Fantasy Baseball: Amed Rosario gets the call for Mets; Dominic Smith 'not far behind'

With Amed Rosario on the way and Dominic Smith not far behind, the future is now in Queens, and Fantasy players should be as excited as Mets fans.

It happened. It finally happened. The Mets finally called up Amed Rosario, their top prospect, who will make his debut Tuesday in Colorado.

Of course, it comes a full month and a half after Scott White first wrote about rumblings of a call-up. Speculation about Rosario's MLB debut has continued on a seemingly weekly basis since, but the Mets' stubbornly refused to call him up.

We were never given a good explanation for why it took so long for Rosario to get the call. Sandy Alderson told reporters Monday he wanted to get through the "hullabaloo" of the deadline before calling up Rosario – really – but that doesn't matter now. What matters is: Amed Rosario is here! 

And, in only slightly-less-exciting news: Dominic Smith "isn't far behind." The future is now for the young Mets, even if it came a few weeks after Fantasy owners might have hoped.

What should expectations be for Rosario and Smith?

In Rosario's case, he has the potential to be a difference maker from Day 1, and not just because he's a shortstop. The bar for Fantasy relevance is low at short, where Rosario should play every day, but his .333 average in 148 games between Double-A and Triple-A will play anywhere. Rosario has swatted only nine homers in his time in the high minors, but, as with all young players, it's not hard to dream on him developing at least average power.

With the way the ball is flying out of the yard in the majors, it's not a stretch to think Rosario could have 15-homer upside right now, with plus speed. Add that to his elite batting average abilities, and Rosario's upside starts to look an awful lot like the post-breakout version of Elvis Andrus we've seen over the past year. That isn't damning with faint praise; Andrus is the No. 1 shortstop in Fantasy in 2017.

And, even if he doesn't hit his ceiling, Rosario's floor might be Eduardo Nunez, who is a must-own player in his own right. That's how you should view Rosario.

As for Smith: He's a less-obvious add right now, if only because there is less clarity about his call-up date. However, he potentially profiles as a difference maker, even at a stacked first base position.

Smith has hit above .300 in all but one of his minor-league seasons -- .271 in Class A Savannah as a 19-year-old being the lone exception – however early on in his career, it was a lot of empty averages. He has developed into a power threat over the past few years, clubbing 30 of his 40 career homers over the past two seasons, including 16 and counting in 2017.

Those 16 homers have, of course, come in the homer-happy environs of the Pacific Coast League. You can discount those, for sure, however it's also worth keeping this in mind:

In the majors, they have averaged a .183 ISO. So, a .022 point jump. The jump in leaguewide ISO from 2015 to 2017 is .019.

— Chris Towers (@CTowersCBS) July 19, 2017

Players are seeing their power numbers jump as they make the leap from the minors to the majors, so I wouldn't necessarily write off Smith as a 20-plus homer kind of guy. With his impressive bat-to-ball abilities (14.7 percent strikeout rate between Double-A and Triple-A), and Smith could be a .300 hitter, even in the majors. That's the kind of profile that plays anywhere in Fantasy, even if Smith's eventual upside might be just Eric Hosmer. If you've been hanging on to underwhelming first basemen like Brandon Belt or Mark Reynolds, it's not the worst idea to drop one to speculate on Smith. 

This season has been a big disappointment for the Mets, but there are still some bright spots. If Rosario and Smith can join Michael Conforto as legitimate All-Star caliber hitters, they could be in the midst of one heck of an on-the-fly rebuild. With Rosario already getting the call, and Smith right behind him, the future in Queens is brighter than the Mets' 48-55 record.