Edward Cabrera (SP - MIA) - Well, the Marlins threw everybody for a loop on Monday. AJ Puk reportedly came down with an illness, so Miami decided to demote Max Meyer, fresh off an excellent outing against the Braves, and bring up Edward Cabrera to make his season debut even though he was slated for one more rehab start on Wednesday. Meyer is apparently going to stay in the minors and pitch 3 innings once a week [eye roll emoji], while Cabrera looked like the best version of himself during a 6 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K outing against the Giants. Pretty much anytime Cabrera only walks 1 guy it's a successful outing, and this one was no different: 17 swinging strikes on 91 pitches. He allowed a bit of hard contact, but all 3 secondaries looked solid, and when he's in the zone around half of the time, good things tend to happen for him. He certainly looks ready to be active for everyone.....it just would have been nice to know a few hours earlier!
Jordan Westburg (2B/3B - BAL) - Westburg had two singles and a double on Monday, bringing his slash line up to 302/373/547 for the year. He's probably the least discussed of this sizable batch of O's hitting prospects, but in 158 games at the AAA level, Westburg hit 36 HR and stole 15 bases with over 120 R and RBI: he should be talked about more. The biggest threat here of course is that any slump is going to have people talking about the myriad of other players clamoring for playing time, so good on Westburg for not giving them the chance thus far. He looks like a 20/10 player to me with 2B/3B eligibility in a very good lineup. If he can hold on to the lion's share of playing time, something that he's made a good start on, I think that he's tremendously underrated. The EV data supports above-average power, the speed is at least average, and although there are some contact issues they haven't been disruptive to the AVG very much at all during his climb through the minors (or last season in BAL). I certainly don't think that he has the ceiling of a Henderson, Holliday, or Cowser, but he's no slouch.
Michael Busch (1B - CUB) - Busch homered for the 5th straight game for the Cubs on Monday as he continues to force himself into the lineup for the Northsiders. There's nothing good that comes from Seiya Suzuki hitting the IL with another oblique injury, but at least it opens up more space for Busch, who at this point is looking like he'll be 1B only for eligibility purposes. The 26 year old has hit and hit well at every level following a brief adjustment period, and he appears to be taking the same tact with the majors: he's now hitting 327/400/731 after Monday's blast. He needs to be picked up and started in all formats right now. He's gone on massive hot streaks in the past few years at AA and AAA that would put him on 50-HR paces, so to expect him to hit 30 or more if he is going to play every day wouldn't exactly be out of nowhere.
Taylor Ward (OF - LAA) - Ward homered again on Monday, giving him 3 in 4 games to go along with an 8-game hitting streak and a 15-game on-base streak. He's been noticeably more aggressive thus far, posting a swing% over 50 for the first time in his career (swing rate is typically the first statistic to reach "significance"). That's caused a bit of deterioration in his chase rate and swinging strike rate, but neither is worse than average even after that, so it isn't overly concerning to me given how well he's hitting the ball when he's making contact. Great LA (very low GB rate, 26.5% LD), solid EV. There's no reason to expect anything less than his 2022 level of performance, which would put him comfortably 10-15 spots higher than where he was being drafted.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand (1B/3B - CIN) - Encarnacion-Strand had a pair of doubles in the 9-3 loss to Seattle on Monday, his 4th multi-hit game in the past 6. The contact issues are there and aren't going away, but there's an awful lot of power here. The 24 year old had an average EV of 91.5 coming into Monday's action, with Statcast xAVG/xSLG of 244/495 as opposed to the 185/308 that he's actually posted. I've cut him in some shallow leagues where there is plenty of available talent on the wire, but I wouldn't risk that in leagues of any depth. There are plenty of 20+ HR talent players out there, but not so many at 30+, and CES is in the latter category for sure. Yes, the contact issues could make the AVG a problem, but the .270 that he managed last year in 63 G with Cincy was the lowest of his pro career by a wide margin. He hits the ball so hard when he makes contact that I have faith that he can keep the AVG respectable.
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