Elly De La Cruz, SS (CIN)
De La Cruz hit a home run and stole a base on Tuesday, moving him ever closer to his first career 30/30 season. He's at 29/29 with five games to play. Some lower body injuries have diminished his speed and base-stealing abilities and have also cost him the at-bats necessary to accrue the counting stats. Nonetheless, fantasy owners have to appreciate the jump in batting average and the likelihood to post his third-straight 100-run season. He has truly emerged as the five-category player he was billed as in the minors. De La Cruz has improved his quality of contact while progressing into a more disciplined hitter at the plate. He's still only 24 years old, but he has more than 2,000 at-bats and should maintain his spot in the first-half of the first round.
Michael King, SP (SD)
In what could be his final start of the regular season, Michael King was knocked around by the Dodgers' potent offense. King allowed five runs on six hits and two walks in four innings. King just didn't have his sweeper on Tuesday, and the Dodgers will make you pay. The Padres may not start King for his second start this week if San Diego has already clinched a playoff spot as the team would like to utilize him as their Game 1 starter in the Wild Card series. If this was his final start, it wasn't the finish he'd like but it caps off what has been a very good season. King has 12 wins and a 3.21 ERA. What's concerning, however, is that his ERA seems to be the result of positive luck (.259 BABIP and 4.33 xFIP indicate future regression). Plus, since becoming a full-time starter with the Padres in 2024, King's strikeouts have progressively plummeted from 10.42 K/9 in '24 to 7.66 in '26. He is inducing less chase and more contact, indicated by his career-low 27.1% CSW rate. This has major regression written all over it for 2027.
CJ Abrams, SS (WSH)
Abrams drove in all three runs for the Nationals on Tuesday with a pair of home runs as Washington edged Detroit, 3-1. Abrams and James Wood have carried the Nats offense all year as both players have exceeded expectations. Abrams has already posted his first career 30/30 season. He now has 33 home runs and 33 stolen bases. The homers are a career high and backed up by a notable uptick in power. I've always felt like Nationals Park is an underrated stadium for left-handed hitters and Abrams has certainly benefited from the confines, but it's not all artificial. He has improved his average exit velocity by nearly a full mile-per-hour, his barrel rate is up more than two percentage points and his launch angle is up more than four degrees. Looking deeper into his Statcast though, what really jumps out is his yearly bat speed improvement, peaking at 73 mph this year. Meanwhile, after struggling mightily against breaking pitches, Abrams has neutralized that deficiency while improving his work against fastballs. This is all the type of development you'd want to see out of a player who just eclipsed 2,500 career at-bats. Abrams is only 25 and improving every year. He will push for first-round status next year.
Jared Jones, SP (PIT)
Jones was exquisite on Tuesday, shutting out the Cardinals on only one hit in seven innings while striking out nine. Over the last month, Jones has looked more like the player that shined for much of his rookie season in 2024 before elbow issues cost him all of 2025 and some of 2026. He was slow to get into form, but in his recent four-game span, the 25-year-old flamethrower has allowed only three runs on 12 hits in 25 innings. He has 35 strikeouts during that stretch. He repeatedly touched 99 mph on his four-seam fastball against St. Louis while slipping in the occasional slider or curveball. He generated a 23% swinging-strike rate on those breaking pitches. Needless to say, his stuff is excellent. A healthy offseason will go a long way towards boosting Jones' 2027 fantasy value.
Jazz Chisholm, 2B (NYY)
Chisholm made his return from two weeks on the injured list with a right thumb sprain. He played in one of the two doubleheader games on Tuesday, finishing 1-for-3 with a walk. The ramp up should get him right for the postseason, and even though it's been somewhat of a disappointing year for the dynamic infielder, the Yankees definitely benefit from his presence in the lineup. Chisholm is hitting a career-low .233 with a career-low 8.3% barrel rate and only 19 home runs after hitting 31 last season. The stolen bases are there; he has 40, but his bat has not been as potent in what is a contract year. The pull-heavy Chisholm has benefited from playing half his games at Yankee Stadium so where he signs this offseason will have a noticeable impact on his fantasy value.
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