Fantasy Baseball: Oakland’s Franklin Barreto worth a fantasy add?

Top prospect, Franklin Barreto, has been promoted by the Oakland A’s. But, is the youngster worth a fantasy add?

The Oakland A’s know that they are not going anywhere this season as they continue to rebuild and build towards the future. They took one step in doing that today, by promoting their top prospect Franklin Barreto. While some A’s fans clamored for him to have been with the team as soon as Marcus Semien went down, he is at least with the club for now. But, is he worth any fantasy attention?

The promotion of Barreto comes on the heels of Chad Pinder hitting the DL. While Semien has his eyes on his rehab assignment, the club needed someone to come in and man short. The team knows what it has in Adam Rosales, but there was no reason to keep Barreto in the minors at this point. At worst the 21-year-old gets his feet wet with invaluable experience, with an eye on a promotion again in late-July after the trade deadline.

The team promoted him mere hours ago, but after originally not being in the lineup and then inserted after Jedd Lowrie was scratched, the youngster debuted with a bang going two for five with a homer and two RBI. He was one of three A’s to homer for the first time in their career, but it was encouraging to see Barreto continue to show the potential.

More from Fantasy Baseball

• 5 fantasy baseball waiver wire pivots to replace Triston McKenzie
• Fantasy baseball mock draft 2023, 12-team: Aaron Judge over Trea Turner?
• 3 fantasy baseball sleepers being drafted too late
• NBA DFS picks December 25: Merry Bucking Christmas
• Fantasy Baseball: Hot pitchers worthy of starting this weekend

Since being dealt to Oakland as the centerpiece of the Josh Donalson return, he has cemented his top prospect status in the minors by hitting at ever level. While the jury is still out on his speed, he has two 28+ SB campaigns under his belt, he has shown a quality gap to gap approach and solid AVG numbers. At AAA this season,  he posted a .281/8 HR/32 RBI/4 SB/.754 OPS line over 68 games.

A solid line no doubt, but there are some warning signs. One being that his K rate has climbed the last two seasons, and he had 92 K compared to only 17 walks this season. Some say that he was trying to force the issue in AAA in order to jumpstart his promotion, but nonetheless, it is a weakness that MLB pitchers will try to exploit.

In terms of a fantasy add. Barreto shapes up to be a solid speculative gamble. The bat skill is there for him to post a .270/10 HR/30 RBI/10 SB type of line moving forward. The fantasy shortstop position is extremely top heavy, leaving, Barreto as the type of player worth adding at this point.

Next: Angels Cam Bedrosian: Back as closer?

There will be some bumps K wise, he is still extremely young and still needs time to iron out his approach, but owners are betting on the raw talent. With Lowrie tweaking his knee and Semien still at least two weeks away, he will get his fair share of at-bats even if it means he sees time at second base. He could be just the right spark that fantasy owners need at the MI spot of their lineup heading into the dog days of summer. Make the move.