Are You Ready For ABS Now? Sleeper Starting Pitchers & Spring Injury News
Rates & Barrels: A show about Baseball
The Athletic
4.7 • 873 Ratings
🗓️ 16 March 2026
⏱️ 82 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Eno and DVR discuss an exciting weekend in the World Baseball Classic including Venezuela's win over Japan, and a U.S.-Dominican Republic game that left Fernando Tatis Jr. in the on-deck circle as a missed call behind the plate punched the Americans' ticket into the final. Plus, they catch up on a few spring injuries, and discuss sleeper starting pitchers (outside the Top 250 overall in recent drafts), before checking in with Senior Hot Correspondent and Ottoneu Founder Niv Shah about Cody Ponce, Harry Ford, and a few relievers getting a lot of draft-season love on the platform. They also preview a few intriguing matchups for this year's 'Taste of the Majors' stand Nationals Park.
Rundown
1:33 Venezuela Defeats Japan in WBC Classic to Advance to Semis
5:33 USA-Dominican Republic; Disappointed by Cory Blaser’s Missed Call
11:29 Every Bullpen Spot Matters
12:53 Seiya Suzuki: Leaves Early Saturday with Knee Discomfort
15:26 Injury Updates: Zack Neto, Jeremy Peña, José Ramírez, Francisco Lindor & Corbin Carroll
21:33 Sleeper Starting Pitchers
38:55 Spring Training Stuff+ Risers
46:25 Where Does Rankings Confidence Begin to Slide?
53:00 Niv Shah is Back!
55:13 Interest in Cody Ponce Following KBO Success?
1:02:11 Buying Harry Ford as a 2026 Sleeper?
1:05:48 'Niv's Guys for 2026'
1:08:50 Advanced Scouting for 'Taste of the Majors' at Nats Park
1:19:25 Still Time to Pick Up an Ottoneu Team for 2026!
Follow Eno on Bluesky: @enosarris.bsky.social
Follow DVR on Bluesky: @DVR.bsky.social
Follow Niv on Bluesky: @ottoneu.bsky.social
e-mail: ratesandbarrels@gmail.com
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Hosts: Derek VanRiper & Eno Sarris
With: Niv Shah
Editor: Jason Potere
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Rates and barrels. |
| 0:13.8 | It is Monday, March 16th. |
| 0:15.7 | Derek Van Riper here with Inoceris on this episode, we got caught up on a busy weekend of the knockout stages of the |
| 0:21.6 | world baseball classic. We got some fantasy baseball news you should know. A lot happening |
| 0:26.1 | on the injury front. We're going to dig into a few sleepers on the pitching side, guys that |
| 0:30.8 | we like, a little underpriced right now as the thick of draft season has arrived. We're also |
| 0:36.3 | going to catch up with our senior hot dog correspondent, Niv Shah, the founder of Otto New joins us later on in the show. Niv did not make it to Miami for the World Baseball Classic. We'll talk about some of the dogs that were featured there and some of the ones he's got circled for the upcoming season at Nats Park. You know how the weekend treats you? |
| 0:54.7 | Oh, it's great. |
| 0:55.3 | It's unseasonably warm here, |
| 0:56.9 | which is beautiful outside, |
| 0:58.5 | and no snow anywhere. |
| 1:04.6 | Sorry. |
| 1:06.2 | I smell like gasoline right now. |
| 1:09.2 | Little League opening day. |
| 1:12.9 | The flowers are blooming. |
| 1:14.5 | The birds are chirping. |
| 1:16.3 | Yeah, they are. |
| 1:17.6 | It's beautiful. |
| 1:18.4 | The dogs are playing at the park together, frolicking in the grass. |
| 1:21.9 | Not my dogs there. |
| 1:23.1 | Not yours. |
| 1:23.8 | But the other good boys and girls are at the park playing. |
... |
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