Rookie Report: Prospect Risers and Fallers for Week 6

Welcome to the latest edition of RotoBaller’s Recently Promoted Prospects series for fantasy baseball! Here I discuss some recently promoted MLB prospects and rookies , making note of what I think their upside could be for fantasy baseball managers, and whether they are potential risers or fallers.

It’s early in the season and we’ve already seen 74 rookies make their MLB debut in 2021. This week I will highlight some prospects to know for fantasy baseball and their projections. I will use video looks, scouting reports, analytics, and RotoBaller’s premium projections to predict what each player could do if given a continued opportunity in 2021.

Here are your recently promoted prospects for Week 6 of the fantasy baseball season.

Nick Sandlin, Cleveland Indians

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Situation: Cleveland called up Sandlin on April 20th for some extra help out of the bullpen. He's well down the high-leverage pecking order at this junction, but he's appeared in two games and has yet to give up a run over 2.1 innings. Sandlin was a second-round choice by the club in the 2018 draft.

Skill: A smaller statured right-hander, Sandlin has been used exclusively in a relief role during his professional career in the Cleveland organization. He pitches from a low submarine arm slot, and has some deception in a peculiar windup to get there. It is absolutely the type of look that should play up in short stints, especially against right-handers.

Projection: He's unlikely to factor in for much high-leverage work early on in his career, but he could vulture some holds. The club is likely to shuttle him up and down between Triple-A and MLB for roster flexibility, but he really has the talent to contribute out of the bullpen this season. Put him on your watchlist in deep dynasty formats.

Keibert Ruiz, Los Angeles Dodgers

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Situation: The Dodgers recalled Keibert Ruiz from the alternate site on Tuesday this week. He's currently the third catcher on the MLB depth chart, and will basically fill in as extra hitting depth until the Dodgers get a couple of their bats back into the lineup.

Skill: Well, here I'm going to look like a jerk. I was asked about Keibert Ruiz over the weekend during the RotoBaller Prospect Chat, and I said he was a hit over power type of prospect that was unlikely to see much playing time in the bigs this year. Of course, he was called up two days after the chat, and in his first plate appearance of 2021 he did this:

Projection: I wouldn't anticipate an impactful amount of plate appearances for Ruiz at the MLB level in 2021. He's an extremely talented switch-hitting backstop, but barring a major injury, he's more likely to figure in the club's 2022 pennant chase than their 2021 one.

Mario Feliciano, Milwaukee Brewers

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Situation: Another young catcher called up for some extra depth early on in the 2021 season. Mario Feliciano, still only 22 years old, only managed one plate appearance before being shuttled back down to the alternate site. Feliciano got the call when starting catcher Omar Narvaez went on the injured list with a hamstring strain.

Skill: Feliciano is a player that my Estimated Barrels metric is a big fan of. In 2019, he posted a league-adjusted 150 EstimatedBarrel+ rate in the High-A Carolina League, putting him 50 percentage points above league average for the level despite him just turning 20 years old that season. He strikes out a good amount and lacks some plate discipline, but he's worth monitoring in deep leagues for the power alone.

Projection: Monitor the Brewers health situation to see if there's a way for Feliciano to squeeze into semi-regular playing time. He already launched a home run on Triple-A Opening Day, so there might not be a whole lot of offensive seasoning left for him to do at the minor league level. He's really waiting for an opportunity for regular playing time to open up.

Daniel Lynch, Kansas City Royals

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Situation: In a shocking move, the Royals announced on Sunday night that Daniel Lynch was getting promoted to make his first career start the following day. Given the timing of the announcement, Lynch's fantasy ownership ballooned in anticipation of the upcoming start. While he didn't dominate, he probably showed enough to get another turn in the Royals rotation with Jakob Junis sliding back to the bullpen.

Skill: Our own Eric Samulski presented an excellent video breakdown of Lynch's first start:

One thing I would add to this evaluation is that Lynch had very good walk rates and threw a good amount of strikes in the minors. Therefore, his control issues in his initial start might very well have just been butterflies.

Projection: It's hard for rookie pitchers to be relevant fantasy assets outside of all but the deepest leagues. Like really hard. But if you're going to bet on a rookie pitcher taking a leap in 2021, Lynch's arsenal from the left-hand side gives him an upside that you can really dream on if you're looking to make a splash in free agency or waivers this week.

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