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The past week was another exciting one in the world of prospect promotions. Not only was Jordan Walker recalled from Triple-A, but we also had a trio of pitching prospects in my top-100 overall make their debuts with Bryan Woo, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Andrew Abbott all getting the call. Even with them off of this week's list, we still have plenty of exciting names to consider stashing, especially on the hitting side.
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.
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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: Jordan Walker (STL), Bryan Woo (SEA), AJ Smith-Shawver (ATL), Andrew Abbott (CIN)
Honorable Mentions: Justin Dirden (HOU), Justin Foscue (TEX), Pedro Leon (HOU), Samad Taylor (KC), Sal Frelick (MIL), Addison Barger (TOR), Kyle Harrison (SFG), Moises Gomez (STL), Davis Schneider (COL)
| Rank | Name | Position | Team | ETA | Last Wk |
| 2 | Colton Cowser | OF | BAL | June | 4 |
| 3 | Jordan Westburg | 2B/3B/SS | BAL | June | 1 |
| 4 | Christian Encarnacion-Strand | 1B/3B | CIN | June | 6 |
| 5 | Ronny Mauricio | SS | NYM | June | 2 |
| 6 | Gavin Williams | SP | CLE | July | 8 |
| 7 | Kyle Manzardo | 1B | TBR | July | 7 |
| 8 | Bo Naylor | C | CLE | June | 10 |
| 9 | Justyn-Henry Malloy | OF | DET | June | 12 |
| 10 | Endy Rodriguez | C | PIT | July | 9 |
| 11 | Grayson Rodriguez | SP | BAL | July | 11 |
| 12 | Oscar Colas | OF | CHE | June | 17 |
| 13 | Connor Norby | 2B | BAL | July | 20 |
| 14 | Dominic Fletcher | OF | ARI | July | 13 |
| 15 | Ben Brown | SP | CHC | June | 14 |
| 16 | David Hamilton | SS | BOS | June | 15 |
| 17 | Curtis Mead | 2B/3B | TBR | July | 19 |
| 18 | Brandon Pfaadt | SP | ARI | July | 21 |
| 19 | Heston Kjerstad | OF | BAL | July | NR |
| 20 | Tyler Soderstrom | C/1B | OAK | July | 23 |
| 21 | Joey Ortiz | SS | BAL | June | 24 |
| 22 | Colt Keith | 3B | DET | July | 25 |
| 23 | Dominic Canzone | OF | ARI | June | NR |
| 24 | Luis Matos | OF | SFG | July | NR |
| 25 | Cade Marlowe | OF | SEA | July | 22 |
Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings Analysis
Elly De La Cruz (SS - CIN)
Well, Cincinnati called up two prospects over the last week and neither one was named Elly De La Cruz. But given the fact that De la Cruz is still dominating in Triple-A and Cincinnati has been starting Kevin Newman regularly, you have to imagine the call is going to come sooner rather than later. De La Cruz is up to 12 home runs and 11 steals in 38 games and trimmed his strikeout rate from 41.9% in April to 23.8% combined in May and June. There's not one single prospect in the minors right now that can match Elly's fantasy upside.
UPDATE 6/6: The Reds officially called up Elly De La Cruz on Tuesday!
The Baltimore Trio (Westburg, Coswer, Norby)
The Baltimore Orioles are one of the best teams in baseball right now and are on the verge of adding a trio of exciting young bats to their lineup over the next month or two. Usually we talk about how a top prospect is blocked at the Major League level and needs an injury or position change to break into the lineup (Like Mauricio). But that's not the case here in Baltimore as the paths for Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser, and Connor Norby are all fairly open.
All three are hitting very well right now too. In two games since returning from injury, Cowser has reached base in six of his seven plate appearances with a double and a home run and is slashing a robust .347/.484/.590 on the season with eight home runs and five steals in 39 games. As for Wesrburg, he's been on fire basically the entire season as he's eclipsed a .300 average, .380 OBP, and .550 SLG in both months this season. His ability to play multiple spots on the diamond only helps his chances of cracking Baltimore's lineup in the upcoming weeks.
Even Norby is heating up of late after a slow start to the season. After a lackluster .265/.311/.347 line with one home run and one steal in April, Norby slashed .314/.372/.492 in May and is 5/14 so far in three June games. I'd definitely stash Cowser and Westburg over him, but Norby is one to at least keep on your radar moving forward as a potential 2nd half callup.
Heston Kjerstad (OF - BAL)
Oh look, another Baltimore bat jumping onto the list. Yes, I could've included Kjerstad in the section above with the other three, but as he's a new addition to the list this week, I wanted to give him his own section. Kjerstad's professional debut had to wait until later in 2022 due to a medical issue, but all he's done since debuting is hit at a high level. In 46 Double-A games this season, Kjerstad has slashed .310/.384/.576 with 10 doubles and 11 home runs while only striking out 15% of the time. That performance earned him a promotion to Triple-A where he should debut on Tuesday.
The power is easily plus here and I saw him flex that power during the Arizona Fall League and also during the AFL home run derby which he came in second in. He's still behind Cowser on the depth chart, but we're likely going to see Kjerstad up with Baltimore at some point this summer.
Bo Naylor (C - CLE)
While they're still second in the weak American League Central, the Cleveland Guardians are five games under .500 and don't appear to be contenders after winning the division in 2022. With that in mind, they really have no reason not to bring Bo Naylor up in the near future to see what he can do in the starter's role.
Naylor is their catcher of the future and has been performing well this season in Triple-A with a .258/.402/.505 slash line, 12 doubles, and 11 home runs in 53 games. I'm going to be putting up missing posters on telephone polls to try and find where all of his steals went, but Naylor can still make an impact with his bat and has greater impact potential in OBP formats.
Gavin Williams (SP - CLE)
Last but not least we have stud pitching prospect Gavin Williams. Unfortunately, I'm not sure we see him this month unless there's another injury in Cleveland's rotation. Even Cal Quantrill and Peyton Battenfield on the IL, Cleveland still has a full rotation with Aaron Civale and Triston McKenzie recently returning from the IL, and all five arms are pitching well right now. However, there are some rumblings that Shane Bieber could be dealt at the trade deadline, but that's still nearly two months away.
It does appear that Williams is finally the next man up though and he would be a priority add once he gets the call. Williams has a 2.43 ERA in seven Triple-A starts and a 1.93 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, and 35.9% strikeout rate overall.
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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