By now, assuming you're the type who consumes every piece of Fantasy content shoved down your throat, you've probably read my take on Taijuan Walker -- the inevitability of his promotion, the potential he offers for Fantasy owners, etc. -- in this week's Prospect Report.
Since then, the Mariners have sent down Erasmo Ramirez, leaving a gaping hole in their starting rotation for Monday's game at Houston.
Uh-huh. I think we can all see where this is going.
Walker is about as good as it gets among pitching prospects. Everyone else to get the call this year is small potatoes by comparison. Baseball America ranked him ahead of Kevin Gausman, Yordano Ventura and Marcus Stroman coming into the year and behind only Masahiro Tanaka and Archie Bradley among starting pitchers. You don't wait until the official promotion and all the pomp and circumstance that goes along with it to add a player of that caliber.
Since the news of Ramirez's demotion, Walker's ownership rate has risen only 4 percent, so he's still flying under the radar, relatively speaking. But in the 24 percent of leagues where he remains unowned, you want to beat the rush.