With another week of fantasy baseball nearly in the books, it’s evaluation time. Week 7 saw the continued rise of Carson Benge & JJ Bleday, two outfielders who are surging in terms of value. However, some notable hitters & pitchers are currently in the midst of funks.
Risers
- OF Carson Benge (Mets)
- OF JJ Bleday (Reds)
- OF Daylen Lile (Nationals)
- SS/3B Colson Montgomery (White Sox)
- SP Connor Prielipp (Twins)
- SP Ryan Weathers (Yankees)
Here we go again with Daylen Lile.
Lile was one of the best hitters in all of MLB last September — and he’s been on quite the tear again in May. The Nationals outfielder hit .423 with four home runs over the last week, a stretch that gave him seven on the year. Three more, and Lile will surpass his total from all of 2025.
Speaking of young outfielders, Carson Benge has rebounded nicely after a sluggish April. The rookie outfielder for the Mets picked up 11 hits over the last week, tied for second in the Majors alongside Elly De La Cruz and Lile.
JJ Bleday, at 28 years of age, is on pace for a career year after starting it in Triple-A. Bleday has six home runs, two of which came in the past week. And, 12 RBI for the Reds.
Colson Montgomery, now an under-the-radar slugger with the White Sox, thanks to Munetaka Murakami, hit three home runs over the last week.
Moving on, pitchers Connor Prielipp and Ryan Weathers look like rotation keepers for the respective teams. Particularly, Weathers, who should stick in the rotation once Gerrit Cole comes back, with Max Fried on the IL.
Fallers
- 2B Ozzie Albies (Braves)
- SP Bubba Chandler (Pirates)
- 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays)
- SP Tatsuya Imai (Astros)
- C Adley Rutschman (Orioles)
- OF Seiya Suzuki (Cubs)
Adley Rutschman and Seiya Suzuki were two hitters who, when healthy, came out of the gate running hard this season. However, the two now find themselves in funks as we enter the middle of May.
Suzuki is presently in the midst of a 2-23 stretch with 11 strikeouts over the last six games. Rutschman, meanwhile, is two for his last 24, although one of those hits was a home run.
Ozzie Albies is 0-21 after a great April, and then there’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Guerrero Jr.’s 2026 season has been quite bizarre, as he has just two home runs on the season. Even the slugger has admitted that he’s not right at the plate, as Guerrero Jr. indicated on May 16 that all he wants to do is “hit one ball very far.”
As for the pitchers who made this section, Tatsuya Imai and Bubba Chandler were two pitchers with, dare I write, “breakout” potential. Chandler’s ceiling was sky-high, and that’s obvious. However, Chandler’s command has been questionable over the past little while.
In his last two starts, Chandler walked five over eight innings. He also conceded two home runs, one of which was a middle-middle fastball delivered to Bryce Harper that hit the batter’s eye in Pittsburgh.
Imai, meanwhile, is currently sporting a 21% BB% and has turned into one of the more concerning pitchers in fantasy, especially since filling the zone was a strength for him in Japan.
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