A few days before the Seattle Mariners promoted hyped outfield prospect Jarred Kelenic to the major leagues in mid-May, fantasy baseball managers everywhere acted quickly and gleefully to add him to their many teams, confident he would be a considerable difference-maker this season. In the short-term, Kelenic made quite the difference, but in a negative way as he hit a frustrating .096 over 92 plate appearances and very soon winding up on the most-dropped list. Now, almost unthinkably from a month ago, he hits for Triple-A Tacoma.
Tampa Bay Rays infield prospect Wander Franco, on his way to the majors this week, should be different of course, but we thought that about Kelenic, too. In fact, I still think Kelenic is going to be great. Clearly, though, for today at least, his value "in the big picture" is far worse in the fantasy world than it was a mere month ago, before he struggled in the big leagues. Will Franco suffer the same fate? After all, he is just 20 years old. Mike Trout, then 19, hit only .220 in his initial foray in the majors, so you should know there are never any guarantees.