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USATSI

Of the top-five prospects heading into the season per Scott White's Fantasy Baseball rankings, four of them started on the Opening Day roster for their respective teams: Corbin Carroll, Gunnar, Henderson, Jordan Walker, and Anthony Volpe. No. 5, Grayson Rodriguez, joined shortly after, while No. 9 (Miguel Vargas) and No. 13 (Triston Casas) were also on Opening Day rosters. 

Last week, Francisco Alvarez, the No. 12 prospect joined them, as did Vaughn Grissom, who isn't technically rookie eligible anymore but opened the season at Triple-A for the Braves. And two more big names were called up this weekend, hopefully for good: Angels shortstop Zach Neto and Mets third baseman Brett Baty.

Baty is the more well-regarded of the two; he was Scott's No. 22 prospect coming into the season, while Neto was at No. 66, though I imagine if we had known he was this close to the majors, he likely would have ranked even higher. Baty is the higher priority target at this point, though with the ridiculous number of injuries at the shortstop position of late, Neto might be a bigger need for many of you. 

Here's what you need to know about both:

Bretty Baty, 3B, Mets

Baty is a 23-year-old former No. 12 overall pick in the draft who has done little but hit since becoming a professional. Overall, he's sporting a .293/.394/.508 line, but this is a case where a guy keeps getting better as he moves up the ladder. Since getting to Double-A, he's hit 29 homers in 144 games, with a .308 average. That's come with a manageable 24.8% strikeout rate despite a seemingly conscious decision to hit the ball in the air more often.

Being able to put his plus power into game action more consistently without having to sacrifice much swing and miss is the goal, and Baty has accomplished it in the high minors. It's not a swing that is necessarily geared toward maximizing power -- Baty isn't selling out for fly balls or pulling everything, necessarily -- but he seems to have found the right balance so far. In nine games at Triple-A to open the season, he's struck out 21.4% of the time while sporting a massive 73% hard-hit rate on 26 batted balls. 

There's no guarantee Baty will be able to keep that up in the majors, and remember, he hit just .184/.244/.342 in 11 games last season when he got called up before suffering a thumb injury that required surgery. There's little speed here, so the bat will have to play up for him to matter in Fantasy. But given the skill set and the production in the high minors, he seems like a pretty good bet to hit.

I'll be looking to add him this week wherever he's available, and I'm expecting to drop at least 25% of my FAB budget on him -- while acknowledging that, at least in more competitive leagues, that likely won't be enough. In a 15-team league with weekly FAB runs, you might need to be prepare to go up to 50% of your FAB if you want him. Whether that's worth it is up to you. 

Zach Neto, SS, Angels

Neto was the No. 13 pick in last year's draft, and he'll end up making his MLB debut after just 44 games in the minors. That's an awfully small sample size to go off, but looking at a .322/.408/.529 line from a college bat, and you can see why the Angels might have decided there wasn't much left for him to prove down there. He's managed that line despite concerns coming out of the draft about the quality of the competition he faced at Campbell University, and if teams were re-drafting that class, I'd bet Neto would go even higher than he did.

Neto is a bit of an unorthodox player, with a big, aggressive leg kick in his swing, though at least to this point, he hasn't really been exposed for that approach. It might be because he'll tweak his swing with two strikes, shortening the kick to prioritize plate coverage. Despite that, he's projected to have at least average pop in the long run. Whether he'll get there right away is a fair question, though given how aggressive the Angels have been with his promotions, they certainly seem to believe in the skill set.

That aggressive promotion kind of makes it tough to know just how to project Neto. He seems to have forced the Angels hand with his play, but does that mean he's more of a fast-moving, high-floor player, or did he simply make a bigger leap than expected upon being drafted? The likeliest outcome is he's a Josh Rojas-esque contributor, someone who gives you some pop and some speed, but probably not elite amounts of either. That's a player who is worth adding, but is not necessarily a must-start Fantasy option. 

But Neto's fast path through the minors opens up the possibility of a star-level outcome here, and it's worth adding him just to see what happens. It isn't the likeliest outcome, but it's an outcome that is worth taking seriously at this point. He won't be worth investing as much in as Baty in waivers, but if you need a shortstop, he's worth being aggressive with. I'd be looking at a 20% FAB claim for Neto if I recently lost Oneil Cruz, Corey Seager, or Tim Anderson.