Hector Olivera, Atlanta Braves - Olivera is tearing the cover off the ball this spring and is triple slashing .429/.432/.514 in 12 games. This is a huge step in the right direction for Olivera as he didn't exactly impress as a whole with the Braves after being sent over with the Dodgers. Today we've increased our expectation of Olivera to 520 at bats with 16HRs/71 RBIs . The hope is that he will slowly hit for some more power as out of his 15 hits, only three have gone for extra bases and those were all doubles. He's beginning to be a late round flier in leagues as a corner infield option or someone you can wait on to play at 3rd base. Currently he's a 26th round ADP.
Mike Foltynewicz, Atlanta Braves - Folty is set to take the mound tomorrow (Thursday) in his first Grapefruit League action this year. The hard throwing righty was shut down last year with blood clots in his shoulder. With some taste of the majors last year, he's in competition for the final spot in the Braves rotation but could still begin the season on the DL due to how the schedule breaks down over the first month with the Braves not really needing a 5th starter for a while into the year. He's got the potential to be in the rotation but also has the pitch mix to end up in the bullpen, so we will need to watch him over these next few spring appearances and see what the Braves have in store from him.
Corey Dickerson, Tampa Bay Rays - The main power source for the Rays is battling some forearm issues and is going to be out for a few days in order to "prevent overexertion." Dickerson's value is all over the board depending on how highly you rate/value his home and road splits while a member of the Rockies. As expected he was been in Colorado, but he hit for over 100 more points on his average at Coorsbut the homerun splits weren't a drastic as expected with 24 homers at home and 15 on the road. His power in going to play no matter what park he plays in, but having four fairly extreme hitters parks in is division now as opposed to two in his previous division will help level out those extreme home/road splits. For me my drafting of Dickerson doesn't rely as much on his numbers, but rather wether he can stay fully healthy more often this season. Fantistics places him as the 38th ranked outfielder for this season but he easily has top 20 upside if he can stay healthy.
Rueben Tejada, New York Mets - Tejada officially cleared waivers today and is now a free agent after being released by the Mets. The Cardinals have been rumored to have interest in the shortstop after losing Jhonny Peralta to injury so there's a good chance that Tejada isn't out of a job for very long. Tejada as a fantasy option though doesn't have much upside with a .272 average projection which combined with his lack of power, speed, and overall batting ability slots him in at 54th among SS in our software. You likely don't have to worry about him this year.
Julio Urias, Los Angeles Dodgers - Urias was denied the opportunity by the Dodgers to go play for his home county of Mexico by the Dodgers, even though they let Adrian Gonzalez go play. We can read into this that with the Dodgers rotation going through some serious injury issues, there's a better the 0% chance that he could make the rotation breaking camp. While I'd still say it's a 95% chance he does start the season in the minors, there's a chance he could be forced into duty if another arm gets hurt (such as Alex Wood who already is having forearm tightness). If Urias does make the club, he's an immediate draft option as he's the top left handed prospect in baseball and arguably the top pitching prospect in the game regardless of handedness. He could still be worth a stash in the right spots such as a NL only keeper league or SUPER deep mixed leagues. He finished his season last year in AAA and Fantistics projects him for 16 starts this year so we do expect to see him this season.
Avisail Garcia, Chicago White Sox - Adam LaRoche announced his retirement from baseball Wednesday in an odd sequence of events that related around his 14 year old son being around the park too much in the eyes of the GM. This move likely forces Jose Abreu to play first base on a full time basis and rosterresource.com has Avisail Garcia in the DH slot for the team. Abreu obviously is a top tier first base talent but Garcia hasn't quite found the magic after hitting .319 in his first taste of the majors. Garcia was originally pushed out of everyday time by the signing of Austin Jackson, but now the career .264 hitter with possibly get full time at bats again. His hard hit percentage was at a great 37.8% in his first season but we saw a drop to 34.2% followed by 26.2%, before a slight rebound last season to 28.8%. For a player his size (6-4, 240) he had never hit more than 11 homers in a season before getting 13 in 148 games last season.
Lance McCullers, Houston Astros - McCullers is going to start the season on the DL with a sore right shoulder but a MRI did confirm that there is no significant injury to his shoulder, but rather he just won't have enough time in the spring to rebuild the strength in his arm. This injury really should effect his draft stock much as there's a solid chance the Astros will be limiting his innings anyways. McCullers has the chance for elite strikeout potential but does have some slight command issues, although they aren't unbearable. Fantistics pegs him as the #50 pitcher this season but he has the chance to be much more than that.
Matt Holliday, St. Louis Cardinals - Holliday is reportedly going to be in the mix at first base this season which adds a little positional value for him once he reaches the games played plateau in leagues, but also will take away any sort of breakout value from Matt Adams. Holliday had trouble staying healthy last season for what was really the first time in his career as he's been the model of consistency. Fantistics pegs him as the #35 outfielder this season with 18 homers and 84 RBI to go along with his .280 average. He's maintained a 39% hard hit rate over his last three full seasons so there's solid evidence that if healthy he can hopefully return to form.
Chien-Ming Wang, Kansas City Royals - Last season Wang was throwing in the upper 80's, which was a few MPH down from his career norms as ususal for a guy entering his mid-30's. However in his appearance out of the bullpen for the Royals the other day he was hitting 94-95 MPH on the gun. The last time that Wang was hitting these kind of numbers was when he was a 3 win pitcher for the Yankees in 2008-09. The Royals do have one of the best coaching staffs in the game, but we need to see how his velocity sits over an extended stretch of innings (otherwise known as a start) before the hype train leaves the station.
Trevor Story, Colorado Rockies - Story continues to make his push for the opening day job with the Rockies hitting .318 this spring with a homer and 8 RBI. Story isn't a top prospect by any means but he has a real chance to be an impactful bat in the major leagues in Coors field. He has both double digit power and steals potential at the shortstop position and especially in the NL Only leagues where the SS is particularly poor.
Bronson Arroyo, Washington Nationals - The career of Bronson Arroyo could be coming to a close as the pitcher was scratched from Wednesday's start and a MRI revealed he has an 80% tear in his labrum. He's likely out for the season, killing any chance of him making the team out of the gate and it also is one less arm blocking Lucas Giolito from his rightful spot in the nation's capital.
Hyun-Jin Ryu, Los Angeles Dodgers - Dave Roberts called a May debut for Ryu "a stretch" as there doesn't seem to be a definite timetable on when the lefty may return to action. He's among a whole starting five of injured starters for the Dodgers and there's becoming more and more of a chance we get to see some of the high end prospects the Dodgers own even sooner. Brandon Beachy reportedly is in line for the 5th spot in the rotation, but we will need to keep monitoring this as the rest of spring training unfolds.
Juan Nicasio, Pittsburgh Pirates - Nicasio had the performance of the spring so far as he faced 14 Oriole hitters on Wednesday and struck out 10 of them. Nicasio has always had strikeout upside while in Colorado and if he ends up making the rotation after being signed as a reliever he's going to be worth watching this spring. Last season out of the bullpen for the Dodgers he managed a 11% swinging strike rate with a 30% chase rate. Those two numbers could be serious weapons if stretched out over 170 innings, so with this game he's become a guy we should monitor closely.
Jonathan Schoop, Baltimore Orioles - Schoop launched his second homer of the spring and is showing some of the power potential that a lot of the fantasy industry is expecting out of him. He hit 15 homers in just 86 games last season and the quick math puts that just shy of 30 in 162 games and at second base, that's a borderline superstar. If he can earn how to take a walk to improve his OBP and his runs total (only 19 runs not off homers) he could really take off.
Yasiel Puig, Los Angeles Dodgers - Puig will not be disciplined for his domestic abuse case that was being investigated by Major League Baseball and responded Wednesdy with his first homer of the spring. Puig remains one of the biggest breakout potential players but hasn't been anywhere near what he was in his rookie campaign, though we can chalk last year up to injuries. If healthy he can easily approach 25-to-30 homeruns with a .275ish batting average. Puig has seen his hard hit rate drop for two straight seasons down to 31% while his line drive rate has dropped since 2013, but did go up 3% from 2014 which is promising in a lost season. He's a 10th round pick in Fantistics ADP, and at that value he could be an absolute steal without the risk of him destroying your team.
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