Around the League: Fantasy Risers: AL East

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Over the next several weeks, the Rotoworld staff will take an in-depth look at some players whose value is on the rise headed into the 2016 season. We’ll break them down by division. National League East was first, National League West went second, and now we’re on to the American League East.

The season just ended, but the Hot Stove is already picking up. Keep refreshing Rotoworld’s player news page for all the latest throughout the winter.

Manny Machado, 3B, Orioles

Machado’s inclusion here is too obvious to be insightful, but this article wouldn’t be serving its intended purpose if we left him out on the basis that he is too good and too fast-rising. No player in the American League East took a bigger step forward in 2015, and at only 23 years of age Machado has almost immeasurable upside.

Machado did hint at this level of stardom in 2013 — his first full major league season — when he slashed .283/.314/.432 with 14 home runs and 51 doubles in 156 games while playing Gold Glove-awarded defense at third base. But he was limited to 82 games in 2014 following the second major knee injury of his career and his average draft position (ADP) last spring in Yahoo leagues was 115. That’s the middle of the 11th round in standard 10-team formats. Machado should be a borderline first-round pick next spring after putting up 35 home runs, 86 RBI, 20 stolen bases, and 102 runs scored for the Orioles in 2015. He appeared in all 162 of Baltimore’s regular season games.

Mookie Betts, OF, Red Sox

2015 was a frustrating year for the Red Sox overall — they finished 15 games back in a bad division with a record of 78-84 and executed big late-season changes in the front office — but there were some positive developments from various corners of that roster over the course of the summer. We’ll touch on a number of them in this article. Mookie gets first billing.

Betts arrived on the scene for Boston in 2014 after tearing up Double-A and Triple-A, and he was granted starting center field duties leading into the beginning of the 2015 campaign. April didn’t go that well and his May was also a little slow, but Betts hit .315/.361/.525 from the beginning of June until the end of the regular season and he finished the year with 18 home runs, 21 stolen bases, 92 runs scored, and 77 RBI. He is only 23 years old and the Red Sox seem committed to him as their long-term leadoff man. The fantasy output should remain outstanding in 2016 and beyond. It might even improve as new club president Dave Dombrowski tries to rework this roster.

Roberto Osuna, RP, Blue Jays

Osuna was a surprise addition to the Blue Jays’ 2015 Opening Day roster, becoming the youngest pitcher to appear in a game for the organization at age 20 and the first player born in 1995 to arrive in Major League Baseball. Toronto’s immediate late-inning struggles thrust Osuna into a high-leverage role almost right away, and he was the Blue Jays’ primary ninth-inning man by the end of June. He kept that closer job through the end of the regular season and into the playoffs, helping the Jays make a run to the American League Championship Series.

Osuna finished with a 2.58 ERA and 0.919 WHIP in his first 68 major league appearances, striking out 75 batters and walking only 16 in 69 2/3 innings. That’s a rare level of success for someone so young, and the consistent command is an especially encouraging thing. Osuna figures to enter the 2016 season as the Blue Jays’ closer — barring a big offseason trade or free agent signing — and he’ll be a good bet for 35-40 saves if everything goes according to plan. Toronto still has that quick-strike offense intact and the club should open the 2016 season as favorites in the American League East.

Luis Severino, SP, Yankees

The next great Yankees pitcher got his first closeup in 2015 at age 21, and the bright lights didn’t seem to bother him one bit. Severino was called to the majors on August 5 to debut against the rival Red Sox after posting a shiny 1.91 ERA across 61 1/3 innings (11 starts) at Triple-A. He held Boston to one earned run over five innings while striking out seven and then continued to pitch with that kind of dominance and poise through the end of the MLB regular season, finishing with a 2.89 ERA after his first 62 1/3 major league frames.

There was only one bad blip — an ugly September meeting with the high-powered Blue Jays.

Severino throws a high-90s fastball, a high-80s “power” change, and a tight slider that averaged 89.3 mph in 2015. That’s front-of-the-rotation stuff, and he seems to have the kind of easy mechanics to make it all work for a long time. Severino should push near 200 innings with the Yankees in 2016 after combining for 161 2/3 innings between Double-A Trenton, Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and New York City in 2015.

Xander Bogaerts, SS, Red Sox

Bogaerts didn’t generate the most attractive counting stats in 2015 — only 10 steals and seven homers — but he did score quite a few runs (84) and drive in a bunch too (81). And his batting average for the year was .320, second in the American League behind only Miguel Cabrera. That’s very good production at the shortstop position, and fantasy owners looking ahead to 2016 can expect his overall power to improve.

Bogaerts was a 20-homer guy in the lower levels of the minor leagues and he slugged 12 home runs in 144 games for the Red Sox in 2014. The young right-handed-hitter should figure out how to flick some more balls over the Green Monster in left while the new-look Boston front office makes improvements to the cast that will surround him. There is some very exciting shortstop talent in the American League between Bogaerts, Francisco Lindor of the Indians, and newly-crowned 2015 Rookie of the Year Carlos Correa. Troy Tulowitzki and Andrelton Simmons are in the American League now too.

Marcus Stroman, SP, Blue Jays

Stroman was expected to miss the entire 2015 campaign when he tore the ACL in his left knee during a spring training drill, but he worked his tail off to expedite the rehab process and the young right-hander made his season debut on September 12 against the Yankees with five solid innings. He went seven innings of one-run ball in his next start (versus the Red Sox), seven scoreless innings the outing after that (again facing the Yankees), and he finished the regular season working eight dominant innings against the Orioles. In total, Stroman produced a 1.67 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and 18/6 K/BB ratio in 27 frames, setting himself up to play a prominent role in October as a member of the Blue Jays’ postseason rotation.

He is locked into a starting rotation spot for 2016 and the expectations have every reason to be high after how he performed down the stretch in 2015. Stroman throws six different pitches — a four-seamer, a sinker, a changeup, a slider, a cutter, and a curve — and he has pretty good control of all of them. The dude is like a junkballer, but with a confident finely-tuned arsenal.

Devon Travis, 2B, Blue Jays

Travis was one of our favorite sleepers here at Rotoworld leading into the 2015 season and he made us look really smart in the early going, putting up a 1.019 OPS with seven home runs and 23 RBI in his first 24 major league games. But a late-May shoulder injury pushed his promising rookie campaign off the rails and he eventually decided to undergo surgery after a couple different comeback attempts.

Ryan Goins took over as the Blue Jays’ second baseman and drew raves for his defense while even showing some surprising pop in the American League Championship Series. Goins poses a threat to Travis’ potential playing time in 2016, but we feel relatively confident that Travis will be the guy if he’s given a clean bill of health heading into spring training. Goins, 27, profiles much better as a utility infielder. Travis, 24, has the goods to be a long-term starter at the keystone.

Honorable Mentions

Logan Forsythe, 2B, Rays

Forsythe entered the 2015 season as a .235/.303/.343 career hitter with little shot at claiming an everyday gig in Tampa Bay, but Nick Franklin — the Rays’ projected starting second baseman — suffered a severe oblique injury during spring training and wound up missing the first seven weeks. Forsythe jumped at the opportunity and ran away with the starting second base job, batting .281/.359/.444 with 17 home runs and 68 RBI in 153 games. That’s useful fantasy production from any middle infield spot. Forsythe looks like a legitimate late-bloomer at age 28.

Eduardo Rodriguez, SP, Red Sox

You think the Orioles regret sending Rodriguez to Boston for two months of Andrew Miller? That was rhetorical. Rodriguez posted a 2.98 ERA, 1.097 WHIP, and 44/7 K/BB ratio in 48 1/3 innings this past season at Triple-A Pawtucket and then registered a 3.85 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, and 98/37 K/BB ratio in 121 2/3 innings with the Red Sox. He’s a well-built, 22-year-old left-hander with the profile of an eventual front-line starter. Look for him to flirt with 200 innings in 2016.

Rusney Castillo, OF, Red Sox

Castillo has been a bust, for the most part, since signing a seven-year, $72.5 million contract with Boston after defecting from his native Cuba in August 2014. But the great tools he possesses are evident whenever he steps on the field and it sounds like the Red Sox are committed to making him part of their long-term outfield mix. With both speed and power, the dynamic 28-year-old is going to be worth a flier in drafts next spring.

Chris Colabello, 1B, Blue Jays

Colabello always showed flashes in Minnesota, but any power surge would usually be met with a fade. He finally found some consistency this past season in Toronto, hitting .321/.367/.520 with 15 home runs and 54 RBI in 101 games. There should be more playing time made available to him in 2016 between the corner outfield spots, first base, and DH. We’ll see if he’s a one-year wonder or if the change of scenery kicked in something real.

Kevin Kiermaier, OF, Rays

Most of his value comes from the defensive end — he set records for defensive runs saved in 2015 — but Kiermaier is also capable of generating some fantasy production as well. He stole 86 bases in the minor leagues and tallied 18 swipes in 23 attempts this past year with the Rays. The rangy 25-year-old center fielder also has a combined 20 home runs over the last two seasons.

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