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Welcome back, RotoBallers, to my Week 23 fantasy baseball news, notes, and buys/sells for dynasty leagues. Let's rock and roll with new dynasty news and notes!
Today's article will look at recent prospect call-ups like Dylan Crews, Ty Madden, and Griffin Conine, 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 23 of the 2024 season?
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Recent MLB Prospect Call-Ups
Crews’ pro career has been underwhelming, to say the least, after the amount of buzz that came with his name in the 2023 draft, where he was selected second overall. Sure, Crews may not be a superstar player, but he does look like an above-average regular who will make several All-Star Games throughout his career.
Maybe that is not exciting to some but look at the history of top 5-10 picks in the last five years. I think the Nationals would be very happy for Crews to be a three-win player per year for the majority of his career.
Making his MLB debut, Crews went hitless in his first game, but in his second game collected two hits and nearly homered off Gerrit Cole.
After putting up subpar numbers in Double-A, where his home ballpark is a pitchers' haven, Crews picked it up in Triple-A. He ended his minor league career by getting on base in 35 of his final 37 games. Over that span, Crews slashed .268/.357/.465 with six home runs, 16 extra-base hits, and seven stolen bases.
The underlying has looked quite good, too. Crews’ average exit velocity has sat at 90 mph over that span with a 106.5 mph 90th percentile. Both of those marks are a plus. The contact has also been good, with a 79 percent contact rate and an 89 percent in-zone contact rate. The chase rate is an impressive 25 percent.
He looks more than ready to step in against major league pitching and collecting hits off Gerrit Cole is a good way to start your career.
After starting the year in Double-A and posting four very strong starts, Madden looked like he was building off a good 2023 season. He went to Triple-A and proceeded to post a 7.97 ERA with a 1.77 WHIP across 79 innings.
The command fell apart, and while it looked like it could be related to the ABS system in Triple-A, there were still rough stretches even after the league moved back to just the challenge system.
The walk rate improved, at least until his final Triple-A start, in which he walked four and allowed four earned runs across 6.1 innings. Madden has quality stuff and a five-pitch mix, which was on display during his MLB debut. While it was the White Sox, Madden tossed five innings, allowing just one earned run and four hits. He struck out two and walked three batters.
It will be interesting to see how Madden progresses and if he can miss more bats as he has throughout his pro career. Madden is not a must-add in fantasy leagues, but in deeper formats, grab him and see where it goes.
Power is the name of the game with Griffin Conine, who, yes, is the son of former big leaguer Jeff. Griffin made his first start on Tuesday, where he proceeded to mash a double and triple. His three batted balls all left the bat with exit velocities north of 97 mph with the double leaving the bat at 109 mph.
The funny thing is in most parks, Conine would already have two home runs as two of his batted balls traveled 407 and 415 feet.
In 437 Triple-A plate appearances, Conine hit 19 home runs and got on base at a .350 clip. The contact skills are a bit questionable, checking in at 64 percent in Triple-A with a 75 percent in-zone mark. If Conine plays every day, there could be an intriguing power bat here.
Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Trends: September Call-Ups
For prospects to keep rookie eligibility, they must stay up 130 career at-bats, 50 career innings pitched, or less than 45 career days on the active roster. With prospects getting the call-up for the first time, keeping their rookie eligibility to begin the next season is huge, especially with the new Prospect Promotion Incentive.
If a team has a rookie begin the season on the Opening Day roster or calls them up within the first two weeks of the season and that player wins Rookie of the Year, that team is awarded a draft pick at the back of the first round. More importantly, the team gets a huge boost in its draft bonus pool.
Last season, the Orioles and Diamondbacks were awarded a pick for Gunnar Henderson and Corbin Carroll winning the award. Both players were called up in late August 2022 and got experience against MLB pitching before their first "full rookie season."
Teams find a lot of value in calling up players late in the year to get that experience. Dylan Crews has already gotten the call, but who could be next?
| Player Name | Pos | Team |
| Jasson Dominguez | OF | NYY |
| Christian Moore | 2B | LAA |
| Jacob Misiorowski | RHP | MIL |
| Deyvison De Los Santos | 1B | MIA |
| Dalton Rushing | C/OF | LAD |
| Owen Caissie | OF | CHC |
| Roman Anthony | OF | BOS |
| Coby Mayo | 3B | BAL |
| Bubba Chandler | RHP | PIT |
| Jack Leiter | RHP | TEX |
| Kumar Rocker | RHP | TEX |
| Agustin Ramirez | C | MIA |
| Noah Cameron | LHP | KC |
| Jonatan Clase | OF | TOR |
| Jake Bloss | RHP | TOR |
| Quinn Mathews | LHP | STL |
| Rhett Lowder | RHP | CIN |
| Luisangel Acuña | MI | NYM |
| Nick Yorke | 2B | PIT |
| Omar Cruz | LHP | SD |
Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Buys and Sells
Most trade deadlines have come and gone at this point. Buys and sells don't necessarily work at this point, but we can talk about some players to add and potentially stash for the 2025 season.
Ian Happ typically finishes seasons strong and that's exactly what he seems to be doing again this year. Happ is now up to 23 home runs and 11 stolen bases in 531 plate appearances this year. In his last 31 games, Happ has eight home runs and doubles a piece and while the .238 batting average is a bit unimpressive, he still has an .826 OPS over that span.
Given that we have a month left in the season, there is a strong chance we see Happ best his career-best 25 home runs. Happ has also already eclipsed 3 WAR for the third straight season. He just turned 30 years old and should have plenty of good seasons ahead.
Is Bowden Francis legit? His numbers in August have been stellar as Francis has completed seven innings in three of his four starts and has a 1.32 ERA in 27.1 innings. He likely does not sustain the production given his 92 percent strand rate and incredibly low .111 BABIP, but Francis could see the success continue.
A lot of this can be attributed to a change in his arsenal. Francis has curbed his curve usage, which was getting hit quite hard. He has upped the splitter usage by nearly 15 percentage points and the slider usage by eight percentage points. The splitter has a 28 percent whiff rate in August and the slider an impressive 56 percent.
In the process, the fastball has played better, and the results have come. Maybe Francis is not an ace like the numbers he has put up this month, but I do think he can be a serviceable starter moving forward in 2025 and beyond.
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