Memorial Day Weekend Open Thread For Fantasy Questions

DRA/DRA- thinks he's much closer to average (4.25/99) than ace, and that probably tracks with how he's striking out a lot fewer batters this year and giving up more contact in the zone. If you can trade him, go for it, though I'm not sure how many people you can trade with who wouldn't be scared off by potential regression and an innings cap

I think you're referencing the stories out of The Athletic from Jayson Stark, where some of the differences in results had to do with how much teams were told and when they were told (which would impact their time to strategize), and how moving second base this season could impact it even more.

I don't know that we've seen any results from it yet. I can't find much about it since the last Stark article in late March, and the minor league stats I'm aware of are generally by player in each league instead of for the league as a whole, so there would be a few extra steps in aggregating them.

As for what leagues you should discount, I'm not really sure we have -- or will have -- enough data to make that determination right away, unless steals start to show up in a certain league like power does in the PCL or at Double-A Reading.

I know that might not be a satisfying answer but minor league strategies and development are just so diverse. Teams might focus on different things at different levels. Guys might be running in situations where they wouldn't be getting sent in the majors. Like Jordan Walker has 10 steals in 13 tries, but I doubt the Cardinals are really going to be letting him run a ton in the majors when his calling card is power. Meanwhile Anthony Volpe has 18 steals in 20 tries and he's been running more despite having a harder time hitting, and I think it's entirely plausible that the Yankees let him impact the game in whatever way he can when he finally gets the call.

I'd be looking for info similar to that, that shows up kind of in between the lines on the reports that come out about these guys, which the BP prospect team is really good at spotting.

Torkelson has all the tools but he's still young. Maybe he puts it together to start dazzling in the second half, or maybe he takes the whole year. So few top prospects come in and play like top MLB guys, so it's a real test of patience.

If you're long on pitchers I'd be trying to balance it out a little bit. Maybe you can find a team thin on pitching and do a two-for-one (tough to do) or just lean into the depth and trade one of your better guys for a bat upgrade.

I'm not super high on Snell, even though he made me eat crow when I said to stick a fork in him last August. He's still a five-and-dive type with an up and down track record. Rogers has weird fastball stuff going on this year and I feel like his name has come up a bunch in terms of guys who have suffered post-sticky stuff ban. A lot relies on his slider. I think he can be a totally adequate arm, if not the burgeoning ace we saw early last year.

He's hitting a ton of grounders -- almost twice as many as he ever has in the majors. He's also chasing more, which is problematic given that he already chased a ton. Based on that stuff my gut says his timing is off, he isn't getting results, and then he's pressing more because of it. Wouldn't be shocking if he corrected it at some point, but it still might be a down year. Swing decisions are really hard to adjust in-season

He's given up pretty much an equal amount of homers on four different pitch types. Most of them are on the edges of the middle third of the plate, which is less odd.

Maybe it's just a thing about making his pitch? He's not giving up the homers after getting himself into a bad count. In last week's Brass Tacks I talked about pitchers throwing just about any pitch in any count, but maybe leaning too much on one or another. Three-fourths of the homers Eovaldi has given up are on non four-seamers, so I wonder if he uses certain breaking balls to certain handed hitters and they're just sitting on the pitch.

Iunno. I knew he was giving up homers, but I hadn't realized it was the most in the league, or how weird it was, especially with this ball. He's had homer-prone seasons before but I still think his HR rate will ultimately come down at least a couple points. It's one of the stats that takes longest to stabilize. Even a full season is too small a sample, so right now maybe it's just an epically tough run.

Unfortunately I still think you have to ride it out, if for different reasons than a guy like Semien. Berríos has been so, so steady pretty much his whole career. Outside his rookie season (only 14 starts), he's never posted a K-rate below 22.6 percent. With how he limits walks, which he's still doing this year, he always ends up above average in K-BB rate. He's another weird case, like Eovaldi above, in that he's getting barreled more than ever in a down offensive environment. I'm holding and feeling like he'll go on a run eventually

With rosters that big, yes, absolutely be excited. His stuff is bonkers. I'm curious how it'll hold up as he gets stretched out: whether hitters will be more willing to see if they'll get walked (a little like Matt Brash earlier this year) and if is low ground ball rate (~30 percent, about 11 percentage points lower than league average) will make for some crooked innings, but he's clearly talented in a way that can separate him from the pack

Right now, no. We don't have enough info to assume he's going to be able to play regularly any time soon. This kind of stuff really sucks to see and it's a bummer because Meadows is a fun player who has at times gotten a raw deal, so I'm mostly hoping he can feel good soon.

Yeah, there's a good chance he's a top-100 guy the rest of the year. It's a big help that he's running more than usual and has yet to be caught stealing. He's on pace to have a career-high in stolen bases. The rest of the package will probably be what you described, though -- peaks and valleys that make him hard to figure out, because his streakiness is more pronounced than with other players. He could push 15/25 with a plus batting average if he stays healthy and keeps running, though