Believe it or not, we’re already almost a full calendar month into the 2026 MLB season. Time flies when you’re having fun!
Although it feels like we celebrated Opening Day just yesterday, the ever-present injury bug and performance variance are leading managers to make lineup changes across the league. Let’s take a team-by-team look at the notable changes we’ve seen in the past week to see whose fantasy value is on the rise, and who may no longer be worth a roster spot.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. returned from his ACL surgery remarkably fast and has taken away Tim Tawa’s playing time in left field. Gurriel was originally expected to return mid-season, so his activation may have flown under the radar. It’s worth checking your waiver wire to see if he’s just sitting there waiting to be picked up—he’s slashed .263/.309/.439 while averaging about 20 homers and seven steals during his three seasons in Arizona.
The Diamondbacks love Ildemaro Vargas. He’s started 12 of the last 13 games at either first or second base. The long-time journeyman has a career 80 wRC+ but is hitting .361/.381/.623 with three home runs in the early going. His underlying batted ball metrics are improved this year, so he’s worth a flier in deep fantasy formats.
I jumped the gun here last week with my excitement that Lawrence Butler was moved up to the leadoff spot. After hitting at the top of the order for four games, he’s been moved back down to seventh or eighth.
Zack Gelof has started three straight games, the last two coming in center field, with Denzel Clarke going to the bench. Despite Clarke’s defensive prowess, it’s hard to stomach his 17 wRC+ and 40% strikeout rate, so Gelof could get an extended look in center if his bat can carry some weight. We’re a few years removed from his exciting debut, but we did see him hit .231 with 31 home runs and 39 steals in 847 plate appearances across the 2023 and 2024 seasons, so there’s real fantasy upside here.
Adley Rutschman returned from the IL on Tuesday and was immediately back to his typical starting catcher role while hitting third in the lineup. This will both eat into Samuel Basallo’s playing time and move him a few spots down the lineup.
Jeremiah Jackson’s red-hot bat has earned him a promotion to the middle of the lineup. He’s hit fifth or sixth in five of the last seven games. With Jackson Holliday restarting his rehab assignment, Jackson’s future playing time is up in the air, but it’ll be hard for manager Craig Albernaz to move his .297/.321/.527 slash line out of the lineup. It’s not out of the question that Jackson could take over the majority of reps at third base until Jordan Westburg returns this summer.
Jarren Duran has moved down the pecking order. He’s been on the bench for three of the last four games, and when he has started, he’s moved down the lineup. Duran hit in the top three spots in the batting order during his first 13 starts, but has moved down to fifth through seventh in his last four.
After briefly being moved up to the two-hole, Caleb Durbin has moved back down and is hitting seventh or eighth.
The struggling Pete Crow-Armstrong has been moved down to the eighth or ninth spot after opening the year as the team’s primary clean-up hitter against righties. I’d expect that he moves back up the lineup when he gets going, but given his second-half struggles in 2025, his return to being a 30-homer bat is certainly not guaranteed.
Everson Pereira is quietly a regular in the White Sox lineup. Overall, he’s started 11 of the 15 games that he’s been available for, and he’s recently moved up the lineup. Since his return from the IL, Pereira’s been penciled into the fourth or fifth spot in the batting order, and for good reason — he’s hitting .275/.348/.600 with three home runs across 46 plate appearances.
Angel Martínez is not playing every day against righties like we hypothesized might happen last week. He’s started just four of the last eight games against right-handed hurlers. Martinez has ceded some of that playing time to George Valera, who has started seven of 10 games since returning from the IL on April 13. Valera’s hit fifth or sixth in each of his starts.
David Fry has been moved to a reserve role and has lost all fantasy value. He’s only started one of the team’s last nine games, and has been brought off the bench to pinch hit in just one of those contests.
Despite his early-season success, Colt Keith is not starting against lefties. The Tigers hadn’t faced a lefty starter until Tuesday, 4/14. Since then, they’ve faced five, and Keith has been on the bench each time.
Hao-Yu Lee has started four of five games at third base since being called up following Zach McKinstry’s injury.
Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve have essentially flipped lineup spots. Correa has hit leadoff in four straight contests with Altuve moving to third in the order.
The Astros’ injury woes continued with Joey Loperfido and Taylor Trammell both hitting the IL in recent days, opening up outfield playing time for Brice Matthews, who has started three straight games. Recent acquisitions Daniel Johnson and Dustin Harris will both factor into the outfield playing time picture, too, but we haven’t seen enough lineups with them involved to really have a good grasp on how it’ll shake out.
After missing the first few weeks of the season with a right hamstring strain, Kyle Stowers was activated from the IL on Sunday. He’s hit second or fourth in his three starts. His return will spell the end of Javier Sanoja’s and Heriberto Hernández’s time in left field.
Agustín Ramírez has moved a few spots down the lineup. He opened the season as the Marlins’ two- or three-hitter, but has hit fifth or sixth in each of the last four games. It’s not necessarily a shock, given his .212 batting average and 75 wRC+.
Amidst a disappointing .222/.268/.289 start to the year, Luke Keaschall has moved down the Twins’ lineup. He’s hit fifth or sixth in the last three games, after hitting in the three-hole for the first few weeks.
It’s a good time to pick up Trevor Larnach. He’s been hitting second when the team faces a right-handed starting pitcher, but weirdly, the Twins have seen an incredible amount of left-handers. They’ve faced 13 lefties compared to 10 righties. That’s about to change with 13 of their next 15 projected opposing starters being righties.
With Juan Soto’s return from the IL, Brett Baty and Mark Vientos will be fighting over a single spot in the lineup. Before Soto’s injury, Baty had started five of eight games while Vientos started four of eight.
MJ Melendez has started all five games at DH since being called up, but they’ve all been against righties. He’ll likely hit the bench when facing a lefty, and could lose his spot entirely to Baty or Vientos.
Aaron Boone must be a loyal Pitcher List reader. After I complained last week about Ben Rice still not getting an opportunity to face left-handers despite his out-of-this-world 228 wRC+, he’s now started against the last four lefties they’ve faced. Thanks, Boone!
With Rice starting against lefties, Paul Goldschmidt has only started one of the team’s last six contests, and hasn’t been used a pinch hitter during that stretch.
Ryan O’Hearn is losing playing time against left-handed starters. O’Hearn started and batted second against three of the first four lefties that the Pirates faced, but against the last two lefties, he retreated to the bench in favor of Billy Cook. The Pirates have only faced six total lefties on the year, so this situation remains a little murky.
Drew Gilbert has started all six games in center field since being called up, but he’s hitting at the bottom of the lineup. He’s slashed .263/.333/.421 in his first 21 plate appearances. It looks like he’ll have a clear runway to everyday playing time until Harrison Bader returns from his hamstring strain.
While Brendan Donovan is on the IL with a left groin strain, it looks like Leo Rivas will be the Mariners’ starter at third base. Rivas has started all four games at the hot corner since Donovan went down. Colt Emerson didn’t get the call-up because he’s reportedly dealing with a wrist injury, although the top prospect could certainly still be making his debut very soon.
For about a two-week stretch, it looked like the Cardinals were treating Thomas Saggese as an everyday player with him starting 10 of 12 games, but recently, he’s started just two of the team’s last seven games. Nathan Church has been the main benefactor here, starting seven of nine, with five of those coming in left field.
Tyler Heineman is the everyday catcher with Alejandro Kirk on the IL. He’s started five of the last seven, and eight of the 12 that he’s been healthy for since Kirk went down.
Jacob Young has slowly moved up the Nats’ lineup. He started the season hitting ninth, but he’s hit third, fifth, or sixth in his last eight starts. With his calling cards being fielding and speed, I don’t know if he has the bat to maintain a spot in the middle of the order, but for now, the increased plate appearances and better lineup spot make him more interesting in deep fantasy leagues.
