One of the most anticipated days of the 2021 season finally arrived Sunday. It's the day we learned top prospect Wander Franco is one his way to the majors.
Tuesday will be his debut, and needless to say, you should pick him up wherever he's available in Fantasy Baseball. That excludes CBS leagues, for the most part -- he's already 78 percent rostered in those -- but it doesn't hurt to check. And if you use a different Fantasy Baseball provider (I can think of a couple in particular), chances are he's even more available.
Chris Towers has already provided his take on the Franco news, including whether or not now would be a good time to trade him, but it wouldn't hurt for me to offer my two cents. Though he's been the top prospect in baseball two years running, he is only 20, has played just 39 games above A-ball, and is arriving at a time when the learning curve for new major-leaguers appears to have steepened.
- We talk Wander Franco and Shane McClanahan plus Scott and Chris help you decide whether to start or sit these injured players on the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast. You can follow us to get the latest episodes on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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It's that last point that gives me pause. In past years, you could trust a prospect of Franco's caliber to make an immediate impact. It didn't always happen, but it did often enough. We've already seen one such prospect, Jarred Kelenic, falter this year after seeing it happen to several of the most notable call-ups last year. Andrew Vaughn and Alex Kirilloff have also struggled in their first extended look in the big leagues. Granted, neither was the top prospect coming into the year, but neither is as young as 20 either.
Of course, just because we've had bad luck with prospect call-ups of late doesn't mean Franco will continue the trend. If any prospect is likely to break it, in fact, it's him. Then again, I might have said the same about Kelenic a few weeks ago, which is a big reason why this whole process feels like a guessing game all of a sudden.
Still, Franco has always shown excellent contact skills throughout his minor-league career, his 11.6 percent strikeout rate this year representing, amusingly enough, a career worst. He's also been on a heater in June, batting .371 (26 for 70) with three homers, four triples, five doubles and two steals. The timing of this opportunity is fitting, and knowing the Rays, the likelihood of him picking up second and third base eligibility in addition to shortstop is high.
Clearly, it's an exciting day, particularly for those who've had Franco stashed away all this time. But as for how much it'll pay off, we can't get ahead of ourselves these days. I'll cautiously rank Franco as a top-15 shortstop for now with the hope he performs more like a top-five.
Here's who else you might be able to grab off the waiver wire ...
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Though the final line wasn't great Saturday, Logan Gilbert continued to flash a changeup to go along with the fastball and slider, coming closer to unveiling his full arsenal. And as a result, we've seen the rookie's swinging-strike rate jump from 8.9 percent in his first four starts to 15.8 percent in his past three. He looks like he's on the verge of breaking through, and knowing the upside, you'll want to stash him away in the meantime.
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Ty France upped his hitting streak to nine games Sunday, homering for the third time during that stretch. He's batting .323 (32 for 99) in 27 games since his IL stint for a bruised forearm after batting .314 (27 for 86) in the 24 games leading up to the injury, so really, it's that two-week stretch when he tried playing through the injury that makes his season line so pedestrian. I would also remind you he hit .327 this spring, .305 last season and .399 in the minors two years ago.
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Shane McClanahan is looking like an even higher-priority pickup than Logan Gilbert at this point. He topped 80 pitches for the second straight start Sunday, going six innings for the first time. The Rays continue to build him up and need more length from him than ever with Tyler Glasnow down for the count. Seeing as McClanahan would trail only Jacob deGrom in swinging-strike rate if he had the innings to qualify, the prospect of the Rays handling him like a more conventional starter is an exciting one indeed.
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Does the rookie deserve a pass for that miserable April in which offense around the league was at historic lows? He looks like a different player since then. In fact, since May 13, he's batting .292 (33 for 113) with five homers, four steals, an .885 OPS and, most notably, a .416 on-base percentage. The plate discipline has him batting leadoff now for the Reds, and it looks like there's enough power and speed to go with it.
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With back-to-back two-homer games over the weekend, Adam Duvall is now up to 16 in 62 games this year -- the same number as in 57 games last year, when so many presumed he performed over his head. The craziest part is that he's leading the NL with 52 RBI, a full 19 more than he had last year. He's an all-or-nothing player for sure, offering little in the way of batting average along with a bloated strikeout rate and scanty walk rate. But at least in five-outfielder leagues, it's looking like there's enough "all" to justify the "nothing."
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Patrick Sandoval turned in another fine start Saturday, his fifth in a row. Technically, only two have gone the minimum six innings to meet the standard of a quality start, but he has a respectable 3.69 ERA and 1.26 WHIP overall. He hasn't had a swinging-strike total as bonkers as the 30 he collected on June 6, but his changeup indeed looks like a special pitch. If he can keep the walks under control, he may amount to something.
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Daulton Varsho is back with Carson Kelly having suffered a broken wrist and got the start behind the plate Sunday before moving out to center field. He went 0 for 4 and is now batting .156 (7 for 45) between a couple stints with the big club, but check out what he was doing at Triple-A Reno. That's nine home runs to go along with six doubles and three triples in 18 games. The 24-year-old has nothing more to prove in the minors and still offers enough upside at a weak position to deserve a flier.
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A four-hit game Sunday has brought Abraham Toro's major-league batting average (.348) about even with his minor-league batting average (.352). He also hit his first home run over the weekend and has still struck out just one time in 23 at-bats. Getting a chance to fill in for Alex Bregman, the 24-year-old is beginning to show off the contact skills that have made him a standout in the minors, and the hope is there's enough power for him to factor as a corner infielder.
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