As we look at risers and fallers in points leagues, the focus should not just be on how players are performing, but what their role is.
Are your hitters suddenly leading off or batting lower in the order than expected? Have they gotten an off-day, and is it because the manager put them 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 70-80 pitches, or were they allowed to work deep into the game? And could anyone on the IL or in the minors threaten their rotation spot?
As volume is everything in points leagues, these are the questions you want to answer beyond just whether a player gets hot. So, given their role and their performance, who should you buy in on, and who should you leave alone?
Risers
Pages was known in Spring Training last season as a light-hitting defensive specialist, a rangy outfielder who was a liability at the plate. How things have changed. Pages finished last season with 27 home runs and a respectable .272/.461/.774 slash. But in points leagues, he made less of an impact, as his .313 OBP and 4.6% walk rate didn’t play as well. Most of his Statcast metrics were middling as well, suggesting he had some luck and a favorable ballpark to support his numbers.
But now he’s hitting the cover off the ball, with his hard-hit rate jumping from 37.2% to 54.8%, which is a huge climb (he was in the 24th percentile last year, and now is in the 88th). And that’s not the only way he’s climbed the percentiles:
Injuries to the veteran Dodgers squad have also bumped up his spot in the lineup. Pages batted eighth in six of the first seven games—in the last two, he’s batted fifth and sixth. This should only bring more plate appearances as the potent Dodgers lineup keeps turning over.
So far, the superstar rookie prospect Not Named Konnor Griffin has delivered. In his first ten games with the Big Club, McGonigle’s collected five extra-base hits (though he’s yet to homer), has just a 13.6% K-Rate (and an identical Walk Rate), and is getting on base 39% of the time.
McGonigle’s power numbers have yet to bloom—his Average Exit Velocity is just 85.9 mph (18th percentile), and his Hard-Hit rate is only 37.5%—but a hitter that gets on base with a 1:1 K:BB ratio is still plenty valuable in a points league.
Even more promising, after Detroit batted him sixth in the lineup the first several games of the season, he’s now settled into the top of the order (he’s led off twice and hit second four times). And he’ll soon become eligible at Third Base to go with his existing Shortstop position. He should be in your starting lineup wherever you need him most.
O’Hearn had three solid seasons with the Orioles, including an All-Star campaign in 2025, before getting traded at the deadline to San Diego. He landed with the Pirates in the offseason and has been embedded in the heart of the order since.
Once known as a platoon specialist with just a .600 OPS against southpaws in 2024, O’Hearn held his own with lefties last season (.278/.474/.832 in 109 PA’s). Pittsburgh has trusted this improvement in 2026 as they’ve let him play against three of four left-handed starters (and he’s maintaining a .250 average thus far with a homer). A plus-average hitter with good patience, O’Hearn is getting on base 46% of the time and slugging .697 with just a 16.2% K-rate. He’s becoming a points-league specialist and a valuable asset as your second or third outfielder.
Sandy Alcantara and José Soriano
Alcantara came just a few outs from throwing his second ‘Maddux’ in a row (complete game shutout in less than 100 pitches), but the Reds were able to get a couple of baserunners on in the ninth and he was pulled. It turned out to be a fateful decision as the Reds broke through to tie the game and went on to win in extras, so you can expect Sandy will have a longer leash going forward.
Not known as a strikeout artist even though his fastball can hit 99, Alcantara’s added a sweeper to his pitch mix for a little more swing-and-miss, and his K-rate has climbed to 20.9%. That’s hardly elite, but for points leagues you’re looking for volume since you get points for every out made—and so far Alcantara’s pitching deeper into games than anyone else. He’s already had thirteen frames where he’s thrown nine pitches or less, which leads all of baseball by far (Max Fried has seven, Logan Webb has six).
A former Cy Young winner, he’s making the case for a second one early on.
As for Soriano, he’s become another weak-contact artist, generating groundballs more than 65% of the time. He’s throwing his knuckle-curve more often and getting a 42% whiff rate, with command of his go-to sinker improving. Both have allowed him to go deeper into games, including an 8-inning, 10-K performance against the Braves. Having pitched 169 innings last year, he could easily top 180-190 as he works deeper into games. He’s a must-own and could finish as a top-20 starter in points leagues.
Fallers
PCA’s dynamic start in 2025 gave way to a depressed second-half performance, and it appears to have carried over. Batting seventh or eighth in most of his games this season, he could be in danger of losing his everyday role as he’s batting just .154 against lefties with a 46% K-rate (though being an elite defender will likely save him for now). Appearing to regress in his already questionable approach as a hitter, Armstrong’s carrying a second-percentile Chase Rate and a fourth-percentile Sweet-Spot rate, showing that he’s both pressing and not making solid contact where it counts. There were some bright spots recently as he batted clean-up in yesterday’s outing, got three hits including his first homer (all of which raised his OPS from .487 to .638), but don’t expect anything close to what he did in the first half of last year, especially if he’s in the bottom of the lineup (and Seiya Suzuki coming back will only drop him further).
Marsee looked like a points league cheat code when he came into the league late last season, hitting atop the Marlins order and showing elite contact metrics. But it’s been a different case so far this season, as despite five steals he’s only getting on base 24.5% of the time and has a .143 average. His K-rate has ballooned to 28.6% and he has yet to barrel a ball.
There are signs of hope: Marsee still only whiffs 14.3% of the time and has a solid Chase Rate, so expect the strikeouts to come down. He’s also improved his walk rate to 12.2%. And while he’ll struggle to hit double-digit home runs (he’s basically the National League’s version of Chandler Simpson), he did manage an .841 OPS last year in limited action, with plenty of extra-base hits. Marsee’s a good buy-low candidate as he’s shown hot-and-cold streaks in his limited history.
McClanahan lasted just 69 pitches in his last start, an up-and-down outing against the Chicago Cubs. On the surface, his stuff still plays (he’s only given up three hits in two starts and has better than a K per inning), but the control is lacking and the volume isn’t there. Since he last appeared in an MLB game in 2023, his fastball velo is down 2 mph (from 96.8 to 94.8), and he’s missing bats at a much lower rate.
It’s clear the Rays are managing his workload early (and will do so all season, as they did with Drew Rasmussen last year). Expect a lot of starts to go just eighty pitches or less, and there will likely be a point this summer where he gets skipped or acts as an opener (Rasmussen threw 13 innings over a whole month at one point).
McClanahan was visibly frustrated with his performance Tuesday, vowing to fix the mechanics that affected his command, but that won’t recover his lost velocity. If anyone in your league is still thinking of what McClanahan was in his prime and is willing to trade for him, see what you can get.
