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One week after getting Matt McLain and Eury Perez, the fantasy baseball world was blessed with a sizeable batch of prospect promotions over the last week. While none quite reach the level of Perez or McLain, all six of the names in the called-up section below can provide fantasy value in one way or another. Hopefully, you were able to snag one or two of them, but if not, we still have plenty of exciting names to consider stashing in this week's Top-25 Prospects to Stash rankings here on RotoBaller.
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: Taj Bradley (TBR), Edouard Julien (MIN), Matthew Liberatore (STL), Gavin Stone (LAD), Bobby Miller (LAD), Mark Vientos (NYM)
Honorable Mentions: Justin Foscue (TEX), Pedro Leon (HOU), Samad Taylor (KC), Sal Frelick (MIL), Addison Barger (TOR), Kyle Harrison (SFG)
| Rank | Name | Position | Team | ETA | Last Wk |
| 1 | Jordan Westburg | 2B/3B/SS | BAL | June | 1 |
| 2 | Royce Lewis | SS | MIN | June | 16 |
| 3 | Elly De La Cruz | SS | CIN | July | 7 |
| 4 | Jordan Walker | OF | STL | June | 2 |
| 5 | Christian Encarnacion-Strand | 1B/3B | CIN | June | 3 |
| 6 | Kyle Manzardo | 1B | TBR | July | 4 |
| 7 | Colton Cowser | OF | BAL | June | 8 |
| 8 | Ronny Mauricio | SS | NYM | June | 10 |
| 9 | Gavin Williams | SP | CLE | July | 15 |
| 10 | Endy Rodriguez | C | PIT | July | 19 |
| 11 | Bo Naylor | C | CLE | June | 17 |
| 12 | Justyn-Henry Malloy | OF | DET | June | 20 |
| 13 | Ben Brown | SP | CHC | June | 18 |
| 14 | Drew Waters | OF | KCR | June | NR |
| 15 | David Hamilton | SS | BOS | June | 13 |
| 16 | Oscar Colas | OF | CHE | June | 14 |
| 17 | Andrew Abbott | SP | CIN | June | 23 |
| 18 | Curtis Mead | 2B/3B | TBR | July | 12 |
| 19 | Connor Norby | 2B | BAL | July | 21 |
| 20 | Cade Marlowe | OF | SEA | July | NR |
| 21 | Tyler Soderstrom | C/1B | OAK | July | NR |
| 22 | Joey Ortiz | SS | BAL | June | NR |
| 23 | Colt Keith | 3B | DET | July | NR |
| 24 | Dominic Canzone | OF | ARI | June | NR |
| 25 | Justin Dirden | OF | HOU | July | 22 |
Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings Analysis
Royce Lewis (SS/3B - MIN)
After missing nearly a full year recovering from his second torn ACL in his right knee, Royce Lewis is nearing a return to the lineup for Minnesota and could be back with the team in a week or so. Lewis is currently rehabbing in Triple-A where he's already cranked three home runs in four days.
It's surely been a rather bumpy road over the last few years for the former #1 overall pick, but Lewis has the upside to make a decent fantasy impact as soon as he's recalled from Triple-A. We saw evidence of this last season when he hit .300 in 12 games with Minnesota, racking up four doubles and two home runs. If you missed out on McLain last week, go grab Lewis now if you still can in your leagues. The upside offensively between the two is fairly similar.
Bo Naylor (C - CLE)
Well, it was an extremely short stint for Bo Naylor in Cleveland this time around as he was only brought up to serve as the 27th man on the roster for a double-header on Sunday. It's unfortunate that he wasn't brought up permanently, but it shouldn't be long before that permanent move happens for him. Honestly, have you seen the catching situation in Cleveland this season?
As it stands on Monday night, Mike Zunino is slashing .172/.280/.322 with a 46% strikeout rate while Cam Gallagher has been even worse than that with a .100/.151/.120 line. Sure, they're both providing solid defense, but you have to imagine that Cleveland, who ranks in the bottom 10 of most team offensive metrics, will look to Naylor to provide a needed boost to their lineup. Naylor is currently slashing .257/.391/.507 with eight doubles and nine home runs in Triple-A this season.
Ronny Mauricio (2B/SS - NYM)
When a top prospect that is nearly Major League ready begins playing another position in the upper minors, that is a clear signal that the parent club is trying to figure out how they can get that player into their lineup. That's exactly what's happening right now with Ronny Mauricio. Over his last 27 games, Mauricio has only started three games at shortstop while starting 21 times at second base and three times at designated hitter. This makes a lot of sense too given Lindor's presence and the fact that they could slot Mauricio more easily at the keystone and move Jeff McNeil to left field.
Mauricio has been on fire of late, slashing .400/.438/.644 over the last 10 days, and is hitting .353 for the season in 45 games with seven home runs, nine steals, and a whopping 21 doubles. That power/speed blend would look awfully nice from the second base position.
Drew Waters (OF - KCR)
After missing a month and a half with an oblique strain, Drew Waters has been hitting well since returning to the lineup two weeks ago. In 48 plate appearances, Waters is slashing .273/.333/.591 with four doubles, two home runs, and two steals. This after hitting five home runs with a .239 ISO in 32 games with Kansas City last season.
Waters has had some swing-and-miss issues throughout the last few years, but he's also shown a power/speed blend that could have him flirting with 15/15 over a full season. The current Kansas City outfield has mostly been Jackie Bradley Jr. in center, MJ Melendez in right, and a few different players in left, primarily Nick Pratto. If Waters continues hitting well in Triple-A, it shouldn't be long before he cracks this Royals outfield once again.
Justyn-Henry Malloy (3B - DET)
We often need to look at opportunities for playing time when deciding whether to stash a prospect or not, and in the case of Justyn-Henry Malloy, he has a golden opportunity to break into Detroit's lineup as a full-time starter and never look back. When you take a quick glance at Detroit's depth chart, you'll see that they've started the biggest hodge-podge group of players at the hot corner that you'll ever see. And yes, it's always a good day when I can use the term hodge-podge in an article.
Over the last six games, Detroit has started Zach McKinstry three times at the hot corner along with Zack Short, Nick Maton, and Jonathan Schoop once each. The DH spot has also been a revolving door of nothingness this season. No offense Miggy! Meanwhile, Malloy has been hitting well in Triple-A all season and currently sits with a .301/.435/.494 slash line, nine doubles, seven home runs, and a 17.6% walk rate in 193 plate appearances. While he won't provide much speed, Malloy profiles as a .270+/15+ hitter that certainly could provide sneaky value in deeper leagues.
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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