Regan's Rumblings: Looking to Leave Impression

As the season winds down and football ramps up, that doesn't mean you should completely ignore your rosters in keeper/dynasty leagues in which you're out of the running. Teams are already giving their young talent extended looks as they evaluate the readiness of players with an eye toward 2021. This week, we'll look at a handful of players looking to leave a good impression.

Daulton Varsho, C, ARI

Varsho is seeing time both at catcher and in the outfield, though he's yet to impress at the plate. Through 70 plate appearances, Varsho is batting just .145/.243/.306 with a pair of homers and a nice three stolen bases. The 23-year-old has yet to see Triple-A, but the past two seasons combined at High-A and Double-A saw him bat a combined .294/.372/.490 with 29 homers and an impressive 40 stolen bases. Imagine having a catcher with 20-plus stolen base potential. He's always had excellent contact skills, striking out just 16.9 percent of the time the past two years, but not surprisingly, that has risen to 30 percent at the big league level. Varsho is struggling to make hard contact, so while his .179 BABIP should in theory fuel a batting average increase, he could struggle to hit .250 at this level unless he can start making more solid contact. At this point, it seems likely he'll open 2021 at the Triple-A level to focus on his bat.

Bobby Dalbec, 1B, BOS

The last-plate Red Sox are having open auditions, with guys like Dalbec, Michael Chavis, Christian Arroyo and Tanner Houck all seeing time. Dalbec is the most interesting, as after blasting 27 homers in the minors last year, he's hitting .279/.340/.721 with six home runs in just 47 plate appearances this year. The majority of his solid batting average comes from the home runs, as Dalbec's 46.8 K percentage is obviously alarming. Dalbec's minor league rate of 29.8 percent is also high, but OBP leagues should take note of his .362 minor league OBP and solid 11.7 BB percentage. At 25, this is probably who he is, a .250 hitter who will draw his share of walks and hit 30-plus home runs. Not a superstar, but at a league minimum salary for a team with some pretty ugly contracts on the books, he'll slot in just fine.

Andres Gimenez, SS, NYM

The Mets appear prepared to move on from Amed Rosario as their everyday shortstop, as the team reportedly is considering moving him to an outfield role next year. Rosario's bat just hasn't developed as expected, and he's hitting just .250/.268/.367 with a poor 27:3 K:BB. That leaves Gimenez, 22, getting a long look this year. So far so good, as he's batting a solid .284/.337/.421 in 104 plate appearances despite a poor 4.8 BB percentage. Gimenez's youth and relatively poor performance last year at Double-A (.250/.308/.387) gives me some pause, but he was very good at A+/AA the year prior, batting a solid .281/.347/.409 with 38 stolen bases.

Tyler Stephenson, C, CIN

The 24-year-old Stephenson was recalled last week, and though we have him listed third on the depth chart, it's tough to see him being called back to ride the pine. Despite not exactly having Johnny Bench ahead of him, Stephenson has started just twice in six games, and through 12 plate appearances is batting a nice .400/.500/.700. The Reds have a 24.6 percent chance to make the playoffs, though we could see that increase this week, as they have four against the Pirates. Would that mean more Tucker Barnhart (batting .195) and Curt Casali (.207) than the talented rookie? Oddly it could, but I still have to think Stephenson sees plenty of playing time over the team's final 13 games. He may have to win the job with a solid 2021 Spring Training, but I'd expect Stephenson to be the team's primary catcher next year from day one.

Ty France, 1B/2B/3B, SEA

Sure, it was the Pacific Coast League, but France put up video game numbers in the Padres' system last year, batting .399/.477/.770 in 76 games before joining the Padres and hitting another seven home runs, though his line dipped to .234/.294/.402 thanks to a poor 0.18 K/BB. That last mark is now at 0.45 at the big-league level this year, allowing France to bat a solid .330/.404/.557 in 99 plate appearances. France of course came over in the Austin Nola trade with the Padres, and he's expected to be a key piece for the Mariners going forward. It seems he'll function mostly as a DH this year, but in 2021, he could play first if Evan White is determined to need more seasoning, second if Shed Long doesn't develop, or even third should the Mariners trade Kyle Seager.

Anderson Tejeda, SS, TEX

Despite having zero experience above High-A and hitting just .234/.315/.386 there last year, Tejeda looks to have seized hold of the shortstop role in Texas, at least for the rest of this year. Hitting .286/.306/.571 with two homers and three steals in 36 plate appearances, Tejeda has made a surprisingly good first impression. The obvious red flag is his 14:1 K:BB, but with Elvis Andrus (back) out and the Rangers having nothing to compete for, it seems like Tejeda will continue being the everyday guy despite his lack of high-level minor league experience. He's hitting the ball hard (52.4 percent hard-hit rate), so while the .421 BABIP will come down, the batting average isn't a total fluke. The strikeouts are troubling, but nothing new considering his 28.8 percent minor league strikeout rate. Maybe he'll hit enough to have fantasy value this year (three steals as well as the two home runs), but he's still a guy who will need to spend a good chunk of next year at the Double-A and/or Triple-A levels.

Jared Walsh, 1B, LAA

After a bit of a rough start, Walsh has turned it on this month, batting .389/.400/.917 in 10 games in September, including five home runs. That lifted him to .286/.302/.673 over 53 plate appearances with those five homers and an 8:1 K:BB. After some lofty minor league strikeout rates, his 15.1 percent mark this year is encouraging, even though he's drawn just one walk. He's just 2-for-15 versus southpaws, so we're not sure yet that he can hit southpaws at the big-league level, though he did hit .367/.457/.650 against them in Triple-A last year. At 26, can Walsh be the Angels' successor to Albert Pujols at first? Probably too early to tell that, but it does seem that Walsh will get plenty of playing time the rest of the way as the organization tries to assess whether that's the case for 2021 and beyond.

Daz Cameron, OF, DET

The Tigers have a lot of young outfielders, but are any of them any good? Victor Reyes has had a nice year, but he also has a 4.3 BB percentage, so can he continue to hit .300 consistently? Derek Hill looks terrible. Christin Stewart has had his chances over parts of three seasons but is just a .227/.303/.380 career hitter. How about Cameron? Good bloodlines and plenty of talent, but he hit just .214/.330/.377 while striking out 28.8 percent of the time last season in Triple-A. So, not a huge surprise to see him go 1-for-20 with eight strikeouts to start his big-league career. To his credit, that did come in his age-22 season last year, so who knows, maybe something clicks eventually. Cameron should play plenty the rest of the way, but he probably needs more minor league seasoning or just a coach who can spot flaws in his swing/approach to allow him to unlock his potential.

Dean Kremer, SP, BAL

Part of the return from the Dodgers in the Manny Machado deal, Kremer has looked pretty good in his first two big league starts (both against the Yankees), going 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA and 14:6 K:BB in 11 innings. The walks we'd like to see come down, but Kremer did have a 2.9 BB/9 last year in the minors, so control shouldn't be a big issue going forward. He'll likely need to further develop and utilize his changeup to have success long-term, as it's still a work in progress and is rarely part of his arsenal. Kremer was never one of the Dodgers' top prospects, but there's enough here to suggest that he can at least develop into a back-end-of-the-rotation type starter in Baltimore.

Edward Olivares, OF, KC

Yet another outfielder traded from the Padres, it seems the Royals are giving him a look in center field and giving up on Bubba Starling. Olivares is batting .264/.289/.444 in 76 plate appearances, including three home runs. His 24:3 K:BB is pretty terrible, but he did post a decent 0.44 BB/K in Double-A last season, so maybe there's hope. His 30.6 percent hard-hit rate is pretty poor, and after putting up a 22.8 percent mark in the minors last year, the big question on Olivares is: Can he hit? He did steal 35 bases last year while hitting 18 home runs, so there is some fantasy appeal to his game. We'd like to see more walks and some harder-hit balls, but the Royals seemed inclined to play him fairly often the rest of this year. He'll turn 25 in 2021 and will probably be competing for a job next spring regardless of what he does this year.