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Happy Thursday, everyone! The biggest stories on Wednesday were two players who disappointed during the 2022 Fantasy Baseball season, but now all of the sudden seem to have righted the ship. We also got treated to a fun pitching prospect debut from Taj Bradley. And of course, we got more injury news with Scott White's most targeted value pick Corey Seager going down with an injury that will keep him sidelined for some time. We'll dive into all of that below, but first let's peel back the first layer on the early Jarred Kelenic post-hype sleeper campaign.

Kelenic clobbers another

Mariners OF Kelenic was considered one of, if not the best prospect in baseball prior to the 2022 season before fizzling out and being sent back down to the minors. He started the 2023 season on the Mariners roster and has clearly made the adjustments needed to get off to a hot start. On Wednesday, Kelenic went 2-for-4 with a 482-foot home run. You read that right. There's no typo. A 482-foot homer! 

Kelenic is still striking out at a potentially troublesome amount, but today's homer was his third of the season and he has a .351 batting average. So what's the play on Kelenic? Should managers look to trade him now, hold him or should managers who don't have a share of Kelenic look to acquire one? Chris Towers answered those exact questions in a Kelenic deep dive on Wednesday.

Scary times for Sale

Chris Sale was a target for literally every single member of the Fantasy Baseball Today staff, and I saw both Scott and Chris get uber-aggressive in drafting him in some of our leagues and mocks. I felt like their case was very compelling, and I got a few more shares of Sale than any other pitcher I have besides George Kirby. To be fair, I also used this same strategy last year with Justin Verlander and of course recency bias was going to take over. All of this to say I am in full panic mode right now with Sale. The dude got rocked again on Wednesday.

The Rays poured it on. He allowed five earned, seven hits and two walks through four innings of work. He struck out six with a 31% called swinging strike rate but allowed nine hard-hit balls. That number is the most alarming one. The two pitches that are getting beat up are his fastball and sinker.

If you're looking for a bright side with Sale look no further than his 19 strikeouts through 12 innings. But it has come at the cost of seven walks. It's hard for me to consider Sale as anything more than a hold--and-pray option right now.

Keller's quietly compiling

Frank has quietly been curious about Royals P Brad Keller potentially seeing the light in 2023, and Keller  looked strong again on Wednesday. Keller threw 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball and only allowed three hits and one walk. He struck out seven, and his new curveball was thrown 25% of the time in this start, and it was awesome with five whiffs on this new pitch alone.

Fun fact that might interest you when it comes to Keller: The Royal have a new manager named Matt Quatraro, who was the bench coach for the Rays from 2019-2022. Keller is just 11% rostered and draws the Rangers again next week minus Corey Seager.

Taj's debut

Taj Bradley made his major-league debut for the Rays on Wednesday and pitched pretty, pretty, pretty good. Bradley held the Red Sox to three earned runs through five innings, which was nothing special but he also struck. out eight on just 78 total pitches. He allowed five hits and a walk. His three-pitch mix: 54% fastball (averaged 95.8 MPH), 29% cutter (88.1 MPH), 14% curveball.

News & notes

  • We knew it was likely Corey Seager would miss time, but it's a Grade 2 hamstring strain, and he's expected to miss a minimum of four weeks. Josh Smith started at shortstop Wednesday.
  • Did Chris Towers receive any tweets about Byron Buxton on Wednesday? Buxton crashed hard to the ground after a collision with White Sox second baseman Lenyn Sosa. Buxton seems to have avoided serious injury, thankfully.
  • Apparently, Bryce Harper is preparing to play first base this season, which will be fun for his position eligibility next year. It sounds like he's targeting a late-May, early-June return.
  • Justin Verlander is expected to begin throwing off a mound this weekend and is scheduled to make at least one minor-league rehab start before being activated from the IL.
  • Joe Musgrove could make his next rehab start as soon as Friday. We got news the other day that he needed a cortisone shot in his shoulder after taking a fall in a recent rehab start.
  • Lars Nootbaar will begin a rehab assignment Thursday. He's down to 79% rostered so just go check to see if he's available if you play in a shallower league.
  • What's that? You picked up Orlando Arcia to replace one of your injured shortstops? Well he left Wednesday's game after getting hit by a pitch on his right wrist. X-rays came back negative.
  • Yandy Diaz also left after being hit by a pitch on the right arm. 
  • Masataka Yoshida was out of the lineup with a sore right hamstring but is expected to be back Friday.
  • DJ LeMahieu was out of the lineup with quad tightness. Anthony Volpe led off as a result and went 1-4 with a double.
  • Kyle Bradish is set to make a rehab start at Double-A Friday. It sounds like he could return next week and is only 24% rostered. 
  • Brutal news as Kyle Farmer needs dental surgery to realign his teeth after getting hit in the face by a pitch. Kyle Garlick is expected to join the Twins as a result.
  • Darick Hall is expected to be sidelined for two months following surgery on his right thumb.
  • German Marquez was placed on the IL with a right forearm strain. Nolan Jones was recalled from Triple-A and was off to a hot start, batting .359 with six homers in the minors. He's a name to watch in deeper leagues.
  • Jesse Winker has missed three straight due to an illness.
  • Elehuris Montero has missed two straight with a left hand issue.
  • Randal Grichuk is apparently 2-3 weeks away from returning. He's 14% rostered for those who play in deeper five-outfielder leagues.
  • Matt Manning was placed on the IL with a fracture in his right foot. It sounds like Michael Lorenzen will return to the Tigers rotation this weekend to replace him.
  • JT Brubaker underwent Tommy John surgery Wednesday.