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Welcome back, RotoBallers, to my Week 19 fantasy baseball news, notes, and buys/sells for dynasty leagues. Thanks for bearing with me. Due to the birth of my daughter, I am much more sleep-deprived, but I am ready to rock and roll with new dynasty news and notes!
Today's article will look at recent prospect call-ups like Will Warren and Dillon Dingler along with several other dynasty-related news. This weekly series will take a look at various prospects and dynasty news and discuss fantasy implications. If you enjoy dynasty baseball, you know it is a fast-paced game. Keeping up with the Joneses per se keeps you in the game and at the top of the standings. At the end of the day, we all want to build a dynasty team that sustains and lasts for the long haul. I am here to help you do so.
Keeping up with all the current happenings can help you stay ahead of your league mates. Call-ups, trends, and buying and selling players are all just small pieces to help you stay ahead. So, that's what we will do in this article each week, break down everything you need to know to be successful in a dynasty. Let's get to it. What do you need to know for dynasty leagues in Week 19 of the 2024 season?
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- Who should I start? Fantasy baseball player comparisons
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Recent MLB Prospect Call-Ups
In 2023, Will Warren had one of the highest Stuff+ of any arm in Triple-A, according to Eno Sarris’s model. He posted a 3.91 ERA across 129 innings between Double-A and Triple-A and has proved to be ready for an MLB rotation. On the surface this season, the 6.11 ERA won't impress anyone and shows how badly Warren struggled early in the season.
Through the end of June, Warren had a 7.05 ERA across 74 innings. Over the last four, a 2.91 mark. When Gerrit Cole got scratched earlier this week with general fatigue that was reportedly due to a stomach bug, Warren got the call. Sure, he allowed four earned runs over 5.1 innings, which was not great, but he did strike out six batters.
Warren throws two fastball variations in a sinker and four-seam, both sitting around 93 mph, with the sinker having a ton of running life and depth. The four-seam has had a pretty impressive whiff rate on it this year, at 30 percent.
The changeup gets a ton of fading action, averaging 15 inches while the sweeper averages nearly 17 inches of horizontal movement in the other direction. Warren will occasionally mix in a cutter that sits in the upper-80s. It is a legit arsenal and you have to wonder if the ABS system messed with him early in the year as the results were better when the challenge system took its place every day in Triple-A.
Dillon Dingler feels pretty underrated at this point but received the call to join the big league team. A lot of the feeling of being underrated is due to prospect fatigue. The performance has been legit, though, as Dingler posted a .308/.379/.559 slash with 17 home runs in Triple-A. He has improved all aspects of his game this year, especially with the bat.
Under the hood, things look solid as well, as Dingler’s average exit velocity of 91 mph ranks high by Triple-A standards, and his 105 mph 90th percentile exit velocity is a tick above MLB average.
The contact skills are also good. Dingler has a 75 percent overall contact rate and an in-zone mark near 85 percent. The chase rate is an above-average 26 percent. If your catching situation in fantasy is not looking great, I would add Dingler.
Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Trends: Who is Next for Saves?
Relief pitchers highlighted the trade deadline as we saw plenty of teams pay up for relievers. This left plenty of teams without closers, but who could be next in line for saves on some deadline sellers? Let's take a look.
Los Angeles Angels
The first save for the Angels in the post-Carlos Estevez era went to.... you guessed it, Hunter Strickland. No, I am pretty sure you did not guess that. But Strickland, now 35 years old, earned his first save since 2022. He has pitched pretty well this year, posting a 3.06 ERA across 50 innings with a 2.91 xERA to back it. He has not missed a ton of bats, so that is something to watch.
Ben Joyce likely falls next in line and I would not be shocked if he spent over a month as the team's regular closer. He has one of the best fastballs in the game, with a pretty good slider to pair with it. The results have been pretty good as well since he came up to the majors, posting a 2.01 ERA across 22.1 innings this year. Surprisingly, he has struck out just 20 percent of batters faced despite his big stuff. Don't be shocked when Joyce gets the next save right when we thought it was Strickland's job.
Miami Marlins
Miami is the other situation where we still have questions as to who will get the saves. The team moved Tanner Scott. It feels like it could mix and match the ninth inning with Calvin Faucher as a right-handed arm and Andrew Nardi as a lefty.
Faucher has been solid this year, posting a 3.03 ERA with a 2.62 FIP in 38.2 innings pitched. He struggles with command at times, walking over 11 percent of batters faced. Nardi has not been nearly as good as he was in 2023, as he has a 4.91 ERA across 40.1 innings this year. The good news is the ERA indicators are much better as he has a 2.84 SIERA and a 3.16 FIP with a 24 percent strikeout minus walk rate.
Anthony Bender is another name to watch in this situation.
Oakland Athletics
Mason Miller is on the shelf and Lucas Erceg is now a Royal. Who gets the saves in Oakland? Tyler Ferguson recorded the last two saves the Athletics recorded, so naturally he seems to have assumed the role. The 30-year-old career journeyman made his MLB debut this year and has a 4.01 ERA across 24 innings with a 28 percent strikeout rate.
Kansas City Royals
The Royals acquired Lucas Erceg at the deadline and Hunter Harvey in previous weeks. James McArthur has 18 saves on the year, leading the team by a wide margin. Sam Long surprisingly grabbed the most recent save, his first of the year. Kris Bubic pitched the ninth in Wednesday's game, which was a blowout of the White Sox.
I think it is fair to assume McArthur continues to grab the bulk of the saves here.
Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Buys and Sells
It is probably buying high at this point, but Jazz Chisholm Jr. feels like an easy buy. The move to New York is a massive lineup and ballpark upgrade. I kind of questioned if the fit would work, but so far in four games with the Yankees, Chisholm has seven hits, including two multi-home-run games. I think he just might like playing for a contender.
Sure, there is some whiff in the profile, but the contact rate has jumped nearly seven percentage points on the year with the zone contact rate improving by over five percentage points. We know Chisholm can get to power, having a barrel rate that ranks 75th percentile among all hitters. He is up to 17 home runs on the year paired with 23 stolen bases. You can question how much he will run with New York, but he did snag a steal in his first game with the team.
Yes, this is a buy-high for sure. But I would not be shocked for Chisholm to finish the year with 25 or more home runs and 30 stolen bases. The dynasty stock is likely to soar, so I would try to get in now.
If we are looking at a player who could lose value due to a trade, it is Isaac Paredes. The master of pulled fly balls was traded from Tampa Bay to Chicago. Paredes' home ballpark in Tampa had a left-field wall that was just 315 feet away. Wrigley Field is a massive difference at 355 feet.
It is already happening. Paredes did his usual and pulled a deep fly ball. It would have been a home run at Tropicana Field, but not at Wrigley or Great American Ball Park where the game was played. It is a skill to be able to pull and lift the ball, and Paredes does it better than any hitter in baseball. Sadly, the change in the home ballpark is a huge loss in value for him.
The contact skills are quite good as his overall contact rate of 83 percent ranks 88th percentile among all hitters and Paredes is likely to get on base a ton. But, the average exit velocity of 84.8 mph is among the league's worst and his 25.6 percent hard-hit rate ranks fifth percentile among hitters.
Paredes is still going to be good, but if you can cash out on him, you should.
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