Whit Merrifield, Royals

Back on May 18 he was called up by the Royals. A ninth round selection in 2010 there wasn’t much hope that he would develop into a fantasy star, especially this season, after Merrfield hit just .274 in the minors with a mere .733 OPS over 683 minor league games. There's nothing that stands out in those numbers. He also hit a mere 40 homers over all those games. There ain’t much thump here, but at least he’s got some speed to bring to the table (he’s stolen 20 bases four times). Solid, depth, league specific type of stuff in the fantasy game, especially with Omar Infante just designated for assignment opening up the second base position for Whit to run away with it. 

Twenty-three games into his big league career Merrifield is crushing it. He has crossed home plate 16 times, has swiped three bases and hit two homers. That’s all really impressive stuff. Add in the .326 batting average and .845 OPS and the offensive game he’s putting forth is simply tremendous. Alas, he’s just not a top of the heap option with the bat. His minor league numbers tell us that. His total of two walks in 23 games tells us that. His .392 BABIP tells us that. His 26.7-percent line drive rate tells us that. His 41 percent hard hit rate tells us that. He’s going to slow, likely substantially, but he’s hot now and has played all over the field giving him tons of AL-only value (15 games at second, seven games in the outfield, three games at third base).

THINK: Joe Panik, Hernan Perez

Peter O’Brien, 3B, Diamondbacks

A second round selection in 2012, O’Brien has nothing left to prove in the minors. In 2014 he hit 34 homers with a .910 OPS in just 106 games (High-A, Double-A). Last season he hit 26 homers with 107 RBI and a .883 OPS over 131 games (Triple-A). This season he was crushing the ball at the minor league level blasting away with a .330 average, .356 OBP, .670 SLG with 17 homers and 52 RBI in only 51 games at Triple-A. All that hitting forced the D’backs hand and they called up O’Brien. With A.J. Pollock out (elbow), Chris Owings out (foot - plantar fasciitis) there is some need out there.

O'Brien hasn’t hit a lick in the early going with one hit in 15 at-bats. More troublesome is the seven in the strikeout column. It’s way too early to draw anything truly meaningful from the numbers, but through 25 big league at-bats dude has struck out 12 times. That’s hideous. Part of the trade off from the massive power he boasts is that he has a long swing that leads to him being prone to the strikeout. That fact also suggests that he will struggle with upper level talent on the bump meaning he will have to hope to make his money hitting off 4th and 5th starters. A poor fielder in the outfield, he has a nice power bat nonetheless, though he’s only an option in deeper mixed leagues at the moment.

THINK: Khris Davis, Adam Duvall, Curtis Granderson

Jose Peraza, 2B/OF, Reds

Just like earlier this season, Peraza is being called up to help fill in at the big league level. Currently on the DL is Billy Hamilton (concussion) so the Reds recalled Peraza to bring the speed element they lost when Billy went down. Unfortunately for Peraza, it’s still unclear how long he will remain in the big leagues. Will he be sent down once Hamilton is ready to return? We just don’t know.

Peraza was ranked as the 66th-best prospect in baseball by Baseball America, 71st according to MLB.com and 81st by Baseball Prospectus coming into the season. He’s hit .299 in the minors for his career but he has no power (10 career homers). His claim to fame is hit elite speed. Per 150 games as a minor leaguer Peraza has averaged 64 thefts. Yeah, he can scoot and then some. Peraza has hit second, seventh, eighth and ninth in his four games this season, so there’s no certainty where he will appear. He’s also racked up just 37 plate appearances over 11 big league games to this point hitting .182 with three steals.

If he starts hot he likely sticks. If he doesn’t, the minors could come a calling again.

THINK: Josh Harrison, Rajai Davis, Jarrod Dyson

Blake Snell, SP, Rays

Snell will start Thursday against the Mariners. Arguably the top lefty pitching prospect in the game, Snell can be a beast on the hill. A thin 180 lbs. on a 6-foot-4 frame, the lefty brings power stuff to the bump. He gained about two mph on his heater last season and that was a tremendous boost to his outlook. The heater has nice sinking action and when he can start the pitch at the knees batters are extremely unlikely to make solid contact. The changeup is evolving and it’s now to the point that he can create swings and misses with it. The pitch “fades” against righties and could potentially be an out pitch at the big league level. He also throws a slider that is murder on lefties, and it’s hard breaking tilt shows it to be a much better pitch than the curveball he will also mix in there. He’s a top of the rotation talent who has the tools to be better than a strikeout/inning arm. Now the concerns...

Snell walks too many batters. For his career, we’re talking 499 professional innings, his walk rate per nine innings is 4.4. That’s a horrible number and one that’s hard to envision him easily improving, facing the more discerning eyes of big league batters. There are only five men in baseball who are issuing that many free passes this season: Francisco Liriano 5.45, Tom Koehler 4.75, Danny Salazar 4.50, Drew Pomeranz 4.44 and Yordano Ventura 4.44. It’s virtually impossible to have consistent success if you walk that many batters.

As a result of all the walks, and all the strikeouts (10.3 per nine), the guy isn’t exactly an innings eater, either. Here are his innings pitched totals the past three years: 99 innings, 115.1 innings and 134 innings last season. That’s right, no 140-inning seasons on his arm. Have to think 175 innings would be the top end this season, absolutely top end, with the number likely being much closer to 165-170 this season. Snell is already at 68 innings pitched, by the way.

The bottom line is that Snell has an elite arm but it could go either way at the moment. I would favor Taillon over Snell by a hair if I had to choose for 2016, but both come with the noted risks.

THINK: Liriano, Chris Archer, Adam Conley

Jameson Taillon, SP, Pirates

I got the chance to watch Taillon pitch Tuesday night at CitiField in New York when he took a no-hitter into the 7th inning against the Mets (I was in New York for the FSTA Event). He needed 91 pitches to work through eight innings in that effort, and though the Mets offense is nothing to get too worked up about, they were handled with easy by Jameson who showed poise, upper level stuff and the demeanor of a champion on the bump. Very impressed was I. One would think that the Pirates would allow him to remain in the rotation even when Gerrit Cole returns from the disabled list (right triceps strain).

For more on Taillon give his Player Profile a read.

THINK: Aaron Nola, John Lackey