It’s been another week of some impactful promotions to the major leagues, but this time on the hitting side. The promotions of Spencer Jones and Ryan Waldschmidt are exciting to discuss, though, as you know, players called up to debut are never guaranteed to be impactful right away.
The pitching injuries still haven’t stopped, with Tarik Skubal and Tyler Glasnow going down this week. It’s another reminder that all we can do is plan for the best-case scenario with pitcher injuries and build up as much depth there as possible. This still means you likely need replacements for the holes left in your rotation, so you may be someone who needs to allocate your FAAB dollars towards starting pitchers this week.
There are some rather widely available hitters where I love what they’re doing, and you can find them below. There are also some pitchers I like for the long-term, even if I wish their last starts had gone better. It’s a good reminder to me that we can’t always go based on the most immediate results. If we truly believe in what someone is doing, then a single bad result shouldn’t change that.
Throughout the season, this column is designed to help you decide who to target on the waiver wire, as well as how to prioritize who to add. The focus will mainly be on relevant players who are also widely available in all leagues, and will often include players I’ve spent my own FAAB dollars on. Every league is different, so players will not be given an exact dollar amount but instead will use a four-tier investment rating system, ranging from a minimal spend to a potential difference-maker.
Investment Rating System
This week, only four teams have a seven-game schedule: the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, and San Francisco Giants. Casey Schmitt is one player mentioned in this week’s article who has a full slate of games this upcoming week.
SEVEN GAMES: HOU, LAD, SEA, SFG
Batters
Outfielders
Trent Grisham ($$$$): There are a few reasons Grisham continues to fly under the radar and not be universally rostered. The number one reason would be the ugly .177 batting average, but his expected batting average of .230 suggests better days ahead. It is reasonable to expect him to hit closer to that or even 0.240, while the rest of his skill set makes him a pretty valuable player. His .457 expected slugging percentage is also about 100 points higher than his actual slugging percentage of 0.363. What impresses me most is that despite being a bit unlucky, his counting stats for runs, hits, RBI, and walks are all nearly identical to his strikeout total. So he’s a great option to be an accumulator while also not striking out much. It’s safe to believe he’s capable of matching his production from last season.
Ryan Waldschmidt ($$$$): Along with Grisham, Waldschmidt is the other most impactful player I see that’s still widely available. He’s a hitter I was very high on coming into the season, and his promotion this early into the season comes as a pleasant surprise. His ability to hit the ball hard while exhibiting good plate discipline is a very intriguing skill set. The only reason for pause would be that the Arizona Diamondbacks have handled their prospects in an odd way at times. He was added to the roster ahead of their game Friday, but he didn’t start the game. Instead, he came off the bench as a pinch-hitter and delivered a single in his first at-bat. His strikeout rate at Triple-A was a bit higher this season at 24% after producing a strikeout rate of 17% last season at Double-A. However, he still carried a low 16% chase rate and sub-9% swinging-strike rate, an improvement over his 10.2% swinging-strike rate in Double-A.
Spencer Jones ($$): One of the most polarizing players to never play in the major leagues yet would be Spencer Jones, who was called up by the New York Yankees and debuted on Friday, with Jasson Domínguez landing on the injured list. While Waldschmidt is the safer bet to be productive right away, Jones still offers the type of upside to be worth a flyer in case he actually hits. He’s a great combination of power and speed, but what makes him so polarizing is his issues with strikeouts and making contact. Calling him a more undisciplined version of Munetaka Murakami is simplifying things a bit too much. We’ve all been wrong about players before, so it’s a nice lottery ticket to take a chance on if you have the roster spot to play with.
Infielders
Casey Schmitt ($$$): Schmitt has had an impressive season and has arguably been the San Francisco Giants‘ best hitter up until this point in the season. His versatility of being eligible at first, second, and third only adds to his fantasy baseball value as well. While his walk rate and chase rate have been worse than you’d like to see, the way he impacts the ball while making a lot of contact has been really impressive. His wRC+ of 144 is a very strong mark, and his swinging-strike rate is only 9.8%. His Z-swing rate is 91.5%, meaning he rarely swings at strikes and misses them. That, paired with a great 16.1% barrel rate, is a really good combination to have for a hitter.
Pitchers
Starting Pitchers
Griffin Canning ($$$): While Canning struggled in his most recent start on Friday, just by looking at the box score, he was cruising through the first four innings until it all unraveled in the fifth. He loaded the bases with one out, then a misplayed single by Fernando Tatis Jr. Jr. allowed an inside-the-park home run. He then loaded the bases again and got pulled, and two of those inherited runners came around to score, leading to six earned runs total. Canning did get into his own mess here, but it was an odd inning to the point that I’m not really concerned about it. He still pitches for a winning club in the San Diego Padres, so I expect him to still be productive with a good chance at a win each start.
Sean Burke ($$$): Burke also struggled in his start on Friday, allowing six earned runs to the Mariners. Burke has still been productive over most of his starts, and I still like his chances of success in his next start against the Kansas City Royals. He’s not in the best situation pitching for the Chicago White Sox, but they are improved this season with a much more respectable offense, providing a better chance at wins for Burke this season. It also works to his advantage that he’s in a division with offenses that aren’t scary.
Relief Pitchers
Juan Morillo ($$): Pitching out of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Morillo may be more of a speculative add, but if you need saves, it’s worth seeing where it goes. He does have a save this year and has been very good, with a 2.00 ERA and 0.72 WHIP over 18 innings while striking out 21. He’s a good bet not to hurt you, and he should earn more opportunities to close out games going forward.
