Buy and Hold: Week 10

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.

It makes me wonder more and more this week if some of these teams are getting an advanced copy of the Buy and Hold, as they continue to call up players late on Friday when the post is just about ready to go. This week is no exception, as you'll see shortly.

Graduates So Far

George Springer, Trevor Bauer, Tommy La Stella, Oscar Taveras, Marcus Stroman

This Week's Graduates

Jon Singleton - Last week's #3 prospect on the Buy and Hold, Singleton was called up on Tuesday and promptly provided his owners with a home run in his first game.

Eddie Butler - #9 last week, Butler was called up to make the start on Friday against the Dodgers. The numbers didn't turn out as hoped (5.1 innings pitched, 6 earned runs, 2 strikeouts), but it seems like he should continue to get starts.

Kevin Gausman - With Miguel Gonzalez hitting the disabled list, Gausman will make the start tonight against Oakland. Hopefully he's up to stay this time, and the team stops shuttling him between Baltimore and Norfolk.

1. Gregory Polanco (#14)

RANK LAST WEEK: 1 (No change)
BLOCKED BY: Travis Snider, Jose Tabata, Josh Harrison
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: Mid May Likely closer to June now. Next week, perhaps?

Well, Wednesday was a lot of fun. People whose opinion and whose knowledge I respect reported that day that Polanco would be coming up on Friday. The Pirates then spent most of the rest of Wednesday denying like crazy that it might happen, and sure enough it didn't happen. Hopefully, the next time we start seeing reports of his impending arrival, it will come to pass.

2. Joc Pederson (#32)

RANK LAST WEEK: 2 (No change)
BLOCKED BY: The four-headed outfield machine that is Puig, Crawford, Kemp, and Ethier
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME OF CALLUP: The second that another of these four are required to go on the disabled list.

Pederson continues to hit, and with the Dodgers seemingly unwilling to run Matt Kemp out in center field consistently (while simultaneously playing Scott Van Slyke there instead), I really wonder at this point how much longer he is in AAA, because it seems really unlikely at this point that he has much else to do there.

3. Alex Meyer (#51)

RANK LAST WEEK: 4(+1)
BLOCKED BY: Mike Pelfrey, Sam Deduno and Kevin Correia
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: June

Graduations continue to move Meyer up the list, but I think that he should end up in the Twins' rotation before long, and realistically is already a better option than what the team is running out there currently.

4. Javier Baez (#3)

RANK LAST WEEK: 5 (+1)
BLOCKED BY: Starlin Castro, Darwin Barney, Emilio Bonifacio, Not being on the 40-man Roster, Arismendy Alcantara
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: All-Star Break

5. Andrew Heaney (#33)

RANK LAST WEEK: 8 (+3)
BLOCKED BY: Randy Wolf
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: June

Heaney gave up six earned in his start on Sunday, and Randy Wolf pitched better in his last start (6 IP, 1 earned, 7 strikeouts vs. TBR). I still think Heaney is up by the end of the month, as the Marlins have made it clear with their acquisition of Bryan Morris that they are making a run at it this year.

6. Jonathan Gray (#22)

RANK LAST WEEK: 7 (+1)
BLOCKED BY: Franklin Morales
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: early July

The broken hand of Jordan Lyles could potentially lead to a call up for Gray, although it's not clear at the moment whether that will happen this week or if the team will try another starter first. The Rockies are 11.5 games out of the division lead at this point, and it's possible that the team could start moving towards next year, of which a call up of Gray would be a nice first step.

7. Mookie Betts (#60)

RANK LAST WEEK: Honorable Mention
BLOCKED BY: Dustin Pedroia and a lack of a position to play in the majors
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: Early August

Betts was promoted to last week to AAA, and is "only" hitting .308 so far in three games at the level. He's obviously not likely to play second base in the majors with Dustin Pedroia under contract for the rest of the decade, but he has seen time in the outfield, which would seem to be the most likely route to playing time in the majors.

8. Arismendy Alcantara (#47)

RANK LAST WEEK: 10 (+2)
BLOCKED BY: Luis Valbuena, Emilio Bonifacio
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: July

9. Alexander Guerrero (#78)

RANK LAST WEEK: Honorable Mention
BLOCKED BY: Dee Gordon
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: July

Guerrero hasn't returned to game action after his little dust up with the unemployed Miguel Olivo, but with Dee Gordon starting to level off a bit closer to his career level of performance, we could see Guerrero a week or two after he returns to the field.

10. Maikel Franco (#36)

RANK LAST WEEK: Not Ranked
BLOCKED BY: Reid Brignac
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: Late July

The team had the option to try out Franco with Cody Asche hitting the disabled list, but with Franco struggling at AAA the time didn't appear right. Brignac is holding things down at the moment, but it wouldn't surprise me if the team gave Franco a shot if Asche misses more time than expected.

Honorable Mentions (in Alphabetical Order by Group)

Hitters

Kris Bryant, 3B, CHC (#8)

Matt Davidson, 3B, CHW (#64)

Francisco Lindor, SS, CLE (#35)

Jake Marisnick, OF, MIA (#69)

Pitchers

Rafael Montero, RHP, NYM (#95) - The Mets sent Montero back to AAA this week, and while I would normally think that he'd be a candidate for the top 10, I'm not entirely sure when we might see him in the majors again, severely cutting his value for this season.

Jimmy Nelson, RHP, MIL (#91)

Robert Stephenson, RHP, CIN (#17)

Noah Syndergaard, RHP, NYM (#19) - In his first start back from the disabled list, Syndergaard managed to sprain his non-throwing shoulder while covering a play at the plate. It sounds like a relatively minor set back, but one that will keep him out of action for a week or so.

Matt Wisler, RHP, SDP (#67)