Welcome back to Deep League Risers and Fallers, Volume XI.
My man Sam Lutz fanned the prospect flames of the Andrew Abbott hype train last week — hopefully, you grabbed him because the left-hander has looked awfully impressive in his first cup of coffee in The Show. Even better though was Sam’s sneaky recommendation of veteran Julio Teheran (now 35% rostered) who turned in another exceptional outing over the weekend (7 IP, 1 ER) against Oakland and now boasts a 1.48 ERA. Add him now!
Note: There are many different league shapes and sizes. We’ll primarily be discussing players that were roughly ranked outside the Top 200 during draft season in March and/or are currently rostered in less than 50% of Yahoo! leagues at the time (at least for the players we are bullish on.)
Risers
Jack Suwinski, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates
(37% rostered)
The 24-year-old outfielder has been raking over the past week (four homers) and is currently ranked inside the top 60 on the season overall and in the top 20 over the past couple of weeks. He entered Wednesday’s action with a hefty .924 OPS on the season and is still somehow rostered in less than 40% of leagues. Suwinski showed flashes as a rookie last season, homering 19 times in just 106 games played, and warrants a roster spot in the majority of leagues while he’s swinging the bat like this.
A pair of hometown blasts tonight for Jack Suwinski. pic.twitter.com/VVdVhCScqo
— MLB (@MLB) June 14, 2023
Christopher Morel, 2B/3B/SS/OF, Chicago Cubs
(47% rostered)
The 23-year-old Morel was one of the most added players in fantasy in May as he went scorched-earth on NL pitching, hitting safely in 13 straight games while homering 9 times. Then, he went all Mr. Freeze on us and went ice cold for a few weeks, landing back on many fantasy waiver wires and dropping his roster percentage back under the 50% threshold. Morel has now hit safely in four straight games, homering twice, and even hit third in the Cubs lineup in one game. He’s worth grabbing again if he hit the waiver wire in your league, especially given his multi-position eligibility.
Reid Detmers, SP, Los Angeles Angels
(30% rostered)
I still believe in Reid Detmers. After a terrific spring, the results just haven’t been there for the 23-year-old left-hander as he entered Wednesday with a 4.79 ERA and 1.51 WHIP on the season. However, Wednesday night he held the mighty Rangers lineup to just one run over six strong innings while striking out eight batters, his second consecutive outing yielding just one run. Keep in mind this is a guy who struck out 12 batters in a game last month against Minnesota. A tough matchup against the Dodgers awaits, but I would make the move to grab Detmers now and see how his next few starts go.
Fallers
Rowdy Tellez, 1B, Milwaukee Brewers
(59% rostered)
The 28-year-old Tellez got off to a fine start this season (8 HR, .917 OPS) in April before struggling in May and now crashing back to Earth in June (.182 AVG, .427 OPS). Tellez homered 35 times last year and was viewed as a nice power sleeper in drafts this spring. His underlying advanced statistics suggest he just hasn’t been very good this season, and he’s never going to offer much outside of power either. You can continue to hold him in deeper leagues if needed, but don’t hesitate to move on if a better option becomes available.
Tim Anderson, SS, Chicago White Sox
(82% rostered)
After defying all logic with his free-swinging approach and hitting above .300 for the past four seasons, the 29-year-old Anderson has been awful in 2023. He missed time with injury in April and yet enters Wednesday still without a homer while hitting .259 with an awful .605 OPS on the year. Perhaps Anderson will turn things around — his track record and his current .289 xBA suggests he will — but it’s hard not to view him as a ‘faller’ given his lack of production so far. It feels like we’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop on Anderson for the past few seasons and maybe this is finally the time.
Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Redler (@reldernitsuj on Twitter)