One other of baseball’s high prospects will make his large league debut Monday, as outfielder James Wooden had his contract bought by the Washington Nationals in time for his or her collection in opposition to the New York Mets.
Wooden will develop into the eighth member of Kiley McDaniel’s top-12 general prospects from the preseason to succeed in the majors, and sixth to make his debut through the 2024 season. Sure, it has been one other robust yr for prospect promotions, although it is a few of the less-expected names — No. 50 Colton Cowser, No. 53 Jared Jones, No. 91 Joey Ortiz and the unranked Luis Gil and Gavin Stone — who rank among the many rookies who’ve made the most important affect.
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That is to not say that the cream of the prospect crop should not be immediately added — and Wooden definitely falls into that “should add” class based mostly upon his potential. No. 7 general prospect Paul Skenes has rapidly develop into the NL’s Rookie of the 12 months favourite (-250 odds, as per ESPN BET), and No. 4 Wyatt Langford continues to be within the working to seize the AL’s high freshman honor (+350 odds, second-best). Fantasy managers want to invest upon the best potential payoffs with their pickups, and Wooden, due to his energy/velocity mixture, ranks excessive on that checklist.
Wooden hit.353/.463/.595 with 10 dwelling runs, 37 RBI and 10 stolen bases over 52 video games for Triple-A Rochester. His promotion has most likely waited this lengthy solely due to a hamstring harm that price him practically a month (Could 24-June 17). Digging into his underlying metrics, Statcast has him with a 59.1% hard-hit fee, the second-best quantity by any Triple-A hitter with at the very least 250 balls in play (Trey Cabbage, 59.7%) and a ten.1% barrel fee. Wooden has additionally been profitable on 10 out of 11 stolen base makes an attempt this season, and 58 out of 67 throughout his skilled profession.
With that mixture of uncooked energy and velocity, to not point out his dimension (6-foot-7, 234 kilos), it is no shock that McDaniel listed Elly De La Cruz, Cody Bellinger and Kyle Tucker as related participant sorts to Wooden. Wooden has additionally made one important enchancment this yr that bodes nicely for his adjustment to the majors, decreasing his chase fee (swings at non-strikes) to 25.2%, whereas additionally enhancing his contact fee to 77.9%. Contemplating he struck out 173 occasions between two minor league ranges in 2023, that is a big step ahead in his growth.
Wooden is at the moment obtainable in 76.4% of ESPN leagues and he needs to be at or close to the highest of your pickups checklist for fantasy’s Week 15.
How are they nonetheless obtainable?
Jarred Kelenic, OF, Atlanta Braves (15.6% rostered in ESPN leagues): Accidents to Ronald Acuna Jr. (season-ending ACL surgical procedure) and Michael Harris II (hamstring) have resulted in golden alternatives for the one-time high prospect Kelenic, who has settled in because the staff’s on a regular basis middle fielder and leadoff hitter since Harris received harm. Kelenic has been glorious within the function, batting .328/.373/.607 with 5 dwelling runs over the 15 video games since, and he is at the moment sporting his finest hard-hit (45.5%) and barrel charges (10.3%). Main off for a lineup as potent because the Braves means most plate appearances and loads of alternative to attain runs.
Heston Kjerstad, OF, Baltimore Orioles (5.8%): Recalled one week in the past to the day, Kjerstad has picked up a trio of begins out of the No. 5 lineup spot, one different batting seventh and Sunday’s begin out of the eight-hole in opposition to a lefty. He has hit .438/.550/.938 with two dwelling runs over his 20 complete plate appearances. He has already pushed himself into the staff’s nook outfield/DH rotation, and has extra hitting upside than alternate options similar to Austin Hays, Cedric Mullins or Ryan O’Hearn. Batting in the course of the Orioles order is kind of a optimistic function for run manufacturing, so Kjerstad needs to be universally added.
Mark Vientos, 3B, New York Mets (16.7%): Initially believed to be extra of a DH candidate (and subsequently an afterthought with J.D. Martinez on the roster), Vientos has as an alternative captured the on a regular basis third-base function following the early-season struggles of Brett Baty. Vientos began 22 of the staff’s 24 June video games on the sizzling nook, hitting .277/.344/.566 with seven homers and 17 RBIs. True, his 30.9% chase fee is considerably excessive, he may stand to get extra raise on the ball (53.5% floor ball fee) and he has a little bit of a platoon cut up (118 level wOBA cut up). Nevertheless, for now, he is doing sufficient to warrant common play in fantasy.
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Jhonkensy Noel, OF, Cleveland Guardians (5.0%): Talking of gamers with large energy potential, Noel hit 18 homers whereas slugging .578 over 65 video games for Triple-A Columbus to start the season, then added two extra homers in his first 5 video games since his recall by the Guardians. He additionally had HR totals of 32 and 27 within the minors in 2022 and 2023, and Statcast had him with a 11.6% barrel fee in Triple-A this yr. Noel may form up as an all-or-nothing energy sort, however he brings sufficient potential in that division to warrant a glance in AL-only and 15-team blended leagues.
Landon Knack, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers (7.0%): This is one other participant who has capitalized upon an expanded alternative, shifting up from his prior designation of No. 6 starter to being a daily within the Dodgers rotation resulting from accidents to Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Knack has a 2.97 ERA and a 24.3% strikeout fee in his 15 begins (plus one aid look) mixed between the majors and minors this season, and he is extra prone to see higher pitch counts within the coming weeks resulting from his new expanded function.
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Jesus Luzardo (58.8% rostered), Alex Verdugo (61.9%), Jeimer Candelario (26.1%), Yusei Kikuchi (36.7%).