On The Lookout: Wednesday, 3/1

The calendar has flipped to March with rotations beginning to turn over for the first time while World Baseball Classic players are making their final Spring appearances before joining their respective camps.

Here's what we are on the lookout for on Wednesday:

Andrew Painter Time

The Cloverdale Clovers were already salivating over the 2023 debut of Ricky Tiedemann on Tuesday who sat at 97-99 with a wipeout slider in his one clean inning of work. It's hard to believe the club could have an even better pitching prospect but Andrew Painter is earning that praise entering the season. The 6'7" 19-year-old pitched at three different levels in 2022, going 6-1 with a 1.56 ERA, racking up 155 strikeouts in 103.2 innings pitched, holding opposing hitters to a .188 batting average. He was acquired from the Alamo Short Stacks in a blockbuster deal that sent Rafael Devers, Juan Soto and others to the eventual 2022 Champions.

Stacks Await MRI Results on Rodgers

When Rockies second baseman Brendan Rodgers dislocated his shoulder yesterday, manager Bud Black indicated that there would be more information on the timetable for his return “in the coming day.” Black’s comments indicate that Opening Day may be in question for Rodgers, who would be good to go in “a few weeks” if all goes well. Rodgers, who won a Gold Glove at second base and posted a strong 4.3 bWAR in 2022. After being acquired by the Stacks in early May, Rodgers turned it up a level slashing .284/.344/.439 over his final 491 at-bats, overcoming a rough start to the season.

The Stacks lost fellow middle infielder Gavin Lux for the season on Monday while Miguel Vargas (finger) continues to battle back from a fracture in his finger.

Shaking Off 2022 Injury Concerns

Shane McClanahan (Hops) and Matt Manning (Taters) are set for their 2023 Spring Training debuts after each dealing with elbow issues to end the 2022 season. All reports have been positive on both players entering camp as they are set to serve important roles in their respective RDBL rotations. McClanahan was one of the top arms in the league a season ago, posting 537.0 points with a 2.54 ERA an 0.93 WHIP.

Alcantara 2023 Encore

The Fringe will have their ace Sandy Alcantara for the first time in 2023 after capturing the 2022 RDBL Pitcher of the Year Award. Alcantara posted 733.0 points last season, 86.0 points more than the next best pitcher and the 9th most full season points in RDBL History. His 614.0 points in the RDBL Regular Season were the second best mark in League History as he looks to continue that momentum into 2023, his last season under contract with the Fringe.

Grapes Rotation

Grapes GM Terry Shelley was less than enthused with Jose Quintana's outing on Tuesday after he surrendered five earned runs while failing to make it out of the first inning. This came after Luis Severino gave up four earned runs in two innings of work on Monday. That moves the spotlight to Brady Singer who will make his Spring debut on Wednesday after a breakout season where he posted 374.0 points with a strong 3.23 ERA and 1.14 WHIP in 153 1/3 innings.

With starting pitching the most readily available asset on the trade market, keep an eye on the Grapes over the next few weeks if their pitchers continue to falter.

2023 RDBL Schedule Released

The 10th Season of Roger Dorn Baseball is closing in with just under a month until the RDBL Draft. The 2023 Season is headlined by a blockbuster Free Agent Class and what looks to be another healthy year for parity and depth of competition.

The 2023 Season will mark a pair of in-season rule changes that are highlighted below with the addition of the Free Agent Bidding Process and the RDBL Trade Deadline being moved up two periods.

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Monday, March 20th: Keeper Rosters Due to Commissioner

Full Keeper Rosters including Minor Leaguers are due to the Commissioner's Office by midnight on Monday, March 20th. This includes decisions on activations.

Monday, March 27th: 2023 RDBL Draft

The 10th Draft in Roger Dorn Baseball League History will take place on Monday, March 27th. The start time will be announced closer to Draft Day but we are likely to start at either 11am or 12pm. The Draft will take place in Concord in-person along with the option of Zoom.

Wednesday Night, March 29th: First Waiver Claims Processed

The 2023 Season will make the addition of a Free Agent Bidding process through CBS. This will allow teams to have full control of their waiver additions, eliminating the email back and forth with the Commissioner.

- All teams will start the season with a $100 Free Agent Budget. The team with the highest bid will be awarded the player.

- In-Season Waiver Claims will be processed overnight on Sundays as it was in previous seasons.

- We have eliminated the limitations on claims. Teams can claim/drop as many players as they wish on a weekly basis.

- Claims can be submitted at any point during the week, eliminating the Sunday night work.

- Claims can be submitted with a $0 bid. If that bid goes unchallenged, that team will be awarded the player.

Thursday, March 30th: 2023 Opening Day

Following the processing of Waiver Claims overnight on Wednesday, teams will set their lineups for Period 1 which will run Thursday to Sunday.

Monday, May 22nd: Prospect Activation Window Opens

Players that made the Opening Day Roster and were not activated by their RDBL Franchise can begin to be added to the Active Roster at the beginning of Period 9 (Monday, 5/22).

The "Fernando Tatis, Jr. Rule" remains in place allowing teams a 24-hour window to activate prospects who are promoted to the Big Leagues between Opening Day on Period 9.

Monday, July 17th: RDBL Trade Deadline (Start of Period 17)

As agreed to this off-season, the RDBL Trade Deadline has been moved up two weeks after sharing the date of the MLB Trade Deadline since 2013. This will provide six remaining periods of play in the RDBL Regular Season compared to four in previous seasons.

Monday, July 31st: RDBL Keeper Deadline

Claims processed on Monday, 7/31, the start of Period 19, will mark the final eligibility for players to be Keepers for 2024. Any players added or dropped after 7/31 will not be eligible to be retained for 2024.

Sunday, August 27th: End of Regular Season (Period 22)

The Regular Season Champion will be crowned on Sunday, August 27th at the completion of Period 22.

Monday, August 28th: Start of 2023 Playoffs

The RDBL added the Playoff System in 2016 with the top six teams through Period 22 entering a five week season to crown the RDBL Champion.

2023 Market Overview: Third Base

The Third Base Market has already been quite hot this Winter, led by last week's trade of Nolan Arenado to the Cloverdale Clovers as the firesale of the Mission Viejo Maulers continued. It's a position that is deep at both the big league level and the upper Minors with several big name prospects ready or nearing to take over big league jobs in 2023.

Slugger Rafael Devers leads the 2023 Free Agent Class at the position after just finishing up his Rookie contract with the Alamo Short Stacks after a mid-season deal from the Cloverdale Clovers.

​Top RDBL Free Agents	Top Trade Candidates
1. Rafael Devers, Red Sox 2. Ryan McMahon, Rockies 3. DJ LeMahieu, Yankees 4. Yoan Moncada, White Sox 5. Anthony Rendon, Angels	1. Alex Bregman (2/$36), Maulers 2. Max Muncy (3/$17), Falcons 3. Justin Turner (3/$16), Devils 4. Brandon Drury (2FA/$5), Maulers 5. Ha-seong Kim (2/$1), Maulers
Top Available Prospects	Top RDBL Prospects
1. Cam Collier, Reds 2. Colt Keith, Tigers 3. Deyvison De Los Santos, D'Backs 4. Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Reds 5. Jordan Westburg, Orioles	1. Gunnar Henderson, Jokers 2. Brett Baty, Hops 3. Curtis Mead, Grapes 4. Josh Jung, Taters 5. Jose Miranda, Falcons
2022 Rankings	​2023 Projections
1. Jose Ramirez (Devils), 478.0 2. Austin Riley (Heads), 468.5 3. Manny Machado (Stacks), 467.5 4. Nolan Arenado (Clovers), 438.5 5. Rafael Devers (FA), 427.5	​1. Jose Ramirez (Devils), 513.0 2. Manny Machado (Stacks), 505.5 3. Nolan Arenado (Clovers), 447.5 4. Rafael Devers (FA), 422.0 5. Alex Bregman (Maulers), 411.5

Team Needs

Idaho Taters, Asti Grape Stompers, Cloverdale Clovers, Lunatic Fringe, Lake Merced Goutfish, Mission Viejo Maulers, Burlingame Blue Ducks, Meinert Hops

Top Free Agent

Coming out of the break, Rafael Devers .324/.379/.602 was pacing for a career-best year. He then spent 10 days on the IL with a sore hamstring. After returning, Devers was unable to recapture form, posting a .248/.325/.383 line the rest of the way. Other than the 1.5-mph drop in fly-ball exit velocity, Devers' underlying skills weren't much different over the second half, but his BABIP dropped from .353 to .289. For the season, he still managed a career-best 140 wRC+, but a drop in homers and a less potent Red Sox lineup resulted in fewer than 90 runs and 90 RBI for Devers. He eclipsed the century mark in each of the prior two full seasons. His defense remained below average, but he showed signs of improvement. With Devers still just 26-year-old, his best season is probably yet to come. He doesn't run, but Devers crushes the rest of the categories. He may not be first-round material, but he's in the discussion.

Under the Radar Free Agent

Anthony Rendon is probably dead to many Angels fans, who lament the club’s $245 million investment in him. To this point, that outlay has resulted in just 157 games played in three years. One of those was the pandemic-shortened season, but since 2021 Rendon has played in just 105 contests. A multitude of leg issues which sidelined him in 2021–groin, knee, hamstring and hip maladies, to be specific–before wrist surgery knocked him out for a large chunk of 2022.

The veteran third baseman was able to return late in the season, setting him up for a normal offseason for the first time in a while. It was reported recently that he feels “fantastic” headed into camp. Fantasy managers in early drafts, though, are understandably taking a “I’ll believe it when I see it” stance. Rendon is currently being selected well outside the top-200 overall picks and barely inside the top-20, even at a position which is among the weakest.

The batted ball data from Rendon the last two seasons hasn’t been great, but it’s tough to know how much, if at all, to read into that given how banged up he’s been. His excellent batting eye is still there with an 11.8% walk rate and 17.2% strikeout rate.

Top Trade Candidate While he will always have his vocal detractors as a result of his purported involvement in the 2019 Astros cheating scandal, Alex Bregman should be able to rest easy at night knowing he's lived up to expectations as the No. 2 overall pick in 2015. He's a two-time All-Star and now a two-time World Series champion, having hit .294/.379/.569 in the most recent postseason to help manager Dusty Baker secure his first ring. Bregman was limited in 2021 due to quad and hamstring issue and underwent wrist surgery in November of 2021, which may have sapped his power early on in the 2022 campaign (.410 SLG at the end of June). He would go on to slug over .500 after the All-Star break. Running is something Bregman has abandoned, but the highly-capable bat and RBI opportunities batting behind Jose Altuve, Jeremy Pena and Yordan Alvarez make Bregman an appealing option to consider after the elite tier of third basemen are off the board.

Top Prospect Available

It’s clear that Cam Collier likes to be challenged. He finished high school early, reclassified for the 2022 Draft and went to Chipola Junior College, where hit hit .333/.419/.537 as a 17-year old. That helped him land in the first round to the Reds, and he swung the bat well during a brief pro debut. He has a sweet left-handed swing that’s loose and has excellent bat speed. He makes a ton of contact and uses the whole field well but comes with a long ETA after just being selected and playing the entire 2023 season at age 18.

Top RDBL Prospect

Gunnar Henderson was perhaps baseball’s biggest breakout prospect in 2022. After struggling for years with high strikeout rates, the former 2019 second-round pick finally put it all together. He dominated both Double-A and Triple-A before receiving a promotion to the Major Leagues. All he did in his Major League debut was post a 125 wRC+ with an 18/600 home run pace. The strikeout rate did creep back up in Triple-A and the Major Leagues, providing a little bit of concern, but at just 21 years old Henderson has plenty of time to develop. With plus speed and plus power, and an at least average hit tool, Henderson has the looks of being a big-time fantasy asset for years to come. Henderson has the upside to hit 30 home runs with 15-20 stolen bases in the middle of an improving Baltimore lineup.