Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Prospects Gavin Stone, Bobby Miller to Join Dodgers, But You Can Do Better

You should start out with pitchers like James Paxton and Michael Kopech.

How can I tell if I have successfully re-calibrated my expectations for prospect call-ups? When I heard Gavin Stone and Bobby Miller would be joining the Dodgers rotation this week, my response was a resounding “meh.”

They both entered the year as consensus top-100 prospects, so it is true that they have upside, and fantasy owners should always consider upside when making investments. Although there are many different types of upside, roster space is limited. You must play the odds, especially at starting pitcher given the sheer number of options available. And those percentages come down against In the current Fantasy season, Stone and Miller are having a big impact.

Stone, who made his debut on May 3 alongside Brandon Pfaadt, has already given us a glimpse of what to expect. Nevertheless, while Pfaadt’s past two starts have been respectable (despite the fact that he has become a cautionary tale for the risks of overvaluing prospect call-ups), Stone’s debut was the more demoralizing of the two. He had only two swinging strikes on 33 pitches with his changeup, which was supposed to be the key to his 1.48 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and 12.4 K/9 in the minors last year.

Maybe it was nerves, or maybe the sequencing wasn’t right. A standard I can agree to is that perhaps it is unfair to judge a pitcher based solely on a single start. But Stone’s time at Triple-A hasn’t been without its challenges. The strikeouts have been there, but he has also allowed two home runs and seven walks in 11 innings since returning to that level.

While Miller is a more highly-rated prospect than either of the other two Millers (Bryce Miller and Mason Miller), who we have seen rise to prominence and find success right away, it has been some time since the production has corroborated the scouting reports. In his four starts at Triple-A so far this year, he has struggled in every way. Last year, he had a 4.25 ERA between Double- and Triple-A.

Reference: www.cbssports.com