The holidays are upon us and Lance is doing his first annual “Home For The Holidays” motorcycle run. Just a man, his chopper, the open road, a pair of chaps, and a cut. With our resident badass/mechanics expert on the open road, I call on a couple of the Son’s of Prospects Live in Matt Thompson and the newly signed Eddy Almaguer. This dynamic duo joins me as we engage in some spirited prospect talk. We dive into our expectations of Yusei Kikuchi and where we’re comfortable drafting the Japanese lefty. We follow that up with some risers and fallers from the AFL, before a quick look at which players are moving in and out of the Top 100 and who might provide sleeper value in 2019 re-draft.

We broke you off 80 minutes of prospect flavor, make a Thanksgiving sandwich, crack a beer, and tune into the Original Prospect Podcast! It’s the Razzball Prospect Podcast powered by ProspectsLive.com. As always make sure you stop by Rotowear.com, and support our sponsor by picking up some of the freshest T-shirts out there.

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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

Can’t stop, won’t stop, making these bad boys all about fantasy baseball rookie hitters, but every once in a while you need to remove the blinders and look at a pitcher.  This doesn’t mean get totally enamored by pitchers.  Like Teddy KGB would say in a terrible Russian accent, “Nyet, nyet, nyet!  You sons of beeeeech, you tricked me, nyet!”  We must focus on hitters, but sometimes a great pitcher comes along, and we have to take a peeksie-poo.  Brent Honeywell is one such pitcher.  Three quick GIFs, from me to you.

I have a big takeaway from these GIFs.  Honeywell looks pretty low energy like Jeb!  Whether it’s the fastball in the first two GIFs or the bye-bye junk in the third GIF.  You gotta feel bad for the hitter when he gets to the third drop-off-the-table-snap-don’t-need-no-police-just-stay-off-my-back-or-I-will-attack-with-an-offspeed-pitch-that-you-won’t-smack pitch.  That’s only two pitches of his possible six pitches.  The last one, which I can’t stop watching, is just unhittable.  Looks like a circle change to me, but he’s got so many pitches in his repertoire — change, curve, fastball, screwball, cutter, knuckle-curve — who knows what he’s throwing, the hitters definitely don’t.  Confession, what you just read was my 2018 Brent Honeywell outlook post.  This is the problem with rookies and pitchers, specifically.  No one knows anything (RIP William Goldman) about when they will be promoted or play productively for that matter.  Of course, even less people can predict Tommy John surgery.  Though, a big hint is, “Is the guy currently in Dr. James Andrews’ office?”  Honeywell should be back some time around May/June, so…Again, with some oomph:  So, what can we expect from Brent Honeywell for 2019 fantasy baseball?

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It’s Thanksgiving Eve! After New Year’s, this is my favorite amateur hour for drunkards. No Karen, you shouldn’t take nine Fireball shots at Buffalo Wild Wings just because you have a four-day weekend…you need to be up bright and early to watch the people lip syncing show tunes in the cold. It’s only fitting that on this magical holiday we celebrate the minor league system of the Indians. According to my history textbook, Christopher Columbus flew to Newark in 1962. There, he met the Indians and together they shared a fantastic feast of pork roll and cheese and that’s why we trample each other for video game consoles today. In what’s easily the biggest move of the baseball offseason, the Indians of Cleveland have non-tendered Chief Wahoo, who coincidentally organized that original Thanksgiving feast but apparently was also an extreme racist. It’s about time the Tribe cut ties with the image of that awful man. Here’s Cleveland’s top ten fantasy prospects according to Mike, a man who knows very little but tries very much.

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Have you heard?  The Mariners are rebuilding.  Cool, but haven’t they been rebuilding for the last fifteen years?  Also, is it the wisest decision to tell other teams you’re throwing in the towel in November?  Is that like when you’re a girl and you make a vision board that says you’re going to get a boyfriend and you do?  Or is it more like a guy who throws a PBR into a fountain and makes a wish to get laid?  A girl can find a boyfriend if she’s available.  A guy needs more than optimism, otherwise he’s going home with his hand.  Guess what I’m saying is the Mariners are a bunch of jerkoffs.  With that said, they traded James Paxton to the Yankees for Justus Sheffield and some other prospects.  I will get to the prospects on the other side of the ‘Anyway,’ for now it’s Paxton, who I do love, but how surprising is it that he’s 30 years old already?  Surprising, right?  Last year was the first time he threw more than 160 innings in a year.  Walter Johnson, you are not.  You’re not even Josh Johnson.  His numbers, as always, were spectacular — 11.7 K/9 (4th in majors), 2.4 BB/9, 3.02 xFIP (4th).  By the by, in his best career year for innings, he didn’t even qualify for those stats in the leaderboard.  I had to sort down to 160 IP.  Meh, 150 insanely good innings is better than 200 innings from an Orioles starter.  Speedball guys don’t age great, but his velocity was still 95 MPH on average last year, which has been his norm, and he had the third best cutter in the majors (8.2), and the top 5 don’t have anywhere near his fastball.  Corey Kluber, for unstints, had 16 wins above average on his cutter, and had a -7 fastball.  Paxton had a 11.6 on his fastball.  We’re talking elite stuff, obviously.  The move to Yankee Stadium and AL East will deflate him a bit, but he can pitch anywhere.  For 2019, I’ll give James Paxton the projections of 14-7/3.64/1.12/206 in 179 IP.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw this offseason for 2019 fantasy baseball:

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One scout said this offseason at the Arizona Fall League, “We all talk about the bat of Vladdy, with obvious reason, but outside of Vladdy, I’d call Keston Hiura the purest power bat I saw out in Arizona. He’s just a special, special kid.”  The scout continued, “Have you seen my chew?” turning his lip inside out, “Ah, there it is,” then after a pause, “I’m big league, baby!”  Keston Hiura had an elbow injury while playing for the Fightin’ Licorices at UC Irvine.  The Licorices used him at DH, but obviously that won’t be an option with the Brewers, unless Selig moves them back to the AL like he moves his toupee back when there’s wind coming from behind him.  News says Hiura’s elbow is fine, and he should be able to play 2nd base as soon as Ape One. (Ape One is what I call April 1st).  If, Keston is, however, er, um, ya know, blocked at 2nd base by Jonathan Schoop, doesn’t matter if he’s ready. The Brewers barely played Schoop after he was traded to Milwaukee and they don’t seem at all committed to him, so Hiura could win the job out of Spring Training and Schoop acts as a utility man.  Or is simply non-tendered (deadline in November 30th) or traded. Either way, it does not seem like Hiura is far off while being far out. (Play on words points!)  Anyway, what can we expect from Keston Hiura for 2019 fantasy baseball?

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The Arizona Fall League is a lot like my romantic relationships – short-lived, dry, and rarely televised. Yesterday’s championship game marked the end of the 2018 AFL season. We laughed, we cried, but mostly we paid attention to football instead. It’s Thanksgiving, which means it’s basically Christmas, which means it’s basically spring. Time flies when your public water supply is spiked. January Grey will be here before you know it with projections for all the good boys/five girls and pop-up ads for all the bad ones. Small sample sizes aside, the AFL is basically a showcase for top prospects, so the ones who stood out warrant our attention. They’re the creme de la creme fraiche. So let’s take one last look back at the AFL leaders before we put these desert specs on ice and fly south to the Caribbean.

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On Saturday Night my phone rang, my cellphone obviously I’m not a dinosaur. I quickly looked at my screen noticing it was Lance. This was unusual because Lance usually texts me. I feared the worst, perhaps Lance was kidnapped by a street gang and held for ransom. Was he lost? Cold? Did he forget his Keys IN CONNECTICUT?!? I put aside my panic for a moment and decided to answer it. **Deep breath** “Hey Lance, what’s up?” “WE HAVE EMILY COMING BACK THIS WEEK”. Lance then hung up and immediately texted me the rundown of his day like a normal person. Phone calls are for weirdos. Long story short, Emily Waldon of The Athletic Detroit and The Athletic MLB, joins us to talk some Arizona Fall League, Tigers Prospects, and some recent interviews she did with AA catcher Jake Rogers and AA outfielder Daz Cameron. (Yes, that’s Mike’s son.) It’s another episode of rapid fire minor league takes. I wouldn’t go that far but we talk a lot of players. It’s the Razzball Prospect Podcast powered by ProspectsLive.com. As always make sure you stop by Rotowear.com, and support our sponsor by picking up some of the freshest T-shirts out there.

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Padres + catcher = “Joanna Newsom is the 21st century timeless voice.”  Wow, the math is way off there.  Was supposed to be “you win some, but not this one, however I will voice concern and enthusiasm.”  Not sure what happened, did I forget to carry a one or a “some?”  Hmm, will have to throw that through a Rudy-designed tool and see what happens.  As is my wont in the opening paragraphs, before I get to the nuts and bolts of Francisco Mejia, it’s good to point out that we’re talking about a catcher, so conservative is the operative word.  Also, it’s best to be conservative in a sentence with nuts and bolts.  Gary Sanchez took a bolt to his nuts and has never looked the same.  “Don’t rattle the undercarriage, cold, cold world,” as George Orwell says in his followup 1985, which was about the incredible box office year Steve Guttenberg had.  Any hoo!  Mejia does have me a little jazzed like elevator music, because the Padres have already called him up and he seems a lock to at least be in a 70/30 (Hedges/Mejia) timeshare for their catcher spot, if not more.  What’s Austin Hedges’ contract like?  *Googles it*  Okay, so maybe Hedges is traded?  How about 60/40 for Hedges/Mejia?  70/32 when including warmup pitches?  50/38 and 12% of the time the pitcher just throws to the backstop?  Mejia is ready and has to play, I say with 50/50 confidence.  Anyway, what can we expect from Francisco Mejia for 2019 fantasy baseball?

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So, DJ LeMahieu is given his walking papers and Brendan Rodgers is called up to start out of Spring Training as the Rockies’ Opening Day 2nd baseman.  Easy peasy, hair so greasy.  No problem at all!  No probleMahieu even!  That’s totally gonna happen.  The Rockies just love playing rookies.  Wait, hold on, my intern is telling me I’m looking at “the history of the Rockies playing rookies” in the mirror, and I’ve actually reversed it.  Damn.  That was short-lived, huh?  So, one quick word on why I’m writing a post on Brendan Rodgers.  Prospector Mike told me to!  Okay, okay, it’s not all his fault.  OR WAS IT?!  No, but, okay, yes.  I asked Prospector Mike to give me about ten prospect names of guys who could be relevant this year.  To read about fantasy baseball prospects’ prospects (stutterer!), check out Prospector Mike’s posts.  I’m focusing on redraft prospects.  These are guys that are supposed to be relevant this year, and Prospector Mike gave me Brendan Rodgers.  I don’t fault, PM (entirely).  Brendan Rodgers should be up with the Rockies this year.  Will he?  Does Crazy Rich Asians perpetuate a stereotype while also being good for a minority?  See what I mean, piña colada jelly bean?  Shizz is complicated.  Anyway, what can we expect from Brendan Rodgers for 2019 fantasy baseball?

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I like this White Sox club *dodges tomato*. Geez, that one wasn’t even ripe! Harsh. Seriously though. Hear me out. You’ve got the anchor at first with Abreu. That’s a solid middle infield of Moncada and Anderson. And you’ve got three decent arms to build around in Rodon, Lopez, and Giolito. If Kopech weren’t recovering from Tommy John, he’d have been a good bet to join them (spoiler: he”ll still rank somewhere on this list). But Mike, that’s only like six players. That’s true my over-the-internet-friend-holding-an-unripened-kumquat. But this is where our prospect list comes into play. The reinforcements are on the move, and right now this system has arguably the best outfield prospect in baseball scheduled to arrive in early 2019. Am I predicting they win the Central? Nah, I still think that’ll go to the Tribe. But I’ll bet Chicago leapfrogs the Twins and Tigers and puts together a winning record.

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Fernando Tatis Jr. was born in 1999.  Recently, it was announced Acuña was so young he didn’t know who Mickey Mantle was, well, Tatis Jr. is so young he doesn’t know who Mike Trout is.  Dude was born like a minute ago, and not a minute as it’s defined in Urban Dictionary, which is a long time, but an actual minute.  Tatis’s dad is so young he didn’t even use charcoal as his medium; he used MS Paint.  Tatis Jr. looks like an All-Star ready to happen, until the 75th round draft pick, Albert Pujols Jr., comes along and replaces him.  Jokes aside, Tatis looks damn near perfect.  A lanky Machado maybe, a young Hanley possibly.  Like something Ryan Brasier would cover, Tatis looks real and spectacular.  I’d say the difference him and his pops is the difference between Ken Griffey Jr. and Sr., but Ken Sr. wasn’t that bad.  How about this, the difference between Tatises (Tatii?) is the difference between J.D. Martinez and J.D. Martinez Sr.  Was there a J.D. Martinez Sr.?  No idea, but that’s the point.  FTJ is going to be special.  Now Fun the Jewels fast!  Now Fun the Jewels fast!  Now Fun the Jewels fast!  Anyway, what can we expect from Fernando Tatis Jr. for 2019 fantasy baseball?

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