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We’re entering the heat of the season, you may be sick of your team already or you may be just getting excited about them. Hopefully you’re still enjoying the season, it’s too early to hate it.

With all eyes set on the MLB Draft and All-Star Week coming up soon, we’ll take the time to look at some other notable stories around the league.

Little reminder folks, remember it’s just baseball. In a world with not enough kindness, treat athletes with respect like you would with anyone else.

Recent Debuts of Top Prospects

This time of year brings plenty of excitement with prospects changing hands and joining new systems at the trade deadline.

It’s often also a time where we see teams decide that their studs of the future can help their roster in the present. Lately, four of the elite prospects in MLB have gotten their shot. So let’s look into their debuts!

RHP Chase Burns (JB #13)

Chase Burns wasted no time in putting his stamp in the future of the Cincinnati Reds. Not only did he strike out the first hitter he faced, he proceeded to strike out five of the next six hitters that stepped into the box. All told, he punched out a total of eight Yankees over five innings. Although the box score showed otherwise, his command got away from him as he started three of the first 10 hitters faced with a 3-0 count. Either way, it was an electric start for the fireballer who averaged 98.1 mph on his fastball.

OF/1B Jac Caglianone (JB #10)

His debut was highly anticipated since Opening Day, but Jac Caglianone is finally here and going through a bit of a rough stretch. After going two for his first 21, he started to show some signs of life, including the well-known eye-level home run in Texas, and the home run robbery that was replayed on platforms everywhere. Consistent contact was always going to be a question with him, but his xwOBA at .365 suggests things should turn around soon.

RHP Jacob Misiorowski (JB #20)

Okay. At the time you are reading this, we are going to be 24 hours past one of the best pitching matchups of the year. Jacob Misiorowski and Paul Skenes went head-to-head on Wednesday, but it is likely that Misiorowski was who everyone was tuning in for. What he is doing on the mound is nothing short of incredible. Averaging 99.7 on his FB, with 7.7 extension, is no-hit stuff and it’s shown in the first two starts of his Major League career. Those murmurs of making him a reliever last year are all but gone.

Update: THIS GUY IS RIDICULOUS.

OF Roman Anthony (JB #1)

Roman Anthony was being called-up by everyone but the Red Sox up until recently. After mashing through the minors, The budding superstar was called up during a weird time for the Red Sox, which could have attributed to his slow start. While the numbers don’t look great at a glance, Anthony looks to be turning it around. His .381 xwOBA would rank as the 30th-best in all of baseball … if he qualified. What’s likely holding him back is his low swinging strike rate. While it is attributing to his high walk rate, being a little more aggressive would likely put him in position to show what he’s truly capable of.

Just Baseball Trivia of the Week

Our newsletter will have a trivia question every week to test and expand the baseball knowledge of our subscribers! The answer to the weekly trivia question will be at the bottom of the newsletter each week.

Jacob Misiorowski made headlines for his electric fastball during the 2023 MLB Futures Game. What velocity did his fastest pitch reportedly reach during that game?

A) 99.8 mph

B) 101.4 mph

C) 102.6 mph

D) 103.2 mph

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Headlines Around Baseball

Next week, we’ll dive into the top performing prospects from the first half of the MiLB season in addition to more in-depth MLB Draft coverage. July is the best and we’re almost there!

Let’s cover some of the headlines around the league for now.

Trade Deadline Coverage Heats Up

While I may be biased, there’s nowhere better to find in-depth coverage of all the trade deadline possibilities over the next month.

Last week, we featured content on who may buy or sell in addition to the top rentals on the trade market.

Now, we turn to other topics headlined by our breakdown of impact players with control who could end up being dealt this deadline.

While it’s hard to trade away controllable assets, some big names like Jarren Duran, Sandy Alcantara, Félix Bautista, and Nolan Arenado could be attainable on the market this July.

One team appears capable of shifting the deadline if they ultimately decide to sell. They’re playing well lately, but the Arizona Diamondbacks could seriously cash in if they decide they’d rather not try to compete due to their plethora of injuries.

MLB Combine Wraps Up

We were lucky to have our very own Conor Dorney in person for the MLB Draft Combine in Arizona last week!

He held a variety of interviews with top MLB Draft prospects including a couple of top 50 prospects on our MLB Draft Top 300 Board.

The combine provided a ton of insights on top prospects including our Mock Draft 2.0 projected seventh pick JoJo Parker. Plenty of other players showcased their elite traits, which you can read about here.

Fantasy Baseball Check-In

Stay locked in through the dog days in fantasy baseball with our weekly updates! This week, we took a look at roster trends lately in the fantasy realm.

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Other Headlines

• The Reds DFA’d veteran Jeimer Candelario this week in year two of a three-year, $45 million contract he signed with the Reds prior to 2024.

• Veteran Whit Merrifield retired this week after nine MLB seasons. Shoutout to him on a great career!

• It seems that one of the best hitters ever will be getting a statue in San Francisco and really, it’s about time.

Just Baseball Discord

We launched a Just Baseball community on Discord!

Our Discord channel is the ultimate baseball group chat while also providing exclusive access to Peter Appel’s MLB best bets, Aram Leighton’s prospect content, giveaways, and direct connection to the entire Just Baseball staff.

Read all the details about our Discord community here.

Trivia Answer: C) 102.6 mph

The talent was on display then by Misiorowski, but we’re not sure anybody expected him to be this impressive in his first couple MLB starts.

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