Cade Cavalli, SP, WAS
Cavalli had a dominant performance against the RedSox on Tuesday, allowing just 1 hit and 1 unearned run in 7 IP, while striking out 13 without a walk. There have been some ups and downs for Cavalli this season, but it's mostly been ups, as he now owns 3.69 ERA, 3.58 xFIP, and 102:29 K:BB across 90.1 IP through 18 starts. He may even be a bit unlucky with those results, considering his current .340 BABIP. It's been a long road for Cavalli who missed nearly two full seasons from 2023-24, but the 27 year-old looks like he's here to stay here in his first full MLB season.
Joc Pederson, DH, TEX
Pederson homered yet again against the Guardians on Tuesday, as he continues to bash out of the leadoff spot for the Rangers. He now has 5 HR's in his last 6 games, giving him 14 for the season. He hits the ball hard (50.0% HardHit%) and makes contact at a reasonable rate (22.1% K%), which has helped put him on pace for his first 25 HR season since 2019. That was also the last time that Pederson reached 500 PA's in a season, and it will be a stretch for him to reach that number this year since he never plays against lefties. His lack of a full-time role puts a ceiling on his counting stats; he has never reached 75 RBI in a season and he has only scored 70 runs once. He's useful when he's on a hot streak like this, but have another option ready for days when he's not in the lineup.
Nolan McLean, SP, NYM
McLean had a strong performance against the Blue Jays on Tuesday, allowing 5 hits and 2 BB's in 6 shutout IP, while striking out 7. The rookie has had some bumps in the road recently, allowing 6+ ER's in 3 of his last 7 starts. But there's been more good than bad, as he still owns a 3.78 ERA, 3.35 xFIP and elite 10.67 K/9 across 95.1 IP this season. While he has struggled with walks a bit this season, the peripherals indicate that the rough patch was likely just a blip for McLean, and the McLean we saw on Tuesday is likely the one we'll see more often going forward.
Ben Rice, 1B, NYY
Rice went 1-4 with a HR against the Tigers on Tuesday, giving him 23 HR's through the first 3 months of the season. June was by far the toughest month of the season for Rice so far, as he hit just .196 with a .382 SLG across 26 games this month, after slugging above .600 in both April and May. On the bright side, he still did hit 6 HR's this month. He's not really striking out more often, it's just that he hasn't been hitting line drives recently (12.9% LD% in June). Based on how good he was over the first two months (and really last year as well), it makes sense to think that Rice will bounce back and have a strong second half of the season.
Riley Greene, OF, DET
Greene had a big day against the Yankees on Tuesday, going 2-4 with 2 HR's and 3 RBI in the victory. He didn't hit for much power across the first two months of the season, but that wasn't the case in June, when Greene hit 7 HR's in 25 games. He hit way more fly balls this month than he did in April and May, which certainly played a big role in the increased power output. While Greene's BA has predictably dropped over the past few weeks, fantasy owners are likely happy to trade that for his recent homerun surge. Based on his track record and 50.9% HardHit%, expect Greene to continue hitting dingers in the 2nd half.
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