If you totally bailed on baseball once the pigskin started flying, get ready for a serious wake-up call. Jared Jones, Ronald Acuña, and Fernando Tatis weren’t just cruising, they were absolutely tearing it up late in the season, and a bunch of top prospects even made their big league debuts after you decided baseball was “over.”
These Guys Exploded While You Were Watching Kickoffs
Seriously, if you checked out any time in August, you’re gonna be floored by how high Jared Jones goes in 2027 drafts. Yeah, he was battling to keep his ERA under 5.00 for the first three months after UCL surgery, but his final month? Pure fire. We’re talking a scintillating 0.93 ERA, a ridiculous 0.59 WHIP, and 12.4 K/9 across five starts. That’s the kind of upside that makes you sit up and pay attention. Then there’s Mason Montgomery, who literally introduced himself as an ace closer. The dude only had his third save on August 3, but somehow wound up with 18 saves by the end of the year. What’s even wilder is his final 38 appearances: a 1.22 ERA, 0.70 WHIP, and a massive 14.8 K/9. If you needed a late-season hero, Montgomery was it, and you probably missed his entire coming out party.
Prospects Surged and Veterans Adjusted Late
It wasn’t just pitchers making noise. Henry Bolte had a pretty meh start to his rookie year, but then he decided to go off between August and September. He finished strong with a .307 batting average, eight dingers, nine steals, and a stout .876 OPS. The weird part is his two biggest weaknesses, a 28.4 percent strikeout rate and a 59.4 percent ground ball rate in that same stretch, didn’t really get better compared to his overall 28.1 percent strikeout rate and 61.7 percent ground ball rate. But hey, he makes high-quality contact, and his athleticism screams “high ceiling” for sure.
Over on the pitching side again, Andrew Painter came back from the minors on July 31 and threw six strong innings. Maybe you heard he tweaked his arsenal, ditching his splitter for a changeup. Well, that changeup was legit awesome all the way to the end. In his final 11 starts, he posted a 3.65 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and 9.0 K/9. Those aren’t “ace” numbers just yet, but for a 23-year-old, that’s enough to guarantee he’s gonna get drafted in 2027, even if his full season numbers look a bit rougher. And remember Luke Keaschall? He was a bust for a lot of analysts early on, his roster rate actually fell to 66 percent at one point because he was hitting just .245 with two homers and a .645 OPS for the first three months. But if you were still watching in July, you might’ve caught him starting to show signs of life, which eventually turned into a sustained hot stretch…
So yeah, while you were busy trying to figure out if your fantasy wide receiver was gonna show up, a whole bunch of baseball stories were unfolding. You might have missed the end of the 2026 season, but you definitely don’t wanna miss these guys in your 2027 drafts. Pay attention, people!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.
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