shape, multiple pitches that are getting swings and misses. I think he's worse than Cantillo probably, but I think he's a marginally interesting pitcher who is doing some interesting things right now. Mm-hmm. Again, that is Peter Lambert who is with the Astros after spending a year in, I think it was Japan less here. Although he didn't even pitch well there and then he's come back and it's actually looked pretty good here with the Astros so far. And it's worth noting that prior to that, he had been in Colorado. Right. Mm-hmm. A lot of it was in the Rocky's minor league system, but still, this might be his first truly fair shake and he's exceeded expectations so far. So I'm not totally ruling out Lambert mattering. It's just he hasn't quite been good enough to totally make me say, yeah, he matters. These last two names who are widely available were not great, but I'll just quickly mention again six games late. Trevor McDonald against the Dodgers, five and a third innings, three runs, four strikeouts, did have 12 whiffs on 101 pitches and then Brandon Young of the Orioles was solid against the Yankees, five and a third, two runs, five strikeouts here. He had 11 whiffs on 97 pitches, the deepest of leagues. Do you guys have any thoughts on Trevor McDonald or Brandon Young? They were both really good in their previous starts before this. I think in McDonald's case, especially, he was, I don't know, touched by an angel. That's a thing, right? I think that was just a total fluke. Brandon Young, his minor league numbers have actually been really good, but he just has never worked out so far in the majors and he's gotten a few opportunities and it hasn't really worked out. So yeah, Trevor McDonald gets a lot of ground balls, but he's kind of the reverse. His minor league numbers are terrible. I think we need to see more from both of those guys even to consider them in deeper leagues. Let's talk about some of the most dropped players on CBS this weekend, lots of waiver wires running on Sunday night. It's a Monday, so we see who's being dropped in a lot of CBS leagues. On the hitter side of things, Aguistin Ramirez, Jeremiah Jackson, Jason Dominguez, Onhelm Martinez, Kerry Carpenter. Scott, do any of those names feel like they should not be dropped? I feel like it's mostly fun. I mean, three of them are injured. Well, now two of them are injured. One was demoted. Yeah, I think it's, I think it's all fine. Onhelm is cool. Jackson is worth keeping an eye on just because Jackson holiday was playing third base in a minor league game recently. They might be close to pulling the plug on Kobe Mayo, in which case, Jeremiah Jackson could be in every day player moving forward, but obviously he has to hit and he hasn't been lately. So, yep. And Kerry Carpenter, by the way, he was dropped from 76% roster. to 67%. So that's really just shallower three outfielder leagues. I think at five outfielder leagues, you should continue to hold on to carry carpens are there. Five other hitters most dropped this weekend. Yiner Diaz, Royce Lewis, Garrett Mitchell, Cam Smith and Josh Bell. Royce Lewis, I mean, I had some optimism that, you know, what he did down the stretch last year, maybe he would carry over. It has not. He's striking out a lot. He's looked really bad. And then he's been sitting a fair amount too. Cam Smith, who got off to the good start. His last 26 games, he is hitting 151 with a 30% shrike out rate. So some of the underlying stuff is still kind of interesting. Like he's hitting the ball hard. He's got some, like a little bit of power and speed. But how would you guys feel about dropping Cam Smith at this point? I'd feel, I mean, it's gone to 58% the roster rate. So like that, that meets these roster and 5L fielder leagues still. And that's the only place where I might think twice about dropping Cam Smith just because the waver wire is so thin in outfielders, even if, even if he hasn't been performing his bat speed is still up three miles per hour on average, he stills the 96th percentile sprint speed and has been making use of it. Like you still see the potential for Cam Smith enough that I'd want to hold on to him in those 5L fielder leagues where again there just isn't much out there at that position. I mean, I suppose given given the news at the top of the show, the understandable next question would be, well, which of Ryan Welch, that AJ Ewing, Henry Bolte, Spencer Jones, would you drop Smith for? And the answer there is certainly Welch, and Ewing. I think so. Yep. I'd at least think about it for the other two. But Cam Smith, I think, is more secure in what role he has. So it would be, I would definitely hesitate. The most dropped pictures on CBS this weekend, Ryan Walker, who was option to triple A, Emilio Pagan dealing with the injury. Cade Cavali was picked up for the two-star week and he wasn't great. Ret Louder on the aisle with the shoulder. And Shane Boz has just been dreadful so far this year. I think all those names are okay to be dropped. I mean, like Pagan and a deeper category is league. I would probably try to hold on to him if you can. But I get that there's a lot of injuries that are piling up here. And Chris, even Shane Boz, like we've told people repeatedly, they could drop them. So yeah, there will be a stretch where Shane Boz is more useful than he has been and will get picked up. But the hope that, you know, kind of like Mackenzie Gore, the hope that just getting a change of scenery and getting a new, new voices in his ear would help him unlock something has not worked out for him. So I think Shane Boz is more or less the guy he's always been. And that's a pretty friendgy fantasy option, unfortunately. The next five pictures most dropped this weekend. Matthew Boyd, he's on the aisle with the meniscus surgery. Andrew Painter has been brutal. He's going off his worst start of the season. Elma Rodriguez was sent back to the minors. Luis Castillo has been really bad and sounds like he's moving to the bullpen. And Dennis Santana, Gregory Soto has the last two saves for the pirates. Scott, what do you think about dropping Dennis Santana and some of those category leagues right now? I understand it. There is probably a, a floor here in leagues where saves are scarce because I think the pirates bullpen is not finalized by any means. Soto has gotten the last two save chances. He's been more reliable lately. But it looked earlier in the year like Don Kelly was going with Soto and then he switched back to Santana for a while. So 48% roster probably fine for Santana. But if it drops to below 40 that the drops to, I don't know, 30, 35, it's like, yeah, I don't know if it enleagues that deep where saves are that scarce. I'd be a little hesitant to pull the trigger. All right. Let's take our final break. When do you return that name that player? Struggling hitter edition. We'll do that right after this. Name that player. Scott going up against Chris the way this will work. I have three hitters. I'll give out various clues. I have like five different clues for each hitter and you could just blow it out answers as many as you want. And whoever gets it right, you are the winner. Are you guys ready? Oh, I'm ready. It's like taboo fantasy baseball edition. Except you're allowed to say any words you want. Yes. And any names. Here we go. Little game show music. Hopefully that's loud enough. We'll see. Anyway, here we go. Name that hitter. Name that player. All right. Here we go. First one. Last year I was the eighth best hitter and fantasy this year. I am currently the 366th hitter and fantasy. Oh, her older pro-domo. Are we just saying the name? Yeah, you just say this. It's not pro-domo. My ex-woba is down from 404 to 300. It still sounds like pro-domo. I can't get that name out of my head now. Um, man. I keep going in 20. No, it's not Cal Rally. In 2020. No. It's not going to. In 2024, my OPS was below 700. Last year, it was over 900. This year, it's down below 700 again. Her older pro-domo. It's a great guess. It's a correct. This hitter is older than me. I am 34 years old. Ah, so an old guy. George Springer. George Springer is correct. So let's talk about George Springer who has had a very rough go. And the real answer might just be that he's not fully healthy yet. He hasn't played enough games yet because he did miss 17 days with a fractured left big toe back in April. And then he missed two more games in early May after fouling a ball off of the same foot, the left foot where he was dealing with the injury. The plate discipline mostly seems fine. The quality of contact is down. The launch angle sweet spot percentage is down from 41% to 28%. But he's also older. So it's like, what do you guys make of George Springer so far? It's a big leap. I had become convinced was swinging with more intent, which is reflected in both average bat speed and fast swing rate. And both of those marks are exactly the same as they were last year. So because he's the age that he is, I think it's possible there are some other variables that are harder to account for. And maybe it's possible to be a big old bus this year, even though those spings swing speed statistics look the same. But I think the fairest answer right now is just let's get a run of good health. And if he gets that, I'm still optimistic, Springer is going to have a good season. So are you guys, would you be confident looking to buy low on George Springer right now? I don't know. Confident would be the right word, but by doing his own. Yeah, I love you. Okay, let's talk about the next one. Last year, I was the 35th best hitter in fantasy this year, 217 so far. Harald O'Bardomo. I said it just, uh, third. Is Harald O'Bardomo an answer to one of these questions? He is not, but he is a struggling hitter. So I guess he could have been, uh, despite making 42 million dollars this season. Oh, no, no, not Kyle Tucker. I'm betting 222 with two homeers 62 million dollars a year. And a 559 OPS. Um, it's not manny Machado. No, his contract doesn't get crazy for another year, I think. Gosh, there aren't 42 million who's making 40. Okay, say over those last statistics again, Boba, shut. Boba said is correct. Yeah, of course, it's better this game than I am. Yes. So he's making 42 million this year. He's hitting 222 with two homeers and a 559 OPS. I'm the ninth biggest under achiever in WoB minus X WoB. My name rhymes with the character from Star Wars. This is my first year not playing with the blue J. So if you get it after those, it's quite on fin, the outfielder for the Oakland athletics. Boba said is probably one of the hitters I am getting the most questions about right now. Yeah, I, I'm unmoved. Me too. I generally think he's fine. I think it's just a mixture of more than a little bad luck. And then he's just also not, like he's not playing well right now. You know, he has the X WoB, he's one of the biggest under performers in baseball. Yeah, 319 would still be a big step back from last year. He's not hitting the ball with the same authority that he did last year. Or at least he's not the weird thing is the average X of loss is fine. It's mostly just angles. He's hitting ball. Right. and so I kind of just think he's not quite locked in yet and he will get locked in at some point, but he's not. - Not a little bit. - He's striking out a little bit more, but 2.6 percentage points is not particularly concerning. The whiff rate is still elite. I'm pretty unconcerned about Oba-Shet. I haven't moved him down on my rankings yet. I'm sure he has moved down at third base, especially, but that's mostly South Stewart moving up or joining the position. I'm not too concerned about Oba-Shet. - I have thought the past couple of weeks about moving Kevin McGonigal ahead of him, but I haven't done it yet. - Yeah, I mean, even that, like McGonigal's great, but all you're really getting from him right now is batting average and look, you're getting nothing from Boba-Shet, so if you want to make that case, but it's not like the skill set looks so different. - In a point, in a point-sleeve, McGonigal's been pretty awesome. He's walking a ton too. Yeah, I mostly agree, but Shet still hitting the ball hard, 283xBA. The biggest thing is the ground ball rate is up, and his pull rate is way down. He's hitting a lot of balls to the opposite field, and he's putting the ball on the ground, like those two things. He already is someone who is not conducive to hitting for power, and he's doing those things even more, the things that we don't want him to do. So hopefully the bat-a-ball distribution gets a little bit more evened out as the season goes on, and we get some better days here, 'cause he still is hitting the ball hard, and he's a big underachiever. I would more confidently by low on Boba Shet right now than I would George Springer. - So, we're just gonna say the same thing. - All right, last name here, let's see if Chris could go for the sweep. My OPS is down from 729 to 55. - Why would we be talking about a guy with a 729 OPS? - You guys were supposed to say Prademo. I'm on par. - Oh, we're all Prademo. Now, his was good last year. We already ruled it out. - I am on pace for 20 homers, but last year I hit 30, and my career high is 48. - Oh gosh, that was-- - Oh, yeah. - Fly in my career. - A.U. Hennie was Suarez. - No. - It's neither of those guys. - Career high is 48. - My 46.5% chase percentage is the-- - Oh, Salvador Prademo. - Oh, Salvador Prademo. - It is Salvador Prademo. - Yeah. - Scott's like, don't ever play this game again. - He, my brain's not-- - I got a peak four. - I got yelled at by a bunch of royal fans this weekend for saying what should be fairly controversial that Salvador Prademo is not a Hall of Famer. Do not at me. He might also just be like, he might be done making his case. It's too early to say that for sure, but everything looks really bad for Salvador Prademo. And he is 36 years old. And he's a catcher who has caught a ton of innings. And the, you know, some guys age like a glider. And some guys age on a cliff. And some guys age like the road runner, when he-- no, the other guy, the coyote, when he runs into a canyon wall after the road runner runs through it. You know? - Mm-hmm. - And that might be what's happening with Salvador Prademo. - Look, it was always kind of walking that tight rope with as much as he chases pitches. And obviously he's up there in age as well. If you look at the underlying numbers, he's quality of contact is down, the barrel rate is way down, the expected stats are terrible. His pull rate is down, his pulled air rate is down. So it could just be that this is kind of the beginning of the end here. And a two-catrileg would you guys try and buy low or just, like, don't even get involved with the warning signs? - I mean, it's always a question of how low I would not buy Salvador Prad's confident that he's gonna bounce back to his normal self, but is he gonna be better than this? - I would buy that. So what's that worth to you? That's a hard question to answer. - Yeah, I haven't moved him down yet in the rankings very much, but I probably need to, yeah, I think, yeah, I think you'd rather have Adley Rochman than him. - I don't know how many of the other guys behind him you can move ahead confidently. - I moved to Smith's dog as well. - I think I have Adley ahead, but it's more about the young guys who are still waiting for them to break through and get their best. - He's slow down, yeah. - Francisco Alvarez has been awful. Gabriel Moreno has done nothing. - In a one catcher league, would you drop Salvador Perez for just whoever's performed? - Yeah, that seems like a pretty simple. - So Ryan Jeffers, Dylan Dingler, guys like that, or I mean, it's too late to be able to leave him. - I'm not gonna drop Salvador Perez behind them in the rankings. - Yes, I agree. - But if you want to drop them, drop him for them, I think that's okay. - Yeah, because, like, just catcher, in a one catcher league, catchers just such a disposable position. - You can, there are a handful at the top that are just untouchable in terms of playing the waiver wire, but if you want to go hot hand with the dozen or so, there's, I think that's fine. - All right, congrats, Chris. You dominated, name that player. - We. - Let's get into some pitching leftovers here. I have five quick pitch or questions, more like four now, because we already spoke about Ryan Weathers, but Joe Rasmussen, a quality start at the Blue J, six innings, three runs, six strikeouts, he had 13 whiffs on 100 pitches. First time in his career, with 100 pitches in a start. How about that? He also has gone six innings in four of eight starts. So, Scott, Rasmussen be ranked higher. Are we, maybe we undervalued him early in the season because we thought there would be more restrictions than there currently are. - Should he be ranked higher? Well, I rank him where I think he should rank. So that's, I rank him 50th currently. Could he be higher than that? A little bit, a little bit. I haven't behind some injured pitchers, and maybe he deserves to be ahead of those guys, but, you know, he's not a big strike outsource. Good ERA and whip guy, but in the past, obviously, the starts have tended to be on the shorter side. And I would still bet on that usage returning to closer to normal over time. But he's good. You should start him more weeks than not, certainly in Roto. Yeah. - It's tough because I think he's a must-start pitcher. And there are pitchers who I think are, if you're on a weekly basis, who I think I would rank ahead if we're talking about trades, because as good as Rasmussen is, he is, I think a relatively low floor, or a low ceiling pitcher, you're not gonna get 150 strike outs from him. Like, is that even the ceiling from Jurasussen? Are you gonna get 15 wins out of him? I think that's pretty unlikely. He's a really good source of ERA and whip. And I think he's below average at the other two pitching categories. And then in points leagues, the one thing I will say is he thrown 90 or more pitches three out of eight starts this season. He only did that twice last year. There are such clear limitations for him that it's relative. - You're Mike buted again, Chris, so my bad. - All right, I'm done. They don't want me to talk about Rasmussen, I guess. - Rasmussen, I was just gonna point out, I think that they're kind of like pulling off a little bit on the restrictions that they had with them last year. He did throw 150 innings last year. The strikeout rate is back up, making some of those starts in Tropicana, where typically that's a place that is more conducive to strikeouts. So I actually think he can exceed the 150 innings that he threw last year. And if he can maintain a strikeout preening, then yeah, I mean, by default, he's gonna get more than 150 strikeouts. I have a good amount of confidence in him. I have him as a top 36 starting pitcher. I think the floor is very high, but I think we're also starting to see the ceiling be raised a little bit as the restrictions are coming off there on Drew Rasmussen. - You just wanted to talk about Drew Rasmussen. You had a lot to say, you had a lot on your mind there. - I like him, I think he's good. - Apparently. - He's really good. Kevin Gausman got hit hard by the raise on the other side. Four and two thirds, 10 hits, seven run, six earned, five strikeouts, zero walks. He basically did not have his splitter working in this one at all. And when he doesn't have that, this is what can happen. It's got any actual concern with Gausman or it's just just a one off bad start to net the splitter. - Yeah, that was my thought on it. I mean, even though the final line was bad, 87.1 mile per hour average, I said, "Felasty wasn't getting hit hard." I think it was just one of those days. - Let's talk about Michael Soroco, who pitched very well at the Ranger, six and a third shutout with five strikeouts. He had 10 whiffs on 89 pitches. And that slurve was great for him. He was not really able to generate whiffs on anything else here. But overall, he's pitched pretty well so far this season. He did have that one blowup start against the Brewers. Despite all that, Chris, I still think Mike Soroco is a sell high type. I don't really know what you can get for him, but I would shop around and see. What do you agree? Do you think that he is a sell high? - Yeah, and theory. - And theory, right? - I just don't think anybody's buying. I don't think Mike Soroka has any name value. I don't think, you know, 353 ERA for Mike Soroka. I don't think really screams. Ah, I need to go get this guy who has no track record of being a useful fantasy option. I guess since what, 2021? Was it that recent? Was it that long ago? - It was longer than that. - I think it was the 2019. - I think it was 2019, yeah. - Yeah. So like, I'm not, I don't think he's terrible, but this is one where the ERA says one thing, the FIP says another. And then the X ERA is 503 'cause he just gives up so much loud contact. And I think the ugly starts are gonna be really ugly. So, look, his next start is at Colorado. No way. There's no way you're starting Mike Soroka at Colorado. Then it's the Rocky's at home, away from Course Field. Yeah, I'm starting him there. Then I think the next one after that is the Mariners in Seattle. I'm probably starting Mike Soroka moving forward, but I just don't, you're Mike cut off again. - I don't know if anybody's buying Mike Soroka. - That is fair. Oh, Robo Chris. (laughs) Last name on this list is George Kirby. He was okay at the Astros. Five innings, seven hits, one run, seven strikeouts, two walks. He was solid. I'm still just trying to find ways that we can get more whiffs out of George Kirby. It's got, how do we get more whiffs out of George Kirby? (laughs) - Well, he has to meet, I don't know. I got a lot of strikeouts in this start, so that's good. So, shame me only went five innings. I don't know. I think George Kirby, if he's on your pitching staff, he's far from your biggest problem. And so I would just, I would just choose not to worry about it myself. - All right, some hitting leftovers. Joe Adele has multiple hits in three of his last four games and he's kind of sacrificed strikeouts for power so far this season or power for strikeouts, I guess. Wouldn't mind a few more strikeouts if we can get some more power there out of Joe Adele. Ben Rice goes yard after a rough weekend two for four with his 13th home run. He had the hand injury for the early part of last week. He did look rusty over the weekend. He also faced some really good pitchers. So perhaps that contributed there. Chandler Simpson continues to do what he does, three for five with two more steals. He did leave this game with a leg cramp, but doesn't sound too serious. Jonathan Oranda has been raking two for three with his eighth home run. It's up to 32 RBI on the season and 858 OPS. He's look really good. Julio Rodriguez off to a better start than usual, two for four with his seventh home run. He also has three steals. He's hitting 277. Max Muncie of the Dodgers has quietly been really good this year. It's almost impossible that he has 11 homers and 16 RBI. And I think he had a three run homer on Sunday. How is that even possible? And then Rafael Devers has looked much better in May. He had two hits here, hit another home run. And now in May, 10 May games, Devers is hitting 364 with three homers and an 1194 OPS. So we needed to see something. We are starting to get it here from Rafael Devers. Lots of names on this list. Scott Chris, anyone, anything stand out? Adele Rice Simpson, Aronda, J. Rod Muncie Devers. Let's try to see if Devers strike out rate had improved in May. It's improved some. It's still not very good, but it's improved a little. It's like what 27% something like that? Entering today. Yeah, it was. Yeah. So I have been working on redrafting the first two rounds at the quarterway point of the season. Rafael Devers is not a part of that. No. But Ben Rice is. Might decide to put Ben Rice up there, which means moving him ahead of Peter Lonzo and moving him ahead of Rice Harper and-- The second out-roly. The later part of the second out-roly has been pretty bad. Yeah. That back half of the second round was difficult to fill out. There are probably 16 to 18 players that it's like, OK, these guys have to be in the first two rounds. And then those last six spots, it was like 8. It's two of still in there. 18 names that I didn't really want to put in. I decided to leave Churrio out, but not with great conviction. And he needs to be in. I agree. But who do I leave out? One of those guys that you didn't want to include. OK. OK, fair enough. I think he's 16 to 18. Yeah. I decided that to make-- I was making excuses to leave players out. Basically, and my excuse for Churrio was like, well, we haven't seen enough to really have a good feel for how this year's going to play out. And he was borderline first two rounds coming in anyway. So-- But yeah, I decided originally I was going to leave Ben Rice and Drake Baldwin out just because it would mean moving them ahead of a bunch of players. I wasn't ready to move them ahead of, but then I said, screw it. I'm moving them in. They're first two rounds. This is what the people want to see. Give them some red meat. Give them some change. Don't just run the same 24 players out there from before the season. Mad Olsons in there, right? Yeah. Red meat and rice. Ben Rice. Rice Harper's not. No, OK. Yeah. Harper's been good. He's been really good. So is Olsons here. Top 10 hitter so far. Yeah. Some might-- I like stats are raising. Some might say-- I think I should be-- You guys are acting like this is easy. It is not easy. I mean, whoa, whoa, whoa. It is not easy. I do this every week. You do this every week. Yeah, I do the tree values. I'm keeping overall right. I'm doing way more than 24. I probably didn't need to do it at all then. Well, no, you can do it. You can do it. No. That's great. People want differing opinions. But I'm just saying, you know. What OK? I have it with Harper. So you've left-- so I presume you're leave out Gunnar Henderson. And I presume you'd leave out-- No, Henderson's still top 15 for me. OK. Well, who are you leaving out then? Are you leaving out jazz chism? Are you leaving out-- Oh, who are you leaving out then? Vladimir Guerrero? Oh my gosh. It hasn't changed much from the-- He's going to be honest. But that's me. Yeah. OK. I'm sure you're leaving out O'Neal Cruz. I put Cruz in there. I did not-- Yeah, no. I did not-- Crazy. Crazy talk. I did not put James Wood in there. I don't have James Wood in that. No, no, Cruz. Yeah, I think so too. I think they're very similar. It's just Cruz runs a heck of a lot more. I would take both O'Neal's jazz chism right now. The call to the bullpen from Monday's Action for the Orioles Rico Garcia actually pitched the eighth inning in this game with a one run lead. He was facing the heart of the Yankees lineup. Ben Rice, Aaron Judge, and Cody Belinger makes sense, Bayespot in the game there. He struck out two in a perfect inning. Anthony Nunez got the ninth heel out of hit, but picked up his second save. For the raise, Brian Baker got the ninth with a three run lead. He struck out two for his 11th save. For the debax, Paul Seawald got the ninth with a one run lead. He struck out one for his ninth save. And for the Mariners, Andres Munoz picked up his eighth save of the season. To stream or not to stream on Tuesday, we have Walbert, Urania at the Guardians, Brady Singer against the Nationals, Patrick Corbin against the Raise, Jack Flarety at the Metz, Colin Ray at the Braves, Grant Holmes against the Cubs, Stephen Colock at the White Sox Eric Fettie against the Royals, Billy Oberg against the Marlins, Zach Galen at the Rangers. And anybody else you see or like. I think yesterday when we were looking ahead, we said, "I had to take Springs off the list because he's too roster now." Sorry, sorry Scott. Yeah, I don't love these options to be honest. I think you and I said Galen and Oberg and Frank. Yeah, I think so. With Grant Gusto, we said that. I think so. I don't recall it being with great Gusto. There's a ton of volatility, but I mean with the way the Metz lineup has been, Jack Flarety might perform well there, but he also could get blown up. So he could go four innings, five runs and six walks and wouldn't surprise me there. Walbert, Urania, his last couple of starts have looked kind of good, but he's still not much of a track record there. Yeah, I would say Galen, over in Flarety, if I had to choose a third. On Wednesday, we have Reed Deppmer's at the Guardians, Griffin Jacks at the Blue Jays, JR Richie against the Cubs, Noah Schultz against the Royals, Ryan Nelson at the Rangers, Bryce Miller and his season debut at the Ash Rose, Matthew Liberator and JT Ginn are going up against each other. Ryan Nelson's easy for me. Reed Deppmer's is probably a second choice and I guess Noah Schultz, because of the match up there against the Royals. I would say I like all three more than anyone Tuesday. I think I agree with that. Yeah, we're just not there with Griffin Jacks, although I remain interested. Yeah, I think he probably gets up to 70 to 75 pitches, but it's, you know, what are we getting? Like four or five innings, something like that. So we just still, we need him to get stretched out. I would say, Depp Mercholz and Nelson in that order for me on Wednesday. Let's wrap up here with team name Tuesday. This one's from Dylan was sick today. Hope I'm not ill tomorrow. It's good. From Patrick, I like Big Buckston. I cannot lie. Yep. Ray and Reagan's all spelled. Yeah. Robbie Ray, Colin Ray, right, cold Reagan's. Yeah. I don't know why this was such a popular one today, but here we go. From Nate, I like Big Betts and I cannot lie. From Stephen for whom the bell to Lee. Yeah, for homes, the bell to the house. Yeah, I think it works better if you just go home. You've already got two names in there. You know, you know, you know, yeah, no, don't agree. Yep. These are from Ryan return of the Mac. Always. Big Mac with a side of fries. You know, it's, you haven't done. I know you love your Shane O'Mac drop, but we could get a return of the Mac once again. We should maybe we should play that for, we'll play that for Joe Mac's first career home run. Oh my God. I love the little I love the little adlives in that song. Eldridge over troubled water. Yeah. But Santa Republic. Yep. Holy toly. Absolutely. These are from Colin ghost of Pradomo. I don't get that one. So apparently if it's an, it's an O'Peth song. It's like a metal band, right? Yeah, I, I never got into them though. Okay, it might be great. Yeah, I never really listened to. Dom Spaghetti. That's good. Yeah. For womb, the bell tolies. Yeah. We're getting a lot of these, the bell toles and tolies and from Mike, do you Marcy? What I Marcy? Yeah. From Jared. Who is your Danny and what does he do? That's pretty good. Pretty good. From Ben and San Diego, these are FBT segment themed. Fire up the Yuriometer. Sure. Fire snow. Yep. Benj game. Leftovers, brole pens and stromers. Yeah. It's a lot of Colin. These are from Jeff. They are Metz horror themed, Metz cemetery. Yep. Five, five nights at Freddie Peralta's. Yep. Brett vampire, betty. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's a vampire bet. Have you watched the five nights at Freddie's movie? I kind of want to watch it, but I don't know if it's good. No, I have not. I never played the video game, but I heard it was crazy back in the days. Yeah, I know. I know nothing of that. That's a total blind spot for me. These are from Caws. They are movie themed. The Shaw Schmidt Redemption. Yep. Schlitler's list. Yep. Saving Joe Ryan. Yeah. Cossus Blanco. Yep. Finding Nemo. Yep. The Great Escara. Yep. The Bridge on the Riverquan. Yep. The Big Robleski. Absolutely. The Wizard of Baws. Yep. A TV show. Leave it to Beaver's. Yeah. And Shakespeare. All's Wells that ends Wells. Got a lot of Wells. She got an episode of Lassie. We are going to wrap it. For Scott and Chris, I and Frank thinks it's always for tuning in to fan a CV ball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five star rating on Adler's Spotify. And we'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.