The Ultimate Infield Guide: Sleepers, Busts, and Must-Have Targets (Ep. 926)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome in everybody to Fantasy Pros MLB. This is the
Fantasy Baseball Podcast. It is me Joey p joe Pisapia
with me of course is the Welsh. And it's time
to hit the guides. That's right, it's time for the
Ultimate infield Guide. We're gonna go through the positions, give
you a little overview of the top guys at the position,
give you our favorite sleepers, our busts, and our must
haves at those positions. And of course, if you're looking

(00:28):
to check out the ranks for yourself, you can go
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(00:50):
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(01:11):
the cheat sheets, all kinds of amazing tools, but that
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it right now. War head over to fantasypros dot com
slash MLB Draft Wizard today. All right, Welsh, let's start
at first base. I don't want to start a catcher.
Catcher is a little me boring for me. I doubt
right exactly. So first base it is today, and we're
gonna run through the top guys at the position here
and give you a little overview. At the top, of course,

(01:33):
Vlad Junior going at sixteen overall right now currently in
adp Bryce Harper, Freddy Freeman, Matt Olsen, Pete Alonzo. Then
I think there's a dip here. You have guys like Diazu. Again,
I'd rather be a catcher than at first base. Josh Naylor,
Christian Walker. Two guys that have moved locations here, Cody Bellinger,
Spencer Steer, Tristan Cassis, Vinnie Pascuentino. So there's definitively a

(01:57):
group at the top of sluggers. After that a group
where you think you can probably get some power out
of guys like Nailer and guys like Christian Walker Cody
Bellinger hopefully on a balance back. And then it's kind
of a little bit of a leap of faith, maybe
with costs in Pascalentino, but to me, first basis a
little bit more of a priority. I like to hit
it early.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
How about you, Yeah, I think for the most part,
I've got these clumps. Obviously, Vlad and Bryce Harper make
a lot of sense. I'm a little bit faidie of
maybe Freeman. I'm not super super interested in Olsen and Alonzo.
So it's like, you know, I'm gonna have to essentially
pick a second round for a first baseman or then
I'm skipping for a while. Then we go into that

(02:34):
like third tier of first basement, which you talk about,
which I think is gonna be my sweet spot and
something I have to target, and then another just deep
thing to think about. We're gonna talk about it here.
Third base depth isn't fantastic. So if you have a
corner infield spot. I'm personally trying to fill my corner
infield spot from first base, and you can go deeper
if you want, because I think there's some nice sleepers.

(02:56):
We're gonna talk about some of those guys. But even
if you wanted to take away from that core top twelve,
top fourteen a first baseman, you're just not going to
hurt yourself if you invested in let's just say first
basement number six and first basement number ten because the
cost is a little depreciated with really great return. So yeah,
I don't want to wait too too long in my
investment on first base, but I'm going in tiers and

(03:17):
little chunks of the guys that are my targets.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
All right, let's talk about sleepers too, because obviously a
lot of leagues have corner spots. And a guy that
I like at the corner spot is Alec Burlson of
the Saint Louis Cardinals. That was one of our favorite
waiver wire pickups last year. He really took off. He's
got position flexibility too, which is also a nice thing
to have for a player when you're drafting them a
little later, and if you look at what he did
last year, Welsh, I mean across the board, incredibly productive

(03:39):
on a team that was really underwhelming. He cracked seventy
runs and seventy rbi. He had nine steals, he had
two sixty seven twenty one home runs. To me, he's
kind of like the modern day version potentially of ben Zobris,
like a guy who just kind of gives you a
little to everything. Is he spectacular, No, but certainly a
guy that can be productive. And I do expect some
incremental improvements from Saint Louis year over a year, because

(04:02):
I think last year was a little bit of an anomally.
I think some of these kids, hopefully we'll start to
get it. Maybe this will be the Jordan Walker year,
maybe Mason Wins and of the other guys really start
to take the next step forward. Berlson's a guy for
me who's a sleeper for you at first.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Basically, one thing I want to point out with Birlson
I like this one too deeper league play, and the
Cardinals have lost so many players into free agent. They're
the only team as we record this that has not
signed a single free agent then signed a single free
agent of all MLB teams are just crazy, So Burlson's
going to get an opportunity to move up in the lineup.
It's kind of a.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
All of what is it? All tides rise the boats?

Speaker 1 (04:36):
That is that thing you are so close is born
all A rising tide raises all shifts boats.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
There you go, okay, and the tide here is all
of these guys coming out and then moving up in
the lineup. So that's my great analogy here. I'll do
something better than analogies. I'll give you a sleeper that
I really like instead.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
I can tell you I can hear the analogies all day,
but I'll take a sleep. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, I couldn't handle the comments all day. But the
guy I'm gonna go with because I like your Burlson here,
I'm gonna go with Michael Tolia with the Colorado Rockies.
I've talked about totallya a decent amount of this offseason
that the overall like big hit profile is pretty enormous.
He had a seventeen percent barrel rate with a fifty
percent hard hit rate.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
Those are monstrous numbers.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Now, he's got a strikeout problem, and he had a
batting average problem. He only hit two eighteen last year,
and he had a thirty two percent strikeout rate. Those
stink the positives though, take that hitting profile. He had
an expected batting average of close to two forty, which
I really really like. And he hits in Colorado it's
the most hit or friendly environment you can have. And
one of my main points to this is his ADP's

(05:40):
around like one seventy or so. I don't believe you
know he's in the top twelve of who you mentioned,
or even top fifteen. Power is can be hard to
come by. Like I think we all pick and choose
these different things. Okay, I got to focus on stolen bases.
No longer do we care about trying to find stolen
bases late. You can find it all the time. The
two pieces that seem harder in the hitting world to

(06:00):
find later in drafts are a batting average, which he
doesn't help you with, but be elite power, not just power.
Alec Burlson twenty homer is awesome, great, he has better
batting average, but finding thirty five plus home run power
outside the top one fifty, it's not one hundred percent
there totally. It does provide that totally you could be
a forty home run hitter. He can't hit two twenty again.
But I think the hitting profile works really well in Colorado,

(06:22):
where he should be hitting again higher in a lineup,
hopefully there's RBI opportunities.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
Think he's a sleeper.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
He fits for all teams, and I really think there's
a possibility that that batting average doesn't become some big
albatross to your team like a Joey Gallo.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
So Tolia is a sleeper for me.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
By the way, one more known on Burlson too before
we move on to the bus. Looks like he's projected
at number two in that order, two between Contreras and
then Win at the top. So I also like that too.
Lineup spot matters a lot, and that's what whils she's
talking about his guy in Colorado. Two. Okay, so there's sleepers.
There's also a bus at the position for me, Ryan
Mintcastle and Ryan Mountcastle. I know that's Mike Mayer's favorite player,

(07:00):
and I know he's going to get very mad at
me for saying this, But three years in a row,
declining home runs and declining power, and you know, some
of the games played the last couple years be a
little limited to now he's still hitting that at two
seventy range. But my old thing is I feel like
he's about to get squeezed out of Baltimore. Potentially Kobe
Meyo eventually going to come up, and that's going to
create some sort of logjam at the corners because you
gotta have the DH spot kind of locked up. Me

(07:22):
he could playm at DH two, But I don't know.
I just feel like the new blood of the Baltimore
Orioles is really pushing forward there and it's going to
continue to push this year. And I feel like Mountcastle
might be a guy that has dealt at some point
by the trade deadline. Potentially if some more of these
young guys push him out or worse, he gets in
this weird rotational thing where he's not like an everyday player,

(07:44):
and that to me is also potentially bust worthy. So
Maltcowsle is a guy that I'm personally avoiding in twenty
twenty five, wells, who are you avoiding? In first base?

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Ces Christian Incarnacion's strand And I could eat my words
on this one because last year just wasn't great.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
There's a ton of miss time. There really wasn't a
ton of it bats.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
The hitting profile was completely different. But I think in
theory you could chalk that up to the.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
Injury, and that's kind of the big thing.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
There's a couple guys that I'm just not really buying
bounce backs. We're going to talk about a guy in
a little bit at third base. It's kind of the
same thing because in this past year, barrel percentage dipped,
expected batting average dipped strikeouts were still incredibly high, and
he stopped walking whatsoever. But comparative to the year prior,
Strand had an ten percent barrel rate, forty eight percent

(08:33):
hard hit rate, which was elite. He walked two percent
more of the time, and he had an XBA of
two seventy after he hit two seventy. So it was like, oh,
this might be a power hitter with batting average. The
injury depleted some of that, so it could be one
of those two ways. I watched him in the Arizona
Fall League. It doesn't it doesn't seem comfortable still. Positionally,
they don't know where he's going.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
They were talking about the outfield.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
He doesn't want to be there, and the Reds are
collecting players like its pokemon. There Austin Hayes are trying
to trade for Police Robert. They're getting everybody, and it's
looking like a situation where Strand is going to be
put in at best maybe maybe a situational player. So
I'm just not in on it. The profile what I
saw on there is in a fall league was kind
of athletically. I don't know if the Reds fully trust him.

(09:16):
His cost is still kind of up there, so I
am going to be busting Cees.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
No thanks, all.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Right, must haves. I don't spend too much time on
this guy, because we talked about him in some of
our undervalue shows that we just did. The Undervalued Hitter
Show should be up there on the YouTube channel. Go
check that out. But Tristan Cassas, he's gonna have Durham
and Devors hitting ahead of him. Think he's gonna see
a lot of fastballs this year, and I think he's
in a really good spot. Projected hit third in that
lineup right now over on Fangrafts and the roster resource there,
and I think that when you look at some of

(09:42):
the projections, you see zips As with twenty nine home runs.
Steamer's got him a twenty eight if you somehow miss
out on the Christian Walker Josh Naylor grouping right, you
don't get the elite guys, and then man, that run happens,
and you miss out the way to make up for it. Like,
who's a guy that can hit two sixty and thirty
home runs? I think it's Tristan Cassas, and I think
that's just an easy win for me. And you've seen
I've drafted him in some of our mocks already because

(10:04):
I feel like that's also a really good return on investment.
If I can't get the elite power at the price
that I want early on, then the pivot there is
hoping that he can deliver that same promise. Who for
you is a must have at first base in twenty
twenty five? Welsh?

Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, remember I talked about these three buckets. There's like
the number one, which is lad and Harper. You probably
throw Freeman in there, and then two is kind of
that Ulsen Alonzo range.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
No thanks.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
That third bucket starts in with I think Costas is
the end of it. Naylor is in there. The guy
that I want is in that bucket, and you mentioned
him Christian Walker, So Christian Walker is the start of it.
He's a must have for me. The cost isn't prohibitive
really with whatever you've done. Obviously, if you went and
drafted vlat it wouldn't make a ton of sense. But
you know, Walker goes from a nice hitting environment in

(10:49):
Arizona to an even better hitting environment in Houston. He
had twenty six homers last year with a two fifty
one average, but you've got an even shorter porch, which
looks like from a projected standpoint, Baseball Savant does the like,
how many homers would they hit if they were here?
He had twenty only in this one ballpark. He had
twenty five homers in Arizona projected to be twenty eight,

(11:10):
so a three homer in boost in Houston by virtue
of that. But it's just such a great short porch.
Is an incredible offense around him as well. You're gonna
have Altuve, you've got Jordan Alvarez. He should hit it
a prominent spot in the lineup. He's one hundred RBI guy,
gold Glove, He's always going to be out there. I
just think Christian Walker just went into as good of
a situation as you could possibly have in a ballpark.
That is going to feed to how he hits the

(11:32):
ball in general. So for him to be going around
you know, like seventy eighty or something like that, he's
an absolute must have at first or you want to
you want to be like the one percenters, You want
to be Richie Rich. Get him at a quarer infield.
Go and take one of the top guys and then
take him off the board. Thirty one hundred with I
think a boost in batting average is in play, maybe
in the two seventy range for Walker this year.

Speaker 3 (11:53):
Got to have him, all right.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
Let's continue our trip around the diamond here to second
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(12:58):
slash Fantasy pro Welsh on to second base and the
sleeper might make people laugh for me, but it's Jackson Holiday.
Why because last year everybody was falling all over themselves
with Jackson Holiday. I of course pumped the brakes a
little bit. Oh gee whiz, I wasn't quite ready for
the big leagues. For those of you who watch Leading Off,
you know what that voice is. But this is a

(13:20):
new year, it's a new time, and you don't go
from being arguably the number one prospect in baseball typically
to being a complete and utter boss. And he's being
drafted right now in a situation where if you start
to look at some of the second basement, I'm going
to run down them here. Mookie Bets at the top again.
Position flexibility there could tell Marte great, Jose al Tuove,
Ozzie Albi's, Marcus Simeon. The very solid group there some

(13:41):
real veterans, but some health issues with I think all
three of those guys Jordan Westberg, Matt McClain also health
issue coming back, Bryce Terrang, Luis Garcia, Nico Horner, Xander Bogarts,
Bryson Stott, Rafaela and Jmenez right on that peripheral. And
then you have to go all the way down to
the seventeenth guy overall at the position in Jackson Holiday,
and I'm looking at I'm thinking to myself, can Jackson

(14:01):
Holiday potentially outperform Rafaela, Jimenez, guys like Bryson Stott. I
think he absolutely can. So to me, that makes him
a sleeper. This year he got rid of the big
leg kick two going to that toe tap. I think
that will help him a little bit. I think really
it was just pushed a little bit too soon and
unfortunately didn't go well. But I think twenty twenty five
might be a different story. And this is when I'm
buying the dip in the post hype. I think it's

(14:23):
the perfect situation. Give me a sleeper for you at
second base and what you think of the position.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, I'm also gonna tell you this is probably the
first one so far in this show where it's like, oh,
you took a guy that I probably would have put,
so sometime I'm trying to pivot off not give the
mack Hines. Yeah, I would have put Jackson Holiday, great barrel,
good hard hit, struggled against Slider's young young dude who
got pushed up four levels in a year year prior.
I think there's a pretty easy work like that.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
You know.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
It's like, like you said, you're changing and getting into
the toe tap. You're gonna work on hitting some of
that offspeed breaking stuff because he can hit fastballs. He's
done it in the minors, and he has a really
good underlying hit profile. So I'm there with I'm totally
there with you on him as far as the position goes.
In general, you know, second base always has this kind
of weakness that it feels. I think it is deeper

(15:10):
than some years prior, but I think that deepness more
speaks to middle infield. You know, getting your starter, I don't.
I still don't want to wait and be like, all right,
I'm the last guy that got a second basement, because
now then you're going to be swimming in a pool
that's just not going to feel great. You know, you're
you're going to be playing from behind, and then you're
probably gonna have to try to maybe up take a
short step.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
Now. The only reason maybe you could do.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
It is if you double tap shortstop. Sometimes people will
go shortstop early and then shortstop in middle, and maybe
that middle infield shortstop can make up for some deficiencies
that you might have had at second base. But you know,
I'm not really sure that you want even as much
as I love Luis ran Gifo, you want him as
like your starter or even Bryce Terrain unless you're chasing
stolen bases. So I'm trying to attack it a little

(15:52):
bit early if I possibly can. If you don't, we'll
go to my sleeper. I think this is a solid
deeper league middle infield player that I'm going to targeting
former potential twenty twenty player. It's Jonathan India, who was
traded over to the Kansas City Royals. India last year
when it really wasn't a great year. Fifteen homers, thirteen
stolen bases, hit just under two point fifty, had best

(16:13):
OBP over the last couple of years. In fact, twelve
point six percent walk rate, highest of his career, in
top three.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
Percentile of the league. Why does that matter. He's going
to go potentially hit leadoff for the Royals.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
You've got Bobby Witt Junior, You've got Salvador Perez hitting
behind you. You have any pass Quintino that opens up
a huge opportunity for runs. This team also runs on
the base path, so you might see that uptick. Projections
aren't really putting that in play. Atc projections are pretty
light on him. Run a two to fifty batting average,
homers and stolen bases are both under fifteen. I think

(16:47):
there's a legit shot that Jonathan India can get into
that twenty twenty range. The profile in general is pretty solid,
almost eight percent barrel. His expected batting average was close
to two seventy, so it was higher than it was
last year. He struck out under twenty percent of the time,
and he walked a ton. Hey, you're at the top
of that Royals lineup with a bunch of monsters behind you,
you might jump into ninety RBI. You steal twenty plus bases,

(17:11):
you get some homers. All of a sudden, he goes
from a guy that is going two fifty, two twenty
or something like that into maybe being a top one
fifty overall player. So I think India is a really
nice second base sleeper.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
All right, let's talk about bust at second base. Bryson
Stott is one for me. He's in the nine hole
in that Phillies lineup. The power is limited. I mean,
I know he had fifteen homers in twenty throw and
three but went back down to eleven last year. The
strikeout rate went up last year or two. I get it.
In rotal leagues, you cover at the stolen basis. So
I totally understand why he's still in that top twelve range.
But I keep going back to who's a superior hitter

(17:44):
in my opinion? Is it Bryson Stotta, which Jackson Holiday
can be? You know or guys like that that are
going after Bryson Stott. So for me, it's a no brainer.
I thought that he's a bad player. I think also
had some big moments in the postseason two which I
think might little bit overinflate his value artificially, So I
want to stay away from that. I don't like when
that happens. Very small sample size. So Welsh, who's the
guy you're avoiding at second base?

Speaker 2 (18:03):
Man, I'm having a realization that, like, I'm picking on
a lot of Reds players, and I'm gonna probably pick on.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
Some, I mean, seems to be your guy. And now
where you're gonna pick.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
On, I'm gonna pick on Matt McClain. And I will
tell you.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
I like McLain. I'm buying back in AFL coming back
from the injury. I think it's gonna take a little
bit of time, but I think he'll be okay.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
It's part of the problem.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
So like I also like Matt McClain. Here's what I
don't like. There's no discount he's being going. He's going
inside the top one hundred right now. I don't like
the discount. He did not play last year except in
the aarson A fall league where I saw him personally
every single day and he still had some of the warts.
That was my hope if you're gone for an entire year.
You know, he was during instructs. I actually caught him

(18:42):
at Red's instructs. You know he had been out.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
There working when instructs.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
But well, it's the instructional league where there's nothing going on. Uh,
you would have hoped during that time.

Speaker 3 (18:52):
Maybe let's take a look at the year prior. Let's
get some fixes.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
Specifically, what I'm talking about is that strikeout rate. It
looked as bad as ever in the Arizona Fallay. Now,
maybe that's you know, you lost the whole season. You're
trying to be hyper aggressive, anything super high on fastballs, attack,
swing through, he's striking out. He was just eating low
breaking stuff outside the zone. And my problem with that
is he had a twenty eight and a half percent
strikeout rate the year prior when he played. Now how

(19:16):
he got through that. He barreled the ball ten percent,
forty two percent hard hit rate, and his expected batting
average was there, Like he gets stuff done. He's kind
of like Spencer Steer. In fact, if you look at
it as a whole. I'm just worried that maybe it
is the same thing like Steer. Can he get to
twenty twenty, Absolutely, but I'm worried it's going to be
like at a two twenty or two thirty batting average,
he's going to have big swings. He's coming off of

(19:37):
this injury where he missed a year and he looked
rusty in the Arizona Fall League. So for me to
pay a top one hundred value or cost on that,
I'm not super interested, especially by the way I just
mentioned a guy like Jonathan India. Jonathan India could put
up I don't know ninety percent of what Matt McClain
is at like one hundred and fifty picks later. So

(19:58):
I'm going to be fading Matt McClain this year. I'm
where the strikeout rate is going to have an ultimate
effect on his total value.

Speaker 3 (20:04):
And I don't know how.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
Terry Francona is going to just sit around and just
all right, let's let him get through it. Mcclan might
be hitting lower in the lineups as well. They might
start platuning, because again, it's Pokemon. For Terry Francona, it's
Pokemon Go. He is out there and he sees mystery player,
He signs them, picks them up, and he puts them
in the rotation for the Reds. I am just personally
going to be out on drafting Matt McCain inside the

(20:26):
top one.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
Hundred, all right. I'm still probably in right around there.
But so far in the drafts i've seen, it's been
a little bit of a discount the ones I've been
in so far. You know this grouping too, and we're
going to get to the must haves here, you know, wholesale.
Two V is still going as a third guy. I
still prefer Albi's probably Simon two. I mean, how two
V's thirty four years old, and I think at certain
point in time you got to start taking that into effect.

(20:47):
That's going to be even more declined.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
You say the third or first guy.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
He's typically going as the third guy. Oh yeah, yeah,
And I'm just saying, you know, I'd rather have Albi's
or Simion probably over That's me. That's my rankings personally
going into the season.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
I think Simeon is a huge value because you didn't
say Marquez, So it threw me off, like can tell Martes.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
Because I said this one first too, the clear cuts
Betts and it's Marte. It's a clear shelf there. But
then I look at the stat line last year for
Altub and I look at the stat line this year
for Luis Garcia Junior, and I keep coming back to
the same thing, and I know he's my guy this year,
and I'm going to pound the table every show for him.
But eighteen homers, twenty two a stone bass, excuse me,

(21:24):
seventy rbi last year, fifty eight runs scored, And I think,
you know, this lineup for the Nationals is going to
be far improved. You're gonna get a whole season of
James Wood, You're hopefully going to get a productive season
form Dylan Cruz. We can only hope that Nathaniel Lowe
is going to add a little bit more presence of
that lineup along with Bell. So I think he's in
a good, solid lineup. And it's funny because when we
started hyping him up, he was about I would say,

(21:47):
one hundred picks different than jose Al Tuve. That gap
is closing about seventy five in an nfbcceed right now
drafts it's even less. So clearly people are also starting
to pick up on that same fact there with him.
So who's your must have? Guy Garcias on who's yours
at second base?

Speaker 3 (22:01):
Interesting thing too, A couple of notes is just throw
in there.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
Altuve has apparently been working in the outfield the rumors
that were to signed, so you could some more musician eligibility.
And also want to point out Mooki bets I believe
should only qualify second base in Yahoo he had I
think it.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
Was eighteen games at second bastion.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yeah, excuse me, Ivery wont to ask you a question.
Do you like that more? Because sometimes when guys move positions,
especially all star like, it doesn't always go like Craig
Bigio like where it's it's like, yeah, it's fine. You
know some guys who they go and they move, they
struggle in the transition from infield to outfield specifically.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Oh okay, So I thought you were gonna ask like
the positions because like Tatist did this and he got
outfield eligibility and he was still really good.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
And much different body type, much different athlete, I think too.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
Yeah, I mean I think it could be weird.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
I'm not sure it's going to affect the game, but
I'm also pretty open to like the external things like
that can affect these players, Like you know, sometimes like
a guy that was always a hitter going in D
eight something to think about with like Mike Traut, like.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
Eligibility could changing that mindset. Sometimes the confidence level gets
shaken a little bit. I don't know. I'm just saying, like,
it's not always sunshine roses when a guy changes position.

Speaker 3 (23:03):
Sure, and it might not be, especially at.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
This stage in his career he's an older player.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
Yeah, and then again, just the Mookie Bets thing. Eighteen games.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
I believe at second base, so yahoo, he will qualify.
He shouldn't in some of the other spots. I also
personally believe we should change the qualifications to not twenty,
but not five, so make it ten or fifteen. But
that's just me, all right, my guy, I'm gonna go
go with a guy that have played a bunch of
games at two different positions. I think people consider him
on the other side because that will be his position,
but he qualifies at second base, so I must have.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
Is Jordan Westburg. I've talked a bunch about him.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
He's going around like the I think it's like the
seventh or eighth or maybe even sixth second baseman. The
point is is you can draft him, and that's why
he becomes a must have. This isn't like saying, guys, Kutolmarta,
you've got to have no Jordan Westberg.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
He's a must have.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
Eighteen homer, six dolen bases, two sixty four batting average
last year, great hitting profile. You know, I love over
ten percent barrel and forty five percent.

Speaker 3 (23:53):
Hard hit rate. He hits that lowered to strikeout yate
rate the year prior.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
Hits the ball really hard one point one average exon
velocity and the orioles they're bringing in that left field.
I've said to a bunch on shows to make it
a little bit more hitter friendly. So you've already got
this kind of like monster profile that hit the ball
really well. By the way's expected batting average was around
two eighty, so it was even better with this great profile,
better expected batting average, lowering the strikeouts. He can run.

(24:19):
He can hit legitimate shot at twenty five to ten.
Maybe it's going to go thirty fifteen somewhere in there.
The ballpark's becoming better. He's going to hit in a
prominent spot for the Orioles lineup, so I'm really into it.
Jordan Westburg with third and second base qualification as man
must have second basement all right over to the hot corner.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
The third baseman looked like this over on Fantasy Pros
Consensus ADP, which again you can find over fantasypros dot Com.
Jose Ramirez over at the top top five player overall
my opinion, still maybe even top three. I mean, if
you want to get to that argument when you look
at third base as a whole. Vlad Gurow Junior, Jazz Chisholm,
Rafield Devers, Austin Reiley. This is interesting because I think
there's warts on all these guys. Although they all have

(24:58):
incredible talent and have all been super productive at one
time or another. You could pick each one apart and
find a negative on each one. Know, Dever is coming
off a down year, Jazz Chisholm's injury history last year,
Austin Riley looking lost then getting hurt, and Vlad, who
has struggled at times and maybe the pressure of a
contract year does get to him, maybe it doesn't. Second
half last year was brilliant after that, Manny Machado at

(25:20):
six mark Vientos at seven. Who is my favorite thing?
In twenty twenty five? Jordan Westbrook Junior Caminaro, Royce lewis
very risky in the top ten as a recording. This
still winning for Bregman to sign somewhere. Jake Berger, Matt Chapman,
U Haino Suarezho was awful in the first half and
then all of a sudden a completely different human being
at fourteen. So that's kind of like your your rough

(25:41):
version there of the top twelve issue at the position.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
One thing to add, like Mookie Vladd will only qualify
at third base in Yahoo. He played twelve games at
third base, which was I was shocked when I actually
saw because I saw the qualification. I was like, would
he play five? No, he played twelve at.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
Thirty he looked at third base ones, so.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
Only Yah, who should be the one that has the
third base qualification anywhere else ESPN and FBC. I believe
CBS are all twenty game eligibility, so he wouldn't be
the top third baseman. But Yahoo, you'll get that extra
little push.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yeah, So look, looking at this again, I'm willing to
let this market come to me because I think there
is a very strong middle there, Riley Machado, Viento's those
are all really strong guys, and for me, a sleeper
as a corner guy to me once againstoc paraitis right,
he's going to be hitting in a good spot potentially
in this order. Now Bregman signing could maybe change a
little of this. We're still waiting to find that out,

(26:34):
but as of right now, Meregman is not back with
the Houston Astros, and there's a chance here that you
could see Paritas hitting in that two spot, which I
think is terrific for that run scored total. He is
not that far removed from a big time power season.
We know all the stats about well, if you dropped
him in last year, all those home run totals have
have been a lot higher year over a year. So
there's a lot of reasons to like Parretis. And he's

(26:55):
a lot younger too than people realize, which I think
you know people take for granted he's kind of been
around a while. But if he is sandwich between al
Tuove and Alvarez man Welsh, that's a really good spot
to be. Who's a sleeper for you in twenty twenty
five at the hot corner.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
Chalk it up that this is one hundred percent going
to be mine. This was mine.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Joey beat it to it. I completely co sign on
this one. His draft stock is just low again like
what he did in Tampa Bay. I think is in
play here for Esach Praatus because it's a low porch.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
He is a pole.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
He doesn't have a good hitting profile, that's the thing,
and that's why the Cubs he was exposed. It was
just like, doesn't Barrel doesn't hit the ball hard, like
what's going on? But what he does is he pulls
fly balls twenty two percent launch angle, and now you're
gonna go in one of the best places to do
that in Houston. So like Bradiy's is just undervalued. I
like that not picking pretis. I went with someone that
I have a high rank on. I will be frank

(27:44):
this could change because there could be a wrinkle thrown
into it, but I'm gonna go with Matt Shaw.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
Matt Shaw.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Everyone trying to figure out position qualifications for him as
far as like what he did in the Miners, but
Shaw is coming off of a twenty homer thirty stolen
based season in the Miners. He is perceivably set to
be the third baseman for the Cubs this year, where
he is not going to have to be like praide
Is and he's not like a bad hitting profile guy
that's just going to have wall scraping homers Like No,

(28:11):
the guy can dominate. I mean, the stolen based numbers
have actually been pretty shocking. He finished up last minor
league season by going and playing in the Premieer twelve
USA Tournament where he was the best player and you
had like Carson Williams playing there, Tamar Johnson, he was
hands down the best player offensively, crushing more home runs.
He is ready, and there's a reason why they moved
off of Praideres to do it. But if Bregman were

(28:33):
to sign there, it does really kind of throw a
wrinkle into stuff because they'd have to trade Horner to
get Matt Shaw back in there. But his cost is
really really efficient. I think, by the way, he's number
two in NL Rookie of the Year voting, yet I
believe his ADP is outside the top two hundred. So
you know, if you think that he is going to
play all season long, he's going to beat projections. He's
going to be close to a twenty twenty guy, and

(28:54):
he is a definite sleeper that you can get at
like corner infield cost and he'd qualify I think infield
in some spots a shortstop.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
All right, let's talk about the busts here on the
other side of the coin here. And look, I know
Baltimore kind of had a glut of prospects, so they
can afford to move a couple. But you know, when
you love a prospect quote unquote, and then you move
on from him, sometimes I think that's a bit of
red flag. I also don't like the lineup where this
player ended up either hitting in Miami. Now it's kind
of norby. And it's not because I don't think he

(29:23):
can be a productive player. I do. I think it's
far too early. He's only twenty five years old, you know,
to think that he can't be a good, solid, everyday
player for the Marlins. He can be. The thing is,
you know, it's one thing to be an up and
coming prospect in an organization and you end up in
a lineup that's got a lot of protection, a lot
of help, and you can easily be productive and make
a transition. I think it's much harder in a place

(29:44):
where the talent is a little less or in this case,
a lot less. You know, I just don't feel like Norby,
despite the fact that he's probably hitting two, is going to
deliver on the promise, at least not this year. I
think it's going to be a tough transition. And you know,
I always go back to a great example of this
is Jad Martinez early in his career, right with the
Astros when they were so bad and there was nobody

(30:05):
around him, and then he got traded to Detroit and
he got dropped in a line up there with the
protection of Miguel Cabrera, and his career because completely took off.
And I'm just saying it's just much harder for young
players to not have proper lineup production and reach their
ceiling quickly. So, wels, who are you out on potentially
this year in twenty twenty five at third base?

Speaker 2 (30:24):
By the way, that's an interesting one because I feel
like his cost is so low it's hard.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
For him to be a bust.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
He also has some really good underlying profile metrics, but
it's of one of the worst.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
Tis still buzzy, like, oh kind of normy prospect guy
like you know what I mean, Like, and we all
know those dynasty circles that they run hot all the
prospect names and people go, this guy's gonna be really useful.
I just don't know if he's going to be useful.
But you're right, it's not gonna cost you too much
to find out. But also there is a name I
just want to be dangerous of that.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
Yeah, and there's not a ton there.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
That was the other thing that's like on your side,
it's like there's not a lot of support, there's not
a lot of RBI opportunities, So I don't know what
that's going to look like. There could be some k problems.
So that's a really interesting Mine comes back similar to
strand this is me and this is why, Like I
don't think I can be right on all these guys
that I'm picking on from this mentric, so one of
them is going to be wrong, and I would counter
to my own point. This is kind of like what

(31:12):
I just said with Norby that Josh Young who I'm
picking as my bust here, he's kind of free is
ADP is at like right around the two hundred range,
So like how much can you really bust when you're
outside the top two hundred. But I am picking on
him because I will say I found this the hardest
of the infield positions to pinpoint, like who is going
to be my actual bus?

Speaker 3 (31:31):
Royce Lewis came to mind.

Speaker 2 (31:32):
I think the top guys they're so chalky, and then
there's this big jump and it's like, I just don't
feel like you're getting a lot of busts in there.
Matt Chapman is like amazing value. So I picked Josh
Young again. This is the twenty twenty three was great.
Twenty twenty four absolutely atrocious, especially with especially with.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
Some of the hitting profile. I'm maybe not.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
Absolutely atrocious, but two sixty four seven homers, four stolen
bases with Josh Young. Strikeout rate came down a tiny bit,
but a lot of the actual hitting metrics came down.
Barrel went down, hard, hit absolutely tanked. He had a
two forty expected batting average. Don't like any of that.
He was struggling with an injury, and I think he's
gonna get moved down the lineup. So I'm not a
big Josh Young guy, but I really found this to

(32:14):
be tough, and it might just be wrong because if
he returns back to what he was in twenty twenty three,
by the way, almost a fifty percent hard hit rate,
twelve percent barrel. He had some strikeout problems, but he
was absolutely crushing the ball in a really good environment.
So I might eat my words on this, but you know,
like you had to go Norby, I had to go
young because this was a tough spot to like pinpoint
the bust.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
All right, My must have at third base is simple.
It's Mark Vientos of the New York Mets. You saw
a star being born last year in twenty twenty five.
That guy was unbelievable. And going back to last year's shows,
we talked about his performance in spring training, and you
know how an amord eye was of him in spring training.
I said, he's finally ready. I think he's finally got it.
And then the Martinez thing happened. He took over at

(32:55):
DH and he was very visibly upset about this, and
he took it personally, and he went down and he raked,
and he got called up and he did nothing but
rake at the major league level and then had some
huge moments of the postseason. Now you're putting him behind
Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor, and I don't think there's
any way if he stays healthy, he doesn't drive in

(33:15):
one hundred runs this year, I think he's gonna hit
over thirty home runs. And if again, if Pete Alonzo
comes back and you sandwich him between Pete Alonzo and
Juan Soto in that third spot, oh my god, Mark
Viento's is going to be an all star. Mark Viento's
is gonna be a guy that is going to become
a rock star in twenty twenty five. I mean he
could even approach thirty five or forty home runs. That's

(33:36):
how good I think Vientos is as a power hitter.
And with all those fastballs you might see and all
those guys on base ahead of him, it could be
an incredible year for Viento's. I'm going to be aggressive
on him in twenty twenty five. Well, Foozier must have
at third base.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yeah, I like that one a lot. Mine is probably
guy that's gonna play first base. He's on the other side. Hell,
maybe he'll play third base and he'll play more third
base this team and knock off Josh Young. It's Jake
Berger some kind of staying in that same team where
I don't seem to like a ton of the Reds.
For whatever reason, I have been enamored with a lot
of the Rangers players. Jake Berger is just going into
a fantastic spot. We've talked about everybody's talked about it.

(34:13):
He's coming off a twenty nine homer season.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
He's hit two fifty.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
By the way, he's the new Chorris Davis K Chris
with a K. He's hit two fifty three straight seasons.
Jake Berger has He's a thirty homer lock and now
he's going into one of the better hitting environments out there.
He's coming off of hitting with the White Sox and
the Marlins. He's now with the Rangers. As long as
he doesn't hit in that eighth spot or seventh spot
that like roster resources.

Speaker 3 (34:36):
Putting twelve percent.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
Barrel forty seven percent hard hit, he lowered his strikeout rate.
He's got an expected average that's around almost two sixty.
Jake Berger is in a phenomenal environment where, by the way,
let's just for a minute pretend that he could hit
four or five. You've got Marcus Simeon, Corey, Seeger Wyatt,
Langford in your top three spot against righty's are probably

(34:58):
gonna put Jock Peterson. We'll see what they do with
guys like Adulies.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
If he bounces back.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
You do have Josh Young, but Berger is an opportunity
to hit higher in the lineup. He's already hitting thirty homers.
Now the RBIs boost up and he's going outside the
top one hundred. Must have multi corner infield qualifications for Berger.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
Got to have him. This is one of my favorite
ones we've done so far.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
I love this acquisition for the Rangers in the offseason.
I thought it was really sharp on their point too.
Just give them a little bit more insurance there for
the Corey Seekers and Marcus Simeans if they miss more
time again in twenty twenty five. Let's move on to
short stuff. Before we do a quick reminder. Take these
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how do you make a cheat sheet, I'll tell you.
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(35:38):
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(36:00):
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download that bad boy, because it's the ultimate cheat code.

(36:22):
Let's get to the shortstops. Welsh and a guy that
I just took in our most recent draft, a guy
that I even mentioned in our Undervalued show, and he's
gonna come up here again because he really is a sleeper.
I think I don't hear anybody talking about Jeremy PanAm.
And when you start to look through this list here,
you've got Bobby Witt at the top, You've got Ellie
de la Cruz, you've got Gunner, Henderson, Mookie Bets, Francisco Lindor,

(36:45):
huge names. I think that is the number one tier.
Then you got the Trey Turner, Corey Seeger. Okay, we're
starting to get into a little bit more shaky ground,
but still big time talent. On'eal Cruz a guy once again,
another guy moving positions, going to the outfield. But it's career.
That stuff doesn't worry me nearly as much as the
veterans when they start to move off positions. CJ. Abrams, Williadomas,

(37:06):
Matt McClain, who you already voiced some concern about, bobashett
A twelve. Then right on that peripheral, you've got Nico Horner,
Anthony Volpi, Tovar all in that group. Tovar was my
favorite guys last year had a really good season. But
what's so fascinating is I look at the production of
Jeremy Pania last year fifteen homers, seventy seventy. I think
he could easily be a seventy five seventy five guy,

(37:28):
maybe even push that home run total closer to twenty.
Gave you twenty steals last year, hit to sixty six
and I'm thinking Anthony Volpi hasn't given me anything quite
like that. I'm thinking to myself, I'm looking around. Matt
McClain's coming off a major injury, Nico Horner lots of
stolen bases, but doesn't give me quite maybe the power
ceiling I think he might have. And then guys like

(37:49):
Xander Bogart's Bryce and Stott Like, these guys are kind of,
I think a little bit underwhelming to me. I know,
some of them give you a little bit more stone bases,
and I understand why that's coveted in the Rodos and
the head to head Rodo Man. Well, Jeremy Pinia just
seems like a guy at my middle infield spot that
I think I could plug and play and be very
happy with for one hundred and sixty two.

Speaker 2 (38:06):
Yeah, there were two guys that came to mind when
we did this, and by the way, I do think
this floats between sleeper undervalued, however you want to look
at it. Number one was Jeremy Pania and then I
saw you had him, so I'm like, I can't put
Jeremy Pene on there because I.

Speaker 1 (38:18):
Used the advantages of making the sheet up.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
Yeah, yeah, you got to it first, completely agree. It's
just like somewhere between, you know, twenty stolen bases, fifteen homers.
By the way, ATC projections on him, pretty good average
at two sixty two fifteen homers, seventeen stolen bases with
a sub twenty percent K percentage in Houston.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
Love it.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
And by the way, he's in some instance has been
a lead off hitter. And now you got Tucker out
of that lineup, so we'll see what happens. Number two
on that list for me, though, was Mason Winn when
I couldn't pick Jeremy Penia. Mason Winn is coming off
of a solid season. He had two sixty seven, fifteen homers,
eleven stolen bases. He sent he spent the off season
working at a lot of those bat clinics, getting in

(38:57):
some more body mass, adding muscle, working on bat speed
as they usually do. He's been working with Jordan Walker.
And you know, Mason wins profile was sub eighteen percent
K percentage, that's relatively elite. Gets the ball in the air,
thirteen degree launch angle, that's solid.

Speaker 3 (39:11):
He's walking a.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
Bit, but he doesn't have that big explosive barrel, hard hit.
So how does he get it done well. There's a
lot of guys in baseball CJ. Abrams, Has and Kim
I use them as always my examples Estock Brady's technically
that have these low barrel like wind does low hard hit.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
So what do they do.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
They get under the ball and they get it in
the air. Launch angle sweet spot as well as a
metric that Baseball Savant does and that had a huge
boost this past year twenty six to thirty three percent
the launch angle. He hits it on the perfect spot
to get the ball up in the air. Mookie Betts
does that and now his launch angle went up. So
my whole point of this is is that's where you're

(39:48):
going to start optimizing and getting some home runs. And
that's why you can project him in the fifteen. He's
also aggressive base stealer. He's got a really good hitting
profile where he doesn't strike out and make contact. Projections
are around fifteen to fifty teen and like a two
fifty to sixty average on him. I think there's a
legitimate opportunity that he can jump up. Average can go
up into the two eighties. He could be a twenty
twenty guy and he's going you know, one seventy five

(40:11):
to two hundred right now. So Mason Win is a
definite sleeper, kind of must target player at shortstop.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
Yeah, it's funny, Welsh, because I took penny from you,
but my second choice would have been Win. So we're
seeing eye to eye on the sleepers here. Yeah, absolutely
the bust. This one was easy for me. I could
not wait to put this name in Trevor's story. When
is enough enough for everybody? I don't. I don't get this, Welsh.
I don't understand it. I like it, And uh, well
you're gonna tell me why, because I'm gonna give you

(40:39):
all the reasons why I don't, and then you get
to try to sell me as best you can't.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
But yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
Well, I mean he hasn't played one hundred games in
three years since he's been a Red Sox. First of all,
the top out was ninety three. Uh, his splits in
Colorado were always massive. I was never a big fan
of his in Colorado either. I find him to be
a very overrated player that would have some hot streaks. Sure,
the numbers were always better because it was Colorado, But
I hated this signing when the Red Sox did it,
and it was so weird because it's like, you're gonna

(41:04):
pay Trevor's story, but you're not gonna playing Mookie Betts.
And it's turned out to be one of the worst
decisions this organization has ever made. And now they've got
these kids coming, They've got the Roman Anthonis coming, They've
got the Casses to come, and they've got Christian Campbell come,
and they've got Rafaela, and they got all these kids.
I think story is gonna get pushed out. I know
he's only like thirty two years older. Whenever he's turning
this year, I'm out on Trevor's story. It's this name

(41:27):
brand thing like Chris Bryant was still relevant in every
draft for a couple of years. Like when do we learn,
like just because a guy was good once upon a
time doesn't make him good now or even investible. I
think that's the problem. I don't think the guy's even
investible at this stage. What are your I know he
is still going late and I get that's probably what
you're gonna say, but he's free. But at the same time,

(41:48):
I Christian Campbell, Matt Shaw going after him, and I
think you would agree I'd rather take a shot on
those guys.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
Yeah, I have them higher. So yeah, that's not right.
Well for me, that's not a disagreement. I completely am
with you.

Speaker 3 (41:59):
But he's free.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
He is the epitome of He literally doesn't get drafted
in many twelve team leagues. There's I'm gonna say this,
and it might be like someone might be able to
answer it better, but I'm just.

Speaker 3 (42:11):
Gonna say it with like, you know, authority.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
There's no player that's not being drafted that has twenty
twenty upside if they play the whole season than Trevor Story. Like,
I can't think off the top of my head a
guy that would be on the wire that would go
out of your draft not being drafted.

Speaker 3 (42:26):
That lockdown.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
If I said, hey, you're getting one hundred and forty
games at a Trevor Story, You're getting twenty twenty. That's
what you're going to get out of him. There's just
no other players. So that's why I'm in on it.
But he can't stay healthy, So I don't disagree with that,
but it's you know, I mean, there's just murderer's row
after murderer's row of those guys, Like I still like
the hitting profile.

Speaker 3 (42:44):
He's young enough.

Speaker 2 (42:45):
He's just absolutely free if he doesn't work out, cut him,
see you. But there is twenty twenty tens.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
I just I don't want to waste draft picks. I
guess that's where I'm at. At Ah, who's your bust
for this section?

Speaker 2 (42:56):
My bus is a big name, and it's more about
my disinterest Abrams. Everything is still in his favor. He
came off of a twenty thirty season two forty six
batting average. I mean, obviously insane. The hitting profile still
has some you know, questions. He is barreling. He struck
out a little bit more. He hit the ball harder.
Like I said before, he optimizes it, gets the ball
in the air. But he comes in an absolute premium cost.

(43:20):
And he ended the season being suspended for staying out
all night gambling. And that is a clear issue that
is going on. Maybe that doesn't carry over, maybe that's
completely fixed. He's had two really good fantasy seasons. I
just got to tell you, like it's the stage we've
talked about the world of overpaying for like a lot
of strikeouts.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
It's just not there for me.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
He's going around a guy like Corey Seeger, who I
think is an elite four category player that does have
some injury questions, but he doesn't have suspension questions. He
also doesn't have a bad hitting profile. I'm just worried
when things go wrong for Abrams, it'll go wrong bad.
There's also some off the field stuff, and I just
don't feel the need that I want to pay for
extreme stolen bases. But still at the same time, like, hey,

(43:59):
well shut up, was twenty thirty.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
I get it. I'm just not into the cost. So
that's why he's my bust.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
Well, it's funny because he was a win for a
sleeper last year on both of our lists, and now
a look a year later, we're like, okay, you know,
and that happens sometimes for us, Like we love a player,
we love the value, we love the upside, and the
next year sometimes the cost is a little bit too much.
But it's amazing how much difference, you know, a year
can make for a player. All right, I must have
as a guy Welsh already hates at this position. I'm

(44:25):
gonna say, Matt McLain. I've been doing a lot of
homework on Matt McClain to see where he's at reading
all the articles, reading all the stuff coming out of
his mouth. Arizona Fall League. He had four home runs.
The slugging was there, the timing and the batting average
wasn't there yet. But I assume that because he hasn't
played baseball a long time. This is a guy that
is very crucial what he does in spring for me.
I want to make sure he has a good spring.
If he does, I feel really good about where he

(44:46):
is despite the fact the ADP is Welsh pointed out,
is still relatively high. And here's the big reason why
I want to take shots on twenty five twenty four
year old guys who are gonna hit potentially, you know,
somewhere in the two eighty range. But more importantly, you
go back and you look at the OBP around four
hundred in his minor league track record and five hundred

(45:06):
of this slugging. A guy that's got power in a
small ballpark with on bass skills. I want that guy
on my team. So Matt McClain, that's your counterpoint for him.
Welsh gave you the negatives, I give you the positives.
Give me a must have for you in twenty twenty
five at this position.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
But if he If he hits two eighty, I will
eat my word.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
I do not believe there's a world where he's gonna
hit two eighty, But if he does, I'm wrong as
hell on Matt McClain.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
My pick, well, he's gonna be HiT's two sixty and
gives me a three eighty on bays than a five
hundred slugging man. That's gonna be a good player. That's
gonna be a real good player.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
Well, the guy I'm gonna pick at shortstop is going
after Matt McClain, and he used to be like a
third round pick in drafts. He seems boring now because
he's coming off of his literal worst season ever.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
I'm saying Bobashett is the guy.

Speaker 2 (45:52):
Bobashett is going massively late in drafts because he just
hit two twenty six or two twenty five with four
homers and five stolen bases in half of a year
with a bunch of misstime. But that's coming off of
the season where he hit three hundred with twenty homers,
and he was going in like the third round because
what if he runs a little bit more And my
main thesis across the board is more about like the

(46:13):
anomaly is last season, compared to his career, he was
nine percent nine percent, nine percent barrel just year after
year forty four fifty, hard hit all of a sudden.
Last year, hard hit absolutely tanks, barrels cut in half,
everything fell apart. Even so, his expected batting average was
still around two fifty, but he's around our career two
ninety guy. He didn't strike out more, he walked a

(46:34):
little bit, and he just ended up underperforming specifically against
some of that aw speed and breaking stuff. I think
those things are going to change this year. I think
that was the anomaly, and I think his cost is
so depressed batting average is going to boost back up.
I really think he just helps your team. He can
play more as a middle infielder if you need to.
Projections have him hitting two seventy four with sixteen homers

(46:55):
according to atc SO, I think Boba shed at his
cost as a must buy position.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
Here the catcher spot and the top twelve look like this.
William Contreras at the top, Adlie Rutchman next, then Yander
Diez sal Perez cal Rawley coming in at five. That's
your top five, which is a pretty strong group. I
would say, but for me, I'm still especially in single
catcher leagues twelve team fifteen league, I don't care. I'm
waiting two catcher leagues. Obviously, the calculus changes. Logan o'happy,

(47:21):
excuse me, Will Smith at six, then Wilson Contreras, Logan
Ohappy at eight, Shay Langeliers at nine, J T Real
Muto at ten, Tyler Stevenson at eleven, Francisco Alphaez at twelve,
and then on the peripheral you got Austin Wells, Sean
Murphy looking for a bounce back season with Atlanta, like
the entire Atlanta Braves, Steve it seems like kybrit Ruiz
at fifteen, and then Connor Wong at sixteen. As you

(47:41):
get a little deeper. So again, it's always the same
with me. Number one, I hate two catcher leagues. I
think they're stupid. I don't think there's any reason for
him number two. Single catcher leagues twelve to fifteen. There's
twelve to fifteen guys there that I can live with,
and I just don't want to put the investment ahead
of time in one of these bigger catchers unless somebody
really dramatically falls. So that's the easy look for me

(48:02):
and the sleeper in this list. I can't believe I
got two mets on the list I'm going to talk about.
I mean, talk about a difference a year makes. But
Francisco Alvarez, I don't think we've seen the best out
of him yet. Francisco Alvarez is a big time power
potential here, and he could easily pop twenty five to
thirty home runs in twenty twenty five if everything broke right.
I think a lot of last year for him was
really getting acclimated to managing the pitching staff and understanding

(48:25):
what needed to happen there. And I think sometimes he
also got frustrated with get into slumps and he was
having a hard time turning things around. If you go
back and look at the minor league rack record of
this guy, this was a bat first catcher, right, you know.
And it turns out the framing improved and all the
other things improved. But everybody talked about Alvarez for the bat,
not so much of the defense. And I think Alvarez
in this lineup potentially could finally have that breakout season.

(48:48):
So he's my sleeper at the position. Who's yours Welsh.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
Yeah, and I was looking.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
By the way, I believe there's like nine on ATC
catchers projected for twenty or more homers. Francisco Alvarez is
the lowest cost of all of those projected catchers. I
think this is a fantastic one, probably the one I
would have picked as well, because it's low costs. I
have my narrative here with catchers. I just play him
late because I play single catcher leagues. I don't want
to pay high costs at all. The catcher that I'm

(49:14):
going to end up picking, though, is Austin Wells. Trevino
out of town. I think that opens up more opportunities.

Speaker 3 (49:19):
For Wells to be out there.

Speaker 2 (49:20):
ATC projections have him around eighteen homers. I was going
to pick Ivan Herrera, who had a really nice underlying
hitting profile, and he's going to be I don't know
if he's going to be the guy though, because I
got Pedro Pajas, because Wilson Gatrez is going to move over.
But if he were to get like the primary amount,
it might be Herrera. But Austin Wells I think is
locked because I don't think there's enough competition there. I

(49:40):
think they want him to be the guy. There's a
lot of power, it's a great hitting environment, and he's
going outside the top twelve.

Speaker 3 (49:45):
So give me a late catcher in Austin Wells to
the Yankees, all right?

Speaker 1 (49:48):
For me? The bust is j tirol Muto. I don't
like investing in older catchers. I think I saw a
lot of the client in him and just watched him
last year, and he's a guy like he's played so
many games at the position. I know he floats around
sometimes in other spots too. You've seen the stolen bases
drop off a cliff, you know, from twenty one to
sixteen and then to just two last year. I know
we only played ninety nine games. But again, he's gonna

(50:09):
be thirty four years old. I know the Phillies are
still a really good team. I'm just out on real mewtwo.
I think this is another one where you're paying for
the past of name brand value. Welsh, Who is a
catcher that you don't want? Or should I say what
kind of catcher don't you want? On draft day?

Speaker 2 (50:25):
Good way to phrase it, Joe, any catcher inside the
top one hundred I don't want NFBC ADP listen. William
Contreri's is a monster. I love him, smaller guy to catcher,
lots of power. He's at top twenty five NFBC EIGHTYPECE
in January first. But it's a two catcher I get it.
But still, uh, in standard leagues, who are the guys

(50:46):
that are going to be in there?

Speaker 3 (50:46):
Adlely?

Speaker 2 (50:47):
Maybe yanire Diaz William Contreras is going to be the
number one. I'm not saying they can't come close to
returning value. I just don't think the difference of the
value on the guys you would invest in the top
one hundred compared to the other hitters or pitches you
could take, then moving down into taking the guy I'm
gonna have as a must have or J two Ramuto
or you know, I mean handfuls of guys. I just

(51:07):
don't think the production difference makes enough sense. So I
think investing in the top one hundred in a single
catcher league, I'm not there. I'd also say even in
the two catcher league, investing in the top fifty is
really not something I want to do, kind of like
even in closers, I would just rather have a little
bit more value. You're gonna have to pay like closer
seven or eight in the two catcher league is going
to still go inside the top one hundred, but late

(51:28):
I'd rather do that, But no inside the top one
hundred catchers.

Speaker 1 (51:31):
Please.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
Sometimes I say clear.

Speaker 1 (51:32):
Agree one thousand percent with everything you're saying. I must
have guy. Actually, if I'm in Herrera is the everyday
catcher like we come out of spring, that's the guy
that I do want. But as Welsh said, that might
be a little bit of a muddy situation there. So instead,
once again, whatever's old as new again it's logan, OHSPI,
he's gonna be twenty five years old. Look, I got
my dudes, and you know what, like had my dudes

(51:53):
last year. I'm like camon Aro's my Durans, Like those
are my guys. I'm just sticking to my guns. And
I think that's important for everybody to do when they're
going into a season. Identify the players you want, and
then just drill it into yourself that those are the
guys you want.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (52:07):
Look, the same thing as a guy with power in
the minor leagues hit for better average in the minor leagues,
like I just think he had his finally as full season,
first full major league season, he's gonna be twenty five
years old. I think there's just a lot of upside
there for him to outperform as ADP. He's not going
to the top one hundred catcher, so I'm allowed to
take him. But Welsh, is there somebody just outside the
top one hundred that if you did want to take
a catcher, who would it be?

Speaker 2 (52:28):
Yeah, So I definitely want values, and I'm not sure
if this guy's going to be a value because people
are in on it. But he's right around those middle.
And I know this is funny and me's saying I
want Lake catchers. I do, But if I were taking
and having a little bit more investment, is Wilson Contreras.
Wilson Contrares with the Cardinals is moving off of catcher.
He's going to be their first baseman for this year.
So that means you're gonna get all the games. We're

(52:49):
not looking at, you know, four hundred at bats, which
he had in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three.
He only had three hundred and actually three hundred and
one at bats last year, and he still hit fifteen homers.
So you're getting a guy that qualifies a catcher playing
first base every day.

Speaker 3 (53:03):
That's the type of guy that I'm willing to invest in.
So Contreras would be the must have.

Speaker 1 (53:07):
Okay, so who are your must haves? Who's your sleepers,
who's your bust? What's the infield look like to you?
Drop your comments below let us know what you're thinking.
Don't forget to subscribe to Fantasy Pros MLB and of
course ring the belt to the ghosting for notification so
you never miss a moment of fantasy baseball talk here
on the channel. That'll do it for us, But the
story of the game goes on for the Welsh. I'm
Joey P. We'll see you next time kids, Happy drafting.

(53:29):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Baseball podcast.

Speaker 3 (53:33):
If you love the show, the best freeway to support

Speaker 1 (53:35):
Us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts
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