Top prospect Kris Bryant will make his debut on Friday

There was a small MLB schedule on Thursday, but the big news was off of the field. There is a potential top-five player that will finally make his big league debut on Friday and the news of his promotion was the story of the day. The Giants and Diamondbacks played a 12-inning game,  the Royals are now on a two-game losing streak, and the Mets are the hottest team in baseball. These are the top stories from April 16, 2015.

Recap

Kris Bryant will be called up on Friday
Kris Bryant will be called up to the Chicago Cubs for their Friday afternoon game with the San Diego Padres. Bryant hit a home run, and had another one robbed, finishing his Triple-A tenure in 2015 with three home runs and 10 RBI. He had nine home runs for the Cubs in Spring Training, and his power potential is astronomical. Many see him as a 30-35 home run hitter this season, even if his average is in the .260-.270 range, and that would make him a top-five 3B. If Bryant is available in your league, pick him up immediately.

Chris Archer throws a gem for the Rays against the Blue Jays
The young Rays pitching staff produced another outstanding appearance, as Chris Archer logged seven outstanding innings against the Blue Jays, allowing only two hits and walking two batters. Archer’s 11 strikeouts were one shy of his career-high, and he leads all of baseball with 21 Ks. His 0.66 WHIP ranks sixth in baseball, and he has formed a formidable top of the rotation with Jake Odorizzi. News is only improving for the Rays’ rotation, as Alex Cobb threw harder in his last round of catch as he rehabilitates from forearm tendinitis. Archer should be seen as a solid SP3 for the season with potential to be even better.

Seven home runs allowed this season for Cole Hamels
Through 18 innings, Cole Hamels has allowed seven home runs, as he allowed two more to the Nationals in a 5-2 loss. When you look at Hamels’ stat line for the season, it is totally mind-boggling. He has allowed only 12 hits and has a .182 batting average against, meaning that 58.3% of his hits allowed have been home runs. For reference, in 1986 Bert Blyleven allowed the most home runs in MLB history with 50 and only 19% of the hits he allowed were for home runs. The biggest issue is location for Hamels. He has also allowed nine walks in 18 innings. The walks go against his performance from the past four seasons, where he has allowed 2.2 walks per nine innings. If these statistics can normalize, Hamels will be fine in 2015 and earn his SP1 ranking. A fact to remember for those scared by his walk rate, he walked 2.6 batters per nine innings in 2014, the highest since his rookie season of 2006, and finished with a career-low 2.46 ERA.

John Lackey dominant for the Cardinals
Lackey carved up the Brewers over seven innings, allowing only five hits and one walk, leading the Cardinals to a 4-0 victory. Lackey also had eight strikeouts against a Brewers’ lineup without star Carlos Gomez, who went on the DL with slight hamstring “defect.” Lackey has an opponent batting average of .188 through his first 13 innings, although he has a 1.79 fly ball-to-ground ball ratio. There were three months in 2014 where his fly ball-to-ground ball ratio was beneath 1.1 and his ERA was 3.92. He had three months where it was above 1.1 and his ERA was 3.72. As Lackey is a fly-ball pitcher, owners should not worry that his ratios are a bit high. Lackey is a good back-of-the-rotation option for fantasy purposes.

Giancarlo Stanton homers himself into the Marlins record book
Stanton hit a two-run home run in the first inning to give Miami a 2-0 lead. By doing so he eclipsed Dan Uggla as the Marlins’ franchise leader in home runs with 155. Even though 155 home runs is not the most lofty total to lead a team, it is still impressive that a 25-year-old has 155 home runs. Although he has had a bit of a sluggish start, Stanton was 2-for-3 against the Mets with two runs scored, and he now has a .834 OPS in his first ten games.

What to watch for

As mentioned earlier, Kris Bryant facing James Shields and the Padres is the biggest story of the Friday slate. Although this is a massive story, every MLB team is playing on Friday and a major of their aces are on the hill. Both 2014 Cy Young award winners, Corey Kluber and Clayton Kershaw, will pitch for their respective team. Premier matchups include Jeff Jeff Samardzija of the White Sox against David Price of the Tigers and Johnny Cueto of the Reds against Michael Wacha of the Cardinals.

Chris Zolli is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Chris, check out his archive and follow him @thezman2010.