1. SS Marco Luciano | 22 | MLB | 2023

Luciano was rushed to the majors despite struggling at most stops along the way, and Farhan Zaidi has said he’ll have a chance to open 2024 as the starting shortstop despite hitting .209 with a 35.9 percent strikeout rate in 18 Triple-A games and .231 with a 37.8 percent strikeout rate in his 14-game September stint. If he does get that job, he’s going to have some rough patches. Like a lot of players who signed just before 2020, he hasn’t really played all that much and retains some hidden topside as he settles in at the highest level.

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Wed 8/6
ARI | ATH | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | OAK

Here’s what I think happened with Jordan Walker. Everyone told you Killers of the Flower Moon was the best Scorsese film, and you were like, “I’m going to watch Killers of the Flower Moon, then go into the parking lot and divorce my wife, leaving her for Killers of the Flower Moon, but first I’m going to watch it,” then you watched it, and, afterwards, you were like, “Well, it was good, but my wife is like Goodfellas. She’s even Raging Bull on occasion. Honestly, she’s The Departed, and Killers of the Flower Moon is barely Casino.” So, you ended up not divorcing your wife to marry a movie you just met and you went home, back to the uze. Expectations are a helluva drug. It’s not just like that with movies, TV, music or what-have-you. Expectations for Jordan Walker last year were ridiculous. I played a role in that, naturally. But let’s prorate out his rookie year: 65/22/65/.275/10. That’s not taking a three-homer week and extrapolating out to 70 homers either. He had a 16/7/.276 year in 420 ABs. That’s just giving him an extra 100 at-bats from the 7-hole. That’s really not bad for a rookie! Your expectations were that he was going to be Aaron Judge in his rookie year, and that’s fair, but he was not bad. He doesn’t even turn 22 years old until next May. This is a 21-year-old’s numbers in the majors his rookie year? Yeah, I regret to inform you, I’m going to be raising expectations one more year. So, what can we expect from Jordan Walker for 2024 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?

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1. SS Jackson Merrill | 20 | AA | 2024 

Supreme contact skills from the left side give Merrill a fantastic base from which to develop his game over the next decade. He struck out just 62 times in 114 games across two levels last year, posting a 111 wRC+ in High-A and a 104 in Double-A despite being 4.3 years younger than the league average age. He’ll open in Triple-A and could look ready for the majors in April. There’s a chance the club trades Ha-Seong Kim and/or Jake Cronenworth this winter and opens an early avenue for Merrill.

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Grey and B_Don return to the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Podcast to discuss the happenings from the MLB Winter Meetings. While Grey missed his opportunity to hangout with a Japanese baseball legend, the greatest Japanese baseball legend (maybe just baseball in general), Shohei Ohtani was holding the baseball world captive with his free agency decision when we recorded, so if we sound dumb…More dumb than usual, you know why. 

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Welcome back to another week of the 2024 Top Keepers series. We’ve completed our journey around the infield, so now we head to the outfield.

This week the spotlight is on left fielders. It would be simpler to just rank all the outfielders in one big group. However, I am not a fan of leagues that just start outfielders. While there is not a big difference between left field and right field, there is a difference. And playing center field is a very different skillset compared to the corner outfield spots.

With that in mind and knowing there are plenty of leagues that start a left fielder, center fielder and right fielder, I have broken up the positions into three different rankings. But before we get to the top left field keepers, below are the positions that have been discussed previously:

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I’ve mentioned this about sixteen dozen times previously, but here goes sixteen-dozen and one times. There’s sleepers ever year who fall into this category: These guys have already broken out, why don’t you believe them? Then I have to go about proving what they’ve already done was solid, and they can do it again. This is James Outman. He already had a great year. Maybe there’s just too many outfielders to draft, but I see him being drafted after 180 overall, and I think to myself, “Self, what’s going on here?” Besides there just being too many outfielders, the only other reason I can think is people don’t trust James Outman. Too easy to get Outman is what you say, incorrectly, and I say, correctly, about his draft price. See what I did there? I’m not sure myself so don’t ask me to repeat it. It’s gone forever now! Last year, James Outman put up the line of 86/23/70/.248/16 in 483 ABs. Geez, his line already looks like what I’m praying/hoping/please daddy’ing from number two outfielder, forget about where he’s going around 3rd to 4th outfielders. Is 86/23/70/.248/16 in 483 ABs really only, roughly, the 45th best outfielder off the board as I’ve seen? It’s a glorious time, but is it that glorious, Gloria, G-L-O-R-I-A? Maybe it is. That’s the only excuse for him falling in drafts. I will hear no other! So, what can we expect from James Outman for 2024 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?

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In our twenty-first episode,  Mike Couillard and Jeremy Brewer open by reviewing the latest moves that happened during the MLB Winter Meetings and their fantasy impacts. Then we discuss the release of 2023 Topps Inception plus other exciting card releases happening during this holiday season (53:05). We now have Cards & Categories swag for purchase, visit our shop here! You […]

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Winter Meetings? More like Snoozy Meetings! We need more action, which is why I bring you my proposal: Trades are now made with a pitch clock! “Hey, welcome to the Nashville Ramada, the Padres will be discussing Juan Soto trades in the Beige conference room that smells like sausage and onions from last night’s wedding that took place there. Padres will be fielding offers for thirty seconds from each team. Pirates, I see you getting ready to offer one of your two catcher prospects. Don’t do it. No one wants a catcher. Okay, good luck and may the best team named the New York Yankees win!” That’s Rob Manfred adding excitement into the Winter Meetings.

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A player doesn’t strike out or not because of where he’s at in the batting order. I start here because I’ve read some thoughts suggesting Jarred Kelenic will be instantly better at making contact simply because he’ll bat lower in the lineup. I’m not saying that’s an impossible outcome; I just think there’s a correlation versus causation conversation there. Even if he does play better in Atlanta, I’m more likely to chalk that up to coaching and reps than I am a number next to his name. Another thing that will make a positive difference is the home ballpark. Lefties face an uphill (up-current?) battle in Seattle, while Truist plays closer to neutral with a little lean toward pitcher-friendliness. 

Let’s get a quick look at the particulars. 

Seattle gets RHP Cole Phillips, RHP Jackson Kowar, P Budget Relief

Atlanta gets OF Jarred Kelenic, LHP Marco Gonzales, 1B Evan White

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Oh, we’re only doing sexy fantasy baseball sleepers this year, I see. Who’s next Elly De La Cruz? Do you have an Oneil Cruz sleeper in the hopper? Do you have non-sexy Cruzes ready to go? Demand answers from me! Wait, I am me. AHHHHH!!! When did that happen? So, yes — or YAAAAAAS if George Santos is reading — Riley Greene is likely a sexy sleeper, but so what? We’ll get you some boring eh-eff sleepers soon, don’t worry! They can’t all be platoon outfielders for the Pirates! Instead, they’re corner outfielders for the Tigers. Not since Ron LeFlore has my excitement level been this high for a Tigers’ outfielder. Omar Moreno couldn’t hold a candle to Ron LeFlore!

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