Hello Deep Leaguers! I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. We’re coming up on the end of May, which means we are about one-third of the way through the season. It’s not early anymore. Remarkably, all five NL Central teams are STILL above .500. Even more remarkably, the entire American League only has 4 teams with winning records. My Buccos current record would be leading the AL West, but they are last in the NL Central! Oh well, it’s a lot better than being out of contention already.
Fallers
Marcus Semien, Second Base, New York Metropolitans – 43% Rostered
I admit I typed Texas Rangers first. I remember his big 45 homer year in Toronto, but I’m sure I’ll always remember Semien as a Ranger, which is a good thing since his Mets tenure hasn’t been so great. To be honest, I didn’t really understand why the Mets were interested in Semien to begin with. They had Brett Baty on the roster already. It got even weirder when they signed Jorge Polanco, and then they landed Bo Bichette! Now the Mets have at least 3 players who probably fit best at second base. None of them are hitting.
But Semien, who will be 36 years old this season, already had three consecutive seasons in which his batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentages all declined. He did have very slightly better exit velocity and barrel rates in ’25 than in ’24, but both still ranked in the league’s bottom third. This season, his exit velocity has plummeted under 86 MPH, and his hard hit rate has dropped under 33%.
Moreover, Semien no longer draws many walks. He has carried an above-average walk rate in every year of his career since 2015, when it was just barely below the mean. He still carried a 9.4% walk rate last season. This year, his BB rate has dropped to 6.2% and sits in the bottom 6th of the league. Father Time remains undefeated, but Mets fans have a lot to be excited about with Ewing, Benge, Tong, and Mclean all looking like fun players so far.
Mike Burrows, Starting Pitcher, Houston Astros – 14% Rostered
Burrows had a nice season for my Buccos last year. He recorded a 3.94 ERA, a 1.24 WHIP, and a 97:31 K:BB ratio over 96 innings. He was dealt to Houston in the offseason in a three-teamer that also included the Rays. Pittsburgh received Brandon Lowe, Jeff Mangum, and Mason Montgomery in the deal, so I’ve been pretty cool with how things have turned out so far.
Burrows, on the other hand, is probably not quite as pleased. Through 10 starts this year, Burrow has pitched to a 5.75 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, and a 48:20 K:BB ratio. He’s allowed 12 homers in 56 innings this year after allowing 13 in 96 innings last year. His BABIP against stands at .327 this year, and was .290 last year, which was just about dead on league average. That’s not a big enough difference for me to chalk anything up to bad luck.
Burrows is still utilizing a five-pitch arsenal with his heater and change leading the way. However, last year Burrows used his 4-seamer about 40% of the time and his off-speed pitch about 24%. This season, his change-up has been his most used pitch at 28%, with his heater just behind at 27%. I don’t hate this. I usually prefer when pitchers with a single dominating pitch have a more even mix. Burrows does not have a standout pitch, and his four-seamer in particular has been one of the least valuable pitches in the MLB this year. It wasn’t a good pitch last year either, but Burrows has already allowed 8 homers off his fastball this year.
It hasn’t all been bad. Burrows has produced better hard hit % barrel % and exit velocity allowed this year than last year. On the other hand, he’s issuing more walks, recording fewer Ks and allowing a lot more fly balls, hence the homer issue. His four seam usage is already down, but I don’t know how he can trust it at all with the results he’s gotten this year. Maybe he can use his sinker more often, and nearly eliminate the four seamer for now, but I can’t recommend Burrows even for streaming purposes until he gets his gopher issue under control.
Masyn Winn, Short Stop, St. Louis Cardinals – 36% Rostered
I always think the “y” should be in his last name, and I just can’t over it. Mason Wynn, right? Nope. Anyway, Winn got us all excited when he slugged 15 homers and stole 11 bases as a 22-year-old rookie back in 2024. His sophomore season was less exciting with just 9 of each, but he missed some time to injury, so there was still hope he could be that 15/15 guy, with maybe a neutral or plus batting average.
That’s why it’s such a shame to see Winn sitting at .235/.316/.324 with just one homer and 4 steals nearing the end of May. That OBP is in line with his career rate so far, but the batting average and slugging are well off his career averages. Also, his lone homer and all of his steals came back in April. Winn is batting just .211 with a caught stealing in May.
Winn’s exit velocity, hard-hit rate, and barrel rate were all in the bottom quartile last season, and are all worse this season. His bat speed has dropped a full MPH, which is odd for a 24-year-old. His whiff, chase, and K rates are all a bit worse than last year, too. The only thing he’s doing better is drawing more walks.
We can see on his process chart that his decision value remains above average, but his contact ability has really dipped over the last month, and his power output has lagged all season. It’s possible that Winn gets back to running and provides some steals, but he’s been mostly hitting 6th, with Wetherholt leading off, and that would limit his opportunities. Other than that, I don’t see any power upside, and his weak contact isn’t making me optimistic that he won’t hurt your batting average. I would move on in all but the deepest of leagues.
Risers
Curtis Mead, First Base, Second Base, and Third Base, Washington Nationals – 3% Rostered
Mead is slashing .241/.353/.491 with 7 homers and 3 steals and usually bats 2nd or 3rd for the highest scoring team in the Majors. He’s flown under the radar a bit because he’s spent most of the year on the short side of a platoon. Recently, however, the Nats demoted Brady House, and Mead has picked up more starts against righties.
The platoon was an odd thing to begin with, as Mead has a career .652 OPS vs righties compared to his career .679 OPS vs lefties. But platoons are usually more about the left-handed batter’s struggles against left-handed pitching. Mead hadn’t had much success against either-handed pitchers entering this season, but he’s still just 25 and has handled righties with aplomb this year, posting a .965 OPS with 13 walks vs just 9 Ks over 70 plate appearances. It seems the platoon was holding him back. I mean, just look at this beauty:
Everything is well above average and jumped recently with Mead’s boost in playing time. Mead’s underlying rates also look pretty good overall. He’s sporting a 45% hard rate and a nearly 9% barrel rate, although his exit velocity is lagging a bit at just under 90 MPH. His chase, whiff, K, and walk rates are all in the top 15% of MLB hitters. That’s elite discipline and helps support his robust .353 on-base percentage.
Mead has been doing all of this despite a .239 BABIP, too. He’s actually been unlucky on balls in play. Honestly, I’m still a little shocked at how good Mead looked once I selected him for this spot, and I’m giving him a ringing endorsement. He deserves rostering in standard mixers right now.
Mike Yastrzemski, Outfield, Atlanta Braves – 3% Rostered
Yaz is the second 35-year-old I’ve selected this week. His season numbers don’t look all that appealing, but that’s because he struggled so mightily in April – .209/.280/.275 with no homers over 100 plate appearances – that his strong May performance has gonna unnoticed. Thankfully, I was paying attention.
Yaz has slashed .265/.345/.510 with 3 homers over just 55 plate appearances (he isn’t starting vs lefties) in May. He’s got a .303 BABIP in May compared to .288 in April, which is as close a monthly split as you’ll ever see. Also kind of odd to see such drastic monthly game level splits with such similar BABIPs. Sadly, Yaz’s process chart doesn’t think the performance is entirely legitimate.
His rolling contact rate has jumped, but his decision value and power output, especially, are still well below average. His rates mostly agree with the chart, too. Yaz has produced a nice 90.2 MPH exit velocity, but his barrel and hard hit rates reside in the league’s bottom third, and his strikeout and walk rates are right there too. It’s been a nice bounce-back month, but I wouldn’t expect much from Yaz other than a decent batting average for the remainder of the year.
Spencer Horwitz, First Base, Pittsburgh Pirates – 5% Rostered
My Pirates are too popular this year; I hardly get a chance to cover them (although Ozuna is well on his way back to the fallers section). Horwitz has been a solid source of batting average and on-base percentage during the last couple of seasons, but I was a little down on him entering 2026. He had lost his eligibility at second base, and the Pirates had brought in Ryan O’Hearn, Brandon Lowe, and Marcell Ozuna, who figured to eat up most of the at-bats at first, second, and designated hitter. O’Hearn has looked fine in right field, though, allowing Horwitz to appear in 49 games, exclusively playing first base.
Horwitz won’t play a ton against lefties, which is fine since he’s hitting just .190 against them. But he has raked against righties with a .297/.396/.484 line this season. He’s also been red hot in May with a .323/.423/.523 triple slash this month.
As we can divine from his process chart, Horwitz profiles primarily as a contact/OBP guy. He’s got one of the league’s slower bats, and his power metrics will leave you flat. His exit velocity, barrel, and hard hit rates are all in the bottom 20% of the league. But his chase rate is excellent, and his whiff and K rates are in the league’s top 10%. It’s a shame he’s one of the league’s slowest runners, because he does have elite on-base skills, and I’d love to see the Pirates use him as a lead-off hitter more often. Horwitz probably tops out at 15 homers. But if you need batting average or OBP help, it’s hard to find a better answer.
That’s it for week 10! I’m keeping my eye on Henry Bolte and Pedro Ramirez for next week. Thanks for reading, and good luck out there, deep leaguers!
