For the 2026 fantasy baseball season, every team has about 110 games down and about 50 games still to go after the first 19 weeks of the season. Since even 110 games aren’t nearly enough to draw any conclusions, we will spend these posts in the middle of the season looking at the risers and fallers in fantasy baseball from an under-the-hood stats perspective.
Even over a long Spring Training and 19 weeks of meaningful games, this amount of production is not actually a lot of information to use when evaluating players for the rest of the season. That’s why it’s also important to look at usage, lineup placement, platoon splits, and other factors when trying to determine what to do with tough player choices.
This piece will look at some MLB fantasy assets that have seen their fantasy value rise and fall over the last few weeks. This will hopefully give us an idea of what to do with these players moving forward.
(Stats are up to date through August 4th)
Fantasy Baseball Risers
Jackson Merrill (OF), San Diego Padres
After a long, LONG wait, Jackson Merrill has quietly turned into one of the hottest fantasy hitters in baseball over the past month. Over his last 30 days, Merrill is hitting .333 with 33 hits, six home runs, 20 RBI, 17 runs and four stolen bases across 26 games and 99 plate appearances. That combination of power and speed is exactly what fantasy managers want (and have wanted for a couple of years), and the .892 OPS shows that this has been much more than a batting average hot streak.
The biggest reason to buy into Merrill as a riser is the overall fantasy ceiling. Six homers and four steals in only 26 games represent a legitimate five-category pace, while his 21 RBI and 17 runs demonstrate that he is also benefiting from his place in a productive Padres lineup. Merrill has also shown that his power is not limited to one particular matchup, hitting five home runs alone over a recent 30-day span. After a much slower start to the season, this recent production has pushed Merrill firmly back into the conversation as a stud fantasy outfielder rather than a player hoping to rediscover his elite 2024 form.
Ezequiel Duran (2B/SS/3B/OF), Texas Rangers
Ezequiel Duran has been one of the biggest fantasy risers over the past month. In 25 games and 102 plate appearances, Durán is hitting .295 with six home runs, 19 RBI, 16 runs and three stolen bases, producing a .963 OPS. That is an especially valuable fantasy combination because Durán brings eligibility at virtually every position, giving managers flexibility while still providing legitimate power and speed.
His .602 slugging percentage over the last 30 days is a huge jump in fantasy impact compared with the player who entered the season as more of an afterthought utility option, and his 19 RBI in 25 games demonstrate how quickly the counting stats can accumulate when he gets regular playing time with the Rangers. The multi-position eligibility only increases his value as the fantasy playoffs approach. Duran may not carry the name recognition of some of the other players on this list, but a hitter producing a .963 OPS with seven homers and three steals over a month is pretty much impossible to ignore.
Caleb Durbin (2B/3B), Boston Red Sox
During the Red Sox’s hot streak over the last month, Caleb Durbin has emerged as one of the most useful fantasy bats in Boston, particularly for managers looking for a combination of batting average, runs and speed. Over his last 30 days, Durbin is batting .321/.418/.464 with three home runs, 12 RBI and four stolen bases in 24 games and 101 plate appearances. He has also walked nine times against only 10 strikeouts, helping him produce a .418 OBP despite his relatively modest power numbers. The result is an .882 OPS and a spot in any fantasy baseball starting lineup.
With 2B and 3B eligibility and a strong on-base profile, he has become a player fantasy managers should be treating as a legitimate everyday option rather than a temporary fill-in. And maybe the best thing about Durbin’s profile? He plays literally every day. The last game he did not start for Boston was on June 17th.
Fantasy Baseball Fallers
Ketel Marte (2B), Arizona Diamondbacks
Few players have fallen harder over the past month than Ketel Marte, and it’s hard to explain the sudden drop. Over his last 30 days, Marte is hitting just .180/.239/.300 (only 10 qualified batters have a lower OBP) with two home runs and eight RBI in 24 games and 111 plate appearances. His .239 OBP and .300 slugging percentage produce an ugly .539 OPS, while his high strikeout rate is particularly concerning given that he has drawn only seven walks during the span. Marte’s recent fantasy value has consequently cratered, and he has been one of the worst hitters in the last 30 days.
That is a dramatic departure from the player who entered the season as one of fantasy’s premier second basemen and was drafted in the first five rounds. Marte remains too talented to simply abandon in fantasy, especially given his season-long production and track record. But his recent performance makes him a major faller and someone that should probably sit on your bench until we see Marte snap out of whatever funk he is in. That is, if he can break out of it.
Jacob deGrom (SP), Texas Rangers
The end comes for us all, I guess. Father Time is undefeated. All the phrases apply. Jacob deGrom’s recent decline is particularly notable because it comes after an outstanding June. DeGrom posted a strong 3.00 ERA and 2.59 xERA over 36 innings in June, with an 11.5 K/9 rate. July was a very different story. He finished the month with a 4.91 ERA, 4.04 xERA, and just 14.2 innings, despite a 10.4 K/9 rate. That suggests the strikeout ability remains elite, but the run prevention that made him such a dominant fantasy starter has disappeared.
DeGrom is definitely a “falling” player who should not necessarily be sold at any price, however. The strikeout ceiling remains high, but managers should recognize that the dominant version from June has not carried over into the rest of the summer. He is seeing his walks go up, his hard-hit rate allowed is the second-highest of his career, and his barrel rate allowed is close to 9%, while his career number is 6.3%.
