If the first week of May is any indication, it’s going to be a rowdy transition into summer. The weather is heating up and so are some slow-starting players. Conversely, we’re still waiting on some perennial stars to find their groove this season. I’ve highlighted some of the more notable risers and fallers across fantasy baseball for week 4 below.
Week 4 Risers and Fallers
Risers
Rowdy Tellez, 1B, Milwaukee Brewers
7-Day Stats: 28 AB, 4 HR, 15 RBI, .429/.484/1.036
Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, and Rowdy Tellez. Those are your leaders in barrel percentage at this point of the season. Tellez has been absolutely crushing the ball so far, and his week 4 performance firmly established his value as a starting-caliber 1B in fantasy. He has always had pretty good underlying numbers, but he usually found himself in a platoon and regularly sat against southpaws. Well, Tellez has shown so far this year that he has no problems hitting lefties and has earned a majority of the playing time thanks to his performance. The breakout season is here for Rowdy, and his value will continue to rise the more he plays and mashes the baseball.
Joe Barlow, RP, Texas Rangers
7-Day Stats: 3 IP, 3 SV, 0 H, 0 BB, 4 K, 0.00 ERA
Coming into 2022, Barlow looked to be a breakout candidate among closers. Unfortunately, he didn’t receive his first save opportunity until April 30. Barlow struggled in his first couple of appearances this season, but he looks locked in as the Rangers’ closer, picking up three saves over the past week. Since his two bad games early in the season, Barlow hasn’t allowed a hit and has picked up at least one strikeout in each appearance. We know how much the values of closers can change over the course of a season, but Barlow is on the rise as a quality saves option.
Christian Yelich, OF, Milwaukee Brewers
7-Day Stats: 25 AB, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 1 SB, .400/.464/.720
One of the more controversial players this draft season, Yellich is on a tear recently. He looks healthy and is hitting the ball harder and in the air more than last season. That combination is what made Yelich an MVP in 2018, so it’s good to see the results are back to what we expect from him. The health aspect is still a little frightening. The back injury could flare up at any point, but Yelich has dampened any doubt that he can still produce at a high level. His value is rising and will most likely coincide with the health status of his back.
Fallers
José Berríos, SP, Toronto Blue Jays
7-Day Stats: 10.1 IP, 15 H, 3 BB, 5 K, 6.10 ERA, 5.50 FIP, .319 BAA
Berríos has not looked very good so far this season. His K% is way down to 14.8% from the 25ish% he is usually at. He hasn’t been getting the whiffs and hitters are making more contact within the zone. It would be nice to at least point to a lower xERA than his actual ERA of 5.34, but even that metric is inflated to 7.68. Normally, you can count on Berríos to give you bulk innings with at least 1 SO/IP, but something hasn’t been quite right. Until we start to see some better results, Berríos will continue to lose value and lose his place as a low-end SP2.
Trea Turner, 2B, Los Angeles Dodgers
7-Day Stats: 17 AB, 1 SB, 3 RBI, .118/.200/.177
Don’t get me wrong, I have zero concern about Trea Turner for the rest of the season. He just hasn’t lived up to his high draft capital up to this point of the season. He only has 6 XBH and has only scored 9 runs. While a .261 BA isn’t bad for the season, especially when the league average is .233, we’re used to Trea hitting well above .300. Being in the Dodgers’ lineup will help bring his stats back to where we expect soon. But he has lost the tiniest bit of value due to his sluggish start. If you could get Turner for a combination of hot starters I would do so in a heartbeat. Turner will get hot at some point and his value will be that of a top 5 pick once again.