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With Opening Day just a few days away, teams are starting to finalize their rosters. One decision fantasy managers were eagerly anticipating was whether or not the Mariners would carry top prospect Julio Rodriguez.
On Monday, the club announced their decision on Rodriguez. He’s in.
Rodriguez is the third position player in Mariners’ history aged 21 or younger to make the team’s Opening Day roster. Omar Vizquel and Ken Griffey Jr. were the first two to accomplish the feat.
The 21-year-old wunderkind didn’t give the Mariners much of a choice. In 13 Cactus League games, Rodriguez has gone 14-for-33 (.424) with three home runs, four doubles, eight RBI and three stolen bases. His 1.304 OPS is the third-highest mark in the Cactus League and the ninth-highest when you add in players from the Grapefruit League.
A consensus top-five overall prospect in the game, Rodriguez posted a ridiculous .347/.441/.560 batting line with 13 home runs, 47 RBI and 21 stolen bases across 340 plate appearances between High- and Double-A last season. He was better at Double-A than he was at High-A, even putting up a 14.1 percent walk rate and just an 18 percent strikeout rate at the higher level. Keep in mind, he did this as a 20-year-old.
Performing well in the majors right away is difficult for anyone, let alone a 21-year-old skipping over Triple-A. That said, Rodriguez has the look of a superstar both from a real-life and fantasy perspective. Rodriguez’s ADP in NFC leagues sits at 249, but it’s been at 165 over the past week and promises to only go higher.
With Rodriguez slated for center field duties, Jarred Kelenic will slide over to left field, Mitch Haniger will be the primary right fielder and Jesse Winker will likely see the lion’s share of his playing time in the designated hitter spot.
Rodriguez isn’t the only top prospect to earn a spot on his respective team’s Opening Day roster. Just a few days ago, the Mariners announced that Matt Brash would be their fifth starter. There’s also Bobby Witt Jr., Spencer Torkelson, Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Reid Detmers, among others. C.J. Abrams and Bryson Stott could join them.
Tigers Get Meadows from Rays
During the National Championship game, and before any of the national writers could break the news, the Tigers sent out a tweet announcing that they had acquired Austin Meadows from the Rays for Isaac Paredes and a comp pick.
The Rays seemingly had been shopping Meadows for a while, and they found a taker in the Tigers, a club which was looking for outfield help after the Riley Greene (foot) injury. Meadows is slated to take over in left field for the Tigers, pushing Akil Baddoo to center.
Meadows put up just a .563 OPS against left-handers last season and didn’t play much against them down the stretch. It’s possible the Tigers could bench him against some southpaws, although Baddoo also has some platoon issues.
The good news is Meadows had a .871 OPS against right-handers and slugged 24 home runs. He’ll give the Tigers a middle-of-the-order presence versus righties.
As for Greene, he’s still expected to be the team’s center fielder once recovered from a fractured foot. That could be awhile, as it might be 6-8 weeks before he resumes baseball activities. Because so much can happen between now and then, it’s almost pointless to speculate whose at-bats Greene would take.
Paredes will report to Triple-A Durham to begin the season, and it will be Josh Lowe taking Meadows’ spot on the Rays’ active roster, per team broadcaster Neil Solondz.
Lowe had been sent down last week following a lackluster Grapefruit League showing. The 24-year-old is ready for an extended look in the majors, though, after putting up a robust .291/.381/.535 batting line with 22 home runs and 26 stolen bases last season at Durham. Lowe should play a corner outfield spot regularly against righties, and his potential for power and speed immediately makes him an interesting fantasy proposition. Brett Phillips and Harold Ramirez could pick up some more at-bats, too, and Vidal Brujan is lurking.
Sale Out Until at Least June
On Monday, we got a better idea as to how long Chris Sale might be sidelined.
The Red Sox placed Sale on the 60-day injured list as he continues to recover from a right rib stress fracture. That means the left-hander won’t be eligible for activation until a few days into June.
Sale suffered his rib injury during a workout back in February and hasn’t done any throwing since then. An MRI late last week showed some healing, but not enough to allow the southpaw to resume a throwing program.
It’s been about six weeks since Sale has thrown a ball, so it’s going to take him plenty of time to get built back up. Will he be ready for activation when first eligible? It’s too soon to say at this point.
With Sale on the shelf for a while, Rich Hill has locked up a spot in the Red Sox’ rotation. It sounds as if the 42-year-old could be used in something of a piggyback situation with Garrett Whitlock, at least initially. Whitlock has been stretched out for a potential starting role but will operate, it appears, in a multi-inning relief role for now.
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American League Quick Hits: The White Sox signed Johnny Cueto to a minor league contract on Monday. … Tarik Skubal fanned eight across five shutout frames Monday versus the Blue Jays in a Grapefruit League outing. … Aaron Judge went 3-for-4 with a home run as the Yankees beat the Phillies on Monday. … Orioles manager Brandon Hyde indicated Monday that Jorge Lopez could be the team’s top option to close games. … Alex Kirilloff (knee) is expected to return to action for the Twins’ Grapefruit League finale Tuesday. … Tanner Houck fanned seven while allowing two runs over six frames Monday against the Twins. … Nate Pearson (illness) has officially been ruled out for Opening Day. … Bailey Ober yielded just one hit over four scoreless innings on Monday in a Grapefruit League start against the Red Sox. … Jose Urquidy didn’t strike anyone out but tossed five shutout innings against the Mets on Monday.
National League Quick Hits: Diego Castillo celebrated being named to the Pirates’ Opening Day roster by going 4-for-4 with a home run – his sixth of the spring – on Monday against the Orioles. … Ke’Bryan Hayes (ankle) is expected to be ready early on in the season but is questionable for Opening Day. … Luke Weaver will open the season in the Diamondbacks’ bullpen … Anthony DeSclafani tallied eight strikeouts across 4 2/3 shutout innings Monday in his final tune-up versus the Athletics. … Bryan Reynolds homered, doubled and plated four runs Monday. … Mike Clevinger (knee, elbow) will begin the season on the injured list. … Richard Rodriguez, Danny Santana and Jose Rondon have all been suspended 80 games for testing positive for PEDs. … Miles Mikolas limited the Nationals to one run over six frames Monday. … Bob Nightengale of USA Today has reported that the Padres are “still engaging” with teams on trading talks involving Chris Paddack. … Brandon Nimmo had to be scratched Monday with a stiff neck. … Max Schrock will miss 4-6 weeks with a strained calf.
