5 Players I'm Not Leaving My Fantasy Baseball Draft Without
Five players I that I must have in my fantasy baseball drafts.
Plus: An ode to Uncle Charlie, the Eagles taking a massive L, the Atlanta Dream investing in their future, and more.
Folx, I want to talk to you about Uncle Charlie.
See, this story would be better if I actually had an Uncle Charlie, but I don’t.
No, see the Uncle Charlie that I’m referring to has to do with baseball.
This Uncle Charlie isn’t the nickname for a curveball, which was named after a Harvard professor, Charles Eliot, who was “appalled” by the pitch. It’s also not about Adam Wainwright, whose curveball earned him the nickname Uncle Charlie.
But it’s about a fantasy baseball league (that I’m not in) and a group chat (that I am in).
My best friend lives in Boston, and he’s in a longstanding fantasy league that has some really, really weird scoring with his childhood and college friends.
Not an original story, I know. But even though I’m not in this league, I can say that it’s the league I look forward to the most every single year.
The guys get together – 2025 will be the first time the entire group drafts together in years given the geographical locations of them – draft, talk shit, have some beers, and then, I get the text.
“Are you ready?”
It’s from my aforementioned friend.
They know that I love fantasy baseball. They know that I write about fantasy baseball. Some of them (you know who you are), text me and ask me questions throughout the season to see what I would recommend.
But what they like the most is whenever I rank their teams.
I get sent the rosters. I take my time, sorting through them. And then … the slow reveal from 10 to 1.
And, from what I’m told and the videos I see, they sit, anxiously waiting for the rankings to come in.
They mean nothing. I know absolutely nothing, but the group chat blows up with the Waterloo Rankings, and I get to hear it (my friend apologizes each year, despite it being insanely fun shit talk), all season based on their preseason ranks.
I’m not positive, but I think some of them draft just for me based on the players that I like.
I was hoping to make it up for the actual draft this year, but life got in the way. I’m not an Uncle Charlie member, but I like to think of myself as extended family.
5 Players I Must Have in Fantasy Baseball
I’ve cut way down on my fantasy baseball consumption and activity. It just became too much, but I’ve done my share of drafts, podcasts, and writing ahead of the season. Since we are just a couple of weeks away from the official Opening Day, here are the five players that I’ve targeted in every single draft I’ve done.
Hayden Birdsong (SP - SFG)
Admittedly, I’m probably too invested in Hayden Birdsong. He’s just one of those guys that I watch, see the stuff, and I can’t help but buy in.
What’s more, he has veteran Justin Verlander in camp with him, which is one hell of a mentor.
As of now, Birdsong is on the outside looking in for a rotation spot, as he’s battling Kyle Harrison and Landen Roupp for the final spot. The negatives are loud for Birdsong, as he allows a lot of hard contact, and he really struggles with his control and command.
But in spring, we’ve seen some changes with him. We’ve seen about three inches of cut and an inch of break to his 4-seamer, which can help elevate his Stuff+. What’s more, the kick-change being a viable third pitch to complement the fastball and curveball would work wonders for Birdsong realizing his mid-rotation potential and SP3-4 fantasy potential.
If Birdsong is unable to get his control under, well, control, he’ll be a bullpen guy long term. But if he can, he just needs the chance in San Francisco’s rotation to be a viable fantasy option. With guys like Robbie Ray, Verlander, Harrison, and Jordan Hicks ahead of him, he should be able to find his way to big-league innings in short order.
Cam Smith (3B/OF - HOU)
Isaac Paredes (3B - HOU)
And suddenly, the Kyle Tucker trade doesn’t look so bad, does it? We’ll actually be talking about two players that the Astros received in this trade – both of which help to ease the loss of Tucker for the Astros.
Let’s start with Smith, the Cubs first-round pick last season. He’s had a red-hot spring, and he’s shown no signs of slowing down. In fact, the chatter around Houston is that they are looking at him to break camp with the team. Smith, a third baseman, is working out in right field as a way to increase his chance of breaking with the team, which has been in the works since January.
Smith is slashing a sustainable (it’s not) .529/.636/.1.000 in Spring Training with two home runs in 22 plate appearances.
It’s always a gamble with young players – especially players who were just drafted a year ago – but Smith is an FV 50 player with 60-grade raw power with good bat-to-ball ability. He’s very, very enticing.
As is Paredes, who is the other big name to get traded from the Cubs to the Astros. And man, if you want to talk about the excitement of a Pitch Perfect Riff-Off, it’s this.
Paredes had a 35.2 and 34.5 Pull AIR% the last two years, more than double that of the average MLB player. His game is made for Minute Maid Park, as you can see by his 2024 Spray Chart.
The dimensions in Houston favor everyone (it made Alex Bregman look like a power hitter, FFS), and with Paredes, it’ll make him look like a 35-40 homer guy.
Brandon Pfaadt (SP - ARI)
I was on the CBS Fantasy Baseball podcast last week, and I was able to draft one of my favorite players in Pfaadt. Scott White is not a fan of Pfaadt, and we had a nice discussion around him.
For me, it’s all about the underlying numbers with Pfaadt. He pitched to the tune of a 4.71 ERA last year, but the ERA indicators say that he was really unlucky. His xERA was 3.78, his xFIP 3.58, and his SIERA 3.65.
Pfaadt features a fix-pitch arsenal, with his sweeper being my favorite. It had a 36.2 Whiff% on it with an xBA of .195. Since debuting, he ranks in the top 20 in MLB in K-BB% (18.8).
Throughout camp, reports are showing that Pfaadt is throwing a different slot, adding more cut to his fastball.
Pfaadt can put it altogether to be an SP2 for fantasy. Sorry, Scott. You’re going to miss out on him.
Spencer Schwellenbach (SP - ATL)
If you asked me in August, I wasn’t going to be a Schwellenbach guy. He had all of the makings of a “who the hell is this?” player who pops up with unsustained success.
But all he does is pitch and pitch well. He has six pitches that are all solid to plus-pitches, and he has elite command, excelling at getting hitters to chase his offerings out of the zone.
It’s exactly what you want from your SP2 and especially if you can get him as an SP3. What’s crazy is that he isn’t even the best Spencer in the Braves’ starting rotation.
Atlanta Dream Moves Its Home Opener ... A Sign of the Future?
Was it the worst-kept secret in recent times? No, hardly. But anyone who saw the way that teams in the WNBA were moving their home games against the Indiana Fever had to have known the same thing was going to happen this year, too.
The Atlanta Dream wasted no time in announcing that they’ll be moving their home opener from the 3,500-seat Gateway Center Arena to the near-17,000 capacity State Farm Arena on May 22.
Not a surprise, but the Atlanta Dream announce that their season-opener on May 22 against the Indiana Fever will indeed be played at State Farm Arena. #WNBA @winsidr.com
— Pitch Mr. Perfect (@michaelwaterloo.bsky.social) March 12, 2025 at 9:32 AM
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What’s interesting is that the Dream, who along with the Washington Mystics and the Dallas Wings, play in one of the smaller arenas in the WNBA.
Is it intimate? Yes. It is. Fans get to be up close and personal – for better and worse – with the stars around the league. But times are changing. We are seeing free agents – especially ahead of the new CBA where players not on a rookie deal will hit the open market after this season – are really looking at organizational structure as a selling point.
Practice facilities. Top-of-the-line workout rooms. Investments from the ownership groups. Key arenas.
And for the first time, we heard that the Dream are taking steps to make this happen as far as investing in a new arena.
In a conversation with Front Office Sports, Atlanta Dream team president Morgan Shaw Parker said that they are looking at options for a new home for the Dream.
“We’re actively seeking our long-term home,” Shaw Parker said. “We are seeking opportunities to either partner [with an existing stadium] or build our own.” She said the team is looking at options in the city and within the greater Atlanta area.
The article states that the goal for the arena would be to seat around 12,000 to 14,000 fans.
That’s huge not just for the team and the players who could look at Atlanta as a future home – the team signed Brittney Griner, Brionna Jones, and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough this offseason – but also for the fans, who regularly sell out the College Park arena.
The Eagles Took the W but Then Took the L
Listen, I plugged his newsletter on Monday because I genuinely love it. I’ll also likely have him on to discuss sneakers at some point, because it’s a love that we both have. But I didn’t know that Mike Sykes was going to drop some heat like he did this week about the Eagles accepting a visit to the White House.
A selling point of pulling for the Eagles in the Super Bowl over the Kansas City Chiefs was that we knew that Kansas City would visit the White House – or the Tesla car dealership or whatever you want to call it – should it win.
The Chiefs lost, but the Eagles may take a bigger L with visiting the white house “enthusiastically.”
Politics and sports will always be intertwined. Hell, there’s a show of nationalism ahead of every single even by singing The Star-Spangled Banner. It’ll be interesting to see who from the Eagles attends, and what the potential blowback will be.
We already saw that numpty Harrison Butker – who would have been more productive in the Super Bowl if he stayed at home in his kitchen – visit his hero Donald Trump in February.
Mike nails it, so be sure to give it a read.
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Next Week’s Newsletter
Next week’s newsletter is going to be a lot of fun. Truth be told – it’s the piece that I’ve been working on that was the genesis of Walking Bucket, and it was supposed to kick off the entire newsletter.
I’m wrapping it up now, and while the early-week newsletter is usually reserved for only subscribers, I’m going to open this one up to everyone.
Stay tuned!
Until Next Time
Keep an eye out on your mailbox for the next Walking Bucket.
Until next time.
I love you awesome nerds.
