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AIPROPX ReportCBS Sports · 2h ago
Fantasy Baseball Prospects Report: Ralphy Velazquez, Ethan Salas making a late promotion push
We're inside of 45 days to go, which marks the point when a prospect can debut and still retain his rookie eligibility for next year. It also marks the point when we normally see a rash of call-ups, for reasons not worth going into right now, but so far, there's been only one: Joshua Baez .
Granted, he's made a big impression, becoming the first player to homer three times in his major league debut, but we'd like to see some other prospects make an impression, too. So which will they be and when?
The answer to the second question is easier: any day now. From a front office perspective, there is no strategic hurdle with less than 45 days remaining in the season. Maybe some call-ups will be delayed until Sept. 1, when active rosters expand by two, but even that isn't so far away. The bulk of the remaining call-ups -- at least the most notable ones -- will happen within the next two weeks.
So who? That's the trickier question. I speculated on 15 about a week ago , just before the 45-day mark, and I wouldn't say my opinions have shifted much since then. I think the strongest candidates remain Kade Anderson and Walker Jenkins , but I wouldn't say there's a clear top five. So as you peruse my Five on the Verge this week, understand that my choices aren't at the exclusion of Franklin Arias or James Tibbs , to name a couple. They're implied to be on the verge as well. I'm just choosing to focus on some other potential call-ups this time.
(Here are the prospects most worth stashing in redraft leagues.)
I'm running out of ways to state the case for Anderson, who has been a fixture on this list for more than three months now, and judging by his 73 percent roster rate in CBS Sports leagues, the possibility of him coming up isn't lost on anyone. The Mariners wouldn't necessarily have to go with a six-man rotation, even, given Bryce Miller's recent struggles. What I'd like to do here, then, is contextualize just how dominant he's been. His ERA sits at 1.06, and he's lowered it in his past four outings. In only two of his past 11 has he allowed even a single earned run, giving him a 0.61 ERA, 0.57 WHIP and 12.7 K/9 during that time with only a .129 batting average against. If you remove his only real hiccup this season, a five-run outing on May 15, he's given up just six earned runs all season, good for a 0.60 ERA. Enough already.
2025 minors: .286 BA (308 AB), 10 HR, 17 SB, .850 OPS, 50 BB, 76 K 2026 minors: .309 BA (256 AB), 9 HR, 13 SB, .908 OPS, 37 BB, 46 K
Jenkins has been thwarted by injuries ever since the Twins drafted him fifth overall in 2023, yet here he is on the cusp of the majors at age 21. It's a testament to his skill level, which is also evidenced by his premium plate discipline at every stop up the ladder. I don't just mean his .400 on-base percentage, great though that is. Now that he's reached Triple-A, we can see that he's connecting 92 percent of the time when he swings on pitches in the zone and chasing pitches out of the zone only 21 percent of the time.
Even if you want to argue that he hasn't fully realized his power potential yet -- and that's more a factor of his pull-air rate than his exit velocities -- his on-base skills alone could be the difference between the Twins making and missing the playoffs. They were one of the few teams in contention for the third AL wild card spot that actually bought at the deadline, and they're currently just half a game up. Kody Clemens has fallen off as a hitter, so shifting Luke Keaschall back to second base to free up right field for Jenkins makes sense.
2026 minors: 5-4, 3.27 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 99 IP, 61 BB, 120 K 2026 majors: 9 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 6 BB, 10 K
Quinn Mathews is far from the highest-end prospect who could come up in the next two weeks, but he claims a top spot on this list because he's already established himself as next in the pecking order, having made two spot starts for the Cardinals , and has already shown himself to be serviceable in the majors. That counts for a lot, especially at the position with by far the most turnover in Fantasy Baseball, creating a perpetual need to bolster one's pitching staff. As a prospect, he has an obvious flaw -- one that came to light in between his two major league starts with nine walks in seven innings back at Triple-A -- but overall, he's making strides in that regard, issuing 4.5 walks per nine innings in his last 13 starts, majors and minors included, compared to 7.5 per nine innings previously. His most recent major league start Monday offered a glimpse of his upside, short though the outing was. He allowed one run on two hits over four innings against the Reds , issuing three walks while recording seven strikeouts on 12 whiffs.
2025 minors: .265 BA (483 AB), 22 HR, .839 OPS, 52 BB, 104 K 2026 minors: .286 BA (388 AB), 22 HR, .904 OPS, 49 BB, 90 K
The Guardians acquired Nate Lowe at the trade deadline, which shows they were prioritizing left-handed thump at a position that hadn't panned out so far (thanks a lot, Kyle Manzardo ). What they weren't counting on is 21-year-old Ralphy Velazquez taking a sledgehammer to Triple-A so soon after moving up. Most notably, he's homered 11 times in his past 16 games, and that's the kind of lightning in a bottle that can push a nondescript team to the top of a crowded wild card race.
Ralphy ties a career high! Cleveland #Guardians 21yr old (1B) prospect Ralphy Velazquez hits his 22nd HR of the season a 430 foot 2-run blast 105.9 mph off the bat in the 2nd inning for Columbus. Velazquez has homered 8x now in his last 10 games! #GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/IeCBe4i8WX
Lowe has done fine so far, but the Guardians don't have a dedicated DH and could find a way to play Velazquez alongside him. Maybe they choose not to because he's young and still a bit of a free-swinger, as evidenced by his 33 percent chase rate. That would be my lean, in fact. Still, I wanted to shine a light o...
Fantasy Baseball Prospects ReportRalphy VelazquezEthan SalasAs Kade AndersonWalker JenkinsScott White
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