The Dynasty Digest: February 25, 2024

Chris Clegg is back to run down everything you need to know for dynasty leagues from the previous days action.

Welcome back to the Dynasty Digest! Baseball is back, and so are we, with our daily reports of everything you need to know from the previous days’ action for you to win your dynasty leagues.

Spring Training is always an interesting time, as box score stats don’t necessarily matter, but I am looking for other things of note. Has a pitcher seen an increase in velo or do they have a new pitch that compliments the arsenal well? Has a hitter simplified their approach, or did they post a new max exit velocity? The little things are much more important than box score stats for Spring Training, and we are going to talk about them. Let’s break down Saturday’s action.

Spring Training Notables: February 24

Jared Jones, RHP, PIT

Jones was awesome in his single inning of work, and not because of the stat line he put up, as he did toss a scoreless inning with one hit allowed. Jones was great because of the arsenal.

The fastball sat 98 mph and averaged 17.1 inches of IVB, up from the 15.8 inches he averaged in 2023. He topped out at 18.6 inches of IVB and 99 mph. The fastball was impressive, but Jones also showed nice life on his sinker, and his slider/cutter sat around 89 mph with high spin and a nice movement profile.

Considering Jones pitched 82 innings in Triple-A already and showed good stuff, its hard to imagine him not getting 100 innings in Pittsburgh. Looking at the rotation, I would take Jones over everyone currently slated to be in the rotation outside of Mitch Keller.

Spencer Jones, OF, NYY

We couldn’t not talk about that massive 470 foot home run that broke the internet. Jones blasted a ball to orbit that left the bat at 109.2 mph but also had three total hits on the day, adding exit velocities of 111.4 and 101.7 mph.

Jones's lower half looked thicker as well, which is good considering last year he was still skinny with room to fill out his 6’7” frame. Jones runs well and has massive power, but the contact skills are still the question mark. If all clicks, Jones has fantasy star upside.

Louie Varland, RHP, MIN

Varland tossed two innings against the Red Sox, allowing three hits, no runs, and zero walks while striking out two. While the performance was fine, I was more impressed that Varland’s fastball was already sitting half a tick above last year, considering it is February. He topped out at 98.3 mph which is a velocity he only reached around five percent of the time last season.

Varland got whiffs on his four-seam and cutter and the slider shape was different than last season, having much more depth. It was a small sample of 32 pitches, but I am in the camp that Varland should be in the Twins rotation and if he does crack it, he could be a solid buy in dynasty. I might take a shot on Varland sooner than later.

Get the rest of the rundown, including 15 more reports, by subscribing below and gaining access to a ton of content to help you win in the dynasty.