Lineup changes happen every day across baseball. Even when things are going well for a team, managers mix and match to exploit matchups. When things are going poorly, though, we see even more lineup changes due to injury, underperformance, or just a general “shake things up” move to hopefully snap a team out of a funk.
There are so many small changes in day-to-day lineups that it’s not always easy to know what’s a meaningful start of a trend, and what’s a one-day change. Let’s take a team-by-team look across the league and identify the most important playing time shifts that are driving fantasy baseball value changes.
Diamondbacks’ rookie Ryan Waldschmidt has earned a promotion in the batting order by slashing .317/.369/.433. After sitting in the nine-hole for a few weeks, manager Torey Lovullo has penciled him into the fifth or sixth spot in the last three games which should provide the 23-year-old outfielder plenty of more RBI opportunities.
Arizona made another notable prospect call-up, promoting Tommy Troy from Triple-A. He’s started the last three games in left field with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on the IL. Troy doesn’t have the pedigree that Waldschmidt does, but he still cracked FanGraphs’ preseason Top 100 list. He was hitting .307 with three home runs and six steals before his promotion.
Ildemaro Vargas‘ hot bat has eaten into Jose Fernandez’s playing time. Fernandez has started just three of the last six games, and his starts have come in spurts. He’ll start three in a row, sit for a couple, rinse and repeat. The inconsistent nature makes him hard to roster in shallow formats.
Carlos Cortes is once again playing every day and has been hitting leadoff against righties. He’s topped the lineup in eight straight starts against right-handed pitchers.
The Athletics‘ outfield crunch has pushed Lawrence Butler to the bench. He’s started just two of the team’s last nine games, and is droppable pretty much everywhere.
Sandy León has won the interim starting catcher gig over Chadwick Tromp while Atlanta awaits the return of Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy. León has started five of the last seven, but is slashing an almost impressively low .100/.100/.100.
Caleb Durbin has been unable to pull out of his early-season tailspin. He’s lost his grip on a starting job with his 34 wRC+, the lowest mark among any big league hitter with at least 150 plate appearances. He’s only started three times in Boston’s last eight contests.
As soon as it looked like Mickey Gasper was getting a chance to be an everyday regular, he’s now only started two of the team’s last six games.
Interim manager Chad Tracy has given Ceddanne Rafaela a lineup promotion. Boston’s center fielder has hit second in the order in four of the last six games.
The Cubs are in total free fall right now, and manager Craig Counsell is tinkering with the lineup to try to pull the team back to their winning ways. Almost every lineup regular has been given recent days off or been moved around the order. The most notable change is Pete Crow-Armstrong moving up to leadoff. It hasn’t been a banner year for PCA, but he is sporting a career-high 8.9% walk rate, and with his speed, he could stick at the top of the lineup.
Prospects Pedro Ramirez and Kevin Alcantara were both called up over the weekend. It’s unlikely either sees enough plate appearances to make them fantasy relevant, barring an injury to a lineup regular.
The White Sox saw enough of Jarred Kelenic and designated the former top prospect for assignment. Rikuu Nishida was called up to take the open roster spot and has started both games in right field since joining the big league club. Nishida has almost no power to speak of, but he had already swiped 15 bases at Triple-A and has a good hit tool, so he could be worth a look if you need speed in deep fantasy formats.
Manager Terry Francona has been tinkering with who to hit first in the lineup all year long, and right now the leadoff role belongs to Blake Dunn. He’s hit first in four straight games, against both a lefty and three righties. Dunn had never previously found success with the bat at the MLB level, but is hitting well in a small 50-plate-appearance sample so far this year — .311/.380/.467 with one homer and two steals.
Former number one overall pick Travis Bazzana has hit the ground running with a .293 average, three home runs, and seven steals. He’s been promoted to the leadoff role, hitting their in five straight games, againt both-handed pitchers.
Patrick Bailey’s playing time is ticking up now that he’s been with Cleveland long enough to gain familiarity with the pitching staff and infrastructure. He’s started five of the last eight games. He’s never been known for his bat, but he’s now at least playing enough to be considered in deep two-catcher leagues or AL-only.
Edouard Julien has lost a lot of playing time recently. He’s only started one of the Rockies’ last six contests. Chad Stevens has started four of those at second base, with Willi Castro getting the other start at the keystone.
Jake McCarthy is back in the leadoff spot against righties with Julien falling out of favor.
Ezequiel Tovar is coming around at the plate recently. He has hits in 11 of his last 13 games, and has moved up a couple of spots in the lineup. He’s typically hitting third through six, depending on pitcher handedness.
The Rockies recalled Sterlin Thompson from Triple-A, and he’s started four of five games at DH with Mickey Moniak on the IL with right ankle tendinitis. FanGraphs ranked Thompson as the Rockies’ number 12 prospect in the preseason. He was impressive with a .341/.485/.485 slash line for Triple-A Albuquerque, and in NL-only formats, he’s an intriguing pick up to see if any of that translates to hitter-friendly Coors Field.
Taylor Trammell returned from the IL on Tuesday and was immediately plugged into the starting lineup, hitting fifth. Trammell had started eight of 11 games prior to his injury, so he’s likely an everyday starter moving forward.
The Angels optioned Josh Lowe to Triple-A over the weekend. They called up Wade Meckler in the corresponding move, and he’s started three of four games in left field since.
With Yoán Moncada hitting the IL, it looks like Donovan Walton will take over starting duties at the hot corner when the Angels face a right-handed starting pitcher.
The Dodgers activated Enrique Hernández from the IL, and he made his season debut on Monday night. Hernández has started both games at third base since his activation, filling in for the banged-up Max Muncy. The odds are Hernández will continue to work in a super utility role, but he may see the field often enough to be a roster consideration in NL-only leagues. His multi-positional eligibility adds fantasy value, but he hasn’t posted a wRC+ above league average since 2021.
Javier Sanoja is seeing more time in the starting nine since Leo Jiménez hit the IL last Thursday. Sanoja has started five of the seven games since Jiménez’s injury, and his .281/.333/.395 slash line is good enough to warrant a roster spot in deep formats.
It’s been a struggle for Luke Keaschall in his sophomore season, and he’s been on the bench a bit recently, starting just four of the Twins’ last seven games. He’s also moved down the batting order and has been hitting seventh or eighth recently. Minnesota surely wants Keaschall to play every day for his continued development, so this seems more like a few days off than a trend moving forward, although it’s certainly not out of the question that he could be sent down if his struggles continue into the summer.
Brooks Lee has seen sporadic starts hitting second in the lineup in recent weeks, but his role as the two-hitter has been cemented recently. He’s hit second in four of the last five games.
Orlando Arcia was called up last week and has taken a few starts in the middle infield, appearing in three out of the six games in which he’s been eligible.
A.J. Ewing was promoted in the batting order. He’s hit third, fourth, or fifth in each of the last three games.
The Mets activated Jared Young from the IL on Tuesday. He was in the starting lineup for his first game back and was penciled in at fifth. It’d be surprising to see him totally supplant Mark Vientos at first base, but this could turn into a platoon situation with Young starting against righties and Vientos facing lefties.
New York sent Spencer Jones back to Triple-A Scranton, which has opened a lineup spot for Paul Goldschmidt. He’s started six straight games at first base with Ben Rice taking over full-time DH duties. Goldschmidt has been resurgent at the plate, slashing .255/.352/.500. His 15.1% barrel rate is a career best, and his walk rate has returned to the double digits for the first time since 2023.
As Aaron Boone promised, José Caballero returned from the IL on Friday and was immediately reinstated as an everyday player. Anthony Volpe is still on the MLB roster but has only started two of four games since Caballero returned.
Adolis García has been bumped down an additional couple of spots in the lineup. The veteran slugger is now hitting seventh or eighth.
After Ryan O’Hearn hit the IL last week, Jake Mangum saw a string of starts in the outfield, but it looks like most of the open time in right field is actually going to go to Esmerlyn Valdez. He’s started four of five games in right field since being called up. Jhostynxon Garcia is also factoring into the outfield mix, having started five of eight since he was promoted to the big leagues on May 19.
Oneil Cruz has been moved out of the leadoff role and is now hitting fifth most days. Spencer Horwitz is at the top of the order against righties, and Konnor Griffin is hitting first against lefties.
Bryce Eldridge has been getting regular at-bats recently. He’s started six of the Giants’ last seven games, and has even stayed in the starting lineup for two of the three lefties the team has faced. Although he’s only slashing .178/.260/.289, he’s absolutely worth adding in deep formats if he’s still sitting on the wire, especially if your fantasy team is lacking power.
The Cardinals called up outfielder Bryan Torres to fill the hole left by Nathan Church’s placement on the IL. Torres had an 11-year journey, including stops outside organized baseball, to reach the big leagues, but he’s now started six straight games since his promotion. It’s a great story, but Torres is off to an even better start, slashing .333/.412/.533 in his first 17 MLB plate appearances.
Victor Mesa Jr. was promoted from Triple-A and will likely move into a large side-of-the-platoon role in right field while Jonny DeLuca is on the IL with a right hamstring strain. DeLuca is expected to miss six to eight weeks, so Mesa should be a solid pick up option in deep formats when the Rays have a handful of opposing right-handers on the schedule.
Rangers’ manager Skip Schumaker has been plugging in Alejandro Osuna and his good plate discipline skills (.417 OBP) into the two-hole recently. It’s unclear how much Osuna will factor into things in the future with Wyatt Langford nearing a return from the IL, but Osuna could be a temporary asset, particularly in points and OBP formats.
Curtis Mead has become the team’s starting third baseman following Brady House’s demotion last week. Mead also has a prime lineup spot, hitting second or third in seven of the Nationals’ last eight games.
José Tena’s playing time has cratered following Dylan Crews‘ promotion. With Crews in the fold, the Nationals have four players in the outfield they want in the lineup each day, so Tena’s been pushed to the bench in six of the last eight games.
