Happy Tuesday, everyone! Monday's Memorial Day schedule was filled with double-header action and one-off games that featured a variety of standout hitting and pitching performances. We'll start today with the outing from Brewers SP Aaron Ashby. Last week, Scott White and the FBT crew pushed to scoop Ashby in your shallower leagues ahead of his two-start week, and the early signs are even better than expected. Ashby was dominant on Monday, when he threw six innings against the Cubs and allowed just five hits, one walk and one earned run. The bigger news came in the strikeout department where Ashby struck out two per inning -- 12 over six innings with 21 induced swinging strikes. Ashby gets another start this week and he's now up to 73% rostered in CBS leagues. Make sure he's not hanging around on the waiver wire anywhere.
Below, we'll dive into more of the action from Monday including most added and dropped players from the weekend, how one of baseball's top hitting prospects is finally seeing it translate to the MLB level early and a deep league waiver wire stash you might be interested in making now. Also, make sure you're all caught up with everything going on from the Fantasy Baseball Today team over at CBSSports.com/Fantasy/Baseball. Scott White broke down his top-35 injured list players to stash on your bench and if you have any of your IL spots open, you'll want to check that out here. There's no reason not to throw one of these players on your bench and then on your IL. Scott also dove into Spencer Strider and Michael Harris among other names to get on your radar in his waiver wire column that you can find here.
And of course, as always, you can follow to make sure you get the latest episodes of Fantasy Baseball Today right when they drop on Apple and Spotify.
Gorman ain't wasting time no more
It has been a rocky ride for most of the top hitting prospects in their early call-ups with the exception of Wander Franco and fewer than a handful of others since last season. Jared Kelenic was supposed to take the league by storm and immediately put up numbers and he has since been sent down to the minors. We've seen the Twins try and at least to this point fail with Jose Miranda, the Angels with Jo Adell and other examples. So that means Cardinals call-up Nolan Gorman was destined to fail, right? Apparently, that's wrong.
Gorman had another massive weekend with his bat. On Saturday, he dropped a 449-foot homer that towered. Gorman now has seven hits and two homers in his last three games. He's here to stay and might even be worth trading for now before the price truly skyrockets.
A deep-league stash to consider
Mets OF Nick Plummer might be someone to get on your radar in deeper leagues and certainly NL-only leagues. On Monday, Plummer homered, drove in four runs and went 3-for-4 in another Mets blowout win. Plummer is a former first-round draft pick from 2015 and things obviously haven't gone his way thus far in his career, but he has completely redone his hitting mechanics and the results in 2021 -- albeit in the minors -- were promising: .280 with 15 homers, 13 bags and a .894 OPS. Someone to keep an eye on in deeper leagues.
A prospect call up to stash
It's always worth banking on upside when it comes to prospect call-ups and now we've got the Braves promoting OF Michael Harris to consider. This one came out of nowhere, considering many expected Atlanta to wait on Harris as he was just a 21-year-old prospect in Double-A, but they decided now was the time to capitalize. Harris is a top-75 prospect in all of the land and he is coming off a strong start to the 2022 season in Double-A with a .305 average, five homers, 11 steals and a .878 OPS. He's 41% rostered at the moment, but that should change very soon. We wouldn't wait to scoop him up and stash him.
Most added/dropped players from the weekend
Added Hitters
- William Contreras 71% rostered
- Joc Pederson 76%
- Michael Harris 41%
- Luis Arraez 80%
- Kole Calhoun 57%
Dropped hitters
- Steven Kwan 47%
- Sheldon Neuse 34%
- Andres Gimenez 56%
- Owen Miller 60%
- Elias Diaz 43%
Added Pitchers
- Aaron Ashby 73%
- Jake Junis 37%
- David Peterson 44%
- Jeffery Springs 37%
- Spencer Strider 47%
Dropped pitchers
- Zack Greinke 55%
- Chad Kuhl 48%
- Zach Logue 7%
- James Kaprielian 23%
- Brad Keller 41%
News and lineup notes
Every night the Fantasy Baseball Today team dives into all of the happenings around the MLB from top performers to injuries, trades and more. The podcast is a must listen for any diehard, if I do say so myself. Tune in to the podcast to hear the FBT crew expand on the news and notes below.
- Fernando Tatis' wrist will be scanned again when the Padres return home next Monday, at which point he could be cleared to hit.
- Kyle Tucker has missed two straight games with inflammation in his left foot. He is not dealing with any structural damage, however.
- Jose Altuve was removed Monday following a collision with Christian Bethancourt. Altuve is going through concussion protocol.
- Brandon Woodruff was placed on the IL with a high ankle sprain.
- Tim Anderson was placed on the IL after exiting Sunday's game with a right groin strain.
- Seiya Suzuki was placed on the IL with a sprained left ring finger.
- Clayton Kershaw threw a 35-pitch bullpen session Monday. This marks the first time he threw off a mound since landing on the IL.
- Tyler O'Neill will visit a doctor Tuesday, hoping to be cleared for a rehab assignment. He's on the IL with a right shoulder impingement.
- Carlos Correa tested positive for COVID and will be out at least 10 days unless he tests negative twice within 24 hours.
- Tylor Megill is hoping to throw live batting practice Tuesday. He's on the IL with right biceps tendinitis.
- Sonny Gray left Sunday's start with right pectoral soreness and may need a trip to the IL.
- Stephen Strasburg fired five hitless innings in a minor-league rehab start at Class A. It was his second rehab start coming back from thoracic outlet surgery.
- Lance Lynn fired three scoreless innings Sunday in his first minor-league rehab start at Triple-A
- Tigers prospect Riley Greene had his rehab shifted to Triple-A on Monday. We could see him within a couple of weeks.
- Gleyber Torres has been getting treatment for a wrist issue, but it's not keeping him out of games.
- Austin Meadows is expected to start his rehab assignment in the coming days. He's on IL because of vertigo.
- Jonathan Villar was placed on the IL because of a freak injury while working out. Apparently, an exercise band smacked him in the mouth and he needs dental work done.
- Robbie Grossman was placed on the IL with a neck injury.
- Zack Greinke was placed on the IL with a right flexor strain.
- Dallas Keuchel was placed on unconditional release waivers by the White Sox.
- Dylan Cease and Kendall Graveman were both placed on the restricted list as the White Sox are headed to Toronto, meaning both players are presumably unvaccinated.
- Joey Wendle left Monday's game due to right hamstring discomfort. He's already been on the IL twice this season with the same issue.
- Jacob deGrom has been throwing at 135 feet but not yet off a mound.
- Max Muncy was moved to the IL with left elbow inflammation, the same elbow with his partially torn UCL.
- Anthony Rendon went to the IL with right wrist inflammation.
- Mike Soroka is nearing a minor league rehab assignment, attempting to return from a second Achilles surgery. He could be ready to go post All-Star break. He's 20% rostered and an option to stash.
- Josh Donaldson was placed on the IL Friday with right shoulder inflammation, retroactive to May 24.