We're always on the lookout for top prospects on the verge of getting called up with the potential to make an impact for Fantasy Baseball – Scott White even writes a weekly column highlighting the top five to stash on your Fantasy benches, highlighted by Rays prospect Junior Caminero last week. But sometimes, we can't predict how teams are going to change their top prospects timelines, leading to surprise callups, and we got two of those Tuesday afternoon.
The Rangers announced they are calling up former No. 2 overall pick Jack Leiter to make his MLB debut Thursday against the Tigers in response to their seemingly never-ending run of pitcher injuries. And, over in the NL West, the Dodgers are promoting outfielder Andy Pages to help with their own run of outfield injuries.
Both are coming to the majors with plenty of promise, and what figures to be a good deal of hype, even if they weren't necessarily the most high-profile prospects on Fantasy radars this season – neither was ranked among Scott White's top-100 Fantasy prospects coming into the season, for example. But should they be viewed as must-add Fantasy options right away? Let's look into their profiles to see:
Rangers calling up pitcher Jack Leiter
Even if you're not the type of person who follows college baseball closely, there's a decent chance you've heard of Leiter – and not just because yes, his dad is Al Leiter. Leiter was one of the most hyped pitching prospects of the past decade when he came out of the University of Vanderbilt as the No. 2 pick in the 2021, and while it might seem like he's right on schedule to making his MLB debut less than three years after he was drafted, the ride here has not been altogether smooth. At all.
Leiter struggled with some control issues in college, but he was so overwhelming dominant (42% strikeout rate) that it just didn't matter. However, he struggled with an aggressive placement at Double-A in his first professional season, walking 13.2% of opposing batters, and things didn't get any better the following season, when he posted an identical walk rate in a repeat assignment at Double-A Frisco. He lost some velocity and ride on his four-seam fastball and struggled to throw strikes with his secondary pitches, which created lots of loud contact and tons of walks.
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However, he went back to the team's complex last summer and returned with his fastball and curveball looking more like they did in college, and he had 25 strikeouts to six walks over his final four outings between Double-A and Triple-A. He carried that over into his spring appearances with the Rangers, and then was electric in the early going at Triple-A, striking out 25 and walking just three over 14.1 innings in his first three starts. This has me very interested in seeing what he's going to look like as a major leaguer.
You might look at Leiter's career 5.25 ERA in the minors and think there's not much to get excited about, but it's worth remembering that development is almost never linear, especially when it comes to pitching prospects. Think of someone like Mackenzie Gore, who went from the top pitching prospect in baseball to someone who was left off top prospects lists entirely by 2022, only to finally seemingly rediscover his potential ace form as a major leaguer in 2024.
That's not to say Leiter is going to be an ace. But it is to say that how he's pitched so far in 2024 suggests he's a very different pitcher than the one who floundered in his first two professional seasons. Does that mean he'll be the guy he was drafted to be? Not necessarily, but as Eno Sarris noted, he had some of the best stuff of any pitcher at Triple-A so far this season, so I'm not going to hold the 2022 and 2023 results against him too much.
The likeliest outcome might be that Leiter comes up, and flashes good stuff, but ultimately just isn't good enough consistently enough to stick around as the Rangers rotation gets healthy. However, if we're going to view a similarly up-and-down young pitcher like Edward Cabrera as a must-add Fantasy option – and I am – I don't see why we shouldn't be excited about the potential Leiter brings to the table.
If he lives up to his ceiling, you're going to be glad you added him before his debut. If not? Well, most waiver-wire adds end up getting dropped anyway. At least this one has significant upside.
Dodgers calling up outfielder Andy Pages
Pages is the kind of prospect the Dodgers seem to produce in near-endless quantities, with plus tools and on-base skills and a swing geared to maximizing power (often at the expense of contact and batting average). He cracked top-100 lists around the prospect world this offseason despite missing most of last season with a torn labrum in his shoulder in his first game at Triple-A, and he's been raking down in Oklahoma City after a strong spring.
Power is Pages' calling card, which was why the shoulder injury was such a scary injury, especially since he didn't necessarily sport massive exit velocity readings before the injury. But he's been hitting the ball hard at Triple-A this season, sporting a 91.3 mph average exit velocity and 110.3 mph max exit velo, with five homers in his first 15 games. That's a good sign that he's recovered from the injury, and he's expected to make his MLB debut Tuesday against Patrick Corbin.
It's not a profile that should necessarily lead to massive FAB bids and a rush to blow your top waiver-wire priority to add, at least not right away, but with Jason Heyward suffering a setback in his return from a lower back injury, Pages could get extended run here. He'll start against lefties and some righties to begin with, per MLB.com, but if he proves he can hack it, he could very well force the team's hand.
There probably won't be much speed in Pages' profile, and his flyball-heavy approach could lead to some batting average struggles as well. But Pages was routinely hitting 20-plus homers in his early 20s, and could be a 25-homer guy in the majors if all goes right. Even batting relatively low in the lineup, far away from the Mookie Betts/Freddie Freeman/Shohei Ohtani trio, Pages should benefit from a Dodgers lineup that is going to turn over a ton. And, if he hits his potential, he very well could force the team's hand to keep him on the roster the rest of the way.
It's not a must-add player, certainly not if the likes of Colton Cowser or Jordan Westburg are still available in your league. But if you've got a roster spot to play with and you're looking for upside, Pages has some, for sure.