For the 2026 fantasy baseball season, every team has about 35 games down and about 125 or more still to go after the first six weeks of the season. Since 35 games aren’t nearly enough to draw any conclusions, we will spend our early posts 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 six weeks of games, even 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.
Fantasy Baseball Risers
Jordan Walker (OF), St. Louis Cardinals
As one of the world’s last remaining Jordan Walker fans before the 2026 season began, I am overwhelmingly excited to see his amazing start to this fantasy baseball season. Walker is slashing .308/.377/.585 with 10 home runs, 28 Runs, 27 RBI, and six steals. At the Razzball fantasy player rater, Walker is a top-12 hitter this season. It’s been a meteoric rise after two very disappointing campaigns.
There are some warning signs and things to watch for in the future, however. Walker has one of the 12-highest BABIP numbers in the league among qualified hitters at .385. For his career, he is only at .318, so a reasonable assumption is that he will regress to that level over the next four months. His expected batting average, expected slugging, and xwOBA are all within 10 points of his actual metrics, so if regression comes, it shouldn’t hit too hard. Walker has done an amazing job elevating his hard-hit rate and launch angle this season. If he can cut down his 30% strikeout rate through almost six weeks, he has a shot at staying near the top of the leaderboards this year.
Daniel Schneemann (2B), Cleveland Guardians
Utility man and rarely-drafted Daniel Schneemann has been outstanding to start the year, hitting .284/.351/.500 with four home runs, 12 runs, and 14 RBI. He is playing only sparingly against left-handers, but has been an important cog in the Cleveland offense through the first six weeks. Schneemann’s versatility has proven invaluable, and his hitting is better than anyone expected. Cleveland’s offense, which often is just Jose Ramirez and Chase DeLauter, has desperately needed someone like Schneemann.
On Wednesday, he had another hit and another walk, and now has a 9% walk rate on the season. His hard hit rate is at 41%, and his launch angle and max exit velocity are all up over 2025, marking important gains for the 29-year-old. His bat speed is up, and so is his playing time, so this looks like a true breakout year for the versatile Schneemann.
Jack Kochanowicz (SP), Los Angeles Angels
Jack Kochanowicz has a 3.05 ERA this season and is striking out almost seven batters per nine innings. It is quite the turnaround for a pitcher who posted a 6.81 ERA in 2025. What is behind the success so far? What’s driving the ERA to drop by more than half?
The most immediate reason to believe in Kochanowicz’s breakout is what he has already shown in his first seven starts of the 2026 season. In his three most recent starts, Kochanowicz completely dominated the Mets, White Sox, and Blue Jays, tossing at least five and two-thirds innings and never allowing more than two earned runs.
He is having a bit of a problem with control (4.5 walks per nine innings), but still looked fully in control against different lineups featuring elite hitters. The fact that he has not allowed more than three earned runs in any start since his first of the season speaks to his enviable consistency. Kochanowicz brings a deep arsenal, including four pitches that he throws over 19% of the time. That kind of diversity keeps hitters guessing, and a four-seam fastball and sinker that look similar and both come off the arm at 96 miles per hour are devastating.
Fantasy Baseball Fallers
Brent Rooker (1B), Athletics
If Brent Rooker wants to make it four straight seasons with at least 30 home runs and 70 RBI, he has a lot of work to do from now until the end of September. Injuries have taken a couple of weeks of games away from him. Those nagging problems, plus some terribly bad luck, have also made his performance crater at the start of the season. Is there any hope that Rooker is just around the corner from returning to normal offensively?
Rooker is currently hitting just .162/.234/.294 with three home runs and 12 RBI. But those numbers are pulled down by a BABIP of just .190 on the season. If Rooker had enough plate appearances to qualify, that number would be one of the top-10 worst marks in the league. The league average this year is about .292, so Rooker is more than 100 points away from even being average in that category. For his career, Rooker is at .314. For as bad as he has been, there could be a change in fortune here. But injuries and inconsistency have defined his season so far.
Fernando Tatis Jr. (OF), San Diego Padres
Many people think Fernando Tatis Jr. should be a strong candidate for positive regression over the rest of the 2026 season, but how long should we wait? Through the first six weeks of the season, Tatis has given fantasy managers a disappointing .250/.320/.305 line with absolutely zero home runs. That slugging rate (.305) is like a punch in the face for a player who has been so elite for so long.
Tatis’s 94.6 miles per hour (MPH) average exit velocity and 67% hard-hit rate are elite, and he is still showing a walk rate above 10%. That clearly shows more discipline at the plate, but it just hasn’t resulted in much power. He has nine steals, which is giving him some fantasy value, but he has just five doubles as his power is gone. Much of his weak production has come from poor luck on balls in play (a .346 BABIP but 0.0% HR/FB rate), but then there’s the 52% groundball rate. Which player will he be going forward? It’s hard to say, but this version of Tatis looks like his power is completely gone.
Cole Ragans (SP), Kansas City Royals
It’s your dreaded add injury to insult situation for Cole Ragans after he left his start early on Wednesday. Ragans could only make it through three shutout innings before being forced out of his start due to left triceps and elbow soreness. If this is a long-term injury (and the Royals are hopeful it isn’t), it would put a bow on an incredibly disappointing campaign for the talented left-hander. If it’s short-term, hopefully it can provide a reset for what has been an awful start to 2026.
Ragans has had this weird pattern to the year where he has alternated good and bad starts every turn, but the injury adds a new wrinkle. Overall, he has a 5.29 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, and 41:21 strikeout to walk ratio across 32.1 innings over seven starts before the three innings on Wednesday. The good hasn’t outweighed the bad, however, and he now has four starts where he hasn’t been able to make it out of the fourth inning this year.
Hi CBS,
Moment of truth:
1. Who would you drop to pick up Rodon from the list of hitters below?
2. Would you start or sit Rodon at Milwaukee in his first start back?
DeGrom
Logan Gilbert
Framber Valdez
Cam Schlittler
Will Warren
Ryan Weathers
Messick
Spencer Arrigghetti
Roupp
Randy Vanquez
Noah Schultz
Foster Griffin
Mike Abel IL
Carlos Rodon IL
My hitting is below:
C: William Contreras
1B: Alonso
2B: Altuve
3B: Austin Riley
SS: Gunnar Handerson
LF: Wilymer Abreu
CF: Jackson Merrill
RF: Trout
DH: Freeman
Bench:
Stowers
Muncy of the Dodgers
Acuna IL
Thanks so very much!!!
Ragans is very perplexing….He has somewhat bad xera and era
He has top 5? Top 3… Top 2…stuff plus and control stuff…I think????
I am not sure what it all means….but I think his stuff is better than the best out there, Paul Skenes.
So much data can probably be dissected and there are other variables beyond just his stuff and control, but I am very worried about the elbow.
I was watching his last start a bit and he was throwing 99 on the gun early on, then later on it was down to 95, but even with reduced Velo, he looked very dominant.
Just perplexed here with this guy.
Steer or Carpenter?
I like where Steer’s hard hit rate and barrel rate are going. I’ll take Steer.