Welcome back to the best weekly column on the internet, as we enter week 22 of the fantasy baseball season. (sorry, I know it’s been a couple of weeks, but the updated Top 150 Prospect rankings column was a monster).
The goal of this column for us to give you the most fantasy baseball-relevant information all in one place for a variety of league types to hopefully be your one stop shop, or at least the shop you have to hit on the way to all the other shops for fantasy baseball information from news, to lineup and roster notes, injury updates, waiver recommendations for different lead types, prospect rankings, moves we made and a weekly deep dive into something relevant.
Welcome back to the best weekly column on the internet, as we enter week 22 of the fantasy baseball season. (sorry, I know it’s been a couple of weeks, but the updated Top 150 Prospect rankings column was a monster).
The goal of this column for us to give you the most fantasy baseball-relevant information all in one place for a variety of league types to hopefully be your one stop shop, or at least the shop you have to hit on the way to all the other shops for fantasy baseball information from news, to lineup and roster notes, injury updates, waiver recommendations for different lead types, prospect rankings, moves we made and a weekly deep dive into something relevant.
Fantasy Baseball Roundup
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Fantasy Baseball Lineup & Roster Notes
- Baltimore Orioles:
- Lineup Notes:
- Rotation Notes:
- The Orioles have had some terrible injury luck with the rotation this year and they’re lucky they traded for Corbin Burnes this year.
- Pen Notes:
- Boston Red Sox:
- Lineup Notes:
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- Pen Notes:
- Chicago White Sox:
- Lineup Notes:
- Miguel Vargas has been terrible since coming over from the Dodgers with a 35 wRC+ since the trade.
- Rotation Notes:
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- Cleveland Guardians:
- Lineup Notes:
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- Detroit Tigers:
- Lineup Notes:
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- With all the rotation depth, it’s interesting to see Ty Madden still down at AAA with all of the injuries.
- Pen Notes:
- Houston Astros:
- Lineup Notes:
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- The Astros are going six-man rotation with Verlander back.
- Pen Notes:
- Kansas City Royals:
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- Los Angeles Angels:
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- Minnesota Twins:
- Lineup Notes:
- Matt Wallner has been killing it the last six weeks or so and is hitting fourth, while Edouard Julien is back up and hitting eighth.
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- New York Yankees:
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- Oakland Athletics:
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- Seattle Mariners:
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- Tampa Bay Rays:
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- Texas Rangers:
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- Toronto Blue Jays:
- Lineup Notes:
- This lineup is kind of a trainwreck outside of Vlad Guerrero Jr.
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- Arizona Diamondbacks:
- Lineup Notes:
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- Pen Notes:
- Justin Martinez is closing and he’s pretty solid, throwing over 100 MPH with a near 30% CSW and an over 17% K-BB rate.
- Atlanta Braves:
- Lineup Notes:
- Gio Urshella is starting at third for the Braves with Austin Riley out.
- Rotation Notes:
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- Chicago Cubs:
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- Cincinnati Reds:
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- Stay away from Julian Aguilar.
- Pen Notes:
- Colorado Rockies:
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- Los Angeles Dodgers:
- Lineup Notes:
- Max Muncy is going to work his way up the lineup.
- Rotation Notes:
- Bobby Miller is back, let’s see if the stuff is back this time. The first start wasn’t great.
- Pen Notes:
- Even Phillips with the save yesterday, so it looks like it’s just a committee at this point.
- Miami Marlins:
- Lineup Notes:
- Connor Norby was called up and is hitting fifth and starting at third.
- Rotation Notes:
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- Milwaukee Brewers:
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- New York Mets:
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- If this team had even a mid-tier rotation, it could be dangerous.
- Pen Notes:
- Philadelphia Phillies:
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- Pittsburgh Pirates:
- Lineup Notes:
- What a strange lineup. Isaiah Kiner-Falefa is leading off, while Joey Bart is hitting fourth.
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- San Diego Padres:
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- San Francisco Giants:
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- St. Louis Cardinals:
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- Washington Nationals:
- Lineup Notes:
- Dylan Crews is coming up on Monday to start his career.
- Jose Tena is up, starting at third and hitting sixth
- Rotation Notes:
- Pen Notes:
Fantasy Baseball Injury Notes
- 3B Austin Riley (Braves) – Riley will miss the rest of the season with a broken hand and could return for the playoffs.
- SP Zach Eflin (Orioles) – Eflin is likely out for 2-4 weeks and is projected to return shortly and before the end of the season.
- SP Andrew Abbott (Reds) – Abbott was placed on the 15 day IL with shoulder soreness, might be a season ender.
- SS Ha-Seong Kim (Padres) – Kim hit the IL with a shoulder strain and it sounds like he should be back in only a couple of weeks.
- SP Tyler Mahle (Rangers) – Mahle was placed on the IL with shoulder soreness and I’m sure the Rangers will take it slow as he’s recovering from TJ. I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see him again even though he’s only under contract through this season in a bad gamble by the Rangers.
Tim’s Top 5 Fantasy Baseball Waiver Adds (12 Team Leagues)
NOTE: Under 50% Owned (CBS)
- OF Dylan Crews (Nationals) 47% – Dylan Crews is getting the call to the majors on Monday after posting a .271/.343/.464 slash with 13 bombs and 25 steals over his time at AA and AAA.
- 1B Nolan Schanuel (Angels) 44% – He’s only 22-years-old and was just drafted last year and he’s finally coming into power with a .296/.440/.454 slash with four homers since the All Star Break. If he can hit for 20 bombs, he can be a Yandy Diaz points league darling.
- 2B Gavin Lux (Dodgers) 48% – Lux is hitting fifth for the Dodgers right now, which is good enough. Lux has a 199 wRC+ since the All Star Break with a .356/.241/.663 slash with 7 homers and a steal. He’s only 26-years-old and after missing the entire 2023 season, he could be breaking out.
- C Joey Bart (Pirates) 43% – Bart is having a career resurgence with a .273/.348/.508 slash with 12 bombs in 60 games with Pittsburgh. He’s still only 27-years-old and has time to put up a decent career.
- SP Ryne Nelson (Diamondbacks) 40% – Since July 1st, Ryne Nelson has a 20.4 K-BB%, 2.73 ERA and 0.95 WHIP.
Tim’s Top 10 Fantasy Baseball Redraft Prospects
Not promoted yet
1. OF Jasson Dominguez (Yankees)
2024 AA/AAA: .313/.374/.476 | 7.2 BB%, 19.2 K% | 13 XBH, 7 HR, 11 SB (39 games)
Age: 21
ETA: Late August
fScores: 104 fContact, 78 fDiscipline, 119 fPower, 147 fSpeed
Comp: Switch hitting Mookie Betts-light
Prime Skills: Dominguez has top notch plate skills, while also demonstrating he can be a game changer on the base paths. He smashes pitches high in the zone from both sides of the plate, but needs to work on lifting pitches low in the zone instead of smashing them into the ground. He was doing a good job of this before the injury at the major league level in 2023.
Ranking Explanation: Dominguez posts above average EVs and has a ridiculous 97.5% Z-contact% at AAA on the season, so smashes anything in the zone consistently. He has superior launch angles averaging in the 15-16 degree range which optimizes his power, showing better bat control than both Caminero and Holliday without the power ceiling of Caminero or the ridiculous plate skills of Holliday – he might have the best all around hit tool of the three and has the best speed of the three. Dominguez has been very aggressive this year with a much higher chase rate than normal, but I assume this is him pushing to do damage to get back to the majors.
2. SP Tink Hence (Cardinals)
2024 AA: 70 2/3 IP | 25.5 K-BB%, 16.1 SwStr%, 31.2 CSW% | 2.67 ERA, 1.05 WHIP
Age: 21
ETA: September 2024 (cup of coffee)
fScores: N/A (need AAA statcast data)
Comp: Dylan Cease
Prime Skills: Tink has some serious ride on his fastball (but not Espino ride) that averages in the mid 90s – guys swing under it a lot. The curve is pretty sick and to counter the riding fastball, guys swing over it a lot. He has to work on the consistency of his third and fourth pitches to achieve his top of the rotation potential.
Ranking Explanation: The big question about Tink has always been durability, but he’s proving this year he can consistently go more than 6 innings in starts and despite the smaller stature for a starter at 6′ 1″, he can build up and maintain his electric stuff deeper into games. He has not only proven durable, but he’s showing increased dominance with the fastball this season hitting some upper 90s velos as well. He did have an injury earlier this year and the Cardinals have been slow playing him ever since, but are they being cautious to bring him up this year or next year?
3. 2B Matt Shaw (Cubs)
2024 AA: .276/.375/.466 | 12.9 BB%, 16.1 K% | 32 XBH, 17 HR, 27 SB
Age: 22
ETA: Early 2025
fScores: N/A (need AAA statcast data)
Comp: Jonathan India with more speed
Prime Skills: Really great plate approach with above average power and speed. Should be one of the better second basemen in the majors sooner, rather than later and has the power and speed combo to put up some 20/20 type seasons.
Ranking Explanation: It might be easy to rank Shaw ahead of Mayer considering he has more power and speed in his profile, but I think Mayer has a better hit tool and the doubles power will translate into more peak power than Shaw. Condon’s power potential gives him the edge to Shaw, but Mayer is so safe that he gets the jump on these two.
4. 1B Deyvison De Los Santos (Marlins)
2024 AA/AAA: .318/.370/.622 | 5.2 BB%, 22.9 K% | 58 XBH, 35 HR, 1 SB
Age: 21
ETA: Sept. 2024
fScores: 104 fContact, 62 fDiscipline, 122 fPower, 66 fSpeed
Comp: Cristian Encarnacion-Strand
Prime Skills: Big time power potential with an improved contact rate and decrease in strikeouts this season. De Los Santos has rocked a 116 max EV this year (better than Mayo) and has about a 92 average EV in AAA this season.
Ranking Explanation: De Los Santos continues to crush, now with the Marlins. The question is going to be if he can keep the K rate down enough to be an effective major league hitter. The chase rate is still high at 42.8% at AAA with only average contactability. Harry Ford gets the edge to Deyvison as I prefer the potential power / speed at catcher to the potential volatile power profile of De Los Santos.
5. OF Colby Thomas (Athletics)
2024 AA/AAA: .278/.343/.556 | 7.1 BB%, 26.4 K% (AAA ball) | 65 XBH, 24 HR, 14 SB
Age: 23
ETA: Early 2025
fScores: 98 fContact, 62 fDiscipline, 113 fPower, 113 fSpeed
Comp: Taylor Ward and Matt McLain mash
Prime Skills: Thomas has all fields power and does a great job of shooting the ball through the gaps and has an over 35% line drive rate this year. He has an open stance with hands up, loaded pre-pitch. He’s an extra base hit machine and may run into some strikeout issues with a below average hit tool, but he’s aggressive in the zone and runs an optimal batted ball profile with a killer sweet spot percentage which will keep the average up ala McLain.
Ranking Explanation: Thomas had a strong season last year, but needed to cut down on the K rate to maximize his skills – he’s done that and he’s lifting the ball a lot more this year and looks like a potential stud. He’s also showing off the pull power this year after putting up a near 25/25 season in 2023. I love this dude and the Athletics have aggressively moved him to AAA and he just keeps producing.
Fantasy Baseball Moves I Made This Week
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- CBS Memorial Magazine League (12 Team 5×5 Roto):
- CBS NL Only Analyst League (12 Team 5×5 Roto):
- TGFBI (15 Team 5×5 Roto):
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- Fantasy Aceball Invitational (16 Team Ottoneu H2H Points):
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- Ottoneu Podcaster’s League (12 Team Ottoneu 5×5 Roto):
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