Hunter Langille | Thu, Jul 4th 2024, 11:30am EDT

6 Fantasy Baseball Players Trending Up & Down (Week 15)

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 15)

Stock Up

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1B – TOR)

Vladdy has been tearing the cover off the ball over the last two weeks. Since June 20th, he has been ranked second in ISO (.571), first in wOBA (.609), and first in wRC+ (307). He has recorded a hit in each of his last eight games.

He was just named starting first baseman for the AL in this year’s All-Star game, something he’s accomplished in three of the last four seasons. He is also the reigning home run derby champion. July has always been a good month for Vladdy.

The Blue Jays have been much more productive during Guerrero’s hot stretch. They still sit in the basement of the AL East but have the sixth-highest ISO (190) and ninth-highest wRC+ (119) in baseball since June 20th.

Taj Bradley (SP – TB)

Bradley might not be on everyone’s radar just yet, but the 23-year-old is one of the best strikeout artists in baseball right now. His 11.71 K/9 ranks just behind Garrett Crochet, Paul Skenes, and Tyler Glasnow among starters with at least 50 innings this season.

He’s coupled that with just a 3.18 xFIP that ranks 15th in MLB. Bradley’s biggest issues have been with walks and homers. He currently walks 3.25 batters per nine innings, sporting an inflated 1.63 HR/9. About a month ago he surrendered four homers in a game to Baltimore in a nine-run outing.

Bradley can make up for some of his walk issues with his elite strikeout rate, something we’ve seen Blake Snell do in recent years. His last start against Washington saw him punch out 11 in five innings of work. He’s someone you want on your fantasy radar for this season and beyond.

Byron Buxton (OF – MIN)

Will this be the season of Buxton? I feel like we have waited so long to get a fully healthy season from the former second-overall pick. Unfortunately it’s his teammate Royce Lewis who is the new player who can’t stay on the field.

Over his last ten games, Buxton has recorded 14 hits, including seven doubles and four homers. He has just eight homers on the year, but half of them have come since the last week of June. He’s ranked fourth in slugging (.892) since June 20th.

The Twins have a lot to play for this year as they slowly try to close the gap on Cleveland. They have a realistic shot at taking this division if this offense keeps on rolling, and that starts with keeping this version of Buxton on the field.

Stock Down

Julio Rodriguez (OF – SEA)

I’m not sure what to make of JRod exactly this season, but it’s hard to overlook just how poorly he’s been playing this season. Over his last ten games, he has recorded just four hits over 41 plate appearances.

Since June 20th, he has been the second-worst wOBA (.124) and second-worst wRC+ (-23) in all of baseball. He also has a flat 0 in the Isolated Power department. He has struck out a modest 21.3% of the time during that time frame, but he has a lowly 4.3% walk rate as well.

When Julio gets hot, he is one of the best players in baseball, but unfortunately, his cold streak didn’t earn him a start on the All-Star team. Perhaps the second half of the season will be kinder to Rodriguez than it was last season.

Jon Gray (SP – TEX)

Gray has struggled over his last few starts, surrendering eight runs to Baltimore after giving up nine to the Mets. He sits behind just Dakota Hudson in xFIP (5.95) since June 20th while striking out a shockingly low 9.2% of batters.

For all of Gray’s struggles, he does do a great job of not giving up walks. He has a 6.4% BB% on the year. But the rest of his profile this season hasn’t looked great. Since June 20th, he has surrendered the ninth-most hard contact to opposing batters (42.9%).

Gray showed decent production in May, so there is a chance we see the 32-year-old turn things around in the second half of the season.

Marcus Semien (2B – TEX)

The last “Stock Down” player this week is another Ranger. Texas has had quite an underwhelming season this year after their World Series run last year, which can be attributed to both injuries and lack of production from key guys in their lineup like Semien.

Semien is tied with Julio Rodriguez with the second-worst wRC+ (-23) since June 20th. His stats look pretty similar to JRod’s in that time frame, recording just four hits over his last ten games. He has punched out just 10.7% of the time, but that’s about all that stands out in his profile of late.

The Rangers second baseman was also not named an All-Star after receiving the starting nod for the AL position last season.

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