I wanted to try something new this week as most of my recent content has focused on waiver hitters and SP streaming. So I decided I would gather up some of the most common questions being asked by fantasy baseball managers, and give you guys my best attempts at answering those. If you’re like me and love fantasy baseball, you’re probably on the fantasy baseball subreddit (shoutout to that community, it’s fantastic). I went through the subreddit, went through fantasy baseball Twitter, and gathered up a few questions I’ve been seeing a lot. Here are my attempts at answering those. Note: I’ll try to keep each answer fairly brief. Another note: Please comment with any questions you’d have for a future mailbag!

Question: What Do I Make of Bryce Miller?

This is a really fun one. Anyone who’s picked up Bryce Miller in the last week plus is probably wondering: Is this a long-term guy for me? On top of that, you’re probably getting trade offers for him. Reddit in particular has been buzzing with Miller trade ideas and requests. We have seen SO many talented young arms debut this year already. Bryce Miller, Grayson Rodriguez, Mason Miller, Brandon Pfaadt, Logan Allen, Tanner Bibee, Luis Ortiz, and many more. It’s still early, and Miller has only had two starts so far. But based on what I’ve seen: I think Bryce Miller might be the best of this young and talented bunch.

Miller has a lot of things going for him that I like. He has minor-league success and a prospect pedigree. Plays for a solid/good club, in a pitcher-friendly park. Is part of an organization that has plenty of recent pitching-dev success stories. Lot of things I like here. But let’s talk about his stuff. Bryce Miller has a four-pitch mix featuring a four-seamer, slider, sweeper, and changeup. What makes Miller special though is that fastball. It’s one of the highest spin-rate fastballs in all of baseball, already. Averaging 96 mph, its tremendous riding action allows it to play up well beyond its speed, making it deadly in all parts of the zone, especially the upper third. He can simply attack opposing hitters with it, and his location appears to be coming along nicely as well.

On top of that, Miller gets great movement on his sweeper, though the pitch is still a work in progress. His slider has a nice feel and brings strong vertical movement to pair with the fastball. The movement profile of this slider and the mere 9 mph difference between it and his fastball allow me to believe that there could be a very deceptive tunnel with those two pitches. His changeup isn’t relevant at this point, but would really round out his arsenal. All-in-all, Miller has a fastball that could be among the most effective in the game if he can polish his location a bit. He will, of course, have to get comfortable throwing more non-fastball pitches.

Miller is a guy you should absolutely hold onto, for at least two to three more turns in the rotation. If he’s faltering at that point, then rethink it. Sure. But this is a guy who has a real shot at sticking in fantasy baseball rotations, even 10-team ones. I don’t say this lightly either. Because if the fastball can keep up its current velocity and spin rate, with even just “solid” command, then it’ll be difficult for Miller to not at least be good. I plan on keeping Bryce Miller around, and hoping he can be a full-season member of my 10T league rotation. I’m pretty optimistic.

Question: Who Should We Be Buying Low On?

Ugh, this one was gonna be so easy for me. Buy low on Joe Musgrove after his nothing-burger injury and Mexico-series blowup that had nothing to do with him and everything to do with playing in the most hitter-friendly park imaginable. He was down to 86 percent owned on a lot of sites. On top of that, I saw many owners contemplating trades for Musgrove, simply looking at his poor early-season position ranking. This ranking, of course, was irrelevant. Musgrove is as solid as it gets. He then went out and looked great against the Dodgers. That window has closed. So I think I’ll go with one hitter and one pitcher, and I’ll keep it brief for each.

For my pitcher here, I’ll go with Dylan Cease. Cease has been quite bad to start this season, and we’re now seeing the “Dylan Cease is cooked” reactions pop up. Owners are giving up on Cease and don’t know what to do at this point. He’s been pretty bad, yes. A 5.58 ERA so far this season with a 1.51 WHIP on a ballclub that appears to be a sinking ship. To be clear, I do have some real concerns for Cease. Velocity is down a tick on his heater, and it hasn’t been nearly as effective of a pitch this season. He’s also not getting as many chases, which is leading to some walk issues.

But for me, the upside is still too high to give up on Cease. He still throws hard, still spins the heck out of the ball, and still has great movement profiles. And he still gets strikeouts. We’ve seen him dominate for a full season. There’s a reason he was such a high draft pick in most drafts. If you own Cease, don’t be afraid to sit him until he turns it around. But don’t trade him just yet. If you do have the chance to trade for Cease, please do it. There are some small but legit concerns, and he might fail. But the upside is worth the try, especially in points leagues. Cease owners are very very mad right now. Capitalize on this emotion.

For hitters, this one was tough. There really aren’t that many hitters struggling that badly. At least not compared to what we’re used to. So I’m gonna go with Jake Cronenworth here. With his .244/.338/.420 slash line, I wouldn’t say that we’re necessarily buying low. He hasn’t been bad, he’s just been kinda meh. And very quiet. Cronenworth plays in one of the (on paper) best lineups in all of baseball, if not the best. He’s got a sweet swing, and his glove is so good that there’s no choice but to play him every day. His personal and surrounding situations are very good and very secure.

As far as his hitting, his issue has been primarily against fastballs, as his swing is very, very long. Sometimes he has trouble getting around on the particularly fast heaters. But this has always been a weakness of his, it isn’t something new. The important thing is that after a rough September/October last year, Cronenworth is starting to look like himself again. The home runs will come, he should finish with around 20. He’s put together fantastic at-bats. He just hasn’t gotten all of the ball, and this small sample size of poor barreling will cause concern for some owners. That’s okay, it’s still very early on.

When Cronenworth puts it all together, which he is getting closer to doing, he’ll hit a lot of doubles and a lot of home runs. And when the Padres’ elite on-paper offense also finally starts hitting… the runs and RBIs will follow. At a very high level. Cronenworth has a very solid 114 OPS+ right now, but the counting stats wouldn’t lead many to guess it. Again, this isn’t your typical buy-low. But I really think now is a good time to buy, because his and the Padres’ ceiling are so high. If he can just figure out the fastball issues, he has some elite upside. And at 28 years old, he’s more than capable of doing so.

Question: Which Young Hitters Should I Be Picking Up?

I’ve seen a lot of talk about Matt Mervis lately, and I even wrote about him a couple of times this year. He’s a super fun pickup, and even though he hasn’t gotten it going yet, he has an awesome upside. And with Eric Hosmer not long for this league, Mervis will get all the PT he needs to try and figure it out. So nothing against Matt Mervis, the dude is awesome. And I don’t care about his slow start. But ya know who I like more? His teammate Christopher Morel.

Chris Morel got the call directly from AA last season and managed to hit 16 home runs for the Cubs in 113 games. He finished with a 107 OPS+ and even stole 10 bases. He was sneakily pretty awesome, especially for a rookie who was getting the call from AA. I think he probably had less shine than we would expect, in part because his first half was so much better than his second half. But he really showed us something in his time in the majors last season. Since then, he’s absolutely obliterated AAA pitching. In just 29 AAA games this season, Morel has 11 home runs and a 1.156 OPS. He’s absolutely crushed everyone he’s faced. He even continues to steal some bases.

So that red-hot Christopher Morel gets the call and what does he do in his first MLB game this year? He hits a home run. He was two for four with the HR and even added a stolen base as well. Heck of a start to his season. For the record on Morel, there are still some concerns. He has the playing time situation to work through, and he does have some strikeout issues. But the power-SB combo here is a really fun one to take a bet on. And I think we’re mere weeks away from the Cubs making a near-full commitment to the youth movement. Morel has been on fire, and there’s no reason they wouldn’t give him his shot. He proved himself some last year, and even if he can’t keep it up for a full season, Morel can give you a really electric month or two.

Question: What Should I Do With Ryan Helsley?

I’m seeing a ton of talk about Ryan Helsley, with many managers already deciding to jump ship. I get it. He’s been pretty mediocre. We’re well over a month into the season and Helsley has FOUR saves. He has only one less blown save than save. For points leagues, Helsley sits at 73 overall amongst RPs. On top of that, the Cardinals have been mostly horrendous. They haven’t provided many save opportunities and sit at an unthinkable 13-24. And as if things couldn’t get worse for those who invested in Helsley, Giovanny Gallegos has been getting a look in closing situations as well.

But I’ll be holding Helsley, and here’s why. First, Helsley’s stuff has still been really really good, with no changes between this year and last year. His breaking stuff is moving a little bit less, but there’s nothing to suggest some change in his abilities. The fastball is still elite, and the slider is still a fantastic second pitch. His Statcast profile looks fantastic and I don’t expect that to change. Second, the Cardinals have been truly horrendous, but do we expect them to be this bad for the rest of the season? I’m not so sure about that. While 13-24 is shockingly bad for this franchise, the Cardinals are a safe bet for some positive progression. In fact, they’ve already ripped off three straight. And even if they don’t provide save opportunities in good quantity, Helsley still finished top 10 amongst RPs last season, while only collecting 19 saves.

Oddly enough, I think the floor here is solid. But then there’s the question of Helsley’s job security. Luckily for Helsley owners, Giovanny Gallegos isn’t exactly one to be afraid of. He did get the save Tuesday night, but that was only after Helsley pitched two days in a row, and three of four days prior. Helsley has allowed two baserunners in his last five outings. And with the Cardinals looking like they might turn things around, he’ll get more chances. Ryan Helsley is way too good to give up on. For the shockingly high 30 percent of leagues in which he isn’t owned, I implore you to pick him up. Heck, now is even a good time to buy low. Helsley is still great, he’s still the closer, and his team will be winning more games very soon.

Lastly

We’re rolling out quite a bit of new fantasy baseball content as the MLB season heats up. I’ll have more waiver wire content and early-season analysis coming. But in the meantime, check out my last piece looking at waiver wire options. Make sure to check out the rest of our fantasy sports and fantasy baseball content here. And feel free to give me a Twitter follow as well!