LOGIN

Guardians 2B Juan Brito (24) got the call this week to replace the injured Gabriel Arias and picked up a couple hits in his debut. He walked twice as much as he struck out through nine Triple-A games (6:3) and was slashing .314/.405/.457 for Columbus. I’ve long been a believer in Brito’s bat and suspect he’ll carve out a long term role with this opportunity. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Learn more about our 2026 Fantasy Baseball Subscriptions!

The best daily/weekly player rankings/projections (hitters, starters, and relievers) for each of the next 7-10 days + next calendar week starting Friday. Kick-ass DFS lineup optimizer and projections for DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo!.

See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Sat 4/11
LAA | NYY | PIT | MIL | SD | PHI | BOS | TEX | NYM | CIN | TOR | ARI | CLE | DET | LAD | MIN | HOU | CHC | SEA | ATL | CHW | SF | MIA | STL | BAL | ATH | TB | COL | KC | WSH

I don’t have enough spam, give me the Razzball email newsletter!

Weekly Razzball news delivered straight to your inbox.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Konnor Griffin grabbed all the headlines Wednesday afternoon when news broke that his promotion was imminent and that Pittsburgh was deep into contract talks with the 19-year-old shortstop, who ended up signing for nine years and $140 million, beating Colt Emerson’s days-old record for a player who hadn’t debuted ($95 million) by a healthy margin but surrendering two years of free agency in comparison to the one that Emerson signed away. Tough to dislike this one for either side, I think. We’ve seen recently that these kinds of deals can be torn up and rewritten if both sides are happy with their situation. By which I mean the fear that a young player will get ripped off in this kind of transaction feels overblown. If he really does outperform the contract, he could probably get a healthy raise in exchange for another year of free agency, which is what you’d want to do anyway if you’re building a family and enjoying your life where you’re living it. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

The big stories in prospect world this week are the long-term contracts for Brewers SS Cooper Pratt (8 years, $50.75 million) and Mariners SS Colt Emerson (8 years, $95 million). 

Pratt’s deal involves two club options at 15 million per year. This part is somewhat humorous to me. Pratt will be 29 and 30. Do you think the Brewers will be willing to pay him that money? And if they do exercise that option, what’re the odds he plays that upcoming season in Milwaukee? Not that it matters much right now. And hey, if Grey offers $50 million to lock me in at Razzball for a decade, I hope you won’t worry about my ten-years-later location. It’s strange to me that a team would trade Freddy Peralta to save money and then guarantee a pile of money to a prospect who slugged .348 in 120 Double-A games last year. Granted he was 20 years old, which made him 3.8 years younger than the average age at that level, but it just feels a little strange to see a guy get paid before really performing, particularly by a team that tends to cry poor when articulating their machinations. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Youngsters have been the story of the early season, aided by the odd three-part structure of “opening day” in 2026 but mostly due to their on-field excellence. 

Cardinals SS JJ Wetherholt batted leadoff and hit a 425-foot home run on opening day. You don’t see that every year. 

Tigers SS Kevin McGonigle is hitting .625 with four RBI through two games. KEVIN!! Just out here in his kitchen setting traps for Paul Skenes. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Tigers SS Kevin McGonigle and Cardinals SS JJ Wetherholt got some good news this week: they’ll be breaking camp as big leaguers. The early frontrunners for rookie of the year forced the issue by walking more than they struck out in spring training. Each hit two homers and stole two bases. Left-handed hitters who are both listed at five-foot-nine, they may find themselves conversationally linked throughout their careers after sharing this spotlight. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Aha! This time I have done it, working ahead deep into the night with a box of Slim Jims and Sunny D to power through. Alas, Mamma Hobbs need not call down to the basement from the kitchen for the college prospect rankings this week, for Hobbsy is done! I hit send and promptly notify Truss, then wait for her to call down (accompanied by the usual smell of freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies). As 11 a.m. becomes 12 p.m. and the morning turns into the afternoon, I begin to wonder if she has forgotten about my bi-weekly column. It then dawns on me that it is Thursday, March 19, and we were supposed to leave for our family trip to Minsk at 8 a.m. I rushed upstairs and was quickly welcomed with the disbelief that I had been Kevin McCallister’ed. Alas, the price of being a hard-working fantasy baseball writer in this day and age. See you never, Minsk.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Angels SS Zach Neto 39.9

Neto might be paying a price for being on the Angels, and that’s not totally unwarranted given that runs and RBI might be hard to find. Still, he hit 26 homers and stole 26 bases while batting .257 in his age 24 season on a team with little lineup protection. He’s going after a trio of first basemen in Matt Olson, Rafael Devers, and Bryce Harper, and I totally understand that impulse to take the safest bats you can find. I just prefer the five-category contributions of a guy like Neto, who’s going almost ten spots higher than this in the NFBC: 30.37 since March 1 (121 drafts). 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Pirates SS Yordany De Los Santos has been living in the present and making the most of his limited opportunities with Pittsburgh this preseason, popping three home runs in just 11 plate appearances, good for a 394 wRC+. Prior to spring training, he had played just two games above Low-A and slashed .249/.311/.388 in 116 games there last year, but he was 20 years old posting an average (95 wRC+) against older players (+1 years on average) in full-season ball, so I’m looking past the slash line a little bit and gazing longingly at his 51 stolen bases in 65 attempts. That’s a 78 percent success rate, which ain’t great but isn’t the kind of red flag that would stop a youngster from running. He looks bigger this year than his listed 6’1” 170 pounds, and while a reality beyond their listed size is true of just about every international signing, De Los Santos looks like a major leaguer, physically, when glanced through my admittedly large television screen. At 21 years old, he’s ripe for a statistical breakthrough playing in a hitter-friendly home park for High-A Greensboro. If that materializes, he’ll be headed to Double-A by midseason. Won’t turn 22 until February 17 of next year. There’s a lot to like here. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

The World Baseball Classic is underway, leaving most major league rosters ripe with opportunity. Also with some soft spots. The stats could get weird for a little while here. We’re always taking spring outcomes with a grain of salt anyway, but it can be tough when a guy I like for a breakout like Twins RHP Taj Bradley cruises through four scoreless innings against a Yankees lineup with four regulars. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Three weeks into the 2026 college baseball season, and no pre-draft rankings yet, Hobbs!? Again, my mother, calling down to the basement from the kitchen as I watch a third rerun of Breaking Bad Season 3, Episode 12 (Half Measures) while eating a fourth meatball Hot Pocket. As I burn my chin on steamy marinara, I turn my visage to my laptop screen and realize I have been finished for six weeks but forgot to hit send, and now have compiled seven missed text messages from Truss. So, away we go, unveiling the top-five college prospects for the 2026 MLB Draft, without bias, and without groupthink to give you an idea of who you really should be looking at for first-year player drafts despite all the hullabaloo out there.

Please, blog, may I have some more?