We’re three weeks into the season and getting a good feel of who some of the surprise players are. A few of these players are fringe prospects – players who have had a good year or two in the minors, may be in an organization’s top 10 list, but are not on any top 100 prospects lists.

But some of these early breakout players are former top prospects who have not lived up to expectations over the past year or two. One of those players is Jarred Kelenic of the Seattle Mariners.

Kelenic has been on the radar screen of dynasty owners for years. Coming out of high school he was one of the best pure hitters in the 2018 draft class, leading him to be selected by the New York Mets with the sixth overall pick. He was assigned to the team’s Gulf Coast League team but was soon promoted to the more challenging Appalachian League.

It didn’t take long for Kelenic to hit the top 100 prospect rankings. Baseball America ranked him 68th entering the 2019 season while MLB.com ranked him 56th and Baseball Prospectus ranked him 63rd.

Over the next two years, Kelenic’s stock continued to rise, moving to 11th and then 4th by Baseball America  and MLB.com by 2021 and 7th and 6th by Baseball Prospectus. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Sun 8/3
ARI | ATH | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | ATL | CIN | OAK

Welcome to another week of Ambulance Chasers, your Razzball fantasy baseball injuries report! This had some notable non-player injuries and that was the Oakland A’s fans (at least some of them). While the idea of a move has been brewing for a long time, it was announced that the A’s seem to intend on moving […]

Please, blog, may I have some more?

(NOTE: THIS POST WAS RELEASED EARLY THIS WEEK ON OUR PATREON. IT’S $10/MONTH)

“When will it all click?” is an amorphous thing. Could it be immediately? Cody Bellinger was immediate; Fernando Tatis Jr. was pretty immediate; Juan Soto was immediate. Now that I list these immediate guys, I’m beginning to wonder if success too fast is bad for the player. Like the child actor of baseball. Do you want to put your hands on your cheeks with aftershave, and scream after being left alone when you’re 12, or do you want to Culkin in your late-30’s on Succession? Fighting for success is better? I don’t know, but you can’t put a time on anyone’s breakout. Shohei Ohtani was in the league for a few leagues, drafted around 220th overall that preseason, then he broke out. We’re seeing something similar this year with Jarred Kelenic. Could the same be true of Josh Lowe? This is a guy who we’ve been touting since 2019, when he went 18/30 in Double-A. Then he followed that with 22/26 and we were all convinced he was going to arrive — and arrive he did! — but with a yawn. He started the year with the Rays last year, but was quickly sent down, and went 14/25 in the minors, and people started whispering the dreaded Quad-A label. And these people weren’t even in a library! The problem at every stop was his strikeouts would Bialystock & Bloom and he couldn’t produce, but not this year. Finally, Josh Lowe doesn’t seem like the low man of Lowes, but more like the Lowe man. He’s cut his strikeouts by a huge margin and, if he’s hitting for power, and running like he always did without the Ks? Then the Josh Lowe bar is high. Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been finding it more difficult than ever this year to analyze both disappointing starts and players who’ve had a surprisingly good first few weeks. Perhaps it’s the new rules and pitch clock, with players like Manny Machado and Juan Soto freely admitting that they’ve had some trouble adjusting. […]

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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There’s a large contingent of people logging on, who are like, so you like Fernando Tatis Jr. (0-for-5) now? I see, so you like cheaters? Let’s call these people, The Moralists. They’ve never done anything bad in their life. Good for them. Better than me, but they’re likely better than everyone. So, hey, The Moralists, I’m sorry, I grew up loving Mark McGwire, you can’t shame me into caring about steroids now. Here’s a conversation between me and The Moralists:

The Moralist, “You see that great player who is very fun?”
“Fernando Tatis Jr.? Yes, I do see him.”
“I don’t like him anymore because he cheated by taking drugs.”
“Oh, so you’re a nerd?!”

People who are like, “So, you’re defending cheating?” I am not Perry Mason. I am merely excited about the return of a guy I drafted in a fantasy baseball league. A guy who is fun. His name is Fun The Jewels for Chrissake! Any hoo! Welcome back, Fun The Jewels, now LFG! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Communication is fundamental when discussing baseball. Without communication, we wouldn’t talk about baseball. We wouldn’t talk about the filmography of an actor to our friends while watching a movie they’re in. We wouldn’t shake our head and frown when a rival car does a rolling stop at a four way intersection, and cuts the line while pretending to be embarrassed or catatonic as their despised profile zooms by .05 seconds faster than if they stopped.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

How are we feeling three weeks into the season? Tell me who has you tilting and I’ll talk you off the ledge. Trends are starting to emerge even if most stats haven’t stabilized yet. It’s a long season but you gotta get wins when you can. Don’t be afraid to grab a hot bat and plug them in until they cool off. So what am I seeing out there? Here are some players who caught my eye with their early season heroics.

Ronald Acuna Jr is a special player. He can do it all and right now he is doing it all. He’s the top hitter so far and I don’t expect him to slow down.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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Max Scherzer was cruising, as is often the case with Max Scherzer — had a line of 3 IP, 0 ER — when he was ejected for having (what the umpires believed to be) a foreign substance on his glove. Scherzer was screaming, “It’s rosin!” It seemed like the Pitchcom tape inside his glove because he calls his own game. It better — again, with some stank — IT BETTER check out as a foreign substance or all of those umpires should be suspended without pay for thirty games. Umps are power-mad idiots. You throw out a first ballot Hall of Famer for what you believe is something sticky? That’s absurd. You taint his legacy with some utter nonsense? Are you completely daft? Now, MLB instituted an automatic 10-game suspension for the offender, so Scherzer might miss another two starts due to this? Oh, this is some serious BS.

Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?