Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers: Going, Going, Vaughn!

There’s less than two months left on the fantasy baseball calendar, and it’s crunch time for fantasy managers. While there’s still time to make gains in categories, it’s necessary to understand what your roster needs — and doesn’t need — from players moving forward. The Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers series is here to help by identifying some of the week’s noteworthy player performances, both good and bad. The goal is to assist with lineup and waiver wire decisions by assessing players’ fantasy values. With about one-third of the season remaining, it’s even more critical to identify which players can help our squads and which are dead weight.

In this week’s edition of Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers, we look at recent call-ups who can bring some added punch to our lineups. On the flip side, we examine whether we should sit studs who are slumping. With that, let’s take a look at some Week 19 fantasy baseball risers and fallers.

Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers

Week 19 stats from 7/28 – 8/3

Risers

Andrew Vaughn (1B — MIL)

Andrew Vaughn has found new life with Milwaukee. He’s currently rocking a nine-game hitting streak, going 16-for-36 at the plate with two doubles and four dingers. He also crushed the ball in this span to the tune of a 22.6% barrel rate and 67.7% hard-hit rate.

The Brewers acquired Vaughn from the White Sox in June, where he immediately headed to Triple-A. But once he was called up on July 7 as an injury replacement for Rhys Hoskins, Vaughn hasn’t looked back. He recorded a hit in all but three of his 19 big-league games, sporting a .373/.429/.701 slash line across 77 plate appearances with a 209 wRC+. Incredibly, Vaughn has been one of the Brewers’ most productive bats in that stretch, leading the team in homers (6) and RBI (24). His hot hitting has also moved him up to the three-hole from the middle of the order. Vaughn needs to be scooped up everywhere in fantasy land.

Colson Montgomery (3B/SS — CWS)

Colson Montgomery has been a nice spark for the White Sox. He popped four long balls last week and racked up 10 RBI across 24 plate appearances. He also smoked the ball with a 31.3% barrel and 75% hard-hit rate. Whew! Montgomery’s plate skills in this stretch leave a lot to be desired (0.0% BB% and 33.3% K%), but fantasy managers are likely still happy with the overall stat line.

Montgomery was called up on July 4 and has been a solid addition to a pesky White Sox team. Across 25 games, he’s hitting .256/.304/.556 with a hefty .291 ISO. Montgomery is also leading the team with seven home runs and 23 RBI since his call-up. The nit to pick is with his plate discipline metrics. Montgomery is making only 78.1% contact in the zone and posting a 17.7% swinging-strike rate. Even though his free-swinging ways could take a toll on his batting average and home run totals moving forward, he’s worth taking a shot on while he’s swinging a hot stick.

Warming Bernabel (3B — COL)

Warming Bernabel had himself quite the debut week. Since his call-up, he piled up 14 hits across 32 at-bats, including four doubles, one triple, and three long balls. Bernabel didn’t walk much (3%), but he also didn’t strike out much either (12.1%), and finished the week with a 1.361 OPS.

Bernabel isn’t a big power bat and offers league-average quality of contact. But a near 54% pull rate is helping with the home run numbers, as is a .440 BABIP. Regression will hit at some point. But Bernabel is raking right now, and we take production where we can find it. Fantasy managers should take notice and ride Bernabel’s hot streak. Just understand it could be a short ride.

Ramon Laureano (OF — SDP)

Ramon Laureano continues to be an under-the-radar contributor, even after changing teams at the trade deadline. He racked up 10 hits across 26 at-bats and posted a 1.231 OPS with two dingers, nine runs scored, and five RBI. There was some concern that Laureano could lose playing time with the move to the Padres. But that hasn’t been the case as he’s played in every game since being traded.

Laureano has been cruising all season with a .288/.351/.535 slash line across 302 plate appearances. He’s been a five-category contributor with 16 homers, 48 runs, 48 RBI and four steals to go with a 144 wRC+. Part of Laureano’s success is that he cut down his strikeouts. Not only is he sporting a career-best 24.5% rate this year, but he also maintained a sub-20% rate since July 1. He’s also been rocking a career-high 12.5% barrel and 48% hard-hit rate. Less Ks and more quality contact is always a good thing. As long as those gains stick, Laureano should continue to be a fantasy asset in 12+ team leagues.

Fallers

James Wood (OF — WAS)

James Wood went 3-for-20 at the plate last week and struck out at a near 41% clip. Unfortunately, high strikeouts and poor production have been ongoing issues for Wood since the beginning of July. He holds a .536 OPS since July 1 with a mere two home runs, 10 runs scored, 7 RBI, and three steals across 109 plate appearances. Additionally, Wood is hitting below the Mendoza line, his power disappeared (.083 ISO), and his strikeout rate jumped from 26.8% to 39.4%.

Most concerning is that Wood’s underlying metrics have crumbled over that 25-game stretch. His barrel rate dropped from 18.8% to 13.2% while his hard-hit rate plummeted from 56.9% to 43.3%. Similarly, there was a near 10-point drop in Wood’s zone contact rate to 74.6%. Wood has the talent to turn things around, but his waning rates aren’t promising. Given his current lack of production, it’s best to bench Wood for a replacement player in the interim — especially as we have limited weeks left in the season. Just be ready to hop back on the train when his bat starts coming around.

Mookie Betts (SS/OF — LAD)

Mookie Betts’ woes at the plate continue. He went 4-for-24 last week and ended on a hitless streak over his last 16 at-bats. It’s no secret that Betts has struggled for most of the season. He started the year on the back of his heels after he shed roughly 20 pounds due to a stomach virus.

Betts has never seemed to recover fully. His quality of contact metrics are down across the board this year, and he posted career-worst marks in ISO, batting average, and wRC+. Additionally, Betts’ OPS has steadily fallen each month. He held a a .746 mark in March/April and it’s since dropped to .586 in July. On the plus side, his plate skills are still intact and elite, and Betts has shown flashes of production while batting near the top of the lineup. However, that production has been paltry since July 1. Across his last 106 plate appearances, Betts is hitting .181/.236/.287 with two home runs, seven RBI and two steals with a 43 wRC+. It’s tough to justify starting Betts when replacement players are out-producing him, especially in shallow formats.

Jacob deGrom (SP — TEX)

Jacob deGrom is coming off his worst two-game stretch of the season. He gave up five earned runs in both of those starts, with the long ball being the main culprit. deGrom coughed up a combined five homers in that limited stretch, resulting in a bloated 8.71 ERA (3.95 SIERA) and 1.45 WHIP for the week.

Home runs and hard contact have been an issue for deGrom of late. Since July 1, he has surrendered long balls in each of his last six appearances. His 10 dingers in that span are more than he allowed over his first 16 starts of the season. On the bright side, deGrom still struck out well over a batter per inning and maintained an elite WHIP during his bumpy stretch.

Overall, deGrom’s ERA could remain a bit rocky until he consistently keeps the ball in the yard. If you’re set in Ks and can absorb a possible ERA hit, roll with deGrom as usual. But if ERA hiccups could adversely affect your team in the standings, you may want to be more selective about when you start deGrom. For instance, his upcoming matchups against the Phillies and Blue Jays could be troublesome on the home run front. Both clubs are top-six in OPS against righties since June 1.