Fantasy Baseball - Hot propects to watch
Yahoo Fantasy analyst Andy Behrens looks at some impending call-ups and a couple of hot starts from around the minors that fantasy baseball managers should keep in mind.
Video Transcript
ANDY BEHRENS: Well, Jackson Holliday is already in the Majors. So, the floodgates are officially open for various top prospects. Let's discuss a few young players who should get the call at some point, perhaps soon.
One guy who actually already got the call, Andy Pages. He doesn't have to wait. The Dodgers are bringing him up this week from Oklahoma City. He is one of the top prospects in just a great organization.
Had a cartoonishly good spring for the Dodgers. Then opened the minor league season by hitting 0.371 with 5 homers. Certainly worth a flier if you need a power bat. He's a Cuban outfielder who already has a 31-homer season to his credit in the minors. If he hits in LA, you kind of know the drill, if he hits in LA, he is going to stick, even in a loaded lineup.
Another name, Joey Loperfido. He has forced his way into the fantasy conversation by hitting 10 home runs, 10 over his first 14 games at AAA. That's ridiculous. The OPS here is over 1,300. He was just a monster in spring training as well. And now he's dominating in the high minors. Loperfido can play the outfield, first base, he can DH.
And you may have noticed that Jose Abreu has gotten off to another brutal start, 5 for 45, only one extra base hit for Abreu. The Astros have a potential solution here at AAA in Loperfido. no one at any level has been as hot as him to this point in the early season.
But if anyone is close, it's probably Heston Kjerstad of the Norfolk Tides who are just an absolute minor league juggernaut right now. The Orioles basically have a-- they've got a ridiculously loaded lineup at Norfolk right now. It's like it's full of players who are ready or nearly ready to debut in the major leagues. Kjerstad has actually already tasted the majors a little bit last year and he's building such a strong case to return relatively soon.
He's leading or he is among the leaders in the International League right now in pretty much every hitting stat that we care about. The OPS is north of 1,200. He has seven home runs. 27 RBIs. He's batting 0.361, leads the league in total bases, just a shockingly good start for Kjerstad. Whenever he gets recalled to Baltimore, it is going to be an actionable event in fantasy. He is absolutely crushing.
And one more name we got to mention because we should probably discuss a pitcher, Paul Skenes. Let's mention perhaps the liveliest arm in the minor leagues right now. Skenes is a former LSU star. He struck out 19 batters in his first nine innings this season. He's issued only two walks. He's allowed four hits.
The pitch counts have been really, really low so far. The team is building him up pretty slowly. The Pirates are building him up slowly, but he is just plainly one of the most talented arms basically in all of baseball. We know we're going to see him at some point this season.
Also the guy threw about 130 innings last year, mostly at the college level. So, he should be ready for something close to a real workload in 2024. Just on K rate alone, you should be very interested in Skenes. Given the current state of the pitching landscape, no healthy and talented arms should be refused by the fantasy community.
