Cal Raleigh, C, SEA
Raleigh had a historic day against the Athletics on Sunday, hitting two HR's to give 49 on the season, breaking the record for most HR's hit in one season by a catcher. Amazingly, he broke the record with over a month to go in the regular season. The Big Dumper has tailed off a little bit in the 2nd half, entering Sunday with a 33.1% K% and a mediocre .709 OPS in 33 games since the all-star break. However, he has still hit 11 HR's since the break and remains on pace for a 60-HR season. He continues to hit fly balls at an exorbitant rate (57.2% FB%) while also pulling the ball at a career high 55.7% clip. It will be interesting to see whether he or Aaron Judge will end up taking home the AL MVP award.
Jacob Marsee, OF, MIA
Marsee had another productive day against the Blue Jays on Sunday, going 2-4 with a double, a triple, and 3 RBI. He continues to drive in runs at an incredible pace as he's up to 23 RBI in just 23 games this season. His BA is up to a shiny .346 for the season, but that number is up to .485 with runners on base and .611 (11-18) including 8 XBH's with RISP. Meanwhile, he's batting just .244 when the bases are empty. These numbers are all sure to regress, as his BABIP is at an unsustainable .426 for the season, but one area that we shouldn't expect to see regression is when it comes to steals. Marsee has over 100 steals over the past two seasons in the majors and minors combined, and that could very well end up being his most major impact in fantasy leagues.
Mark Vientos, 3B, NYM
Vientos went 1-4 with his 12th HR of the season against the Braves on Sunday. Vientos' vanishing power has been one of the big mysteries this season as he entered the season with lofty power expectations following a 27-homer 2024 campaign. Recently though he seems to have discovered his previous form, bashing 5 HR's over his last 7 games. Vientos' underlying metrics are mostly better than last season, as his K% has been reduced by 7%, while his FB% and HardHit% have both increased nominally. He should be a great candidate to have a bounceback campaign in 2026.
Seth Lugo, SP, KC
Lugo struggled again against the Tigers on Sunday, allowing 6 ER's on 6 hits and 2 BB"s in 4.1 IP, while striking out 5. He's really had a rough go of things since the all-star break, pitching to a 7.24 ERA (33 ER's in 41 IP) while recording a 32:20 K:BB across 8 starts. He has allowed two long balls in 6 of those 8 starts, including each of the last 4. Lugo's season ERA is up 3.99, and with a 4.48 xFIP, a rebound doesn't appear imminent. Despite how good he was in the first half of the season, Lugo does not need to remain rostered at this point.
Jared Triolo, 3B, PIT
Triolo filled up the stat sheet against the Rockies on Sunday, going 2-2 with a BB, a HR, 3 RBI, and a SB. He has been hitting much better since rejoining the Pirates at the beginning of August, batting .324 across 21 games, and he has now homered in back-to-back contests. That's a huge improvement over the .158 BA he carried across the first 3+ months of the season before being optioned to AAA. Triolo has been striking out just as much and hitting the ball just as hard as he was earlier in the season, but he is hitting line drives at a 30.0% clip this month compared to a 14.7% LD% before his demotion, which has caused his BABIP to jump from .176 in the first half to .388 in his second stint in Pittsburgh. His fantasy utility is still limited as he's part of a weak Pirates lineup and still hasn't been hitting for much power. He has been playing everyday though and should at least hit for a decent average while chipping in some runs and steals.
This is just a small sample our daily analysis, join our member area for tools that will help you win your fantasy championship. Click here for details: http://www.insiderbaseball.com/baseballsample.htm Click here to register: http://www.fantistics.com/salesbaseball.php3
