George Lombard got the call Monday and made an immediate impact Tuesday, hitting his first MLB homer in his first MLB game, a 392-foot shot that would have been out in every stadium in baseball. With that kind of entrance – coupled with the hype of making his debut as the Yankees new shortstop as a top-25 prospect – Lombard is going to be very, very widely rostered when waivers run at the end of this week.
Angel Genao might slip under the radar as a result. The Guardians are set to promote their own top prospect for the stretch run, and while he hasn’t received nearly the same hype Lombard has on their very similar trajectories to the majors, he might be an even better prospect. BaseballProspectus.com ranked Genao 25th in their mid-season update, while Lombard was 26th; Genao was 11th in FanGraphs’ mid-season update, while Lombard was 18th. Scott White was a little higher on Lombard (28th) than Genao (39th), but there’s clearly a lot to like about the new Guardians infielder.
Like Lombard, Genao started the season at Double-A and has largely held his own at Triple-A, too, hitting .299/.400/.458 overall this season with very good plate discipline (14.3% walk rate, 16% strikeout rate), plus 11 homers and 11 steals. He doesn’t have huge power, but an 89.5 mph average exit velocity and 110.9 mph max EV suggest there is at least average raw pop, even if his swing isn’t yet geared toward lifting the ball consistently.
Lombard finds himself in both a better home park and a better lineup. And he probably has a bit more job security, with Genao’s promotion coming along with a seeming setback for Jose Ramirez‘s surgically repaired left hand. Genao could just take a job and run with it, of course, but with Brayan Rocchio holding his own at shortstop, if Ramirez ends up missing just the minimum, Genao would have to hit well enough to force the Guardians to keep him around at the likely expense of fellow recent top prospect Travis Bazzana. Bazzana has slowed down, but there’s no guarantee Genao is here for the long run, something that does seem a lot more likely with Lombard.
Still, Genao has plenty of similarities with Lombard, and while I’ll grant that the Yankees prospect deserves to be the priority, that doesn’t mean he’ll be the better player. It just means his playing time seems more secure in the medium term. But young players can make their own luck by hitting the ground running and forcing their team to keep them around, and Genao has the chops to do that. If you need a shortstop on the wire this week and you don’t want to break the bank for Lombard, Genao should be viewed as a fine consolation prize.
And, since he’ll likely be playing third base, he could also gain eligibility at the weakest position in Fantasy sometime early next week, something Lombard likely won’t have. These two could be close enough in value that passing on the likely more expensive Lombard for Genao might not be a bad idea.
Pre-game Lineup Card
Here’s what you might have missed from CBSSports.com’s MLB coverage in recent days:
Deadline winners and losers. Scott White takes a look at the biggest winners and losers from Monday’s wild deadline.
Prospect callups. George Lombard highlighted the first crop of post-deadline promotions to get to know.
Deadline grades. The Dodgers get an ‘A’. How did everyone else fare?
Best non-Skubal moves. Which teams who didn’t trade for the best pitcher in baseball did the best job re-tooling?
Hitting the Wire
The top waiver-wire targets from Tuesday’s action:
Jackson Jobe, SP, Tigers (28%) – Jobe is set to make his return from Tommy John surgery this week, and I would describe myself as “cautiously hopeful.” I can’t quite get to “optimistic,” let alone “downright excited,” but we’re still talking about a just-turned-24-year-old recent top prospect whose stuff has looked fine in his rehab appearances to date. Heck, at least based on the one glimpse we got of him in front of the Statcast system, his stuff might have looked a whole lot better than “fine” – in one start in A ball, Jobe’s velocity was up across the board, and he sat at 98.8 mph with his four-seamer. On the whole, he finished with 17 strikeouts to four walks in 15.1 innings across five starts, and while none of that means Jobe is suddenly going to be a difference-maker at the MLB level, it’s worth taking notice of. The likeliest outcome is he struggles with command and consistency but shows enough flashes on a Tigers team mostly playing out the string to give us something to get excited about for 2027. But he’s young enough to be worth giving a look when he debuts.
Moises Ballesteros, C, Angels (18%) – As expected, the Angels called up Ballesteros a day after acquiring him from the Cubs, and he was in the lineup at DH batting sixth for his debut. We’d like to see him get, say, 12 more appearances at catcher to carry eligibility over to 2027, but he figures to primarily man DH, and that’s just fine for our purposes if he plays every day. Ballesteros slumped after a hot start and ended up back in Triple-A with the Cubs, who just had nowhere to play him. That won’t be an issue with the Angels, and the career .290/.366/.450 hitter at Triple-A could be a real difference maker down the stretch. I would prioritize him over Agustin Ramirez, who was recalled for the Marlins but probably has more playing time concerns moving forward.
Ben Joyce, RP, Angels (12%) – The Angels also activated Joyce from the IL, who hasn’t pitched in the majors in around 18 months but is back from shoulder surgery. He averaged 101.3 mph on his fastball during this Triple-A rehab assignment, and while he struggled with his control, the fact that the stuff was back is very promising. With the Angels’ closer situation even more wide open after the trade deadline, I’d say Joyce is the odds-on favorite to emerge as the team’s closer before long.
Royce Lewis, 3B, Twins (63%) – Lewis went 4 for 4 with a double Tuesday and is now hitting .271 with nine homers and seven steals in 48 games since returning from Triple-A. He isn’t the superstar we once hoped he might be, but that’s pretty close to A 25-homer, 20-steal pace since he went back to rework his swing at Triple-A, and with eligibility at first, second, and third base, you probably have somewhere you can play him, right?
Grayson Rodriguez, Angels (25%) – I don’t have much faith in Rodriguez at this point, but we’ve now seen a few solid starts in a row from him, so let’s look into it. He limited the Orioles to two runs over seven innings Tuesday, striking out six and walking just one, and that gives him 12 strikeouts to three walks in 12 innings over his past two starts, a decent little run. Very little, but still. He sat around 97 mph with his four-seamer in this one and really had his changeup cooking, generating six of his 12 swinging strikes with that one, and that has increasingly become a weapon this season. One notable thing: Rodriguez has basically scrapped his curveball over the past two starts, and that’s probably not a bad thing given how bad the pitch has been for him. As things stand, I still think Rodriguez needs some kind of bridge pitch between his high-90s fastball and the rest of his arsenal, which features nothing over 85 mph in average velocity, but if you’re looking for a potential sleeper over the next couple of months, Rodriguez has at least given us some reason to be hopeful lately. At the very least, he’s an interesting two-start streamer with projected starts against the Rangers and Royals on the way next week.
Yennier Cano, RP, Orioles (3%) – The Orioles’ closer in September probably isn’t on the active roster right now – it’ll be either Ryan Helsley or Felix Bautista, once they are healthy – but until that happens, someone’s gotta step up after Tyler Wells was traded to the Rays. And, at least on Tuesday, it was Cano who worked the ninth, with his primary competition, Andrew Kittredge, working the eighth. Obviously, it’s just one game, but the fact that Kittredge also allowed a run in the eighth while Cano worked a clean ninth does seem good for his chances. It could all change tomorrow, but for right now, Cano looks like the guy to have.
Three Up, Three Down
Three big performances that have players trending up, and three that have the arrow pointing in the opposite direction.
Three Up
Logan Henderson‘s breakout isn’t slowing down
At this point, he just has to stay healthy. Henderson continues to look like an ace whenever he’s on the mound, this time striking out eight and walking just one over six innings Tuesday against the Pirates. That pushes his ERA down to 2.70 for the season, with the underlying numbers to match, including a massive 32.3% strikeout rate, which would be tied for third-best among all starters if he had enough innings to qualify. And it’s mostly just a repeat of what he did when he was healthy last season, so it’s hard to write off as a fluke, despite Henderson’s pretty underwhelming velocity readings. He’s had multiple health scares in that time, but that (and the Brewers‘ unwillingness so far to let him pitch six innings consistently) are the only things holding him back. But at this point, they might only be holding him back from emerging as a top-24 starter in Fantasy.
Troy Melton just keeps getting the job done
When he gets strikeouts, Melton looks like a potential ace. But even when he isn’t, he’s still racking up great starts, and he did it yet again Tuesday, limiting the Mariners to just three hits and a couple of walks over seven shutout innings. He did that with just four strikeouts, his third start in a row with five or fewer, but he somehow has just two runs allowed in that stretch. And we’ve certainly seen the strikeout upside from Melton, who had consecutive starts with nine strikeouts sandwiched around the All-Star break. I’d feel a bit better about Melton’s chances of sustaining high-level production if the strikeouts were here more consistently, but his 1.58 ERA is backed up by a 3.26 xERA, a sign that it isn’t a total fluke (even if he isn’t quite this good). Melton is obviously a must-start pitcher right now, and if he bumps the strikeout rate up from around 22% to closer to 25%, he’s going to be a very, very popular pitcher in 2027 drafts.
Don’t drop Austin Riley just yet
Well, maybe we shouldn’t give up on him just yet. It’s still a pretty small sample for a guy who hasn’t really been an impact bat since 2024, but Riley is definitely showing some signs of life since the All-Star break. After going 2 for 3 with a homer Tuesday, he is hitting .290 with four homers and an .875 OPS in 17 games since the All-Star break. That’s not overwhelming enough to overcome the skepticism you surely feel toward Riley at this point, especially since his expected wOBA over his past 100 plate appearances is still a decidedly pedestrian .295. But if you were on the verge of dropping Riley, it might be enough to dissuade you, at least. Let’s see where this goes.
Three Down
The regression might be here for Eduardo Rodriguez
It looked like the wheels had finally come off for Rodriguez when he was tagged for five runs in 2.2 innings four starts ago, and then he bounced back with two runs allowed in his next 14 innings, so let’s not go writing him off just yet. But he’s been maybe the most obvious regression candidate in the league for weeks, if not months, and so I’m very much inclined to take every poor start as a sign that his luck is running out. Rodriguez doesn’t miss enough bats or have nearly good enough control (nor does he limit damage on contact particularly well) to sustain anything near his current 2.71 ERA. His various ERA estimators all start with a four, at best, and his xERA (which accounts for quality of contact allowed) is all the way up at 4.81. If you don’t want to drop Rodriguez because of two bad starts in four tries, I suppose I understand, but understand this in return: I very much expect Rodriguez to struggle the rest of the way, so you won’t get my co-sign to hang on to him.
Esmerlyn Valdez is slowing down
That’s now nine games without a homer for Valdez, and he is just 2 for 27 in that span with a 30% strikeout rate in that span. That actually represents an improvement in Valdez’s strikeout rate and he’s still walking a ton, so it’s not like he has completely collapsed here … but it wouldn’t surprise me if the magic has pretty much run out here. Valdez’s power is legitimate, but he also already has 14 homers in 45 games in the majors compared to 13 in 56 in Triple-A, so it’s fair to say he’s been playing over his head so far. That is starting to change, and while I wouldn’t recommend dropping Valdez, my expectations moving forward aren’t terribly high.
Jared Jones is still limited
The bullish case for Jones at this point doesn’t look great. He’s coming off a terrific July where he struck out 33 in 27 innings while walking six, but his pitch counts have remained right around 80, and his past three starts have seen a dramatic downturn in strikeouts. He had 23 in his first three starts of July, but is down to just 14 in 16 innings over his past three after Tuesday’s disappointing outing against the Brewers. The control remains very strong, but ultimately, the pitch counts are the main thing here: If the Pirates weren’t willing to start stretching him out as he started finding success around the All-Star break, it makes me think we’re probably going to be facing these limitations all season long. If he can dominate like he did for a few starts, that’s not such a bad thing, but it’s just asking a lot for anyone to be a must-start Fantasy option if they can’t go more than 83 pitches (Jones’ total from Tuesday, which matched his season-high mark). I’m probably not dropping Jones yet, but I’m feeling a lot more discouraged than I was just a few starts ago.
Extra Innings
Freddy Peralta deserves a pass (but just one)
The Rays surely have a plan to try to get Peralta right, and they’re a smart enough organization to have some faith they can get it done. So let’s not overreact to one start just a few days after he was acquired amidst a career-worst season. But boy, if you were looking for something to be optimistic about in his first start with his new team, you didn’t get it Tuesday, as the Rockies jumped on him for seven runs on nine hits in just 3.2 innings of work. The reason I’m sticking him down here rather than under the “Three Down” header is because Peralta had the misfortune of having his first start with his new team come at Coors Field – even if the Rays had some pitch tweaks to try to implement to get Peralta right, it wouldn’t make much sense to try to implement them in the thin air of Coors Field. So I’m going to give him this one mulligan before we start trying to figure out if the Rays experiment is worth following. I’m holding very tentatively right now.
