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It was another exciting week of prospect promotions with two big names being promoted to the Majors. First, Miami called up their studly right-handed pitching prospect Eury Perez who made his debut on Friday, and then Cincinnati gave Matt McLain's mother one heck of a Mother's Day gift by promoting him Sunday night. Needless to say, both of those guys shouldn't still be on your league's waiver wire, and if they are, you need to change that immediately. Both have the upside to make a significant fantasy impact both this season and beyond. Even with that exciting duo off the list, we still have a loaded Top 25 prospects to stash list again this week with a few more names on the cusp of debuting.
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: Matt McLain (CIN), Eury Perez (MIA), Luis Ortiz (PIT)
Honorable Mentions: Cade Marlowe (SEA), Justin Foscue (TEX), , Pedro Leon (HOU), Samad Taylor (KC), Sal Frelick (MIL), Joey Ortiz (BAL), Addison Barger (TOR)
| Rank | Name | Position | Team | ETA | Last Wk |
| 1 | Jordan Westburg | 2B/3B/SS | BAL | May | 11 |
| 2 | Jordan Walker | OF | STL | June | 1 |
| 3 | Christian Encarnacion-Strand | 1B/3B | CIN | June | 5 |
| 4 | Kyle Manzardo | 1B | TBR | June | 2 |
| 5 | Taj Bradley | SP | TBR | May | 6 |
| 6 | Edouard Julien | 2B | MIN | June | 4 |
| 7 | Elly De La Cruz | SS | CIN | July | 18 |
| 8 | Colton Cowser | OF | BAL | June | 7 |
| 9 | Matthew Liberatore | SP | STL | June | 10 |
| 10 | Ronny Mauricio | SS | NYM | July | 12 |
| 11 | Gavin Stone | SP | LAD | June | 8 |
| 12 | Curtis Mead | 2B/3B | TBR | July | 9 |
| 13 | David Hamilton | SS | BOS | June | 13 |
| 14 | Oscar Colas | OF | CHW | June | NR |
| 15 | Gavin Williams | SP | CLE | June | 14 |
| 16 | Royce Lewis | SS | MIN | July | 15 |
| 17 | Bo Naylor | C | CLE | June | 19 |
| 18 | Ben Brown | SP | CHC | June | NR |
| 19 | Endy Rodriguez | C | PIT | July | 23 |
| 20 | Justyn-Henry Malloy | OF | DET | June | 16 |
| 21 | Connor Norby | 2B | BAL | July | 17 |
| 22 | Justin Dirden | OF | HOU | June | NR |
| 23 | Andrew Abbott | SP | CIN | June | 20 |
| 24 | Bobby Miller | SP | LAD | July | 21 |
| 25 | Mark Vientos | 3B | NYM | July | 25 |
Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings Analysis
Elly De La Cruz (SS - CIN)
The narrative for Elly De La Cruz for a while now has been that he possesses massive fantasy upside given his elite power and speed, but that the approach needed refinement. We saw that all on full display last season when De La Cruz went bonkers for 28 home runs and 47 steals in 121 games. However, he also struck out in 30.8% of his plate appearances. This season was off to a similar tune, but De La Cruz's approach has done a complete 180 from April to March.
| Month | PA | BB% | K% |
| April | 43 | 4.7% | 41.9% |
| May | 60 | 16.7% | 16.7% |
Yeah, that's much better. And fortunately, De La Cruz hasn't sacrificed his power to improve his approach either, as is often the case. On the season, Elly is already up to six home runs and four steals in 103 plate appearances with a .278/.369/.589. Once De La Cruz is up, the potential fantasy impact is immense, and there will surely be a massive rugby-style scrum to pick him up or acquire him via weekly FAAB. If he's sitting on your league's waiver wire, do your best to change that in a hurry.
Jordan Westburg (2B/3B/SS - BAL)
We're a month and a half into the Triple-A season and Jordan Westburg just wont stop hitting. With home runs on Saturday and Sunday, Westburg is now up to 11 in 32 games with four steals and a .321/.395/.626 slash line. Throughout his minor league career, Westburg has always shown a decent power/speed blend, going 15/17 in 112 games back in 2021 and 27/12 in 138 games last season along with 39 doubles. He's also always walked at a high clip and has a walk rate above 10% once again this season.
Given his ability to play second base, third base, and shortstop, coupled with the struggles of Gunnar Henderson and recent struggles of Jorge Mateo, it feels like Westburg should get the call up to Baltimore sooner rather than later. And once he's up, his 20+/10+ upside would immediately put him on the 12-team mixed-league radar as a priority add.
Justin Dirden (OF - HOU)
Another bat on fire in Triple-A has been Houston Astros outfield prospect, Justin Dirden. Over the last 10 days, the 25-year-old Dirden has racked up seven extra-base hits, four home runs, and a .394/.459/.909 slash line. He does strike out a bit too much , but the power/speed blend would give Dirden mixed-league fantasy appeal if he were given a shot at regular playing time in Houston's outfield.
Oscar Colas (OF - CHW)
While Colas struggled during his stint with the White Sox to open the season, he's been hitting very well since being sent back down. Over the last 10 days, Colas is slashing .424/.459/.727 with a home run, steal, and seven doubles. Colas is still an overly-aggressive hitter and could stand to develop a bit more patience, but the contact skills and power are there to be a .270/25 bat at the Major League level, and he'll likely get another shot with the White Sox sooner rather than later if he continues hitting well in Triple-A.
Taj Bradley (SP - TBR)
It's yet to be confirmed anywhere to my knowledge, but given the latest injury to Drew Rasmussen, there's a chance Taj Bradley could be recalled this week to help a severely depleted Tampa Bay rotation that is down to Shane McClanahan, Zach Eflin, and Josh Fleming right now. Bradley certainly hasn't looked good at all since being sent back to Triple-A a few weeks ago, but he impressed during his three starts with Tampa Bay last month. In those three starts, Bradley posted a 3.52 ERA, 2.27 xERA, 0.91 WHIP, 3.3% walk rate, and 38.3% strikeout rate. Given the upside and likely recall, Bradley is an ideal player to pick up and stash right now.
Ben Brown (SP - CHC)
In each of the last five weeks, we've had a rookie pitcher go for over $200 in FAAB in my TGFBI league. First it was Taj Bradley followed by Mason Miller, Tanner Bibee, Bryce Miller, and Eury Perez last week. While it will be tough to extend that streak to six this week, two arms that could be up very soon are Gavin Williams and Ben Brown. I've talked about Williams fairly recently so I'll mention Brown here this week.
In six starts this season between Double-A and Triple-A, Brown has a pristine 0.59 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 39.5% strikeout rate. Standing at 6'6, Brown features a plus fastball with plenty of riding action and will mix in a curve and slider, both of which are above-average to plus offerings. The strikeout upside alone is considerable and Brown has shown solid command and control of his arsenal as well. He has the potential to make a solid fantasy impact once up.
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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