It’s got to be hard to be an A’s fan. The organization continues to develop solid players — and there is an exciting wave on the way, led by the likes of Matt Olson, Matt Chapman and A.J. Puk — but you know they’re probably going to be traded as they enter into their primes.

The Graduate: Matt Olson, 1B: I could easily talk about Matt Chapman who appeared in more games than Olson but the slugging first baseman arguably has more fantasy value. A significant amount of Chapman’s value comes from his third-base defence (at least right now). Olson had an almost unprecedented power run with 20 homers in 43 second half games. He’ll probably never hit for much of an average and strikes out a lot but he off-sets that by getting on base via the free pass. Olson, 23, should play everyday in 2018 – perhaps split between first base and designated hitter. He hits in a big ball park but he has the kind of power that plays anywhere – as seen by his 12 homers in 27 home games.

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September is always an interesting month as baseball inexplicably changes its rules entirely with roster expansion up to 40 players. The month will often yield some big offensive outputs that get overlooked for fear that they were achieved against less-than-stellar competition. While I’ll grant that there are pitchers who wouldn’t normally be in the majors in rotations and bullpens, rarely do I think a guy puts an entire month of numbers against such inferior competition. Today I’m looking at a handful of rookies who’ve made some noise in September and should be firmly on your radar for 2018:

Matt Olson | Athletics

Unfortunately, we know that Olson’s season is done after a Grade 2 hamstring strain suffered on Sunday, but it was a tremendous 59-game run for the 23-year old 1B. He clocked 24 HR in just 49 hits, yielding an obscene 66 HR full season pace. Of course, that’s why we don’t take small samples and extrapolate them out. That said, he totaled 47 HR between the majors and minors so a 30-HR full season in 2018 isn’t at all out of bounds.

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The Mariners had a disheartening end to their playoff hopes in 2017 but the club has some promising young players who should help the club remain competitive.

The Graduate: Mitch Haniger, OF: Haniger was absolutely on fire early in the year before he got hurt. When he came back, he didn’t show the same patience at the plate and, as a result, it took a while for him to get back into the swing of things. When he’s going good, Haniger can impact every facet of the game. He may never be a huge batting average guy but, if he can walk more often like he did at the beginning of the year, the 26-year-old hitter can still be an above-average offensive guy when you also consider his power potential. He’s a strong defender in right field and should be a very good player for the Mariners for the foreseeable future.

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On Wednesday I reviewed the results of the first three rounds of a new dynasty league prospect draft.  I’ll continue that review today with rounds 4 – 6, where some deeper, more interesting prospects appear.

Dynasty Prospect Draft Review: Rounds 1 – 3

This draft should help you “discover” a few names to keep an eye on going forward.  If you have specific questions about players or the thought process of why they were selected, fire away in the comments section, as I’ve asked each owner in the league to be on standby to provide feedback as we review the rounds.

Before I review my own thoughts on the draft, you should know this Ottoneu league uses the “FanGraphs Points” scoring system based on linear weights, so offense is heavily slanted towards wOBA skills (and speed is almost a non-factor).  We also somewhat arbitrarily removed the Top 12 overall offensive prospects to save them for the standard 40-man auction next spring.  Otherwise, any minor league player without one (1) MLB PA or IP is eligible to be drafted.  You can read more about the custom rules of this dynasty league here, and follow along with the draft here.

Many of the prospects below are also featured on the 2018 Top 100 Fantasy Prospects list.

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There were a few years there that I dreaded writing about the Angels for this series but no more… The organization has some legitimately intriguing prospects. Don’t just take my word for it, let’s have a look!

The Graduate: Parker Bridwell, RHP: Earlier this week, I stated that the Dodgers had one of the best player development systems in the game. Well, the Orioles probably have one of the worst… and Bridwell is a perfect example of a player simply needing a change of scenery to realize his full potential. With that said, the right-hander’s potential is modest and he’ll probably settle in as more of a No. 4 starter. He doesn’t miss a lot of bats and he produces a lot of fly balls, which is a dangerous combination. His heater is average but it plays up because he has above-average control and keeps hitters off balance with multiple offerings.

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Recently I created a new dynasty baseball league customized around the basic game of Ottoneu.  The more you play Ottoneu the more you come to appreciate how deep the player pool really is, and the longer I play fantasy baseball the more interested I become in the minor league development process.  While there is still plenty of luck involved, the satisfaction of “discovering” the next Rhys Hoskins before everyone else is a feeling that keeps me coming back to the game over and over.

In addition to the standard economics of Ottoneu where each league consists of twelve owners and 480 rostered players (minors and majors), our league will roster an additional 180 minor leaguers (15 extra per team) in an attempt to “develop” successful franchises for years to come.  Since the regular MLB season is wrapping up soon and many fantasy owners are starting to look towards 2018, I thought it might be helpful to review our prospect draft over the next several posts to give you some insight into the valuation of these minor league lottery tickets.  If nothing else, this draft should help you “discover” a few names to keep an eye on going forward.  If you have specific questions about players or the thought process of why they were selected, fire away in the comments section, as I’ve asked each owner in the league to be on standby to provide feedback as we review the rounds.  

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The Dodgers system has it all: Impact talent, depth, excellent scouts and a proven player development system that just might be the best in the game.

The Graduate: Cody Bellinger, OF/1B: I had no doubt that Bellinger was going to be an impact player at the big league level but I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. I also — most certainly — did not expect him to slug 38 home runs as a rookie in 2017. The freshman has struck out too much this season but the power and the on-base percentage makes the swing-and-miss entirely palatable. Known as an excellent defender at first base who can also play a solid outfield, Bellinger’s work out in the pastures left something to be desired while his work in the infield was as expected. That’s kind of bad news, though, since injured, veteran first baseman Adrian Gonzalez still has $21.5 million owed to him in 2018. As a result, Bellinger may have to spend a full season in the outfield until the contract expires. Once he settles in at first base for good, he should be there for a decade or more.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks have some intriguing, high-ceiling prospects and quite a few intriguing players sprinkled throughout their minor league system. I quite liked their 2017 draft.

First Taste of The Show: Ildemaro Vargas, IF: The Diamondbacks didn’t really give much playing time to rookies in 2017 so I’ll focus on Vargas even though he had just three plate appearances in The Show. He actually has a chance to be an intriguing utility guy off the bench but the organization stuck with mostly at second base and that has hurt his value. He received opportunities at third base, shortstop and center field – but those opportunities were few and far between. Vargas’ strength comes from making an insane amount of contact – He struck out just 7.5% of the time at triple-A in 2017. He showed a willingness to take a walk in the lower minors but, at the upper levels, he’s been far more reliant on his batting average to drive his on-base percentage. Still, middle infielders that can consistently threaten to hit .300 are in short supply.

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It wasn’t a great year for the Giants in 2017 and, unfortunately, there isn’t much help coming from the farm for 2018. The organization has some depth — especially in the outfield — but the system lacks impact bats and arms.

The Graduate: Ty Blach, LHP: As mentioned, there wasn’t much that went right for the Giants in 2017 but the development of Blach rates as one of the best. And I kinda saw it coming. He’s soaked up innings for the Giants as a freshman and currently sits at 150. He gives up a lot of hits (166) and doesn’t miss many bats (70 Ks) but he doesn’t hurt himself with walks (36) and he does a respectable job of keeping the ball in the park (16 HRs). The southpaw throws four pitches for strikes even if the heater sits around 90 mph. He’ll never be a star but Blach should continue to eat up innings and provide league-average-ish numbers for the Giants at the backend of the rotation — and in this era of the long-ball there is a lot of value in that skill.

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A.J. Preller made a lot of moves early in his tenure as Padres general manager but his two best acquisitions came from a seemingly-thrown-in prospect during a trade with the White Sox and the ’17 draft. San Diego has one of the better systems in the game.

The Graduate: Manuel Margot, OF: Margot (1.8 WAR) and pitcher Dinelson Lamet (1.4) have had the biggest rookie impacts on the Padres in 2017. Both players will likely enter 2018 with question marks, though. Lamet’s (mostly) two-pitch repertoire will need to continue to challenge hitters to keep him from eventually shifting to the bullpen. Margot will try and squeeze more value out of his bat after having the majority of his strength come from his outfield defence. Still, there are promising signs from Margot – including a 22.5% line-drive rate and reasonable 19.5% strikeout rate. If he can find a way to get on base more consistently and improve his base running (He’s just 13-for-19), the 22-year-old outfielder center-fielder could become a threat at the top of the order for San Diego.

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