Fantasy Baseball: Blake Snell gets the call

With top prospect Blake Snell expected to start Saturday for the Rays, Chris Towers says he should be the top priority for Fantasy players on waivers.

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If you hadn't heard about Blake Snell before last season, you were hardly alone. He was a hard-throwing, erratic lefty who hadn't yet cracked a Baseball America Top-100 list. If you haven't heard of Blake Snell by now, well, you might have missed your chance to pick him up, because he is the first big-time, high-impact starting pitching prospect to get the call this season. The 6-foot-4 lefty is expected to start Saturday against the Yankees, and it's not totally crazy to think he might be the Rays' most talented pitcher.

A year ago, that would have sounded insane. Though he posted decent numbers in the lower levels of the minors, control issues kept him from really erupting onto the prospect scene. Snell always featured explosive stuff, but was very much a prototypical wild lefty, racking up big strikeout numbers but also walking 12.6 percent of the batters he faced through his first four professional seasons.

Snell was always one of those, "Yeah, but..." prospects, at least until 2015. BaseballProspectus.com ranked him No. 10 in the Rays' system before last season, and had this to say about him:

"The 22-year-old left-hander is one of those intriguing arms that may end up taking bigger strides toward the end of his minor-league developmental cycle because of the nature of the rough edges he still needs to polish."

Yeah, they pretty much nailed that one. Snell put everything together in 2015, and it resulted in arguably the most dominant numbers of any professional pitcher in baseball. In 134 innings between High-A, Double-A and Triple-A, Snell struck out 163 batters, and more impressively, improved his walk rate at each stage of his development. He posted a 1.41 ERA in his 23 starts, and launched himself into the conversation for best pitching prospect in baseball.

He might not be quite that, but it's not hard to see him making a big Fantasy impact right away. Snell's fastball sits in the mid-90's with the kind of movement that has some scouts calling it one of the best pitches in the minors. His slider is also considered a plus pitch, and he even brings a changeup that could be at least average right now; for a young lefty, that is a great repertoire to take into the majors.

The Rays may be calling him up for just a spot start this weekend, but it wouldn't be a surprise to see him hold his own against a Yankees lineup that is hitting just .220 against lefties. The Rays can probably make it a few more weeks without another No. 5 starter, and Erasmo Ramirez looms as an option out of the bullpen to somewhat complicate things. However, with Snell getting the call here, I would bet this is a sign that they intend to go with the younger, higher-upside play when they do need to fill that rotation spot for good.

That means Snell needs to be picked up right now. Savvier owners have been aware of the Rays' fifth starter situation and had Snell either stashed or on their watchlist, and now is the time to pick him up. Even if he goes down after Saturday's start, it shouldn't be long before he is up for good, and Snell has big-time upside that will be well worth waiting on.

Snell should probably be valued as close to a top-70 pitcher right now, which doesn't quite tell you about how good he might be. That's because there is always risk with any prospect, especially one with the control issues Snell might have. Still, there is no question he should be your top waiver-wire priority right now, and you shouldn't think twice about dropping the likes of Scott Kazmir, Shane Green, Chris Tillman. Wei-Yin Chen or even Shelby Miller or Julio Teheran for him.

If you're already stashing someone like Lucas Giolito, Tyler Glasnow or Julio Urias -- that might be the entire list of pitching prospects better than Snell right now, by the way -- and Snell is available, you probably want to go ahead and add him instead. That trio might be better than Snell, but with him getting the call first, he needs to be the priority.

Early in the season, pitching is all about upside. The likes of Ervin Santana and Mike Leake are fine, even useful Fantasy options. But they aren't likely to make you regret passing on them. With the kind of upside Snell has, he just might. Adding him is a no-brainer.