Hunter Langille | Thu, Jun 13th 2024, 10:02am EDT

6 Fantasy Baseball Players Trending Up & Down (Week 12)

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 12)

Stock Up

Teoscar Hernandez (DH,LF,RF – LAD)

Hernandez was a huge factor in the Dodgers winning their series at Yankee Stadium. The 31-year-old went 6-12 with three homers and nine RBIs in the three-game series.

Since the start of June, Hernandez has been ranked behind just Aaron Judge and Yordan Alvarez in ISO (.450) and ranked ninth in both wOBA (.468) and wRC+ (211). On the season, Teo is tied with Shohei Ohtani for the most homers on the Dodgers, with each at 17. He’s leading this team with 50 RBIs, which puts him at sixth in this category across the MLB.

The RBI opportunities will be plenty in Los Angeles, and Hernandez has made the most of his first year in Dodger Blue.

Paul Skenes (SP – PIT)

The expectations for Skenes were high this season, but the 22-year-old has lived up to the hype through his first six starts in the big leagues.

Using a minimum 20 IP filter, he is first in the league in K% (35.4%) and first in xFIP (1.95). His 30.8% K-BB% also ranks first. Skenes has done an excellent job of suppressing hard contact with just a 23.4% Hard% on the year, ranked just below Max Fried for seventh in MLB.

There is no slowing down for Skenes, and his next start is scheduled against the weak-hitting Rockies at Coors Field.

Steven Kwan (LF – CLE)

Kwan is a guy you want at the top of your lineup. He won’t hit for power, but he’s an on-base machine who will set the table for the rest of the lineup.

Kwan is currently riding an eight-game hitting streak, with multiple hits in five of those games. He’s spent some time on the Injured List so he’s not considered a qualified hitter, but his average sits at the top of the league at .380. His wOBA is the fourth-highest in the league (.428) and his strikeout rate is the fourth-lowest (7.7%).

His average will likely regress throughout the season, but Kwan will always be a consistent asset with a high floor in fantasy baseball.

Stock Down

Anthony Rizzo (1B – NYY)

Rizzo has been ice-cold over the last month of play. He is dead-last in wOBA (.163), dead-last in ISO (.020), and dead-last in wRC+ (2).

The 34-year-old is struggling mightily to make any solid contact, but he is managing to strike out at just a 16.7% rate, which is on par with his career average of 16.4%. However, his walk rate is a huge red flag; it is down to a 5.4% mark this season and just 1.9% over the last month, but Rizzo has a 10.7% walk rate over his 13-year career.

Whether it’s a lingering injury or just the wrong headspace, something has caused Rizzo’s numbers to fall off this season.

Reese Olson (SP – DET)

Olson’s last three starts have not gone according to plan. He surrendered a total of 17 runs over just 14 innings pitched against Washington, Milwaukee, and Boston.

Since the beginning of June, his ERA ranks third-worst in the league at 10.43. Reese has done a good job of keeping the ball in the yard this year. His 0.51 HR/9 ranks first among his Detroit peers. However, his 12.5% K-BB adds too many base runners, thus putting the 24-year-old in too many jams and risks of blow-ups.

Olson flashed some upside over the first month of the season, but a pitcher who is 1-8 doesn’t inspire too much confidence.

Adolis Garcia (CF,DH,RF – TEX)

Since June 1st, Garcia has the fourth-worst wOBA (.146) and fourth-worst wRC+ (-14). He also sports a mere .077 ISO, which you wouldn’t expect from his power-hitting profile.

Over his last seven games, he has only one hit over 26 plate appearances. El Bombi still has 13 homers on the season and should be in play for his power upside for the rest of the season, but his current cold streak cannot be ignored.

NFL

MLB

NBA

NHL