Top Fantasy Prospects for the Rest of the Season, Week 5

Writing a series like this every week is a little bit different of a process than the prospect profiles I usually write up each week. With the profiles, you're looking for up-to-date information, but it's not likely to change drastically from day to day. With this though, you're looking for each little nugget in the hope that there will be one to make it just a little more clear when the player will be called up, and whether they'll be up to stay in order to help out your fantasy team.

Generally, teams seem to invariably end up making moves to bring up players in the time between when I finish writing the post on Friday afternoon on my lunch and the time it is supposed to run each Saturday morning. So it wasn't a particularly big surprise that it was announced that a prospect would be called up when I was checking Twitter after dinner. It was a bit of a surprise that it was Blake Swihart until I saw the news that Ryan Hanigan had broken his finger and will miss significant time. I think Swihart is worth an add if you're struggling at catcher, as there is the potential for him to be a top 10 catcher if he comes up and hits well out of the gate. If he doesn't, you cut him loose in a week or two for another option.

I will say that it is always interesting to see the decisions made when it's not injury related. The Mets called up a prospect that I was not expecting in Dilson Herrera on Friday, in part because I was not expecting that they would move Daniel Murphy to third base even in the short term again. These things happen though, and if you had the chance I would still grab Herrera in deep mixed (I assume he's owned in most NL-only) as he can provide batting average and a little bit of the other categories as well, even in this short timeframe until David Wright returns from the disabled list.

So who's next? Which prospect is still worth holding onto now for when they are called up to the majors later?

Graduates

Week 3: Kris Bryant, Yasmany Tomas
Week 4: Carlos Rodon, Addison Russell, Kevin Plawecki
Week 5: Dilson Herrera, Blake Swihart

1. Noah Syndergaard - Mets (No change)

Currently at: AAA Las Vegas
Likely Call Up: End of May

Syndergaard had his best start last week, throwing seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts. I think by the end of the season the Mets still have both Syndergaard and Steven Matz in their rotation, although I'm not yet sure who vacates the second spot once Dillon Gee isn't starting. With the news that it's unlikely that Bartolo Colon gets traded, it probably will take an injury to free up that second spot.

2. Maikel Franco - Phillies (+1)

Currently at: AAA Lehigh Valley
Likely Call Up: mid-May

3. Andrew Heaney - Angels (-1)

Currently at: AAA Salt Lake City
Likely Call Up: End of May

Heaney moves down mostly because of the player ahead of him and not because of his own performance. He struck out seven last night over seven innings, but allowed four earned as well in a no-decision. At this point, the only starter I trust at all in that rotation is Garrett Richards, and frankly the lack of velocity for Jered Weaver (even for him) is concerning to the point that I want nothing to do with him either.

4. Rusney Castillo - Red Sox

Currently at: AAA Pawtucket
Likely Call Up: Closer toward the end of May now

The Red Sox have been playing with their roster like a jigsaw puzzle it seems lately, calling up players and sending them out shortly there after. We saw Jackie Bradley up earlier in the week, but his stay was just a single day. And while my thought would be that Castillo would be up once an injury cleared a spot, the DL stint for Shane Victorino didn't help with that since Castillo was hurt as well. Castillo returned to the lineup now, but in AAA on Thursday, so we'll see how long he is really down there.

5. Corey Seager, Dodgers

Currently at: AAA Oklahoma City
Likely Call Up: early June

The Dodgers promoted Seager to AAA late Thursday night, and it was well-deserved after he destroyed AA pitching to the tune of .375/.407/.675 with five home runs in his 20 games there. He's also been playing third base, which long-term may not bode well for Juan Uribe. Uribe is currently in the middle of an 11-game hitting streak where he's hit .324 with a home run, but that doesn't necessarily keep him safe for a long time. The injury to Carl Crawford has moved Alex Guerrero out of the utility position somewhat, meaning Uribe may be the only thing blocking Seager from the majors. I think if he's destroying AAA in a similar manner in a month, the Dodgers make the change.

The Next Five

6. Rob Refsnyder, Yankees - Stephen Drew (last 7 days): .150/.250/.250. Just saying...
7. Francisco Lindor, Indians
8. Steven Matz, Mets - Matz had his best outing of the year in his last start, striking out 12 over seven innings. If Syndergaard wasn't also in this picture, Matz would easily be in the top five, and likely near the top.
9. Alex Meyer, Twins
10. Eduardo Rodriguez, Red Sox