I usually don’t Mr. Bungle things as badly as I Mr. Bungled Ryan Mountcastle this past year and for the first time I need to apologize. Around mid-May of nineteen after twenty, I told you to pick up Mountcastle because his promotion was imminent, then *raspberries lips* nothing. He was never promoted. He hit 25 HRs and .312 in Triple-A in 127 games, but the Orioles were stacked with major league options like Rio Ruiz, Chris Davis, Richie Martin–Wait a minute! I didn’t Mr. Bungle Ryan Mountcastle’s ETA in the majors! The Orioles filmed an episode of Botched over 162 games and forgot to promote him! This is on the O’s. I was about to take credit for messing up for the 1st time ever and, on second thought, I’m not taking credit anymore. No apologies, Eminem! No way, this is on them! Stupid O’s, which is what my Italian relatives call SpaghettiOs, for what it’s Werth. So, will Ryan Mountcastle be promoted this year? Well, with the O’s losing Breyvic Valera, they have a wide open spot for a guy with a Game of Thrones name. So, what we can expect from Ryan Mountcastle for 2020 fantasy baseball?
The Orioles have to play Ryan Mountcastle this year. *spends five minutes to make sure the O’s don’t plan on bringing back a 48-year-old Melvin Mora* Okay, the O’s have me worried now. From everything I see, Ryan Mountcastle should start the year with the Orioles. At the very worse, he’s an April/May call-up. Okay, at the worst, he’s not called up again and the O’s Mr. Bungle this shizz again, but that seems unlikely. Ryan Mountcastle’s got a hit tool (hey now!) and can’t play the field. I personally don’t care. That could be an issue for his playing time, though. Trey Mancini says he doesn’t mind DH’ing, which would put Mountcastle at 1st base. They could, obviously, alternate between the two positions. Some have suggested Mountcastle will best fit in left field, which is fine by me. I do not care! As long as he plays. He looks a bit like Mark Reynolds to me, but he doesn’t have the swing-and-miss tendencies that come with that profile. Best case is more like a 25+ homer, .280 hitter with a handful of steals. I saw him leg out some doubles which makes me think he could steal five bags, even though he only had two steals in Triple-A last year. Here, you can watch it too:
Worst case scenario is he hits .200 and has barely-doubles power. That feels unlikely, but he doesn’t walk at all (4.3% in AAA), so if his Ks balloon, he could struggle mightily. I didn’t see light-tower power (that the Ripper will now devour, LL Cool J), but, in today’s game, I saw enough for him to threaten 30 homers. Okay, guys and five girls, Tommy La Stella’s got 30-homer power nowadays. Maybe it’s the O’s and the amount of air they suck out of the room, but Mountcastle feels like a guy who will be all but forgotten in most leagues, and could be, say, similar to Luke Voit. Call him Like Voit. For 2020, I’ll give Mountcastle projections of 51/19/62/.252/2 in 444 ABs with a chance for more in each category.
