Gerbil's Waiver Wire, Week 2 - The George Klassen Edition
- John Gerbino
- 5 hours ago
- 10 min read
Updated: 2 minutes ago
Welcome, friends. Today is a special day, so I'm pretty damned excited. My #2 ranked, yet-to-debut pitching prospect, George Klassen, is making his MLB debut! This kid has some of the most effortless stuff you'll see, and after watching his first start, I'm extremely impressed with just how well his stuff plays against MLB hitting...when he can locate it. That's one of the better 4-seams I've had the pleasure of watching in 2026!
If you want more info on George Klassen, please check this out!
Speaking of prospects, I'll be spending a lot of time this week writing dynasty write-ups over on the Patreon for subscribers. With all levels of the minors beginning play, there's plenty of work to be done. I'll probably be watching dozens of hours of minor league film, primarily focusing on pitching to begin the season, as stuff is more sticky in a small sample size.
Dylan Beavers
Awesome to see the Beaver Boy slowly but surely earning an everyday role in the Orioles' outfield. His bat-to-ball skills continue to shine through with above-average Whiff and K rates carrying the load. Would I like to see Beavers take some walks, especially when his chase rate clocks in at a respectable 52nd percentile rate? Sure.
But then again, if pitchers are willing to throw him strikes, and they aren't actually throwing him balls in late counts, then what else is he supposed to do, other than hit the ball? And that leads us to his quality of contact, which is just fine - not great, but not bad. Is the average exit velocity a bit low? Sure. But, the hard-hit and barrel rates hovering right around the 50th percentile mark are going to be just fine. Beavers can drive the ball through the gaps with this kind of power, and consequently leg out lots of doubles and triples.
Back to that average exit velocity real quick though, which indicates Beavers is making some weak contact on groundballs (53% groundball rate on the season before today's contest); even when Beavers is making "poor" contact like this, his 97th percentile sprint speed allows him to get down the line and beat the throw pretty often. Beavers is earning lots of tough singles that most guys couldn't dream of. I call this "fuck you fast". I'd wager it's only a matter of time before he starts swiping bags.
Erik Sabrowski, RP, CLE
Sabrowski continues to pitch in a way that, in saves & holds leagues, has him entrenched as a top 10 reliever in fantasy. He's actually that good. His stuff is borderline un-hittable, to the point that his underwhelming BB% doesn't even matter. Sabrowski doesn't give a shit when it comes to allowing baserunners - who's going to drive them in. after all? His ability to remain unbothered by a runner at 1B is remarkable (looking at you, Aroldis) and it can't be overstated how important this quality is in a reliever. Too many times will a reliever get into trouble and lose focus on the main task at hand, that being K'ing the opponent at the plate.
Really, really take a hard look at Sabrowski's body of work since 2024. A 0.00 ERS over 12 innings in 2025. A 1.84 ERA over 29.1 innings in 2025. A 0.00 ERA over 3.2 innings in 2026.
Sabrowski is as elite as they come. He's arguably the best reliever in baseball. I could once again go over his xBA and historically high iVB on the 4-seam, etc. But it's getting repetitive.
Much increased iVB and a generally healthier body have imbued McCullers with vitality and power beyond our understanding. He's turned the back the clock and is beginning to look a bit like that mid 2010s Lance McCullers that fucked people up with a nasty curveball.
His sinker, in particular, looks to be the secret sauce after one start, as he's thrown it on 33% usage while demoting the 4-seam to an 8.3% usage rate. And though the sinker emerged from game 1 with a .234 xBA against, not a single hit was given up on the pitch. This thing is inducing tons of groundballs to kick off the campaign - I'm talking an absurd 83.3% GB rate. As long as the defense holds up behind McCullers, we could be looking at a very good primary sinker, exactly the type of change McCullers needs to make at this point of his career. With the sinker being the primary pitch against RHH and the cutter being the primary pitch against LHH, it looks like an effective game-plan is in place.
Fangraphs has graded his stuff as above-average with a 102 Stuff+ right now. This could be a solid move in deep redraft leagues.
Max Muncy,3B, LVA
This guy right here? He's currently the Blast King of the 2026 season with an insane 40% blast per contact. His bat speed is up to a stellar 91st percentile rate (70th in 2025), and with it, all of his power metrics. Sure, he's chasing, whiffing, K'ing, and not walking - but as long as he keeps finding his pitches to hit, who cares? The craziest part of the bat speed increase is just how well he's squaring up on the ball - squaring up on the ball is the ability to make the most ideal contact possible relative to the bat speed. With bat speed this high, you almost never see a squared up rate even remotely in this realm. Is this due for regression? Probably. Or maybe Max Muncy is on his way to being one of the best hitters in the league? Improbable, but can't be discounted.
The profile here looks a lot like the Barger of 2025 (don't remind me), and it looks like Max Muncy is finally living up to his prospect pedigree.
Dillon Dingler, C, DET
At what point does Dingler become a mainstay, must-own player? I feel like I'm writing about this guy every other week going back to the beginning of last season, and he's only gotten better! Thus far, he's crushed every aspect of power and launch angle metrics, alongside some great production - a .273 BA, .385 OBP, and .976 OPS are wonderful! Not only is the quality of contact better here, but the BB% has gone up a bit too! Let's take a peek at the swing changes between 2025 and 2026!
A few tweaks to his stance and depth in the box plus a small bat speed increase has Dingler with a much higher ideal attack angle% in 2026, without compromising his ideal pull tendency. That's led to this:
That's 28.6% Pull AIR is looking beautiful, alongside an exemplary total AIR % of 71%. Will we see some regression? Probably. But as long as Dingler continues to hit the ball hard and in the air, he's a must-add C in deeper leagues, with upside even in shallow leagues.
Ryan Feltner, SP, COL
A bit like Keaton Winn, Feltner has always been one of those guys that I've kind of watched and think to myself " This guy actually doesn't look too, I see some potential."
I'd see him turn up the 4-seam to 96-97 mph and I'd see him throw a variety of good pitches all across the zone. But between playing in COL and constantly being injured, things have never seemed to align for Feltner over the last few years. Even in his very first start this season, he got nailed by a comebacker and had to exit the game after three dominant innings pitched. Almost seems like he's cursed, no? As it stands, Fangraphs has graded the stuff here at 104, which would be a career high mark for Feltner.
His 4-seam has increased by almost 2 mph, and his iVB is up 2.3 inches. The slider now has a more distinct shape from the 4-seam and may play up much better - in this first start, his slider wasn't put in play and had a 40% whiff rate.
Justin Slaten, RP, BOS
Slaten's stuff is coming in strong for a 3rd straight season - though sometimes that stuff can be quite uncontrollable, as evidenced by a problematic 2.25 WHIP and 5th percentile BB rate.
But with that WHIP comes a 0.00 ERA and 3 Ks through 1.1 innings. Classic double-edged sword. One could chalk this up to simply rust, or, one could take note of his new pitch mix!
Not only has Slaten scrapped the curveball, but the usage on the three remaining pitches has drastically changed:
Cutter, 34.3 to 46.4%
Sweeper, 11.4 to 35.7%
4-Seam, 36.3 to 17.9%
Interesting to see this drastic change, alebeit through a small sample size. It's clear that Slaten is spamming the cutter against RHH while cutting out the 4-seam. Whether or not it's more effective is to be determined.
Griffin Conine,
On a fateful day in 2025, I had a decision to make. I was dead-set on adding Isaac Collins, so much so, that I was "forced" to drop an outfielder. I owned two Marlins - Griffin Conine and Kyle Stowers, both Gerbil Sports favorites. After hours of deliberation, I ultimately chose to drop Kyle Stowers. Conine then dislocated his shoulder, while Kyle Stowers went on to have an all-star season.
Mistakes happen. But what exactly am I trying to say here? I guess that I quite like Griffin Conine?
I think the hit-tool here is extremely underrated, as evidenced by the elite bat speed, launch angles, and hard-hit%. Whenever I watched Griffin Conine smack a baseball back in 2025, it just...looked different. He looks even better in 2026. Conine is a toolsy OF who's now looking like the complete package as an everyday OF for the Marlins - great defense and excellent hitting.
Randy Vasquez, SP, SD
Two straight quality starts for Vasquez to start the season, what more could you want? Since today's start isn't included in the statcast, and we already addressed his previous start, let's take a look at that.
I noticed this almost immediately, but this just confirms it - Vasquez' velocity was down big time today. His 4-seam averaged 93.6 mph after sitting at 95 mph all through Spring and his season debut. Fortunately, though, the iVB was up another inch, now at at 17. Even with the velocity down, this was still a hard-to-hit rising 4-seam. The sinker and changeup also suffered from velocity loss, but still remained effective. In fact, the changeup induced 5 whiffs on 7 pitches!
I understand that not all velocity increases are lasting; we're simply being hopeful with Vasquez. But if the better pitch shape and movement somehow sticks, even if the velocity reverts back to previous levels, Randy is still sitting in a pretty decent spot.
Sean Burke
After a miserably bad 2026 debut, Burke pitched a gem in his second start of the season - a 6.0 inning, 7K, 1.50 ERA quality start. For whatever reason, Burke's 4-seam velocity was inexplicably down in that first star, but it rebounded quite nicely in the second start, clocking in at 95 mph and bringing the 93 mph average up to 94.4 mph. This has kind of always been the issue with Burke - he goes as his 4-seam velocity goes, and that 'aint always going.
Whether or not you decide to trust Sean Burke as anything more than a high upside streamer is entirely up to you, obviously. Just know that when he has his stuff, his 4-seam is one of the better fastballs in the league - high extension, high iVB, and good velocity. Paired with a disgustingly good curveball and a changeup with signficant armside run, all of the tools of an ace are present with Burke. Sean Burke is a scythe pitcher.
Brady House
We wrote about House a bit last week, and he continues to destroy baseballs. But beyond the beautiful statcast, what's going on with House compared to his awful 2025 debut?
Like Dingler, we're seeing a few adjustments with a bat speed increase, and that's drastically improved the ideal attack angle for House. His overall attack direction tendency has shifted from extreme opposite to slightly opposite, and that helps his spray chart become less predictable for defenses. Simply put - he's getting better. Not too crazy for a 22 year old slugger, right?
TJ Rumfield Second Dinger of the season today:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DWwxvwED1RV/\ You should just add him. This guy is a launch angle, Pull AIR % champion. He's going to be an absolute menace at Coors. There's not much else for me to say, I've written about him several times going back to last year. The cat is out of the bag.
Cole Winn, RP, TEX
5 innings pitched. A 0.00 ERA. 5 Ks.
Winn is having a fantastic start to the 2026 season carried by three elite offspeed offerings: Cutter, .000 BA, .006 xBA, 50% Whiff Slider, .000 BA, .050 xBA, 50% whiff Splitter, .000 BA, .074 xBA, 50% whiff His 4-seam velocity is down 2 mph on the year, and yet, he's never looked better in his career, as his movement up across the board, including the iVB on the 4-seam. Winn has become more of a pitcher, and less of a thrower. After a 2025 campaign that saw Winn post a stellar 1.51 ERA and 0.96 WHIP, he's taken yet another step towards soldifying himself as one of the best releivers in the game. Remember, he's only 26.
Juan Morillo, RP, ARI
Remember how he struggled against the Dodgers, and I told you not to worry, because the stuff looked excellent? Morillo now has three holds on the season, and a firm hold on the setup role for the D-backs. He's a must-add in all holds leagues.
AJ Blubaugh, RP/SP, HOU
With Hunter Brown going down with injury, Blubaugh seems like the logical choice to replace him in the rotation. And that's fucking awesome, because I promise you, Blubaugh might very well be the best pitcher on this roster aside from Brown. For more info on Blubaugh, check out last week's post, or my "Underrated 4-seams" piece on Patreon.
River Ryan, #1 Stash
With Sheehan's dead arm and Roki Sasaki's dead-er arm, River Ryan is officially my #1 NA stash in redraft leagues. His stuff is absolutely incredible, and played up extremely well over Spring Training:
And beyond the Spring Training dominance, let's remember how River Ryan dominated major league hitting across 20 innings back in 2024:
River Ryan checks all the boxes - excellent pitch shape, pitch mix, velocity, and extension. He's your prototypical ace archetype, and with a 1.33 ERA and 1.18 WHIP across 20.1 innings, it showed. The stuff this Spring checks out, especially that 4-seam, clocking in at 97.4 mph with 15.7 inches iVB out of a high 3/4 arm slot. That's awesome. With Glasnow and Snell being as unreliable as pitchers come, and Sasaki and Sheehan begging more questions rather than answering them, it's only a matter of time before Ryan gets his shot to lock down a spot in this rotation for the foreseeable future.