Rookie Debuts, SP’s, Cal Raleigh and The Butler
June 10, 2025
Author: 3-1Count.com
Rookie Debuts, SP’s, Cal Raleigh and The Butler
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We are all baseball fans and we love it when promising rookies get the call! Most Fantasy Baseball players take this to another level by aggressively chasing the upside many of these prospects bring. The impact a strong rookie performance can make in-season can be team changing in real life as well as in Fantasy. The two biggest prospects to make their debut recently are Jac Caglianone KC and Roman Anthony BOS.
Jac Caglianone (22 years old) destroyed the minors (AA and AAA) this year hitting .322/41/15/56/2. He’s logged 25 big league plate appearances so far and it offers a quick reminder that transitioning from the minors to the big leagues is hard. In Cags case he’s also only logged 355 MILB plate appearances since being drafted 6th overall out of Florida last year. So far in the Bigs he has 6 hits in his 25 PA’s, with no walks, no runs scored, just 1 RBI and 4 K’s. But offsetting the early lack of production is a 92.9 EV and a 14.3% barrel rate. Crazy small sample size I know, but given the state of the Royals lineup and the damage that Cags can do we need to stay the course. In fact, explore acquiring shares in redraft and certainly dynasty if you can. One other note here is that he has logged 29 innings in RF and just 1 at 1B. That puts Cags on path for duel eligibility in most formats.
Roman Anthony made his debut last night, going 0-4 with a walk and an RBI. This included a ball that left the bat at 111.2 mph. Anthony just turned 21 and has made a steady march to the big leagues since being drafted 79th overall (out of HS) in 2022. With an advanced plate approach, tremendous bat speed, legit power, solid speed and good defense Anthony offers a pretty complete package. It was an injury to Wilyer Abreu that opened the door for Anthony’s call up. Yet when Abreu returns there may be decisions to be made in Boston. With DH occupied by Rafael Devers that leaves Anthony, Abreu, Jarren Duran, and Ceddanne Rafaela fighting for playing time. Each is worthy of a full-time role and it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Keep an eye on Anthony’s production and Abreu’s health. If Anthony is producing even league average when Abreu returns its hard to see the Red Sox sending him back down.
Kyle Teel CWS also made his debut in the last week. The 14th overall pick in 2023 Teel is still just 23yo and should be a focal point in the White Sox lineup for many years to come. Teel has hit for average and produces a very high OBP thanks to a walk rate hovering around 15% in the minors. There’s a lot to like here and little reason for Teel to go back to the minors given the structure of the White Sox lineup. Teel should be able to maintain regular at bats between time behind the plate, at DH and possibly even First Base.
While writing today’s article news broke that Jacob Misiorowski MLW is headed to the big leagues to make his Brewers debut. Misiorowski has a huge fastball, can be overpowering, and also lacks strong command. He’s an exciting arm and it will be curious to see how the Brewers juggle Misiorowksi and Logan Henderson this year given the arms available to them. Aaron Civale has been ineffective and Brandon Woodruff appears to be stalled with another injury so that leaves Freddy Peralta, Jose Quintana, Chad Patrick and probably Quinn Priester as the top 4 starters currently.
Another prospect that came up recently is Denzel Clarke ATH. He made his debut on May 23 and has a 54.7% K rate over his 53 PA’s. That’s 29 K’s to just 1 BB so far. It’s been brutal and while Clarke has always had swing and miss in his game he has usually carried a high OBP thanks to strong BB rates in the minors. The reason I mention him here is that his defense has been spectacular including the most Spiderman like wall crawl I can remember as he robbed a home run last night. Clarke is exceptionally athletic and could be a low to mid batting average guy with 15 home run and 30 stolen base upside if he can adjust to big league pitching. There’s little reason to pursue him in redraft but for dynasty this is still someone worth investing in.
Are you feeling brave enough to start Jesus Luzardo PHI against the Cubs this week? I, for one, am not. Luzardo has given up 20 earned runs in his last 5.2 innings and this includes 5 walks and 3 home runs allowed. I ate it on quite a few of my teams and I’m hoping that some of you were lucky enough to avoid the carnage. Luzardo had been excellent in his first 11 starts and still sits with a 3.22 xFIP despite his actual ERA jumping to 4.46. Velo was fine in his last start and no injury issue has been reported. The only thing I have seen is speculation that Luzardo was tipping his pitches. If so, that’s all it takes for big league hitters to get to most any pitcher. We may miss a solid outing but the play is to see Luzardo back on track before putting him in your lineup again.
Jesus Luzardo Jun 5 and May 31 outings crushed Fantasy Teams
Shota Imanaga CHC and Reese Olson DET are both working their way back from injury. Shota is a bit further along, likely to head out on a rehab start this week. While Olson is throwing again but still unable to grip his changeup due to the finger issue. Olson likely offers more upside assuming both return healthy. He has been quietly excellent while Imanaga has some alarming underlying metrics including a significant drop in K’s and jump in BB’s.
News out this morning has Justin Martinez ARI headed for an MRI on his elbow. Add in the comment of “very high concern” from DBacks manager Torey Lovullo and you likely have Shelby Miller ARI back as closer. Miller didn’t exactly put a lock on the role when he had his shot earlier this season but he has good stuff and is pretty clearly the next man up in Arizona.
The Rangers are another bullpen that continues to evolve with Robert Garcia getting a couple of recent saves. He’s a lefty that sits 94mph so it’s not exactly a typical closer profile and the Rangers are just as likely to shift to Chris Martin or even Shawn Armstrong moving forward. Garcia has been mostly effective, but is more likely to flex high leverage the remainder of the season. We’ll visit closer roles much more over weeks to come as the trade deadline is likely to be active with high leverage relievers changing teams.
Who had Logan Webb SF sitting tied for 6th in K’s at any point this season?!? Webb has generally sat around 8 K’s per 9 while delivering huge volume with a strong ERA. The fantasy knock on him going into 2025 was the lack of K’s and yet here we are with Webb striking out 10.41 per 9. This is good for 101 K’s on the year, which is tied with Zack Wheeler. And sits ahead of Hunter Brown, Paul Skenes, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and so many others.
K leaders through June 9
A pitch mix change has been the key for Webb. He’s using his sweeper more and his changeup less making both more effective - particularly the changeup, which is now delivering a whiff rate just under 40%. Webb remains tougher on righties and has been almost un-hittable at home. The changes are real and while Webb remains underrated his acquisition cost has most certainly jumped.
Cal Raleigh SEA spent just 39 games in AA during the 2019 season. He delivered a .228/16/7/16/0 slash during that time. As a 2018 3rd rd pick he was on my radar and I wish I could tell you I knew then that he would become an all-world catcher…but I didn’t. He was fine, the power was there and the defense looked solid. Raleigh’s hit tool was still developing and the K rate was high (still is). Now in his 4th full big league season Raleigh just keeps getting better with 3 years straight of increased BB rate, exit velocity and barrel rate. He plays everyday and is pacing for an incredible .266/110/65/132/17 slash. Raleigh is 2nd in MLB WAR (behind Aaron Judge) and probably 2nd in the AL MVP race as well. Arguably he could be more important to fantasy teams than Judge given the massive production gap he has created at catcher.
Cal Raleigh leads catchers in pretty much everything
It was less than a month ago that fantasy baseball chat boards were loaded with vents about how bad Lawrence Butler ATH had been. In reality Butler hadn’t struggled as much as it may have looked and he was due for a heater. Going back to May 19 Butler has a .358/21/3/11/4 slash which has lifted his season numbers to a solid .268/41/9/29/10. It puts Butler on a pace that would easily exceed his 2024 breakout that had us so excited. It’s too late to grab the buy low moment on Butler but we should expect the rest of the season to be very good. Particularly given the strength at the top of the Athletics lineup.
Wyatt Langford TEX is hitting just .185 since May 1, this with a .265 OBP and .323 SLG. It’s been bad yet his Savant page suggests things should be better. There is a decrease in bat speed (74.5 to 73.4) but his EV is actually up (89.6 to 91.6). The Rangers are blacked out for me so I don’t get to watch Langford very often. I’m curious if you have picked up on something contributing to this extended slump. I know there is a general team issue with the Rangers sitting 28th in runs scored and maybe that is a key dynamic here.
Jo Adell LAA over the last 15 days is hitting .342 with 6 home runs and a 1.287 OPS. Adell has been an incredible disappointment so far in his career but the power has always been there and he’s still only 26yo. The plate approach is unlikely to improve so he’s likely to remain streaky. And Adell’s defense is just bad, which will earn him no loyalty in the lineup. Yet catching him in a hot streak could be productive and is worth mentioning here.
I’ve shared that I watch a lot of Braves baseball and it has been difficult to do over the last couple of years. The on-field performance for many Braves players has been inconsistent and down right bad for some. It’s been pretty obvious there’s a lack of leadership in the clubhouse and equally apparent that Brian Snitker is on his last lap as Manager. It’s certainly not the whole story but you can put a pin in the moment Ron Washington moved on to the Angels - the Braves culture changed and the team has underperformed since.
The return success of Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuna Jr. will greatly contribute to what direction the team takes heading into the All-Star break and then the trade deadline. It’s unlikely the Braves will sell given their long run of success and their payroll commitments. But if they do you could put Marcell Ozuna, Sean Murphy and Ozzie Albies on the list of players that might be dealt. As bad as Michael Harris II has been (and it’s been awful) his defense is still elite and he’s young enough for a chance to reinvent offensively.
Acuna Jr. has been a bit strikeout prone since his return but otherwise has been great at the plate delivering .305/12/5/8/0 in 16 games. This is a 176 wRC+, so big impact particularly compared to the anemic replacements the Braves were using. From a Fantasy standpoint it’s still unlikely Acuna Jr. runs a great deal this season. He will likely pick his spots but protecting the knee is more important.
Strider has not faired as well with his velocity down quite a few ticks from before his most recent surgery. He’ll have to learn how to pitch differently sitting at 95 mph versus just overpowering most hitters as he was able to do before. Either the changeup or the curveball has to step up to allow the fastball and slider to play now that Striders velo has dropped.
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