Kyle Stowers (OF - Marlins)
Fresh off a 3 home run game the day before the All- Star Break Stowers is at it again as he launched his 20th home run of the season Friday in the second inning and delivered a walk off 2-run shot in the bottom of the 10th. After a strong start he had seen his OPS drop to as low as .797 on June 21. Since then he has been on an absolute tear raising that number well over 100 points to .934 as he has smashed 11 home runs since then. A 28% K rate is the only knock on him as he has crushed the ball to a tune of 53.6% hard hit rate when he makes contact and now has hit 5 HR over his past 2 games.
Daniel Palencia (Closer - Cubs)
Palencia picked up the save in Fridays game while allowing 1 hit and needing just 7 pitches. This was his 13th save of the season and he lowered his ERA to a pristine 1.53. The 25 year old has burst onto the scene as a must add bullpen option in fantasy. His 99.8 mph fastball has baffled opponents to the tune of a .155 batting average against. It will be interesting to see how his stuff plays in the second half; he uses his fastball nearly 75% of the time and his slider 21% .A split finger, sinker and curve ball has been used sparingly in 2025 but if batters start to square him up and start early mixing his secondary pitches could make him more dangerous.
Ceddanne Rafaela (OF/SS - Red Sox)
Rafaela went 1-4 as he hit 8th and played center field. The effort extended his hitting streak to 11 games as Rafaela has been one of the hotter hitters in the league. Since dropping hit batting average to .206 May 1 with a .580 OPS he had been on a tear raising his avg and OPS to .271 and .793, respectively over the past 2+ months. He probably received extra time to work through his batting issues due to his superb fielding and speed and it has paid off. His hard hit% is up 11% from last year and he have dropped is K rate 7% while increasing his walks ever so slightly to 4.7% - still a small number but great for him. The Red Sox recently announced he will see 1-2 starts per week at 2B going forward. This is probably your last chance to grab him on the waiver wire and his speed, power and positional flexibility makes him a strong second half fantasy option.
Matt Shaw (2B/3B/SS - Cubs)
Shaw went 1-3 with his 12th stolen base of the season. Shaw was one of the more talked about "impact" prospects entering the 2025 season but it has been a struggle for him adjusting to MLB pitching. After making the roster out of camp he was sent to the minors where he hit .286 with more walks then Ks prompting is recall. He simply hasn't translated that to big league success as he is hitting just .200 with a .558 OPS. His 9.1% walk rate and 19% K rate are not terrible but his 26.8% hard hit rate and 83.3 exit velo are among the lowest in baseball. Even with those struggles Shaw has been able to provide some value on the bases swiping 12 bases in 14 tries. Redraft leagues will need to see if the Cubs add infield help in which case Shaw could potentially be cut loose; he is still a keeper in Dynasty leagues.
Colson Montgomery (SS - White Sox)
Montgomery went 2-4 with 2 RBIs and a double Friday night. The Rookie has looked good hitting for the Sox since his callup having gone 7-28 with a pair of extra base hits. Maybe most impressively is he has drawn 6 walks against 7 strikeouts after routinely having poor plate discipline in the minor leagues (18 walks vs 82 Ks at AAA this year). Montgomery getting off to a strong start is nice to see. He was a top prospect who struggled throughout the minors as he hit just .214 at AAA in 2024 and was only hitting .218 at the time of his call up. Perhaps moving to the big league lit a fire in him up. The minor league track record is tough to swallow but at 6'3 220 he has the size of a major league.
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