McLean & Basallo & Beavers & Karros & Seymour, Oh My

More rookie callups! Gosh I love this part of the season when new prospects are constantly being recalled, giving fantasy owners plentiful opportunities to fill holes. Today, let’s discuss a slew of recent callups who may offer some serious fantasy potential.

Nolan McLean | NYM SP

McLean was the Mets third ranked prospect and 53rd overall in our latest prospect rankings. However, his scouting grades don’t really stand out with only his curveball grading out as a plus pitch, so it would have been difficult to get very excited from those alone. Before we get to his MLB debut on Saturday, let’s talk about his minor league history.

At Triple-A this year, he posted a strong, albeit unspectacular, 27% strikeout rate. That was driven by an acceptable 11.4% SwStk%, which wouldn’t normally stand out in my eyes, though the 29.4% CSW% is better thanks to an above average CStr%. That solid strikeout rate came with a walk rate just into double digits, though. He also recorded a slightly higher walk rate over five Double-A starts this year and was at 9.1% last year, so control hasn’t been a plus for him.

What I did like about his minor league performance this year is a penchant for grounders. He posted a near-55% GB% between Double-A and Triple-A this season, which you don’t typically see paired with that kind of strikeout rate. It gives him unique upside thanks to a skill that’s likely rarely talked about. He also threw a whopping six different pitches at Triple-A! That’s crazy for a guy who averaged 95 MPH with his fastball.

In his MLB debut, there was some good and some bad, which is not atypical for any pitcher, let alone a rookie’s debut. He managed to strike out 38.1% of opposing batters in his 5.1 innings, though that came with a ridiculous 19% walk rate. He only generated an 11% SwStk%, so that strikeout rate was most certainly a fluke.

What was interesting is how much he changed his pitch mix versus Triple-A. He dramatically cut down on his four-seam and cutter usage, in favor of throwing more sinkers, sliders, and curves. The pitch models absolutely love his repertoire. Both PitchingBot and Stuff+ agree that his four-seamer was fantastic, while his curve was absolutely elite. The slider, too, was either well above or merely above average depending on which model you use. Overall, both models graded out his stuff as near elite, but with poor command and location. I’m wondering why his SwStk% wasn’t higher given the apparent quality of his stuff, but perhaps it was poor location that led to fewer whiffs.

This is a fascinating profile and I think I’ve talked myself into liking his long-term future more than I expected. I’m not sure how valuable he’ll be over the rest of the season given his potential control issues, but I’m not as worried about that in future years since control is much easier to fix than a lack of stuff, which he clearly doesn’t have an issue with.

Samuel Basallo | BAL C/1B

Finally! I picked up Basallo in AL Tout Wars back on May 26! This isn’t to brag that I was able to add him for just three (out of 1,000 starting FAAB units) units that early in the season before he would have cost a lot more. Instead, it’s to prove how long some of us owners who have stashed him have been waiting. Some of the wait was because the Orioles already had an overcrowded starting lineup, but they ultimately ran out of excuses, and since he kept hitting, he finally earned the promotion many had been eagerly anticipating.

Basallo is the Orioles top prospect and ranked third overall. His scouting grades include 55/70 Game and 70/80 Raw Power. This is coming from a catcher! Unfortunately, with 30/40 Field grades, his odds of actually sticking at catcher are slim to none. Heck, he might not even make it to next season as catcher eligible given Adley Rutschman’s presence. But we don’t need to worry about that right now, as he’s catcher eligible this season and should earn meaningful playing time between that position, first base, and DH.

At Triple-A this season, he showed excellent discipline with a double digit walk rate and a very reasonable strikeout rate given his power. That power resulted in a 29.5% HR/FB rate and .319 ISO, fueled by elite Statcast metrics, including a 56.9% HardHit% and 115.9 MPH maxEV. He also took full advantage of that power by turning around his historical batted ball profile and becoming more of a fly ball hitter. That’s what you want to see from a guy with those Statcast metrics.

He’s probably not going to help your batting average, but his high walk rate means he should see a boost in OBP leagues. Of course, anything could happen over a month and a half, meaning he could luck his way into a .330 BABIP and hit .270, which could make him one of the top catchers the rest of the way if he delivers on his power. He’s an obvious add in all league formats as I can’t imagine there would be more than 12 catchers I’d prefer, so he should be startable even in leagues with one catcher slot.

Dylan Beavers | BAL OF

So much for the overcrowded Orioles roster, as they still had the room to recall yet another prospect! Beavers was ranked sixth in the organization, but earned underwhelming scouting grades that wouldn’t make him seem very appealing to fantasy owners. However, his Triple-A performance this year should make you think twice about ignoring his name.

He’s always shown good plate discipline, but he upped his walk rate to a career best and elite 16.3%. Furthermore, he cut down on his strikeout rate, pushing it back below 20%, while posting a career best 6.9% SwStk%. So serious plate patience, combined with elite contact ability. That’s an exciting pair of skills.

Moving on from the walk and strikeout rates, he produced an immaculate batted ball profile. That included an elite LD%, a fly ball tilt, and a better than average IFFB%. It was enough to drive a .341 BABIP, though I feel like it should have been even higher with all those line drives.

One of the most exciting things here is the power. He had been stuck with single digits HR/FB rates throughout his career, but broke through this year by nearly doubling his previous career high HR/FB rate, posting a 17.5% mark. His ISO broke through .200 for the first time as well. Backing the power outburst was a HardHit% that was a bit above average, while he posted a 111.6 MPH maxV. Neither of those marks are cause for celebration, but good enough to think he’ll be able to contribute in home runs as well.

Finally, we end with his speed, which will likely be his best fantasy asset. He swiped 23 bases this year, while getting caught just five times, after stealing 31 bases last year, versus only three caught stealings. That means he’s the latest power/speed combo meal for fantasy owners to speculate on.

The only potential downside here is a platoon situation where he sits against left-handed starters. That might make him a tough call to start in shallower mixed leagues, but he should be useable in every other format.

Kyle Karros | COL 3B

Wait, the Rockies recalled a prospect and are actually playing him regularly?! Wait, no, Karros just sat yesterday so Orlando Arcia could start. Rockies gonna Rockie. Eric Karros’ son was actually ranked just 16th amongst Rockies prospects this year and even more surprising is he made his debut this season despite us slapping him with an ETA of 2027! So he blew past his promotion expectation. Like Beavers, his scouting grades do not look like one of an appealing fantasy option. But hey, I’m always interested in any prospect that gets regular at-bats with the Rockies, as Coors Field could make mediocre prospects look good.

Between Double-A and Triple-A this year, Karros displayed excellent plate discipline, with a double digit walk rate and sub-20% strikeout rate. It’s a continuation of strong discipline, which should boost his value in OBP leagues.

Like Beavers, he also posted a pristine batted ball profile, though it was tilted more toward grounders than fly balls. Karros was able to find more holes than Beavers, as he posted a .364 BABIP and has enjoyed a history of inflated BABIP marks. The good news is that Coors Field inflates BABIP, so he could continue to be a BABIP monster, which should translate to both batting average and OBP.

You might assume that a corner infielder who is the son of Eric Karros, a player with 284 career home runs, including five 30-homer seasons, would own some serious power potential. You would be wrong. He posted just a 9.7% HR/FB rate in the minors this year and was at just 12.9% at High-A last year. He did post a 40% HardHit%, which is actually slightly higher than Beavers, but with a maxEV of only 108 MPH. It would be hard to hit a lot of homers with such a mediocre maxEV, unless he was quite adept at hitting barrels.

Since he also hasn’t been much of a fly ball guy, he hit just six home runs this year, which paced for around 12ish. That’s now what you would expect from a corner guy, but his size and plate discipline suggest to me that a power spike could eventually be in his future.

Instead of power, Karros actually owns speed. He stole one more base than he hit home runs, so he could be the rare third baseman reaching double digit home runs and steals. Overall, it actually makes him sneakily valuable if you remember his batting average could be a positive as well. The stats delivered might differ from what you would expect from a third baseman, but there is total value here assuming he doesn’t continue to get benched for Arcia.

Bob Seymour | TB 1B

The Rays have dealt with a number of injuries recently, which allowed the team to promote Seymour and give him a shot at every day at bats at first base. Though as a lefty, he might end up on the strong side of a platoon, with Yandy Díaz covering first and the DH spot being filled by a right-hander like Christopher Morel.

Seymour is already 26 years old and wasn’t even ranked as part of the Rays top prospects. In fact, it doesn’t seem like he’s made any FanGraphs articles at all. But that doesn’t mean fantasy owners shouldn’t consider his potential contributions.

At Triple-A this year, he swung and missed…a lot. But somehow it only led to a 25.7% strikeout rate, which ain’t bad at all. His walk rate was acceptable enough, so I can’t point to him swinging at everything that led to the low strikeout rate. Maybe it was just pure luck, but it’s clear that his contact issues are going to result in tons of strikeouts in the Majors.

So positive batting average value isn’t going to happen. What should happen though is power. He posted a 30% HR/FB rate, backed by a 44.5% HardHit%, and an absolutely elite 117.9 MPH maxEV. That maxEV would rank sixth among all hitters this year. That HR/FB rate led to 30 homers and a .290 ISO, so he’s got serious thump.

He doesn’t steal bases, isn’t going to hit for batting average, and his walk rate is unlikely to be high enough to give him much, if any, boost in OBP leagues. So the speculation here is purely on him hitting a bunch of home runs and gaining your team points in that category. He’s the type I want to speculate on in deep leagues for as long as he’s getting regular playing time.