New Everyday Players — Sep 5, 2023

We have passed roster expansion day, which means a slew of rookies have been recalled. That also means a never-ending supply of new everyday players to discuss! Let’s get to it.

Kyren Paris | LAA SS

The Angels offense has been battered by injuries, opening up an opportunity for Paris to take over the everyday shortstop job, at least until fellow rookie Zach Neto returns from the IL. Paris ranked just 15th among Angels prospects, so he wasn’t highly regarded. However, his minor league performances have me very interested as a fantasy owner.

First, let’s talk about his most exciting fantasy asset — his speed. He stole 44 bases at Double-A this year (he actually jumped straight from that level to the Majors), against just five caught stealings. This came after 33 swipes in 2022, while getting caught just four times. It’s pretty clear that he’s both an excellent basestealer and a willing one too.

But he’s not only a speedster, as he’s got some pop too. He posted a professional best 15.2% HR/FB rate in the minors this year, though his .161 ISO was nearly identical to last year’s, despite the jump in HR/FB rate. So it looks like some doubles and triples became homers, perhaps due to randomness, rather than an actual increase in power. He does hit a reasonable rate of fly balls though to flirt with double digit dingers.

His plate discipline has been interesting, as he both swings and misses often, leading to high strikeout rates, despite middling power, and high walk rates. He just walked 17.1% of the time at Double-A! That’s not the profile you normally see from someone with his level of power. The high walk rate does mean he’s likely to be significantly more valuable in OBP formats.

Overall, if you need steals, he seems like a worthy speculation, as anything could happen with batting average over a relatively small sample. It’s anyone’s guess when Neto returns and if Paris is hitting, perhaps the Angels continue to find him at-bats.

Ronny Mauricio | NYM 2B

The team’s fourth best prospect and 58th ranked overall got the call as soon as the calendar flipped to September and he has started at second base every game since. With 60/70 Raw Power grades and qualifying in the middle infield, he’s someone fantasy owners have been drooling over.

He’s already shown big power in the minors. He posted a 21.5% HR/FB rate and .214 ISO at Triple-A this year, though a low 27.4% FB% has held back his actual home run output. He hit a much higher rate of fly balls last year at Double-A, so it’s odd to see him lose so many flies this year. He has the power to benefit from that higher FB%, so we’ll have to see which rate he ends up settling in at.

While the HR/FB rate and ISO were excellent, I’m actually more impressed by another number — his 116 MPH maxEV. You don’t find many MLBers who can hit a ball that hard, let alone minor leaguers! And heck, he already hit a ball 117.3 MPH in the Majors in just nine batted balls! Such elite maxEV suggests to me that his power output has even more upside.

What I also love is that even given the power potential, he actually doesn’t strike out a lot. He struck out just 18.2% of the time at Triple-A this year, driven by a reasonable 11.4% SwStk%. It makes me optimistic that he’s ready to hit in the Majors.

Oh, and he steals bases too! He swiped 24 this year and 20 last year, so he’s a true power/speed combo we all love. I’m guessing the steals will eventually fade as his power blossoms, but for now, he’s oozing with fantasy potential.

Brett Baty | NYM 3B

The team’s second best prospect and 19th overall first debuted last year for a cup of coffee. He then spent a big chunk of this season in the Majors, but was ultimately demoted back to Triple-A after a weak offensive performance. With 70/70 grade Raw Power, I’m going to need to see more than 300+ PAs before writing him off!

That power had been on full display in the minors. He posted an absurd 41.7% HR/FB rate and .327 ISO at Triple-A this season, after a 26% HR/FB rate and .232 ISO at Double-A last year. However, like Mauricio this year, Baty’s FB% isn’t as high as you want to see from a power hitter. He has posted marks of around 30% in the minors and sits with just a 27.6% mark in the Majors. When you’re posting a maxEV of 113 MPH to 114 MPH, you should be hitting the ball in the air far more often. Mauricio has shown the ability to do so in the past. Baty has not.

Since there’s little speed potential here, he’s going to need to start lifting the ball more, in order to deliver in home runs. He has shown some high BABIP potential, supported by batted ball distributions high in line drives and low in pop-ups. That’s great, but it would be even better if a good batting average came with the home runs he’s capable of if he was hitting the ball in the air more. Of course, more fly balls is likely to reduce his BABIP, so there’s a balance here.

Mark Vientos is still around and Baty has only started in two of three games since his latest recall. But with Vientos posting just a .254 wOBA over 144 PAs, it’s likely the Mets have shifted back to see what Baty can do. That said, it means Baty might not really be a true full-timer, and since he sat against right-hander, it wouldn’t even be a straight platoon.

I’m not really interested here in shallower leagues and think he’s probably borderline in 15-team mixed as well. I think the future is bright though as the power looks legit, but I do want to see more flies in the future.