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| Tuesday, March 21, 2023 |
| Happy Tuesday, everyone! We're inching closer and closer to the start of the regular season, and I'm getting very excited. I know the World Baseball Classic has run into a tad bit of controversy as of late, but all of that nonsense aside, we witnessed an absolute classic on Monday night. Red Sox OF Masataka Yoshida (and a sleeper of mine in OBP-specific leagues) helped lead a crazy 6-5 comeback victory for Japan over Mexico in the semifinal of the WBC. Yoshida racked up three hits and a walk in five at bats. His three-run homer in the seventh inning tied the game when Japan trailed 3-0. |
| Below, we'll dive into the newest edition of Sleepers 2.0 from Chris Towers. We'll also take a look at some key spring takeaways from Scott White including the biggest news from Monday -- Braves 2B/SS Vaughn Grissom sent down to the minors. Grissom was a breakout pick from Scott earlier this winter. It just goes to show how much things can change as we near the season. Personally, I'm not exactly sure what Atlanta is doing sending Grissom down. But I wouldn't be foolish enough to question that organization as of late (even though I kinda just did). |
| Also, make sure you didn't miss out on The Fantasy Baseball Today Printable Draft Guide. It's absolutely, 100% FREE. |
| The guide includes top-300 rankings sortable for both Roto and H2H formats. Each top 300 includes every player's ADP and our auction/salary cap values for said player. You'll get tiers for a tiers-based drafting system. You'll also get position-by-position rankings, a lineup chart where you can fill out your rosters as you go for snake drafts and a salary cap tracker for cap drafts. And the best part -- it's all printable. |
| If you click the link above, you'll find a widget where you can type in your email address and get the printable guide sent directly to your inbox. Please reach out to me on Twitter (@DanSchneierNFL) if you type in your email and do not receive the guide. I'll work to get it to you ASAP. |
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| Sleepers 2.0! |
| It's another week of Sleepers, Breakouts and Busts -- and we're kicking things off with Towers' latest sleepers. His complete 2.0 includes late-rounders to stash, post-hype prospects and bounce backs. You can find every pick here. |
| These were some of my favorites: |
| Alek Thomas, OF, Diamondbacks |
| From Chris: "Thomas struggled in his rookie season, but I'm not giving up on him just yet. This is a guy who is hitting .313 for his entire minor-league career, including a massive .349/.418/.606 line in Triple-A. That was inflated by playing in the PCL, but Thomas is still just 22, so I'm definitely not giving up on that kind of track record from a plus athlete. Thomas' performance against lefties last season was bad enough to at least consider that he might just be a platoon player, but again, it's too early to give up on him. Especially when the price is as low as it is. This is a lineup on the way up, and Thomas is an exceedingly cheap opportunity to buy in." |
| Jared Kelenic, OF, Mariners |
| From Chris: "A lot of people are probably writing Kelenic off as a Quad-A player, and so they probably aren't moved by seeing him hitting .421/.450/.895 through 14 spring games. After all, the level of competition he's facing in the Cactus League may not even be on the level of Triple-A players on the whole. Skepticism is always warranted for spring production, especially when it comes to a player who has struggled as much as Kelenic has in the majors, and he might just be the next Jo Adell , a player who can destroy low-level competition but can't get it done when the games matter. That's probably the likeliest outcome for Kelenic at this point, and if his price increases much more, it'll be easy to fade him. However, as long as his ADP remains outside of the top 200, as it is over the past week in NFC drafts, I'll be willing to take a flier. Your picks at that point in the draft aren't likely to work out anyway." |
| Brett Baty, 3B, Mets |
| From Chris: "Among Mets prospects, Francisco Alvarez (285.4 ADP) had gotten more hype, but I think Baty is probably the more likely of the two to break camp with the team. For one, he's just been a lot better in the spring, hitting .351 compared to Alvarez's .115 mark. The Mets also just seem more open to giving Baty a chance, as he's seemingly been in a very real competition with Eduardo Escobar , who may not be viewed as an everyday player anymore. Alvarez may have more upside, but Baty has plenty of his own, coming off a season where he hit .312/.406/.544 at Double-A and eventually reached the majors before a torn ligament in his thumb ended his season. Baty has big raw power without a ton of swing and miss, and he started to elevate the ball more consistently last season. Baty could be a .280 hitter with 25 homers at the third base position, and that would make him a clear must-start option at a position that remains shockingly shallow." |
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| Key spring takeaways |
| Scott White broke down the 12 biggest developments from Spring Training through Monday and you can find all 12 here. |
| The biggest news was certainly Atlanta's decision to send down Grissom. Scott broke down the situation in his piece, but here's his piece of actionable advice as far as what to do with Grissom in your leagues: "Ultimately, Grissom is still the most rosterable of all four Braves shortstop options, but because it's now a stash situation with a murky timeline, he's best left for deeper leagues." We also broke this down on the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 Podcast. |
| Here are a couple of the other nuggets that stood out: |
| Soto has mechanical breakthrough |
| From Scott: "If you haven't tuned in for the World Baseball Classic, you might have missed Juan Soto going 6 for 15 with two homers and three doubles for the Dominican Republic. Between that and Cactus League play, he's 14 for 29 (.483) with three homers and six doubles, looking much more like the player who hit .322 between 2020 and 2021 than the one who hit .242 last year. "It's way different, the way I'm seeing the ball now," Soto said. "Mechanically, I was off last year, the whole year." |
| Profar gets the Coors Field bump |
| From Scott: "Jurickson Profar's Fantasy fortunes turned around in the blink of an eye Sunday with reports of him agreeing to a deal with the Rockies. He's expected to play left field and may even bat leadoff, according to the Denver Gazette , which is no small development given the star-making power of Coors Field. |
| "Profar's production with the Padres last year was nothing to write home about, but just by virtue of him logging so many at-bats, he was the No. 41 outfielder in 5x5 leagues and, amazingly, the No. 19 outfielder in points leagues, the difference there being his excellent plate discipline. The walk rate specifically is why the Rockies have him in mind for the leadoff spot, but if there's one thing Coors Field can do for him, it's improve his batting average, which has languished behind a career .264 BABIP. League average is closer to .300, and Coors Field, with its spacious outfield, could bring Profar to around that mark so that he bats .270-.275. Imagine how high he'd finish in points leagues then." |
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| Other news and notes |
| One of the most popular breakout SP picks is Nick Lodolo, and the Reds starter ripped off eight strikeouts through six scoreless innings on Monday. He now has a 1.93 ERA and 1.14 WHIP with 19 strikeouts and just three walks through 14 innings this spring. |
| Mets SP Justin Verlander couldn't locate his pitches in Monday's Grapefruit League game. He walked six batters in 4 2/3 innings, but it's not something I'm particularly worried about. Verlander had racked up a 2.25 ERA and 0.88 WHIP heading into this outing. |
| Angels SP Patrick Sandoval hasn't caught much buzz this spring from the FBT crew, but he had himself a night in the semifinal of the WBC. He racked up six strikeouts over 4 2/3 shutout innings. He also struck out the side to start the game off and that included striking out Lars Nootbar and Shohei Ohtani. |
| Mariners SP Logan Gilbert is not the most popular breakout pitcher on his own team, but he continues to look highly impressive this spring. On Monday, he struck out five over four shutout innings. He allowed just three hits and every one of them was a single. He didn't walk a single batter either. |
| Hear that? It's the sound of Diamondbacks OF Corbin Carroll screaming up draft boards. Every draft I see lately seems to feature an earlier draft slot for the rookie. On Monday, he collected two hits, a walk, two RBI and stole another base. |
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