Last week was slow for most MLB rookies. In my fantasy baseball rookie report, I share just how each performed. Sterlin Thompson made his MLB debut on May 15, with Mickey Moniak going on the IL. He’s starting to make a name for himself, although it’s too early to go grab him off the waiver wire. Below is my breakdown of how the MLB rookies performed.
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Updated Fantasy Baseball Rookie Report
Rookie Batters Who Had a Hot Week
Carson Benge – OF, New York Mets
2026 Stats – 243 PA, .265/.325/.408, 7 HR, 34 R, 26 RBI, 10 SB
Carson Benge is continuing to produce atop the Mets’ batting order. Last week, he went 4-for-20 (.200) with three runs, two home runs, three RBIs, and a stolen base before going 5-for-5 on Sunday with three runs, a homer, and two RBIs. The contact production is a roller coaster, but he is delivering stats across the board, though his production mainly came from one game this week.
Kazuma Okamoto – 3B/1B, Toronto Blue Jays
2026 Stats – 263 PA, .235/.316/.432, 12 HR, 32 R, 37 RBI, 0 SB
The Blue Jays’ third baseman was crushing the ball last week. He showed contact skills that he has been lacking all season by going 10-for-24 (.417), while scoring four runs, hitting a homer, and driving in four. The contact production is a welcome sight for fantasy baseball managers, but don’t get used to it.
Okamoto is the lone power source on the team with seven more home runs than the teammate in second. Besides the contact, this is the type of week that fantasy managers can expect from the Japanese slugger.
Kevin McGonigle – SS/3B, Detroit Tigers
2026 Stats – 277 PA, .291/.394/.426, 4 HR, 40 R, 24 RBI, 9 SB
The Tigers are having a surprisingly down season. They were many experts’ pick to win the AL Central, but the Tarik Skubal injury seemed to take the wind out of their sails. The offense ranks in the bottom third in all major categories, which hurts Kevin McGonigle’s fantasy value.
Last week, he went 7-for-20 (.350) with four runs, a homer, and three RBIs. He’s still the favorite for the AL Rookie of the Year Award, but with Munetaka Murakami on the IL, there isn’t any competition to threaten McGonigle being at the top.
Sterlin Thompson – OF, Colorado Rockies
2026 Stats – 52 PA, .222/.327/.267, 0 HR, 3 R, 6 RBI, 0 SB
Sterlin Thompson struggled after his call-up in the middle of May. He ended the month with a .148 batting average and .185 slugging percentage, but he started June strong. So far, he is 6-for-18 (.333) with three runs and three RBIs. This is the type of contact that Thompson showed in the minors, so hopefully it’s here to stay.
He hit 18 homers last season in Triple-A, so he doesn’t have immense power, but playing his home games at Coors Field may bring some long balls. It’s still too early to add Thompson to fantasy teams of any format.
Rookies Who Had a Mild Week
Travis Bazzana – 2B, Cleveland Guardians
2026 Stats – 152 PA, .271/.355/.444, 4 HR, 14 R, 17 RBI, 9 SB
Travis Bazzana has cooled off a bit from his hot start to the season, but he still had a productive week, although he only went 4-for-24 (.167) at the plate. He did, however, add a run, a home run, six RBIs, and a stolen base to his totals. Bazzana had been a reliable on-base candidate atop the Guardians’ lineup before last week, so hopefully it was just a down week.
Colt Emerson – SS, Seattle Mariners
2026 Stats – 69 PA, .242/.319/.548, 4 HR, 9 R, 10 RBI, 0 SB
Colt Emerson continued his hot bat after his May 17 call-up. Last week, he went 5-for-21 (.238). He also added three runs, two home runs, and three RBIs. Despite the strong start, as a third baseman, fantasy managers can find more reliable sources to slide into their rosters. Emerson should just be added in deep leagues.
Sal Stewart – 1B, Cincinnati Reds
2026 Stats – 278 PA, .253/.345/.456, 12 HR, 35 R, 39 RBI, 10 SB
Sal Stewart hasn’t homered since May 20 and hasn’t stolen a base since May 16. He spoiled fantasy managers after having nine homers, 29 RBIs, and seven stolen bases through April. Stewart was due for a slight regression after such a hot start, but only three homers, 10 RBIs, and three stolen bases are concerning. Hopefully, Stewart will figure out why he’s struggling and correct it, though it could just be that pitchers are figuring him out.
Samuel Basallo – C, Baltimore Orioles
2026 Stats – 196 PA, .267/.332/.483, 9 HR, 25 R, 26 RBI, 0 SB
Sam Antonacci – 2B/3B/OF, Chicago White Sox
2026 Stats – 191 PA, .286/.386/.379, 1 HR, 29 R, 15 RBI, 8 SB
Carter Jensen – C, Kansas City Royals
2026 Stats – 224 PA, .213/.286/.381, 8 HR, 26 R, 31 RBI, 0 SB
A.J. Ewing – OF, New York Mets
2026 Stats – 99 PA, .259/.340/.329, 1 HR, 11 R, 7 RBI, 7 SB
TJ Rumfield – 1B, Colorado Rockies
2026 Stats – 249 PA, .268/.345/.418, 7 HR, 25 R, 29 RBI, 0 SB
Rookie Batters Who Had a Cold Week
JJ Wetherholt – 2B/3B/SS, St. Louis Cardinals
2026 Stats – 271 PA, .246/.358/.395, 9 HR, 40 R, 25 RBI, 7 SB
JJ Wetherholt missed a few games last week due to a groin injury, but made his return on Sunday, June 7. He played in only three games last week and didn’t do much, going 2-for-12 (.167) with a run. He’s currently sitting atop the NL Rookie of the Year Award odds, but has a struggling Stewart closely behind.
Yohendrick Pinango – OF, Toronto Blue Jays
2026 Stats – 108 PA, .301/.333/.456, 4 HR, 9 R, 17 RBI, 0 SB
Owen Caissie – OF, Miami Marlins
2026 Stats – 174 PA, .221/.287/.377, 5 HR, 18 R, 30 RBI, 3 SB
Chase DeLauter – OF, Cleveland Guardians
2026 Stats – 255 PA, .256/.329/.405, 7 HR, 23 R, 33 RBI, 2 SB
Ryan Waldschmidt – OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
2026 Stats – 105 PA, .278/.327/.371, 0 HR, 10 R, 8 RBI, 5 SB
Justin Crawford – OF, Philadelphia Phillies
2026 Stats – 199 PA, .230/.291/.333, 2 HR, 17 R, 13 RBI, 8 SB
Brice Matthews- 2B/OF, Houston Astros
2026 Stats – 164 PA, .199/.252/.318, 4 HR, 15 R, 14 RBI, 2 SB
Moises Ballesteros – C, Chicago Cubs
2026 Stats – 154 PA, .234/.305/.401, 6 HR, 15 R, 21 RBI, 0 SB
Henry Bolte – OF, Athletics
2026 Stats – 79 PA, .309/.392/.368, 0 HR, 5 R, 5 RBI, 4 SB
Sung-Mun Song – 2B/3B, San Diego Padres
2026 Stats – 37 PA, .194/.324/.226, 0 HR, 5 R, 4 RBI, 3 SB
Rookie Pitchers
Nolan McLean – SP, New York Mets
2026 Stats – 13 GS, 3-4, 3.98 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 82 SO, 27 BB
Parker Messick – SP, Cleveland Guardians
2026 Stats – 13 GS, 6-2, 2.40 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 78 SO, 22 BB
Andrew Painter – SP, Philadelphia Phillies
2026 Stats – 12 GS (1 relief), 1-7, 6.21 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 47 SO, 19 BB
Bubba Chandler – SP, Pittsburgh Pirates
2026 Stats – 12 GS, 2-7, 4.91 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 62 SO, 40 BB
Connelly Early – SP, Boston Red Sox
2026 Stats – 12 GS, 5-3, 3.26 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 63 SO, 23 BB
Payton Tolle – SP, Boston Red Sox
2026 Stats – 8 GS, 3-2, 2.28 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 51 SO, 13 BB
Brandon Sproat – SP, Milwaukee Brewers
2026 Stats – 12 GS (2 relief), 1-4, 6.17 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 54 SO, 29 BB
Foster Griffin – SP, Washington Nationals
2026 Stats – 13 GS, 7-2, 3.63 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 69 SO, 21 BB
Trey Yesavage – SP, Toronto Blue Jays
2026 Stats – 8 GS, 2-3, 3.16 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 44 SO, 19 BB
Connor Prielipp – SP, Minnesota Twins
2026 Stats – 8 GS, 2-3, 5.26 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 42 SO, 17 BB
Tatsuya Imai – SP, Houston Astros
2026 Stats – 7 GS, 1-2, 5.52 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 28 SO, 20 BB
Injuries/Demotions
Munetaka Murakami – 1B, Chicago White Sox
2026 Stats – 246 PA, .240/.378/.560, 20 HR, 43 R, 41 RBI, 1 SB
Placed on the 10-day IL with a hamstring injury on May 30
Konnor Griffin – SS, Pittsburgh Pirates
2026 Stats – 208 PA, .270/.327/.402, 4 HR, 30 R, 22 RBI, 14 SB
Placed on the 10-day IL with a forearm injury on May 29
Noah Schultz- SP, Chicago White Sox
2026 Stats – 8 GS, 2-3, 5.35 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 33 SO, 22 BB
Placed on the 15-day IL with a knee injury on May 26
Nick Yorke – 2B/3B, Pittsburgh Pirates
2026 Stats – 78 PA, .221/.308/.309, 1 HR, 6 R, 6 RBI, 0 SB
Optioned to Triple-A
Juan Brito – 2B, Cleveland Guardians
2026 Stats – 56 PA, .176/.250/.255, 0 HR, 7 R, 3 RBI, 0 SB
Optioned to Triple-A
Dylan Beavers – OF, Baltimore Orioles
2026 Stats – 119 PA, .243/.331/.369, 2 HR, 16 R, 12 RBI, 3 SB
On 10-Day IL with an oblique injury on May 11
Alex Freeland – 2B, 3B, SS – Los Angeles Dodgers
2026 Stats – 112 PA, .235/.309/.337, 2 ,HR, 11 R, 8 RBI, 0 SB
Optioned to Triple-A
Rhett Lowder – Cincinnati Reds
2026 Stats – 8 GS, 3-3, 5.40 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 27 SO, 18 BB
Placed on the 15-day IL on May 10
Elmer Rodriguez – SP, New York Yankees
2026 Stats – 3 GS, 0-1, 4.15 ERA, 1.85 WHIP, 6 SO, 9 BB
Optioned to Triple-A
Spencer Jones – OF, New York Yankees
2026 Stats – 27 PA, .167/.259/.426, 0 HR, 0 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB
Optioned to Triple-A
Nathan Church – OF, St. Louis Cardinals
Placed on the 10-day IL on May 21
Jose Fernandez – SS, Arizona Diamondbacks
2026 Stats – 166 PA, .258/.290/.361, 3 HR, 23 R, 15 RBI, 6 SB
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