RADIO
On Sunday some of the top prospects in all of baseball came together for the All Star Futures Game and put on one of the biggest offensive displays in the game's history.
While a single exhibition game cannot solely provide any conclusions about how a prospect will fare in the future, it can become the blip on fantasy radars that leads to owners taking a closer look at certain players. In this week's Hot Prospects to Watch, we're going to take a look at two players from Team World and two from Team USA that fantasy owners should keep an eye on going forward. While not all of these five players necessarily had the best or flashiest performances in the Futures Game, their season numbers so far are making them very interesting fantasy prospects.
So as the best players in baseball prepare to take the field in tonight's All Star Game, let's take a look at these potential future All Stars.
Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers received five total writing awards and 13 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, tops in the industry! Congrats to all the award winners and nominees including Best MLB Series, NFL Series, NBA Writer, PGA Writer and Player Notes writer of the year. Be sure to follow their analysis, rankings and advice all year long, and win big with RotoBaller! Read More!
All's Well That Ends Adell
1B Peter Alonso — Las Vegas 51s (Triple-A: New York Mets)
Upcoming games: at Salt Lake 7/17-19, at Reno 7/20-22
In his third season in the minors, Alonso is continuing his trend of improving upon his stat line each season. Over 17 fewer plate appearances than his 2017 season, Alonso has already surpassed his home run total with 21 this year while also more than doubling his walk total from 27 to 57. While his season totals look good on paper, there is a slight concern in his struggles after being promoted to Triple-A. Over 107 plate appearances with Las Vegas, Alonso is hitting .182 with a .318 on-base percentage and a 29.9 percent strikeout rate. Despite that, he has still managed to hit six home runs at Triple-A in 24 games. Alonso is the closest to the majors out of this week's prospects to watch, but he'll need to show improvement from his first taste at Triple-A before he gets the call up. That being said, owners will still want to consider stashing him for a potential September call-up.
OF Jo Adell — Inland Empire 66ers (Single-A Advanced: Los Angeles Angels)
Upcoming games: at Visalia 7/18-20, at Stockton 7/21-23
Ranked the number one prospect in the Angels' system, Adell has shown this season that he can be a 20 homer, 20 steal, high-average outfielder once he makes it to the majors. In 83 more at bats, Adell has more than tripled his home run total from 2017 with 17 over the first half of this year. The surge in home runs has seen his OPS rise more than 60 points to .980 this year, despite seeing an ever-so-slight drop to his on-base percentage. Adell has had his strikeout rate go up slightly to an even 25 percent, but otherwise nearly all of his numbers have either been maintained or improved upon from his debut season last year. Out of the four prospects in this week's list, Adell seems to have the best overall potential to be a fantasy stud. Because of this, dynasty league owners need to acquire Adell as soon as possible before he becomes an untouchable prospect in trade talks, if he isn't one already.
OF Seuly Matias — Lexington Legends (Single-A: Kansas City Royals)
Upcoming games: at Greenville 7/17, vs West Virginia 7/19-22
Something has changed in Matias' approach at the plate this season and it has led to a career-high 26 home runs over the first half of the year. After hitting a combined 15 home runs over his first two seasons in pro-ball, the 19-year-old prospect has shown no signs of stopping when it comes to the power, but it's coming at the cost of his ability to get on base. With a whopping 36.3 percent strikeout rate, a career-worst .214 average and .293 on-base percentage and a career-high 46.3 percent fly ball rate, it's been all-or-nothing with Matias this year. While all those numbers seem more than enough to warn fantasy owners to stay away, it's hard to overlook that home run total in spite of the rest of his performance. In dynasty leagues, owners should approach Matias as high-risk, high-reward. He's still young and has time to work on the holes in his swing to bring the rest of his numbers up to par with his power potential, but he could also end up as Chicago White Sox-era Adam Dunn.
OF Luis Alexander Basabe — Birmingham Barons (Double-A: Chicago White Sox)
Upcoming games: vs Jackson 7/18-22, vs Tennessee 7/23-27
After putting up the worst numbers of his career in 2017, Basabe has bounced back this year to show off his potential as a future 20-20 candidate. Basabe is hitting .256 through the first half of the season with 12 doubles, seven triples, 10 home runs, 12 steals and a career-high .803 OPS between Single-A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham. After seeing his numbers drop off somewhat following his promotion to Double-A, Basabe has gone on to hit .297 over his last 10 games with a home run and three steals over his last 43 plate appearances. While Basabe's resurgence is a good sign for fantasy owners looking to invest in him, expectations should be slightly tempered as he is currently sporting a 27.1 percent strikeout rate — the second-highest of his career after his first season in professional baseball. If Basabe can cut back on his strikeouts, he has a future of being a solid fantasy player in the near future, and now is the time to consider acquiring him in dynasty leagues.
