Friday, December 27, 2013

Fantasy Focus: Impact Rookies- George Springer

Just a random observation, but John Sickels seems to have developed writer's block on the Giants top 20 prospect list.  It's a tough one to rank, I'll give him that.

George Springer is one of the more interesting prospects in baseball from a fantasy perspective.  He's a 5 tool OF talent who weighs in at a strapping 6'3", 200 lbs, a first round draft pick, #11 overall out of Connecticut in 2011.  His progress through the minor leagues has been rapid and he destroyed both AA and AAA pitching last year:

AA    .297/.399/.579, 19 HR, 23 SB in 273 AB.
AAA  .311/.425/.636, 18 HR, 22  SB, in 219 AB.

The Astros have quite a few OF's on their roster, but none who should stand in the way of Springer entering their lineup.  Since they will not be contending in 2014, Springer will likely start the season in AAA if for no other reason than to delay his arbitration clock, but whenever his does get the call, he will be immediately rosterable on fantasy teams, especially in deeper leagues.

Just for fun, his Steamer projection is .256/.330/.460 with 5 HR, 6 SB in just 131 PA.  His Oliver projection is not as optimistic as his Steamer, .222/.307/.427, 26 HR, 26 SB in 600 PA.  The one concern about him is his strikeout rate of about 25% in the minors which could rise in his MLB debut and hold down his BA.  Still, a 25/25 guy is going to have serious fantasy value irrespective of his BA.

4 comments:

  1. Funny, random observation. I also noticed that, as I check each day to see if he finally published the Giants' prospects. I understand he got his bell rung pretty severely this past fall and has slowed things down this year, but at the present rate, the last prospect list should be due about the All Star Break.

    Maybe by tomorrow. Or next week. Next year?

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    1. CSN Bay Area is also a bit slow.

      I see that they have given us its position by position breakdown, bullpen and potential 2014 batting order, but in their Giants section, only things to scare Giants fans, like Tanaka has been posted or Dodgers 3 deals on Christmas Day, or Puig, top 10 most dangerous autographs (whatever that means).

      I am surprise they haven't run the 'Beane is a genius for swapping Balfour for another closer,' conveniently forgetting Sabean, while a good GM, was a genius before Beane was a genius when Sabean, never due to luck, traded Vogelsong et al for Schmidt et al., with Birdsong getting hurt not too long after. Yeah, he was no genius. Just luck.

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    2. Sorry, it should be 'A's position by position breaddown...'

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  2. Was thinking the same thing about the Sickels piece last night. He did release a teaser today, said he's still trying to sort through 35 names. Must be quite the process!

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