We’re three weeks into the new baseball season. The newness has begun to wear off, as teams and players settle into routines and regular roles. That doesn’t mean the lineup tinkering has stopped, though.
As the sample size grows, those hot and slow streaks begin to look like meaningful trends, and players move up and down the lineup accordingly. Of course, there’s also the unfortunately ever-present injury bug that’s already started to bite, creating playing time vacuums ready to be filled by the next man up.
Let’s jump into a team-by-team analysis of recent, meaningful playing time changes.
The Diamondbacks saw more than their fair share of injuries this week. Just when it seemed former top prospect Jordan Lawlar was off and running with a full-time role, a fractured wrist will sideline the 23-year-old for the next six to eight weeks. In his absence, Jorge Barrosa has started three of the four games. Tim Tawa is also a replacement option in left field.
Arizona also lost veteran first baseman Carlos Santana this week. We’ve only seen one lineup without him, but Ildemaro Vargas was the initial choice to be penciled in at first base. The career journeyman is off to a hot start—7-for-16 with a home run—but his career 78 wRC+ over 1,300 MLB plate appearances points to fantasy irrelevance. On the flip side, if prospect Jose Fernandez gets the lion’s share of playing time, he could be legitimately interesting in a lot of fantasy leagues. He’s already homered twice in his first five career games, and hit 17 homers with 12 stolen bases in 511 Double-A plate appearances last year.
After starting the season on the IL, Seiya Suzuki will reportedly rejoin the Cubs on Friday, April 10. Suzuki’s return will immediately put a dent in Matt Shaw’s playing time. Moisés Ballesteros will likely also lose DH plate appearances in favor of keeping Shaw in the lineup. The corresponding move for Suzuki’s return will likely mean Dylan Carlson is DFA’d.
Miguel Amaya is off to a hot start at the plate, slashing .294/.400/.529 through 20 plate appearances. He opened the season as the backup catcher, but has been seeing the lineup more regularly recently, both behind the plate and as the designated hitter—he’s started seven of the team’s last eight games. Suzuki’s return will also cut into Amaya’s playing time, but he’s looking like a great second catcher in fantasy leagues.
A hamstring strain is going to sideline Austin Hays for the next couple of weeks. He started eight of the Sox’s first 10 games. With Hays on the IL, Andrew Benintendi moved from DH to left field. That seems like the easiest path forward for the Southsiders, leaving DH open for one of Derek Hill, Tanner Murray, or Dustin Harris to claim. Outside of AL-only leagues, you absolutely do not need to pay attention to the White Sox’s DH battle.
Mickey Moniak returned from the IL last Friday and has started all but one game since, while hitting second or third. The lone game he didn’t start came against a lefty starter, so prepare for him to play the strong side of a platoon this season. Moniak’s return has really cut into Jake McCarthy’s playing time. I highlighted McCarthy here last week as a great stolen base option in deep leagues while he was hitting leadoff, but he’s since moved down to eighth in the batting order and started just 50% of games since Moniak’s return, making him unusable in all but the deepest formats.
In other Colorado outfield news, it appears that Jordan Beck is not being treated as a regular starter. He’s started just seven of 12 games this year, a seemingly inexplicable move for one of the team’s better players. He slashed .258/.317/.416 with 16 HR and 19 SB last year, so he was drafted in most fantasy leagues, but his value has plummeted alongside his playing time.
Edouard Julien has taken over the leadoff job over the last three games against righties. He’s only slashing .211/.250/.263, but if you can recall his 2023 rookie season in Minnesota, he slashed an impressive .263/.381/.459. The Rockies could absolutely give Julien some run at the top of the lineup to see if he can recapture his rookie form. If he does, he’d be worthy of a pickup in most formats.
An oblique injury sent Mookie Betts to the 10-day IL. Hyeseong Kim was called up to fill the open roster spot and has split the available starts at shortstop with Miguel Rojas. If one of them can seize the majority of the shortstop playing time, they could gain fantasy relevance rather quickly, especially Kim given his speed on the basepaths.
Alex Freeland has settled into the everyday second base job. He started just one of the team’s first four games, but has started eight games in a row since then. He’s hitting .222/.300/.407 with one home run so far.
The Marlins are incredibly happy to play platoon matchups. Owen Caissie (vs. R) and Austin Slater (vs. L) are splitting time in right field, while Graham Pauley (vs. R) and Javier Sanoja (vs. L) are splitting time at the hot corner.
Garrett Mitchell is finally healthy and has been given a prime lineup position versus right-handers. He’s hit second, fourth, or fifth in the last six games he’s played. He’s looked pretty good in a small sample—78th percentile barrel%, 88th percentile hard-hit%, and 93rd percentile bat speed. He’s a great pickup when the Brewers will be facing a chain of right-handed starters.
Matt Wallner has moved down a few slots in the batting order. He started the season hitting cleanup, but has been slotted in at sixth or seventh the last three games, regardless of whether the Twins were facing a lefty or righty.
With Juan Soto on the IL, it looks like the plan is for Carson Benge to slide over to left field to get Brett Baty starts in right. Baty hasn’t been able to get going at the plate yet. He’s posted a measly 67 wRC+ this year, but slashed .254/.313/.435 with 18 home runs and eight steals a year ago. He’s been hitting fourth through sixth in the lineup, and is rostered in just 10% of Yahoo! leagues. He’s currently eligible at 2B and 3B, but he should hit 10 starts in the outfield by the middle of next week, gaining OF eligibility as well. He’s a good temporary add if you have a hole in your fantasy lineup.
Marcell Ozuna is off to a dreadful start at the plate (.065/.171/.065, -23 wRC+) and has been benched three out of the last four games. This is likely just a little break for him to reset and find his swing, but if the slow start continues, he could lose his starting gig.
Jerar Encarnacion has started six straight games. The first four of those were filling in for a banged-up Casey Schmitt, and the last two have given regular starters Jung Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos days off. I don’t expect Encarnacion to continue cracking the starting nine unless Ramos’s dreadful start continues or someone gets injured, but if Encarnacion does earn a regular starting role, his historical bat speed and quality of contact metrics make him an interesting pick-up.
Is it finally happening? Jordan Walker may be realizing all that prospect hype he carried a few years ago. The fourth-year outfielder is slashing .300/.364/.650 with four home runs in the early going. Walker’s 17.9% barrel rate is nearly double his previous career 9.1% mark. Manager Oli Marmol has moved Walker up to the cleanup spot after he started the year hitting sixth through eighth.
Although Thomas Saggese started just one of the Cardinals’ first five games, he’s now started seven straight, bouncing around the diamond from second base, to shortstop, and left field. He hit 20 homers with nine steals in 530 Triple-A plate appearances in 2024, so there’s a chance he can come around to big league pitching and be a fantasy asset, but he’s slashed just .249/.296/.335 across 376 big league plate appearances.
Carson Williams was sent down on Monday, leaving Taylor Walls as the new starting shortstop. Walls has a career 70 wRC+ in 1,567 MLB plate appearances, so he’s not going to help with the bat, but he’ll steal some bases if you need speed help in AL-only leagues.
Ben Williamson has started eight of the last nine games at either second base or shortstop. Like Walls, he’s not going to provide much with the bat, but if you just need someone to play most days in deep leagues, it looks like he’ll be starting more often than not for the Rays this year.
Addison Barger was placed on the IL with a left ankle sprain, opening the door for more playing time in the outfield corners for Jesús Sánchez and Nathan Lukes. If you’re rostering Barger, don’t feel like you have to hold him if you don’t have an open IL slot. Surprisingly, he had only started five of the Jays’ nine games before his injury.
With Alejandro Kirk sidelined with a fractured thumb, Tyler Heineman and Brandon Valenzuela have been alternating starts behind the plate.
Despite his scalding hot start to the season, Joey Wiemer has only started two of the last six games for the Nationals. He was the season’s first trendy pick up, but if you’re still holding him, don’t feel you have to, since he’s not seeing the field every day.
