Hunter Langille | Thu, May 30th 2024, 9:57am EDT

6 Fantasy Baseball Players Trending Up & Down (Week 10)

It’s Thursday and you know what that means!

Every week during the fantasy baseball season, we do a stock report looking at players whose value is rising or declining. If there are specific players you want me to dive into, feel free to tag me on Twitter.

Without any further ado, let’s get to it. Here are a few fantasy baseball players trending up and others on the way down.

Fantasy Baseball Stock Report (Week 10)

Stock Up

Jose Ramirez (3B, DH – CLE)

After Monday’s game against Colorado, in which Ramirez was pitched around with the bases loaded, he told Guardians’ beat writer Paul Hoynes, “I’m better than Barry Bonds.” This may be a stretch, but Ramirez has looked like the home run king over the last month.

In May, Ramirez is third in ISO (.408), second in wOBA (.453), second in wRC+ (199), and he’s struck out at the ninth-lowest rate (10.7%). He’s also driven in 32 runs, nine more than Bryce Harper who has the second-most.

He may not be Bonds, but Ramirez is someone you want batting in the heart of your order day in and day out.

Matt Waldron (SP – SD)

MLB hasn’t seen a true knuckleballer since Steven Wright in 2019, so it’s nice to see Waldron have some success this year. The 27-year-old has looked stellar over his last four outings, racking up 31 strikeouts and allowing just 5 runs.

His K% has jumped to 12th in the league at 29.7%, tied with Shota Imanaga and Sonny Gray. His xFIP looks great too, at a 25th-best 3.15 mark. As expected, his batted ball numbers reflect his ability to surrender soft contact; his hard contact percentage sits at just 26.5%.

Like most knuckleballers, when the ball isn’t floating that day, it is most likely being hit all over the field. Waldron already has two games this year with negative fantasy points. Should his knuckleball dance, Waldron has shown the ability to put up huge numbers.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1B, DH – TOR)

Aaron Judge would have been an obvious selection here, as he was the best player in baseball in May. But someone a bit more sneaky is Vladimir Guerrero Jr, who has bounced back this month after a poor April.

Over the last two weeks, the 25-year-old is ranked 22nd in wRC+ (168) and 20th in wOBA (.407). The power numbers haven’t been there so far this year, which is a bit concerning for someone known for homers and Vladdy has just five on the season.

The entire Blue Jays roster is starting to warm up along with the weather in Canada. Over the last two weeks, they rank seventh in wRC+ (120), sixth in ISO (.177), and seventh in wOBA (.337).

Stock Down

J.D. Martinez (LF, DH – NYM)

Martinez has played in just 29 games this year, and it’s fair to wonder whether Father Time has caught up to the six-time MLB All-Star. His K% last season jumped to a career-high of 31.1%, and it’s a notch higher this season with the Mets.

In addition, his walk rate and ISO are the lowest they’ve been since 2013. The 36-year-old may have more in the tank with a larger sample size of at-bats this year, but his underlying numbers don’t inspire much confidence. It also doesn’t help that, in the words of teammate Jorge Lopez, the Mets are the “worst team in the league”.

Kenta Maeda (SP – DET)

Maeda has been having the worst season of his career by far. In his first season with Detroit, the 36-year-old has recorded a 4.87 xFIP, 2.27 HR/9, and just a 15.8% strikeout rate.

His strikeout rate this year is highly concerning, as it is over ten percent lower than his career average mark of 26.3%. He is allowing more homers per nine innings than everyone but Kyle Hendricks this season. His ground ball percentage is just 32.8%, the ninth-lowest mark in MLB amongst starters.

Everything seems to be pointing in the wrong direction for Maeda this year.

Dominic Smith (1B – BOS)

Smith signed with Boston on the first of May and his results with the new club have been less than stellar. In May alone, Smith has the seventh-worst wRC+ (47), seventh-worst wOBA (.240), and the 24th-worst ISO (.078).

He’s been striking out a modest 22.4% of the time, but he had just one homer since going to Boston. There are some decent hitters on the Red Sox hitting right ahead of him, so his RBI chances are higher than most, but he still offers an incredibly low ceiling in fantasy.

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