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What a week. The promotions have been coming quickly so far here in 2023 and last week was no exception. We had six names from last week's top 25 get the call, including Brett Baty, who will make his 2023 season debut on Monday against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. We even received a surprising promotion with the Angels having Zach Neto skip Triple-A entirely to hopefully solve their shortstop woes. Will this week be as eventful? Probably not, but there are still plenty of intriguing prospects to be stashing in redraft leagues right now.
The purpose of this article is to assist those trying to answer the last part above. 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, rookies, and call-ups 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: Brett Baty (NYM), Vaughn Grissom (ATL), Zach Neto (LAA), Edouard Julien (MIN), Taj Bradley (TB), Nolan Jones (COL), Lenyn Sosa (CHW)
Honorable Mentions: Samad Taylor (KC), Gavin Williams (CLE), Justin Foscue (TEX), Bryce Miller (SEA), Cade Marlowe (SEA), Emerson Hancock (SEA), Casey Schmitt (SF), Hudson Haskin (BAL)
| Rank | Name | Position | Team | ETA | Last Wk |
| 1 | Brandon Pfaadt | SP | ARI | April | 2 |
| 2 | Kyle Manzardo | 1B | TBR | May | 4 |
| 3 | Curtis Mead | 2B/3B | TBR | May | 5 |
| 4 | Matt Mervis | 1B | CHC | May | 7 |
| 5 | Mason Miller | SP | OAK | May | NR |
| 6 | Matthew Liberatore | SP | STL | May | 17 |
| 7 | Tanner Bibee | SP | CLE | May | 22 |
| 8 | Sal Frelick | OF | MIL | May | 13 |
| 9 | Gavin Stone | SP | LAD | May | 11 |
| 10 | Chase Silseth | SP | LAA | May | 12 |
| 11 | David Hamilton | SS | BOS | May | NR |
| 12 | Bobby Miller | SP | LAD | June | 9 |
| 13 | Royce Lewis | SS | MIN | June | 14 |
| 14 | Connor Norby | 2B | BAL | June | 15 |
| 15 | Ronny Mauricio | SS | NYM | June | 24 |
| 16 | Jordan Westburg | 2B/3B/SS | BAL | June | 16 |
| 17 | Matt McLain | SS | CIN | June | NR |
| 18 | Bo Naylor | C | CLE | May | 21 |
| 19 | Colton Cowser | OF | BAL | June | 19 |
| 20 | Addison Barger | 2B/3B/SS | TOR | May | 18 |
| 21 | Elly De La Cruz | SS | CIN | July | 20 |
| 22 | Maikel Garcia | SS | KCR | May | 23 |
| 23 | Michael Busch | 2B | LAD | June | NR |
| 24 | Endy Rodriguez | C | PIT | June | NR |
| 25 | Ricky Tiedemann | SP | TOR | July | NR |
Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings Analysis
Matt Mervis (1B - CHC)
There's really nothing left for Matt Mervis to accomplish in Triple-A. After a beastly showing in 2022 and a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League, Mervis is off to a hot start this season. He is slashing .293/.456/.585 with three doubles, three home runs, and more walks (13) than strikeouts (nine) across 57 plate appearances.
All Mervis needs is the opportunity to flex his potent bat at the Major League Baseball level. However, neither Eric Hosmer nor Trey Mancini are exactly struggling right now, so Chicago could just keep Mervis at Triple-A for the time being. But if he continues to mash as he has this season and for the last 12 months or so, it's going to be hard to justify him remaining in Triple-A much longer. Once up, Mervis's power could make an immediate fantasy impact.
David Hamilton (SS - BOS)
Let's face it, the Boston Red Sox middle infield is downright terrible right now. We've even seen Bobby Dalbec start at short for crying out loud. That's why a guy like David Hamilton took a big jump up these stash rankings this week. And yes, hitting well in Triple-A certainly helps. In 50 plate appearances so far, Hamilton is slashing a cool .370/.420/.674 with seven extra-base hits, three home runs, and seven steals. This after a ridiculous 70 steals in 2022.
With Hamilton, the speed is absolutely elite and legit. He's shown flashes with the bat as well to the point where he could be a .240+ bat with 10 home runs and more than 30 steals over a full season if given the chance. You have to think that chance is coming soon if he continues to rake in Triple-A while the Red Sox middle infielders stink up the joint.
Ronny Mauricio (SS - NYM)
Even though he's thoroughly blocked at shortstop by Francisco Lindor, Ronny Mauricio is definitely one of the most exciting prospect stashes right now given his blend of upside and proximity. Mauricio has been torching Triple-A pitching so far to the tune of a .351/.403/.789 slash line along with 12 extra-base hits, six home runs, and two steals in just 14 games. On top of that, Maurcio has improved his walk rate from 4.4% to 6.9% while trimming his strikeout rate from 23.1% to 19%.
The power/speed blend was there in 2022 with Mauricio racking up 26 home runs and 20 steals in 123 games. He was incredibly aggressive in my live looks and that was apparent in that lowly walk rate as well. He's still too aggressive, but the quality of contact is good and the contact rates in general are fine. If Lindor were to get hurt or another spot opened up where the Mets could shift a player or two around to bring Mauricio up, he'd have immediate fantasy appeal given his power/speed blend.
Matt McLain (SS - CIN)
I'm starting to think we see Matt McLain in Cincinnati very soon. The former UCLA star has quickly ascended up to Triple-A and is off to a hot start this season. Entering Sunday, McLain was slashing .275/.373/.588 with four doubles, four home runs, and four steals in 59 plate appearances.
McLain continues to walk at a solid 11.9% clip and has also trimmed his strikeout rate to 23.7%. He has played both middle infield spots in the minors and could overtake Jose Barrero at some point if Barrero continues to underwhelm at the plate.
Tanner Bibee (SP - CLE)
With Triston McKenzie and Aaron Civale on the shelf for the next few weeks at least, Cleveland has had to roll with the duo of Peyton Battenfield and Hunter Gaddis in the rotation after Shane Bieber, Cal Quantrill, and Zach Plesac. Nothing against Battenfield and Gaddis, but Tanner Bibee will likely bump one of them from the rotation in the fairly near future.
In two Triple-A starts this season, Bibee has tossed 11 combined shutout innings with 15 strikeouts while allowing only five hits and a trio of walks. Bibee is also coming off a breakout 2022 campaign where he posted a stellar 2.17 ERA and 0.97 WHIP with a 5.2% walk rate and 32.4% strikeout rate in 25 starts between High-A and Double-A. Once Bibee is up -- which should be soon -- his ability to miss bats and maintain lower ratios could allow him to make an immediate fantasy impact.
Mason Miller (SP - OAK)
While Oakland's MLB roster makes you reach for the nearest empty flower vase, one of their top prospects is making waves in the minor leagues to open the season and could soon be riding those waves straight into Oakland's MLB rotation. After striking out eight in 3.2 innings during his first start (Double-A), Mason Miller then proceeded to strike out 11 in five no-hit innings in Triple-A last week. In that outing, Miller had a ridiculous 56% whiff rate and 42% CSW with his four-seamer and slider being especially lethal.
While Miller has only pitched 28.2 innings, it appears that he is on the cusp of joining the big club in Oakland. The strikeout upside he has shown in the minors makes him quite intriguing. Out of the 103 batters he's faced as a professional, Miller has struck out 53 of them for a 51.5% strikeout rate.
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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