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Ben Rosener looks at the fantasy baseball impact of the reported injury to Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Kyle Wright and the Los Angeles Angels reportedly being interested in free agent catcher Gary Sanchez.
The MLB offseason and Spring training are officially over. The regular season is here, and with it comes the daily influx of baseball news that fantasy managers missed in the winter months. Lineup news, actual games happening, constant waiver wire moves, pitching assignments, and bullpen usage.
Baseball is back, and so too is fantasy baseball, with the draft season having just wrapped up, or otherwise being very close to being wrapped up. This column aims to cover any and all fantasy baseball news, big or small, and how it pertains to your fantasy team. Spring training or the regular season, it's covered here.
Has a player who's usually been hitting in the middle of a lineup suddenly batting eighth or ninth for an extended period? The fantasy implications will be covered here. The same goes for injuries and injured placements and whether or not you should consider picking up a player who was recently called up. Basically, any kernel of fantasy news and its relevance to fantasy managers could be covered here. Today, the news of the day is the fantasy impact of Atlanta starter Kyle Wright's reported injury and the Los Angeles Angels reportedly being interested in free agent catcher Gary Sanchez.
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Fantasy Baseball Impact Of Kyle Wright's Reported Injury
Atlanta placed starting pitcher Kyle Wright on the 15-day injured list on Thursday due to “right shoulder inflammation,” per a tweet from the team’s official Twitter account:
So far this season, Wright has made five starts for the National League East club, turning in a 5.79 ERA and a 4.53 FIP in 18.2 innings of work. He’s struck out 20 batters while surrendering 10 walks and a pair of home runs.
The right-hander was coming off a breakout season in 2022 when he pitched to a 3.19 ERA and a 3.58 FIP in 180.1 innings while adding 174 strikeouts compared to 53 walks. He also recorded a pitcher win in 21 of his 30 starts.
Now, however, he’ll head to the injured list.
In his place, Dylan Dodd looks set to step into the rotation.
The 25-year-old Dodd made his major league debut earlier this year for Atlanta. He’s made three starts for the club this season, including Thursday’s contest. All told, the former third-round pick has posted a 4.50 ERA and a 6.69 FIP in 15.1 major league innings so far. And while he’s registered quality strikeout numbers in the minors, Dodd has struck out just seven batters in those 15.1 innings this season.
It's a small sample size to be sure, but it’s something to monitor in the coming weeks if Dodd sticks in the rotation. If Atlanta’s rotation continues uninterrupted with Dodd moving forward, it’d set up the right-hander for upcoming starts at home against the Boston Red Sox, on the road against the Texas Rangers, and then at home again versus the Los Angele Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies.
That’s hardly an enticing upcoming slate of starts, especially considering the Rangers, Red Sox, and Dodgers entered play Thursday ranked second, third, and fourth in the league in runs scored.
The Phillies weren’t that far behind, sitting in a tie for 13th place in terms of the most runs scored in baseball. Philadelphia should represent a much more notable challenge to opposing pitchers moving forward with Bryce Harper back in the lineup.
With all that in mind, fantasy managers are probably better off looking elsewhere for streaming options to replace Wright while he’s on the injured list.
Fantasy Baseball Impact Of The Los Angeles Angels Reportedly Being Interested In Gary Sanchez
The Los Angeles Angels are reportedly interested in free agent catcher Gary Sanchez, per a tweet from The New York Post’s Jon Heyman on Wednesday:
Sanchez was previously with the San Francisco Giants on a minor-league deal. The veteran hit .164 with a .319 on-base percentage and a stolen base for the National League West club’s Triple-A affiliate this season.
The Angels are certainly a team with a need at catcher as starter Logan O’Hoppe is currently on the 60-day injured list and fellow backstop Max Stassi is on the 10-day injured list.
As of now, the Angels are going with Matt Thaiss and Chad Wallach behind the dish.
Thaiss is currently hitting .207 with a .343 on-base percentage and a home run in 35 plate appearances. With an 11.4% walk rate, he’s currently a solid streaming option in deeper leagues where the on-base percentage is part of the scoring.
Wallach, meanwhile, is hitting .269 with a .296 on-base percentage and a pair of home runs in 46 plate appearances in the majors this season. It’s hard to know what Sanchez’s role would be if he signed with the Halos, but if it’s anything resembling a timeshare, it'd make for an unideal fantasy situation.
Furthermore, with Zach Neto’s emergence, Wallach and Thaiss have largely hit in the bottom half or third of the order after some combination of Neto, Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Anthony Rendon, Hunter Renfroe, Brandon Drury, and Taylor Ward.
Speculatively speaking, Sanchez could certainly help the Angels from a real-life baseball standpoint. But with timeshare potential, not to mention theoretical plate appearances in the bottom third of the order, this might be a situation to avoid for fantasy managers in the event that he signs with the team.
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