I finally saw the Mario movie last night, which my family could do because I subscribed to Peacock to watch seven innings of the Futures Game, so . . . good work on that one, MLB.
In other good-move news: Rays 1B Curtis Mead is in the majors today. We’d be short-sighted to assume he’s going to play regularly going forward, but the team needs a spark, and Mead’s all-fields approach and excellent plate skills (12.8-to-14.7 percent walk-to-strikeout rate) give the club another tough out in a solid lineup.
Mead went for $6 in the CBS AL-Only Analysts League. I have zero dollars and could’ve really used him but feel pretty good about landing a $0 Davis Schneider. I’m in first place and trying to win a second-straight championship there but have been dealt a series of body blows these past few weeks. Josh Bell and Jake Burger got traded out from under me. I also have Tyler Wells and Taj Bradley on that team. Not a recipe for success in an Only: losing four key pieces in the same week. With the two free roster spots, I added Red Sox 3B Luis Urias and Royals LHP Cole Ragans for zero dollars. I was a bit surprised they were free, but it’s late, and there were a ton of guys to bid on in that run. I really like Ragans, though. Great get for the Royals in the Aroldis Chapman trade.
I put in a claim for Blue Jays 2B Davis Schneider on Friday night feeling like I was too late, given that he homered in his debut. I feel especially dumb about it because my brother had asked me about him, and I had looked into his angle on playing time but didn’t pick him up anywhere at that time, about a week ago. Always double back.
I haven’t been able to cut Royals OF Dairon Blanco in a 15-team dynasty with no dedicated minor league spots. I realize he’s a long shot. The playing time doesn’t seem to be there, what with the Royals having so many amazing players locked into their positions, but at some point a person gets really tired of releasing or trading a player who’s not getting at bats only to see the organization suddenly realize he might deserve a chance.
When the club traded SS Paul DeJong, I figured we’d see Cardinals SS Masyn Winn at the big league six within the week. He’s slugging .830 with six home runs in his last 12 games and has no business to conclude in Triple-A.
Red Sox SS Ceddanne Rafaela has enjoyed a similar power surge in Triple-A this summer, slashing .326/.385/.717 with five home runs in his last 12 games. He’s also been similarly and surprisingly absent from his team’s 2023 plans to this point despite a pretty clear need on the major league side.
It’s probably time to pick up Tigers 1B Justice Bigbie in most dynasty formats. We could always drop him later if his outcomes don’t remain elite, but he’s slashing .360/.421/.610 with eight home runs and two stolen bases over his 36 games at Double-A, and this comes after he posted a similar line in 37 High-A games.
Cubs OF Owen Caissie is at the motherfucking bat in Double-A, bringing joy to Mudville-ians throughout the land thanks to his 20 home runs and .290/.392/.556 slash line across 87 games. I struck out when I left him off my midseason top 100. He’s been clicking over the last couple weeks, bombing five home runs in 11 games and batting .425.
Astros OF Jacob Melton is probably part of the reason Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford are no longer around. Houston is stacked up with promising young outfielders throughout the system, and Melton has gone nuclear since the All-Star break, slashing .338/.405/.620 with four home runs and ten steals in his last 18 games. He’ll turn 23 in September, so he’s old for High-A, but Houston does age-to-level math a little differently than most, so I’m not worried about it. He’ll probably move to Double-A in short order.
Padres 3B Graham Pauley is doing his best to get out of High-A Fort Wayne in a hurry, slugging 12 home runs for the TinCaps in just 31 games at the level.
Mariners SS Cole Young turned 20 last week and has a preposterous ten walks to one strikeout in his six games since his B-Day (July 29). He’s been locked in for a while now after a slow-ish start. In 19 High-A games, he’s slashing .329/.467/.644 with four homers and four steals.
Some good news for Pirates fans: OF Lonnie White Jr. has been red hot in Low-A Bradenton, slashing .300/.453/.640 with four homers and three steals over his last 14 games, over which span he’s also striking out 23.4 percent of the time and walking at an 18.8 percent clip. He’s still baseball-young for the level at 20 and has the physical gifts to be a fantasy superstar if his early Low-A outcomes are indicative of the kind of hitter he’ll become.
Thanks for reading!
