Ehire Adrianza, Atlanta Braves - Ehire Adrianza has had an outstanding spring for the Braves and has set himself up with a strong chance to make the Braves bench to break camp. Adrianza has outplayed Johan Camargo significantly this spring and can play all over the field, including backup shortstops where the Braves don't have a significant backup option at the position. Unless he ends up with some sort of everyday at-bats he's not of fantasy relevance, but if for some reason he were to he could fit into a very strong everyday lineup.
Marcell Ozuna, Atlanta Braves - Marcell Ozuna is slated to hit cleanup once again for the Braves as he's coming off a career season with a 179 wRC+ and 18 homers in just 60 games. Ozuna has always had absurdly good batted ball stats and he finally got into a park that is even moderately friendly to right-handed hitters. Both Marlins Park and Busch Stadium greatly hurt right-handed hitters on barreled balls, while Truist Park has been much more friendly to right-handed pull power. He's going to thrive in Atlanta over the next few years and do not worry about paying for a career year, he has this level of talent.
Drew Smyly, Atlanta Braves - Drew Smyly should be penciled into one of the rotation spots for the Braves, and after seeing his strikeout numbers take a jump in 2020 he's continuing some impressive strikeout numbers into 2021. Smyly has six strikeouts over four innings but has allowed nine hits and five runs this spring. Smyly's strikeout rate was in the 97th percentile last season and he generated an 89th percentile whiff rate, but the hard contact was an issue with an 11th percentile hard-hit rate. When factoring in the cost, Smyly has quite a bit of upside for someone that is going pretty late in drafts.
Chris Archer, Tampa Bay Rays - Now that Chris Archer is back in Tampa Bay, I think it's safe to say the Rays came out on top in that deal. Archer has made just one appearance this spring and he tossed 1.1 perfect innings while striking out one batter. Archer said after the game that he hasn't been healthy and on the mound in a stadium in a long time, and that alone was really nice. He threw 25 pitches with 14 going for strikes, and Kevin Cash was impressed with the command he showed. Archer's fall off in Pittsburgh was extremely fast as the team switched his pitch mix to feature a two-seam fastball, something he's already said he's not going to throw anymore while back in Tampa. He says he'll be ready for the start of the season, and he's an interesting AL-Only dart throw.
Francisco Mejia, Tampa Bay Rays - Francisco Mejia is in the mix for catching time with the Rays and has a .804 OPS over 14 at-bats. Mejia hasn't lived up to his prospect pedigree but turned a solid fantasy season for a catcher with a 96 wRC+ and a .265/.316/.438 triple slash over 79 games. He hit eight homers in that span as well. Mike Zunino is still likely to get the bulk of the playing time behind the plate but he could crack into that if his bat finally reaches the level he was once projected.
Randy Arozarena, Tampa Bay Rays - Randy Arozarena has had a tough spring results-wise, but he's still hitting the ball extremely hard which is promising headed forward. Arozarena burst onto the scene with his ridiculous 2020 postseason, and as a result, is being drafted extremely highly this spring. Lost in the fact that his postseason was so good was the fact that he was very good with the Rays in the regular season as well with seven homers, four steals, and a .281/.382/.641 triple slash at the plate. Randy should hit right in the heart of the Rays lineup for 2021.
Hunter Harvey, Baltimore Orioles - Hunter Harvey is still feeling extremely sore from his oblique injury and he's expected to miss a significant amount of time. Harvey was slated to have the inside shot for saves for the Orioles this year but now that role could fall to Tanner Scott. Scott was outstanding last season in relief with 23 strikeouts in 20 innings while posting a 1.31 ERA. Scott is worth a late-round draft flier at this point if he does indeed get named the closer for the Orioles.
Joey Bart, San Francisco Giants - Joey Bart was optioned to AAA on Monday, a not terribly surprising development with Buster Posey back in the mix for the team this year. Bart hit .233 over 33 games last season with no homers and a near 40% strikeout rate. Bart's hand was forced a bit last season due to the craziness of 2020 but should be able to refine his approach in AAA to start this year and we should see him back in the majors in 2021 at some point.
Ketel Marte, Arizona Diamondbacks - Ketel Marte was hit by a pitch in the foot and removed for precautionary reasons, but Torey Lovullo said after that game that everything was fine. Marte is having an extremely strong spring and the power he lost in 2020 seems to be coming back early on. If you're able to buy in on the discount for 2021 absolutely do. While he may not quite have the 30 homerun power that he had in 2019, he's significantly better than the two homers and .732 OPS that he posted last season.
Sixto Sanchez, Miami Marlins - Sixto Sanchez made his spring debut Monday and threw 1.2 innings allowing two hits, one walk, and no strikeouts. Sanchez is going to be brought along slowly this spring after a false-positive test set him back. Despite the slow start, he is expected to be ready for opening day but is also expected to be on some sort of innings limit this season. We have no real confirmation on that though, at this point, it does make things slightly concerning at his draft price.
Eugenio Suarez, Cincinnati Reds - Eugenio Suarez is going to start at shortstop for the Reds on Tuesday with Mike Moustakas playing third base. The Reds really don't have a sure-fire SS option heading into this season as prospect Jose Garcia definitely needs more season in the minor leagues. Suarez gaining SS eligibility would be huge for his fantasy value, but it could cause a real setback when it comes to the Reds pitching staff and balls hit that way.
Miguel Andujar, New York Yankees - Miguel Andujar dealt with some hand issues in winter ball and it's apparently resurfacing this spring and it's being described as a muscle strain and a nerve issue. Andujar's position with the Yankees is pretty much gone at this point. Gio Urshela has taken over at third base for the Yankees and Clint Frazier's emergence in the outfield has allowed Giancarlo Stanton to focus on being a DH more often and Aaron Judge playing the other corner OF spot.
Spencer Howard, Philadelphia Phillies - Spencer Howard was scratched from Monday's appearance with back spasms and it's unsure when he'll be ready to pitch again. Howard is likely headed to the alternate site at this point after spending a good chunk of 2020 in the majors. The Phillies projected rotation behind Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler is Zach Eflin, Vincent Velasquez, and Matt Moore so there's definitely a shot for Howard to take hold of one of those final two spots.
Brusdar Graterol, Los Angeles Dodgers - Brusdar Graterol reportedly had issues in Venezuela getting ready for the season and the Dodgers aren't sure when he's going to be able to appear in a game. Considering the team doesn't know when he'll be able to get into game action, at this point opening day seems extremely unlikely. Graterol doesn't really have a spot in the rotation for the Dodgers and he isn't very high on the pecking order for saves so I'm not too certain that he's a guy I'm targeting in leagues right now and this situation doesn't help.
Austin Nola, San Diego Padres - Austin Nola suffered a fracture in his left middle finger and the team isn't going to have another update of the finger for close to another week. There's a chance that Nola misses significant time and that would make Victor Caratini and prospect Luis Campusano have to take on a much heavier load behind the plate for the Padres. I would lean towards Caratini getting more of the playing time as he's already Yu Darvish's personal catcher.
Aaron Sanchez, San Francisco Giants - It sounds more and more likely that Aaron Sanchez is to break camp as a member of the Giants rotation. Sanchez hasn't made his Cactus League debut yet, but the work on the side in camp and his bullpen session where he hit 98 MPH is enough to have the Giants view him as a rotation option. The Giants have done extremely well in recent years being able to revitalize pitchers (Kevin Gausman, Drew Smyly) and Sanchez has all the tools to be the next on the list, but as always it's always going to be his health that makes or breaks him
