The Dynasty Digest: March 6, 2024

Grab a cup of coffee and read Chris Clegg runs down everything you need to know for dynasty leagues from the previous days action.

After spending the weekend in Florida, I got a full dose of live Spring Training action and have a lot to discuss.

Welcome 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 Monday’s action.

Spring Training Standouts From March 5

Evan Carter, OF, TEX

Carter stole the show on Tuesday, hitting two home runs off Logan Gilbert, one of them a grand slam. His torrid spring continues, as he now has two home runs and two stolen bases with a .389/.462/.567 slash. Hitting at the top of the lineup with high-end OBP skills, Carter is set to have a big 2024 season and has a chance to win the AL Rookie of the Year award.

Last season, Carter posted a contact rate of 75 percent with an in-zone rate of 83 percent in the minors, Carter saw a small tick back on both numbers from 2022. The chase rate of 19 percent this season was also a very impressive number, which helped lead to high OBPs. Carter has posted elite chase rates his entire career, and that carried over to the Majors as he chased just nine percent of pitches out of the zone in a small sample.

Power has been the question, but we can see he is capable of getting to it and also has a projectable frame. Over the last two seasons in the minors, his average exit velocities were 85 mph and 85.5 mph. In the majors, that jumped to 89 mph, which was encouraging, but it was a small sample. Carter has a projectable body and is still 21 years old, leaving plenty of time for him to fill out and add power.

Jackson Holliday, 2B, BAL

On Sunday when I saw Holliday, he struggled mightly, striking out twice and showing a ton of swing and miss. He got the day off on Monday, and it looks like that was all he needed to get back on track.

Holliday collected three hits in four trips to the plate and finished the day just a home run shy of the cycle. Of the three batted balls, two registered at 102.3 mph, and the double left the bat at 104.4 mph.

Being smaller, you may not think Holliday can get to power, but his 91 mph average exit velocity in 2023 says otherwise. With the contact and plate discipline skills plus some speed, Holliday is going to be a high floor hitter and fantasy asset. At this point, I am confident he begins the season as the Orioles starting second baseman.

Jared Jones, RHP, PIT

Jones continues to dominate on the mound outing after outing and it seems Jones is doing his best to force the Pirates hand with putting him on the Opening Day roster. After two scoreless innings on Tuesday, Jones now sits at 4.2 scoreless innings with just three strikeouts, but the stuff has been spectacular.

The fastball has been the story of the spring as the velocity continues to tick up and show elite ride. On Tuesday, he sat over 99 and touched 101 mph with it and consistently had 18 inches of IVB. He actually lived in the zone with the fastball at a respectable 53 percent clip.

From a secondary perspective, Jones threw his cutter 33 percent of the time and the curveball 11 percent. The usage was a little different than what we have seen, but it was not surprising to see him be fastball-heavy.

While the Pirates have stated that Paul Skenes will start the year in the minors, there is still the chance that Jones could crack the Opening Day lineup.

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