Life and Times of J., Carter
Carter Jensen (KCR): 4-4, 2B, HR, R, RBI, BB, SB.
Carter Jensen hit a high note on his up-and-down season last night. He popped 4 knocks, ending the night with a 4-4, 2B, HR, R, RBI, BB, SB line. Jensen led off the game for the Royals against Zack Littell. In his first at-bat, Jensen got an 82 MPH splitter that looked more like a hanging curve, and deposited it into the right field bleachers. In the second inning, Jensen got another offspeed pitch from Littell, this time a sweeper, and did it again, this time lacing a line drive single to right. Jensen added a walk in the fourth inning, then hit another liner to right so hard people thought there’d been a murder. Jensen capped off his night with a double in the eighth inning and, following a Bobby Witt Jr. walk, a double steal of second and third.
Jensen’s performance has fluctuated from month to month and hasn’t reached the levels he set in his brief cup of coffee in 2025. Jensen is still doing all the things that he does: he swings hard (74th percentile bat speed), he hits the ball hard (78th percentile average exit velo), he doesn’t chase much (65th percentile chase rate), and he also swings and misses a lot (16th percentile whiff and K rates). Jensen’s combination of skills and flaws has made him streaky in his short time in the majors. He posted a .941 OPS in 20 games in 2025, then monthly OPSes of .818, .580, and .756 in 2026; sometimes the bat is cold, and sometimes it’s hot. With the Royals scheduled to face four lefties in their next nine matchups, we might be set for a bit of a cold streak from a fantasy perspective. While Jensen isn’t bad against same-handed pitching, all of his power has come against righties. The Royals have also sat Jensen vs some lefties and dropped him to the bottom of the lineup when he plays. Unless you’re in a deeper, two-catcher league, Jensen is more of a watch-him guy than a must-roster guy at this point.
Let’s see how the other hitters did Wednesday…
Kyle Stowers (MIA): 4-5, 2B, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI.
Stowers took full advantage of his matchup against Andrew Painter in the hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park. Stowers came to the plate in the first following an Otto Lopez walk and turned on an up-and-in fastball from Painter for a two-run homer. The homer was Stowers’ hardest-hit ball of the season at 110.8 MPH. Stowers added an RBI double in the second on a soft fly down the left field line. The rest of his night was more of what we expect from Stowers, with a swinging strikeout and two batted balls at 106.3 MPH and 107.7 MPH for a single and his second homer.
Sterlin Thompson (COL): 3-4, 2B, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.
I wasn’t familiar with Sterlin Thompson’s game. The Rockies’ DH last night, Thompson did his best to make the game competitive after the Cubs scored 7 in the second inning. Thompson went to the opposite field for his first homer of the night off Javier Assad, then pulled a low-and-in cutter to right-center for his second homer of the night and of his career. Thompson is an older rookie at 25, but he’s done nothing but hit in the minors and has stolen double-digit bases in each of his last three minor league seasons. His 75.6 MPH bat speed is elite, and he plays in Colorado; he’s kind of interesting for deeper leagues.
Ryan O’Hearn (PIT): 3-5, 2B, HR, R, 6 RBI.
O’Hearn and the Pirates got off to a hot start, jumping on Aaron Civale and the Athletics bullpen for 7 runs in the first 4 innings. O’Hearn’s first at-bat was a two-RBI double off the base of the wall in left. He went to the opposite field again in the fourth inning, tacking on two more runs on his 11th homer of the season. O’Hearn added his fifth and sixth RBIs of the game on a line drive single to center in the 7th inning.
Colson Montgomery (CHW): 2-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI.
Montgomery’s season is almost a carbon copy of his 2025 debut. Through 2 fewer games, Montgomery is hitting .225/.319/.502 with 19 homers. In a 71-game debut in 2025, Montgomery posted a .239/.311/.529 line with 21 homers. His first homer was off a low-and-away slider from Carlos Rodón. Montgomery managed to get down and pull the pitch to right-center for three runs. After a 5th inning groundout, Montgomery got another low-and-away pitch in the 8th inning, this time a changeup from Paul Blackburn. Montgomery sent it out to center at 104.9 MPH for his second homer of the night. Montgomery is slugging .533 on pitches low and away in the zone despite a 19% flyball rate; he’s only whiffing 12% of the time against those pitches, too.
Luis Arraez (SFG): 2-4, HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, BB, SB.
Arraez did something last night that he’s never done in the majors, posting a walk, steal, and home run in the same game. After the Giants and Braves finished their game from the day before, Arraez had a combo meal in the nightcap. Arraez pulled an up and in fastball to right field for a two-run homer in the second inning as the Giants jumped out to a 5-0 lead. The homer left Arraez’s bat at 99.8 MPH, just his 63rd hard hit ball of the season (his teammate Bryce Eldridge has 50 in 33 games). Arraez walked and stole second in the first inning. The throw would have been in plenty of time, but went to the wrong side of second, and Ozzie Albies couldn’t close his glove on it. Arraez added a two-RBI single in the top of the 9th that ended up being the margin of victory, as the Giants won 7-5.
Cody Bellinger (NYY): 3-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB.
Bellinger continued his excellent season in the Yankees’ 10-5 victory over the White Sox. Bellinger engaged in some lefty-on-lefty violence in the first, taking what looked like the tiniest possible step in the bucket and yanking an Anthony Kay sinker to right field for his 11th homer of the season. The pitch was way off the plate inside, and Bellinger didn’t get all of it, but 92.2 MPH is enough exit velo to get to the short right-field porch in Yankee Stadium. Bellinger added a single and a double, neither of which was hard hit. Bellinger also walked in the 8th inning, which is only notable because he’s walking 13.6% of the time, his highest rate since his 47-homer season in LA.
Jackson Merrill (SDP): 3-5, HR, R, 2 RBI, SB.
Merrill hit his 8th homer of the season on a way low-and-in sweeper in the 9th inning. Merrill’s homer was launched at 106.2 MPH and extended the Padres’ lead to five runs. Merrill added two hard-hit singles at 95.9 and 99.0 MPH, as well as two strikeouts. While Statcast thinks Merrill deserves better than his .213 average (.240 xBA) and .358 slugging (.434 xSLG), it’s the continued increase in strikeouts that is preventing Merrill from reaching the heights of his rookie season. Merrill chases a lot (34.3% of the time) and makes contact on 56.8% of swings outside the zone, down from 66% in his rookie season.
Corbin Carroll (ARI): 1-5, HR, R, 4 RBI.
Carroll hasn’t shown any lingering effects of his broken hamate from earlier in the season. He had a walk overturned to a strikeout in the first inning, but got his revenge on Sam Aldegheri in the second inning. Carroll broke a 1-1 tie by turning on an inside changeup and sending it out to right field at 100.8 MPH for a grand slam. Carroll added another hard-hit ball in the fourth inning, but this one was a 6-3 double play. Carroll has cut his strikeouts slightly from last year and has continued to add bat speed, now in the 89th percentile at 75.5 MPH. Statcast thinks he’s been a bit fortunate with his slugging thus far, but some amount of that is Carroll’s 97th percentile speed adding extra bases.
Andrés Giménez (TOR): 2-4, 2 R, RBI, 3 SB.
Giménez has made the most out of his relatively poor contact, reaching on two soft line drives last night. Giménez and George Springer sent a message in the third inning last night, combining for four steals in an inning against Mickey Gasper. Giménez’s steals were particularly necessary, as he scored on a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ground ball and would have otherwise been stranded. He added his third steal in the 8th inning, took third on a fly ball to right field, then scored on a bloop single. The batting average is a drag, but Giménez has 7 homers and 10 steals through 70 games, which is definitely playable for a dual-eligible 2B/SS.
Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire | Featured image by Ethan Kaplan (@djfreddie10.bsky.social on Blue Sky and @EthanMKaplanImages on Instagram)
