Fantasy Baseball Spring Training Roundup (3/20)

Spring training is a wild time for fantasy players, as we see considerable overreactions to tiny sample sizes, changes in player value due to velocity jumps or drops and other big swings. We aim to cover notable news, value changes or other important nuggets. We’ve got you covered!

AL East

New York Yankees: Clarke Schmidt (SP, 241)

Some good news for a change for an injured Yankee, as Schmidt felt fine after having thrown a bullpen on Tuesday morning. The Yankees can ill afford yet another injury to their already depleted roster and pitching staff in particular, so while we’ll be keeping tabs on it to see if Schmidt is available for his first turn in the rotation, the news is more positive than negative for now.

Baltimore Orioles: Coby Mayo (3B, 395) Samuel Basallo (C, 499)

As roster cuts continue, we lose some names we expect to lose, as well as some we don’t expect to lose. One in each category for the Orioles here, as Coby Mayo was thought to be an impact bat and perhaps an everyday regular this season, but he will get more time in AAA to start the season. Basallo, on the other hand, could not have had a better spring, but was not expected to be anywhere close to big league ready by Opening Day. We may see Basallo this summer, but the Orioles will have to figure out where to play him with Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle occupying the two most logical spots.

Toronto Blue Jays: Orelvis Martinez (3B, 494)

The Blue Jays prospect took a Jordan Romano fastball to the hip and was removed from the game. He was later quoted as saying that his hips “don’t lie”, so take that to mean what you would like.

He is officially day-to-day with a hip contusion and was on the bubble of a major league roster spot anyway. Martinez has had a very good spring, but it would be hard to see him breaking camp getting regular time with the big club. This hip issue only further exacerbates the issue, and I would say he is now very unlikely to start anywhere but AAA. 

AL Central

Detroit Tigers: Jace Jung (3B, 460)

If you were counting on Jace Jung to do things for the Tigers from the beginning of the season, you had to have already been nervous. He had one of the worst springs imaginable, with only 4 hits and 4 BBs across 37 PAs. He also managed to strike out 10 times in that same period. AJ Hinch did not hold back in his criticism of Jung’s inability to adjust, in one of the more scathing criticisms you’ll see. 

Hopefully an adjustment is eventually made for Jung, as the Tigers now appear to be headed into the season with Javier Báez as their starting 3B. I don’t think anyone is happy with that scenario, least of all Javy, whom I’m sure still believes he’s a SS. 

Minnesota Twins: Brooks Lee (SS, 407)

You know you’re in the thick of spring training when you can write something with a fairly high degree of confidence (Willi Castro being named regular 2B meant less playing time for previous candidate Brooks Lee), and then not even a week later you prove yourself wrong. While early chatter pointed to Ty France and Jose Miranda being beneficiaries of the extremely inevitable Royce Lewis injury, Lee is now being discussed as a potential regular option at 3B. 

Has Lee hit in the big leagues to any reasonable degree? Not really. But has he hit for power? Not at all. He must steal bases though, right? Sure, three of them last year alone!

I am a fan of him as a real life player (coaches kid, gym rat, plays the game the right way, yada yada), but I have a much less rosy outlook on his potential fantasy contributions, even with vastly increased opportunity. 

I did open this by saying I was proven wrong quickly, so if he turns in a 25 HR, .270 campaign, feel free to throw the above paragraphs back in my face. 

Chicago White Sox: Sean Burke (SP, 418)

Did you know who Sean Burke was before he was announced as the White Sox starter on Opening Day? Did you really? Are you sure you aren’t lying?

In any event, Sean Burke is the White Sox Opening Day starter. He’s actually not been terrible throughout the minors, putting up 30% K rates more often than not, but that has also been paired with double-digit walk rates as well. I am certainly not here for the Burke hype train, but I think there is potentially some underlying talent that major league reps can help unlock. Just don’t count on many wins with Burke plying his trade on the South side. 

AL West

Texas Rangers: Patrick Corbin (SP, 452)

Perhaps because they were concerned there were not enough pitchers for us to confidently stack against in DFS, the Rangers have decided to sign Patrick Corbin and potentially deploy him to the rotation. With an oft-injured combo of Tyler Mahle and Jacob deGrom being paired with the relatively inexperienced Vanderbilt alums in Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker, Bruce Bochy is getting a pre-emptive reinforcement in Corbin. He may not be very good at pitching, but he does manage to stay healthy and eat innings, which is, you know, something.

Houston Astros: Yordan Álvarez (OF, 17)

While it isn’t cause for major concern, we do take note any time such a prominent player is scratched or removed from a game for any reason, and a thumb injury can be tricky for a power hitter. It is likely nothing and certainly isn’t worth altering your evaluation of him, but file this one under the category of “don’t say we didn’t warn you” if his thumb injury turns out to actually be something. 

Los Angeles Angels: Yoán Moncada (3B, 475)

It is fully expected that the Angels will have *someone* playing 3B on Opening Day, but mysterious injuries, first to Anthony Rendon and now to presumptive heir apparent Yoán Moncada, have put just whom that might be in doubt once again. Being described as a thumb injury that Moncada himself has no idea how he got, and given Moncada’s unsteady history of health and production to begin with, this is not a great spot for the Halos. This could mean regular playing time for J.D. Davis, who has struck out 19 times in just 44 PAs this spring. 

It’s not looking great at the hot corner in Anaheim/Los Angeles.

Sacramento Athletics: Jacob Wilson (SS, 365), Pitching Rotation

Jacob Wilson is often disregarded (including by me) as a slap hitter who doesn’t really move the needle for fantasy purposes despite elite bat-to-ball skills. But just as Wilson has apparently adjusted his approach, we too have to adjust our expectations accordingly. And not only has Wilson shown more power than anticipated (his 4 HRs this spring are good for the A’s team lead), but he also became even more aggressive, striking out only twice in 44 PAs and walking never. 

I would expect it would take some time for pitchers to adjust to a hyper-aggressive and more powerful version of Wilson, which means he should still see plenty of pitches to hit early on in the season, especially hitting at the bottom of the order with Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker waiting in the wings. Don’t be surprised if he ambushes a few of those for far more April home runs than you would have expected out of him. 

Also, the A’s rotation has been announced, with Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, Osvaldo Bido, JP Sears and Joey Estes making the cut. Mitch Spence will be a bullpen arm to start the season. Offseason crush Mason Barnett will start in the minor leagues.

NL East

New York Mets: Griffin Canning (SP, 494)

The Mets will need production from just about anywhere they can get it when it comes to starting pitching, and one unexpected place they might be able to get it is Griffin Canning. Like coins found in the couch cushions, the Mets did not expect Canning to be worth much, but he has been incredible this spring.

Atlanta Braves: Craig Kimbrel (RP, 494)

More for the nostalgia and the feels than any actionable fantasy info, especially because it was a minor league deal Kimbrel was signed to, and there are plenty of established arms in Atlanta’s pen already. Still, worth noting that despite the turbulence throughout his career and ineffectiveness last season in Baltimore, Kimbrel is capable of catching fire and being unhittable for stretches at a time. We’ll see if he plays a factor this year. 

Washington Nationals: Robert Hassell III (OF, 463)

It has been a bumpy road for Hassell ever since he landed in DC in the Juan Soto trade, but he is starting to emerge as a potential post-hype sleeper after a phenomenal spring. He was sent back to the minor leagues, but with the Nationals being a young, hungry team that will want to see what they have. And Hassell being only 23 still, there’s a decent chance of him having some impact as a power/speed guy with the potential to hit for some average as well if the spring stats are not a complete mirage.

NL Central

St Louis Cardinals: Luken Baker (UT, 462)

In addition to Victor Scott II, who has had a great spring in his own right (more on him later), the Cardinals have gotten an excellent spring from Luken Baker, who already 28, is well past his years as a prospect but might offer some value in both average and power if given enough PAs anyway. He’s hit 4 HRs this spring, his K% is way down and he’s hitting close to .300. Baker is an OBP league dynamo waiting to happen, if he can just see the field enough.

On Scott for a second, this has nothing to do with the news, but how has no one taken to calling him “Diamond in the rough?” 

If you’ll indulge me, I enjoy campaigning for nicknames to be used when they are logical but not yet widely adopted. I did this for a few years with Anthony Santander, but the nickname “El Banco” derived from the popular Spanish bank “Banco Santander” never really stuck. 

With Scott, if you’ve ever purchased a diamond or researched them for that matter, you are aware of the four Cs, one of which is “Clarity.” This grades the diamond on its internal flaws or lack thereof, and as you might expect, diamonds with less flaws are more valuable. This scale runs from Flawless to Included, with one of the middling categories of clarity being Very Slightly Included II, or Victor Scott II’s current nickname, VS II. This means that the diamond includes some slight internal flaws that can be viewed under magnification, which if you’ll continue to indulge my analogy with Scott, it would be his lack of demonstrable power. However, this is still a very valuable and rare diamond, worthy of the nickname, “Diamond in the Rough.”  

Cincinnati Reds: Spencer Steer (1B/OF 127)

With a number of other injuries trending the wrong direction for the Reds, Steer is a source of welcome news for a change. As he is getting more types of baseball activity in and under his belt, the odds of him rejoining the lineup by Opening Day, even as just a DH, continue to increase. This would be a big boon to a Reds offense that will need all the help it can get surrounding Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain. 

Pittsburgh Pirates: Jared Jones (SP, 149)

This was the bombshell of the week, so if you are just now reading about it in the Spring Training Roundup, congratulations on your tropical vacation. What we know so far is that Jared Jones felt discomfort in his elbow after a recent bullpen session and will miss his next start. Anything more than knowing Jones will skip his next spring training start at this point is speculative, but some of the most well-established fantasy players in the world have taken him off their boards completely. This is a question of risk tolerance of course, but it is going to be pretty tough to make a case for him without knowing more about the precise type and severity of the injury. 

NL West

San Francisco Giants: Jung Hoo Lee (OF, 233)

Jung Hoo Lee having a balky back to start the season is of course the antithesis of what the Giants were hoping for after a shoulder injury derailed his inaugural campaign last year. However, all signs point to the back issue being minor, and the Giants expect Lee to be active throughout the rest of spring training. Something to monitor, but directionally correct.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Freddie Freeman (1B, 25)

We are all by now plenty familiar with Mookie Betts’ mystery illness that reportedly caused him to lose 15 pounds but also is totally no big deal, but now Freddie Freeman has managed to hurt himself, an apparent rib injury. He missed the Japan series, but we are now told it was precautionary and he should be good to go for the Dodgers’ exhibition series next week. I don’t know… something a little bit off about missing regular season action but proclaiming he’ll be ready for exhibition action in the not too distant future, it just doesn’t feel right.

I’m not taking Freeman off my board, but I’m not prioritizing him either.

Arizona Diamondbacks: Closer By Committee

In a decision that surprises nobody who has been paying attention, the Diamondbacks will play matchups/handedness in this closer committee that appears to include all of A.J. Puk (285), Justin Martinez (234) and Kevin Ginkel (505). Odds are there are more opportunities for the RHPs (Martinez and Ginkel), but all of the opportunities that would go to an LHP will go to Puk. The most valuable of the three will end up being driven by efficiency, since they may end up with similar net opportunities. 

Good luck!