Daily Fantasy Baseball News and Notes | First Pitch Podcast 3/26/26

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to availability restrictions apply. Welcome to the first pitch podcast brought to you

by pitcherlist.com your daily morning podcast updating you on everything you

need to know to win your fantasy baseball league. Here's your host Jake Krumpler.

What's up fantasy managers welcome back to another season of the first pitch

podcast as always brought to you by pitcherlist.com. My name is Jake Krumpler and

I'll be your host throughout this season during the weeks. We will have a new weekend

host Carson Pickard will be with us so excited to bring him on to the team.

But I'll be with you for this next week as we get Carson up and ready to take

over the podcast on the weekends. As always, I'm Jake Krumpler. You can follow me

on socials at Jake Krumpler and you can find all of my work at KrumplerBaseball.com.

Let's start off the season by looking at opening night and diving into everything

baseball related from Wednesday March 25th. We'll start off as always with the

transactions injuries news and notes from around the league. We had a plethora of

season opening IEL stints. So most of them weren't really surprising. It was

ones that we've talked about throughout the preseason throughout spring

training. These are mostly just formalities, but we did have some surprise

ones. So let's talk about those starting with starting pitcher Ryan Pepio who

is placed on the 15 day IEL with right hip inflammation. Pepio is set to

resume throwing this weekend. So this should be a minimum stay for the right

hander. Pepio's absence does afford Joe Boyle a spot in the opening day

rotation. Ian Seymour, though, also made the roster. I think he's better than

Boyle Boyle is more of a reliever profile while Seymour has proven to be a

decent starter in the majors. And I think those two will work in tandem for the

raise. Next outfielder Lars Newtbar was placed on the 60 day IEL after

undergoing heel surgery to address Haglyn's deformities over the offseason.

We already knew that Newtbar was injured, but a 60 day IEL placement was a

bit surprising because we weren't clear how long he was going to be out

following the surgery that he underwent. The 40 man roster move made room for

top prospect JJ Weatherholt to be included in the Cardinals opening day

roster, which is super exciting. But that does mean that Newtbar will be out

until June despite beginning a running progression and taking batting

practice earlier this week. However, that does provide an opportunity for

Nathan Church who will church who will be given a chance in the outfield in

Newtbar stead. Church is a contact machine. So I'm excited to see what he can

do for the Cardinals. Next shortstop JP Crawford was placed on the 10 day IEL

is shoulder inflammation. Crawford is optimist optimistic. He'll be back in

early April as the short starting shortstop for the Mariners. But in the

meantime, Leo Rivas will take over at shortstop until Crawford returns.

Of the Padres in Fielder Sungman song was placed on the 10 day IEL within

Oblixtrain. He signed a four year 15 million dollar contract this off

season coming over from Korea song is expected to play all over. But his early

season absence means Thai France has made the opening day roster.

France will be returning to his former big league club where he started it

all off. And on top of that Miguel and Doohar will get regular regular playing

time at DH for the Padres. Next relief pitcher Hunter Gattis was placed on

the 15 day IEL with forearm tightness. Gattis should begin begin a rehab

assignment soon after getting game action before the spring concluded.

However, this is not a good sign considering his recent workloads you never

want to hear anything about forearm tightness or anything forearm related

when it comes to pitchers in general. So hopefully Gattis comes back strong

and has another dominant season setting up for the cardians. But in the

meantime, Sean Armstrong will be the top set up option to closer Cade Smith

in Cleveland. In other reliever news Kirby Yates was placed on the 15 day IEL

with left knee inflammation. Yates was the top candidate to close for the

angels. So without him, it looks like Jordan Romano or Drew Pomerans will get

the bulk of save opportunities for the angels. It's always safer to bet on

the righty. I think Pomerans has been better recently though he did have a

very extended absence before last year. Romano does have more closing

experience, but he's very volatile. I think I'm leading Romano right now

just because he's a righty. I did pick him up in my home league if that's

any consolation. Next starting pitcher Nick Ladolo was placed on the 15

day IEL with a blister on his left index finger blisters have plagued Ladolo

in the past. So this is not an ideal start to the season. Ladolo did resume

playing catch earlier this week. So he should be back in the minimum time.

But still a little bit worried that Ladolo might have enough and down season

once again. Looks like both Brandon Williams and Ann Rhett Louter will get a

chance to start with the Reds rotation already reeling from spring

injuries to Hunter Green and now Ladolo. So we'll see these two young

starters get a more extended opportunity in the rotation. And lastly,

outfielder Zach Vene was placed on the 10 day IEL with a knee contusion.

Vene was one of the surprising stories of early spring talking about

best shape of his life putting on 50 pounds of muscle. That kind of stuff.

But Vene did not quite put it together striking on a bunch. And he had a

lot of competition in the outfield in Colorado anyway with guys like Brenton

Doyle and Jordan Beck locked in and incoming Jake McCarthy as well as Mickey

Moniac playing DH. So there really wasn't going to be a huge opportunity for

Vene anyway. But in other Rockies news, TJ Rumpfeld was selected from the

miners. He was a non roster invite and is expected to be the opening day

first baseman for the Rockies. Rumpfeld hit five home runs this spring with a

3% strikeout rate, which is definitely an anomaly. He had a 121 WRC plus

with an 18% K rate with the Yankees at AAA last year. But hey, anybody

playing every day in Colorado is worth keeping an eye on. Now let's talk

about some transactions designated hitter Andrew McCutcheon had his

contracts selected from the miners, which means McCutcheon has made the

Rangers opening day roster after batting 429 with a 234 WRC plus this spring.

McCutcheon will be on the short side of a DH platoon with Jock Peterson. So

probably not really fantasy relevant, but cool to see Cutch get another

opportunity in the majors. Staying in Texas outfielders that Cole was

auctioned to the miners, which means Bryce Matthews has made the

Astros opening day roster and that Joey Lopper Fido will see the majority

of playing time in left field for the Astros. I know Cole was talked a lot

about having an opportunity in the outfield, but it looks like it's going to be

Lopper Fido and Bryce Matthews. Next first baseman Reese Hoskins was selected

from the miners, which means he's made the Guardians opening day roster.

Hoskins is likely to see a lot of time at DH also will spell Kyle Manzardo at

first first base versus left handed pitchers, which will open up the DH spot for

David Fry against left. These manzardo is likely to be on the short on the

strong side of a platoon at first base. Hoskins though struck out more than

30% of the time to spring. And that's been his biggest issue throughout his

career. So I'm not really putting too much stock into Hoskins roster spot right

now. Definitely a lonely leagues and deep 15 team leagues, but not super

interested in Hoskins at the moment. Lastly, starting pitcher Luis Heal was

option to the miners. Heal will pitch at Triple A until the Yankees need a

fifth starter. So he'll be the first man up in a couple of weeks when the

Yankees have more games in a row. And now we'll wrap things up with some news.

Starting pitcher Connolly early was confirmed to be in the rotation for the

Red Sox, which means Johan Oviedo will be pitching out of the bullpen.

That is incredible news. We are pumped to see what Connolly early can do.

Right off the bat. He's like a top 50 starter. And I've seen comps to Max

Fried and we already saw how good he was in the second half of last year.

So really excited to see a full season from Connolly early. And lastly,

Kevin McGonagall was selected from the miners. He is MLB's number two

prospect. Obviously the top prospect for the Tigers. McGonagall will split

time at the hot corner and at shortstop for the Tigers. Super exciting to see

all of these top prospects getting an opportunity. Now we just wait for Conno

Griffin to get his call later this season. Now we can take a look at some

notable performances from our one game on Wednesday. As we had opening

night, Giants versus Yankees on Netflix. It was a good game. I sort of

seven nothing. I'm a Giants fan. So it was a tough watch. However,

it's always great to see the season get started. Obviously we've got real

opening day happening tomorrow, which we'll talk about in just a little

bit. But let's recap this game talking about a couple of notable

performances. We'll open things off with their hitters leading off without

field or Trent Grisham, who went one for five with a triple and two RBI's.

He led off, which to me is notable right off the bat. Grisham also had the

first opening day triple by a New York Yankeesage Johnny Damon back in 2009.

So it's been a while since we've seen that Grisham obviously coming off a

career best season in which he've added 235 with 34 home runs. I think if he's

leading off, even just against right handed pitchers, he's still worth

rostring everywhere because of the lineup in park. Maybe not in like 10 team

three outfielder leagues and he's a little bit fringy and 12 team three out

fielder leagues. But if he's doing what he did last year, leading off for an

incredible Yankees lineup, you got to have him everywhere. It's unclear if

Grisham's going to repeat the power from last year, especially after failing

to go yard this spring. But the bad involve metrics and projections suggest

that Grisham will be able to back up last year's breakout campaign. I would

grab him in all leagues, 12 teams and deeper, especially in leagues that have

more than three outfield slots. And since we did a Yankee, now we got to talk

about a notable Giants hitter and that's second baseman, Luisa Reyes, who went

one for three with a single and a walking and a see a lot of that from

Reyes as a contact guy. He led off and played second base. Obviously, Reyes was

very incentivized to play second base when finding a contract. So he was only

able to land a one year deal with the Giants. But if he's leading off, I think

that's great. He's going to be a run scoring machine. I don't think we'll see

WBC, Reyes during the regular season. He like goes crazy and the WBC has all

kinds of power. I don't think we're going to see that during the regular season.

I think you can explain. We already know what we're going to expect from him.

He's going to be one of the most consistent contact hitters in baseball.

Reyes has sort of become underrated as people adjusted their opinion of him

after he's won multiple batting titles, sort of knocking his stock down and

being like, no, this guy's overrated, batting average is overrated, et cetera.

Now I think he's a bit underrated. And I think he's somebody that you want to

roster in all 15 team leagues. And he's an absolute beast in points leagues

because he just never strikes out like one of the best guy at the boy,

one of the best guys that avoiding strikeouts like in the history of baseball

last year was an incredible season in that regard. And I think while

Reyes is lighting off, he could leading off, he could be a run scoring machine

for a giant lineup that is actually pretty darn good.

But if you'd like a breakdown of notable hitting performances,

make sure to check out the daily batter's box article over on pictureless.com.

Now we'll talk about the pair of starters we saw yesterday.

Logan Webb started for the Giants and it was a rough opening to the season

for him as he went five innings, nine hits, six earned runs,

one walk in seven case, inducing nine whiffs with 33% CSW across 86 pitches.

Absolutely rough start to the season for Webb.

And now he's got to work extra hard to bring that 10.8 OERA down.

But I don't think there's any need to worry for now.

Webb's command was on point with sinkers upstairs and change ups below the zone.

Both of those pitches combining for seven whiffs and 36% CSW,

four seamers, surprise batters upstairs and sweepers,

stole strikes all night while Webb was down one mile per hour with his sinker.

This was clearly a case of him getting singled out,

meaning just a bunch of singles that he got that up to death and paid the price.

Just one extra base hit against him in a disastrous second frame.

That was Grisham's triple in a five run second inning.

And new manager Tony Vittello sort of left Webb out there to flounder his way

through five innings as he allowed seven run six seven runs six earned in this one.

And honestly, this is the inherent risk you run when rostering Logan Webb

and guys like him like from revoltez.

His ability to get ground balls is both a gift and a curse.

He won't give up as many long balls and will generally be solid throughout the season

in the EERA department.

However, the inflated whip is guaranteed because of the volatility of his

reliance on balls in play turning into outs.

However, we keep sticking with Logan Webb and we're happy with the seven punch outs he provided

which give us hope that he can carry over the increased strikeout rate from last year

that slightly negated his detrimental whip and reliance on balls in play.

Webb will get the pogries in San Diego next.

That's an auto start.

And square and off against Logan Webb was Max Fried and he was stellar six and a third innings.

Two hits, no one runs, one walk and four strikeouts.

He induced six whiffs with 27% CSW across 86 pitches.

Fried was super efficient as he produced wheat contact all night.

His velocity was also down.

So maybe this was sort of a radar gun thing as we also saw that with Webb.

But it was more likely in early season ramp up thing

where these guys are still trying to get into that full season swing.

Fried especially usually takes some time.

This was actually his first opening day when of his career.

And Fried really wasn't that overwhelming.

But cutters snuffed by bats for a trio of whiffs.

While the passive giants line up allowed Fried to steal nine strikes with his foreseemer,

resulting in 48% CSW on the pitch.

Fried is dope and he makes you feel dope for rostring him.

And maybe this is the year he kicks the habit of slow starts to the season

and puts up a ridiculous full season of excellence.

Fried will head to Seattle for his next start.

And that's obviously another auto start.

But if you'd like breakdowns on every single start including these two

from Wednesday and throughout the season, give the plus pitch podcast a listen

and check out Nick's daily SP roundup over on PitcherList.com.

Now we'll talk about some relievers.

We didn't have any closers pitch.

And so let's just look at both bullpen's.

We saw Jake Bird, Brent Hedrick, and Camilo DeVal pitch for the Yankees with a big lead.

Although while Keaton win, JT Brewbaker and Caleb Killian pitched for the giants down big.

Killian is somewhat interesting as a failed former top prospect starter traded by the giants

for Chris Bryant.

Back in 2001, Killian looked great in spring and flashed a 98 mile per hour foreseemer

and a big hammer curveball.

And if thin giants pen, this is a potential breakout

who could get plenty of high leverage opportunities.

That's Caleb Killian.

But if you'd like more information on relief pitch, relief pitchers,

check out Rick Graham's weekly articles over on PitcherList.com.

And before we look forward to today's games, we're going to take a quick break.

And we're back, Jake Crumpler here talking about opening day.

We are going to look forward to Thursday, March 26, where we'll have 11 games.

And this can really be considered real opening day.

However, I'm surprised we still aren't going to see every single team within the first two games

of the season.

Eleven games, though, is a lot more than the one we had yesterday.

So I am pumped.

My matchup of the day is going to be Paul Schien's versus Freddie Peralta.

Peralta making his first start for the Metz while Schien's comes to the fend

his nationally shy young title.

We'll also see a bunch of other exciting starters to open the season.

Jacob Mizorowski will take on the White Sox.

We'll see Joe Ryan square off against Trevor Rogers.

We'll see Garrett crochet in Cincinnati Hunter Brown versus the Angels.

Terch Scoobull is going to square off against Nick Paveda, Nathaniel Valdi,

versus Christopher Sanchez.

We'll see Yoshinobi Yamamoto versus the Diamondbacks and Logan Gilbert versus the Guardians.

In terms of streamers, my streamer of the day is Matthew Libertor versus the raise.

I think he has looked incredible in spring, showing a lot better command.

I think it was like a 14-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio.

Wish is incredible.

His curveball is dope.

And I think he's been working on a new changeup as well.

The raise are not the strongest of offenses.

And they probably won't do much in a pitcher's park in St. Louis.

So I'm looking to Matthew Libertor as my streamer.

I'd also keep it out for Kate Cavali in Chicago.

He is my girlfriend's half-sister's husband's second nephew.

So one of my favorite players, rooting for the future family member.

But Kate Cavali's dope, he throws up her 90s with a hammer curveball.

And he definitely earned this opening day start with his performance this spring.

So excited to see what Kate Cavali can do in Chicago against the Cubs.

In terms of hitter suggestions, I'd look at Brian Reynolds versus Freddie Peralta.

Reynolds is bad at 385 with a Homer and a 1031 OPS and 39 at Bats against Peralta.

I'd also target Reds and Red Sox hitters in Great American Ball Park.

It's one of the best offensive parks in baseball.

So hopefully the Reds and Red Sox hitters can take advantage of that.

They'll be taking on Crochet and Andrew Abbott respectively.

So you're going to want to target right-handed hitters against these left-handed starters.

And lastly, I'm going to look at Astros hitters versus Jose Soriano.

Soriano is a huge ground ball pitcher.

So I'm not looking for any home runs.

But you're definitely going to see a lot of singles against Soriano,

who is heavily ground ball reliant with a poor defense behind him.

Now let's close things out with some relievers to watch.

We're so early in the season that you can't really say

oh, this guy's going to get a save tomorrow.

So here's some bullpens to keep an eye on on Thursday for the Tampa Bay

Rays. How are Griffin Jack's Garrett Clevenger and Brian Baker deployed?

We're interested to see who gets the save opportunity there

and in what order for the Tigers is Kenley Jansen really the closer

or do Kyle Finnegan and Will Vestep in.

For the Twins is Taylor Rogers the closer or do just like Cole Sands or

Justin Topa step up for the Angels with Yates and Kirby Yates and Robert

Stevenson on the IEL does that mean Romano,

John Romano and Drew Pomeran's are going to pitch the ninth and if so,

which one for the Rangers the battle is between Robert Garcia and Chris Martin

who gets the save there for the Nationals.

It's a disastrous bullpen not really sure how this is going to shake out

probably Clayton Beater but worth keeping an eye on.

For the Brewers is it going to be Abner Eurebe or Trevor McGill

and how much does that tell you about how they're going to be used throughout

the season and then lastly the St. Louis Cardinals.

How will the quad the quadruplet the the the fab four

isn't how many guys are in the Beatles four right?

Oh well how are Raleo Brian, Jojo Romero, Matt Sponson and Ryan

Stanic going to be deployed. I assume it's going to be Raleo Brian but

there's plenty of opportunity here in St. Louis to find a closer

but that'll do it for today's episode of the first pitch podcast.

Make sure to head on over to pitcherless.com to check out all of the great

articles and features we have on the site.

Senate for PL plus or PL Pro to gain access to the discord

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