What Are You Waiting For?
LAB REPORTS
We all end each week reading the various lists of recommended waiver wire picks. Many different sites, many of the same names. These names typically range from players in the midst of hot streaks, players with choice schedules on the horizon, and of course, the latest prospects of the week. While many of these names change, I find it repeatedly baffling that two names in particular have still managed to crack these lists in late June. Sam Antonacci and Carson Benge have everything a fantasy baseball manager wants. You want minor league pedigree? They have it. You want stolen bases? They provide them. You want red bars on a Statcast page? They got them. It’s time to get these boys on a roster and keep them there. What are you waiting for?
Sam Antonacci
Sam Antonacci is a player I fell in love with in the WBC and my love affair has only become stronger since. If I told you that there was a prospect on the verge of a call up who in 535 minor league at bats, hit .300, had an OPS of .864 with close to 80 RBIs, over 100 runs scored and 60 stolen bases, you would probably have raced to the waiver wire and been fully prepared to spend those FAAB dollars. Well, that’s exactly what Sam Antonacci did. But what about the home runs? They are coming. The power is usually the last to arrive, and Sam has hit 3 out of the yard in the past 2 weeks. It’s coming, and while his ceiling may eventually be capped at 15-20 home runs, in a 5 x 5 league, he’s going to thrive in 3 of the categories while holding his own in home runs and RBIs. The Statcast numbers support the idea that the kid can rake and is only going to get better with more pop.
The kid can flat out hit. He gets on base and has 78th percentile sprint speed, so he will steal bases. He hits leadoff versus right handed pitching in a sneaky good White Sox lineup. The catalyst averages close to 0.7 runs scored per game. And while he hits lower in the lineup versus LHP, he still sees the lineup for the most part and is hitting them better lately, including a couple of knocks off of Tarik Skubal last week. It would not shock me in the least to see him hit leadoff full time by year’s end. Antonaccii is remarkably only rostered in 34% of Yahoo leagues and 19% of ESPN leagues, which is insane to me. He is a perfect complement to any team, a potential league winner, and dare I say "A Notch Above the Rest". In a dynasty league, he is the perfect guy to set in the lineup for years to come and know the steady production will be there, and oh yeah, he’s eligible at 2B, 3B, and OF. What are you waiting for?
Carson Benge
Carson Benge is another player whose rostership numbers baffle me. Benge was a player who rose through the Mets system quickly last year, and has hit everywhere he has played. He has an OPS well over .800 in May and June and is another player who has plenty of the red bars we love to see on Baseball Savant.
Like Antonacci, he primarily bats leadoff and is on pace to score close to 100 runs scored with over 20 stolen bases in a Mets lineup that is bound to have more life with improved health. Benge has shown the ability to hit for power and his 5 for 5 outing on June 7th showed the potential the kid has to be an elite hitter, who hits righties and lefties alike. He has whiffed at a 22% rate and walked at a 6.5% rate thus far, but the walk rate is coming up, and if he gets it closer to the 13% rate in the minors while lowering the K rate closer to the 17% he had in the minors, the batting average will continue to rise. I don’t understand how a top 20 prospect given consistent ABs batting leadoff, with the potential to fill up 5 categories, is still rostered in under 50% of Yahoo leagues and only 20% of ESPN leagues. Players like this win titles and again, in dynasty leagues, these are building blocks for years of success. If you truly want to win a title this year, and want that feeling for years to come, he should absolutely be rostered and in the lineup on a daily basis. What are you waiting for?
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