I’m here to talk about prospects. I applied for this position thinking it was a sports writing gig for the Philadelphia Inquirer, but I woke up in (possibly) Grey’s basement chained to a cot with a copy of Bill James’s handbook lying on the floor. A slot in the door opened and a voice (possibly mustached) asked, “Do you know anything about prospects?”. My reply was, “I know enough not to count on them, but I can’t help myself”. The voice on the other side of the wall chuckled. I heard the sound of a knife being sharpened. “This won’t hurt a bit,” he said.
The mystery is finally solved. That’s right…if you’ve ever been roofied…look no further than our fearless leader – the FML. He has a kidney collection that would make Hannibal blush. Here are the prospects that I might actually draft in 2019 redrafts…enjoy! And…be careful!
First of all, I wouldn’t draft anybody this March due to arrive after June. Save that slot for somebody who can help you now and try for the spec on the wire. Big thing to remember is there will be growing pains, even for the best of them. At the same time, once you jump on them, be patient and don’t be the dude who bids on a spec and drops them a week before they come up.
This season I’m going to run the prospect power rankings, an article that publishes weekly and tracks the nearly graduated top performers in the minors who might make an impact in redrafts. That way you can pick them up before your league mates can say “Who?”. For Grey’s insights on some of these guys, I’d recommend his 2019 Rookies series that publishes in the early offseason. Yeah, we been here the whole time.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., TOR | NFBC ADP: 41
There’s not much to say that hasn’t already been said. Big numbers are expected in both AVG and OBP leagues. The only holdup will be the service time BS. Two weeks or so in he should be up and contributing. Would I take him at his current ABP? Probably not. Could you trade him for two dollars on the dollar right before he gets promoted? I bet you could. Helium seems to always be the most heliumish right before the callup.
Eloy Jimenez, CWS | NFBC ADP: 114
Like VG2, this one is a no brainer. Yet, his ADP is a solid 70 slots lower. Here, I’m a little more inclined to take the risk. He (should) give you the power numbers and counting stats of Vlad. I’m a very unstable person, but I like the White Sox this year, and I’ll keep shouting it outside the local Dunkin’ Donuts until someone believes me.
Victor Robles. WAS | NFBC ADP: 103
Some clown named Harper left Washington for Philly. That opens the door for Robles, one of the best prospects in the game. My only concern is where they’ll bat him in the order. You probably know this already, but in fantasy it sucks to see a kid get trapped in the 7, 8, 9 hole.
Nick Senzel, CIN | NFBC ADP: 224
He’s coming off a season with an injury and taking on a new position, but the offensive potential of Senzel still appeals to redraft…draft…people. Sorry, I don’t know what to call you. Steamer is giving him ten homers, eight steals, and a .270ish average. I’d take the over on homers. Here’s your worst case scenario – he charges after a fly ball to left center and takes Jesse Winker to the chin in late April…game over.
Garrett Hampson, COL | NFBC: 199
Lol. (Lemurs on ludes). You thought I’d put a pitcher in the last slot. Not bloody likely. The Rockies are to fantasy players what catnip is to people who are strangely addicted to catnip, which honestly should be reserved for cats in my opinion. Seriously though, bad news…if you’re in an RCL, the people you play with probably read Razzball. Shocking I know. And if they read Razzball, chances are they’ve probably heard of this cat and are going to reach for him. I like him too. I just traded a $35 Kershaw for a $1 Hampson in a keeper. His only roadblock at this point is McMahon. Don’t reach, but be ready to pounce if this cat(nip) falls to you.
Thoughts on Justus Sheffield?
Per ESPN today 3/8
Sheffield fired 3.2 scoreless innings in an afternoon intrasquad game Thursday during which he faced Dee Gordon, Mitch Haniger (back), Edwin Encarnacion and Ichiro Suzuki, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports.
Spin: The promising prospect certainly faced a formidable test in the form of a quartet of hitters with a combined 16 All-Star appearances between them, and he came through with flying colors. Sheffield allowed just two hits and rang up six strikeouts, with five of them coming within the first eight batters he faced. The 22-year-old received rave reviews for his performance from Haniger, who heaped praise on Sheffield’s fastball command, changeup and slider. A key piece of the James Paxton trade last November, Sheffield was already impressing prior to Thursday, as he’s fired four scoreless inning in spring play while allowing just one hit and recording six strikeouts.?
Hey Mike,
in the middle of my offline milb draft. have a pick coming up and there are a number of guys on the board I like. curious if you can rank them for me (or place them in tiers because there are so many) since there are 6 picks before mine. Sorry for the long list.
I have 1 UTIL spot left and 3 pitchers.
Everson Periera, Cabello, Julio Pablo Martinez, Marcano, gonsolin, luis garcia (phi), Shervyen Newton, Woods-richardson, Roansy Contreras, luis oviedo, D’Shawn Knowles, Alek Thomas, Cole Roederer, josiah gray, casas, Mcclanahan, turang, parker meadows, jordan holloway, isbel
thanks mike
No problem. I like Meadows, JPM, and Roederer from that list.
Hey Mike, thanks for the list!
Where would you be comfortable taking Hampson in an NFBC draft and hold?
15-team right? After 150. I think before that you risk wasting the pick on Kingery Part 2.
Hey Mike, much appreciate the info. I am keeping 5 in the league I am in.. Bryant, Degrom, Mondesi, Buehler, I was going to do Dahl, but I am switching to Flahrty confident i can redraft Dahl a lot easier.. i know keeping a lot of pitchers isnt popular but i was just trying to go with my gut feeling and i will be able to focus on hitting for basically the rest of the draft.. am i crazy for thinking that way?
Thanks man. As long as you can grab a guy in the draft for equal or lesser value, no problemo not keeping them there.
Trying to trade some of my keeper depth….which 3 of these 4 are you keeping? 16tm Roto keeper ws and wins
Kluber $27 Verlander $28 Carrasco $21 Heaney $1
If it’s 260 budget, I’d try to flip Heaney for a bat and keep the other 3
Thoughts on Christian stewart from Detroit? Thanks
Definitely like him. I took him Sunday night as my OF5 in the Writer’s League. He’s not somebody I think you should reach for, but man I’ll take him all day as a flyer for my last OF slot.
Thanks. Good to hear, I took him as my reserve OF for a h2h with daily lineups. Plan on using him.
Hey Mike,
Looking to stash a prospect in my N/A slot for value later this year and into the future in my 12 team keeper league(keep 10). I see Franco on all of the lists as the next prospect superstar but I have enough talent on my team to win it all this year. I dont see how he would even be able to unseat my top 10 keepers.
Best available are
KIURA
BICHETTE
HONEYWELL
FRANCO
LEWIS
I’d go Hiura then Honeywell. Worst case scenario you get tired of waiting for their callup, trade them for a ridiculous now piece, and win your league.
Who do you like out of this group for 2019: B. Lowe, B. Rodgers, Verdugo, L. Urias, or N. Lowe?
Hmmm, I think I’d go Urias or Verdugo for this year only. Overall I like Rodgers most but I don’t think he’ll be up til later this year. Nate Lowe seems like a sexy sleeper but I’m thinking you can get those stats at first from pretty much anybody. Urias and Verdugo have more upside IMO.
Alex Verdugo make the opening day roster? how many AB’s for the year?
I’d say yes as a “4th outfielder”. Let’s say 300 ish ABs.
I’m liking Logan Allen. Think he’ll be up before Paddack given that he’s seen some time at AAA? Also a more fully mature arsenal.
I’m also wondering if Jose Suarez with the Angels could be a sneaky play. Definitely be some room within the rotation. Similar to Allen in that there’s a more heralded prospect in front in Canning but Suarez might be the more ready.
Any deep league appeal here?
Yeah both are definitely interesting. Only thing with Allen is he’s not on the 40 and Paddack is. Makes me think Paddack will beat him to the bigs.
On the other hand Suarez is on the 40 so he should get a shot.
I might be reading too much into the 40-man thing but this time of year I start to look for that as one of the many factors.
@Mike:
Didn’t realize that on Allen. Good info. Thanks.
Don’t think Mitchell lasts long if he even makes it out of the spring so there will be a spot pretty quick.
Yup no problem man.
@OaktownSteve: those SD pitchers are nutzo deep. in a 12 teamer yahoo league (so some of the SD guys weren’t available till just now) max 7 NA slots we did a slow draft (i think only like 40 total picks made after people kept stuff) and like 5 of those picks were SD pitchers (i already had paddack, somebody probably threw back espinoza). i think at least 4 of them went in the SAME round. i may have influenced this, during draft (it was in chat board) i would start showing what % of the entire draft was SD pitching prospects. i of course didn’t want pitching prospects mostly in a dynasty that shallow so i’d be happy if i did influence that. either way, deep as shit SD pitching.
Yes this. It’s bonkers
@Mike: j.suarez was a name ralph thought last year might have come up too. i remember this when doing really deep league stuff a literal year ago
Yeah there’s nobody locking down that rotation. Should be interesting.
catching up on stuff, running semi-complicated leagues is time consuming, esp when some comishes have become so lazy (in league i’m not comishing) that i have to do everything anyway. that mule guy’s link to averaged top 600 is quite useful. i’ll probably still stick with ralph’s site or you for the shallower guys, but let’s say i actually WANT to stash a pitcher, or guys after top 100, THIS is the good resource. i already used fantasy rundown prospects for all those sites that mule compiles, BUT he did the compiling work, which i used to do myself on paper, but not for 6 or whatever total sites.
– guessing we see a deeper post on these types later (not that it’s hard, another method is just going down a top 100 and checking ETA’s, anybody with a 19 or even maybe a 20 you stick into your head for this year)
Yeah, plus the power rankings will be a weekly look at it that goes 10-12 deep every time.
Hey Mike, hope all’s been well. I’ve gotta declare keepers here soon for my deep dynasty league, would love your feedback. weekly H2H, 6×6 OPS.
We can stash prospects in a, um, N/A slot after the draft. and there’s a tough weekly IP minimum which makes pitchers more important than they usually are, plus I’m slightly thin at SP (and deep at OF and 1B). I’m in win now mode but pretty young, and I’ve got 2 decent closers. gotta keep 3 of these guys:
Ronald Guzman, Healy, N. Williams, Haseley, T. Hearn, Smyly, Buttrey, W. Smith.
thanks as always.
@AllThePrettyStantons: how deep is this league? if it’s not really deep might hold buttrey and smith (esp smith) for possible saves. looking at some of those bats i’m guessing this is a 16 teamer though, and if you are deep at 1B even there you can drop guzman/healy/williams. haseley i’m guessing you can improve on in the draft.
Thanks man…agree with Harrow
@Mike:
thanks for the feedback. league is pretty deep. 20 teamer, 520 players get kept. i have 2 good closers, thin at SP, decent at OF, my 1B is Aguilar and Bauers (not sure if he’ll have 1b eligibility in 2020) Guzman, and Healy.
if that doesn’t change anything for you, it sounds like you’re recommending smith and Buttrey? if so, who’d be the third keeper? If not, what 3 would you keep? really appreciate it. And thanks @The Harrow
Yeah Smith and Buttrey. Maybe give Hearn a go as the third if you need arms.
Do you think the Mets are going to send down Alonso? If so, what’s your take on when he gets promoted?
I think they might. I’m not sure he is on the 40-man either. My guess is a June ish callup though? Maybe earlier if there is an injury or Smith & co. really stink up the joint?
Kershaw at 35 for Hampson at 1..awesome trade for you Mike! Now McMahon needs to get out of the way..
Thanks…risks on both sides