The baseball season keeps chugging along, and another week of games is in the books. While some players are playing unexpectedly well this season, others who we had high hopes for have been struggling. For fantasy baseball purposes, you may be wondering what to do. But don’t sweat it! This weekly write-up will highlight the week’s hot and cold performances in order to help with lineup and waiver wire decisions. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some Week 13 risers and fallers!
More great fantasy baseball advice and analysis: Waiver Wire & FAAB Recommendations | Daily MLB Injury Report | MLB DFS Picks | Line-up Analysis | Dynasty Rankings and Strategy | MLB Bullpen Updates | MLB Player Props | Prospect Rankings & Analysis | Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers
Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers
Week 13 stats from 6/19 – 6/25
Risers
Jake Fraley (OF – CIN)
Jake Fraley has been fantastic since coming off the IL last week with a wrist injury. He clubbed four home runs with six runs scored, and nine RBI. He also stole a base and finished the week with a .522 wOBA and 1.282 OPS.
Overall, Fraley is having a career year. He has 11 homers on the season to go along with 47 RBI and 12 steals. He’s also slashing .270/.357/.485 with a 121 wRC+ across 224 plate appearances. Fraley makes a solid amount of contact and has maintained double-digit walk rates since 2021. While he sits against lefties, he’s sporting a healthy .928 OPS against righties this season. As long as he stays healthy, Fraley should continue to thrive in the Reds’ up-and-coming offense.
Joey Votto (1B – CIN)
Joey Votto had a solid first week back in the office. He smacked a home run in his season debut and popped a total of three dingers with seven RBI in six games. Votto finished the week with a .278/.435/.778 slash line, barreled the ball at a 25% clip, and maintained his sharp eye at the plate with a 13% walk rate across 23 plate appearances.
Votto is coming off rotator cuff surgery, so there could be some load management for the veteran early on. However, he’s only two years removed from a 36-homer season, making Votto’s power upside worth taking a shot on. The Reds are running hot right now, and Votto could be a productive contributor out of the six-hole.
Ha-Seong Kim (2B/3B/SS – SDP)
Ha-Seong Kim was a solid all-around contributor last week. He went 9-for-27 (.333) with three home runs, six runs scored, and seven RBI across seven games. He also swiped a couple of bases and finished with a 1.086 OPS.
Kim has been sneaky good of late, slashing .368/.429/.632 with a 192 wRC+ since June 15. He’s also moved up the batting order, hitting leadoff in his last five games. Kim brings a nice balance of power and speed to the fantasy table. Assuming he sticks at the top of the lineup, Kim should be a productive contributor – especially with Fernando Tatis, Juan Soto and Manny Machado batting behind him. Sign me up!
Maikel Garcia (3B/SS – KCR)
Maikel Garcia was among the steals leaders of the week. He totaled four thefts, including a three-swipe game. Garcia also hit safely in all but one of his seven games, and added a homer, five runs scored, and four RBI to his weekly total.
Garcia is a contact hitter whose bread and butter is steals. He stole a combined 39 bases in 118 games across Double- and Triple-A last season, and already has 11 steals in 45 games with the Royals. Unlike some speedsters, Garcia won’t tank your batting average. For the season, he has a .280/.335/.385 slash line across 179 plate appearances. Additionally, he hits the ball with authority – his 50.4% hard-hit rate on the season is 90th percentile. Garcia is a useful addition to fantasy rosters, especially in deeper leagues where his MI- and CI-eligibility comes in handy.
Fallers
Rowdy Tellez (1B – MIL)
Rowdy Tellez continues to ride the struggle bus. He logged two hits last week to go along with a disappointing .105/.190/.158 slash line across 19 at-bats. Tellez’s 12 home runs on the season are decent, but he hasn’t hit a long ball since May 22. Additionally, his power numbers have slipped since last year – his .189 ISO is down nearly 55 points, and his 38.4% hard-hit rate is a career-low. Tellez already sits against lefties, but his power outage could start costing him even more playing time.
Giancarlo Stanton (OF – NYY)
Giancarlo Stanton’s underwhelming June continued last week as the slugger only registered two hits in his 17 at-bats. He also struck out close to 40% of the time. Stanton had a strong start to the season but hasn’t been able to get things going since coming off the IL on June 2. He has an underwhelming .121/.215/.241 slash line, with two home runs, five runs scored, and three RBI in 58 at-bats. He also has a paltry .457 OPS and .121 ISO during that span. Stanton is still tearing the cover off the ball, but he’s a tough start at the moment.
Miguel Vargas (1B/2B – LAD)
Miguel Vargas has been ice cold in June and last week was no different. While he popped a home run, he only started four games and finished with a -22 wRC+. Additionally, his home run was only his second hit in his last 41 at-bats. Oof.
Vargas has struggled in his first full season in the big leagues. Across 274 plate appearances, he has a lackluster .201/.301/.376 slash line with seven home runs, 32 runs scored, 30 RBI and three stolen bases. Vargas’ solid plate approach is nice to see (12% walk rate and 19.7% strikeout rate), but his middling production, low batting average, and .678 OPS isn’t cutting it. Ultimately, Vargas’ poor play could cost him playing time sooner rather than later.