Buy and Hold: Week 4

While their value is highly established in dynasty and keeper leagues, there are still prospects that are worth holding onto in redraft leagues while you wait for their call up to the big leagues. Each week I'll be looking at my top five prospects from our top 200 consensus prospects who currently aren't in the majors, but could be worth holding in a bench spot given their potential value for the rest of the season. These rankings are based solely on their potential 2014 value, and do not include any players that are already in the majors as of yesterday.

Graduates So Far

George Springer - Springer is hitting a robust .171/.275/.200 through 40 plate appearances. It's early still, and frankly the strikeout rate is about what you would expect. Keep the faith on this one, because it's only been nine games.

1. Gregory Polanco (#14)

RANK LAST WEEK: 2 (+1)
BLOCKED BY: Travis Snider, Jose Tabata
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: Mid May

Polanco hit really well again this week and still lowered his batting average and OBP. Snider and Tabata appear to be close to turning into pumpkins, which could move his timeframe up some. Our own Daniel Kelley wrote about Polanco yesterday, and the performance just keep forcing the issue with Polanco. At some point this is just going to get silly at this rate.

2. Kevin Gausman (#18)

RANK LAST WEEK: 1 (-1)
BLOCKED BY: Miguel Gonzalez, Bud Norris
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: Late May

Gausman threw five shutout innings in his start against the Rays' AAA affiliate, but it is worth noting that Gausman has not thrown more than 74 pitches in a single outing. He was expecting an innings limit of around 160-170 innings back in January, which could help explain that little detail.

3. Joc Pederson (#32)

RANK LAST WEEK: 3 (No Change)
BLOCKED BY: The four-headed outfield machine that is Puig, Crawford, Kemp, and Ethier
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME OF CALLUP: The second that two of these four are required to go on the disabled list.

4. Trevor Bauer (#139)

RANK LAST WEEK: 5 (+1)
BLOCKED BY: Carlos Carrasco, A non-belief that he really can make adjustments
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: Late May

Please stop tagging me in negative posts about my teammates. We all do our absolute best for the team and fans. Please have some respect

— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) April 26, 2014

5. Archie Bradley (#7)

RANK LAST WEEK: 4 (-1)
BLOCKED BY: Randall Delgado not having options; Josh Collmenter; Not being on the 40-man Roster
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: July

6. Javier Baez (#3)

RANK LAST WEEK: 9 (+3)
BLOCKED BY: Starlin Castro, Darwin Barney, Emilio Bonifacio, Not being on the 40-man Roster, Arismendy Alcantara
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: All-Star Break

Baez returned from the disabled list this week, so we'll see if he really is fully healthy or not. I think he can still make an impact if he isn't called up until the All-Star break, with 15 home runs possible in less than half a season.

7. Jonathan Singleton (#53)

RANK LAST WEEK: HM 
BLOCKED BY: Chris Carter, Marc Krauss
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: Early June

Already on the 40-man roster, Singleton has been absolutely destroying the PCL so far. I would imagine that the team would like to see this performance for a bit longer, given how bad last season went for Singleton, but I think he gets the call before the All-Star break at this point.

8. Oscar Taveras (#5)

RANK LAST WEEK: 8 (No Change)
BLOCKED BY: Allen Craig, Matt Adams, and Jon Jay
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: The first injury, but more likely after the trade deadline

The team moved Taveras to center field earlier in the week, and he promptly left that game with an ankle injury. When he returned on Thursday night, they had him in left field instead. The promise is so wonderful with Taveras, but the health just keeps me from feeling like he's going to be up any time soon, even if a need presents itself.

9. Matt Wisler (#67)

RANK LAST WEEK: 6 (-3)
BLOCKED BY: Eric Stults and Robbie Erlin, Not being on the 40-man roster
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: June

Erlin didn't pitch well on Friday night, giving up eight earned and 13 hits across 5 1/3 innings against the Nationals, but I don't think that really changes Wisler's outlook just yet. I think he's interesting given the fact that not a lot is blocking him from the majors and with Josh Johnson now out for the season as well, that's one less potential impediment to time in the bigs.

10. Tommy La Stella (#166)

RANK LAST WEEK: NR
BLOCKED BY: Dan Uggla
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: July

Dan Uggla is currently hitting .227/.280/.347 with two home runs this year. Remember that the batting average is an improvement over last year, while also hitting for less power this year. La Stella is more of a deep league option, as he will provide a primarily empty batting average. That said, if you're looking for batting average, he's an interesting option.

Honorable Mentions (in Alphabetical Order by Group)

Hitters

Garin Cecchini, 3B, BOS

The activation of Will Middlebrooks pushed Cecchini off the list for now, as the team seems likely to give Middlebrooks at least a few weeks of at bats before contemplating another change.

Matt Davidson, 3B, CHW

The White Sox would be wise to let Gillaspie play as long as he hits, if only to help with the service time on Davidson. Gillaspie is hitting .302 with a walk rate of nearly 9%, so there's definitely no urgency at this point to bring up Davidson. With Marcus Semien also getting time due to the return of Gordon Beckham, it's getting harder to see Davidson getting a call at this moment.

Alexander Guerrero, 2B, LAD

Jake Marisnick, OF, MIA

Pitchers

Eddie Butler, RHP, COL

Jonathan Gray, RHP, COL

Andrew Heaney, LHP, MIA

Rafael Montero, RHP, NYM

Noah Syndergaard, RHP, NYM

Marcus Stroman, RHP, TOR