F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, "There are no second acts in American lives." I don't know if that is true, but if feels like Fantasy baseball players have certainly bought it, especially when it comes to prospects.
When you're shiny and new, we'll trip over ourselves to add you to our rosters; Alex Bregman is already up to 79 percent owned in CBSSports.com leagues after getting the call earlier this week. However, if Bregman struggles for the next few weeks and gets sent down -- a not unreasonable expectation for a 22-year-old with just 18 games of experience above Double-A -- we'll undoubtedly be much less excited about his next chance in the majors.
Take Joey Gallo, for one. One of the game's truly elite hitting prospects, Gallo was a big deal for Fantasy players when he got the call for the first time last summer. However, he struggled mightily as a 21-year-old in 123 plate appearances last season, hitting .204/.301/.417 with 57 strikeouts, a whopping number, and hardly makes a ripple this time around. He has been added in just 10 percent of CBSSports.com leagues, less than boring names like Cheslor Cuthbert and Ryan Schimpf, let alone someone like Yulieski Gurriel -- an exciting player, but also a 32-year-old who hasn't played at all since last season in Cuba.
But you should still be excited about Gallo. For all of his struggled last season, Gallo went right back down to the minors this season and continued to mash. He hit just .246, but still managed to post a .381 on-base percentage and .557 slugging, with 19 homers in just 70 games. More importantly, perhaps, after striking out 46.3 percent of the time in the majors last season and 38.2 percent of the time between Double-A and Triple-A in 2014 and 2015, Gallo has lowered his strikeout rate this season to 30.4 percent.
Strikeouts will always be an issue for Gallo, a massive slugger with contact issues who also works deep into counts, but if he can be in that 30-35 percent strikeout range, he can be a huge difference maker. He showed that Tuesday by crushing a breaking pitch 450 feet the opposite way, and also showed it in 2015, when he sported a massive 49.0 percent hard-hit rate and 31.6 percent HR/FB rate in his brief stint in the majors.
If you're looking for a possible comp for Gallo, Twins slugger Miguel Sano is an interesting one. Despite striking out 34.7 percent of the time in his major-league career, Sano has slugged 33 homers with 90 RBI and 83 runs scored in his first 150 major-league games. If Sano was available on waivers right now, you would definitely go add him, right?
With Prince Fielder out for the season, there is a chance for Gallo to earn an everyday spot in the lineup. He is a high-risk pickup player, but there is little downside in picking him up, and he might just hit 15-20 homers from this point on. As my colleague Scott White said on Wednesday's episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast, you can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket; Gallo could be the winning one.
Tyler Skaggs, SP, Angels (58 percent owned)
Skaggs passed his first test, limiting the Royals to just three hits over seven shutout innings in his first outing of the season. He had just five swinging strikes on 88 pitches, but this is a Royals team that doesn't swing and miss much, so the five strikeouts are still a positive sign. Skaggs was able to throw all three of his pitches for strikes, and hit 96 on the gun with his fastball, a sign that he still has life in his arm after fighting his way back from injuries. One of my followers on Twitter Tuesday night said the real test comes for Skaggs in his next start, when he faces the Red Sox, but I think that is only half true; even if Skaggs gets bombed by the Red Sox, I won't be too discouraged. That's what the Red Sox do, so he'll still get a mulligan in my eyes if the Red Sox jump on him. Of course, if Skaggs does pitch well against the Red Sox, he would be rightly viewed as a must-own pitcher, so why wait? Add him now, and see if you can get in just above the ground floor on yet another post-hype breakout candidate.
Jurickson Profar, 3B/2B/1B, Rangers (54 percent owned)
Profar picked an awfully bad time to slide into a deep slump, because his ownership level would be even higher if he was hitting right now. Profar has hit safely in his last three games, but all three have been singles, and haven't been enough to make up for a 4-for-30 slide over his last 10 games. This is actually good news, in a way, for Fantasy players, because it means there hasn't been a mad rush to pick Profar up,so he might still be available in your league. Profar has started six straight games for the Rangers, batting leadoff in five of them and playing all over the field as the Rangers continue to look for ways to get his bat in the lineup. That trend should continue moving forward, and I bet Profar's bat is about to get hot again. The 23-year-old is still hitting .287 for the season, while showcasing decent power, solid contact skills, and the potential for even more growth. Now that he is playing everyday, Profar has the chance to be a real difference maker, and this slump doesn't change that; go get him before it's too late.
