Prospect News: Rankings Redux: Eury and the Henderson

Prospect News: Rankings Redux: Eury and the Henderson

In a recent post, I found myself saying Milwaukee OF Jackson Chourio was on track to be a top 50 prospect by mid-season, which got me thinking, as I should be this time of year, about updating the top 100 list. 

I made a trade offer for Baltimore SS Gunnar Henderson this week in the 20-team Highlander Dynasty League. Was just Arizona DH Seth Beer straight up, but that league is weird, with a double utility spot. Deepest hitting set-up I’ve ever played, unless I ran that math wrong way back when I half-sprinted through it just to create some context. It’s a half-step or so deeper than the Razz30, and the full-week freeze of lineups adds another wrinkle I haven’t played with a whole lot in a superdeep dynasty format.  

Also went a little overboard in trying to secure Colorado SS Ezequiel Tovar this week. 

Anyway the natural first question for most readers at this point is who’s rising the fastest, like Chourio and Tovar. Or maybe that’s just the most enjoyable question because its opposite might be equally immediate to most fantasy players: who’s feeling that baseball gravity? 

I tend to avoid the second question, if I’m honest. Players lose mind-share of course but it happens kind of quietly in the back of my mind as I build a list. Herbert Perez, is a recent player I can recall who I never really soured on in any real way. The evidence at present just didn’t support some trust-based ranking. But I’ll try to be proactive on that front and chronicle it here as I work through the list. If it’s a little dry or boring in the end, I’m hoping you just fast-forward a bit because that’s way easier with reading than it is on, say, HBOMAX. 

So who’s rising as I start building a rankings reshuffle? 

Milwaukee OF Jackson Chourio. I don’t have anything to add, just resetting all our eyes a bit. 

Colorado SS Ezequiel Tovar. On Thursday May 12, I traded Nick Pratto, Travis Demeritte and Eddys Leonard for Tovar in a 15-team dynasty where I just needed to consolidate somehow with guys coming off the IL and my insatiable need to add players, especially Mets OF Alex Ramirez this time around. 

Week one dreamboat Boston OF Ceddanne Rafeala has seven home runs and nine steals in 28 games, which works pretty well along with a .295 batting average for a 21-year-old in High-A. Safely within the top 100 today. 

Miami RHP Bryan Hoeing might not crack the top hundred, but hot dang he’s just devouring impressive innings this season and looks intriguing to me.

Cubs OF Nelson Velazquez looked like a major leaguer to my eyes on Friday night in Des Moines, knocking in the game winning run with a solid single after hitting the ball hard all over the park all night long. I think he’s got a strong case for the late hundred. 

Cleveland RHP Daniel Espino was on the fast track to being baseball’s top pitching prospect before he sidestepped to the injured list. Always hard to rank a beleaguered arm, but Espino was so nasty when he was right that he’ll hold serve at a minimum. 

Miami RHP Eury Perez is 6’8” 220 lb 19-year-old rocking a 31.6% K-BB rate in High-A. Probably a top ten guy at the moment. 

Houston SS Jeremy Peña is under the limit for another few games. How high is too high for his graduation spot? Oh and Happy Graduation Day if that applies to you this weekend! I think it’s tough to push him outside the top fifteen or so. 

San Diego LHP MacKenzie Gore and Seattle RHP George Kirby are both climbing. Kirby didn’t have much mountain left above him.

I’m not sure what to make of Pittsburgh OF Captain Jack Suwinski, but he ‘s pairing plus defense with explosive offense in an era when more rookies are struggling, so I’m in for now to say the least. If I had to divvy it up today, I suspect he’d make the 100. Yes, I think the whole Johnny Depp redemption tour helps Suwinski’s dynasty stock, in case you were wondering. 

If you’ve been around a minute, you might suspect I’m excited to see Pittsburgh SS Liover Peguero hitting .324 with 3 HR and 7 SB across 27 AA games, and you’d be right. He won’t turn 22 until New Year’s Eve. 

St. Louis 1B Juan Yepez is counting those base hits like the Martians do on Sesame Street when they “Yep!” their way through the number of the day. Fangraphs came out with a downbeat report on him this week, doubling down on what may make sense in a non-fantasy realm, spread across the long term, but I think they’re just plain short on Yepez’s long-term potential. Fantasy players are probably in agreement at the moment, but you might want to send an offer or two out for him in case his team reads a lot of that site. For my money, he’s looking like a 1B,3B,OF eligible guy who’s easily playable at each spot for our game. 

Is Minnesota SS Royce Lewis a top 25 guy again? Oh yeah, I’d say so. Give him a little up-arrow carrot while you’re at it. 

Angels RHP Chase Silseth debuted with six shutout innings against Oakland, who is not great but did just rock some rookie Tigers. He’s done only good things so far in 2022 and belongs on a roster in just about any sized dynasty league. 

I’m gonna drop a weirdo sidebar in here, but please if you want to win your dynasty leagues be the team that responds to trade offers. Reject them, if you don’t like them. Counter or don’t. Reply in the message section why you’re rejecting it or don’t. I suspect a lot of slow-moving dynasty players don’t realize how many options they’re leaving on the table just by making the game out to be more than it is. Spin the wheel or don’t. You’ll make some bad calls. But every day has value. Real shizz moves around in the standings every day. Don’t just sit on offers for half a week. Value your trade partner’s time and your own. It’s more fun if you’re getting more options along the way than the other teams because you move fast and pay attention. 

Also, play at your own pace, which I realize contradicts everything I just wrote. All I’m saying is you shouldn’t make it so serious in my opinion, and don’t get down bad just cuz one thing goes awry. Just keep swimming. Forget everything. Remember everything. Become nothing. Become everything. Trade everyone. Value every day as if it’s the only day.

Whew . . . wtf just happened . . . think I had a blood-rush-brain moment there, sorry.

Or maybe a brain freeze. We are about to discuss who’s freezing their way down the lists, often through no fault of their own. 

Detroit OF Riley Greene, like I said: through no real fault of his own. Now that the team has proven itself atrocious on the field, I worry about Riley’s timeline. Willi Castro looks pretty good in center, too. 

Cincinnati RHP Hunter Greene is kind of a red light in tight-ratio formats, to go with the color-scheme theme, but I’m actually all about giving the green light to most attempts at acquiring Hunter Greene on the dip. I reckon he’ll make the pirates walk the plank today. 

UPDATE: Yarrrrrrrrrrrrr. 7.1 no-hit innings with 9 strikeouts. But did the Pirates really have to walk the plank if they won the game? I mean, they have the ship now, right? Having won the day?

San Diego SS CJ Abrams threw some paint on his Buy window by homering twice in his AAA debut, but you never know what someone’s feeling after their expectations get involved. Might be worth your time to send an offer in Abrams’ direction. 

Seattle RHP Matt Brash lost control of his double-plus stuff and fell like sands through the hourglass; these are the days of our lives. 

Seattle OF Jarred Kelenic: Not a prospect anymore but relevant to our conversations nonetheless. I don’t know how else to say this except to be blunt: don’t buy the dip on this one unless we’re talking about faab stuff. I still see some crazy deals built around this Twitter-star.  

UPDATE: Saw Kelenic traded about ten hours after this went to post (along with Kyle Manzardo) for . . . drumroll . . . Christian Yelich and Craig Kimbrel. It’s a 20-team saves/holds league, so there’s that . . . I guess. Blink twice if you need help. Someone was in the comments a few weeks ago dead set on dealing Yordan Alvarez to get Kelenic. Be careful out there, dear reader.

By no means is either list exhaustive here. I’m hoping you’ll chip in with a name or two in the comments section and sort of talk through Razzball’s impending prospect reshuffle with me. 

Thanks for reading!

I’m @theprospectitch on Twitter.