Rhys' Pieces: August 30, 2026

Last week on Rhys’ Pieces, I went through and talked about some deep prep hitters to pay attention to in your deep FYPDs, because why not? It’s a fun exercise digging through the new crop of players added to the minor leagues because they haven’t failed yet; they are like the mystery box meme from Family Guy, they could be anything, they could even be interesting fantasy prospects someday.

This week, however, I wanted to go through three reliever-to-starter transition guys who might be interesting to keep an eye on in your deep FYPDs, because the conversation of taking a reliever and transitioning them to a starter has been a newer trend. I mean, last offseason there were rumblings Ryan Hensley would be turned from a reliever to a starter, Jeff Hoffman as well. Then there was Clay Holmes who actually did it, and he has been rather good going from closer/high-leverage reliever to useful fantasy starter. We don’t need to talk about Jordan Hicks (which I thought would work, but what do I know?). Heck, we are even seeing it this year in-season with Drew Anderson of the Tigers, as he is currently holding his own as a starter against the Dodgers as I write this.

We have seen some success lately with teams doing this with college relievers, most notably Tanner Franklin. Teams are doing this because there are different incentives for major league organizations and colleges. College baseball is not always about development; it’s about winning games, so guys who could start at that level are shuttled to the bullpen to help win games for their schools. I'm not saying this is right or wrong, but that is the incentive for college programs, whereas in pro ball it is about developing guys who can help you win games at the highest level. So teams are rightfully targeting some of these college relievers and converting them to be pro starters to see what they can do. There is little downside to this in pro ball, because if it works you get a major league starter, and if it doesn’t you can always shuttle him back to the bullpen.

I like this demographic because, due to them relieving in college, they are drafted later and have more developmental runway. This also means we get to draft them late in some of our deep First Year Player Drafts and maybe hope that lightning strikes twice, because at a certain point in your FYPDs it’s all low-probability dart throws. Below are three names I like that could maybe become fun fantasy options this time next year.

Cal Randall, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals

If you like high-vert fastballs, then I have the player for you. It is Cal Randall, who, before being drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the fifth round of the MLB draft, was playing on a loaded University of California, Los Angeles squad as their closer. Well, now he is a St. Louis Cardinal, and they are going to try to roll him out as a starter, and I, for one, am just fascinated to see how that goes. We are talking about a one-pitch guy who could get a serious amount of whiffs with a true 80-pitch, and we will have to see how the rest of the repertoire plays out.

I like him in deeper FYPDs because he has a legitimately great starting point: a fastball that gets up to 98 mph, but sits more 95–96, and gets about 19 inches of induced vertical break with 10 inches of horizontal break. It’s what he builds off that fastball that will be interesting. He releases all his pitches from a 5’2” release height. The former UCLA Bruin has a changeup he throws that averages about 89 mph and gets 15 inches of IVB and 9 inches of horizontal break, which isn’t great; a cutter in the same velo band with 10 inches of IVB and 3 inches of horizontal, which also isn’t great; and a slider in that same velo band that gets 5 inches of IVB with -4 inches (or 4 inches glove-side) break.

The encouraging thing with him is that we saw a similar archetype of player drafted by the Cardinals last year and converted into a top-200 type arm in Tanner Franklin. Franklin had more in the way of pitch shapes to play around with at the time he was drafted, but the Cardinals have a plan with Cal Randall. It’s just a matter of what that plan looks like. If we see video of him throwing a viable second pitch, I would look to buy in before the price really takes off. If he starts showing two different pitches, this guy could fly up prospect ranks.

These college-reliever-to-pro-starter types are decent FYPD investments because there is a chance you are buying in at the lowest their value will ever be. There is a chance we look back, and Cal Randall is a top-100 prospect this time next year, because everything the Cardinals are doing seems to turn to gold lately.

Aidan Keenan, RHP, New York Mets

Time for another potential guy who you might be buying at his lowest possible value, and that is Stanford’s Aidan Keenan, whom the Mets drafted in the seventh round. His problem isn’t the stuff, which we will get to later; it’s more of a consistency/command issue, and that itself has hampered him in his amateur career. Yes I know this one is cheating a little bit because he technically started six games last year in college, but they were short outings, and he is spiritually a reliever for this exercise.

Keenan’s fastball is pretty bonkers; it is a mid- to upper-90s heater with serious action to it. In college with the college ball (we can have ball discourse any time we want because it is moronic that the ball isn’t standardized), he was able to get 20 inches of IVB and 10 inches of horizontal break from a 5’7” release height. At the MLB Draft Combine, the shape more or less stayed the same, only losing about an inch of IVB and an inch or so of horizontal break, which is not bad at all. This fastball gets up to 97 and is a serious bat-misser and projects that way in the pro ranks.

The slider is a serious weapon for him as well, as it sits in the mid-80s, averaging about 86 mph with -2 inches of IVB and 6 inches glove-side in college. His ability to generate sweep like this on the slider is impressive; one thing to watch in pro ball is he could play around with a cutter, and the Mets, who are a good pitching development organization, may try to get another fastball to go along with that high-vert four-seamer. There is a low-80s splitter that he seldom used in college that might make a comeback at some point.

If the command takes a jump, and that is a big ask, then Keenan could also be a worthwhile investment in your deeper leagues. It’s a high-end mix of stuff, and just a serious lack of command. There are ways for the Mets to get some shapes out of him, but it will ultimately come down to whether he can throw enough strikes to allow his stuff to play. The dream is that the command takes a jump and we see his stuff play better, which could result in a solid fantasy pitching prospect. This is a deep-league target—like, we are talking super deep leagues where well over 100 prospects are drafted in your FYPDs or supplemental drafts. But as one of your last dart throws, there is some upside here to maybe get an SP4/5, with a high-end reliever outcome. It all just comes down to the ability to throw enough strikes and get enough whiffs as he climbs the ladder.

Chase Meyers, RHP, Chicago Cubs

Chase Meyers threw all of three innings at West Virginia last year, where a clubhouse argument with his manager resulted in him being kicked off the team. This was seen as not a real issue by some teams and scouts, and he was on several draft boards. The Cubs were the team that took a chance on the college reliever and, guess what, they are trying to make him a starter in pro ball, as he has already made two starts and looked good in that role. Let’s hope for fantasy purposes he can stay there, because it’s an interesting mix of pitches, and he is in a good organization to experiment with since he throws a few different offerings.

His fastball is fine, a mid-90s offering with mediocre movement. He throws two variants: a four-seamer and a sinker. Both are just fine, and he throws them to set up the real plus pitches in his arsenal. It’s a high-80s to low-90s cutter with good horizontal movement, and he plays around with a mid-90s slider that gets plenty of downward movement. That slider plays well with the four-seamer and sinker, effectively hiding those two offerings a touch while he works on them. The cutter is really  strong, he could stand to throw it even more than he already does, and he throws it a good bit. It’s a real weapon against batters on both sides of the plate.

As I said, the issue with him getting kicked off the West Virginia team is worth noting, but the Cubs felt comfortable taking him with a pick in the 9th round. It’s not something you ideally want from someone, but that is water under the bridge at this point. During his time at West Virginia, he was used as a solid leverage reliever, and in pro ball, the transition to being a starter has been solid enough. He went 3.1 innings in his first professional start and 4 innings in the next one, which portends to him possibly having some level of starter stamina.

He is in a solid pitching development organization, where they love to play around with pitch shapes and help guys develop solid cutters. What if they add a guy who can already throw a solid cutter, and they just need to tweak the fastballs around it? There is some spin capacity here, and that alone is exciting for us pitching nerds. What we want to see in the fantasy realm is his fastball take that next step and him throw some more strikes while showing he can maintain a starter’s workload. There is value here even if he is just a reliever; he has potential setup man stuff, but I am hoping he hits his ceiling of being a good SP4 in real life, which would make him a good fantasy starter, especially because it couldn’t hurt to have a cutter guy pitching in Wrigley.

Thanks again for reading this. Next week we can go through some college hitters I really like as the season is winding down, and we will be given a chance to get more of a look at them against pro pitching, at least those who are at affiliates. Remember, relievers converted to starters are people as well, and draft Martin Shelar in all your FYPDs.