The Pirates finally called up top pitching prospect Paul Skenes to make his debut Saturday, and fantasy baseball managers are beyond excited. The team is notorious for keeping its prospects in the minors, but after the success of rookie Jared Jones, where the Pirates are in the standings and with no more service time concerns for Skenes, his promotion was necessary.
With that, fantasy managers are now clamoring for the next wave of rookies, but you may want to look a little longer before you make the leap. Where are James Wood, Orelvis Martinez and Junior Caminero? All three are tearing up Triple-A pitching, and those with fantasy interests are getting impatient.
Wood is batting .344 with five homers and nine steals, Caminero is sitting on a .987 OPS with six home runs, and Martinez has nine homers with 27 RBIs through 127 at-bats. All three have the potential to be a difference-maker at the big league level, yet none of them seem to be close to being promoted.
Nationals GM Mike Rizzo, who promoted both Bryce Harper and Juan Soto before their 20th birthdays, cites the fact Wood still doesn’t have 500 at-bats above the Class-A level and has an overblown ground-ball rate. The Rays continue to point to Isaac Paredes and his power blocking Caminero’s call-up, and the Jays don’t want to commit to moving Martinez from shortstop to second base when they still aren’t sure how long Bo Bichette will be around.
The excuses seem a little flimsy, but obviously, big league GMs are sitting with additional concerns. Maybe it’s because hitting prospects have been a veritable disaster this season to date. Before Wyatt Langford landed on the IL with a hamstring issue, the rookie was batting just .224 with an equally dismal .295 on-base percentage. And when he is healthy, there is a strong chance the Rangers keep him at Triple-A Sugar Land to get him back on-track and build up his confidence. His rookie teammate, Evan Carter is also struggling with a .218 batting average and a strikeout rate north of 25-percent.
Langford and Carter aren’t the only ones, though. Jackson Holliday landed back in the minors after posting a .056 average with a 5 -percent strikeouts rate. Jackson Chourio is batting .221, Colt Keith is hitting .116, and Colton Cowser has dramatically cooled off, hitting just .120 over his past 50 at-bats. The only rookies who seem to be doing well are the pitchers, and two of them have at least seven years of experience playing baseball in Japan.
Betting on Baseball?
As strong as the 2024 MLB rookie class looked heading into the season, none of the hitters have lived up to the hype. The pitching they are seeing in the majors is significantly better than in the minors. They are seeing greater velocity and a much higher spin-rate on each and every pitch. Things will eventually turn around for them, but with what we are currently witnessing, you’re going to need to curb your rookie enthusiasm.
Howard Bender is the head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on X @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 6-8 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy baseball news and advice.