The Prospect You Should Add-Meyer

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? For the 497th day in a row, my magic mirror replies, “Not you, stupid.” It’s really a wonder that I still have that mirror. I’ve really learned to control my rage. On days I’m especially composed, I even have the luxury of hearing the rest of what my magic mirror has to say: “Hold, a lovely Marlin is what I see. Rags cannot hide his dominant ways. Alas, Max Meyer is far more fair than thee.” That pale Minnesota skin has undoubtedly tanned since arriving in Pensacola and now Jacksonville, but the increase in sun exposure has done nothing to thwart Meyer’s prowess on the hill. The fireballing right-hander continues to impress with a fully-developed arsenal of three plus pitches, and it is only a matter of weeks (days?) before he gets the call to the bigs. Here’s my case for Meyer as the top prospect in the game to stash. Buckle up!

I’ve been redonkulously high on Meyer since his college days at Minnesota, and my affection has only grown during his impressive ascent up the minor league ladder. We’re talking the kind of high your kid cousin Willy would get going to a Wiz Khalifa concert with Dock Ellis and Larry Walker. Just this past January, I explained in my Top 10 Prospects for 2022 Fantasy Baseball piece that I had Meyer ranked as the top pitching prospect in baseball. I still do, but here’s what I said then: “In my own rankings, I have Meyer as the top pitching prospect in baseball and a top-10 prospect overall. Last year, I made a case for Meyer as the No. 1 overall prospect in the game to Itch, to which he chuckled, took a sip of fine bourbon and swiftly dismissed my insanity. So in dynasty formats, I would have Meyer even higher than this, because although his production may be concentrated into the second half of 2022, he holds so much value in 2023 and beyond.” 

That, dear readers and mom (hi mom), is what I wrote while bullishly ranking Meyer as the No. 10 prospect to target for 2022 fantasy baseball. Given Meyer’s projections of throwing the majority of the year in the minors, it seemed a bit high at the time, but his body of work heading into 2022 was sensational across Double-A (101 innings) and Triple-A (10 innings): 2.27 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 10.5 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, and 0.6 HR/9. The Itch recently ranked Meyer at No. 3 in his Prospect Stash List 2022 Volume 1, but I’m here to make the case for Meyer as the top prospect in the game to stash, regardless of position.

If Meyer gets the call in the next two weeks or so, that preseason No. 10 ranking is going to be downright laughable because the former Gopher is going wood-chuckle circles around you and your league-mates for not picking him up sooner. And based on his current performance to date at Triple-A this season, I expect Meyer to be up before the calendar turns to June. Across 31 1/3 innings at Triple-A Jacksonville, Meyer owns a 1.72 ERA, 0.862 WHIP, 11.2 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and has yet to allow a homer. The lethal fastball-slider combo looks as reliable as ever, and the changeup continues to improve where it can now safely be called a plus pitch. The stuff is downright nasty, and he’s never walked more than 3.6 batters per nine in a single stop in his career — including three years of college. Meyer was an 11.4 K/9-2.5 BB/9-0.4 HR/9 pitcher in 148 collegiate innings. It’s all there. If this guy can stay healthy, he’s going to be a truly special player, the type you’re going to keep in dynasty formats for a decade.

The Marlins need to stop playing games and call up Max Meyer

He’s got nothing left to prove at AAA (2-0 with a 1.72 ERA and 39 K’s in 31.1 IP)

Opposing batters have not hit better than .167 in a game against him this season pic.twitter.com/ZuhregTrFG

— David Mendelson (@DMendy02) May 10, 2022

But you don’t have to take my word for it, listen to Grey instead! After all, I’m dumb and hardly ever right about anything! Here’s Grey’s preseason outlook on Meyer, where he tempered expectations but expressed optimism if he receives an ample opportunity: “Didn’t write up a Max Meyer rookie post, because I’m not sure he’s going to be up this year to make a difference, but I promise you if he’s randomly called up, I’m going to knock over grandmas trying to get to my waiver wire to grab him. I love current Marlins’ starters as you know, and Meyer might end up the best one.”

Hey, Grey… about that. You might want to grab him now because my grandma is already in line and with two femurs made of steel (literally), you don’t stand a chance. Seriously. Barring catastrophe, I think Meyer makes one, maybe two more starts at Triple-A at the most, and then he’s going to be up for the long haul. After all, if he can handle Acuna, he’s ready for The Show, right?

Max Meyer fanned seven — including rehabbing Ronald Acuña Jr. twice — for the @JaxShrimp.

The No. 3 @Marlins prospect (and MLB No. 34) has 27 K's over his first 19 2/3 innings of 2022. pic.twitter.com/UAYpSSDLWl

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 24, 2022

All jokes aside, I really do believe Max Meyer is the best starting pitching prospect in baseball right now. He’s currently ranked the No. 33 overall prospect in the game by MLB Pipeline, which is hilarious because that also means he comes in as the No. 7 pitcher in those rankings. At this point, I’ll take Meyer over just about every prospect in the game. My once ludicrous-sounding comments to The Itch about Meyer being the top overall prospect in the sport now seem like less of a hot take, and more like a grandma getting an elbow to the face by Grey in the supermarket. Meyer is the top prospect to stash in pretty much every format, and there are already a handful of grand ladies bustling down the aisles for shares.

That’s all for this week, Razzball fam! As always, I’m happy to take this conversation into the comments section or on Twitter, where you can find me @WorldOfHobbs.