I entered into the Google search box, “Who loves Ryan Mountcastle more than me?” and it returned 5,000,000+ results that all said, “No one.” So, that sorta answered that question, huh? Gonna take a nap. *shuts eyes for five seconds, claps hands* I’m back! What did I miss? Nothing? Okay, great. So, Ryan Mountcastle just missed losing rookie eligibility this year, according to me, maybe not in reality. Confused? Alanis screaming, “You oughta know!” But since you might not, check out my Sixto Sanchez 2021 fantasy. Clickbait? Only if you clicked it! This past year, Mountcastle, as played by David Tennant, looked like a professional hitter. Vomit. I know. It’s a terribly overused phrase. They’re all professional, so dur! Also, “terribly overused phrase” is a terribly overused phrase. But Mountcastle really lit the nethers on fire with his patience and line-driving producing stroke. Billy Squier calls that The Stroke, and I agree. No BS from BS. Now that Mountcastle was called up the Orioles — finally! — they have no excuse to not play him. Will they still find an excuse? *makes Michael Scott grimace face* I hope not, but they are a dumber bird franchise than Chick-Fil-A and not nearly as delicious. I, honestly, seriously, interjectionly, would be shocked if the O’s weren’t relabeled the Baltimore Baseball Club, shortened to BBC, and renewed Mountcastle for an early-April 2021 premiere. However, if there’s any way to manipulate service time by keeping him down until mid-April, the BBC will do it. So, what can we expect from Ryan Mountcastle for 2021 fantasy baseball?
Ryan Mountcastle swings a lot. His 83% balls swung at in the zone would’ve been the third most in the majors, and 42% of balls swung at outside the zone would’ve been top eight. That’s coupled with a 72.5% contact rate, and I want my woobie what the heck my dude? Those are Austin Riley-type numbers. Mountcastle also had a 16% Swinging Strike rate, and now I’m concerned. I am not apparently a scout. Mountcastle looked like a professional hitter, but his numbers are saying he was very lucky. Oh, and the O’s prospect had a .398 BABIP. What is the world coming to? Olivia Colman and I love Mountcastle. It gave us our first shot at playing detective. Okay, will check his Statcast profile and his xBA was .271. Okay, I’m the worst detective ever who only uses The Eye Test. He looked so good in the games where I saw him, and it was a lot of games. At least like four!
I’m going back to my love for him from when he was in the minors. He was never a ‘walker,’ and he swings at a lot of pitches, which might cut down his power a little. Theory goes that if a hitter is swinging at everything, he’s not waiting for a pitch to drive. His power wasn’t dongs to the wall last year, but it also wasn’t invisible (.159 ISO and 5 HRs in 126 ABs), and Camdentown will buoy the BBC’s star of Mountcastle. The speed is more on a need-to-know basis, but if you need to know, it’s around 4-6 in 162 games. I’d guess the BABIP plummets, the average follows suit and he might go through stretches where he’s tough to own, hopefully coming out the other side with fantasy value. Going into this post, I was expecting to love Mountcastle. Now I kinda like him as a flyer late, but have cooled a bit. He looks a lot like another O’s star, Trey Mancini, with a smaller track record, but likely more upside. For 2021, I’ll give Ryan Mountcastle projections of 67/21/74/.279/3 in 512 ABs with a chance for more.
Grey,
It’s early but since you’ve hit upon a few of these guys in your prospects posts it got me thinking. 10 team Roto with OBP and hits as cats. Does this lineup look to you like it would hold up. I have all of these guys for 2 years. Can keep 12, $260. The league froze rosters this year so these guys I got two years ago which explains some of the prices.
1B Freddie Freeman 34
2B Max Muncy 8
SS Trea Turner 37
3B Ke’Bryan Hayes 5
OF George Springer 23
OF Alex Verdugo 5
OF Ryan Mountcastle 1
CI Jose Abreu 13
MI Didi Gregorius 1
P Kenta Maeda 4
P MacKenzie Gore 1
P A.J. Puk 5
Others:
Schoop 4
Semien 5
Trout 51 Probably would go for less and $51 would handicap at draft
Judge 40 Probably would go for less and injury concerns
Wow, you’re not keeping Semien or the Others are keepers too? Wait, you’re not keeping Trout? Or you are? I like the guys you have too, kinda…I mean Puk and Didi are kinda whatever
I think I can get Trout back for less. Puk is a crapshoot. Semien I like but he was lousy this year. The first 12 are my tentative keepers. The others are possibles.
Semien way over Didi or Puk…that’s fair on Trout
Thanks, man
No problem
Did you ever get around to Brockmire? I finished rewatching Eastbound & Down. The latter didn’t hold up very much with me. Advantage, Brockmire.
Really? Wow, that’s surprising to hear… I still giggle thinking about ‘Mamie, can I have a Fanta?’ I haven’t watched Brockmire yet, it’s on the list…I just randomly started Letterkenny which has me laughing pretty good
Yup. EBD has its LOL moments but the schticky lowbrow stuff wore on me. “Feexins” will never get old though.
You watch Letterkenny?
Interestingly I was contemplating picking one of your last two featured subjects with my tenth round pick in my recently completed DC. Ultimately I chose Mountcastle of Carlson at #142. Carlson went at #149. It came down to roster composition to me. I already had Harper, Robert and Gurriel in my OF, so I figured they were pretty even overall but Mountcastle would probably get a little higher BA and I’d sacrifice the few more SB from Carlson. I hope it was the right choice.
Nice write-ups on both guys!
Thanks! I think they are both close…Depends on needs and team…Mountcastle likely a tad safer
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. The dual 1B/OF eligility is nice too.
Honestly, after sitting on this roster for a few days, it seems like my highest upside baseball team that I’ve drafted in a few years. I will pray for health going into the 2021 season. I’m extremly happy about the roster. I won’t do nearly as well in a Razz DC, hehehe…
Ha, yeah, I think you might be strapped for innings, but if you can get them, you could be sitting pretty
Yeah, I’m going to try maxing my two-start guys when up. I’ll probably hold back on Pearson initially and favor Odorizzi and Sheffield. I could see Sheffield getting 200 IP if everything gels like it seems it could. I might hve gotten a real steal there in round 25. Same thing on Taijuan. He could be a horse too. I hope so at least. As you say relentlessly, some good arms always to be had late. For me this year, those three seem to fit that mold. Lucchesi not a bad flyer either super late rd 44. Might be some value later in season if he rebounds. Some guys who floundered in 2020 may be undervalued in 2021.
My bigger concern is a bunch of those guys have problems staying healthy, so you gotta get them on the field — I actually really liked the late Lucchesi pick…He was a good bet for decent home IP up until this weird year
Yeah, it was definitely a gamble passing on Lynn to take Lamet. More potential W’s and K’s but, yeah, bigger injury risk for sure. Obviously, Pearson too. I think I have enough depth though, hopefully.
Are you doing Razz early DC’s before or after Thanksgiving? It might be cool to drafting over Turkey 4-day weekend given COVID restrictions are probably minimizing big plans for most of us.
I’m fine with during T-Day, that works for me…Let me see if Donkey’s down too
Sounds good.
Here’s your 2021 AL ROY.
Yeah, I could see it…He’s prolly ‘safest’ choice
I’m boring.
Haha, safe doesn’t need to be boring, see Trout
Yes. Trout will be a boring #7 pick in the draft this year.
True, but prolly better than Mountcastle too
For next year, I am keeping the following:
Bieber (3rd round)
Devers (4th round)
G Torres (9th round)
N Madrigal (19th round)
Clarke Schmidt (24h round)
1. Would you keep any of the above for those rounds? If not, which player?
2. I might keep either Kyle Lewis or Mountcastle in the 10th round. Which one would you keep?
1. I’d prolly keep them — how many teams? 24 rounds in a 10 team league means different than a 20 team league
2. Lewis
12 team….25 rounds i believe…yahoo h2h
Grey-
Heading to a weird off-season. My keep-4-as-long-as-you-want 5X5 mixed keeper league (after much rancor!) decided that instead of keeping 4 this year, we could keep 12 players in 2021, but in 2022, it goes back to “normal” (i.e. keep four).
So I’m trying to figure out a good mix of win-next-year-types while also looking at guys who could break out and be one of those top-4 keepers, while realizing the draft next year will be shallow. For sure I’m keeping Trout, TREAT URNER, Lou Bob, Giolito. Only 3 OF spots and 1 util in this league, bit of a (good) log-jam in the outfield.
Long way of saying, of these guys – I can keep 8 of these guys, which four would you throw back? (I include in my rough order of best to worst)?
1. Arenado
2. Lamet
3. Grande Dolor
4. Ketel Marte
5. Ian Happ
6. Randy Azorena
7. Brandon Woodruff
8. Ryu
9. Paddack
10. Brady Singer
11. Ohtani (ESPN so you get him both hitting and pitching)
12. Kyle Seager
13. Chris Paddack
14. David Price
With only 1 OF spot left to fill after Trout and Lou Bob it seems like I should only keep one of Happ, Seager, Azorena… who do you like? That would put two down.
Paddack may be hurt. Anyone else has to go? I know you hate Ohtani but it is daily moves so his sitting isn’t that big of a problem and he might be well-served to get another year.
Team won it all with some real Grey all-stars (Happ, Woodruff, Ryu, Lamet, Giolito, Lou Bob) so I appreciate your input and your work greatly.
Seager, Price and Singer are no brainers…Prolly Paddack too
Grey!!!!
Long time, no speak man! What gives? Why? J/k, don’t blow a gasket it’s mea culpa.
a. Guys who google searched ‘anything with BBC in the text’ be like really scratching their heads as they read your content, Giancarlo bromance notwithstanding.
b. So, I was away. What happened? Did I miss anything? Gonna travel to Nevada to help out the vote counters with counting of the ballots. With Nevada it’s over and Mr T gonna do a doo-doo for his remaining 60 days in office!!!
c. Seriously, missed you a lot. Absence makes the fart go Honda, that old adage rings true ’cause I missed you and been farting ‘honda’ since I’ve been gone.
d. Congrats to CK and y’all for winning a weird WS. Well, more like Ca$h lost it for TB. Pulling Snell after ONLY 73 pitches? Retardo. Then overusing your secret weapon so he can go from being used 1% of the time (in the regular season, trust me I did the math) to 15% of the time in the playoffs is really extreme retardo. Ca$h lost it for the Rays.
e. MLB quote of the day for November 5, 2020.
1. On baseball
‘No matter how your mind works, baseball reaches out to you. If you’re an emotional person, baseball asks for your heart. If you are a thinking man or a thinking woman, baseball wants your opinion. Whether you are left-brain or right-brain, Type A or Type Z, whether your mind is bent towards mathematics or toward history or psychology or geometry, whether you are young or old, baseball has its way of asking for you. If you are a reader, there is always something new to read about baseball, and always something old. If you are a sedentary person, a TV watcher, baseball is on TV; if you always have to be going somewhere, baseball is somewhere you can go. If you are a collector, baseball offers you a hundred things that you can collect. If you have children, baseball is something you can do with children; if you have parents and cannot talk to them, baseball is something you can still talk to them about.’
Bill James.
2. On Dernell Stenson, who died tragically and mysteriously on November 5, 2020.
‘By choice and through habit, Dernell Stenson’s life was simply designed. While other baseball players organized their evenings with abandon, Stenson often preferred the solitude of a monk. His world revolved around a few blocks of one-stop convenience. His home, a modest two-bedroom condo off Chaparral Road, was dull. Dinners usually involved plastic containers from Boston Market. He shopped in the neat and simple department: jeans, sneakers, no bling-bling. As targets go, Stenson hardly fit the profile. The bars and restaurants that orbit the Phoenix suburbs are filled with athletes and celebrities who sit in the open-aired patios and flash wads of cash. So how is it that Stenson, a quiet, humble outfielder with the Cincinnati Reds who was playing for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League, became the murder victim in a case that grows more complicated by the hour?’
Staff Writer Lisa Olson in The New York Daily News
3. On Jarrett Grube, born November 5, 2020.
‘After 10-plus seasons in the minor leagues, including one of independent-league ball, Grube found out late Friday night that he had been called up to the big leagues for the first time. ‘It’s unbelievable,’ Grube said before Saturday night’s game. ‘I’m still in shock. I’ve been choking up quite a bit today, with all the calls and text messages I’ve received from guys congratulating me… I had some doubts along the way, but I always tried to keep that glimmer of hope alive,” said Grube, whose wife and parents flew to the Bay Area from Fort Wayne, Ind., Saturday.’
Sportswriter Mike Digiovanna in The Los Angeles Times
Cheers,
Ante
Grey!!
Can you (William) tell I’ve been away for a while? Of course Dernell Stenson didn’t die in 2020, he died November 5, 2003 (RIP Dernell). Jarrett Grube was born November 5, 1981! Sorry for the gaffes.
Cheers,
Ante
OH! I was gonna say, that just happened, how’d I miss that…Now it makes sense, I didn’t miss it, I forgot about it
Oh my God, it’s Ante! I thought something happened to you…
B. Maybe you hadn’t heard, but what happens in Nevada stays in Nevada
C. I thought you were gonna pop up and say you now live in San Diego
D. Yeah, it wasn’t great for me…First time I’ve ever lived in a city that’s won a World Series and there can’t be a parade
E. 2. Wow, I hadn’t heard about that — sounds like a good Netflix special
Grey!
a. The move to TJ is still in process. Will let you know.
b. E2, can’t make up the name Jarrett Grube. Don’t remember him at all, but 2014 when he was called up is really far away.
c. Hope you are well.
Cheers,
Ante
A. It’s happening?
B. Yeah, I don’t remember that name at all
C. You too!
Grey!!
The status of my application for the job is ‘in process’. I applied August 27. There are 4 levels I have to pass on order to be appointed. The 4 levels to the best of my knowledge are
1. Manager sifts through all applications and sends his shortlist to HR
2. HR approves the shortlist ensuring that all candidates meet the minimum criteria for the post. HR then sends the shortlist to the Joint Review Board (JRB, for short).
3. JRB convenes and ranks the shortlist from top to bottom and submits its findings, also nominating the best candidate to the High Commissioner’s (HC) office for approval.
4. HC approves or has received advanced Intel and rejects the JRB decision and appoints his own preferred candidate. [This happened to me, the best man at my wedding put me 1st on the list for a job in his unit. The HC took someone who was 3rd on the shortlist. It sucks.]
So I’m somewhere between steps 3 and 4 I think. Don’t know if my post was deliberated over by the JRB so could also be between 2 and 3 as well. Passed step 1 for sure!
Have a nice weekend if you’re not going to post tomorrow. I’ll have to check in tomorrow to see for sure.
Cheers,
Ante
Makes sense, well good luck still! Hopefully you hear soon…I think I’m posting tomorrow, unless someone else comes along with something
Grey!!
Very cool. Will check in.
I’ve been around, followed the playoffs and such. Was a bit down psychologically on the corona timeline but am better now.
Cheers,
Ante
Glad to hear you’re doing better! It’s a tough time for everyone