As we draw near the end of the month, it’s time to once again take a look at some guys who have been bringing the positivity and some who have been dragging things down lately. Injuries are, of course, the biggest vibe killers of all, so we’ll be ignoring those in our considerations.
Catcher
Vibe Bringer: Drake Baldwin, ATL; Gabriel Moreno, ARI
Baldwin is the name you expect to see here, but his return from injury in June was causing some alarm. He hit a monster home run in his first at-bat returning from an oblique injury, but overall through those first 16 games back he hit only .079 with 24 Ks in 68 plate appearances. In his next 17 games, however, it was .375 with 6 HR and only 9 K (versus 11 BB) in 77 trips to the plate. I think he’s feeling better.
Moreno has somewhat quietly been the second-best catcher over the last month. He’s managed that despite hitting all of 1 HR. So how has he done it? Well, hitting over .375 certainly helps. Even with a relatively small number of extra base hits (4 2B to go along with the homer), just the quantity of hits add up. Having 14 BB to 12 K helps, too. In roto, he’s never going to be seen as a high-end option, since the power just isn’t there. But when he’s at his best, as he has been lately, he’s a sneakily solid option in points leagues. Ride him if you’ve got him!
Vibe Killer: William Contreras, MIL; Ivan Herrera, STL
We went with two guys for the positive, so we’ll go with two for the negative. Both have hit well under .200 over the last month, with a single homer each. Herrera’s batted ball metrics have taken a tumble from where they were earlier this year, and way down from last season. For the season he’s still in the top-10, so while I’d be willing to bench him until he starts playing better, I’d avoid cutting him outright if I could.
Under the hood, Contreras looks pretty good, and actually better than Herrera in some aspects. And like Herrera, his season-long numbers have him as an easy starter, though not quite as high-end as you might have been hoping for on draft day. I don’t think there’s really anything actionable with him, as you obviously aren’t going to cut him, but it’s certainly not fun having him in your lineup right now.
First Base
Vibe Bringer: Curtis Mead, BOS
How good Mead has been has been somewhat dependent on your scoring system. At CBS over the last month, he’s been the 5th best 1B. At ESPN, it’s been 15th. But even that wasn’t something anyone saw coming entering the year. And now he’s moving to Boston, with that big green wall to aim at. That could be fun! Don’t expect him to suddenly look like prime Kevin Youkilis or anything, but I’d rather be looking at him in my lineup right now more than the guy we’re about to talk about. And that is something I really never thought I’d be typing.
Vibe Killer: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., TOR
I don’t like to repeat people here, but my goodness. July has actually been tied for his most prodigious power month of the season, even with the All-Star break taking up almost a week of it. The problem is, that means he’s hit 2 HR. Two! Did you know that, after Sunday’s games, Vlad actually has a lower SLG than Chandler Simpson?! Chandler Simpson has literally never hit an over-the-fence homer in a game that counts (though he did it one time in a Spring Training game). And yet your 2nd round first baseman is trailing him in slugging .355 to .359. That’s not what you want!
Second Base
Vibe Bringer: Fernando Tatis Jr., SD
For most of the season, FTJ found himself in a similar bummer boat as Vladdy. Not anymore! Over his last 31 games, he has hit 6 HR to go along with 9 2B, 21 RBI, and 7 SB. Depending on your league penalizes strikeouts, he’s been either the best or second-best 2B. So while Luis Garcia Jr. certainly deserves his flowers for the run he’s been having, Nando’s turnaround has brought about a huge sigh of relief from those who have him.
Vibe Killer: Casey Schmitt, SF
Well, it was fun while it lasted. Schmitt’s full-season numbers still look really good and have been pure profit for those who grabbed him early. Even in July, he’s popped 5 HR, but he’s not doing enough else to make the case for being in your lineup. A .231 AVG in July (before going 0-4 on Sunday) isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker, but 21 K versus only 4 BB just isn’t going to work in this format.
Third Base
Vibe Bringer: Manny Machado, SD
Apparently we’re just highlighting the guys who you drafted to be studs. We wouldn’t be if they hadn’t been so bad for so long, though. For the season, his batting average is still only .210. If this were roto, that would be a hole extremely difficult to dig out of. In points, though, he has been the top 3B in the league over the last month. In his last 29 games he has 10 HR, 6 2B, 18 BB and 25 K. He’s hit for decent power all season, but for a while that was the only thing he was doing. We don’t care about average in and of itself, but the fact that he’s hit .287 with a 1.006 OPS over that period as opposed to the .179 and .625 OPS before speaks to how much better he’s been.
Vibe Killer: Kevin McGonigle, DET
It feels harsh to put the rookie here, but when it comes to production over the last month, McGonigle has been bringing down the vibes a bit. However, he’s doing it in a different way than most people who find themselves with this label. Over his last 25 games, he’s actually hit .274 with a .773 OPS. That isn’t bad! The issue is that it has been mostly empty average, so the points just haven’t been there. He has 3 HR over that period, but with only 7 RBI and 2 doubles. He also continues to exhibit very good plate discipline in terms of both drawing walks and avoiding Ks. To me it seems to indicate that it’s more a case of bad luck than him slamming into the proverbial rookie wall. I’m not worried about him.
Shortstop
Vibe Bringer: Trea Turner, PHI
Last month Turner was on the other side of the vibe equation. Since that day (June 22), he has his .283 with 7 HR, 6 2B, 22 R, 2 SB. He hasn’t been the top SS in that timeframe, because CJ Abrams continues to be the best version of him we’ve ever seen. But for those who were patient through the tough times, Turner has finally been paying off. Hopefully he hadn’t put you in a hole too big to climb out of before that.
Vibe Killer: Zach Neto, LAA; Xavier Edwards, MIA; Mookie Betts, LAD
Three very different players, but all have been disappointing over the last month. Neto is sort of similar to McGonigle above, in that he’s hitting .280 over the last month. His issue is that not only are the RBI not there, but the plate discipline is killing him. The only SS to strikeout more than him over the last month are Willy Adames and Colson Montgomery, two more guys you haven’t been super happy with if you’ve had them in your lineup. Roto was always his better format, and that’s why.
Edwards is on pace to almost double his career high in HR. The issue is, he’s on pace for 9 of them. For him to have value in points, it comes down to him getting a bunch of hits, scoring runs, and stealing bases (if the scoring format rewards them). Over the last month, he’s only hit .253, scored 6 runs, and has 4 SB. That simply doesn’t make for a top-10 SS. He’s another case of the season having ebbs and flows, but when you don’t have any thump, the ebbs can be a bit more pronounced.
The extent of how much of a disappointment Mookie has been depends on your format a bit. On ESPN he’s been the 13th best SS over the last month. At CBS, he’s been 27th. I’m not smart enough to tell you exactly what’s wrong with him, but he’s never been the same since that sickness that made him lose a ridiculous amount of weight back in the spring of ’25. He’s 33, which isn’t young, but feels young for someone with his track record and profile to fall off a cliff the way he has. It’s a bummer, for sure.
Outfield
Vibe Bringer: Esmerlyn Valdez, PIT
You don’t need me to tell you that Valdez has been bringing the heat for a while now. All he does is hit home runs. The potential problem is…what happens when he stops hitting home runs? He’s currently hitting .293 against an xBA of .231. For the season he is striking out in nearly 38% of his at-bats. That’s, uh…not good. That tells me something has to give. I’m not saying he’s going disappear in a cloud of smoke the way some flashes in the pan have in the past (we’ll never forget you Aristedes Aquino!), but I wouldn’t be counting on top-24 OF production the rest of the way, much less top-5. Sometimes, I really hope to be wrong.
Vibe Killer: Jarren Duran, BOS; Ian Happ, CHC
If you’ve rostered them, you know. I don’t need to rub any salt in the wounds here. If it helps, I’m right there with you. Ugh.
