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

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 crumplerbaseball.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 optimistic.

He'll be back in early April as the short starting shortstop for

the Mariners, but in the meantime, Leo Revas will take over at short

stop until Crawford returns of the Padres in Fielder sung month

song was placed on the 10 day IEL within oblique strain.

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 Duhart 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 didn't pick him up in my home league if that's any consolation.

Next starting pitcher Nicola Dolo was placed on the 15 day IEL with a

blister on his left index finger.

Blisters have plagued Lodolo in the past.

So this is not an ideal start to the season.

Lodolo did resume playing catch earlier this week.

So we should be back in the minimum time, but still a little bit worried

that Lodolo might have enough and down season once again.

Looks like both Brandon Williams and Ann Rhett Lauder will get a chance

to start with the Reds rotation already reeling from spring injuries to Hunter

Green and now Lodolo.

So we'll see these two young starters get a more extended opportunity in the

rotation.

And lastly, outfielder Zach Vien was placed on the 10 day IEL with a knee

contusion.

Vien 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 Vien did not quite put it together, striking out a bunch.

And he had a lot of competition in the outfield in Colorado.

Any way 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 Vien anyway.

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

He was a non-Raster invite.

And as expected to be the opening day first basement 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 Triple A 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 contract 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 Jacques 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

Loper 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 Loper Fido and Bryce Matthews.

Next first basement 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 Louise 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're at things up with some news.

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

socks, which means Johan Oviato 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 giant's face.

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.

Well, 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 Yankees since 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 batted 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 outfielder 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 battle ball 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 Riaz, who went one for three with a single and a walk.

You're going to see a lot of that from Riaz as a contact guy.

He let off and played second base.

Obviously Riaz was very incentivized to play second base when finding a contract.

So we 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 Riaz 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.

Riaz 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 at

avoiding strikeouts.

Like in the history of baseball last year was an incredible season in that regard.

And I think while Riaz 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 pitcherless.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 10.80 ERA 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.

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 runs, 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 Framber Ball Des.

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 ERA department.

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

reliance on balls and 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 strike out

rate from last year that slightly negated his detrimental whip and reliance on balls

and play.

We'll 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 strike outs.

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

Fried was super efficient as he produced weak 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 snuff by bats for a trio of whiffs.

While the passive giant's 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 astering 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 next daily

SP roundup over on pitcherless.com.

Now we'll talk about some relievers.

We didn't have any closers pitch.

And so let's just look at both bullpens.

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

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

Killian is somewhat interesting as a failed former top prospect star or 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 then 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 pitcherless.com.

And before you 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.

11 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 defend 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 Scoobles going to square off against Nick Paveta, Nathaniel Valdi versus Christopher Sanchez.

We'll see Yoshi Noble 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 one strike out to walk ratio.

It was just incredible.

His curveball is dope and I think he's been working on a new change up as well.

The raise are not the strongest of offenses and they probably won't do much in a pitchers park in St. Louis.

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 about a 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 ballpark.

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

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

They'll be taken 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 bullpenst to keep an eye on on Thursday for the Tampa Bay raise.

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

We're interested to see who gets to save opportunity there and in what order for the Tigers

is Kenley Jansen really the closer or do Kyle Finnegan and Will Vestepin.

For the twins is Taylor Rogers, the closer or do just like Colt 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 Pomerans 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 to 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 Euree Bay 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 Fab Four?

Isn't how many guys are in the Beatles?

Four, right?

Oh, well, how are Raleigh O'Brien, Jojo Romero, Matt Sponson and Ryan Stannick going to be deployed?

I assume it's going to be Raleigh O'Brien, 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.

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