It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful! Are you excited for the season? I can say without a doubt that your old pal MarmosDad definitely is! I’ve officially drafted 9 out of my 10 leagues so far. Hopefully, you’ve been able to use my list of SAGNOF targets to move names up your cheat sheets and have managed to pick up a few of them in your drafts this spring.
(Norman Rockwell’s famous 1949 art piece titled : The Fantasy Baseball Draft)
Now that we’re all finished with the “What’s The Deal When Looking For Steals?” series, I wanted to highlight a few other names that I either couldn’t fit into a category in my articles, or just didn’t have enough space to go in for that ‘deeper dive’.
Some of these guys might be in a beneficial lineup spot for stolen bases, some might be securing playing time, or some might have a tighter grip on one of those coveted opening day roster spots. Breakout names? I covered most of those, but, of course, there are more. Positional battles? Yep. We’ve got some of that here, too.
I’ll briefly profile five players here, similarly to how I did it before with three each week, but then include a shorter list of some other names that I didn’t have the space to include…just so you can move them around on your cheat sheets this week if you’re in one of those leagues that waits for the MLB rosters to be finalized before you draft.
So without further ado, gentlemen…and five gentle-ladies…Start your engines!
(Randy looking to steal home…and your Roto-hearts in 2023)
Randy Arozarena, T.B. OF : – NFBC ADP: 37.55 –
You should know by now that we can’t lead off with a sleeper. Randy might be stealing home here, but he’s not sneaking by many people this draft season. This is more about why you should consider Arozarena as a top 3 round pick, rather than if he’s worth slotting in as a building block for your fantasy squads.
Firstly, the SB potential is what drives Arozarena’s increased value. At first glance, he checks in with a 55 grade ‘everything’. His hit tool, raw power, game power, and speed all rank at a slightly above average 55. At the very least, he’ll provide you with a 20/20 floor.
With his growing popularity, especially highlighted by his WBC play, it’s easy to forget that Arozarena has not been around for all that long. At 28 years old but with just two full MLB seasons of experience, Randy is still in his prime. He has met or surpassed expectations in both of those MLB seasons, and lands in the 3rd spot of a potent Tampa batting order. Sure, Tampa Bay tinkers with that lineup and defense a lot, and Arozarena’s splits are noticeable (.317 v. RHP & .249 v. LHP), but he’s gotten a 600+ PA projection from all of the systems. Randy should be one of the few that doesn’t get jerked around by Kevin Cash.
Finally, Steamer has Arozarena projected for 82/22/82/.262/32. Grey is pretty close with a 83/20/89/.260/30. Bottom line, this is a guy that could match the top tier OF at a less than top tier price.
Whit Merrifield, TOR 2B/OF: – NFBC ADP: 187.9 – From the looks of it, Whit will be the Blue Jays starter at 2B and spell some of the outfielders on days that they need to rest or rotate through the DH spot. There will be other guys that can play 2B for the Jays, (namely, Espinal, Biggo, and maybe Otto Lopez if he breaks camp), but I expect we’ll see Merrifield in the lineup more often than not. When we factor in that the Blue Jays outfield is great defensively but is not exactly in the running for Cal Ripken’s ironman streak, it gives Whit a chance to move around the field even more.
At 34 years old, it’s certainly evident that Merrifield is no spring chicken. The good news is that his experience should be good for at least knowing how to take advantage of the new rule changes. Add that into the fact that the Jays want to run more, and that will encourage more SB attempts. This situation looks a lot more positive than some people are thinking.
That said, Steamer, admittedly, is the lowest of the projection systems, predicting just 487 PA for Merrifield. It’s also estimating a respectable 58/10/49/.260/20, so the SB are there. Grey has Merrifield as the 25 guy in his Top 20 Second Basemen for 2023 Fantasy Baseball with a 51/9/57/.254/15 line. This shouldn’t be your top 2B by any means, but he should be a pretty serviceable, multi-eligible guy to pick after 175 ADP.
(Actual footage of the Razzball Writers DM group after the Jordan Walker news broke)
Jordan Walker, ST.L. 3B/OF: – NFBC ADP: 192.04 – I had to get him in here somewhere. With a 50 grade score, the wheels, admittedly, are not the driving force. But the news finally broke on Saturday that Walker has made the Cardinals and will be added to the 40 man roster.
The digital joy emanating from the Razzball Writers’ DM group was both copious and clear. This kid will get playing time. This kid will not have to worry about waiting until June for a call-up. And, most importantly, this kid is going to be special. The hit tool and power are the two driving forces here, but if you want to buy in on the hype there are two things to know. (1) You’re definitely going to have to jump that 192 ADP, especially now that he’s made the team. That number could be at least 50-100 spots higher by the end of this week. (2) A 20 year old kid with this kind of athleticism should be able to chip in between 10-15 SB on top of the power stats as early as this year.
Steamer’s updated projections with 513 PA still look pretty conservative, (or realistic, depending on your choice of adjective), with a 56/13/57/.248/8 line. Grey’s updated projections are closer to what I envisioned when I drafted Walker as my 3B in TGFBI and Razzslam. 74/24/76/.262/14. He lands as the 10th ranked 3B in Grey’s hot corner rankings – pretty high praise for a rookie that should give Corbin Carroll a run for his money for the 2023 NL rookie of the year award.
Ramon Laureano, OAK OF: – NFBC ADP: 221.22 – Bounceback! I assumed that the three starting OF spots in Oakland were going to go to Laureano, Esteury Ruiz, and Christian Pache. Then, on Tuesday, Oakland told Pache he was not making the opening day roster. Ouch.
Seth Brown can spell these guys in the outfield when Aguilar pushes him off of 1B, but I can’t see them sitting Ramon Laureano in favor of anyone else on the starting roster. Tony Kemp should not be much of a threat to his playing time, and JJ Bleday has already been optioned. We should probably consider that Oakland will want Laureano to get ABs so they can build up value if they want to ship him out before the deadline, too. This, along with his proven skill set, means the pieces are in place for a Laureano bounceback season.
Most importantly, all of the projection systems believe that Laureano’s injuries are behind him. In his 5 years in the majors, Laureano has only had 400+ PA once. Steamer is the high mark in projected PA with 580 and a line of 63/20/64/.233/19. Grey is in a similar boat with a 56/14/59/.231/15 and has Laureano ranked as his 49th OF. Not a bad call for a guy you can get for your 4th or 5th outfield spot.
Kolten Wong, SEA 2B : – NFBC ADP: 261.16 – This is a bit of a sneaky late name here for those looking post 250 ADP. At 32 years old, Wong is certainly a bit long in the tooth. But he’s slated in as Seattle’s starting 2B and, according to Roster Resource, will be their leadoff hitter.
Oh yeah, fancy Papa? What about Ty France? He can play 2B too! Ha! Got heem!
Um…yes, Captain Bolded and Italicized, that is correct. But France played one game at 2B last year and had a measly 21 appearances there in 2021. I think it’s safe to assume that Wong won’t lose much time to France or Tommy LaStella up the middle this year.
Most importantly, the other stats should be pretty impressive if he’s setting the table for Julio Rodriguez, the aforementioned Ty France, and Teoscar Hernandez. It should mean a ton of runs for the middle infielder.
Steamer seems to believe as well. Its plate appearance projection is once again the high mark out of all of the systems at 549. The Steamer line is a respectable 68/12/50/.252/19. Grey checks in at 58/12/51/.264/16. Not bad for his 26th ranked 2B.
You could certainly choose a different late round MI for your squads this spring, but at a post 250 ADP I don’t see anything…Wong…with rolling the dice on the Mariners’ newest 2B.
And just to finish it off, here are some other names that I didn’t get to this spring but wanted to mention in case you need some other players in your search for the SB…CJ Abrams, Josh Lowe (made the team), Nick Gordon, Christopher Morel, Gunnar Henderson, Cedric Mullins, Adolis Garcia, Raimel Tapia (on the MLB roster).
That’s it for this week, and this officially finishes off our preseason player profiles. Next week, since the MLB season will be in full swing, I’ll focus more on which players might be in a good position to rack up some SB totals for the upcoming week/weekend (good situations, running against a weaker catcher, hot starts). If you have any questions or comments, or anything you want me to take a deeper dive into for steals, feel free to hit me up in the comments here or @MarmosDad on Twitter!
