Welcome to the 2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 7 Stock Up-Stock Down article!
It's my favorite time of year in the baseball season. We are just far enough into the season to be able to make actionable decisions based on what we've seen so far. However, there's also enough time left to hope and pray that that one player can still figure it out, or convince the league schmuck that your hot starter is actually legit.
If your team is full of slow starters to this point there's still time to hope you can turn it around. Let's try and identify some players below who it may be time to pursue, wait out, or cut bait on. Championships aren't won in May, but they are lost now. As always, I'll keep it reasonable, but there may be some slight blatant overreactions below.
Now, without further ado, let's hop into the 2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 7 Stock Up/Stock Down list!
2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 7 Stock Up-Stock Down
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Stock Up
Dominic Fletcher, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
When I saw that the Diamondbacks were calling up Dominic Fletcher, I did a little digging and learned that he was David Fletcher's younger brother. Upon that revelation, I immediately wrote off the 25-year-old Fletcher's power and assumed at best he would be a hollow average player like his big brother. That was a mistake.
Dominic Fletcher's 1st MLB homer was a 🚀
428 ft. | 103.2 mph for the @Dbacks' No. 15 prospect: pic.twitter.com/77XMu8lCQN
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 13, 2023
In 14 games so far at the major league level, D. Fletcher the Younger is hitting a monstrous .404/.429 /.660. Good enough for a whopping 194 WRC+. Obviously, the otherworldly slash line will not persist. However, looking through his minor league track record, it does appear as though Dominic can hit for average but he also has legitimate Major League power, having never turned in an OPS under .759 in his entire professional career.
Outfield has been a weird position thus far, with many superstars underperforming but not altogether sucking. Fletcher may just be a good orange to juice for now, but if he can stay with the MLB club, his profile suggests a player who may sneakily be one of the more valuable second-tier waiver commodities of the year.
Michael Conforto, OF, San Francisco Giants
It's been a few years since Michael Conforto was one of the hottest young outfielders in the league, and after missing the entire 2022 season, it seemed as if his star had burned out. When he signed with the Giants for his age-30 season, nobody really knew what to expect as he hadn't played professional baseball in over a calendar year.
Conforto still isn't exactly hitting for average, but since the calendar turned to May he has rediscovered his power stroke, turning in an OPS of .840 at the halfway point of the month in just over half as many plate appearances that he had in April. Conforto has already matched his home run total from April as well with four in the past two weeks.
It did not take long but Michael Conforto is now slashing .205/.326/.418 (108 wRC+) with a 13.9% BB rate against a 26.4% K rate in 144 plate appearances.
His average exit velo is 91.5 MPH and his barrel rate is 11.9%. Both numbers are pretty healthy.
— Jeff Young (@BaseballJeff1) May 16, 2023
It is unclear if Conforto will ever turn in a league-average batting average again, but if he has turned the corner into a full-on slugger, then we could see him easily eclipse his career home-run mark of 33. Currently, he has a 108 WRC+, and that is good enough to roster and see what happens. At worst, he's an injury fill-in, at best you have dusted the cobwebs off of one of the more promising outfielders of the past seven years.
Casey Schmitt,SS/Util, San Francisco Giants
Casey Schmitt wasn't even ranked on prospect lists coming into this year. He was known as a toolsy, albeit glove-first player who may not ever really be able to reach base at the major league level well enough to access his power. Despite his prospect grades, Schmitt absolutely hit for average in the minors, with his lowest being .247 in Single-A.
Schmitt got the call to the majors last week and has wasted no time proving his skills. He has an eye-popping .464 average to go with his 1.286 OPS. Much like Fletcher, these stats will not stick, as he has a BABIP of .500, but if the twenty-four-year-old can carve out sufficient playing time he just may be able to produce at a middle-tier level for the rest of the season.
Casey Schmitt's first MLB hit is a homer! pic.twitter.com/S302I63w4v
— MLB (@MLB) May 10, 2023
Outside of Brandon Crawford's whole career (except 2021; now that was bizarre), the Giants have had a sneakily offensively productive infielder the past few years. Schmitt could be the heir apparent to the Donovan Solano/Thairo Estrada throne, and that is a useful card to have in your back pocket as the season drags on.
Stock Down
Brandon Marsh, OF, Philadelphia Phillies
Brandon Marsh has played second fiddle for most of his professional career time with the Angels. He was always considered behind fellow Prospect Jo Adell, despite profiling as a safer player in many facets.
When Marsh got traded to the Phillies in 2022 it seemed like a perfectly-timed change of scenery. In the first month of 2023, that hypothesis was supported, with Marsh slashing a scorching .329/.418/.647 and turning in a WRC+ of 183. he was striking out less than 30%, walking close to 15%, and was playing every day.
Got a weird one for you this morning
Brandon Marsh: Hitting .130 but with a .375 OBP in his last 10 games. He's the 8th modern Phillies hitter to post a .375+ OBP in a 10-game stretch (30+ PA) where he bats .130 or less
— Baseball Paul (@paul_boye) May 15, 2023
Since the calendar has turned to May, it appears as though Marsh is no longer relishing that Philadelphia freedom. He is hitting for well below a .200 average and his OPS has been literally cut in half to .559. yes his BABIP was high in April and low in May but Marsh has never been able to really put it all together for an extended period of time. If you can still sell him do it. If not. you can safely cut him and add him back for his next hot streak.
Alejandro Kirk, C, Toronto Blue Jays
I have avoided writing about this player because I was hoping that the cream would have risen to the top. Oh, how wrong I was.
Alejandro Kirk finished the 2022 season as one of the most exciting young catchers in the game. He has elite contact skills and plate discipline and is able to hit for enough power to not produce just a hollow average. All of this is reflected in his .285/.372/.415 2022 slash line and 129 WRC+. Reasonably one could expect Kirk to pick up where you left off in 2023, right? Nope.
In 113 plate appearances so far Kirk is slashing .217/.354/.304. The eye is still excellent, but the contact and power are missing in action. To compound his struggles, the Blue Jays have decided he's not worth playing every day. They are choosing to roll out in the corpse of Brandon Belt against right-handers, and letting Danny Jansen and his superior defense handle the catching duties. Leaving Kirk minimal opportunities to claim the everyday DH role.
Alejandro Kirk so far in May:
— 25 AB
— 3 H
— 0 RBI
— 0 K
— .120/.241/.160 (.401 OPS)A tough stretch for Kirky#NextLevel pic.twitter.com/u0NpZmxZ2O
— BlueJays Muse (@BlueJays_Muse) May 13, 2023
It would make sense if Jansen or Belt was hitting the ball better than Kirk is. Belt has a slightly better slash line. However, his long-fabled "get out of Oracle Park" power is nowhere to be seen. While Danny Jansen is somehow substantially worse than Kirk in every offensive facet.
I'm not going to give up hope that Toronto will get out of their own way, and their best players will get themselves right. However, until that happens, you should look for catcher production elsewhere.
Thanks for reading the 2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 7 Stock Up-Stock Down. Be sure to check out more Fantasy Baseball content from the F6P team!
