We have made it another week through the MLB season, and there have been some great performances and some rough performances. This weekly column will help highlight some hot and cold players or risers and fallers for fantasy purposes. Some players are already rostered in many places, so that trades may be in order. Other players may be widely available, making a potential waiver wire claim in the cards. So this week, I am highlighting some lesser rostered players on the rise and some heavily rostered players that are falling over the past weeks. So let’s see some of the risers and fallers for fantasy baseball Week 9 (5/30-6/5).
Risers
Contreras has been on an absolute tear of late, which continued this past week. Heading into Sunday, Contreras hit safely in six of seven games with three home runs, seven runs, and RBI while tossing in a stolen base. He barreled the ball 10% of the time with a 45% hard-hit rate on his way to a 242 wRC+. He is doing all this while hitting second for the woeful Cubs.
Contreras is hitting .293 over the past month if you want to look a little deeper. He has racked up seven home runs with two stolen bases with a 181 wRC+. Contreras may get traded at some point, but he is beasting out for the Cubs for now. However, he may be the best fantasy catcher in baseball right now with his overall performance.
Schwarber’s bat was pretty cold heading into this past week, but hopefully, his recent performance catapults him into a big final four months. Schwarber hit safely in four of five games heading into Sunday, with multiple hits in three games. He collected four awesome home runs, but a 21.7% walk rate was equally impressive. In addition, Schwarber showcased great plate discipline while also mashing to the tune of a 42.9% barrel rate and 71.4% hard-hit rate.
These numbers aren’t sustainable, but we also know when Schwarber is locked in, he showcases tremendous power with solid plate discipline. If the rest of the Phillies not named Bryce Harper can start hitting, watch out NL East.
When many thought Danny Jansen was taking over as the catcher to roster in Toronto, Kirk reminded everyone why he was the coveted option during draft season. He hit safely in four of five games this week with four home runs!!!! Kirk did his damage barreling the ball over 20% of the time with a hard-hit rate over 70%. Even more impressive was a walk rate of around 11% and a strikeout rate of about 11%.
Kirk is now hitting .345 with five home runs since May 1. He walks over 11% of the time while striking out less than 9%. Kirk is locked in and is getting at-bats at catcher and designated hitter, which will bring some outstanding fantasy value.
It was a slow start to the season for my guy Trey Boo Boo, but it is now safe to say he is locked in at the plate. He entered Sunday hitting safely in five of six games this week for a .391 batting average. Mancini collected six extra-base hits, two being home runs, and was only striking out 7.7% of the time.
Since May 1, Mancini hit .364 with four home runs, a 10.4% walk rate, and a very lovely 184 wRC+. He is only striking out 13.3% of the time, which is outstanding for Mancini, so some regression may occur, not to mention apparent regression on a .406 BABIP. Regardless, Mancini is locked in and should still put up great numbers even with some regression. It’s great to see Mancini swinging it so well again.
Brendan Rodgers (2B, SS – COL)
What a welcomed week from Rodgers. After collecting three more hits on Sunday, including a double and a home run, Rodgers now has four home runs on the week while hitting over .300. Rodgers was still striking out around 25% of the time but did walk around 14%, which is outstanding with the power he also produced.
After a slow April, Rodgers has turned it on in May. He is now hitting over .333 since May 1 with six home runs. He is striking out around 16% of the time but still not walking much, around 5%. If there was any real gripe about Rodgers’s production of late, it is a fact he is not running. Other than that, he has been fantasy goodness of late, recently enhanced by this past week.
Fallers
The struggles for Bohm continued this past week as he came into Sunday with one hit on the entire week. He had as many hits as cuts he caused to himself in a dugout mishap at the bat rack. Bohm struck out nearly 24% of the time this past week with a -59 wRC+. Bohm’s struggles have been taking place for over a month, resulting in him moving down the batting order from second to sixth and seventh. If things don’t change soon, he may lose some playing time to Bryson Stott or another option for the Phillies.
Ward started the season on fire but recently has cooled down. This week, he racked up two hits with a 31.3% strikeout rate before falling to an injury and heading to the IL. Ward’s slump started about a week ago, so maybe he has been battling the injury longer than we know. Either way, he has fallen when it comes to fantasy and hopefully returns soon as the player that took the fantasy world by storm.
Larnach did go deep on Sunday, but that was only his third hit through eight games this week. All three were extra-base hits but still less than ideal from a middle-of-the-order bat. One of Larnach’s most significant issues is contact, as this past week, he had a 50% contact rate to go with a 20% SwStr and 42% strikeout rate. There is no questioning Larnach’s ability to crush a baseball, but you can’t do that if you are not making contact. So be very careful going forward with the Twins outfielder, especially with Alex Kirilloff crushing it in Triple-A.
Ha-Seong Kim (2B, SS, 3B – SD)
It wasn’t too long ago that we thought Kim was finding his footing in the bigs. Well, that was short-lived. He collected three hits over six games this past week, hitting below .150. Kim struck out nearly 30% of the time to go with zero barrels and a 15% hard-hit rate. Since May 1, Kim has only one home run, with two stolen bases and a batting average below .200. It is safe to move on from Kim.
One of the more controversial picks during the draft season was Straw, and he started the season making those that loved him look good. Well, that is changing quickly. This past week, Straw collected three hits and did not steal a base, more importantly. Since May 1, he is only hitting .182 with zero home runs and four stolen bases. He has scored 18 runs over that stretch which is not bad, but no steals and a poor batting average make Straw an underachieving rabbit. Someone hard to roster in 12-team and shallower leagues.
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