I have never seen the ranks of the pitching more disturbed than I have seen here in 2023. Forget everything that you think you know about starting pitching. Gerrit Cole has been outstanding through several starts. Outside of that, very little has been predictable or normal. Corbin Burnes has gotten hit quite hard, There are accomplished closers with ERA’s above 6.00. The number of Tommy John surgeries looks like it will be as high as it has ever been. What is a dedicated fantasy baseball player to do? Concentrating on offense is not a bad idea to turn to and let the pitching settle down. Let’s take a look at some young offensive players to get our mind off of the insanity of just how year to year pitching is proving to be at the moment.
Pitching is still enormously important. It does make up fully half of the points to be had in a standard roto or categories league. But there are a lot of interesting offensive players out there at the moment, and these guys are controlling the strike zone and showing advanced bat to ball skills. The two front runners in the National League are Jordan Walker and Corbin Carroll who made their teams out of spring training. They were drafted this spring and were on teams already in dynasty formats. Evan Carter however is probably available in your dynasty league. A centerfielder with the Texas Rangers, Carter has impeccable plate discipline. He is also very young for the Double AA level he is playing at. He is in fact, the second youngest player in the Texas League.
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The most recent collective bargaining agreement left open incentives for major league teams to bring their best young prospects forth each season as vote getters for Rookie-of-the-Year would give their franchises additional draft pick compensation. This carrot and stick approach was intended to discourage clubs from holding young talent back and delay their eventual eligibility to achieve arbitration. I would look closely at what is happening already this April. Minnesota has called up 2nd base prospect Edouard Julien. The Los Angeles Angels have promoted 2022 1st round draft pick Zach Neto. That is an ultra fast promotion. The Oakland A’s have promoted right-handed pitcher Mason Miller. These teams have in the past been notorious in holding back minor league promotions until late May to slow down arbitration eligibility. But the economics have changed.
The next logical question to ask would be if it risky to play these young prospects. As we go to press, NY Yankee shortstop Anthony Volpe has walked 13 times and stolen 8 bases. And we still have a week left in April. Eight stolen bases in April is on pace for 48 stolen bases over the whole baseball season. Both Neo and Julien are rated as having 20 stolen base speed. With the new rules who can say how many bases they may steal in 2023. Let’s not leave out St. Louis Cardinals rookie Jordan Walker either. Walker does not turn 21 years of age until May 2nd. He started out the season with a 12 game hitting streak. Another fast guy he has already stolen 2 bases.
Who else can we expect to be called up this season it is natural to ask. Keep an eye on Carson Williams, a shortstop with the Devil Rays. Also with the Devil Rays, 1st baseman Kyle Manzardo is a pure hitting machine, whose defensive deficiencies limit him to 1st base only. This is not a problem if first base is a position of need for your team. Yes, the young pitching prospects are getting a lot of attention in the early going here. But there are a lot of exciting young hitting prospects out there. Most of them are not on a team yet either.