We have made it through another week of the MLB season. There were some awe-inspiring performances.
As usual, there were some great showings and some rough ones to dig into. This weekly fantasy baseball column will help highlight some hot and cold players, risers and fallers. Some players are already rostered in many places. Other players may be widely available in fantasy baseball leagues, making a potential waiver wire claim a possibility.
This week, I will highlight some known and lesser-known players. So, let’s see some of the risers and fallers for fantasy baseball Week 4 (April 14-April 20).
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Fantasy Baseball Risers & Fallers
Fantasy Baseball Risers
Cedric Mullins has had a great start to the season, giving many hopes of another monster season. This past week, Mullins hit safely in five out of six games for a .300 batting average. Mullins had four extra-base hits, including three home runs, to go with six runs scored and an RBI.
Mullins also showcased great plate discipline, walking 23.1% of the time with a 23.1% strikeout rate. Mullins is hitting .284 on the season with six home runs and three steals while scoring 19 runs. He’s on his way to a big season.
Pavin Smith has taken over the Joc Pederson role for the Diamondbacks this season, playing designated hitter versus right-handed pitchers, and he’s flourishing. This past week, Smith hit safely in five out of six games for a .421 batting average.
Smith had four extra base hits, two doubles and two home runs, to go with a 24% walk rate. Smith was locked in with a 23.1% barrel rate and 46.2% hard-hit rate. Smith is now hitting .382 on the season with three home runs and a steal, while he takes full advantage of his starts versus righties.
Dylan Moore (2B, SS, 3B, OF – SEA)
Dylan Moore has been a nice utility player in recent years with some power, a lot of speed, and a bad batting average. Things have been different for Moore this season, though, and this past week was a major step in the right direction as Moore receives at-bats every day.
Moore hit safely in five out of six games for a .385 batting average. He hit three home runs while stealing three bases. As long as Moore is playing daily and swinging it like this, he can be a major fantasy asset.
Sal Frelick is quietly putting together a great start to the fantasy season. He ended the past week hitting in five straight games for a .400 batting average. Frelick hit a home run while stealing three bases.
More impressively, Frelick walked 16.7% of the time while striking out 8.3%. Frelick is hitting .372 on the season with a home run and seven stolen bases as he’s taking full advantage of every day at-bats.
Brendan Donovan (2B, OF – STL)
Brendan Donovan is having a great start to the season, and that continued this past week. He hit safely in six out of seven games for a .370 batting average. Donovan added a home run with two stolen bases while striking out 7.1% of the time.
Donovan is now hitting .356 on the season with three home runs and three steals. He has a boring fantasy profile, but his consistency has been something fantasy managers love to start the season.
Fantasy Baseball Fallers
After an outstanding start to the season, Wilmer Flores took a step back this past week. He collected two singles over seven games for a .083 batting average. Flores did not collect a barrel with a 23.5% hard-hit rate and 25.9% strikeout rate.
Flores’ .185 on-base percentage (OBP), .083 slugging rate and -11 wRC+ are hopefully a thing of the past. Flores’ batting average dropped to .203 on the season, but he still has six home runs and 23 RBI as he looks to get back on track this week.
Triston Casas is having a horrible start to the season, and that was on full display this past week. He had two singles over five games for a .111 batting average. He struck out 20% of the time with a 7.1% barrel rate and a solid 64.3% hard-hit rate.
Casas is now hitting .167 on the season with one home run. If Casas doesn’t start hitting soon, he could find his way to AAA for Roman Anthony to get a shot with the Red Sox.
Jordan Walker’s early-season struggles continued this past week. He had three hits, one being a double, for a .125 batting average. Walker did not walk this past week while striking out 41.7% of the time.
Walker didn’t barrel the ball this past week to go with a 50% hard-hit rate and -22 wRC+. He is now hitting .227 on the season with two home runs, two steals and a 32.1% strikeout rate.
Christopher Morel (2B, 3B, OF – TB)
Christopher Morel appeared to be getting back on track, but that came to a screeching halt this past week. After three hits in his first game, Morel collected only a single over the final six games. For the week, Morel hit .200 with an 11.1% barrel rate and 22% hard-hit rate.
Morel struck out 50% of the time and began to see himself miss a couple of starts in an outfield platoon. He needs to get it going quickly before he’s in a full platoon and loses most of his fantasy appeal.
Matt Mervis came into this past week on quite a heater, but that quieted down quickly. Mervis collected two hits on the week, a double and a home run. He hit .105 with a 13% walk rate while striking out 39.1% of the time.
Mervis barreled the ball 10% of the time, but a lowly 30% hard-hit rate won’t cut it for Mervis. He’s now hitting .226 on the season with six home runs as he hopes to find his swing at the big league level.
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