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The month of June has been a busy time for prospect promotions. After having Elly De La Cruz called up the previous week, we received a whopping five fantasy relevant prospect promotions this past week, including a pair of catchers in Bo Naylor and Henry Davis, the latter of which will see plenty of time in the outfield as well. We also received another high-upside Dodgers arm in Emmet Sheehan who tossed six no-hit innings in his debut against a red-hot Giants team who just promoted Luis Matos themselves.
Stashing fantasy baseball prospects should be done strategically, not haphazardly. You need to be cognizant of which prospects will be up sooner and can make the biggest short-term impact on your teams – even if that means stashing a prospect that might be ranked lower than another in long-term dynasty prospect rankings.
In this article, we will focus on MLB prospects, rookies, and call-ups who could make impacts for the 2023 fantasy baseball season.
Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups and weekly lineup resources:- Nick Mariano's fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups (Premium)
- Start/Sit recommendations - All Pitcher Matchups for Week Ahead
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- Starting pitcher fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
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- Catcher fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
- Hitter streamers - fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
- Two-start pitcher streamers - fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
- Cut List - Players To Consider Dropping
Top 25 Prospects to Stash for Fantasy Baseball
Notes on plenty of prospects can be found below the rankings table. And remember, these rankings are for 2023 redraft value only. These are MLB prospects to potentially make a rest-of-season fantasy baseball impact in 2023. As prospects are called up, they are removed from the rankings. You can also see our top 250 fantasy baseball dynasty prospects for long-term outlooks.
Called Up Last Week: Bo Naylor (CLE), Luis Matos (SFG), Emmet Sheehan (LAD), Henry Davis (PIT), Samad Taylor (TOR)
| Rank | Name | Position | Team | ETA | Last Wk |
| 1 | Colton Cowser | OF | BAL | June | 1 |
| 2 | Christian Encarnacion-Strand | 1B/3B | CIN | June | 3 |
| 3 | Jordan Westburg | 2B/3B/SS | BAL | July | 2 |
| 4 | Gavin Williams | SP | CLE | June | 4 |
| 5 | Grayson Rodriguez | SP | BAL | July | 8 |
| 6 | Kyle Manzardo | 1B | TBR | July | 5 |
| 7 | Ronny Mauricio | SS | NYM | June | 7 |
| 8 | Colt Keith | 3B | DET | July | 16 |
| 9 | Dominic Canzone | OF | ARI | June | 17 |
| 10 | Oswald Peraza | SS | NYY | July | NR |
| 11 | Dominic Fletcher | OF | ARI | July | 10 |
| 12 | Matt Mervis | 1B | CHC | July | NR |
| 13 | David Hamilton | SS | BOS | June | 13 |
| 14 | Tyler Soderstrom | C/1B | OAK | July | 14 |
| 15 | Ben Brown | SP | CHC | June | 11 |
| 16 | Sal Frelick | OF | MIL | August | NR |
| 17 | Connor Norby | 2B | BAL | July | 12 |
| 18 | Joey Ortiz | SS | BAL | June | 15 |
| 19 | Kyle Harrison | SP | SFG | August | NR |
| 20 | Oscar Colas | OF | CHE | August | 18 |
| 21 | Landon Knack | SP | LAD | August | NR |
| 22 | Justyn-Henry Malloy | OF | DET | August | 19 |
| 23 | Endy Rodriguez | C | PIT | July | 20 |
| 24 | Moises Gomez | OF | STL | August | NR |
| 25 | Brandon Pfaadt | SP | ARI | July | 22 |
Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings Analysis
Christian Encarnacion-Strand (1B - CIN)
Tick tock, tick tock. Honestly, I'm getting tired of writing about Christian Encarnacion-Strand in this weekly stash article. I'd much rather be writing about what he's doing in the Major Leagues but Cincinnati isn't allowing that to happen just yet. Over the last 28 days, Encarnacion-Strand is slashing .345/.472/.678 with eight doubles, seven home runs, and more walks (20) than strikeouts (19) in 108 plate appearances. He's also played four different positions over the last week, including one each in left and right field. He, Colton Cowser, and Jordan Westburg remain the locked-in top-3 prospects to stash in redraft leagues right now.
Gavin Williams (SP - CLE)
With Triston McKenzie back on the IL, it might finally be Gavin Williams' time to shine. The Guardians are down to four starters right now and haven't announced a starter for Wednesday's tilt with Oakland yet. Williams last pitched on the 14th for Columbus and has been following Joey Cantillo in the rotation there. Cantillo pitched on Sunday before the off day and Columbus has yet to annouce their starters for Tuesday or Wednesday. There have also been slight rumblings coming out of Cleveland that it could be Williams taking the mound on Wednesday, but nothing is confirmed yet and this is merely speculation.
But what has been confirmed is the fact that Williams is an elite pitching prospect with immense fantasy upside once he finally joins Cleveland's rotation. Williams has posted a 2.39 ERA and 0.98 WHIP across 12 starts this season along with a 34.3% strikeout rate. As long as he can keep the walk rate (10.2%) in check, Williams has the ability to make a bigger impact that both Tanner Bibee or Logan Allen have so far this season.
Grayson Rodriguez (SP - BAL)
Slowly but surely, Grayson Rodriguez is morphing back into the pitcher that made him the #1 overall pitching prospect for the last year and a half. In three starts since being sent back to Triple-A, Rodriguez has posted a 2.50 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 38.6% strikeout rate. Yes, his walk rate in these three starts is 11.4%, but five of his eight walks game in his first start following the demotion. The last two outings have been dominant with 21 strikeouts to only three walks in 12 innings.
Rodriguez isn't technically a prospect anymore, but he'd still be in that #1 pitching prospect discussion with Eury Perez for me. That's how good Rodriguez can be long-term, and he's getting back to that form in Triple-A. With Baltimore pushing for a postseason berth this year, I'm expecting we see Rodriguez back up by the all-star break or so if he continues looking good in Triple-A.
Sal Frelick (OF - MIL)
After missing nearly two months, Sal Frelick returned to action last week and has reached base nine times with a home run and two steals in his first four games back in Triple-A. Frelick is coming off a season where he hit .331 across three levels and projects as a potential .300 bat long-term given his contact skills and approach. He's also an above-average to plus runner with enough pop to get into the 15-homer range annually.
Given the season-ending injury to Garrett Mitchell and Joey Wiemer's inconsistent performance, Frelick could get a chance to start regularly over the second half of the season.
Matt Mervis (1B - CHC)
Given that he was just sent down a few days ago, I'm not expecting Matt Mervis to be recalled in the near future. But this is a bat you shouldn't completely write off this season. While the .167/.242/.289 slash line doesn't offer much inspiration, the 13.8% barrel rate, 91 mph AVG EV, and 50% hard-hit rate should.
But the problem for Mervis was an elevated 32.3% strikeout rate and 333% whiff rate along with a 76.7% zone contact rate. I'm sure he'll get another chance later this summer, so just keep an eye on how he's performing in Triple-A before deciding to stash or pickup later this season.
Oswald Peraza (SS - NYY)
While Peraza's 12-game Major League stint earlier this season brought literally nothing for fantasy managers, he's still a name I'm intrigued about for this season. In 34 games down in Triple-A, Peraza is slashing .292/.360/.563 with 11 home runs, 11 steals, and a 14.9% strikeout rate. Meanwhile, Anthony Volpe is struggling up in the Majors to the tune of a .189/.264/.350 slash line and 30.9% strikeout rate. It wouldn't shock me to see the Yankees make this swap within the next few weeks to allow Volpe to work on things down in Triple-A.
If you enjoyed these rankings and want to see additional rankings, analysis, and more, check out Eric's Toolshed Fantasy Patreon.
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