Weekend Waiver Wire! Colt Emerson, Roki Sasaki & Merrill Kelly! (5/18 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Wraver Wire names from the weekend up next on fantasy baseball today express Want to go into FBT Express on Monday May 18th. I am Frank sample joint by Chris towers and let's take a look at some Wraver Wire ads from this weekend and the big name we got was Colt Emerson called up by the Seattle Mariners Top prospecting the system 38 games at AAA the season hit 255 seven homers 10 steals and 816 OPS 50% rostered so he's out there in a decent amount of leagues Chris would you consider Colt Emerson a must add player? Yeah, it is tough because He's shortstop eligible right now Point sliggs is gonna be very hard for anyone to break into the top 12 at that position even some of those other rookies JJ Weatherhole Kevin McGonagall Kevin Connor Griffin. I'm not sure any of them are top 12 yet Colt Emerson is 20 years old. He is a top 15 top 20 type prospect so not quite Connagriffin or McGonagall but maybe similar to JJ Weatherhole and The thing that helps is he's gonna be third base eligible very soon probably by the end of this week He made his M.O.B. debut Sunday playing third base. He's likely to play third base moving forward for the Mariners while Brandon Donovan's on the IL You see the 27% strike outrate. You see the 255 batting average and it's It's a little alarming For a guy this young but then you look under the hood and he doesn't swing and miss on pitches inside the strike zone all that often It's like a 86% rate which is above average He's a very aggressive hitter. He doesn't have like plus power yet. It's more like average So he's still definitely a work in progress, but I think you have to view a guy like this as a must add player just because What if it works out you know Development for young players is not linear and some guys who struggle a bit at AAA come up to the majors catch lightning in a bottle and are really really good So I think there's a chance for that with cold Emerson It's not the likelyest outcome likely stout come is he's not a great fantasy option right away But I think you got to give him that chance. So any leagues where he's available. I would be trying to add him All right, let's talk about AJ Ewing something we've done a lot already and what's going for big fat bids already on Sunday night Look he's 61% rostered. You don't need me to tell you but I'll do it anyway He's a must add must roster player across the board and six games He's gone five for 17 with a homer a triple two steals and more walks in strikeouts regardless of format Seven walks and six games. That's pretty impressive. Yep. Yep. He got he reached base four times on Sunday Added another stolen base. So whether it's a shallow points league head to head categories Roto it doesn't matter if AJ Ewing is available in your league go add him now. It was a massive week for on Hill Martinez in Five games he hit four homers with eight runs scored seven RBI and three steals Given me a little bit of hurrah although Prado Mo vibes from last season Chris 59% rostered are you buying any of what on Hill Martinez is doing right now? Yes and no I'm buying the he's an improved player because what we saw last season was some of the worst quality contact baseball It's still not great. It's 88.6 miles per hour and that's where the hurrah the Prado Mo of it all comes in right hurrah the Prado Mo took this big step forward mostly by going from some of the worst Quality of contact and baseball to just merely bad and on how Martinez is kind of going that same way what you're seeing with on home Martinez though is he very much has a an a swing and a b swing and if you look at the the bat speed data what you see is especially batting from the right side of the plate. His most common bat speed swing is right around where it was last year but then you see this second bump right around like 75 77 miles per hour which is legit bat speed where when he gets into one he can really drive it we've seen eight bad balls this season that were hit at least as hard as his most hard hit ball last season There is something here with on how Martinez it's not a total fluke That being said he's being shielded from some of the tougher righties. I think that's Helping a lot of the underlying numbers. He doesn't quite have hurrah Alder Prado Mo's plate discipline actually his plate discipline is not very good Well hurrah her Alder Prado Mo's is excellent. So there's some Prado Mo there But I think on how Martinez is most likely going to be left on the way of a wire in the long run but if you want to add him now I think that makes sense to yeah I think he's a totally fine Jose Altsu very replacement who who went on the aisle with an oblique train amongst outfielders I think he's still pretty clearly behind AJ Ewing and JJ Blade And some of the other like Ryan Walchmit would would you agree with that on how Martinez behind those names yes okay let's take a quick break and we'll be back right after this Welcome back in FBT express we're talking waiver wire ads from the weekend and two pictures who emerged Merrill Kelly three four hit complete game in course field of all places only three strikeouts But he didn't walk anybody through 73% of his pitches for strikes He's looked much better over his last two starts. He's 61% roster gets the giants this week The other name is Roki Sasaki who just had the best start of his career at the angels seven innings of one run ball with eight strikeouts to zero walks Through 76% of his pitches for strikes Chris who do you like more between Roki Sasaki and Merrill Kelly Oh Merrill Kelly for sure especially in a point slag Like he he was terrible his first couple of starts of the season but Merrill Kelly has a very long track record of being a very solid pitcher Not an ace but someone you're always happy to have around for fantasy He opened the season with the back injury he missed a lot of spring training I think it makes sense that he wasn't quite at a hundred percent When he opened the season and look I don't think you can take anything From any start at course field it is an entirely different atmosphere than any other ballpark and baseball and it renders analysis More or less meaningless but It's also not surprising to see Merrill Kelly get back on track and I do think he'll be more or less must start moving forward So I'll take him Sasaki I think probably has a little more upside Just because we're starting to see the contours of a good pitcher with this new approach where he's throwing For seemer about 40% of the time still a pretty bad pitch despite being 97 miles per hour But now he's limiting the exposure to it. He gets to pick and choose his counts with it because he's got this harder splitter Um that he throws around 88 to 90 miles an hour I kind of tend to think of it more. It's like almost like a splinker where he uses it more like a fastball But he can throw it in two strike counts as well then he's got the splitter which really good today Uh on Sunday nine of the first 11 the nine of the 11 first pitch sliders he threw Worse strikes in this one which is a big deal for a guy who's had command issues And then he's got the slower fork ball. That was the the fork the splitter of old I think the whole arsenal kind of works a little better now. I don't think rookie Sasaki is a must roster pitcher or a Certainly not a must start pitcher. This was really his first good start But was the first good start and it was the best start of his career and it's Forward momentum for a guy that hasn't had a lot of that So I'm interested in watching rocus sakis next few starts see how he builds on it But if you're asking me who I'd rather add who I'd rather start It's certainly Merrill Kelly right now The last name I'll ask you about here is Casey Schmidt who just continues to hit four for five with two homers on Saturday He had two more hits on Sunday He has set out two of the past five games and that has been an issue But the way with that he's hitting I think he just needs to be in their lineup Who do you like more just uh I guess in a vacuum out of nowhere break out to season They both have second base eligibility Casey Schmidt or on Helm Martinez I think I'd go with Casey Schmidt. I think the overall skill sets a little stronger and It's not just second base first base second base and third base. I think that's a nice thing to have You know, I think Casey Schmidt's probably a a marginal player in the long run You know, not someone I think is going to be 28 homers or anything you know maybe 18 to 22 something like that but The the first base second base third base eligibility Most weeks you'll have a spot for him in your lineup somewhere and I think that's super helpful to have around All right for more extensive fantasy baseball coverage listen to our full lane podcast fantasy baseball today on spotify Apple podcast or anywhere else podcasts are found. Thanks for listening to fantasy baseball today express and we'll be back again that later this week Bye-bye Paramount Podcasts.