The Arizona Diamondbacks are not likely to participate in the playoffs this season, but it's not stopping them from promoting OF Corbin Carroll to the major leagues in time for Monday's home game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Carroll, arguably the top prospect in the minor leagues, began Sunday on just 4% of rosters in ESPN standard leagues. That number will exponentially rise when potential investors check out his minor league numbers this season: he hit .307 across three levels with 24 home runs and 31 stolen bases. Yep, sign us up!
Of course, nobody ever really knows for sure how quickly a young hitter will adjust when taking the gigantic step from the minor leagues to the majors. New York Mets 3B Brett Baty, for example, was the hot pickup in the fantasy world just a few weeks ago. He's hitting .171 after 10 games and 38 PA, and is on the ESPN most dropped list. Baty was, of course, not the top prospect in the sport. Carroll is. He hits, walks, runs, defends. Frankly, there's a statistical comparison to make to Seattle Mariners OF Julio Rodriguez, and he's now a potential first-round pick next season.
How Carroll performs this week and in the final month will greatly shape how aggressively we rank him for 2023, and we need to see how the Arizona lineup looks. Rodriguez leads off in Seattle. Will Carroll do this for Arizona? Perhaps Carroll can't do anything to excite us to quite the Rodriguez level, but I wrote a few weeks ago that Carroll was positioning himself to be a top-100 option on draft day. Five-category roto options are so valuable. We didn't know then that Carroll would debut this season. Now we do. Add Carroll now and see what happens. Good job, Diamondbacks.
Speaking of the Diamondbacks, they swept a weekend road series against the Chicago White Sox, winning the first two games by five runs each. Six Diamondbacks are rostered in more than 50% of ESPN standard leagues, but C/OF Daulton Varsho is the most interesting fantasy option here. He ranks No. 3 among catchers on the Player Rater, armed with 18 home runs and 8 stolen bases. J.T. Realmuto is the lone catcher-eligible with double-digit steals. Hey, it's a difference-maker. Varsho has caught only 31 games this season and appears to be the team's primary right fielder moving forward. That's fine, but Varsho dynasty league investors won't like it if he stops catching.
Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas also have assumed regular outfield roles, but Carroll may push one of them aside. Perhaps you did not notice, but McCarthy is the No. 3 outfielder on the 30-day Player Rater, hitting .333 with 10 stolen bases since the All-Star break. Thomas is slumping, but made several highlight-reel catches in center field over the weekend. Who sits? Ketel Marte, the most rostered Diamondback, is not having a good season, and he's become the team's regular designated hitter. He loses outfield eligibility for 2023. Marte looks nothing like the fellow who hit 32 home runs in 2019, or even the one who hit .318 last season. It will be hard to rank him among the top 100 next season.
Other weekend thoughts
Houston Astros RHP Justin Verlander leads all hurlers on the Rater but he left his Sunday start prematurely with right calf discomfort. Don't panic yet, even if Verlander needs a short injured list stint, which he may or may not need but may get anyway because the Astros have a large lead for the AL's top seed and ample rotation depth. Why push Verlander? So he can solidify his Cy Young case? Not in exchange for a long-term injury.
Philadelphia Phillies RHP Zack Wheeler hit the injured list late last week with forearm tendinitis, obviously a bigger deal than calf discomfort, but still not worth pushing someone to pitch through. Wheeler pitched poorly in his most recent outings, albeit against the first-place New York Mets. Bench Wheeler this week, of course, but he may return a week later so, again, no need for panic here.
Atlanta Braves rookie Vaughn Grissom looks like an immediate star, and the fact that starting 2B Ozzie Albies is nearing a rehab assignment for his broken foot shouldn't worry Grissom investors. Albies may not be ready to return to the Braves for three more weeks and even when he does, Grissom will just get his at-bats at another position, perhaps left field. Grissom is hitting .324 with three home runs and two stolen bases in 18 games. It's premature to value Grissom as a top-50 option for 2023 drafts, but if he continues to thrive the Braves may have three middle infield-eligible players in that group. Impressive!
Milwaukee Brewers OF Christian Yelich homered twice this past weekend, giving him 11 on the disappointing season, to go with 16 stolen bases. A few days of feasting on Chicago Cubs pitching is nice, but probably still just a blip. Yelich is hitting ground balls 57% of the time, on par with his Miami Marlins days when fantasy managers whined about the lack of power. Yelich had four multihit games in the past week and he is among the top 20 outfielders on the full-season Player Rater, so things could be far worse. He's still a top-100 player.
Boston Red Sox 2B/SS Trevor Story returned from his injured list stint Saturday and should play regularly in the final month. Story is hitting .223. We knew there was some batting average risk after leaving the Colorado Rockies, but not this much. Story's strikeout rate is on the wrong side of 30%, his contact rate fell and he has struggled to stay healthy. Is he a top-100 pick in 2023 drafts? He should be, because there may be something to established hitters needing a second season "post-Rockies" to get back on track. We've seen it this season with Nolan Arenado. It's not too optimistic to think Story, who may end up moving back to shortstop if Xander Bogaerts bolts, can hit .250 next season with 20 homers and 20 steals. That's a top-100 player.