We’ve reached the end of June, and many players took a huge step forward throughout the month. However, some trends are more sustainable than others, and that’s what we’ll be analyzing in this piece. These three players have been exceptional as of late, but can they keep it up?
Luis García Jr., 1B/2B, WAS
Luis García Jr. has been one of the hottest players in baseball over the past month, and especially so over the past week. In the past seven days, he’s batting .556 with five home runs, and over the past 30 days, he’s hitting .306 with 12 home runs. That brings his season slash line to .280/.310/.540 with 38 runs, 16 home runs, 55 RBI, and two stolen bases in 274 plate appearances. His underlying metrics back it up, as he’s impacting the ball better than he ever has in his career.
The 26-year-old’s expected batting average and expected slugging percentage are truly elite, while he continues to put the ball in play at an above-average rate. This elite production isn’t something that’s brand new for the infielder, either, as he was actually a popular draft pick in 2025 after hitting .282 with 18 home runs and 22 stolen bases in 140 games in 2024. That ultimately ended in a disappointing 2025, but now he is back with a bat speed increase of over one mile per hour, and it’s resulted in his average exit velocity increasing from the 55th percentile to the 91st percentile.
However, the biggest downside of Garcia isn’t going anywhere, as he still does not play at all against left-handed pitchers. That makes him incredibly tough to roster in any weekly lineup leagues, as he becomes unstartable whenever a stretch of southpaws is on the schedule. Additionally, while the increased power is nice, the stolen bases we’ve come to expect from him have completely vanished, as he has just two this season after swiping 36 bags over the previous two years.
Verdict: Not legit. The strict platoon situation creates an extremely thin margin for Garcia to actually produce as an exceptional fantasy player for any long period of time. He’s fine to play as a hot-hand streamer, especially having homered six times in his past seven games, but that is obviously a pace that is impossible to keep up. He’s bound to cool off at some point, which will send him back to the waiver wire as a part-time player who also does not steal any bases anymore. He’s done enough to once again prove himself as a top-20 option at second base, but don’t be fooled into thinking he is an elite fantasy option again.
Kazuma Okamoto, 3B, TOR
Kazuma Okamoto has hit four home runs in his past nine games, bringing his season total to 19 with a .236/.318/.462 slash line. The former NPB superstar has had a very surprising debut season in the major leagues, bringing some serious power but struggling to make contact, with a 32.4% strikeout rate and 34.2% whiff rate that rank toward the very bottom of the league. It’s not at all the type of profile many expected from the 30-year-old, who hit .327 with an 11.3% strikeout rate in 69 games in Japan in 2025. Funnily enough, his strikeout rate is nearly identical to that of Munetaka Murakami, who came to the States with a strikeout-prone reputation that many were concerned about entering the year.
The good news for Okamoto is that he’s impacting the ball nearly as well as Murakami, too, with a 14.5% barrel rate, a 49.7% hard-hit rate, and a 91.9 mph average exit velocity that all grade out as elite. He’s also shown a real knack for pulling the ball in the air, with a 26.9% pull air rate that ranks 31st among all qualified batters. That has allowed him to produce at a 37-homer pace over 162 games, making him the 10th most valuable fantasy third baseman in standard Roto leagues this season, despite the low batting average.
Verdict: Legit. Seeing Okamoto deliver as a solid fantasy option despite a bottom-of-the-barrel strikeout rate makes me think this is closer to his floor than his ceiling. Obviously, an increase in strikeouts was expected with his move from Japan to the US, but I have a hard time believing that the strikeout rate north of 30% sticks. Adjusting to an entirely new league and an entirely new country, for that matter, is extremely tough, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a decrease in strikeouts in the second half and into future seasons. The batting average has already been getting better as of late, as he’s hitting .280 over the past 30 days. Even if he doesn’t find a way to cut back on the swinging and missing, Okamoto has proven himself to be a slugger worth starting in fantasy.
Foster Griffin, SP, WAS
Foster Griffin recently turned in another spectacular performance against the Orioles, striking out nine over seven shutout innings on June 27th. Not only was that his fourth straight quality start, but it was his seventh straight start of allowing three runs or less, while six of those seven were one run or less. He now has a sparkling 2.93 ERA and 1.04 WHIP on the season, with 98 strikeouts and 25 walks in 98.1 innings pitched. While his stuff doesn’t look overwhelming on paper, this type of pitcher has a history of exceeding what their individual pitches and skills might suggest. Griffin is a soft-tossing lefty with an extremely deep arsenal, as he’s featured seven different pitches this season. Six of those seven have been thrown at least 10% of the time, allowing him to always keep hitters guessing.
That’s why, despite a middling 25.1% whiff rate, 37.4% hard-hit rate, and 44.8% groundball rate that do not stand out in any meaningful way, the 30-year-old continues to get the job done. There’s also something to be said about confidence on the mound, as Griffin was an All-Star in the NPB last season, posting a 1.62 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. This is a guy who re-invented himself in Japan and is coming off of three straight years of dominance overseas, so Griffin himself certainly doesn’t feel like he’s getting lucky.
Verdict: Somewhat legit. He’s proven to be a must-start caliber pitcher in fantasy over this span, and I believe he is legit in that regard. He should be rostered and started in every league until he shows signs of taking a step back. However, with a FIP of 4.20 and an xFIP of 3.57, regression is bound to happen at some point. That doesn’t mean he’ll go back to being waiver wire fodder, but the lack of elite stuff prevents him from having the upside of many other pitchers ranked around the same point.
