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
At best a part-time player with the Yankees, Peraza was traded to the Angels last July, where he played 31 games with a .512 OPS. Thought to be a defensive specialist in the super-utility role, Peraza has transformed into something else entirely. Case in point: after 265 plate appearances in 2025, Peraza had five home runs. This year in seventy appearances? He’s got four, and three since April 12th.
There are a few players in the league this year who have unlocked their power by actually swinging less hard. Jordan Walker is one example. Peraza—with his bat speed dropping from 73.6 mph to 71.4—is another. He’s finding more consistent contact, netting an 89th-percentile Sweet-Spot rate and a career-high 10.6% Barrel rate.
Peraza is benefiting from additional playing time, starting in 17 of the Angels’ first 21 games. He’s also moving up in the order: after batting ninth in the first seven of eight contests, he’s hitting sixth more often, and even was in the cleanup spot on April 16 (where he had three RBIs).
Peraza doesn’t exactly scream league-winner given his history, but the Angels lineup is sneaky-good. Trout and Soler are mashing, Adell and Neto are showing their potential, and role players like Schanuel have stepped up. So far, they’re tied for fifth place in total runs scored and behind only the Dodgers in home runs. That means extra plate appearances for everyone, and Peraza will get his piece of the pie. He’s a worthy deep league, middle-infield option for a few consistent points each night.
Another player who’s gone from zero to hero, Schneemann’s showing improvements across the board with a 10.8% Barrel rate, a >90 mph Average Exit Velocity, and a 95th-percentile Sweet-Spot rate. Schneemann leads the Guardians in extra-base hits and carries both infield and outfield eligibility—and in his last seven games, he is hitting .381 and getting on base 52% of the time.
This kind of performance has cemented him as an everyday player, as he’s started the last nine games in a row. There’s also zero chance of a platoon here—he’s crushing lefties with a .462 BA and 1.225 OPS. With the top of the lineup struggling in Cleveland (DeLauter’s in a 1-for-26 slump and Manzardo’s hitting .188), there might be further opportunity for Schneemann to sneak further up the order. I don’t often recommend players with a 27% K-rate in a points league, but with a little more plate discipline in his newfound role, Schneemann could be a helpful corner or middle infielder given his flexibility.
If you’re sensing a trend here, this week’s theme is ‘guys who’ve been historically part-time players making the most of their shot.’ Pereira batted .138 last season in 73 PA’s with a pair of home runs; this season, he’s hitting .297 with three homers in 41 PA’s.
A product of the Yankee farm system before playing last season in Tampa, Pereira was traded to the White Sox in November. He played in a handful of games to start the season and had an IL stint for about two weeks in April, but has been raking since being activated on April 14th.
His Statcast metrics look like they can back his performance up, with a 16% Barrel rate and a .555 xSLG. Another Sweet-Spot darling like Schneemann and Peraza, Pereira’s carrying a 97th-percentile 48% rate and a Hard-Hit rate of 52%. Also like Schneemann, he whiffs a lot (not ideal for points), but a decent Walk rate offsets that a bit.
Time will tell if this is a mirage, but for now he’s locked into an everyday role and batting fourth or fifth in a White Sox lineup that is no longer a punchline. And while he hasn’t stolen any bases this year, history shows he might chip in a few of those, too.
Another riser on the ChiSox, Colson Montgomery continues to slug home runs—he’s got 26 since last year’s All-Star Break, which ranks fifth in all of baseball—but that 32% K-rate and a .188 xBA give me pause (though he does walk 10% of the time). If you can stomach the strikeouts and the inevitable slumps, he’s also worth the flier.
In his last start (in Coors Field, mind you), Wrobleski scattered eight hits across seven innings and surrendered only one earned run. Prior to that, he went eight innings of two-hit ball against the Mets. Wrobleski isn’t exactly piling up K’s (he had five combined in those two starts), but in a points league you love this kind of volume.
Wrobleski will likely get replaced in the rotation once Blake Snell comes back, but the Dodgers could shift to a six-man to keep their workhorses from throwing too many innings in the regular season. That would keep Wrobleski in the mix for a long time, especially with a 1.88 season ERA.
And if your league has a reliever-specific roster spot, Wrobleski might be a SPARP cheat code!
Fallers
Duran saw the bench again on Tuesday against Yankee right-hander Luis Gil, and is falling dangerously into the droppable category due to the lack of playing time. He’s batting just .164 this season with a sub-.500 OPS, and it looks like the pressure of playing in Boston is taking its toll. His Whiff rate has climbed to a second-percentile 40.2% (it was under 25% just two seasons ago) and he’s down to a career-low 88.9 mph Average Exit Velocity. Simply put, the numbers are down across the board, and with a crowded Red Sox outfield Duran might not get the plate appearances to hit his way out of this slump. A short-side platoon is a real threat here, so the panic alarm should be blaring with this one.
Fernandez had a stellar debut on March 31 with a pair of homers. He’s still getting opportunities and playing every day (usually batting fifth or sixth), and has a five-game hit streak.
So why is he a faller? Well, those two home runs have been his only two, as he hasn’t cleared the yard since. He’s also carrying a 16:0 K:BB ratio, and his expected batting average (.246) is over fifty points less than his actual average (.297). Lastly, he’s been dropping in the order lately, having hit third and fourth a few times—plus, if Carlos Santana comes back soon, that could displace JF’s role as an everyday player.
Nola’s historically been a pitcher that plays better in points leagues than rotisserie—200+ innings of volume would offset his high WHIP and ERA—and he’d rack up a lot of K’s. Now, however, he’s pretty much un-rosterable in a categories league and is struggling to hold value in points.
Over his last two starts (both against the Cubs), Nola has gone just 9.1 innings and surrendered eight runs, with a 2.14 WHIP and a 7.71 ERA. After striking out sixteen batters in his first two starts and looking like he was in for a bounce-back season, Nola’s lost two of his last three and struck out just thirteen. With a start looming this weekend against the slugging Braves, don’t expect him to turn things around—I’d be looking for a trade to see if anyone still believes in him.
