A Giants fan living in San Diego, been playing fantasy baseball since 2005 and dynasty since 2021. Started the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast in June 2023 and joined Prospects Live in March of 2024.
If you listen to the podcast, you know we are coming up on our 100th episode. Kyle and I have something super fun and unique planned for it, and I highly recommend listening to it when it comes out this weekend. One hundred episodes was something I had never dreamed of, and I want to thank Kyle for joining me on this journey and working hard to become one of the best podcast hosts in the industry. I also want to thank Prospects Live (particularly Greg and Smada) for giving us a chance and an outlet to showcase our work. Most of all, I want to thank everyone who has listened and read my articles over the years. I hope you've found them valuable, and I can't thank you enough for your support!
Note: all stats current through Tuesday 6/24/25 and all minor league Statcast figures are sourced from TJ Stats.
David Sandlin was an 11th-round pick in the 2022 draft to the Royals but was flipped to the Red Sox prior to last season for John Schreiber. At the time, I was excited about the change to the new organization and picked up some speculative shares. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out well, as Sandlin posted the worst ERA and WHIP of his professional career. However, there was still reason for optimism as Sandlin posted a stellar 25.9% K-BB rate, continuing his trend of posting K-BB rates of over 25% in his first three professional seasons. The main culprit was a massive rise in his home run rate. Fast forward to this season, and the home run rate has fallen from last year's horrendous 2.20 HR/9 mark to a career-best 0.60.
While the season-long numbers aren't that impressive, Sandlin has turned things on lately. Sandlin posted a 5.23 ERA (4.18 FIP) in his first seven starts with a 1.35 WHIP and a 23.3% strikeout rate. Following this, he worked in bulk relief on May 23rd, which unlocked something. In his five most recent outings, beginning with that one, he has a 2.48 ERA (2.03 FIP) with a 1.00 WHIP and 27.2% strikeout rate, culminating in his last start, a six no-hit inning gem with nine strikeouts. Sandlin has walked just 7% of batters during that stretch and has reached five innings in each and six plus in three, with the last four being traditional starts.
While the performance has been inconsistent, the stuff continues to be outstanding. Here's what Grant Carver had to say about it in his offseason scouting report:
The frame is a large, strong one with plenty of athleticism and a nice delivery on the mound. It's a great starter frame and hopefully leads to durability going forward. The fastball is his best current pitch, mainly due to the velocity on it. He tops out at triple digits when he's really going right, but it's mostly a mid-to-upper 90's fastball. The command on it is still a little inconsistent, and if that improves, it could be a plus pitch. The slider is his best and most frequently thrown breaking ball. It's a big, breaking slider with tons of horizontal movement and should produce whiffs at the highest levels. Just like the fastball, if he gets more consistent with command and feel for it, it could be a plus pitch. He's added a cutter this year that is a little sharper than his slider, but he doesn't get the same whiffs. He has a changeup/splitter that he doesn't throw much anymore but still mixes it in every now and then. The control is good overall, but he has given up far too many home runs this season, which speaks to some command issues.
Based on the reduction in home run rate, it appears that those command improvements have taken place, and both pitches may be leveling up as a result.
Why To Think Twice
Despite all the positives, Sandlin is getting fewer strikeouts this season than usual. His strikeout rate has fallen by 8.1% since last season's combined mark and 3.2% versus what he did at the same level last year.
Final Thoughts
Shoutout to Greg, the only other dynasty team member besides me to rank Sandlin in our recent update. It's been a strange ride with him, as his performance never seems to match his stuff, but more rankers will join us in July. Sandlin is available in quite a few medium and deeper-sized leagues and now is a great time to pick him up as that may not last much longer.
Where to pick up: Leagues with 300+ prospects rostered.
FAAB bid: Minimal (0-5%)
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Your one stop shop for Dynasty Fantasy Baseball, MLB Draft, Baseball Card & MiLB Baseball content. Blending Data & Scouting into our Player Evaluation
A Giants fan living in San Diego, been playing fantasy baseball since 2005 and dynasty since 2021. Started the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast in June 2023 and joined Prospects Live in March of 2024.
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
Dynasty player of 10+ years. Helping you find the building blocks of your championship rosters as a co-host on the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast since mid-season 2023, joined Prospects Live at the start of 2024.
A Giants fan living in San Diego, been playing fantasy baseball since 2005 and dynasty since 2021. Started the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast in June 2023 and joined Prospects Live in March of 2024.
Dynasty player of 10+ years. Helping you find the building blocks of your championship rosters as a co-host on the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast since mid-season 2023, joined Prospects Live at the start of 2024.
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
