Every Rookie on Every Opening Day Roster with Matt Morris

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Baseball is back.

We had opening night, last night, opening day, today, something else with the name that

I'm not sure of tomorrow, where everybody else finally gets off the ground for the start

of the 2026 MLB season.

We've got a whole slew of new rookies to get to know, and I've got Matt Morris here on

the line to tell me all about him here on the Rotawire Fantasy Baseball Podcast.

Good morning, everybody, and welcome to an opening day edition of the Rotawire Fantasy

Baseball Podcast, Eric Haltemann here, excited to be joined today just as I was on last

year's opening day by Matt Morris of the Dynasty Dinger's Podcast, and we've got the same

task in front of us that we went through one year ago today.

We're going to take a look at every rookie who has made an opening day roster trying to

figure out which ones needed to be added everywhere right now, which ones you should maybe

throw on a watch list and see how they're doing and which ones you should forget about

as soon as this show ends, looking forward to all that in a few minutes, Matt.

But first, did you catch any of the game last night in between the various James Winston

and Bert Kreischer interviews?

I did.

And Eric, happy to be here for a second year.

Hopefully, we have the same success we had last year.

But I love the James Winston interview.

I feel like as we kind of spoke off air, the majorly baseball productions are intentionally

trying to be more entertaining, but trying and being is very different.

I think having personalities that bring out the life of the game and the life of the

players is important.

So I love the James, but overall the production felt a little like Apple.

And the game felt a little bit like a traditional opening game where you can tell players still

aren't locked in.

I mean, Aaron Judge, if I'm correct for strikeouts, performance wasn't that much different

than his end to the WBC.

But it's game one.

A few years ago in Arizona, I saw Logan Webb give up eight runs and two innings to the

Cubs.

It's the first game.

I think both teams will figure it out and I think Webb and Judge will be fine.

Yeah, I think that's probably the correct takeaway here, although if you're in a league

with me that still hasn't drafted yet, which I don't think exists, except for the final

eight rounds or something of my slow DC that is still trying to finish in the next couple

hours, excited to see what's going to happen there.

But if you're in a league with me and you want to pass me, Aaron Judge, I'll certainly

take it.

I'm am curious.

You said you don't have any worries about Logan Webb.

I don't think I do either.

It's one game and he had seven strikeouts against one walk in five innings.

I wasn't huge on Logan Webb this year, but I did draft him one place and I am worried

was that one place too many, just because we're talking about a ground ball pitcher who now

has Eric Luis Arias as his second baseman could be a problem.

Maybe we didn't take that into account enough, but I would bet that you're going to say it's

one game.

Don't overreact.

I think it's one game and he's been one of the most reliable pitchers.

I have faded him year after year after year, assuming that because he didn't have a

dominant profile, eventually we would see a four year A out of him, a four or five year

A. We would just see the wheels fall off and he's proven me wrong year in and year out

and he's become Mr. Consistents.

I think it's going to continue that way.

Good point though.

The defense has shifted just a little bit.

Will that impact his play?

I think we saw a few hits yesterday where the Yankees took advantage of not an elite defense.

So them jumping on his pitches, I think we have to be mindful as fans and as analysts

so that each year the technology gets a little bit better.

The Yankees clearly had an approach yesterday.

They came out strong.

They came out looking and it worked against Logan Webb.

Is that something that we see over the first month where technology has really given these

teams an advantage with the scouting report against the pitchers where it has for so

long in the recent memory been pitchers over hitters.

It's fascinating.

A lot of pieces to talk about that we can get into for opening night and opening day,

but it'll be a great weekend to kind of evaluate those small details.

Yeah, for sure.

So try not to overreact too much to this Logan Webb start, but do keep an eye on a couple

things there.

Speaking of freaking out and overreacting, how worried are you about Jackson Turio who is

going to miss the first two to four weeks of the season with a broken hand.

This is actually an injury that occurred in the WBC pretty early in the WBC about three

full weeks ago or so.

He was hit in the hand by a pitch.

He was able to return just a few days later, but now a few weeks later it's being revealed

that he actually has a hairline fracture.

Probably not something that is going to totally ruin his season, although it could affect

his number certainly once he returns, who are the primary beneficiaries of this absence

in the brewers outfield?

Off the bat, Blake Perkins slots in to take that position, but you know, this is traditional

brewers news.

We're oftentimes the David to a lot of the Goliath.

And yeah, it sucked.

We kind of just got the group chats flooding in right before you and I started recording

and it was it was disappointing, but it was also like, okay, that that can equate for

the really poor performance in the WBC.

He did not look good and major league talent.

He was facing either major league or sub major league was not a good performance.

So it's like, okay, the health with a concern, go get right.

The question for me will be, what's the power look like the rest of season?

Same question for Jackson holiday, same question for Corbin Carroll that we've been talking

about for weeks.

I haven't seen if it's a handmade.

I don't think it is.

I think it's just a hairline.

But still hand injuries affect power.

So from a brewers perspective, they're going to still have to go out there with Brendan

Lockridge and Blake Perkins and try to scrap some numbers together.

I would be interested to see if, if, if Bowers actually gets more playing time.

I mean, had an absolutely incredible spring, spring is spring.

I don't like to buy too much into it, but seven home runs OPS around I think 1300.

He made some adjustments at the end of last year.

And while he doesn't hit lefty as well, this could be a left on right streaming.

Option for guys and girls and leagues to start April that could provide for five home runs

in April that you didn't expect essentially for free.

Yeah, and if Jake Bowers does spend more time in the outfield that probably shores up

air and juvons playing time at first base, a little bit of an awkward situation there

where the better hitter, Vaughn, is the righty.

So you don't really want to go with a strict platoon there and make Vaughn the shortside

platoon guy, even though Bowers can certainly hit righty's if Bowers is playing some in

the outfield that makes that situation a little bit easier for everybody to deal with.

Speaking of hitters with the fracture somewhere in their hand, we had good news about Jeremy

Pena who had a fingertip fracture from I think it was fielding a ground ball early in camp.

He is good to go and is on the Astros opening day roster have not yet seen a lineup

for that first game, but if Jeremy Pena is good to go and is in the lineup,

that's great news for anybody who drafted him, but it's not very good news for anybody who drafted

Isaac Parades who doesn't seem to have a role with the Houston Astros right now.

Does Isaac Parades have a role on any fantasy teams or does he need to be dropped pretty much

everywhere except the deep ones? It's a hard question. Would Houston's facing right now,

especially after that Carlos Correa acquisition? It's the question we've kind of all been asking.

What happens, right? Is another injury come up? I think I'm not dropping Parades just because

third base is such a hard position after the the juggernaut tier to really hone in on and I think

if I have a bench position, I'm just going to have Parades there and I'm going to hope it figures

itself out. You'd have a Christian Walker injury, you could have Carlos Correa injury from the track

record. I'm just I'm holding on to Parades with with the understanding that I may need that

production either at my infield position or third base down the road. All right, so holding

Parades for now. One more injury situation to talk about here before we move on to some rookie

talk. That is the Angels bullpen. Suppose we could talk about the entire Angels pitching staff. They

picked up guys like Alec Manoa and Grayson Rodriguez and neither of whom will be even healthy

to start the season. But in the bullpen, there were up to five interesting options there. Ben

Joyce, Robert Stevenson out for quite some time and now curbiates also on the aisle with a knee

injury in his case left knee inflammation. So nothing too serious there, but that leaves the two

remaining options, at least the most obvious options as Jordan Romano and Drew Pomerance. Now,

of course, you could just wait to see who gets the first chance in the ninth inning and in leagues

with weekly pickups. Hopefully we'll see one of them get a save opportunity before Sunday night

and then we can throw all our fab money at them only to have them lose the job in a week or two. But

in situations where you can preempt the Angels actual decisions here, are you going to try to

pick up either of those two. Jordan Romano or Drew Pomerance, which way would you lean if you're

trying to predict the Angels closer? Yeah, I had a great litmus test for this. I have a 20 man that

went through with waivers this morning and then in my home league yesterday, which is 12 man. 12

man wasn't even a thought. I'm not even I'm not touching them too much risk to shallow. The 20 man

absolutely put in a bit for Romano. And I think it will be by committee. Pomerance over the last

few years has had a better track record. Romano over the course of the career has had a better track

record. So it's kind of what do you get out of each player this year? Which reversion are you

seeing? Now I have more faith in Pomerance, but I've seen that Romano is more available. So I

look up a couple claims and for Romano, I think Ben Joyce probably gets the opportunity once that

labor of injury is fully healed, but can he stay healthy? And then Robert Stevenson after coming

over from the race just a few years ago, signing that three year deal, he looked fantastic in the

second half before he came over. So there's a lot of questions, but I think Romano and Pomerance

probably get two, three saves each before the end of April. And again, you said it with the

pitching staff, how good is this team even going to be? I don't know, but you know, if you're playing

Roto, saves are crucial. You have to go out and at least make an attempt if there is a potential drop

on your team. Both those guys get two or three saves by the end of April. That means you're

projecting the angels to win at least four to six games this month. That might be a little high,

but we'll see. I should note that Romano is having the better spring. It was the same number of

walks of strikeouts for Pomerance, whereas Romano, he was six strikeouts, zero walks in six innings.

So at least if what you care about is the last couple weeks or so, maybe the righty Romano

who has more closer experience is the way to go. But I think the way to go for us right now is to

move on to the main topic of today's show, which is taking a look at every rookie on every opening day

roster should mention that we're recording this show after, of course, last night's opening night

game between the Yankees and Giants. So those opening day rosters are 100% official. Everything else

could change a little bit in the next hour or two. So if we end up talking about a fifth

outfielder who turns out to be a six outfielder in the minors, or if we miss a fifth outfielder

who we thought was going to be a six outfielder, there's going to be a couple fringe guys that we might

miss out on here. But we're pretty sure we have a good sense of nearly every rookie status at

this point, just a couple hours before opening day. We're going to take things division by division,

take a look at every rookie on every team and ask the question, should you add them now everywhere

that they're still available? Should you track them on the watch list? This is somebody who is,

you know, a real player, but not sure how many leagues we need to add them in yet? Or should we

forget them already? And you know what, Matt? I think we're going to throw the order of the

divisions off here. Everybody likes to go east central west, but let's get rid of some coastal

supremacy here and start in the AL central with the Cleveland Guardians who have a couple interesting

rookies here. Most notably, perhaps chased a lotter. Somebody who has really struggled to stay healthy,

this is a 16th overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft, but he's healthy now. It's coming off an

excellent spring, which he walked more than he struck out. He struck out just 9% of the time at a

1373 OPS in 14 games. We know Delodder has some serious durability concerns, but is he good enough

that he should be added pretty much everywhere, at least for as long as he can stay on the field?

Yes, I think absolutely so. And I mean, you talked about it, the spring numbers were great,

the battle ball in your line number was fantastic. You know, this could be a fantastic offensive

performer if we can just get the health out of him. And I think again, from an asset perspective,

we have to look at these individuals as what they can give us while they can give it to us and

then pivot where we have to. But Delodder should be added in almost all leagues, 10 men, I would still

be adding at 10 men. Yeah, I think he certainly was being drafted late in most deeper leagues,

but he's only, he's only added in a third of Yahoo leagues. So if you're playing in those 10 to 12

man leagues, that's a decent chance. Chase Delodder's out there. Again, might not last the season on

your roster, but there's certainly enough for him to be worth a look right now. There's another

pretty interesting rookie on this Cleveland roster. That is Parker Messick, who just barely holds

on to rookie eligibility here. And despite making seven starts last year in which he had a 272 ERA,

a 131 whip wasn't great. A little bit weird to see that number that high, given that his walk rate

was just 3.6%. Looks like mostly a babbit problem there. This is a lefty who doesn't throw very hard,

but throws a lot of pitches. That is not somebody who's a ace in most situations, but somebody who

looks like a pretty solid late rotation option, at least, how broad do you think Parker Messick's

fantasy appeal is? Is he an ad almost everywhere or not yet? I think absolutely almost everywhere. And

again, the 10 and 12s make it interesting, right? Because it gets into strategy. You mentioned

Messick's ability to limit the damage with walks. I love that. I think when you're streaming,

when you're looking at volume, that's really something that he looks at as an option where you can

minimize those ratios. But if you are looking for dominant strikeout performances and having those

types of players on your roster and maybe you're punting ERA and a whip, probably not the target for you.

But I do think there's going to be value there. He proved himself at the end of 2025. And that's

what I really like to see going into a new season is how long or how large is that leash going to

be? And I think he's going to have a lot of runway in Cleveland. All right. So pretty interested in

Parker Messick. There is one final rookie who is going to be on this Guardians opening day roster.

That is a rule five pick. Peyton Palette looks like just a low leverage reliever though. And we might

even skip some of these by the end of the show depending on timing. But just wanted to give you a

minute. If you know anything about Peyton Palette and his worth keeping track of even in deeper

leagues, let us know. Otherwise, we'll forget about him as soon as the segment ends.

Yeah, I would say there's maybe one rule five guy that I'm excited about. But Peyton

Palette is not necessarily. So we'll say forget for now.

All right. Keep an eye on him in your 32 team leagues or something like that. But moving on to

the next team here, that is the Kansas City Royals who have a very exciting rookie catcher.

Still just barely eligible as well here. Carter Jensen got into 20 games late last season showed

us a 941 OPS three homers as well. There was a lot of hype for Carter Jensen certainly in deeper

leagues this season is he also even a one catcher league 12 team sort of add or in those formats

is he still just somebody to keep track of and add if he has a hot April.

I want to say yes to the 12 team question that you just raised. And that that's just the

prospector in me because the power numbers are fantastic. The performance he gave us in 2025

was exciting. I mean, the power is prodigious. And I think personally, I would be taking a risk.

I think for me, it would be him or Francesco Alvarez is probably the fair comparison in a 12

man. And I think I would actually lean Jensen just knowing that Alvarez hasn't really shown us

a large enough sample size. So again, if you want to be aggressive, if you're shooting for some

of these chips that may pan out absolutely. But again, I think also evaluating what does the

waiver wire look like? What could it look like in three weeks when you may need to bail on Jensen

because he'd be there playing time or just the adjustments were made by the pitchers and haven't

been made yet by him because he is young. But I think all of the underlying data says that we

may have another catcher that's running for rookie of the year this time in the American league.

Different profile than Baldwin was last year though. Baldwin all around, I mean, Jensen's

tools will be lab by his power. And we're feeling pretty good about the pathway to playing time,

even on a team with Salvador Perez. This looks like a team that's just going to start two catchers

most games with one of them at D.H. Right? Yeah, I think Salvador will probably see more time at D.H.

as, you know, as we've seen in the past couple of years, like they are slowly starting to

understand that, you know, he's a leadership role. We saw him at the WBC. I expect Jensen to catch

I would say 80 to 90 games this season as Perez takes more of that veteran D.H. role. But, you

know, playing time for me is not necessarily concerned. It would just be injury if we were to

limit his playing time. All right, moving on to the next team here. That's the Detroit Tigers who

have the most exciting rookie on any opening day roster. I think we can say that Connor Griffin

of the Pirates is not here just yet. Kevin McGonagall, the number two prospect here at Rotawire

in not much lower than that anywhere else that I've seen. McGonagall, somebody who the Tigers

didn't reveal was actually going to be on the roster until just today or two ago.

Just 21 years old has never played Triple A, but a very excellent well-rounded skill set

led by a phenomenal hit tool. Somebody who walked more than he struck out in every minor league season.

Is this somebody who despite his youth and despite his lack of high level minors experience needs

to be added in every format right away? This was on a hard one because from a prospecting

perspective, everyone loves McGonagall. You know, they think all stars absolutely in the future.

The question is, is Superstar in really the package here? I think that will be with developing

power. And we saw some unbelievable exit velocities this spring from McGonagall. That showed that

there could be upside for 20, maybe even potentially in a prime year 30 home runs. My question for

2026 is, does that power come quick enough? I think you absolutely have to add him because you can't

miss out. But from a, is he my starting shortstop in Shallower leagues? No. More or less a utility,

maybe an infielder with the hope that I'm going to be able to tap into some of that power.

And I would say especially too early in the year, we have to be mindful. April and May in Detroit,

especially the AL Central. It's cold. We go over this every single year. You can really get

discouraged at the lack of power production. So be mindful of that. But McGonagall, just

from the category perspective, absolutely. Just temper the expectations, everyone that's listening

that, you know, he is going to be more of a runs average on base. Now, and I think RBI's will be

there as well. The power I do just have some question because of where he plays and because of the

youth. Yeah, I'm looking at some of the projections for him. The most optimistic I'm seeing is

oopsie, which has him for 18 homers, 11 steals and a 252 average in 126 games or something like that

might not actually move the needle in those Shallower leagues, but it's because what if he does

put it all together right away that I think you do have to add him anywhere you can, right?

Yeah, I mean, this is the hard thing. You can project some of these players coming up to have

more power than they actually produce. I even think of what Roman Anthony did last year. I think

we expected a little bit more power out of Rome than what we got. And then you can project some

of these other guys that are more contact oriented to not necessarily produce power for you. And

all of a sudden, you know, you've got a guy that has 18 homeruns and that was something that you

just didn't project and had you been able to hold on to that with all of the counting stats and

potentially the speed. It's an asset. So McGonagall is absolutely, if he's the last guy in your

bench, you're in a really good spot. For sure, there's one other rookie on this Tigers roster,

but I don't think we need to spend more than five seconds on him in Manuel de Jesus, the 29-year-old

lefty who spent the last couple years in Korea has won a bullpen spot, but I don't even think we

need to remember his name. I'd highly doubt that he's even going to work his way into the fifth

starter picture here, right? Yep, yep, we can we can forget that one. All right, moving on to the

twins. Why did the twins have no prominent rookies on this roster for a team that's very clearly

rebuilding? There's a couple relievers here, Cody Lawerson and Zach Kent, anything with either of

these guys are to remove one of the white songs. Yeah, no, we can we can pass. They have they have

a couple guys that just missed eligibility, like Macabal, but yeah, the both of these we we can

forget. Yeah, some guys who are in their second year, some guys who will come up this year and be

relevant, but not the topic of today's show. So moving over to the white socks who have one of the

bigger name rookies this season, not somebody who you would have been tracking coming up through the

minors though, Matt Munataka Murakami, who was one of the stars in Japan, one of the best power

hitters all time in that country, I believe he has the most home runs by a Japanese born player in

an MVP season hit 56 back in 2022. Since then, the strikeout rate has gone from the low 20s to

the high 20s, and that's against NPV pitchers, not MLV pitchers, but is there enough power ceiling

here that even in those shallower formats, you've got to add Munataka Murakami, just in case it

works out, or are you so worried about the swing and miss that you'd let him be someone else's

problem in almost every league? No, I'm in, and I've been in for a number of years. I try and

keep up with at least the upper and echelon talent from Japan, just because you can have moments

like this where, you know, where the industry takes on to a very real concern, but that very real

concern for me hasn't been necessarily proven in major league data and variables, and I say that in

regards to the simple idea that we heard of Vinnie Pasquintino last year talk about how an increase

in bat speed actually made it more challenging for him to hit at the plate, and I thought that was

really interesting. You have a great talent at the major league level now in Vinnie Pasquintino that

came out and just outright said, hey, Tweet to my mechanics made it more difficult. Well,

Murakami has great bat speed. He has a perdigious power. I have the feeling that yes, the K-Rate

will be high, but actually being exposed to major league talent should help him at least over the

course of the season slowly bring that K-Rate down as he makes this transition. And I think as we

talked about with such a crop at the top of third base, trying to take a shot where you could get a

top five third baseman or a top ten third baseman outside of that group. Murakami is the perfect,

the perfect target. If we get Kyle Schwarber out of Murakami, everyone's over the moon. Will he

give us that in 2026? I doubt it, but there is a chance. So I'm in on Murakami. He's a third

baseman and starting third baseman, the number of my deeper leagues. And I think if he's on the

waiver wire, you absolutely have to go grab him. Yeah, I've been wondering if we might get one of

those, you know, 200 batting average Kyle Schwarber seasons out of Murakami, but you know what,

some of those were still actually pretty useful. It depends on your format a bit there. If you're in

an OBP league, for example, maybe it's not going to quite bottom out in that category. So high

ceiling still, even if the floor is very low, pretty interested still in Murakami. There's one other

offensive rookie on this team Tristan Peters, a 26 year old who's won a bench outfield spot,

anything at all here with him or a C1, we can quickly move on from. Yeah, I think we can move on

pretty quickly on that one. All right, can we also move on from Jettics and Piaz? Is this,

was this the rule five pick you care about or now? No, no, but I do think it's interesting to get

the promotion from where he's played in the minor leagues. Interested to see what Chicago does this

season, you know, some of these pieces we look back, I think, on a conversation on the A's last

year, same concept when you start to have opportunity. Sometimes you can be surprised, but I think

Murakami is our only target for the white socks. All right, that sounds right to me moving from

the AL central to the AL East. We have another top Japanese third baseman. This is one who will actually

be sticking out third base probably, although maybe even making some appearances in the outfield,

that's Kazuma Okamoto, who has a much more well rounded skill set. Well, a little bit more well

rounded. There's not somebody who runs, not somebody who's an elite defender, but it is at least

somebody who has both contact and power. Okamoto's numbers in Japan look kind of say a Suzuki-ish to me,

which I think means he projects pretty well to be a pretty solid player in just about every

format, even if he's not going to be a star in those shallow leagues. Is that a read you'd have on

Okamoto or are you a little bit more worried? No, I think I think you nailed it and especially for

dynasty. First year player drafts, this was a conversation with Murakami Okamoto. You knew with Okamoto,

you were likely going to keep third base eligibility and three or four year age difference if I remember

correctly between the two, but that was a big selling point. Better lineup as well, better organization,

at least from recent history, and the power, while it's not as per digits of Murakami, it's still

very, very good. So Okamoto absolutely should be in all leagues roster, even Yahu, as we've kind of

known from an industry, it usually tends a little shallower, but Okamoto should be 100% rostered.

Alright, I can agree with you there. We're not going to talk about many or any other guys who are

on the IEL, maybe one, but I do want to mention Trey a savage here because he definitely would have

been part of the Blue Jays rotation if healthy. It looked for a bit like he was just being slow

played in camp because of course the Blue Jays went all the way to the World Series, which is not

necessarily something you plan on. At the start of last season, your savage may be through more

innings than intended, but then it turns out he actually is dealing with a shoulder impingement,

we haven't seen the word strain attached to this, so probably nothing too serious for Trey a savage,

but you see somebody you've got to hold on to everywhere is the potential high enough that

this is a definite hold, even in the shallower format.

I think this one's hard because it just depends on how many IEL spots you have. If it's an FPC,

you're putting a hard spot here, if it's again a shallow 10 or 12 without IEL spots, it's difficult,

but if we look at all the IEL guys from Corbin Burns to Cole, I mean Cole probably is still number one

for me, but the savages then would probably be number two, I just do not like shoulder impingements.

You said it, it could be nothing, but shoulder impingements could also be, hey, there's slight

labor of damage that is also causing the impingements, and I think with his usage at the end of last

year, that's kind of paired with the impingement of big concern for me. While I'm going to do everything

I can to hold him, I'm also mindful that this could turn into something worse than it currently is,

it could also be nothing, it could be them trying to give him a little time after they stretched

him out into October. So when we saw you savage put on an unbelievable performance in the postseason,

you got to try to hold on to that and hope that you get some of that early this season, but again,

be mindful that this could be a little bit more without the details having surfaced yet.

Yeah, I think that makes sense to me, so definitely hold for now, but if things keep

trending in the wrong direction, that would not be a huge surprise. Unfortunately with Trey Savage,

there is also a rule five pick here who has made the team Spencer Myles. Looks like he'll be

pitching out of the bullpen for now. They jumped him straight from complex ball. I don't know much

about Spencer Myles. Do I need to know anything about Spencer Myles?

I don't know much about Spencer Myles either, but what I will say is this bullpen is not nearly

assured up as you would think a team coming off a World Series run, and for that simple fact,

I view it as opportunity. So a kid that's being taken in the rule five, 25 years old, I mean,

it doesn't just doesn't have anything that really jumps off the page at you, but again,

opportunity Garcia is still out of time correct. A lot of these guys were taxed with that postseason

run. It could just be they need the volume and they need an arm that they can throw out there,

but this would have to be a 30 man league outside of 30 man. I'm probably not interested.

Yeah, somebody who's dealt with injuries for most of the most his whole pro career really

picked in 2022 made it five appearances that year made five more in 2024, and that's it.

So don't think we need to linger on Spencer Myles. We should certainly linger, though, on this next

guy, Samuel Bessio is our top rookie here with the Orioles and somebody who has the potential to be a

rookie of the year candidate. I would say in the American League, not a great defender, but

should be more than good enough with the bat to earn regular playing time at DH, and occasionally

some starts behind the plate as Adley Rutchman's back up. I see that he's less than 50% owned on

Yahoo, which of course there's a lot of 12 team maybe even shallower one country leagues there,

but we talked about Carter Jensen already as somebody who is at the very worst on the borderline

of those one catcher leagues is Samuel Bessio ahead of Carter Jensen for you?

This is an interesting one because yes, he is, but I would not be surprised at the end of 2026 if

Carter Jensen puts together a better season campaign than Bessio, and I think it just comes down

to momentum. Carter Jensen over the last six, eight months has skyrocketed through the prospect ranks.

A lot of us that liked him saw the increase in exit velocity even at a higher level that got

exciting. Bessio's always had the prodigious power. He's had good zone contact and good contact

rates overall in the minor leagues, too, where data is reported, and as you said, playing time will

be there. So I'm still taking Bessio in its 12 catcher league. I am starting Bessio as a catcher.

I'm very comfortable with that, but again, I think this is just one of those things when we could

look back and say, wow, Jensen, put together a better season, but if that happens, I think they both

have great seasons. It would be cool to see them kind of fight it out for a rookie of the year.

And you know, question would be then in 2027, did we get enough position appearances from Bessio

to be a catcher? I think we will. I think you're right. I think he'll be just enough of a backup

to maintain catcher eligibility. Yeah, and if he doesn't, we still might be drafting him fairly

early. This is the guy who was one of the best hitters in all of AAA last year, a 966 OPS, 23

homers in 76 games at age 20. The age to level gives you an extra boost for Samuel Bessio.

Makes me pretty confident in him long term and competent enough in him short term as well.

There is one other rookie in the Orioles offense just barely here, till in beavers,

got into 35 games last year, but I believe he holds under his rookie eligibility by about a day.

It was a productive overall batting line for Beaver's last year, but driven mostly by a 19 percent

walk rate. Only hit 227 didn't have huge power or anything either. Is Dylan Beaver's for deeper

leagues though? Still somebody who needs to be owned everywhere? Or is he more of a keep track of

this guy? See what the playing time looks like kind of situation? I think deeper leagues,

depending on how many roster spots you could have him with kind of the hopes of using a roster spot

as is kind of a watch on position. The problem in Baltimore after the Grayson Rodriguez trade is

they're clearly all in on this current outfielder of Couser O'Neill and then Ward, but we've had

injuries year after year from Tyler O'Neill, right? So there could be an opportunity, and again,

this is one of the better lineups in baseball. Once Jackson Holiday comes back, if Westburg comes

back, even without those guys strong lineups. So I think 15 to 20 man leagues, if you have the

ability to roster beavers in a deeper outfield format, absolutely. But 10 in 12s, I just don't

think there's the space in my concern with the playing time. I don't like to project injuries.

As much as O'Neill concerns me, I think you could be holding the bag on Dylan Beaver's for a month

and they have to drop him anyways. Well, there are a lot of other speculative ads, especially

for pitchers that could probably benefit you early. All right. So a tricky situation, Dylan Beaver's

but a talented player who you should try to add if you have the luxury of being able to afford to

wait and see how that situation's going. There's one other rookie who will be on the Orioles opening

day roster. Anthony Nunez looks like just a reliever here for his entire minor league career. Did have

some pretty good strikeout stuff in the minors last year, but I don't think that we need to keep an

eye on him really, I guess, theoretically, if the Orioles bullpen blows up, but even then they're

not going to give the job to a rookie, are they? Well, no, I am not necessarily concerned about him

at the moment. And I have confidence in Hellsley this year, but another bullpen, where who's the

next man up, you know, can know would likely be that guy, but we thought that as well after

Bautista's injuries over the last couple of years. So no, not right now, deeper leagues, you always

have to monitor these bullpen's where they're shallow, high in depth, and there's concern with either

health or production from the closer, but they gave Hellsley money. I like when the money talks.

All right. Moving on to the rays who have one rookie on their opening day roster here in Carson

Williams, a shortstop who might not be able to hit. Is that a fair summary of Carson Williams,

he can field, and he does have some power if he does ever happen to make contact, but he hit

172 in his 32 game debut last year, and I'm seeing the projections call for at best 219, his Carson

Williams even worth owning in deeper leagues, or is this at best track him and see if he can keep

these straightouts down? Yeah, Carson Williams has been in the prospecting world. You're either in

or you're out, and I've been out for quite a while because of what you just said, the hit tool just

isn't even remotely close to the athletic ability, the power, the defensive skill set that he adds.

He just to me hasn't been a guy that I target for fantasy, and I think you got to just track

and see if some of those zone contact numbers can start to climb up a little bit, if the chase

can go down, but as of right now, he has, I feel like two or three major league development years

before we're talking about him as a power speed candidate that doesn't just crush you in other

categories. All right, so at most keep an eye on Carson Williams pretty much everywhere, moving

on then to the Boston Red Sox, who thankfully have one very exciting rookie who has indeed made

not just the opening day roster, but the opening day rotation, Connolly Early, somebody who showed us

what he could do in four starts last year, a 37% strikeout rate to go with a 5% walk rate,

both of which were better numbers that he produced at any level in the minors, although his

minor league track record is quite good as well. It looked like with the Red Sox adding a bunch of

veterans that the plan would be for early to be stuck in the minors for frustratingly long, so

I unfortunately stopped drafting him after I was drafting him in some very early gladiators and

draft champions leagues and that sort of thing, but Connolly Early is here. I guess questions about

whether or not he holds on to the role, one selects of Patrick Sandivall, Cutter Crawford,

Get Healthy, theoretically Johan Oviato could move back into the rotation, but is Connolly early,

somebody who needs to be added basically in every league right away looks like he's just under

60% owned in those Yahoo leagues. Yeah, I think you're going to get some early season production out

of him and the thing you nailed, the question is just how long? If he comes out and gives that

production early, that's just going to extend the leash, but you mentioned there's a number of names

in Oviato while having a bad final start of spring training was looking good and he's a player that

I've been tracking coming after Tommy John where there could be break up potential there. Red Sox in

a good position, also fantasy managers not in a great position there, but I think early needs to

be added, you need to see what kind of production you can get out of him in the first two, three,

four weeks. Oviato probably would have to really dominate in the bullpen in order for a switch to

be made, but I'm big on Connolly early, like you were, I just didn't expect for him to get the job

out of spring training. I thought it would be totally if it was either of them. Yeah, nice to have a

pleasant surprise on the prospect promotion front. Don't get too many of those, but maybe we

get at least a few more these days following the new rules in incentivizing earlier call-ups.

There's one other rookie on this roster, but it's another Rule 5 pick, a 28-year-old reliever,

Ryan Watson, anything here do we move on to the Yankees? Yeah, Yankees up. And we might move pretty

quickly past the Yankees who don't have any prime rookies here, also have a Rule 5 reliever,

Cade Windquest. We skip right through him as well. Yeah, we can skip through that one as well.

All right, which means we're about to get to the AL West right after this message from

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until Lamar Show sends you. And welcome back to the rotawire fantasy baseball podcast,

air culture in here with Matt Morris looking at every rookie who has made an opening day roster.

We've discussed the AL Central and East moving on to the AL West now starting with the angels

who have Ryan Johnson as their top rookie here, somebody who has made the opening day roster and

looks like the opening day rotation as well, not necessarily a premium prospect as Ryan

Johnson, but is it interesting enough to at least be added in deeper formats?

Yes, I think I think that's spot on Team Context. Team Context hurts him in shallow

leagues and I think just the lack of pedigree that we haven't seen because he's an angel and they

tend to push these guys. Interesting delivery for those of us that have seen him. They think that

will be something that's talked about quite a bit. Could see some positive strikeout numbers here,

but for a lot of the shallow leagues, I'm just keeping an eye for deep leagues, any healthy arm,

especially one that has a job is worth rostering. But Johnson's going to be interesting. I'm going to

be watching him throughout the season and just seeing what the angels can get out of that profile.

Yes, somebody who was picked just in 2024. It looks like he did not pitch in any professional games

that year, but already last year made the big leagues as a reliever. I did not look good at all.

736 IRA 198 whip, but that's a tiny handful of 14 appearances in again his first professional

season, so there could still be something more there. Is there anything with Walbert Eurena,

a relief prospect who I've actually seen some people talking about? We mentioned the

angels bullpen at the start of the show. It's a mess back there. It's Walbert Eurena worth

at least putting on a watch list in deeper leagues. You see the kind of pitcher who could move to

the back of the bullpen right away in his rookie season. I would say no. I think watch list

again, 30 man, which I'm in a few of. You've got to take some shots, especially if you're a team

that that struggles with holds. I don't think saves are in the equation this year. Just because you

can project Stevens and eventually to come back and enjoy as well. All right, moving on to the

Astros who have Bryce Matthews as their top rookie. No, not their top rookie. Their top rookie

on the offensive side. We'll get through a couple of pictures in a minute. Bryce Matthews,

somebody we saw for a little bit at the Major League level last year did not do anything really

in 13 games, the 674 OPS, but was a pretty talked about prospect before that. Don't see any role

that would suggest that he should be added now, but is Bryce Matthews at least a watch list guy

in a lot of formats? Yes and no. For me, I see a lot of Brooks Lee here. Hasn't been a bad

minor league career by any means, but I just don't see any skills that jump off the page at a very

deep position, being shortstopper or infield that says I need to be watching him, especially with

some of the names that we've talked about from the rookie ranks, Griff and McGonagall. They're

just rosters. I'd rather utilize for those players, but it also kind of pairs in with the

Paradees conversation. There's not the playing time necessarily that you're looking for,

but he has he's overproduced in the minor leagues beyond what I expected and those type of players

I like to watch because it just might mean I was wrong with my evaluation coming out of the draft.

Oh, right. In the pitching side of things, the Astros have a couple interesting rookies here,

one of whom Tetsuya and I is the third prominent Japanese pitcher coming over or sorry, Japanese

player after the 2-3rd Basin. We talked about earlier in the show Murakami and Okamoto to Tetsuya

and my somebody who had control problems throughout much of his time in Japan, but finally got

that walk rate down to 7 percent last year, which makes him look like a pretty well-rounded

interesting pitcher if you can hold on to those games. Tetsuya, am I, do you view him as an all

formats type of starter or certainly deep leagues, but merely watch list everywhere else for now?

Yeah, I think all formats at this point. We trust the Houston organization with pitching

a lot. A lot of people really believe those straggled to walk gains are going to continue.

And again, we saw with a number of the pitchers over the last few years that have come over from

Japan, there's good production right away. And in my while he's not Yamamoto, can you get

good production? Absolutely. And I think even tentingly, this is a guy that falls easily within

the top 40 pitchers. We're probably going to see around a top 30 SP from in my this year.

The big question will be how much of that reverse slider that everyone's thrown around really

gets whiff. But again, I think a guy that is going to really help your ERA and should help the

whip if you can keep that control in line. How is it getting confused when people talk about a

reverse slider? It sounds to me just like a bad slider that doesn't move very much, but apparently

there's something to it that gyro slider that more guys are throwing recently. There is one

other starter coming over from Asia on this Astros opening gay roster. That's Ryan Weiss.

Somebody who started his career over here, state side with the diamond backs and a little bit with

the royals never actually broke through the major league level. Then headed over to KBO for a

couple seasons where he was good both years, particularly last year, 287 ERA 102 whip, 29 percent

strikeout rate for Ryan Weiss. Looks like he is probably going to be a long reliever though to

start the season, which means kind of hard to add him. Even in deeper leagues is Ryan Weiss,

at least somebody who should be on your watch list, though. For me, deeper leagues. Just because

Houston Houston's rotation is not what it was even just a few years ago, but I would say probably

20 men and above for Ryan Weiss. I just don't have a lot of faith with players coming over from

the KBO. I think any players that we have this season that are making the transition back if we were

to rank them. Cody Ponce is probably my number one, but Cody Ponce was also given a bunch of money

and has a job. For the rest, I have skepticism and it's just because of track record and stuff

at the end of the day. Cody Ponce's stuff looks really good. I haven't been able to break down

Ryan Weiss' stuff, but if they're going to put them in a long relief role, I think they

themselves need to see a little bit more as well. But again, you know, pictures are an asset. I

think deeper leagues, you've got to keep an eye if an opportunity opens up, and especially if he

can pitch well with good ratios in April. Yeah, and with Lance McCuller's ahead of him in the

rotation, there certainly could be an opening sooner rather than later, although that opening

might not go to Ryan Weiss, it could also go to AJ Bluebaugh, another rookie who has made the

opening day roster for the Astros. They started in the minors. I made three starts and eight relief

appearances last year. Can't really get behind adding him anywhere right now while he's just

a long reliever, but is he somebody whose name we should at least remember in case he does get a

job? I think if I were to break down their depth try to, I think he probably gets the opportunity

over Weiss first. Now, I don't work for the Astros, but that would just be how I'm rationalizing

it in my mind. And again, unless it's a really deep league, I don't have a ton of interest.

But again, things change quickly. You know, volume is important, especially based off some of our

builds. But yeah, both of these players kind of put them in your queue is just keep your eye on

them. And again, if an injury happens, as you mentioned with McCuller's, someone's going to take

the role. So not as not as interested, but always always keeping an eye out. All right, moving on

to the rest of the AL West, where there are not very many rookies here. Somehow, I'm not seeing

any on the A's roster. That doesn't seem right. That's a team that should be bringing through young

talent. But I guess they did that last year. Probably will do it later this season, not on the opening

day roster here. The Mariners also not seeing any rookies, although this is a competitive team. That's

a little bit less was surprised. And the Rangers barely have anything. They have one rule five pick,

Carter Bomler. It's going to be opening in the bullpen. Is he the rule five pick you care about?

Or no? Yes. And it's more or less for the story and because the bullpen's an absolute mess. I

talked about momentum a little bit earlier. We like stories in baseball, right? That's kind of the

history behind it. You know, him getting the announcement that he'll make the team on the mound was

an awesome. It was just an awesome clip going around social media. Now I don't think he's good

going to be in line for saves. Maybe at all in 2026. I do think the profile looks good. You could

get good ratios and good K's out of this individual. And again, with a poor bullpen, if you're a guy

that continues to put a production, he may be pushed seven eight. Now again, I don't know that

he'll be pushed into the ninth early in the season. But I think there's a chance you could get some

saves later in the season. Again, it has to be a much deeper league 20 or 30, probably the only

places that I'm targeting him for a roster right now, shallower leagues. You're just going to keep

your eye on a day for the story and be maybe there's some production. But deeper leagues, you could

have a return on that investment as the season goes on. All right. So remember Carter Boundler's name.

I hope I'm pronouncing it right. If I'm telling you to remember it over some of these other

rule five picks, but moving on to the national league, where we're again going to be Midwest first

here. Let's start with the central to these divisions in alphabetical order. That's the order

everybody should be going here. We're going to start with the brewers who have one rookie on their

opening day roster. And it's somebody who I've heard a lot of good things about, but don't totally

know what to make of. Brandon Sprote came over from the Metz in the Freddie Peralta trade. Now Sprote

was a pretty good prospect before last season. And then really wasn't very good at the triple A

level showed us something in four starts in the majors, but not a lot. Ever since he's moved to

the brewers, though, people just can't stop talking about this guy. It seems like a lot of buzz

is that just because we like the brewers pitching coaches and we figure anybody who goes there

is pretty interesting or have we actually seen something from Brandon Sprote, which says, no,

you need to get him now before he has a couple good starts and it's too late.

Good fastball. You know, we'll say a little bit above plush secondaries. The way I think the

best way to articulate this is I see a more stuff talent with Sprote than I saw with Priester.

And we saw it with Milwaukee deal with Priester. And I think you hit it right in the head there,

because everyone in the industry now knows what Milwaukee can do with just really

working on pitch sequencing and tunneling. And really telling pitchers, hey, this isn't working.

You're not using it. We saw that with Kyle Harrison's cutter just this past week. They just

kind of threw it in the trash, trash heap and said, no, it's getting hit. Like, let's lean on

other pitches. So I do think it's more or less of the industry understanding Milwaukee just has

magic in their bag. But I like Sprote a lot. I mean, what he did in double A before he tailed off

in 2024 was really impressive. And then the prospect pedigree started to fade a little bit,

because he ran into trouble. But pitcher growth isn't always linear. I mean, prospect growth isn't

always linear. And Sprote and Milwaukee, I think we could have some really good starts out of

them. The question is that they've got a lot of guys. And how do they want to control those

innings? Because a number of them are either young or haven't had a high uptick in those innings

ratios from a year to year basis. So you've got Sprote, Harrison, you've got Gasser in the minor

leagues. You've got a few other guys that we could mention as well. But I think Sprote absolutely

needs to be added 12 or higher team 12 12 league or higher manager leagues. 10 is a question

just because I don't think we're going to get a lot of quality starts out of Sprote. I see a lot of

five five and a third performance is from him, especially with that bullpen. But definitely,

there is some strike out appeal here with that fastball. All right. So go grab Brandon Sprote anywhere

where you can, except for those particularly shallow leagues. I imagine that there aren't going

to be many leagues where this next guy is still available at all, JJ Weatherhold of the Cardinals,

one of the top prospects in baseball and somebody who unlike Kevin McGonagall, it's been clear

that JJ Weatherhold is going to be on the opening day roster for at least a few weeks now.

And not only is he on the opening day roster, JJ Weatherhold is batting lead off on opening day

for the Cardinals. It might say something about the Cardinals that they're turning to a rookie

as their lead off man right away. But it also, I would imagine, says quite a lot about JJ Weatherhold.

If you happen to be in one of those rare 10 to 12 teamers where JJ Weatherhold is still out there,

you got to go at it, right? This is somebody who's going to make an impact right away.

Yeah. Weatherhold's fantastic. And I just want to remind everyone, Weatherhold and Nick

Courts were going into the 2024 season, if I'm correct, or 2023 season as the one to potential.

Courts has shown us at the Major League level what he can do.

Malbizana and Weatherhold are still just trying to make their debut, which Weatherhold will.

And I think Weatherhold was, he was my favorite player in that class before we had the collegiate

year. We're not going to see Nick Courts kind of power, but we have an all around game here.

And a great ability to take a walk. He is a hitter at his core. And I think especially in

Yahoo leagues, you get second, third and shortstop eligibility. Even if you're not going to get a

superstar starter here, you're going to get a guy in daily leagues that can come in and play almost

any in field position and really help your OBP. He went for $24 and a 260 auction just a few days

ago with me. And I thought that was pretty ridiculous. But when you put all of those things on paper,

this is a really, really good player. And I think you can probably project numbers similar to

why Langford has done over the last couple of years, maybe a little bit less power from an

infield position. And then that's just an absolute steal. So Weatherhold's a guy that I absolutely

love, the vibe to choose between Weatherhold and McGonagall. I'm choosing Weatherhold.

All right. Is that mostly because he's a little bit more ready? He's two years older and has

already played at AAA. I've seen most people would give McGonagall the higher ceiling in a few years.

Yes. I think it's, I think it's arguable. At least from my perspective, but it's because what we

saw collegently at West Virginia, I mean, Weatherhold was just, he was the best player in college

until Bizzana came out and just had an absolutely electric here. I think Weatherhold and

McGonagall are going to have interesting parallels throughout their career. And the question will be

who taps into more power. I think right now we've seen McGonagall get into some higher EVs from Max.

But Weatherhold is, he has the opportunity and it just really depends on again environments and

then development. But Weatherhold is a little bit older and has had that college pedigree. So I think

from a will he produce right away perspective, I believe so. All right. We got another rookie in the

opening day lineup for the Cardinals Nathan Church, an outfielder who just barely holds on to

rookie eligibility played in 27 games last year. Did very little in the May 504 OPS. Doesn't look

to me like somebody who has any interest in shallower leagues, but in at least a 15 team mix league

is Nathan Church going to do enough for this playing time that he should be added?

I would say unless you're in a really bad spot, no. You can keep an eye on it, but

the Cardinals are in a transition year this year. We all know that. They finally committed to it.

Could church surprise us? Absolutely, but you have Joshua Baez as well. We'll talk about later

who's played very well. So I think you have to perform in that outfield otherwise they're going to

churn until they can find a good rhythm and a good set of starters what they feel they can develop on.

All right. So nothing too exciting there. And I think we can probably skip over Matt Pushard,

a rule five pick and move on to a pushard, a rule five reliever here as well. Move on to the Cubs

who have another bat first catcher who may or may not be a catcher. We've talked about

some well Bessio earlier in the show Moises by Astero's not quite that level of talent,

but a pretty interesting that on this young backstop Moises by Astero's now in NFBC leagues is

only coming in with DH eligibility because he played in 20 games last year. 18 of which came at DH

and he caught once if you're lucky enough to have by Astero's as a catcher eligibility player in

other formats probably becomes more interesting. Not sure exactly what to do with this guy though

because of the eligibility questions some playing time concerns as well, but what's the sort of

floor and ceiling are you seeing from Moises by Astero's who really showed quite a good bat.

It's just a 21 year old at AAA last year. I think it might have been you know,

Sarah's over the last couple of weeks. It was one of the industry heads that that had comped

by Astero's to potentially a Victor Martinez for those of us that remember Victor Martinez

the catcher for the Tigers for a number of years and I thought it was actually a really good

comparison bigger body guy that has good back control can get into some power will probably develop

more power as he goes on, but will probably be a linear career growth and the question you raised

was playing time and then position eligibility 15 team leagues. I just can't find a way to get

them on a roster because I can't lock up a DH position or a bench DH position without knowing

if there is going to be 100 games played and that will all depend on how the cops do and what kind

of production they get at a bio-stero's. They also have two good catchers as it stands today. So

right now I think we're I'm watching him unless we're talking dynasty leagues and just because I

cannot project a 2026 stat line that I have any confidence in and he holds again more of a roster

position where I may need some flexibility but long term I do like yeah yeah yeah I mean Victor

Martinez that's that's quite an encouraging comp and I understand where that one's coming from

so I am trying to get him on those deeply groasters and see if I can find a way for him to play

often enough for him to be worth holding on to but let's move on to the pirates who have a number

of rookies here a couple bench hitters I think we can say Nick York in the infield Billy Cook in the

Outfield are these guys even watchless guys in deeper leagues or they basically forget.

Nick York just with the last couple of years that we've seen watching there's just there could

be something there there could be a really nice month that you could swap in if there's playing time

opportunity cook not so much all right and then on the mound Baba Chandler we finally got to see

last year and we saw him so late that he actually is a rookie still this year uh Baba Chandler

is he somebody you'd expect to be worth starting even in shallower formats I know the deeper leagues

are all over him certainly and doubties can be available even in many shallower formats.

Yeah I think I think the deeper formats he just says it depends what your what your strategy is

again you got to be understanding that the whip may be a little bit higher and we've seen that

throughout his time we've seen absolute dominance and then we've seen him you know show the corners

of the plate and without ABS being full time that's going to hinder him a little bit but I'm really

looking for twenty twenty six for him to just come out and attack and I think the pirates are

probably going to give him that opportunity there's going to be a bigger leash and we talked about

him last year is a guy that you absolutely half the stash and that that burned a lot of us just

because he came up later than expected and then when he did come up the performance was on and off

but I think with Paul Skins with that pitching staff in general you have to take a risk on a guy

that has the arm talent the Baba Chandler has the next name is an interesting one. Yeah the next name

is Hunter Barco who is a starting pitching prospect who will be on the opening day roster but not

the opening day rotation is there enough upside with Barco that he's at least a watchless guy in

deeper leagues that you want to be adding as soon as there's a hint that he might move into that

starting side. No that's the hard that's the real hard question and you I think you phrased it

perfectly is like when do you add him I'm absolutely watching Barco I think personally from a

risk adverse perspective I want to see a couple major league starts out of him because I don't

expect for him to put up incredible ratios of the bullpen as a rookie but also at the same time if

you have a couple starts he's probably already picked up so I would say if you're if you're coming

into the end of April or mid-May and you're weak at pitching and Barco may have an opportunity

that's the moment to pounce but Jerry Jones coming back as well you know how does this rotation

shake out Barco does have the prospect pedigree at least to keep an eye on. Alright Hunter Barco

I named a no but his pathway to a relevant role this year might be a little tricky rounding out

the NL Central the Reds Sal Stewart is still actually available in a third of Yahoo leagues this

guy looks like he's going to hit the ground running and hit for power and maybe some average as

well snap him up yesterday if you can right. Yeah that's the funny thing right how many of those

leagues in Yahoo were were just abandoned leagues I always wonder that I always have that question

but yeah Sal Stewart should be 100% ownership playing time there we we feel confident in it

the Reds have have not given me confidence in recent years outside of L.A.

La Cruz for guaranteed playing time but Sal Stewart is a real real talent. Oh right there's

also a reliever here Jose Franco eat anything here that we care about I think we know it no

it's just currently. Alright moving on to the NL East where Didier Fuentes has made the Atlanta

roster to start the season is not going to be in the rotation but I've been adding him in

deeper leagues anyway just based on how exciting of a spring he's had and the fact that he was

a real prospect who shot through the system last year probably a little too quickly would you be

adding Didier Fuentes now and just keeping one the bench because there's enough upside that as soon

as he moves into that rotation it's going to be worth it or do you think he's maybe more of a

watchless guy. No I think you I think you nailed it I think Fuentes is probably one of the guys

that I'm willing to burn a bench spot on now and speculate and if there is someone that comes up

that surpasses him you know on my internal rankings I would be willing to drop if he hasn't

moved into the rotation but you mentioned age to level he was pushed very fast just like Smith

Shauver was and it didn't necessarily work out for Smith Shauver but we didn't we have not seen

a stretch of production from Smith Shauver against either higher end minor league town or major league

town that we saw this spring from Fuentes so I think there's absolutely opportunity and the injuries

are plentiful unfortunately for the Braves fans they all know they're there will likely be

opportunity sooner than later and if it's not Fuentes we have a couple of their names we can talk

about later to to keep an eye on all right up next the Marlins who have Owen Casey as they're

rookie on the opening day roster good for Casey to no longer be blocked in Chicago although I guess

he might have been starting an opening day with say a Suzuki hurt Casey somebody big power big swing

and miss as well which I think limits him to deeper leagues but are you adding him and starting

him in those deeper leagues or waiting and seeing I think depending on who you like how you

prioritize your roster in your draft he he absolutely can fill a bench outfield spot for you

especially if you're looking to tap into power I think we might be pleasantly surprised by the

average this season but you are going to have whiffs you know someone in the industry recently

he said hey he kind of looks like a Kyle Stauer's confidence like well that's fitting because they

played together but Stauer's is out too so I think from a playing time perspective you nailed it

he's got he's got runway this was the lead piece for the Cabrera deal and we know that teams like

to showcase their their landing asset when they trade a big player or a player that they could

project to be talented but yeah I think you're going to you're going to see the warts but we know

the warts so can you find a way to minimize that damage with the players around him in your roster

construction then absolutely and again outfield depth is is challenging to project

how does Owen Casey compare to the outfield rookie for the Mets Carson Bench who has made

the opening day roster should be in the opening day lineup for New York a different type of skill

set here much more well-rounded player and is he well-rounded in a way that's actually going to

lead to real fantasy value or is he not that appealing outside of deep performance that's interesting

I mean there's a there's kind of a brand in Nemo comparison here for Nemo Nemo's younger years

in Carson Bench well-rounded you know you could see 2020 average above the 250 mark my big question

for Bench to start the season is is he really ready to face premiere major league talent we kind

of saw that with Owen Casey last year the ups the downs right the real inability to to showcase

that talent because he's now facing another level of talent I think Bench as the season goes on

will be a player that is widely rostered and probably started for consistency but oddly enough

in April I might be putting my chips on Casey's production over Bench just because I do expect some

some acclimation to take place for Bench and to get him real comfortable at the major league level

much better lineup though all right should we move on to the Metz best rookie maybe the best

rookie in all of baseball potentially Nolan McLean I don't think you're gonna find many leagues where

Nolan McLean is not owned so I guess the real question is are we ready to anoint Nolan McLean

right away as somebody who you are basically unquestionably using in every single one of his

starts or is there still a little bit of hesitancy against some tougher opponents no I think at

this point we just the industry is all in the same page for the most part Nolan McLean I think

he's pushed into the top 20 top 15 SP and drafts for most for most leagues and you know there's

going to be a lack of dominance at times this is not Paul schemes but this is an incredible rookie

the former two-way player that I have confidence in the health of the arm and in a very exciting right

coming out of the WBC a guy that was shown multiple times to be able to go out and perform at a

high level so looking at McLean as a potential front runner for a rookie of the year most definitely

yes sounds right to me another team with no rookies despite being one of the worst teams in

baseball the nationals I'm not seeing any rookies on their opening day roster so we'll skip right

past them go to the Phillies who have a team full of 33-year-olds plus two pretty interesting rookies

here starting with Justin Crawford who has been rapidly pushed up the board in those deeper formats

not going to be able to add him pretty much anywhere in an NFBC league but I see he's only 22% owned

over in Yahoo three outfielder 12 team leagues of course you do have to meet a higher threshold

it's Justin Crawford going to meet that threshold in basically every format that you should go

out and add him now or you should just keep him on the watch list in those shallower formats

I think you just said it perfectly if we could compare Benji and Crawford in a Yahoo format

three outfielder league it's like who do you who do you want to roster on that bench or maybe

as your third outfielder if you prioritize everything else I think the stolen bases we're going to get

from Crawford paired with projectable contact it would be my choice the question is is there

power in 2026 is there power without throughout the career we saw it with his father it did develop

but that's you know we don't want to go down that road I do like Crawford I love the fact that we

have a you know a world series caliber roster around him and it's just 12 man three outfielder's

I think I'm just constantly keeping my eye on the on the waiver wire and deciding if it's time

to pick up Crawford yeah not somebody who's going to hit many power head for many homers I should say

it just turns every opposing pitcher into Framber Valdez one of the highest ground ball rates in

baseball but it's actually hard contact so I think you're going to get a pretty decent average with

Justin Crawford the Phillies other rookie here is Andrew painter who was the sort of pitching

prospect who was getting Justin Verland or comps a few years ago and then he had to get Tommy

John surgery missed a couple seasons and then he was not very good in the minors in his first year

back but he's just been handed a rotation spot after a spring in which he had a good ERA and whip

but only struck out 19% of opposing batters do we need to add Andrew painter in the shallower

leagues just in case it all works out are you willing to let him sit on the wire for a little bit

until you see a few good starts I'm hanging on to the belief Eric yes at him I think I really

believe that it's just a matter of time he has taken a little bit longer than what we project

for guys coming off Tommy John to regain their form and it's a little discouraging because of his

age but my big concern is what happens when Zach Wheeler returns we are lucky enough to hopefully

see Zach Wheeler sooner than we expected painter would be the logical choice to get the bump

out of the rotation but if painter comes out two three starts while Wheeler's down rehabbing

it might be a tougher decision and if he comes out in a first start and is able to give you

you know five and a third six seven strikeouts you won't have an opportunity to add him again

even just a good performance like that not a great performance we'll give people enough encouragement

to go out and make this pickup so yes absolutely pick up Andrew painter and I still believe there is

a top to your arm here yeah I would say the logical candidate to get the bump better be tie one

walker but I guess if Andrew painter doesn't look very good then give me a more time to finish that

development and the miners does make sense but the upside still there so go add him now let's finish

things up with the NL West where there aren't going to be very many relevant rookies which is good

because we're running short on time here uh Andrew Hoffman is going to make the

the diamond backs bolt pen I think we can probably skip him even though it's the diamond

backs bolt pen who have nothing interesting at the back right yeah unfortunately we can skip them

but yeah that just mix up a bag and pull a name out for that bolt and it sounds about right to me

but probably don't pull his name uh the Dodgers have one rookie who has won a bench spot although

he could even get some starts early in the season we'll see Alex Freeland is Alex Freeland

a high enough potential guy that you should add him at least in deeper leagues or is this just a

watch list guy depending on position of position alignment in those leagues I haven't seen what he's

been given for a designation you know deep leagues you absolutely could but he's a Dodger so you

got to project that he's not going to be having significant playing time on a regular basis great

great minor league numbers projects to be a solid big leagueer but that's just kind of the Dodgers

prospects as they go right Freeland ultimately probably needs to be moved to another team in order

to get real playing time so but outside of really deep leagues and you know just a potential

swap in I'm not keeping an eye on Freeland right now all right sounds about right to me and

probably not much fantasy interest in the Giants 2 rookies we have a backup catcher here

in Daniel Susak and we have a 30 year old fifth outfielder in Jared Aliva so even the

Das the question are these even watch list guys Susak's interesting from a story perspective

of our doctor perspective no no neither of them all right fair enough here's one more IEL

guide to talk about Sunmoon Song of the Padres coming over from Korea would have at least one

of Ben spot currently out with an oblique injury but probably not for long are you watch listing

Sunmoon Song in deeper leagues or is he a guy we can more or less forget about I am actually

watch listing in deeper leagues he was projected to be my starting second baseman of 30 man leagues

so that's turned out too well for me but a lot to like I think you nailed it I think his best

long-term position is is a super utility guy that plays for three or four days a week give some

of those Padres veterans a little bit of a breather but with the injury and especially the oblique

injury coming into 2026 kind of shelved it and I think the most that we're going to see out of him

is maybe 70 80 games in 2026 and and what kind of production do you get one that is a side injury so

probably more long-term a guy that I'm interested in but I'm keeping an eye in in shallower leagues

just to see what happens once he's back and he could be a spark plug for this team but we have to

see everything play itself out throughout April and as we get into May all right the Padres also

have a relief prospect here and I say relief prospect because it seems like he actually is a

prospect despite being just a reliever gradually Rodriguez a name to know if you like

interesting names but beyond that not releasing a path to fantasy relevance anywhere in the Padres

Bolton yeah and especially not with just the rotation or the the Bolton that they currently have

I mean you look at the names in this it's it's probably the best Bolton and baseball

and trying to get just into the six ending role as Adams eventually comes back will be difficult

but they do a good job of continuing to accumulate and acquire and promote really high-end

Bolton arms so I think this is a name that you could just keep an eye on for going into 2027 if

that bullpen were to change all right and the final rookie on today's show is a rocky tj rum

field who came over from the Yankees in the Unghelsvili trade which should probably give some

indication of what level of prospect he is here but he is a rocky not only is he a rocky he looks

like he's going to be the Rockies opening day first baseman is there anything actually here with

tj rum field I mean we kind of add any rocky who's playing regularly at least in deeper leagues

right yeah kind of good spring and I don't want to say yes to this Eric but yes like keep an eye

real deep leagues if I'm in a 30 I'm happy to have him either on the bench or if you don't have

a first-based option there he is I do expect Charlie Condon to come up very shortly and take a

position take that position excuse me obviously he has to have a decent start to his season but

I do believe this is more a time manipulation of not having Condon up to start the season

and you can kind of just see it from rumsfield being the guy that was given the the job that the

Rockies are are clearly punting the season as we all knew but also kind of playing a time manipulation

game yeah sounds right to me all right I think we're more or less out of time speaking of time

there but if you have a minute before you go do you want to name any rookies we should be

stashing beyond Connor Griffin yeah so just mentioned Charlie Condon I expect you know power

RBI's we could have a real talent here minor league track record wasn't great spring was good

collegiate career obviously you know had had incredible final season at Georgia two of the

braves that I kind of mentioned Owen Murphy and then JR Richie opportunities for Fuente as well

there when we talked about him but there are some names coming up that I think could be exciting both

Murphy and Richie did have Tommy John a few years back so they've already kind of come through

that hurdle I've got two marlins as well you know mostly known around the industry but Thomas White

and Robbie Stelling I think these are both great arms both lefties a little bit different

Stelling is a little bit more of control the zone his velocity has actually gone back up to his

Padre's days when he was still with the San Diego organization Thomas White best prep lefty coming

out of his draft and has done nothing to to change that Liam Doyle Kate Anderson two names coming

out of last year's draft that may be up in the middle or the end of this season it just speculated

if I wouldn't be adding I would just be tracking what they're doing in the minors and let's see

here we have Leo de Vries I mean incredible spring but are they really going to burn a euro service

time in in Sacramento for the A's with him I don't know but I think if he is a September call

if he could be a get you a little bit of speed umory break a Montgomery for the white socks I think

with especially without field being if you have a five out field league and you need to throw a guy

in or you're in deeper leagues break a Montgomery could be up June July and other great collegiate

bat former two-way player big time power in each year he has increased his minor league

production so that's encouraging to see that he's really starting to take to being a one

position outfielder um but those those are kind of the names bizanis also out there but

we've got a number of guys I think the pitchers this year the ones to get excited about

all right well we have covered every single rookie who has made an opening day roster here as well

as a couple who have not thank you very much for your time Matt remind everybody where they can

find your work yeah so we are currently doing the dynasty jinger's podcast uh it's me and doc

Eisenhower and we're doing about once a month now our last interview was with uh countergryphans

father that was a really good listen if you want to go back and listen we had some some really

good questions that we were able we were able to able to ask him and uh we now know the truth

he was able to give us a little bit of a foreshadow so um we'll be doing that about once a month

and hopefully get more into a regular routine with that but otherwise make sure you check out

Scott the stat line and then prospects lie which I'm still affiliated with as well

all right thank you very much for your time Matt thank you to our sponsor fan tracks thank you

listeners and enjoy opening day everybody the bleacher report app is your destination for sports

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