Rising Stock
Luke Voit 1B, NYY - The Yankees made a few bigger named acquisitions to bolster their roster around the trade deadline in hopes of closing in on a postseason berth but the trade for Luke Voit was largely considered an afterthought. Nobody would have guessed that as we enter September that Voit would be the team’s starting first baseman and possibly their hottest hitter as well. In the 19 games as a member of the Yankees Voit is hitting .322 with seven home runs and an OPS of 1.063. Voit has homered in three straight games and has four homers over his last six contests. If you need some home run pop to close out your fantasy season I can think of no better option.
Franmil Reyes OF, SD - Ok, so I know I said I can’t think of a better power option than Luke Voit to add to your roster if you need home run pop but maybe I can because Padres outfielder Franmil Reyes has plenty of home run upside. Over the last two weeks he is hitting .410 with six home runs, 10 RBI and an OPS of 1.386. He has 15 home runs on the year and has gone on home run spurts like this already this season. If a power hitting outfielder is what your roster needs then take a look here.
Trevor Williams SP, PIT - Has anybody had a quieter, yet impressive season as Trevor Williams has had? Over his last 10 starts he has had six starts where he did not allow an earned run and only twice did he allow more than two earned runs. During this 10 start stretch which started back on July 6th he has lowered his ERA from 4.60 to 3.15. He has a 1.42 ERA, having allowed a total of nine earned runs over 57 innings. He has held opponents to a .217 batting average and a .265 wOBA. Now he has been a bit lucky given the amount of contact allowed but overall hitters just aren’t hitting him hard. He has a favorable start this upcoming Sunday at home against the Marlins.
Falling Stock
Lance Lynn SP, NYY - Things started off so well for Lynn in New York to the point that he replaced Sonny Gray in the team’s rotation but it has all been downhill since then. Over his last four starts he has allowed 19 earned runs on 31 hits over 18.2 innings. His ERA has jumped to 5.10 on the year and things don’t look to be getting much better as he is slated to make his next start on the road against a Mariners team that is chasing the Yankees in the wild card race.
A.J. Pollock OF, ARI - This is a tough time for Pollock to be struggling like he is with the fantasy baseball playoffs kicking into gear. Over the past two weeks he is hitting just .122 with three runs, zero home runs, four RBI and zero stolen bases. The often injured outfielder has been OK at times this season thanks to his 16 home runs and 10 stolen bases but he homered just once during the month of August and failed to steal a bag so that lack of production is already more than a month in the making.
Nick Markakis OF, ATL - For a long time this season Markakis was leading the National League in batting average and some considered him a potential MVP candidate for the first place Atlanta Braves but that candidacy has taken hit has Markakis is hitting just .170 with three runs, zero home runs and two RBI over his last 53 at-bats. His batting average has dropped down to .303 which is still respectable but it will take a huge surge for him to get back in batting title contention. Like A.J. Pollock , this is a bad time for a Top 20 fantasy outfielder like Markakis has been this season to start to slide with the fantasy playoffs starting or about to start for most owners.