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Speaker 1Way too early, 2027 breakouts. Up next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express. Welcome to FBT Express on Friday, October 9th. I am, for example, joined by Chris Towers for some way too early 2027 breakouts. And Chris, we will start with you.
Speaker 3Yeah, we'll start with your favorite fantasy analyst's favorite breakout catcher for 2027, and that is Leo Bernal of the St. Louis Cardinals. I think he's Leonardo. On CBS Sports platforms, but he's Leo everywhere else. And whatever you call him, he had an awesome season. He already broke out in 2022. He emerged as arguably one of the best catching prospects in baseball. He had 278 with a 831 OPS at AAA, gets called up to the majors, and is basically exactly as good. He ended up with an 807 OPS, 284 batting average in 24 games. The Cardinals clearly love Leo Bernal. He started every single game after his promotion. That is extremely rare. That is an extremely good sign of confidence in a 22-year-old catcher. They're already talking about Reino Rodriguez, who is arguably the top catching prospect in baseball. He's going to start playing third base this offseason. The Cardinals seem to view Leo Bernal as part of the long-term, answer behind the plate to the point where I could see them trading Yvonne Herrera this offseason. And so I think they really like this kid. I don't think he's a 284 hitter. His strikeout rate did jump up to 25% when he got to the majors. But Leo Bernal hits the ball hard. He's got a good approach at the plate. I think this is a potential top 12 catcher for 2027. And the way they used him suggests that they really, really believe in Leo Bernal.
Speaker 1I love this call as well. I mean, he was on my short list of options here. Hit the ball really hard. Put the ball in the air as well. Like 21.4% pull the air rate too. So he knows what he has to do to get to power. Played every game down the stretch. So could be a catcher DH type if they move on from Yvonne Herrera. So lots to like there for Leo Bernal. Your favorite analyst's favorite breakout pitcher is going to be Jared Jones for next season. This one feels like a free square. He was very good this season returning from injury 372 ERA 108 whip, but there was more meat on the bone. We definitely saw that down the stretch. He had a 322 FIP 317 X ERA overall five starts in September 0.93 ERA 0.59 whip 40 strikeouts to four walks over 29 innings pitch. That will be the last thing that people remember of Jared Jones from this past season and coming off a year where Jacob Miziorowski and Cam Schlittler and Chase Burns all broke out. People are going to be very, very excited about Jared Jones. Three different pitches with a whiff rate over 38%. I legitimately think the talent is off the charts. It's just how high will the price tag be for Jared Jones is the is the last and final question heading into next season. Chris, back over to you for another breakout.
Speaker 3Yeah, I think you can argue Jack Caglione already broke out, but I think there's another room or another level here for him to jump. Because, you know, we saw good batting average. I think it was fourth in the American League in batting average 289 23 homers. The counting stats were pretty underwhelming. 72 RBI 72 runs 75 RBI and 143 games. I think everything could get better for Caglione in 2027. And I think a big part of it is just avoiding the really slow start that he had. He was like a 700 or below. We're below PS bat each of the first two months from June 1st on. He hit 317 with a 554 slugging percentage, 18 home runs and 89 games, 64 RBI. I mean, 64 RBI and 89 games when he only had 75 for the whole season tells you how bad the first two months for him and how bad the first two months were for the Royals offense. So I think we see a little improvement kind of across the board for the Royals offense. And Caglione, I think there's still 35 to 40 homer potential here. He hits the ball so hard. It's just a question of can he elevate the ball a little more consistently and really tap into that power a little more? I think there's room for giant numbers for Jack Caglione.
Speaker 1All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be back right after this.
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Speaker 1Visit T-Mobile.com. Welcome back, FPT Express 5. Way too early breakouts for the 2027 season. And I kind of took the free squares. For both, I think both of these players are going to be very popular breakout candidates. My next one is Bryce Eldridge, who unfortunately his season ended on the concussion IL. So I want to follow that and make sure that he's all right in spring training. But man, he was better than I thought as a hitter coming into this season. He wound up with 17 home runs. That's 25 home runs over 162 games for Bryce Eldridge. And he hits the ball extremely hard. And he actually. I really didn't strike out as much as I thought he would coming in. I mean, for someone as big as Bryce Eldridge, wound up with a 26.6% K rate. That was much higher at levels in the minors last season. But he hits the ball extremely hard. I think he's one tweak away. He feels like a line drive hitter right now who just kind of like hits really hard to all fields. If he just puts the ball in the air in terms of fly balls a little bit more, pulls the fly balls a little bit more, despite playing in a lot of games, which I know is a bad place for left-handed power. I mean, his power is such that it doesn't matter what ballpark that he plays in. So I think as soon as next season, he could double this home run total. I think we could be looking at like 260, 270, 35 home runs from Bryce Eldridge next season. We'll be very, very excited to take him in the middle rounds. Chris, let's throw it back over to you for one more breakout for next season.
Speaker 3I want to go with a little less obvious of a pitcher choice. And so I'm going to go with Griffin Jacks, who, you know, I think there are some questions about what his role is going to be. Obviously, he dealt with an injury late in the season, and he's been used mostly in a multi-inning relief role since then. But we have seen the Rays use him as a starting pitcher. There was a stretch where they were even, you know, kind of letting him get up to 90 pitches. And I'm hoping we see with him what we've seen with Drew Rasmussen for the Rays, where, you know, it was his first year back from injury. Very shortly, she was mostly a reliever. Second year was a lot of five-inning starts. And then, you know, Last year, obviously, 2026, he's one of the best pitchers in baseball. routinely going six innings something he never did the year before i don't think griffin jacks is going to be that kind of uh pitcher but i think that trajectory is possible the peripherals are mostly really really good he's a big strikeout guy even in a 2026 season where he had you know changing roles and dealt with injury and and all that he still struck out 25 percent of batters and that's with you know transitioning to the rotation mid-season you know with a full off season to prepare we know he he can throw a lot of strikes we know he you know is a decent ground ball pitcher if he can be you know back closer like a 27 percent strikeout rate 10k per nine i think there's a lot of upside he's got multiple swing and miss pitches this is not a reliever who gets by on one or two pitches he's got a whole you know kind of six pitch arsenal i think griffin jacks absolutely has the room to take another step forward as a starting pitcher and it's not a bad idea to bet on the raise when it comes to starting pitchers
Speaker 1yeah 100 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 will be back again next week bye
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