Been a baseball fan and player my whole life, played dynasty for 10 years. Co-host on the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast since mid-season 2023 and joined Prospects Live at the start of 2024.
Hello and welcome to the Dynasty Baseball Pickups written series! If you followed Taylor and me through our division preview series this off-season, we each called out one big leaguer and one prospect from every team that we thought were good dynasty buys. While we haven’t had a 100% success rate in the early going, plenty of names we called out are having a ton of success so far this season. Hopefully, you bought some shares on names like Tommy Edman and Tyler Soderstrom. Still, now that we’re into the regular season, we’ve shifted our focus to building up that farm system and hopefully supplementing the back end of your big league roster, too. This week’s article is a prime example of how quickly a player's stock can rise early in the year, as not a single one of my recommendations was ranked by anyone on our dynasty team for our pre-season top 600+ prospect update (something tells me that’s going to change) and only one even cracked their respective organization’s top 20 from our scout team. We’ve got a hitter who’s off to the best start of the year according to PLIVE+, another displaying more impact than ever at the sacrifice of some contact and a trio of arms who have burst onto the scene in the first month of the season. Now, let’s get into those names.
*Note: all stats current through Friday, April 25/25 and all minor league statcast data is sourced from TJ Stats
Early’s stuff has ticked up again this year, the velo in particular, and with it, his numbers have taken a big jump as well; his 22.1% K-BB% last year was a solid number, but it doesn’t compare to the 47.4% mark he’s posted so far this year. He sat in the upper 80s in college, was working mainly in the low 90s last year, and now he’s grabbing mid-90s on the heater more consistently. He’s got a full five-pitch mix with a sweeper, slider, curveball, changeup, and the fastball. The changeup is considered his best secondary offering, and his three breaking balls offer three distinct looks with different movement profiles velo bands ranging from upper-70s on the curveball to upper-80s on the slider. He repeats his delivery well, allowing him to throw plenty of strikes (63% strike%), and although his stuff has ticked up, he’s also posting the best BB% of his career so far (not counting the two innings he threw after being drafted in 2023).
Final Thoughts
Boston’s development system has been looking like one of the best in the league on both sides of the ball in recent years, and Early is yet another example of what they’ve been able to do on the pitching side of things. His development from a fifth-rounder who rarely touched 90 in college to an arm regularly grabbing 95s and 96s from the left side has given hope that not only could he stick in the rotation, but he could even elevate his ceiling to that of a mid-rotation arm with high strikeout upside. The biggest knock on him right now is that he has averaged less than five innings per start and hasn’t reached five innings in a game yet this year, but I’m buying the strides he’s made year over year and pushing him inside my top 300.
Where to pick up: Leagues with 300+ prospects rostered
FAAB bid: Minimal (0-5%)
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Suero is listed as a catcher, but he didn’t start playing the position until shortly before the Mets signed him out of the Dominican Republic for $10,000 in 2022. He’s also seen time at 1B and LF in his young pro career, giving him several avenues to playing time and highlighting his athleticism. Given the positions he plays, he’s a better runner than you might expect, so SB should always be a part of his profile, and his power really looks like it’s taking a step forward this year. His .404 ISO and 33.3% HR/FB% are unsustainably high, but do emphasize that he is doing an excellent job impacting the baseball in the early goings of the season. He’s cut his ground-ball% to a career-low 31%, and he’s also pulling the ball 45.2% of the time.
Final Thoughts
Suero is being more aggressive than ever, swinging at more than 50% of pitches he sees for the first time since he was in Complex Ball in 2023, but he’s also making less contact than he has since that same stint in Complex Ball and his 41.4% whiff% is just 6th percentile in High-A. The damage he’s doing when he connects is impressive enough that his wRC+ of 190 indicates he’s been around twice as productive as the average hitter in High-A. Still, he’ll need to make more consistent contact to continue producing in the upper levels, which we should see shortly as he has surpassed 100 total games played in High-A. He’s still a deeper league consideration for me, but one with significant upside if this power uptick is real and if he can cut down on the whiffs.
Where to pick up: Leagues with 400+ prospects rostered
Been a baseball fan and player my whole life, played dynasty for 10 years. Co-host on the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast since mid-season 2023 and 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!
Director of Dynasty Content - Canadian born and raised, moved to Arkansas with my wife and two sons Ezra and Ari. Followed and played baseball my whole life; played dynasty for 25+ years.
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!
