July 4, 2025 • 16 mins
Join Joe Pisapia (@JoePisapia17) and Chris Welsh (@IsItTheWelsh) as they run through the waiver wire and highlight the top names you should be looking to add this weekend!
Timestamps: (May be off due to ads)
Intro - 0:00:00
Chase DeLauter - 0:00:15
Kyle Teel - 0:02:30
Colby Thomas - 0:04:45
Yanquiel Fernandez - 0:06:17
FantasyPros Waiver Assistant - 0:08:42
Trevor Rogers - 0:09:11
Adrian Houser - 0:11:00
Kumar Rocker - 0:12:29
Grant Taylor - 0:14:18
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome in everybody to Fantasy pros MLB. It's time to
look ahead to the waiver wire for this week in
Major League Baseball, and Welsh and I are going to
begin with Chase the Latter of the Cleveland Guardians. Now
the latter continues to just Rake at Triple A since
his return from injury. He's now twenty seven games into
the season at Triple A, four homers, sixteen RBI, the
(00:28):
slash Welsh three oh three, four to twelve, five oh
five with a nine to seventeen ops. Clearly things have
gotten off to a really good start for him, and
clearly the Guardians offense could use some more help. So
Welsh I want to add to latter this week. He
is still available in seventy percent of leagues currently on CBS.
Your thoughts on what you've seen so far from Chase
the Latter, once upon a time a very highly thought
(00:50):
of prospect. Injuries have slowed that train a little bit,
but it looks like all of a sudden we're back
on track with Chase.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I've got a post All Star game. It's gonna come
out right before All Star. But it's like the post
All Star prospects to stash article that's going to be
on Fantasy Pros. We kind of do a segment every week,
but this is an article. Chase de Latter's one hundred
percent in the top five of guys to pick up
right now because health is always his issue. Guy's always hurt.
(01:18):
He's not right now. He has had a full month
to finally get going, and he has. He's coming off
of hitting three thirty eight in the month of June,
phenomenal more walks than strikeouts. You got three homers, three doubles,
so you got some extra base hits in there. Just
started off July with a couple more hits. He has
(01:40):
a tremendous, tremendous ability to make contact. He's got a
little Mike Trout and how he doesn't quite finish at
the end. Come all the way around. How Trout does.
There's big power, big X velocities. He can steal some bases.
The walk rate is makes him really really interesting in
how he's not going to be a strikeout problem. And
you could almost throw him up high in an order
pretty early on, and I think he's going to thrive
(02:02):
that the left handed pull side for the Guardians at
Home has been a great spot, and I think he's
going to hit some homers there as well, so I
think you want an offensive boost. There's no reason they're
going to hold down the latter too much longer. I
think it's a great time to stash pick him up.
He's going to be up there. Hopefully you're not playing
in a system where you know the guy has to
make it to the majors before they're available. I think
(02:23):
it's a really good time because I think right after
the All Star break we're going to see the latter.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Also a guy available in seventy percent of the league's
This one qualifies a catcher as Kyle Teel of the
White Sox. Over his last twenty five at bats, he's
hitting three sixty with a four to forty eight on
base percentage a five to twenty slugging. Now, look, he
is not going to light up the home run board necessarily,
but I do think there's more power than what we've
seen from him so far because we haven't seen all
that much. But at the same time, if you're in
a points league right now, this is the guy that
(02:49):
gets on base, fills up the stat sheet. I think
he's finally getting comfortable at the big league level, and
if you're having trouble at catcher, like Austin Wells is
dealing with that finger issue, Kyle Teal might be a
guy that you want to stash now because who knows,
Wells could go on the il. Some other catchers, you
know it, might not be performing as well as they
were over the month of May. On June, some of
those guys took a bit of a nose dive. So
(03:11):
I think Kyle Teal is a guy worth adding the
crown jewel, as it were, of the Garrick Crochet trade.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Teal falls in that range where it's like it's a
dicey catcher, like is he enough to be a starting
catcher in fantas? And it kind of might be because
we've had, you know, Sean Murphy just kind of at
this point, Alvarez, Francisco Alvarez has kind of fallen down. Yeah,
I mean, Adley's hurt. So when you start to look
at it and you're like, all right, you know, is
he going to be worth it? The batting average and
(03:37):
contact skills alone make it that exciting. The only thing
you don't like is that he's sharing time with Edgar Carrow.
What you'd love to see is for him to they've
talked a little bit about, like maybe he'd play first
base DH a little bit more. Get both of those
guys out there, because it's already a twelve percent barrel
forty two percent just about hard hit rate, which is great.
He's getting the ball in the air, and he's hitting
(03:58):
all pitch types. He's not just a fastball only guy.
He's hitting over three hundred against breaking and fastballs, so
makes really good decisions. We'll probably see some power come
in here in the near future. It's a little Drake
baldwinning Drake Baldwin. You know, he's like the whole season,
I think there's like five homers. Hasn't really had this
like big crazy offensive counting output, but he's been really worthwhile.
I think Teal falls into the same range. The only
(04:20):
thing holding him back from being like a no doubt
like a Drake Baldwin is that he's just sharing some time.
But he's a pretty good investment off of those like
lower catchers that are floating out there. So I like
this one.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
And also, I mean, Kyle Teal was working out a
first base in the minor league, so if.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
He just waiting for him to do it.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
If he hits, you know, and continues to hit, they're
gonna find ways to get him in the lineup. Trust me,
it's the White Sox. Two more guys to talk about here,
both of them already got the call for the big
league teams. Colby Thomas the first one of the Athletics.
Let's discuss him. Thirteen percent rostered on CBS currently, he
slashed an incredible two ninety seven, three sixty five five
forty two with a nine h seven ops, seventeen homers
(04:59):
and seventy RBI in seventy six games. Not much else
for the twenty four year old to do in Triple A.
Now those were PCL numbers, but the road PCL numbers.
It wasn't just his ballpark there, it was outside as well.
He was hitting everywhere he went to and now he
gets a chance to bring his game to the big leagues.
The problem is the log jam in the outfield. So
how aggressive would you be on Thomas? Considering again, playing
(05:21):
time might be a bit of a challenge here, at
least on the onset, unless we see the Athletics start
to make some moves and jettisons and pieces here.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, I don't know if I'm going to be like
hyper aggressive on him until we start to get some
confirmation where they want to play him every single day.
I think they're talking a little bit of platoon right now.
He would go up. He's on a short side of
a platoon if he were to be there, since he's alrighty,
So you're probably not gonna see him like in a
ton of ton of games. But the ballpark is really great.
He's got really tremendous power. You mentioned three hundred to bats,
(05:50):
seventeen homers, nine hundred ops. There's a big offensive profile
in there. And I'm more from a fantasy perspective, I'd
rather have him over Denzel Clark or JJ Bladey. I
just don't know if the team is going to want
that just yet. I think he's a guy you keep
a really close signed deeper leagues. Maybe you do pick
him up that he kind of takes over a little
bit in the outfield.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Moving forward, another prospect who came up, this one with
the Colorado Rockies just five percent roster, So if you
need outfield helped, maybe he could be the answer for you,
is young Kiel Fernandez. Right now, if you're looking at
the Triple A numbers for him with Colorado, sixty four games,
hit two eighty four with a three forty seven OBP,
five oh two, slugging eight forty nine ops. Now, thirteen
(06:31):
homers is great, thirty nine RBI is great. It's not
gonna steal you any bases. But again, Fernandez a guy
that seems to have cut down on the strikeouts a
little bit. He has some power, and we'd love to
see power flash again in Colorado. It seems to have
been a bit of a power outage for that team
this year. Totally a backup hitting Fernandez now up there too.
So what's your assessment of Fernandez and redraft leagues?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
He was a really big potential power prospect a couple
of years ago. He was like a twenty year old
that hit and the miners, and then things started to
fade a tiny bit. No, the k percentages of drop
at the batting average, a quality of contact went down.
He hasn't really had these big, big homer outputs. He
had twelve homers last year in one hundred and twenty
(07:14):
two games. But I think also like the profile of
who he is is starting to alter a little bit.
This year. And it's really interesting too because ye know
he's like a big guy, big bat. You know, he's
down to a fifteen percent K percentage he had in
triple A, which is massively impressive. He at two eighty four,
but I'm not sure where the profile is right now,
So check this out. In twenty twenty four had a
three degree launch angle. Kind of bad evs in general.
(07:36):
In triple A. The EV's and the hard hit rate
didn't really change this year. Eighty eight average ex velocity
in triple A not amazing, thirty seven percent hard hit
rate that like that lacks a lot, but an eleven
degree launch angle. He tripled his launch angle this year
and that's probably going to be a big key for him.
I think he can put up some bigger hard hit numbers.
If he's getting the ball in the air, making good
(07:57):
contact and not striking out in Colorado, he's all of
a sudden going to become Fantasy relevant. So again, this
is a deeper league play where I'm looking at Yan
kill if they're going to give him regular playing time.
But they have messed with us with all these different
outfielders from Jordan Beck to Zach Vien. They just keep
throwing these guys out and hopefully this is the one
they throw at the wall that sticks. But I do
like the power potential. He's only twenty two years old.
(08:19):
Feels like he's one of those guys that's twenty two
going on thirty, you know, like post hype type of prospect.
But I think him Kolby Thomas, those are guys to
keep a close eye on if they're getting regular at
bats because they both have really good power and the
offensive home for jan kil Fernandez makes him the most interesting.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
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(08:57):
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gain the edge on the waiver wire and all your
league mates. Right now, let's start with Trevor Rodgers of
the Baltimore Orioles. Thirty eight percent rostered, and he has
been terrific so far for the Orioles. Four starts a
two h five ERA. He only has one win to
show in those four starts, but eighteen strikeouts over twenty
(09:19):
two innings. The whip is under one. Trevor Rodgers. You know,
once upon a time, another guy who was a big
time starting pitching prospect in the Marlin system. Things just
really didn't work out for him, injuries, development issues. Now
he finds himself in the Orioles, and all of a sudden,
he finds himself I think as a viable candidate as
a streaming pitcher. And I want to add Trevor Rodgers
(09:40):
because I still believe in the talent. He's still just
twenty seven years old. I think finally something might have
gone the Orioles way this year. I'm not saying I
feel confident in every single matchup, but right now, in
the right ones, I think Trevor Rodgers is a guy
you want to start, and a guy you want on
your bench at the very least, what do you think I.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Think he definitely is. I think he's moved from that
like little maybe not even like a streamer, but like
you know, that's the type of range into a guy
that you can hold on to. He's upticked his velo.
He's added a mile and a half per hour on
his forcing fastball this year, which is huge. The sinker,
it's kind of done the same thing. It went from
ninety one up to ninety three, so he's throwing harder,
(10:16):
which is getting better results. And one of the crazier
stats here too, Every single pitch he's thrown has led
to an under two hundred batting average across the board fastball,
change up, sinker, slider, sweeper. There's not one single pitch
that is being hit over two hundred. Now, the expected
numbers are telling us a little bit of a different story,
and that's where maybe regression comes in. Specifically his sinker
(10:40):
one eighty eight average with an expected three eleven. These
are more extreme because he's only got twenty two innings
pitched here, so we'll have to see where he kind
of regresses to. But expected ERA overall is three two zero,
which is very respectable. He's getting better results, he's throwing harder,
and he should stay in the rotation because of what
else are the Orioles looking at here. I like him
as a streamer, and I like holding on to see
(11:00):
if this continues.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Adrian Houser and next guy on our list from the
White Sox. He qualifies an RP and SP in most leagues.
He's twenty percent rostered, and Hawser is a guy that
has had, you know, some checkered success. He's not a
big strikeout performer necessarily, but he does have a two
to one strikeout to walk rate so far this year
thirty one strikeouts just fourteen walks over fourteen innings. He's
got a sub two ERA currently, so he's getting the
(11:24):
job done again. Not a big strikeout guy. He does
pitch on the White Sox, but I wonder if maybe
some contending team looking for some extra pitching in the
back of a rotation might come calling for Hawser if
he continues this over the next few months. So this
is more of a deeper league guy. I know, last
week we talked about Eric Lower. This week we're talking
about Hawser. They're not like the sexiest names. But also,
if you're in leagues where you have mandatory RP spots
(11:46):
and you want to take a two star pitcher and
put him in there, this could be a viable candidate.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yeah, so that's interesting you just said that, because I
think that's his place where you can spark him, where
he can be a starting pitcher, you know, starting pitcher
as relief pitch. Sure, that's where I think his most
value is right now because of White Sox and there's
you know a lot of wins that are gonna just
be taken away from him simply because of team context.
I do like the idea of him going and you know,
(12:12):
being a fifth starter on like a contending team if
he gets that. But I think if you're looking for
a spark, and Adrian Hawser is a guy you can
look at, you always love that nickname.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I just like Star. If you're looking for a spark
in your rotation, maybe it's Kumar Rocker. He's been dropped
and added more times than you can count this year.
He's only thirty two percent roster currently, and I know
the era when you're looking at it overall in the
year is six point one, three. But but let's take
a look at the last three stars for Rocker six
(12:42):
to fifteen Against the White Sox, got to win five innings,
four hits, no earn, six strikeouts, one walk. Against the
Pittsburgh Pirates, again bad roster. Got to win five and
a third five hits, two earned, three walks, four strikeouts.
But again, think it's the Mariners. On the twenty eighth
of June, six innings, four hits, two earned, one walk,
six strikeouts. This seems like a Kumar Rocker that is
(13:04):
starting to find a little bit more consistency. And because
he's got a six y RA, look, he's available in
seventy percent of leagues, as he should be. Here's the
question for you, Well, do you trust him to pick
him up and see what the next start looks like
before he has another two or three good ones, the
next thing you know, he's gone.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
I think it's the three sample sizes making me feel good.
I do like that. And it's funny because his June numbers,
you had that one bad start, so his June numbers
are like a four ERA. But he did strike out
more than his innings pitched. The walk numbers were definitely serviceable,
and those last three starts are telling us a really
good story that I think. I think he's in stream zone.
(13:44):
I think against decent matchups, I'm gonna play Kamar. Now,
am I gonna play in versus like the Astros?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
I might not get these Cadres this weekend, So that'll
be another interesting text test to choose me again.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah, So if it's the Padres, I would say I'm
not picking him up for that. But if he is
good again, he goes five or six, gives up two
earned runs, strikes out four or five, then I think
like whatever fix that they've worked with him, especially in
Triple A, is starting to take effect, and he's a
guy that's going to start getting some wins. So I
think he's in interesting streamer territory.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
All right, One more guy here, Grant Taylor of the
White Sox, rostered in nineteen percent of leagues. He seems
like the guy right now who is in line for
saves for the White Sox. And there might not be
a ton of opportunities, but so far in ten in things,
ten strikeouts, one walk, a sub one era, a sub three,
excuse me, a sub one whip, a two seven zero
(14:36):
era Taylor has been pretty good when given the opportunity. Again,
not a lot of opportunities for saves, but when you're
looking for saves wells, you're trying to find any Taylor
might be a guy, then give you a couple here,
at least in the meantime.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
I love this one. This is probably my favorite of
the list here because he looks elite. He looks like
an elite closer, but he's on a white sox, and
that's the unfortunate thing. He's not gonna he's staying here.
He's not getting traded. They love him. This is the leverage.
They kind of moved him off of being a starting
pitcher this year. He made it up before the other guys,
Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz. He's got a twenty eight
(15:07):
percent K percentage with an under three walk percentage. Ridiculous
eras low guys are not getting to barrel up on him.
Dudes pumping ninety nine on his four seam fastball, dropping
a ninety five mile an hour cutter and then says,
how about an eighty six mile an hour curve ball,
so almost fifteen mile per hour differences. The stuff looks disgusting.
(15:28):
The saves will be minimal, but it's good strikeouts. He
might get you one or two, you know, on a
given week if the White Sox want to, you know,
put up any wins. But I love this one safer,
safer bet in the relief market that at least help
you with ratios and maybe you'll get a few nice saves.
But he is the guy in Chicago.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Especially if you got if you're streaming guys like you
had Kirkering and you see Strom starting to work in
in that Philly bullpen, you know they're probably gonna go
after somebody else anyway. He might be more of a
long term option as opposed to you guy like Kirkering,
who could lose that job in the next couple weeks
via trade. So yeah, well I think be proactive here again,
just twenty percent roster basically on CBS. So who are
you adding this week? Drop your comments below and you
(16:06):
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But the story of the game goes on for the Welsh.
I'm Joey P. We'll see you next time, Kidz.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
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Welcome in everybody to Fantasy pros MLB. It's time to
look ahead to the waiver wire for this week in
Major League Baseball, and Welsh and I are going to
begin with Chase the Latter of the Cleveland Guardians. Now
the latter continues to just Rake at Triple A since
his return from injury. He's now twenty seven games into
the season at Triple A, four homers, sixteen RBI, the
(00:28):
slash Welsh three oh three, four to twelve, five oh
five with a nine to seventeen ops. Clearly things have
gotten off to a really good start for him, and
clearly the Guardians offense could use some more help. So
Welsh I want to add to latter this week. He
is still available in seventy percent of leagues currently on CBS.
Your thoughts on what you've seen so far from Chase
the Latter, once upon a time a very highly thought
(00:50):
of prospect. Injuries have slowed that train a little bit,
but it looks like all of a sudden we're back
on track with Chase.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I've got a post All Star game. It's gonna come
out right before All Star. But it's like the post
All Star prospects to stash article that's going to be
on Fantasy Pros. We kind of do a segment every week,
but this is an article. Chase de Latter's one hundred
percent in the top five of guys to pick up
right now because health is always his issue. Guy's always hurt.
(01:18):
He's not right now. He has had a full month
to finally get going, and he has. He's coming off
of hitting three thirty eight in the month of June,
phenomenal more walks than strikeouts. You got three homers, three doubles,
so you got some extra base hits in there. Just
started off July with a couple more hits. He has
(01:40):
a tremendous, tremendous ability to make contact. He's got a
little Mike Trout and how he doesn't quite finish at
the end. Come all the way around. How Trout does.
There's big power, big X velocities. He can steal some bases.
The walk rate is makes him really really interesting in
how he's not going to be a strikeout problem. And
you could almost throw him up high in an order
pretty early on, and I think he's going to thrive
(02:02):
that the left handed pull side for the Guardians at
Home has been a great spot, and I think he's
going to hit some homers there as well, so I
think you want an offensive boost. There's no reason they're
going to hold down the latter too much longer. I
think it's a great time to stash pick him up.
He's going to be up there. Hopefully you're not playing
in a system where you know the guy has to
make it to the majors before they're available. I think
(02:23):
it's a really good time because I think right after
the All Star break we're going to see the latter.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Also a guy available in seventy percent of the league's
This one qualifies a catcher as Kyle Teel of the
White Sox. Over his last twenty five at bats, he's
hitting three sixty with a four to forty eight on
base percentage a five to twenty slugging. Now, look, he
is not going to light up the home run board necessarily,
but I do think there's more power than what we've
seen from him so far because we haven't seen all
that much. But at the same time, if you're in
a points league right now, this is the guy that
(02:49):
gets on base, fills up the stat sheet. I think
he's finally getting comfortable at the big league level, and
if you're having trouble at catcher, like Austin Wells is
dealing with that finger issue, Kyle Teal might be a
guy that you want to stash now because who knows,
Wells could go on the il. Some other catchers, you
know it, might not be performing as well as they
were over the month of May. On June, some of
those guys took a bit of a nose dive. So
(03:11):
I think Kyle Teal is a guy worth adding the
crown jewel, as it were, of the Garrick Crochet trade.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Teal falls in that range where it's like it's a
dicey catcher, like is he enough to be a starting
catcher in fantas? And it kind of might be because
we've had, you know, Sean Murphy just kind of at
this point, Alvarez, Francisco Alvarez has kind of fallen down. Yeah,
I mean, Adley's hurt. So when you start to look
at it and you're like, all right, you know, is
he going to be worth it? The batting average and
(03:37):
contact skills alone make it that exciting. The only thing
you don't like is that he's sharing time with Edgar Carrow.
What you'd love to see is for him to they've
talked a little bit about, like maybe he'd play first
base DH a little bit more. Get both of those
guys out there, because it's already a twelve percent barrel
forty two percent just about hard hit rate, which is great.
He's getting the ball in the air, and he's hitting
(03:58):
all pitch types. He's not just a fastball only guy.
He's hitting over three hundred against breaking and fastballs, so
makes really good decisions. We'll probably see some power come
in here in the near future. It's a little Drake
baldwinning Drake Baldwin. You know, he's like the whole season,
I think there's like five homers. Hasn't really had this
like big crazy offensive counting output, but he's been really worthwhile.
I think Teal falls into the same range. The only
(04:20):
thing holding him back from being like a no doubt
like a Drake Baldwin is that he's just sharing some time.
But he's a pretty good investment off of those like
lower catchers that are floating out there. So I like
this one.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
And also, I mean, Kyle Teal was working out a
first base in the minor league, so if.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
He just waiting for him to do it.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
If he hits, you know, and continues to hit, they're
gonna find ways to get him in the lineup. Trust me,
it's the White Sox. Two more guys to talk about here,
both of them already got the call for the big
league teams. Colby Thomas the first one of the Athletics.
Let's discuss him. Thirteen percent rostered on CBS currently, he
slashed an incredible two ninety seven, three sixty five five
forty two with a nine h seven ops, seventeen homers
(04:59):
and seventy RBI in seventy six games. Not much else
for the twenty four year old to do in Triple A.
Now those were PCL numbers, but the road PCL numbers.
It wasn't just his ballpark there, it was outside as well.
He was hitting everywhere he went to and now he
gets a chance to bring his game to the big leagues.
The problem is the log jam in the outfield. So
how aggressive would you be on Thomas? Considering again, playing
(05:21):
time might be a bit of a challenge here, at
least on the onset, unless we see the Athletics start
to make some moves and jettisons and pieces here.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, I don't know if I'm going to be like
hyper aggressive on him until we start to get some
confirmation where they want to play him every single day.
I think they're talking a little bit of platoon right now.
He would go up. He's on a short side of
a platoon if he were to be there, since he's alrighty,
So you're probably not gonna see him like in a
ton of ton of games. But the ballpark is really great.
He's got really tremendous power. You mentioned three hundred to bats,
(05:50):
seventeen homers, nine hundred ops. There's a big offensive profile
in there. And I'm more from a fantasy perspective, I'd
rather have him over Denzel Clark or JJ Bladey. I
just don't know if the team is going to want
that just yet. I think he's a guy you keep
a really close signed deeper leagues. Maybe you do pick
him up that he kind of takes over a little
bit in the outfield.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Moving forward, another prospect who came up, this one with
the Colorado Rockies just five percent roster, So if you
need outfield helped, maybe he could be the answer for you,
is young Kiel Fernandez. Right now, if you're looking at
the Triple A numbers for him with Colorado, sixty four games,
hit two eighty four with a three forty seven OBP,
five oh two, slugging eight forty nine ops. Now, thirteen
(06:31):
homers is great, thirty nine RBI is great. It's not
gonna steal you any bases. But again, Fernandez a guy
that seems to have cut down on the strikeouts a
little bit. He has some power, and we'd love to
see power flash again in Colorado. It seems to have
been a bit of a power outage for that team
this year. Totally a backup hitting Fernandez now up there too.
So what's your assessment of Fernandez and redraft leagues?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
He was a really big potential power prospect a couple
of years ago. He was like a twenty year old
that hit and the miners, and then things started to
fade a tiny bit. No, the k percentages of drop
at the batting average, a quality of contact went down.
He hasn't really had these big, big homer outputs. He
had twelve homers last year in one hundred and twenty
(07:14):
two games. But I think also like the profile of
who he is is starting to alter a little bit.
This year. And it's really interesting too because ye know
he's like a big guy, big bat. You know, he's
down to a fifteen percent K percentage he had in
triple A, which is massively impressive. He at two eighty four,
but I'm not sure where the profile is right now,
So check this out. In twenty twenty four had a
three degree launch angle. Kind of bad evs in general.
(07:36):
In triple A. The EV's and the hard hit rate
didn't really change this year. Eighty eight average ex velocity
in triple A not amazing, thirty seven percent hard hit
rate that like that lacks a lot, but an eleven
degree launch angle. He tripled his launch angle this year
and that's probably going to be a big key for him.
I think he can put up some bigger hard hit numbers.
If he's getting the ball in the air, making good
(07:57):
contact and not striking out in Colorado, he's all of
a sudden going to become Fantasy relevant. So again, this
is a deeper league play where I'm looking at Yan
kill if they're going to give him regular playing time.
But they have messed with us with all these different
outfielders from Jordan Beck to Zach Vien. They just keep
throwing these guys out and hopefully this is the one
they throw at the wall that sticks. But I do
like the power potential. He's only twenty two years old.
(08:19):
Feels like he's one of those guys that's twenty two
going on thirty, you know, like post hype type of prospect.
But I think him Kolby Thomas, those are guys to
keep a close eye on if they're getting regular at
bats because they both have really good power and the
offensive home for jan kil Fernandez makes him the most interesting.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Before we get to some of the arms to add
this week, don't forget about the Waiver Assistant. If you're
struggling with waiver wire decisions and your fantasy league, don't
The Waiver Assistant is here to help you. Just sink
your leagues for free at Fantasy Pros. You'll get personalized
waiver suggestions tailor to your roster and your league settings.
So if you're getting close to that championship you need
to get yourself over that hump, let us help you
do that with all of the tools of Fantasy Baseball
(08:57):
by Playbook. Download the app Fantasy Baseball My Playbook today
or visit fantasypros dot Com slash MLB my playbook to
gain the edge on the waiver wire and all your
league mates. Right now, let's start with Trevor Rodgers of
the Baltimore Orioles. Thirty eight percent rostered, and he has
been terrific so far for the Orioles. Four starts a
two h five ERA. He only has one win to
show in those four starts, but eighteen strikeouts over twenty
(09:19):
two innings. The whip is under one. Trevor Rodgers. You know,
once upon a time, another guy who was a big
time starting pitching prospect in the Marlin system. Things just
really didn't work out for him, injuries, development issues. Now
he finds himself in the Orioles, and all of a sudden,
he finds himself I think as a viable candidate as
a streaming pitcher. And I want to add Trevor Rodgers
(09:40):
because I still believe in the talent. He's still just
twenty seven years old. I think finally something might have
gone the Orioles way this year. I'm not saying I
feel confident in every single matchup, but right now, in
the right ones, I think Trevor Rodgers is a guy
you want to start, and a guy you want on
your bench at the very least, what do you think I.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Think he definitely is. I think he's moved from that
like little maybe not even like a streamer, but like
you know, that's the type of range into a guy
that you can hold on to. He's upticked his velo.
He's added a mile and a half per hour on
his forcing fastball this year, which is huge. The sinker,
it's kind of done the same thing. It went from
ninety one up to ninety three, so he's throwing harder,
(10:16):
which is getting better results. And one of the crazier
stats here too, Every single pitch he's thrown has led
to an under two hundred batting average across the board fastball,
change up, sinker, slider, sweeper. There's not one single pitch
that is being hit over two hundred. Now, the expected
numbers are telling us a little bit of a different story,
and that's where maybe regression comes in. Specifically his sinker
(10:40):
one eighty eight average with an expected three eleven. These
are more extreme because he's only got twenty two innings
pitched here, so we'll have to see where he kind
of regresses to. But expected ERA overall is three two zero,
which is very respectable. He's getting better results, he's throwing harder,
and he should stay in the rotation because of what
else are the Orioles looking at here. I like him
as a streamer, and I like holding on to see
(11:00):
if this continues.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Adrian Houser and next guy on our list from the
White Sox. He qualifies an RP and SP in most leagues.
He's twenty percent rostered, and Hawser is a guy that
has had, you know, some checkered success. He's not a
big strikeout performer necessarily, but he does have a two
to one strikeout to walk rate so far this year
thirty one strikeouts just fourteen walks over fourteen innings. He's
got a sub two ERA currently, so he's getting the
(11:24):
job done again. Not a big strikeout guy. He does
pitch on the White Sox, but I wonder if maybe
some contending team looking for some extra pitching in the
back of a rotation might come calling for Hawser if
he continues this over the next few months. So this
is more of a deeper league guy. I know, last
week we talked about Eric Lower. This week we're talking
about Hawser. They're not like the sexiest names. But also,
if you're in leagues where you have mandatory RP spots
(11:46):
and you want to take a two star pitcher and
put him in there, this could be a viable candidate.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yeah, so that's interesting you just said that, because I
think that's his place where you can spark him, where
he can be a starting pitcher, you know, starting pitcher
as relief pitch. Sure, that's where I think his most
value is right now because of White Sox and there's
you know a lot of wins that are gonna just
be taken away from him simply because of team context.
I do like the idea of him going and you know,
(12:12):
being a fifth starter on like a contending team if
he gets that. But I think if you're looking for
a spark, and Adrian Hawser is a guy you can
look at, you always love that nickname.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I just like Star. If you're looking for a spark
in your rotation, maybe it's Kumar Rocker. He's been dropped
and added more times than you can count this year.
He's only thirty two percent roster currently, and I know
the era when you're looking at it overall in the
year is six point one, three. But but let's take
a look at the last three stars for Rocker six
(12:42):
to fifteen Against the White Sox, got to win five innings,
four hits, no earn, six strikeouts, one walk. Against the
Pittsburgh Pirates, again bad roster. Got to win five and
a third five hits, two earned, three walks, four strikeouts.
But again, think it's the Mariners. On the twenty eighth
of June, six innings, four hits, two earned, one walk,
six strikeouts. This seems like a Kumar Rocker that is
(13:04):
starting to find a little bit more consistency. And because
he's got a six y RA, look, he's available in
seventy percent of leagues, as he should be. Here's the
question for you, Well, do you trust him to pick
him up and see what the next start looks like
before he has another two or three good ones, the
next thing you know, he's gone.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
I think it's the three sample sizes making me feel good.
I do like that. And it's funny because his June numbers,
you had that one bad start, so his June numbers
are like a four ERA. But he did strike out
more than his innings pitched. The walk numbers were definitely serviceable,
and those last three starts are telling us a really
good story that I think. I think he's in stream zone.
(13:44):
I think against decent matchups, I'm gonna play Kamar. Now,
am I gonna play in versus like the Astros?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
I might not get these Cadres this weekend, So that'll
be another interesting text test to choose me again.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah, So if it's the Padres, I would say I'm
not picking him up for that. But if he is
good again, he goes five or six, gives up two
earned runs, strikes out four or five, then I think
like whatever fix that they've worked with him, especially in
Triple A, is starting to take effect, and he's a
guy that's going to start getting some wins. So I
think he's in interesting streamer territory.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
All right, One more guy here, Grant Taylor of the
White Sox, rostered in nineteen percent of leagues. He seems
like the guy right now who is in line for
saves for the White Sox. And there might not be
a ton of opportunities, but so far in ten in things,
ten strikeouts, one walk, a sub one era, a sub three,
excuse me, a sub one whip, a two seven zero
(14:36):
era Taylor has been pretty good when given the opportunity. Again,
not a lot of opportunities for saves, but when you're
looking for saves wells, you're trying to find any Taylor
might be a guy, then give you a couple here,
at least in the meantime.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
I love this one. This is probably my favorite of
the list here because he looks elite. He looks like
an elite closer, but he's on a white sox, and
that's the unfortunate thing. He's not gonna he's staying here.
He's not getting traded. They love him. This is the leverage.
They kind of moved him off of being a starting
pitcher this year. He made it up before the other guys,
Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz. He's got a twenty eight
(15:07):
percent K percentage with an under three walk percentage. Ridiculous
eras low guys are not getting to barrel up on him.
Dudes pumping ninety nine on his four seam fastball, dropping
a ninety five mile an hour cutter and then says,
how about an eighty six mile an hour curve ball,
so almost fifteen mile per hour differences. The stuff looks disgusting.
(15:28):
The saves will be minimal, but it's good strikeouts. He
might get you one or two, you know, on a
given week if the White Sox want to, you know,
put up any wins. But I love this one safer,
safer bet in the relief market that at least help
you with ratios and maybe you'll get a few nice saves.
But he is the guy in Chicago.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Especially if you got if you're streaming guys like you
had Kirkering and you see Strom starting to work in
in that Philly bullpen, you know they're probably gonna go
after somebody else anyway. He might be more of a
long term option as opposed to you guy like Kirkering,
who could lose that job in the next couple weeks
via trade. So yeah, well I think be proactive here again,
just twenty percent roster basically on CBS. So who are
you adding this week? Drop your comments below and you
(16:06):
might win yourself a Wan Gonzales jersey from Pristine Auction.
That's right, how do you win it? Subscribe to Fantasy
pros MLB, drop your comments like this video, and of
course don't forget to ring the bell to lick thost
thing for notification. So you never miss a piece of
content 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, Kidz.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Baseball podcast.
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