New York Yankees rookie Luis Severino impressed in his second MLB start last night while Washington Nationals rookie Joe Ross struggled for the first time since making his debut in June. These two starters could be prudent keeper options in fantasy baseball leagues.
If you're in a fantasy baseball keeper league, the season never really ends. Whether you're in first or last, the goal is to keep an eye on the future, and monitoring the MLB's top young players is the best way to do that. While some will gamble and keep top prospects on their roster hoping they make their MLB debuts early the following year, young players who have debuted in 2015 can perhaps help you avoid that.
Severino and Ross are two names that are worth seriously considering.
The Yankees promoted Severino after the 21-year-old went 7-0 with a 1.91 ERA and 0.93 WHIP in 11 starts at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. In his MLB debut, the right-hander surrendered two runs (one earned) on two hits and struck out seven in five innings against the Boston Red Sox. Last night he allowed two earned runs on seven hits and one walk over six innings against the Cleveland Indians. He only struck out two batters, but he settled down nicely after allowing five hits and two runs in the first two innings.
Severino figures to be a mainstay in the Yankees' rotation for the remainder of the season, which means he's more than likely to start 2016 on the 25-man roster. With injury concerns looming over just about every other starter New York has, why not keep Severino on your roster for next year? He has already showed much promise and could very well be the team's ace in the next few seasons.
General manager Brian Cashman refused to include Severino in trade discussions prior to the deadline and the reason is obvious thus far into his MLB career. Baseball America ranks Severino as the 18th overall prospect in the league and wrote, "Yes, he's undersized, but his stuff matches up against almost anyone in the minors," according to their 2015 Midseason Prospect Update.
He's owned by 51% of Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball managers and 68.8% of ESPN Fantasy Baseball managers, so pick him up while you can.
As for Ross - the younger brother of Padres' right-hander Tyson Ross - the right-hander got the call straight from Double-A Harrisburg in June. He has made eight MLB starts, and before last night's disastrous outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers (4 2/3 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 4 BB), Ross hadn't surrendered more than three earned runs in each his previous seven games. He's 3-4 with a 3.44 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 48 strikeouts in eight starts (49 2/3 innings) and his future is looking bright.
The 22-year-old has hurled six quality starts this year and will more than likely begin the 2016 season with Washington since Doug Fister, who was already demoted to the bullpen, and Jordan Zimmermann will become free agents after the season. Ross has already earned his spot in the Nationals' rotation and is already ahead of pitching prospects Lucas Giolito and A.J. Cole.
Back in mid-July, Baseball America ranked Ross the No. 31 overall prospect in the MLB and added, "A solid three-start major league cameo has shown what the Nationals can expect to see regularly before long." Five starts later, Ross looks to be the No. 3 starter behind Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg in 2016.
Ross is owned by 38% of Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball managers and 50.7% of ESPN Fantasy Baseball managers.
Check out last week's fantasy baseball analysis involving some of the league's top prospects.
