We have made it another week through the MLB season through the All-Star break. As usual, there were some great and rough performances to dig into. This weekly column will help highlight some hot and cold players, risers and fallers for fantasy purposes. Some players are already rostered in many places, so trades may be in order. Other players may be widely available, making a potential waiver wire claim in the cards. So this week, I will try and highlight some known and lesser-known players. So let’s see some of the risers and fallers for fantasy baseball Week 15 (7/18-7/24).
Risers
O’Neill has been battling injuries all season and has yet to live up to preseason expectations based on last year’s breakout season. However, this past week, albeit a short week, is hopefully a sign of coming things. In O’Neill’s three games, he hit a home run and stole a base while walking 14.3% of the time. In addition, his 22.2% barrel rate and 44.4% hard-hit rate brought back flashes of last season as well. O’Neill is now hitting .239 on the season with five home runs and seven stolen bases, which are both down from what we would hope for O’Neill, but this past week, hopefully, is a sign of a great second half to come.
The A’s were one of a handful of teams with five games coming out of the break, and Brown started in four of them. He hit safely in all four games with two home runs and only struck out 11.8% of the time. Brown has showcased power and speed in the past, and this season is no different as he has 12 home runs and seven stolen bases. Batting average is usually a downside to Brown’s game, but he has been hitting .267 since July 4. Brown may be better left for deeper leagues, but he is starting to show some viability in 12-team leagues.
If Jansen can just stay healthy, we would have an elite fantasy catcher. After the break, he played two of three games for the Jays and hit two home runs while scoring four and driving in seven. On the season, Jansen is hitting .244 with nine home runs, only striking out 17.2% of the time over 87 plate appearances. In addition, he has an impressive .359 ISO, .913 OPS and 149 wRC+. While healthy, Jansen should be rostered in most fantasy leagues.
Renfroe came out of the break raking with two hits in each of the three games, with a home run in each game. He drove in seven runs with a 30% barrel rate and a 50% hard-hit rate. Renfroe only struck out 14.3% of the time, which was also quite impressive. Renfroe is now hitting .252 on the season with 16 home runs and a 122 wRC+. Renfroe is viable in all leagues, 12-team and deeper.
The Yankees had five games coming out of the break, and LeMahieu hit safely in all five. He had a home run while also walking 19% of the time and only striking out 9.5%. LeMahieu led off every game, scored five runs and racked up an impressive 1.064 OPS. LeMahieu is now hitting .283 on the season with nine home runs and four stolen bases, but more importantly, 61 runs scored. LeMahieu has a great chance to score 100+ runs this season for the dominating Yankees offensive attack.
Fallers
Not a great start to the second half for McMahon, as he went 0-for-10 with six strikeouts. He failed to barrel a ball to go with a -100 wRC+. It has been a very up and down season for McMahon, who is only hitting .236 with seven home runs and five stolen bases. He is still barreling the ball 9.3% of the time with a 42.7% hard-hit rate with a 113.4 mph maxEV. McMahon obviously plays his home games in Coors Field, which will still carry value, but his overall production has suffered tremendously from preseason expectations.
Talk about bad starts to the second half; Downs started the season going hitless in the first three games of the second half. He went 0-for-11 with a 72% strikeout rate. Downs is now hitting .139 on the season with one home run and a 52.6% strikeout rate. He has a .406 OPS and 2 wRC+, which will not cut it at the big league level. The Red Sox are struggling with injuries, but soon they will get healthy, which may mean a return trip to Triple-A for Downs.
Mazara was getting a little fantasy attention when he joined the Padres, but this last week will dampen that attention. He collected two hits while striking out 42.7% of the time and scoring one run. He did not barrel a ball and had a .000 ISO. Mazara is still hitting .291 on the season with two home runs and 17 RBI, but he will need to pick up the pace quickly to keep some fantasy relevance.
Duran was scorching hot when he joined the Red Sox, but the production has slowed down a bit. This past week, he collected three extra-base hits with a .231 batting average but struck out 42.9% of the time. The .308 ISO and 120 wRC+ are nice, but those strikeouts will eventually catch up with the young outfielder. Duran is hitting .250 on the season with one home run and seven stolen bases, so he still has some value in deeper formats, but the 12-team value is quickly dwindling.
Speaking of struggling young outfielders, let’s talk Greene. He collected three hits in four games last week with two runs scored and a horrible 38.9% strikeout rate. He barreled the ball 18.2% of the time with a 54.5% hard-hit rate, so Greene needs to improve on that 66.7% contact rate and 15.4% SwStr from the past week. Greene is only hitting .238 on the season with two home runs, a .108 ISO and 91 wRC+, so improvements in plate discipline will be needed quickly to retain some fantasy relevance.
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