It’s been a topsy-turvy first week of baseball, so what have we learned?
Maybe not a whole lot—it’s still terribly early, after all. Based on some early stand-out performances, a lot of players are flying up the ownership rankings. But for points league players, Week One should be about not just how players are performing, but what their role is.
When determining what to do with a hitter, ask yourself: are they leading off or batting lower in the order than expected? Have they gotten an off-day, and is it because the manager stated they’re in a platoon? Or did they get subbed out at the end of a game for defensive reasons?
As for pitchers, did they get pulled after just 65-75 pitches, or were they allowed to work deep into the game? And is anyone on the IL that might threaten their spot in the rotation down the line?
As volume is everything in points leagues, these are the questions you want to answer beyond just whether a player comes out hot. So, looking at their role along with their performance, should you buy in or leave them be?
Risers
This offseason, Nimmo was traded to the Rangers in a straight-up deal for Marcus Semien. So far, it looks like Texas got the better end of the deal.
Nimmo’s been the leadoff hitter for Texas in all of their games so far, and he’s reached base in 42% of his plate appearances while striking out just 16% of the time. He’s also got a homer, a stolen base, and has scored six runs, as the rest of the Rangers lineup drives him home. At this pace, Nimmo would easily top 700 plate appearances and score 100 runs to go along with his usual 25/15 contribution. Always an underrated points-league standout, Nimmo could be in line for the best season of his career. He should be 100% owned in all points league formats and could be a top-10 outfielder.
If you believed, you’ve been rewarded. Stewart didn’t have much of a track record in 2025 after logging just 55 AB’s, but he impressed regardless. Many of his advanced metrics were in the 95th percentile or better, including Barrel Rate, xSLG, and Average Exit Velocity. But despite his five homers in that brief cup of coffee last year, he still only got on base 29% of the time and had a 20.7% K-minus-BB rate—which doesn’t exactly portend points-league glory.
Just before breaking camp, Reds manager Terry Francona made the surprising announcement that Stewart would be his cleanup hitter to start the season, pushing Eugenio Suarez down to fifth. And so far this year, Stewart’s rewarded the decision. Along with his five extra-base hits, he has six walks in five games and just three strikeouts. He also leads the Majors in Batting Average, OBP, SLG, and OPS. And his metrics back it up: a 99.3 mph average exit velocity (!), 70% hard-hit rate (!!), and a 30.8% barrel rate (!!!). He’ll cool off at some point, sure, but he could be an elite bat all season long.
Wiemer actually tops the ‘Most-Added’ player list on ESPN over the last seven days, going from 11.5% owned to 26.4%. He started the season 6-for-6 with a pair of home runs in his first two games with the Nats, and is slashing an impressive .615/.1.231/1.937. He also tied a Major-League record by reaching base in all of his first ten plate appearances, something that hasn’t been done in 25 years.
Wiemer’s profile shows a lot of hard contact and an impressive Barrel Rate of 14.7%. But for points leagues, there’s not much else to like. First, he struck out an abysmal 37.7% of the time last season, which simply will not play in a format where K’s are a negative value. Second, Wiemer is still batting around eighth in the order—and for a team like Washington, that means there will be games with just three plate appearances. Third, while this hot start might make the Nats reconsider his playing time, Wiemer has already sat out one game this season and currently looks to be in a platoon. You can pick him up to ride the hot streak, but don’t expect him to be a season-long contributor.
Painter made the Phillies’ rotation as the fifth starter, largely because the injury to Zack Wheeler opened up an extra spot. But last night, he proved why he’s been a top prospect for so long with 5.1 innings and eight K’s, with a sub-1.00 WHIP. Perhaps the best news of all, he topped eighty pitches and should have a normal workload of a hundred going forward, allowing him to net quality starts.
While Wheeler looks ahead of schedule and might be back in Philly by the end of the month, Painter is showing he should stick around—and it doesn’t hurt that Taijuan Walker got blown up in his own outing.
Painter was already 27.4% owned on ESPN but that’s gone up 5.4% in just the last few days, and should go much higher by the time he makes his next start in pitcher-friendly San Fran. If he’s still on your waiver wire, make the move.
Fallers
The Phillies
It’s been a struggle for the Philly bats, batting .189 as a team with a .585 OPS. Before last night’s game, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper had combined for three hits in 32 at-bats with twelve K’s (Schwarber did hit his second homer last night). Perhaps there’s a lingering after-effect from the World Baseball Classic at play here—which might also explain some early slumps from other MLB stars—but Trea Turner, Alec Bohm, and new acquisition Adolis García have also scuffled (though Adolis homered last night as well). While it’s too early to call an entire team a bust, there are a lot of veterans who aren’t getting any younger, so there might be a dip from last year’s numbers both in performance and volume.
Durbin came over to the Red Sox from Milwaukee this season, and a .354 Grapefruit League batting average and 6:6 K:BB ratio won the starting third-base job. His statcast numbers from last year were tailor-made for points leagues, with a sub-10% K-rate and excellent contact metrics, and he was the subject of a lot of sleeper posts.
Since the season started, though, it’s been a rougher ride—Durbin’s yet to collect a hit in his first 15 plate appearances and so far his K-rate has doubled to 20% (it’s a ridiculously small sample size, but still). And while his contact metrics were stellar last year, his hard-hit and barrel rates were firmly in the lowest tenth percentile. Worth noting, he’s actually hitting the ball harder now—average EV is 93.5 mph compared to 85.2 last year—so maybe he’s adjusting to hit for more power. Unfortunately, a further dent to his stock came on Tuesday as the Red Sox sat him against right-hander Hunter Brown, so he might not be an everyday player if he continues to struggle.
As a rookie, Wilson set points leagues on fire last season with a .311 batting average and elite contact skills. So it was surprising that the Athletics started the season with Nick Kurtz as their leadoff hitter and batted Wilson fifth.
After four straight losses, though, the A’s apparently changed their mind. Wilson was given the first slot in the lineup card, and he delivered with two hits and a pair of RBIs—and whaddaya know, the Athletics won their first game. Keep an eye on whether the team has learned their lesson, as for points leagues Wilson is one of the last guys you’d want to drop.
