Tristan H. CockcroftMay 4, 2026, 09:22 AM ETCloseTristan H. Cockcroft is senior writer for fantasy baseball and football at ESPN. Tristan is a member of the FSWA Hall of Fame. He is also a two-time LABR and three-time Tout Wars champion.Follow on XMultiple Authors
It’s a good week for speculating on recent top prospect promotions, as well as up-and-coming arms who have seemingly secured roles at the back end of their respective bullpens.
We’ll begin with the prospects — everyone loves prospects! — where two of Kiley McDaniel’s top 60 from his preseason list were recalled during the past week, both of whom are best known for their hitting. Both are available in more than 80% of ESPN leagues and, considering their long-term ceilings, are worth a stash in the hopes they’ll quickly adapt to MLB competition.
Shifting to the bullpens, the following two young newcomers to the AL West are worth picking up, as they seemingly emerge as their team’s go-to finishers.
Players recommended in this article over the past two weeks who remain ESPN standard league-relevant, yet are still available in a large number of leagues.
Ivan Herrera, C, St. Louis Cardinals, 41.0% rostered Louis Varland, RP, Toronto Blue Jays, 51.7% rostered
A 30-year-old currently with his sixth professional organization, Junk is probably perceived by many as a journeyman rotation fill-in — hardly a relevant piece in fantasy leagues. His dedication to improving his game over the past year-plus is paying dividends, however, as this season he’s throwing his four-seam fastball faster (career-high 94.2 mph average) and with more break, and using the sneaky-good changeup he reintroduced last season more than he ever has before (19.4% usage).
The Yankees might have 22 million reasons to keep playing Trent Grisham regularly, but sandwiching his 34-HR 2025 are three seasons in which he hit sub-.200 with sub-.400 slugging percentages, arguably making him more of a defensive than offensive consideration. Dominguez is worth the stash to see how this outfield shakes out.
Jacob Latz, RP/SP, Texas Rangers (8.3% rostered): Another “woulda thunk him a starter” pitcher at the season’s onset, Latz’s four-pitch repertoire has played excellently in short relief, and he has notched each of the Rangers’ past three saves. Most notable was his two-inning save on Wednesday, in a 3-0 victory over the New York Yankees that the Rangers effectively needed to win. He faced each of the Yankees’ top five hitters while allowing merely a ground-ball single to Ben Rice. Manager Skip Schumaker has said he’ll retain the option to summon Latz at any critical moment in the game, but he’s very clearly the team’s current top relief option, meaning he’ll likely get the ninth inning with regularity.
Deepest (AL- and NL-only leagues): Brice Matthews, 2B/OF, Houston Astros (1.6% rostered): Considering he has hit just .200 with a .264 OBP over parts of the last two seasons, it might feel like eons ago that Matthews (still only 24 years old and with just 39 games of MLB experience) was considered the Astros’ top prospect at the time of his July 11, 2025, debut. His free-swinging ways — he has a terrifying 40.3% career strikeout rate — need be reined in for him to truly flourish, but he offers good pop (16.1% Barrel rate) and is seeing enough time across three positions (2B, LF, CF) to warrant a pickup in AL-only and perhaps even 15-team leagues.
Tristan H. CockcroftMay 4, 2026, 09:22 AM ETCloseTristan H. Cockcroft is senior writer for fantasy baseball and football at ESPN. Tristan is a member of the FSWA Hall of Fame. He is also a two-time LABR and three-time Tout Wars champion.Follow on XMultiple Authors
CloseTristan H. Cockcroft is senior writer for fantasy baseball and football at ESPN. Tristan is a member of the FSWA Hall of Fame. He is also a two-time LABR and three-time Tout Wars champion.Follow on X