A few days before the Seattle Mariners promoted hyped outfield prospect Jarred Kelenic to the major leagues in mid-May, fantasy baseball managers everywhere acted quickly and gleefully to add him to their many teams, confident he would be a considerable difference-maker this season.
Clearly, though, for today at least, his value “in the big picture” is far worse in the fantasy world than it was a mere month ago, before he struggled in the big leagues.
Put simply, like a new car bought and driven off the lot, every prospect’s fantasy value changes as soon as they debut in the major leagues and, in most cases, the value goes down.
Wander Franco should be rostered in every fantasy league across the land, just in case he is indeed the generational talent that scouts and so many others expect him to be.
ESPN colleague AJ Mass indeed aggressively ranked Franco in his top 50 for the rest of the season in ESPN standard points formats, ahead of both Winker and Giolito, as well as Nolan Arenado and Walker Buehler, which is bold — and may very well be absolutely correct.
I can also get on board with a fantasy manager actually trading Franco, before he debuts on Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox, for established talent such as Winker and Giolito and so many others.
In terms of value, I think both that Franco ranking in the overall top 50 is wise and that it is a similarly wise time to throw the kid’s name out there in trade talks and see what occurs.
He was not an efficient base stealer, though, stealing only five bases in nine attempts, and was merely 21-for-48 in his theft attempts over 214 minor league games and 945 PA.
A mere 14 qualified players are hitting .300 right now! It is also a bit wild to expect 20 home runs the rest of the way, or relevant SB impact.
The Rays lost all four games at Seattle this past weekend to help trigger the promotion, as if this was some fault of middle infielders Joey Wendle or Taylor Walls.
Boston’s Eduardo Rodriguez and Garrett Richards, scheduled to pitch in Franco’s initial games, are hardly on their way to earning Cy Young votes, but they are both experienced major-league hurlers, and Franco is just 20.