Monday Morning Dynasty Baseball Rundown (9/12/22)

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 (9/12/22):

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Corbin Carroll ARI, OF, 22.1 – Don’t you do it. Don’t you dare do it. I know you’re getting that wandering eye. You love baseball, but damn, football is looking so sexy rolling up to the party all fresh faced with nothing but hope and potential. But just you wait. Soon half your roster will be out with a high ankle sprain, your favorite team’s O-Line will be a sieve, and you’ll be spending 75% of your FAAB on some 3rd string running back. Then you’ll be begging to come back. Your old ball and chain, baseball, is even willing to meet you halfway. They’re willing to bring new people into the bedroom! So many of the games top prospects have gotten the call, none more exciting than my #1 fantasy prospect, Corbin Carroll. He went 1 for 4 with a 101.3 MPH single that he hit into the ground at a negative 48 degree launch angle. That’s been the story of his MLB debut as he has a respectable 88.5/93.7 MPH AVG/FB EV, but he hasn’t been lifting the ball with a negative 1.3 degree launch. He’s the fastest man in baseball with a 30.6 ft/sec sprint speed, but he’s 0 for 1 on the bases in 11 games. He has some swing and miss in his game, and while a 29.5% K% is high, the 26% whiff% shows it likely won’t be a major issue. He’s done enough to hang onto the top spot, but he has someone right on his tail …

Gunnar Henderson BAL, SS, 21.2 – The #2 ranked prospect on the Updated Top 360 Dynasty Prospects Rankings that just hit my Patreon last week, Henderson went 0 for 1 with a 1/1 K/BB coming off the bench. The game here is to bench these guys enough for them to maintain their rookie status for 2023. Like Carroll, he’s been solid in his pro debut with nothing setting off alarm bells. He has a 89.9 MPH EV, 9.2 degree launch, and a 20%/8.9% K%/BB%. His speed also might have been undersold as a 28.8 ft/sec sprint speed is damn fast.

Josh Jung TEX, 3B, 24.6 – Jung had to earn this MLB debut, coming back from shoulder surgery, and he blew his load early with a homer in his very first at bat on Friday. It hasn’t been as good since, putting up the golden sombrero yesterday (0 for 4 with 4 K’s). A golden sombrero literally does sound like a quite disgusting sex act (no judgement if that’s your thing). I looked up the origin of golden sombrero, thinking it would be some super cool story (also worried that it might have been a little racist), but turns out there is no story. According to Wikipedia, baseball thought calling 3 goals in hockey a “hat trick” was cool, “and since four is bigger than three, the rationale was that a four-strikeout performance should be referred to by a bigger hat, such as a sombrero.” Pretty uninspiring. Jung has a 83.8 MPH EV with a 44% whiff% in his 3 game debut.

Triston Casas BOS, 1B, 22.8 – Cases went 0 for 3 with a K yesterday, and his MLB debut has been similar to Jung’s with 1 homer and not much else. The 35.7% whiff% in 7 games will be something to keep an eye on as the hope was for Casas to be an excellent all around hitter, not just a low average slugger.

Michael Harris ATL, OF, 21.5 – Atlanta didn’t wait until September to call up their young studs, and Harris rewarded them majorly for their boldness. He homered twice yesterday and the cement is now starting to dry on his status as an elite dynasty asset. He ranked 42nd overall on the August Top 455 Dynasty Rankings (Patreon), and he might be pushing Top 20 status when I update the rankings for September next week.

Julio Rodriguez SEA, OF, 21.8 – Speaking of the cement drying on an elite dynasty asset, Rodriguez’ dried so long ago it even has an imprint of my hand with “Halp was here, April 2022” etched into it for eternity. He went 3 for 4 with 2 bombs yesterday, and if you told me you wanted to take him 1st overall in a new dynasty league this off-season, it would be hard for me to argue against it. Ohtani might still be my top choice, but I think Julio could be a close 2nd.

Luis Patino TBR, RHP, 22.8 – Let’s keep the excitement going with Patino who is getting another crack at the rotation and … yikes. He gave up 9 earned in 1.1 IP and the stuff didn’t look all that good either with a decent 94.6 MPH fastball and relatively low spin rates on all of his pitches. He’s still young, but I’m starting to sour on him a bit.

Grayson Rodriguez BAL, RHP, 22.10 – Rodriguez returned from a lat strain and he definitely has some rust to shake off. He went 2.2 IP with 1 hit, 4 ER and a 7/3 K/BB at Double-A. You can never relax when you are banking on pitching prospects to carry the future of your dynasty team. Just look at the ghost of Forrest Whitley who has a 7.07 ERA in 28 IP at Triple-A this year. Or Daniel Espino disappearing into thin air so completely that it would make David Copperfield jealous.

Spencer Torkelson DET, 3B/1B, 22.11 – Torkelson returned to the majors and he’s trying to make us forget about the struggles that got him sent down in the first place. He went 1 for 3 with a 107 MPH double and now has a 1.030 OPS with a 5/3 K/BB and 97 MPH EV in 8 games since returning. He just might be able to rekindle those new love butterflies we all had earlier in the season if he keeps killing it down the stretch.

Michael Massey KCR, 2B, 24.4 – Massey is someone I am going to be grabbing a ton of this off-season. He went 1 for 3 with a homer and 1/1 K/BB yesterday. The underlying numbers look great to me with a 90.5 MPH EV, 16.8 degree launch angle, 15.5% barrel% and 22.7% K%. He’s not super fast, but he’s proving he has some real stolen base skills (3 for 3 on the bases). He might not be a league winner, but I think he is going to be sneaky good next year.

Jonathan Aranda TBR, 1B/2B/3B, 24.0 – 1 for 3 with a 1/1 K/BB. Aranda is trying to wade his way through Tampa’s deep roster to get playing time, and when he does, he’s proving that he’s just a damn good hitter no matter what the level. He has a 94.4 MPH EV with a 15.4%/11.5% K/BB% in 26 MPH PA. Playing time is going to be an issue and he might not have super high upside, but it’s pretty clear this guy is going to hit.

George Valera CLE, OF, 21.10 – Valera might not join the top prospect brigade in the majors this year, but it probably won’t be too far into 2023 until he does. He drilled his 7th homer in 28 games since getting called up to Triple-A. He has a little Gary Sheffield bat wiggle, and that line drive homer is reminiscent of some of the frozen ropes Sheffield would hit. Valera isn’t as good as Sheffield, but his power and OBP profile is completely transferring to Triple-A.

Joey Wiemer MIL, OF, 23.7 – Wiemer got called up to Triple-A and became a new man. He went 2 for 4 with a dinger and is now slashing .275/.360/.533 with 6 homers, 6 steals, and a 20.9%/12.2% K%/BB%. What strikeout problems?

Adael Amador COL, SS, 19.7 – Amador laughs at strikeout problems as he’s maintained an elite plate approach all season (12.1%/15.7% K%/BB%), and he showed off the power yesterday jacking out his 15th homer in 115 games at Single-A. The power/speed combo may not be huge, but plenty of superstars have bubbled up from these elite plate approach guys even if they aren’t visually jaw dropping athletes.

Kevin Parada NYM, C, 21.11 – Parada got on the board with his first professional homer in 13 games. He’s walking a ton with a .463 OBP and 24.4% BB% at Single-A, but the 29.3% K% is on the high side.

Justyn-Henry Malloy ATL, 3B/OF, 22.7 – Malloy is getting some late season helium as he continued to handle his business since getting called up to Double-A. He cracked his 6th homer in 48 games at the level and is now slashing .291/.416/.459 with 6 homers, 0 steals and a 24.8%/17.3% K%/BB%. He always had very high walk rates throughout his career and he’s shaping up to a great low key target in OBP leagues this off-season.

Oswaldo Cabrera NYY, OF, 23.7 – Cabrera hit his first MLB homer with a 408 foot shot on a 1 for 4 day. He has a 86.7 MPH EV with a 28.8% whiff% and 27.3 ft/sec sprint speed in 88 MLB PA. I think he’s a heavily used utility player long term and isn’t really a target of mine.

Bubba Thompson TEX, OF, 24.3 – The 7th fastest man in baseball racked up 2 more steals to give him 13 steals in 33 games. He has a 2.8% barrel%, so his .298 BA is the result of good luck, but a 87.8 MPH EV and 29% whiff% isn’t hopeless. It’s not a bad MLB debut, and his elite base stealing ability is worth taking on the extra risk.

Brandon Pfaadt ARI, RHP, 23.10 – Pfaadt bounced back from his first bad start at Triple-A with a gem yesterday, going 8 IP with 4 hits, 2 ER, and a 11/0 K/BB. He threw a 5 pitch mix led by his high spin, 94.3 MPH fastball. His K/BB numbers have been elite all year and they barely dropped off at all at Triple-A with a 30.4%/6.3% K%/BB% in 50 IP.

Tanner Bibee CLE, RHP, 23.6 – The hard charging Bibee isn’t slowing down, going 6 IP with 3 hits, 1 ER, and a 5/2 K/BB at Double-A. He rose up all the way to #60 overall on the Updated Top 360 Prospects Rankings and I think his name value will remain subdued enough this off-season to get him at a very reasonable price.

Mitch Keller PIT, RHP, 26.5 – 7 IP, 2 hits, 0 ER, 6/3 K/BB vs. STL. Keller is doing just enough to close out the season to screw us all over again in 2023. He has a 2.51 ERA with a 49/19 K/BB in his last 61 IP. I’m not taking the bait though as the strikeout numbers just haven’t been impressive enough. Don’t get sucked back in.

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

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