New Everyday Players — Jul 10, 2023

As we head into the All-Star break and take a moment to catch our breath, let’s continue reviewing new everyday players, or hitters that have recently become regular starters.

Bo Naylor | C CLE

Naylor was the team’s top prospect heading into the season and 48th overall. As a catcher, prospect grades aren’t as reliable at estimating future fantasy potential, because a big portion of a catcher’s value is his defense. Us fantasy owners don’t really care about defense, outside of it being acceptable enough to keep the hitter in the lineup. With a 40/45 Field grade, it certainly doesn’t appear that his strong prospect status was due to his defense!

From his minor league performance, Naylor looks like a typical slugger. He has walked at a double digit clip nearly everywhere he has played, including some absurd marks like a 20.5% mark at Double-A last year and an 18.1% mark at Triple-A this season. That will give him a massive boost in value in OBP leagues. His strikeout rates have been fine, though high at Double-A back in 2021, but that looks more a result of his plate patience, as his SwStk% have been in single digits at every stop since 2022. So, his plate discipline has been fantastic.

Along with the strong plate discipline comes excellent power. He has posted a HR/FB rate over 20% during his two stints at Triple-A, which doubled his previous career high of just 10.7% at Double-A earlier in the 2022 season. This year, his HR/FB rate was backed by a good-but-not-great 111.1 MPH maxEV. While he had been a fly ball hitter through 2022 to take advantage of his newfound power, his FB% fell to its lowest since his 2018 professional debut. That’s mostly because he traded some flies for line drives, so it wasn’t so bad! Of course, that failed to benefit his BABIP, which finished at just .273.

Naylor has also shown some speed in the past, swiping 20 bases in 2022. He only stole two in about a half season at Triple-A this year, so it’s an open question whether he’s done attempting steals or could be good for double digits over a whole season.

Overall, he might be your standard low batting average, decent power second catcher in shallower leagues, but is a nice target in leagues that use OBP instead, regardless of size.

Dane Myers | OF MIA

The 27-year-old failed to rank among the Marlins top prospects, but did get a couple of sentences in the “Spot the Late-Bloomer” paragraph in our rankings article. He has now started five straight games in center field after sitting his first two games after his recall. Between Double-A and Triple-A this year, he had significantly cut his strikeout rate down to sub-20%, driven by a reduction in SwStk% into single digits. That improvement is hard to do, so it’ll be interesting where he ends up if he gets an extended opportunity in the Majors.

His power has been solid enough, but has been limited by low FB% marks, including just below 30% at Double-A this year, and then sub-20% during his short time at Triple-A. It’s too bad, because his power seems to have really blossomed. He also swiped 16 bases in the minors this year, to go along with 13 home runs, so he has shown an exciting power/speed combo.

You always have to be skeptical of 27-year-olds who failed to make a top prospect list, but the minor league performance is intriguing. If I had an open spot on my roster and especially needed OF help or a better Util, I would absolutely speculate here.

Jordan Westburg | 2B/3B/SS BAL

Finally, a youth movement in Baltimore! Westburg was the first to be recalled toward the end of June and already qualifies at a multitude of positions, depending on your league rules. The team’s ninth best prospect had himself his best performance while at Triple-A this year, posting a professional low strikeout rate and bumping his HR/FB rate up to 25%, backed by a 110.2 MPH maxEV. He has shown a touch of speed as well, swiping six bases this year, and 12 all of last year.

He looks like a positive contributor across the board, and likely gains some value in OBP leagues. Unfortunately, he might have to hit, as the Orioles are suddenly dealing with too many players and not enough starting spots. Since the team is actually sporting a winning record and in second place in their division, they are unlikely to just let the kids play, regardless of performance.

Colton Cowser | OF BAL

Cowser was the most recent Orioles recall and their 12th best prospect. In four starts, he has already started at all three outfield slots. That’s confirmation of the “too many players, not enough spots” situation, as the Orioles shuffle players around to ensure everyone gets in that they want. Ryan Mountcastle returning makes it even more of a challenge, so before even diving in to Cowser’s potential, the same caveat as above applies here. Cowser is going to have to perform to remain with the Orioles, or at least maintain a starting job.

Cowser’s plate discipline has been fantastic in the minors, finishing with double digit walk rates everywhere he has played, including an 18.7% mark at Triple-A this year. Like Naylor above, he has struck out at a higher rate seemingly because of his passivity, as opposed to a high whiff rate. That’s good and easier to fix, as more aggression inside the strike zone would bring down his strikeout rate and allow him to put more balls into play.

He’s another interesting case with his power — he posted a 30.3% HR/FB rate this year, which is excellent, but just a .207 ISO. That’s because he posted just a 22.6% FB%, as he was too busy hitting line drives. How dare he! He’s done that often throughout his career. It has been great for his BABIP, which has settled above .400 three times already (!!!!!), but not so great for his power output, even though he clearly has power. Given his elite wOBA marks, it’s not worth fixing what ain’t broke, but us fantasy owners are greedy when it comes to adding home runs to our fantasy team’s total. This version of Cowser works perfectly fine, but just be aware that his batted ball profile is going to shape his fantasy line.

He also has some speed, stealing seven bases this year and 18 last year. That makes him an all-around contributor as well, which seems to be a theme for this group. Like the rest, he’s wrothy of a pickup in the majority of formats.