The Orioles collection of young hitting talent is the envy of baseball right now.
And now they're calling up yet another top-50 hitter from their system, this time outfielder Heston Kjerstad, who has been arguably the best hitter in the minors so far this season. Kjerstad is joining the team with Austin Hays going on the IL with calf tightness after hitting .349/.431/.744 in with 10 homers in 21 games for that absurdly stacked Norfolk team. The problem is … where is he supposed to play?
The Orioles already didn't have enough room for Colton Cowser to play everyday until he forced their hand with a hot start to the season. Even with Hays on the IL, is there really room for Kjerstad?
Well, isn't Cowser proof that that is kind of a silly question? The Orioles had too many bats for too few roster spots at the start of the season, but they found room for Cowser when he forced their hands with his play. There's no guarantee Kjerstad will do the same, but we've already seen that they are willing to make room for a top prospect when he earns it. And, in looking at the Orioles lineup Monday without Kjerstad, there might already be room for him – the Orioles were starting Ramon Urias at first base and Anthony Santander at right field with Adley Rutschman getting a day off at DH. When Rutschman slides back to catcher, Santander can go to DH, and boom, Kjerstad is your right fielder.
Sure, that combination depends on both Hays and Ryan Mountcastle (knee) being sidelined. But the point is, as we saw with Cowser, the Orioles are willing to make room for a hot bat if they need to. Kjerstad was decent in a brief stint in the majors last season, hitting .233/.281/.467 in 32 plate appearances, albeit with 10 strikeouts, an untenable pace. But he's also overcome a ton since being the No. 2 pick in the 2020 draft, including a bout with myocarditis that kept him off the field until 2022. All he's done since is hit, and given the time missed, that .917 OPS in the minors is even more impressive than you think.
Can Kjerstad pull a Cowser and mash his way into the Orioles everyday lineup and to Fantasy relevance? That's a tall task. But we've already seen it with this team, and I'm willing to add Kjerstad in all leagues just in case he pulls it off.
Monday's top waiver targets
Jason Adam, RP, Rays (22%) – Pete Fairbanks was placed on the IL with a nerve-related issue, and at this point it seems pretty much impossible to guess at a timetable for his return. Jason Adam got 10 of the 12 Rays saves when Fairbanks was on the IL last season and seems like a safe bet to be the primary closer with Fairbanks out. He's 22% rostered and is a high-priority waiver-wire add, despite a suspiciously low strikeout rate in the early going.
Albert Suarez, SP, Orioles (7%) – Backed by that powerful offense, any halfway decent pitcher is going to have a pretty good chance of winning games for the Orioles. And, in that home park, with that incredibly deep left field fence, any halfway decent pitcher is going to have a pretty good chance of keeping runs off the board while pitching for the Orioles. And, with no runs allowed through his first two starts of the season, it sure looks like Suarez might be at least a halfway decent pitcher right now. Skepticism is warranted for the 33-year-old who hadn't pitched in the majors since 2017 before last week, but we just watched Dean Kremer win 13 games and sport a useful 4.12 ERA despite a 4.51 FIP last season for the Orioles, and Suarez can do at least that.
Chris Paddack, SP, Twins (36%) – I think this one was probably more about how dreadful the White Sox lineup was, but anytime a widely available pitcher strikes out 10 in seven shutout innings, we're going to take notice. Paddack had an 8.36 ERA in three starts prior to Monday's, and it's not like his velocity was up or he was getting unusually good results on little-used secondary pitches, or anything; he had two whiffs and gave up several hard-hit balls on 20 curveballs and sliders in this one. Paddack definitely isn't a must-add pitcher, but it was nice to see signs of life from a guy who once was a must-roster pitcher.
Daulton Varsho, OF, Blue Jays (71%) – It's pretty hard to buy into Varsho too much, given the massive gap between his actual production and his expected stats – he had a .363 wOBA entering Monday, despite just a .286 expected wOBA. Still, he's red-hot right now, with four homers in his past five games and six in 10, and given his stolen base potential, you need to make sure he's rostered in all category-based formats, at least.
JP Sears, SP, Athletics (25%) – Sears now has his ERA down to 3.38 with a 1.05 WHIP through his first five starts, including three straight with one or zero runs allowed. I don't really see too much reason to buy in overall, though I will point out that Sears is a different pitcher than he has been in the past, and it's possible it took him a few starts to figure out how to thrive. He's throwing his sweeper more than any other pitch, and he got six whiffs with it Monday against the Yankees, after getting a pretty dreadful 13.3% whiff rate through his first four starts. If he's going to throw the pitch that often, it needs to be a weapon for him, and Monday was the first time it looked like one.
Bryce Elder, SP, Braves (30%) – Elder made an All-Star game last season and I never really believed in him, so I'm not rushing out to go add him because he had a good start against a dreadful Marlins offense. His slider remains one of the only ways he can go out of the strike zone to get whiffs, which means he really needs to rely on getting outs on balls in play to succeed. The Marlins didn't hurt him in this one, but he did allow a 90.9 mph average exit velocity with 10 hard-hit balls, so he probably won't be able to get away with something similar against a more formidable offense. I'm pretty lukewarm about the prospect of adding Elder.
Mark Canha, OF, Tigers (25%) – Canha probably deserves more love from us in the Fantasy world. I've been starting him in a few leagues, and he's off to a pretty solid start, upping his OPS to .875 after he went 3 for 4 with his fourth home run, two RBI, and two runs scored. He's always had terrific plate discipline, and that's serving him well while hitting second primarily for the Tigers, as he's on pace for 80-plus runs and RBI each.
Travis d'Arnaud, C, Braves (55%) – I'm inclined to write it off as a random hot streak for a veteran, but d'Arnaud is making it awfully hard to dismiss him right now. He has five homers in his past four games after going 2 for 4 with a homer Monday against the Marlins, and he's doing it while sporting absolutely massive underlying numbers: 92.2 mph average exit velocity, 15% barrel rate, a .288 expected batting average and .617 expected slugging percentage. If you're unhappy with what you're getting from the catcher position and d'Arnaud is available, it's worth adding him, even if I don't necessarily expect him to remain a top-12 option moving forward.
