Andy Pages
The Dodgers promoted their number three prospect on Tuesday. Pages has a very strong offensive resume. The 23 year old is slashing .371/.452/.694 in 15 AAA games, and while the ballpark environment he was playing in is super hitter friendly, it's an impressive statline nonetheless. His 18/11 K/BB% is really solid, but we obviously expect those numbers to take hits on both sides of the ratio, but the 18% K rate is his best figure since 2018. However, I think there's a sneaky good chance he is able to carve out a consistent role. The Dodgers are in need of an outfielder, desperately. Chris Taylor is 1-33 on the year, and James Outman has a .605 OPS, and Kike Hernandez has a .414 OPS. The bar for Pages to clear on the offensive side is actually really low right now.
Jack Leiter
The former number two overall pick scuffled in the minors after being drafted, posting ERA's over 5.00 both in 2022 and 2023. It looks like he's finally found his groove, punching out an astounding 25 batters in 14.1 innings, while only walking three. Leiter was promoted to the bigs on Tuesday. It's a speculative add if you have the roster space, but I like the upside. Leiter's issuance of walks was a problem his first two pro years, but he's pounding the zone now, and the stuff has progressed in the positive direction. He does have some homerun issues (1.54 HR/9 in AA in 2023) and isn't a groundball guy obviously (33.5% in that same sample). There could be some ugly blowup games, but I like the punchout rates we'll see from a starter.
Forrest Whitley
At one point, Whitley was a blue chip prospect with a promising future. Baseball america had him ranked as high as the 5th in their overall rankings in 2019. He was very polarizing back then, as he threw multiple wipeout pitches, but was both walking and striking out every batter in sight. In 2019, he walked 15.8% of batters but punched out 30.9%. Whitley's career has been bumpy. He has a drug violation on his resume and missed all of 2020 and 2021, and only threw 70 innings between 2022 and 2023. He's finally healthy, and the Astros have finally given the chance at a big league role. Whitley came out in relief and got two outs to finish an inning on Tuesday. As far as fantasy value goes, it remains to be seen. There is stuff and therefore upside. But over the course of eight years, he's never thrown strikes. The best case scenario is a Hold collector that gets some punchouts and contributes in the ERA column, but I'm on a wait-and-see plan right now.
Some other notes...
Ozzie Albies
The Braves placed Albies on the IL after fracturing the big toe on his right foot. He was able to play through the game on Monday, which is a good sign, but I'd imagine Albies was in pain when the adrenaline wore off. Albies has two 30 HR / 100 RBI seasons underneath his belt, and has started off this season plenty strong. Given the nature of the injury, I don't think he will be on the shelf for too long, and he should hit the ground running once he comes back.
Hunter Brown
Brown bounced back on Tuesday after his historically horrific previous start by throwing 6 innings of 2 ER baseball. The biggest issue is that Brown is simply not missing bats right now. His 26% CSW isn't enough to overcome the amount of well-hit balls he allows in play. He only punched out three while walking three and giving up a homer. He can be safely dropped at this juncture.
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