September 2021 – Imaginary Brick Wall

Posted on September 27, 2021March 15, 2022 by Michael Halpern

Monday Morning Dynasty Baseball Rundown (9/27/21)

I’ll be running down everything that caught my eye in the Dynasty Baseball world on most Mondays throughout the season. Here is the Monday Morning Dynasty Baseball Rundown (9/27/21):

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR TONS OF CONTENT THE REST OF THE SEASON AND ALL OFF-SEASON, INCLUDING:
-Top 466 September 2021 Dynasty Baseball Rankings
-Top 322 September 2021 Dynasty Prospects Rankings
-2021/22 Top 50 First Year Player Draft Dynasty Baseball Rankings
-Tons of Dynasty Rundowns
-Off-season content: Team Prospect Lists, Positional Dynasty Rankings, and early access to the Top 1,000 Dynasty Baseball Rankings

Paul Goldschmidt STL, 1B, 34.0 – On July 1st, I named Goldy one of my 10 Dynasty Baseball Players to Target on my Patreon, concluding the blurb by writing, “There is potential for him to have an absolutely monster 2nd half, and considering his age, he should come at a very reasonable price.” I can now humbly say, I fucking nailed that one. Goldy homered again yesterday, and is now slashing .338/.412/.624 with 20 homers, 7 steals, and a 62/37 K/BB in 74 games since making that recommendation. I know many of my Patrons took me up on that advice, and I couldn’t be more pumped for them.

Shane Baz TB, RHP, 22.3 – Baz rose to 8th overall on my End of Season Top 322 Dynasty Prospects Rankings, and he then went out and obliterated Miami, going 5.2 IP with 3 hits, 0 earned, and a 9/1 K/BB. His fastball sat 96.2 MPH and all 4 of his pitches were getting whiffs with a 39% whiff% overall. He’s a budding ace.

Jarred Kelenic SEA, OF, 22.1 – 2 for 4 with a 104.5 MPH homer off Shohei Ohtani. Kelenic has 6 homers, 2 steals, and a .926 OPS over his last 19 games. I’m keeping the faith, ranking him 40th on my September Dynasty Rankings. His .303 xwOBA is not that far off from the MLB average, which ain’t too shabby for a 21/22 year old getting his first taste of the bigs.

MJ Melendez KC, C, 22.11 – Melendez is running through the finish line as he blasted 2 more dingers yesterday for his 40th and 41st of the season. They must be feeding the catchers in KC something different because Salvador Perez broke the record for most home runs by a catcher with 46. Melendez is certainly a target this off-season because I’m still not sure the hype matches his potential production. Perez I’m staying away from because buying a 31 year old catcher coming off a record breaking career year seems foolish.

Spencer Torkelson DET, 3B/1B, 22.1 – After Witt and Julio, the battle for the #3 overall dynasty prospect is up for a grabs, and I have Tork leading the way of that 2nd tier. He drilled his 10th homer in 35 games at Triple-A, and his K% has actually been slightly better than it was at Double-A with a 21.3% K%.

Oneil Cruz PIT, SS, 22.10 – Cruz has been a man possessed in his 4 game Triple-A cup of coffee, going 6 for 14 with 3 homers, 1 steal, and a 5/5 K/BB. It is just a continuation of what he was doing at Double-A as he has a 1.181 OPS over his last 15 games. At 6’7”, there might always be some strikeouts to his game, but the power/speed combo has the potential to be scary.

Byron Buxton MIN, OF, 27.9 – Buxton smashed a 100.8 MPH dinger off Alek Manoah as he has officially shook the rust off since returning from a fractured hand, slashing .273/.341/.584 with 6 homers, 2 steals, and a 21/6 K/BB in his last 20 games. I can’t quit Buxton, ranking him 55th overall in my September Top 466 Dynasty Baseball Rankings, and while I know the injury risk is off the charts, I have faith the injury gods will smile down on him one of these years, and it will be glorious.

Alek Manoah TOR, RHP, 23.7 – Speaking of Manoah, he pitched well yet again, going 5.2 IP with 6 hits, 2 ER, and a 8/2 K/BB. His slider was insanely filthy with a 77% whiff% on the pitch.

Nick Pratto KC, 1B, 23.1 – Pratto closed out his resurrection season by smashing his 34th homer. It seems like everyone in KC’s farm system has gone bonkos this year, setting them up quite nicely for the next 6+ years before they can’t afford to resign any of them.

Oswaldo Cabrera NYY, SS/2B/3B, 22.6 – Cabrera is the forgotten child with Volpe and Peraza overshadowing him, but he dropped a 20/20 season (27 homers and 21 steals) this year in the upper minors. He went out in style with this bomb at Triple-A. The swing looks mighty sweet from the left side, but his righty swing hasn’t been as effective with a .608 OPS vs. lefties at Double-A.

Cody Morris CLE, RHP, 24.10 – 4.2 IP, 2 hits, 1 ER, 7/2 K/BB at Triple-A. Morris has been nothing short of phenomenal this year with a 1.62 ERA and 93/20 K/BB in 61 IP. He’s not young, and shoulder soreness delayed the start of his season until July, so there are some red flags, but Cleveland looks to have made themselves another under the radar gem.

Vidal Brujan TB, 2B, 23.8 – The power may have disappeared after his early season binge, but his bread and butter, speed, kept chugging as Brujan nabbed his 43rd steal yesterday in 49 attempts over 99 games. He’s still right on a schedule for a mid 20’s blow up with plus contact, a plus plate approach, double plus speed and developing power.

Hans Crouse PHI, RHP, 23.0 – Crouse made his MLB debut vs Pitt and went 3 IP with 2 hits, 1 ER and a 1/4 K/BB. His sinker sat 93 MPH and he relied heavily on his slider, throwing it 42% of the time. He induced weak contact with all three of his pitches, notching a 79.7 MPH against. Looking at Pitt’s lineup, I think I could have actually induced some weak contact too with my playground style sidearm delivery.

Tyler O’Neill STL, OF, 25.10 – Here’s what I wrote about O’Neill on my March 15th Monday Morning Dynasty Rundown, “Tyler O’Neill was one of the first players I ever wrote a sleeper post for in February 2016, and when I did, I did not expect for him to still be a sleeper in 2021! But here we are, and he is. O’Neill went 3 for 3 with a double and 0 K’s yesterday and is now hitting .476 with 2 homers and 5 K’s in 21 at-bats. He looks locked into a starting job. I told you he was a sleeper in 2016, and there is still time to buy! 😉” I gave you guys a 5 year cushion to get in on him! He put it all together this year with 32 homers and 14 steals, but his 34.9% whiff% still makes him a major batting average risk going into 2022.

Shohei Ohtani LAA, RHP/DH, 27.2 – 7 IP, 5 hits, 1 ER, 10/0 K/BB and also 1 for 3 with 0 K’s vs. Seattle

By Michael Halpern (@MichaelCHalpern)
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@DynastyHalp)

Posted on September 22, 2021September 23, 2021 by Michael Halpern

Patreon Post: Top 322 September 2021 Dynasty Baseball Prospects Rankings

I went tiers on this one, because why not? Here is the Top 322 September 2021 Dynasty Baseball Prospects Rankings:

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE AND TONS OF CONTENT THE REST OF THE SEASON AND ALL OFF-SEASON, INCLUDING:
-Top 466 September 2021 Dynasty Baseball Rankings
-2021/22 Top 50 First Year Player Draft Dynasty Baseball Rankings
-Tons of Dynasty Rundowns
-Off-season content: Team Prospect Lists, Positional Dynasty Rankings, and early access to the Top 1,000 Dynasty Baseball Rankings

Tier 1

1) Bobby Witt Jr. KC, SS, 21.3 – Your only job if you have Witt or Julio in your farm system is to resist the urge to trade them for the inevitable Trevor Story offer

2) Julio Rodriguez SEA, OF, 20.9

Tier 2

3) Spencer Torkelson DET, 3B/1B, 22.1

4) Brennen Davis CHC, OF, 21.11 – Put the cherry on top of his awesome season with 3 homers in 6 games at Triple-A

5) Riley Greene DET, OF, 21.0

6) CJ Abrams SD, SS, 21.0

7) Grayson Rodriguez BAL, RHP, 21.11 – Pitchers hold more risk. There is no way around that, but at some point you have to shoot your shot. Rodriguez and Baz are two great pitchers to shoot your shot on.

8) Shane Baz TB, RHP, 22.3 – Talk of the baseball town after showing off his elite stuff on the MLB stage. He went 5 IP with 2 hits, 2 ER, and a 5/0 K/BB vs. Toronto yesterday. The fastball sat 96.9 MPH and his slider dominated with a 50% whiff% and 40% usage rate.

9) Adley Rutschman BAL, C, 23.8

Tier 3

10) Zac Veen COL, OF, 19.8

11) Noelvi Marte SEA, OF, 19.11

12) Vidal Brujan TB, 2B, 23.8

13) Anthony Volpe NYY, SS, 20.5 – It took him 14 games to hit his first homer this year, and then he didn’t take a breath as he smashed 27 homers in 95 games the rest of the way

14) Marco Luciano SF, SS, 20.0 – Never turned it on at High-A, struggling to the very end with a .542 OPS and 17 K’s in 13 games in September

15) Jasson Dominguez NYY, OF, 18.8 – It wasn’t a perfect season, but he ended up an above average hitter as an 18 year old in full season ball with a 105 wRC+

16) Luis Matos SF, OF, 19.7 – Closed the season on a homer binge with 3 homers in his last 7 games. It gives him a respectable 15 homers on the season in 109 games

17) Corbin Carroll ARI, OF, 21.1

18) Robert Hassell SD, OF, 20.1 – K% jumped to 28.7% at High-A in 18 games, but the power jumped with it with a 48.1% FB% and 4 homers

19) Hunter Greene CIN, RHP, 22.2 – He may have hit a wall at the end of the season after pitching the most innings of his career by far (106.1 IP) with a 5.23 ERA and 19/8 K/BB in his last 20.2 IP

By Michael Halpern (@MichaelCHalpern)
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@DynastyHalp)

Posted on September 7, 2021September 10, 2021 by Michael Halpern

Patreon Post: Top 465 September 2021 Dynasty Baseball Rankings

I’m finishing the season strong with the final Updated Dynasty Baseball Rankings before I go over 1,000 deep this off-season. Here is the Top 465 September 2021 Dynasty Baseball Rankings:

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE AND TONS OF CONTENT THE REST OF THE SEASON AND ALL OFF-SEASON, INCLUDING:
-Top 316 August 2021 Dynasty Baseball Prospects Rankings
-2021/22 Top 50 First Year Player Draft Dynasty Baseball Rankings
-Tons of Dynasty Rundowns
-Off-season content: Team Prospect Lists, Positional Dynasty Rankings, and early access to the Top 1,000 Dynasty Baseball Rankings

1) Shohei Ohtani LAA, RHP/DH, 27.2 – I’ve officially run out of shit to say for him. I’m speechless (written word less?)

2) Fernando Tatis Jr. SD, SS, 22.9 – Announced in this interview that his move to the outfield is temporary and he isn’t planning on getting off-season shoulder surgery. He’s attempted only 1 steal in his last 18 games since returning from his latest shoulder injury. I think it is fair to wonder if he will continue to be more cautious on the base paths moving forward.

3) Vlad Guerrero Jr. TOR, 1B, 22.6 – Had been slumping a bit with a .672 OPS in 26 games from Aug 3-29, but he broke out of it in a big way with 4 homers in his last 7 games.

4) Juan Soto WASH, OF, 22.11 – .505 OBP post all star break.

5) Ronald Acuna ATL, OF, 23.9

6) Bo Bichette TOR, SS, 23.6 – Has only been caught stealing once all year in 22 attempts

7) Trea Turner LAD, SS, 28.2

8) Kyle Tucker HOU, OF, 23.9 – Hasn’t struck out a single time in his last 37 PA and has a .818 SLG over that time

9) Ozzie Albies ATL, 2B, 24.8 – Homered in 3 straight games and has 9 homers in his last 23 games.

10) Luis Robert CHW, OF, 24.1 – 16.8% K% since returning is insanely encouraging. He’s also smacked 6 homers in those 21 games

11) Wander Franco TB, SS, 20.6 – Homer and steal totals aren’t huge with 7 homers and 2 steals in 59 games, but trading a 20-year-old Franco for one of the 28 year olds ranked after him seems like a decision you will regret pretty quickly.

12) Bryce Harper PHI, OF, 28.10 – Smoked 13 homers in his last 38 games

13) Mookie Betts LAD, OF, 28.11 – .667 OPS in his last 11 games since returning from right hip inflammation

14) Jose Ramirez CLE, 3B, 28.10 – Picked up the pace on the bases with 9 steals in his last 26 games

15) Rafael Devers BOS, 3B, 24.10

16) Mike Trout LAA, OF, 30.1

17) Yordan Alvarez HOU, OF, 24.2

18) Corbin Burnes MIL, RHP, 26.11

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE AND TONS OF CONTENT THE REST OF THE SEASON AND ALL OFF-SEASON, INCLUDING:
-Top 316 August 2021 Dynasty Baseball Prospects Rankings
-2021/22 Top 50 First Year Player Draft Dynasty Baseball Rankings
-Tons of Dynasty Rundowns
-Team Prospect Lists, Positional Dynasty Rankings, and early access to the Top 1,000 Dynasty Baseball Rankings

By Michael Halpern (@MichaelCHalpern)
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@DynastyHalp)