BY: SOME GUY NAMED STEVE
Folks! We are back with a Monday edition of pick-ups of the week and oh baby is this a special one! For this week we have a young pitcher nobody is talking about, a red hot catcher, and the top prospect in all of baseball! Without further ado lets get to it. Also, be on the lookout for some fantasy football content from Some Guy Named Steve coming very soon!
Wander Franco: Tampa Bay Rays SS (35.8% ESPN Ownership)
The first player on this week’s list is without question the top prospect in all of baseball, Wander Franco. I’m not going to sugar coat it, go pick up Wander Franco now. It’s not rocket science, he’s the number one prospect in baseball, one of the best pure hitting prospects we have ever seen, and is getting called up on Tuesday. Franco has the potential to not only be a league winner but to become a player that is drafted in the first round next season. Wander Franco is a rare five tool prospect that doesn’t have one glaring weakness. He also has an elite combination of power and speed.
Over his minor league career Franco has batted .332/.398/.536 in the minor leagues and is batting .315/.367/.586 with seven home runs, six triples, 11 doubles, and five steals in just 39 AAA games. In the month of June he has been even better. This month, Franco is currently batting for a .371 average with 12 extra base hits, 17 RBIs, and a 1.091 OPS in just 17 games. His hot bat has forced the Rays hand and they had no choice but to call him up. At just 20 years of age, the sky is limit for Wander Franco. He has untapped potential and should become one of the best players in all of baseball sooner rather than later. I’m sure his ownership has increased drastically since writing this but make sure to pick him up in every single league you possibly can. Hopefully, you already own him from when I hinted at picking him up and stashing him weeks ago.
Max Stassi: Los Angeles Angels C (24.8% ESPN Ownership)
The second player on today’s list is a catcher who is a red hot streaming option for owners in need. Catcher has been a wasteland and with many of them trending downwards. Max Stassi is heading in the opposite direction. Despite having played just 25 games this season, Max Stassi is currently the 15th ranked catcher and has been the 3rd best in the past month. On the season, Stassi is batting .333/.412/.587 with five home runs, four doubles, 19 runs, and 12 RBI in only 75 at bats. It’s also worth mentioning that Stassi has a hard hit rate of 61.5% this year which would be the highest in the MLB if eligible.
Now I want to make it perfectly clear that I don’t think Stassi can sustain this pace for an entire season. I do recommend riding his hot streak while it lasts. Over the past month, Stassi is higher on the player rater than JT Realmuto, Buster Posey, Yasmani Grandal, Yadier Molina, Will Smith, as well as many others. In fact, the only two catchers that have been more productive than Stassi the last 30 days are Gary Sanchez and Salvador Perez. Stassi is currently batting sixth in the Angels lineup and should have plenty of opportunities to drive in runs with Rendon and Walsh batting ahead of him. As far as catchers go you won’t find a better bargain that Max Stassi this late into the season. Go grab him!
Sammy Long: San Francisco Giants SP (10.2% ESPN Ownership)
The final player on today’s list is a pitcher with a lot of potential who has flown under the radar. Sammy Long was called up two weeks ago to fill the fifth spot in the Giants rotation. He has proven to be capable of handling that role. Long has been dominant in the minor leagues for a few seasons and has a very high ceiling when it comes to generating strikeouts. Prior to being called up, Long started 5 games in AAA where he went 0-1 with a 1.99 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, 37 strikeouts, and 5 walks over 22.2 innings. He was exceptional and the Giants decided to give him a shot in the major leagues.
Part of the reason Long has flown under the radar is because he didn’t start in his first two appearances for the Giants. The Giants used an opener for an inning and brought Long in for long relief. In those two appearances, Long pitched nine innings, gave up five runs, and struck out 10 batters. This past weekend against he made his first career start and looked very sharp as he threw six innings, allowed only two runs, and struck out six batters in a win. On the year Long is 1-0 with a 4.20 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, and a 16:3 strikeout to walk ratio over 15 innings. Long also has a very good 2.50 FIP with a 28.1% K rate and an opposing batting average of .185 proving that he can pitch at this level. I would grab him now before everyone starts to notice how good he truly is. As long as Long keeps pitching well, he should be in the Giants rotation for the remainder of the season.
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