2026 Fantasy Baseball: What you missed after football started, from late breakouts to prospect call-ups

Look, I've been around a while. I've seen some things.

Among them ... flaky Fantasy folks who are all too willing to abandon a lost cause in pursuit of some other flight of fancy, this one concerning the brown ball with the pointy ends.

But you know what? The flakes are not snakes, and that makes them my friend. In the spirit of friendship, then, I'm bequeathing them this tome. It chronicles everything they might have missed when they averted their gaze to the land of laces.

Land of laces? I'm talking about football! It stole you from baseball before baseball was done. And yeah, baseball kept going. Big things have happened since you tuned out, whether it was mid-August or early September, and I'm here to catch you up on it.

But it's a lot, so buckle in. 

Players who gained the most

• If you tuned out at any point in August, you'll be surprised to discover just how early Jared Jones goes in 2027 drafts. He may have struggled to keep his ERA below 5.00 for the first three months back from UCL surgery, but the final one was scintillating, showing the full extent of his upside with a 0.93 ERA, 0.59 WHIP and 12.4 K/9 in five starts.
• Chances are, you missed the introduction of Mason Montgomery: ace closer. The left-hander only recorded his third save Aug. 3 but wound up with 18 on the year. All the more impressive is that his final 38 appearances yielded a 1.22 ERA, 0.70 WHIP and 14.8 K/9.
• After a so-so start to his rookie campaign, Henry Bolte surged to the finish line with a .307 batting average, eight home runs, nine steals and .876 OPS between August and September. The strange part is that his two biggest flaws didn't really improve. He had a 28.4 percent strikeout rate and 59.4 percent ground ball rate during that time, as compared to a 28.1 percent strikeout rate and 61.7 percent ground ball rate overall. He makes high-quality contact, though, and presents the sort of athleticism that points to a high ceiling.
• Andrew Painter made his return from the minors with six strong innings on July 31, so you may have already heard about the adjustments to his arsenal, namely replacing a splitter with a changeup. Well, I'm here to tell you that the changeup remained a stellar offering to the end, accounting for a 3.65 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 9.0 K/9 over his final 11 starts. Those aren't ace numbers, but they'll ensure the 23-year-old is drafted in 2027 even though his overall numbers paint (get it?) a much grimmer picture.
• You probably remember Luke Keaschall as one of the biggest misfires for the analyst class, his roster rate dropping to 66 percent at one point as he hit just .245 with two home runs and a .645 OPS over the first three months. You may have missed the signs of life he began showing in July, which turned into a sustained hot streak in which he slashed .324/.422/.508 with eight home runs over the final three months. The exit velocities remained suspect, but the pull-air rate improved enough to allow for some modest power, like he showed in the minors. Add a little pop to his existing plate discipline, contact skills and speed, and it's not crazy to think his best outcome looks a little like Brice Turang.
• Another trendy breakout pick who fizzled right out of the gate (or so you may recall), Carter Jensen batted under .200 in three of the first five months ... and then exploded for a .338 (27 for 80) batting average, eight home runs and 1.194 OPS in September. The rookie got the lion's share of starts behind the plate, confining Salvador Perez mostly to DH, and is clearly the Royals' future at the position. He's also likely a top-10 Fantasy option for years to come.
• A freak knee injury in July landed Zack Gelof on the IL for a month and seemed to take the wind out of his sails, seeing as he hit just .189 (14 for 74) when he returned in August. But his September served as a fitting capstone to his breakout season. He not only batted .269 (25 for 93) with eight homers, six steals and a .914 OPS but also delivered his highest average exit velocity (92.7 mph) and lowest strikeout rate (22.5 percent) of any month.
• Remember Lawrence Butler? He got his sea legs back in August and September, batting .282 (55-for-195) with 11 home runs and an .848 OPS. A wider stance is largely to credit for the turnaround. However, it likely had just as much to do with him getting right physically after having right patellar tendon surgery last October.
• If you knew of Javier Sanoja prior to reading this article, you knew him as the quintessential utility player who might endear himself to the Marlins fan base but has no relevance whatsoever to Fantasy. And that shows that you weren't paying attention to the final two months, when he hit .339 (64 for 189) with eight homers, five steals and a .931 OPS. By that point, he was getting everyday at-bats -- a necessary step for Fantasy relevance -- but was there some kind of underlying skill change to explain the breakthrough? Look, he's always made oodles of contact, his 8 percent strikeout rate ranking behind only Luis Arraez and Chandler Simpson in 2026 (minimum 450 at-bats). Can you think of something else Arraez and Simpson have in common?
• Ty France's roster rate barely changed during his best three-month stretch, peaking at 59 percent, so whether you tuned out for football or not, you may not be aware of what I'm about to tell you. From July 1 through the end of the season, France hit .313 (84 for 268) with 11 homers and an .884 OPS. He wasn't doing poorly before then either, bringing his final stat line to a .295 batting average, 21 homers and an .865 OPS. A lot of you kept using first basemen with worse numbers than that. I'm not saying France should be drafted as if he'll put up the same numbers, but provided he signs with a team that intends to play him every day (probably the Padres again), he should be drafted in some capacity.
• Aaron Nola was hurtling toward a second straight year with an ERA over 6.00 when he suddenly locked in again, delivering a 2.77 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 9.1 K/9 over his final 10 starts. I couldn't even begin to explain why -- I tried and failed to as it was happening -- but then, I couldn't really explain what knocked him off the rails in the first place. I suspect that the margins for him are exceptionally slim, relying on impeccable command that's difficult to sustain for long stretches. He won't be a big-ticket item for 2027, but he won't be someone you can completely ignore, either.
• That Griffin Conine had impact power was no secret. The unknown variables were whether he'd make enough contact to deliver on that power and whether he'd get much of a chance to with the Marlins. Well, he started more games than not down the stretch and showed that the power will indeed play, even while striking out 29 percent of the time. Of his 18 home runs, 14 came in the second half, during which he slashed .263/.349/.488.
• Andrew Alvarez likely elevated himself from spot starter to rotation fixture with his performance down the stretch, putting together a 2.78 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 9.2 K/9 in his final 10 starts. That K/9 rate may not seem like much, but for a pitcher with a 50 percent ground ball rate (full-season mark), it's a harbinger of a good ERA.
• You wouldn't think Ryan Johnson would be of much use in Fantasy given that strikeouts aren't really a part of his game, but he went on a nice run to close out 2026, compiling a 2.92 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 7.5 K/9 in nine starts. The stretch coincided with the Angels swapping out their pitching coach, and the new guy (Tim Leveque) allowed Johnson to return to his old pregame routine, despite how unorthodox it was. His pregame routine included doing handstands in the bullpen and throwing the ball from foul pole to foul pole. Leveque also got Johnson to throw more cutters, which led to more weak contact in the air. That's a volatile approach, but it could theoretically make Johnson a WHIP specialist, even with modest strikeout rates.

Sighs of relief

• Seeing Alex Bregman hit .246 with a .716 OPS in his first 115 games for the Cubs likely had you concerned, particularly since some people (not naming names!) predicted he'd be a bust at Wrigley Field. But then he went into turbo mode and hit .322 (49 for 152) with 16 home runs, a 1.126 OPS and more walks (19) than strikeouts (18) in his final 40 games for his new club, ultimately delivering his best numbers since his near-MVP 2019. There are layers to this sigh of relief, too, because the more pressing concern was that he took a teammate's foul ball off the face while waiting to bat Sept. 20, which caused gruesome swelling (click at your own risk). He was back in the lineup five days later, though, and went 4 for 4 with two homers in just his second game back.
• I'll admit there was a point midseason when I concluded that the Red Sox version of Rafael Devers was no more, having been replaced by an all-or-nothing slugger akin to Jake Burger. If you heard me then, hear me now: I was wrong. Turns out the 29-year-old just needed to spend some time in the cage shortening his swing, and in doing so, he indeed reclaimed his former Red Sox glory, batting .281 (65 for 231) with 22 homers and a 1.006 OPS over the final three months. You may have caught a first glimpse of it in July, but I'll have you know that it continued up until he succumbed to core muscle surgery in September. Perhaps the most convincing part of Devers' turnaround is that he struck out just 20 percent of the time during it, compared to 29 percent previously.
• Depending on when you tuned out in August, you may recall some chatter about Ronald Acuna being diminished from years of injury and no longer deserving of an early-round mulligan. Well, he quieted that chatter with a massive finish prompted by some cage work he did on an impromptu day off Aug. 27. From that point forward, he hit .337 (34 for 101) with seven homers, three steals and a .997 OPS. He struck out just 16 percent of the time, down from 24 percent previously. I'm not saying we should expect him to perform like he did in his MVP 2023 season, but I am saying that he may be a steal in Round 2 next year.
• Fernando Tatis didn't hit his first home run until May 30 and had just five going into the All-Star break, making him appear to be one of this year's biggest early-round busts. Perhaps you'll be shocked to learn, then, that he finished sixth among all hitters in Head-to-Head points leagues and fourth in Rotisserie. How? He wound up hitting .307 (78 for 254) with 20 homers, 15 steals and a .996 OPS in the second half, with September being his best month of all. There's a concrete explanation for it -- he reverted to his old mechanics after experimenting with a closed stance early on -- I think the buy-in next year will be heavy.
• Ah, Jackson Merrill ... another one of my preseason bust calls that suddenly went from very right to very wrong. As with Alex Bregman, you would have missed it if you tuned out early, but his little hot streak to begin the second half led to a complete return to form in which he slashed .304/.339/.569. As with Tatis, the correction was a matter of him reverting to his old mechanics after the Padres attempted to do something new with him. Hopefully, they've learned to leave well enough alone.
• If you tuned out later in August, then you may have been left with the impression that Zack Wheeler didn't come away from thoracic outlet surgery unscathed after all, his season unraveling after such a promising start. But his 8.51 ERA and 1.93 WHIP in six bumpy starts gave way to a 1.67 ERA and 0.93 WHIP in his final six starts. His overall numbers (3.00 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 10.7 K/9) were very much in line with the typical Wheeler season.
• Following a career-best 2025 with a career-worst 2026 made Cal Raleigh arguably this year's biggest bust, but he did finish strong, batting .256 (30 for 117) with 10 homers and a .935 OPS over his final 32 games. It reportedly coincided with him raising his hands to catch up to elevated fastballs -- an adjustment spearheaded by director of hitting strategy Edgar Martinez -- so there may be some teeth to it. It's just a small dose of optimism at a time when Raleigh's stock figures to be at its lowest.
• If you thought Mookie Betts was cooked, you obviously missed the final month in which he hit .337 with seven home runs and more walks (16) than strikeouts (11). The late surge actually pushed his full-season OPS (.780) ahead of where it was in 2025 (.732), and if you prorate his 2026 totals over the 150 games he played in 2025, they come out to 28 homers, 84 RBI and 86 runs.
• Turns out a broken hand wasn't enough to slow the momentum of Oneil Cruz's breakout season. Indeed, he picked up right where he left off after a two-month absence, batting .314 (37 for 118) with six homers, nine steals and a .921 OPS from Aug. 18 on. Sure, he struck out 30 percent of the time during that stretch, but he was striking out even more before then. Those contact issues remain the primary source of skepticism for Cruz, but the way he kept stride after a lengthy absence would suggest that more was going on in 2026 than just a sustained hot streak.
• Your lasting memory of Carlos Rodon may be that he went back on the IL with inflammation in the same elbow that he had surgically repaired prior to the season -- an ominous sign, to be sure. When he returned in mid-August, though, he was even better than the first go-around, compiling a 1.89 ERA, 0.82 WHIP and 9.2 K/9 across seven starts. Granted, most of those starts were on the shorter side, but the final three spanned six-plus innings, with the final one spanning eight. 
• If Fantasy Baseball season mentally ends for you in August, then you witnessed precisely one Blake Snell start in 2026 -- a bad one against the Braves on May 9. But we all know that Snell is as two-faced as they come, and if you catch him at the right time, he'll leave a much different impression. The rest of us caught him at the right time. Coming back from surgery to remove loose bodies in his elbow (the same nanoscope procedure that Tarik Skubal had), Snell allowed as many runs in eight starts down the stretch as he did in that one start in May (five), putting together a 1.13 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 11.3 K/9. 
• Like Snell, Tyler Glasnow was basically deadweight for those who checked out in August, but he did finally return from his back issues on Aug. 25 and was very much himself over his final six starts. The ERA was inflated at 4.46, but his 2.14 FIP during that time offers a fairer assessment of his performance. He also averaged 12.8 K/9 and had a 14 percent swinging-strike rate, so yeah, he's fine.
• When you checked out, Vinnie Pasquantino was presumably still serving a second IL stint for what was essentially the same hand injury, and to that point, he had been a total flop, batting .232 with six homers and a .663 OPS in 79 games. But the Pasquantino who returned in mid-August was arguably the best version we've ever seen in the majors, which is saying something considering what he did in 2025. He made harder contact, struck out less, and batted .289 (37 for 128) with 11 homers and a .983 OPS in 35 games, reestablishing himself as a worthy draft pick in all formats next year, even at a deep position.
• You know the Rays must have had a fix in mind when they acquired a crashed-out Freddy Peralta from the Mets at the trade deadline. It wasn't the solution we hoped for, such as reinstating the whifftastic slider that's mostly disappeared from his arsenal over the past two years, but raising his arm angle helped restore his plus extension and indeed made him effective again. Over his final nine starts (excluding only his first with the Rays, in Colorado), he had a 2.26 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 7.0 K/9.
• Yainer Diaz got off to a poor start and then missed about a month with a strained oblique. He returned in mid-June, when you were presumably still fully engaged, but his numbers were so far in the tank at that point that you were probably oblivious to the strides he was making. There wasn't some blazing stretch where he was soaking up all the headlines. He just plodded away for 3 1/2 months, batting .305 (74 for 243) with 12 homers and an .843 OPS -- i.e., a pace you would have been thrilled with at the start of the year. And it's here where I'll tell you that catcher remains as deep as ever for 2027.
• The one thing you're expecting to get from Steven Kwan is batting average, so when he goes into the All-Star break batting .221, suffice it to say he's not on anyone's mind anymore. But maybe you stuck around long enough to recall him coming out of the break hot. What you'll probably be surprised to learn, though, is that he finished the year with an even higher batting average (.282) than in 2025 (.272). That's because he went back to his roots of spraying line drives all over the field rather than swinging for maximum damage, and in doing so, he sustained his hot streak right up until the end, batting .353 (85 for 241) in the second half.
• Perhaps you thought Jakob Marsee was just playing out the string for the Marlins and destined for a fourth-outfielder role long-term. After all, many (myself included) made a compelling bust case for him at the start of the year, and after 123 games, he was batting .205 with a .633 OPS. But as long as the playing time continues, so does the chance for a turnaround, and Marsee ultimately took advantage of his by slashing .327/.442/.542 with four homers, three triples, five doubles and four steals in his final 32 games. He may be more entrenched than ever as the Marlins center fielder now.

Others who came on strong

• Your recollection of Pete Alonso, particularly if you didn't draft him yourself, may be that he was struggling to adapt in his first year with his new team after signing a five-year, $155 million deal in the offseason. In actuality, those struggles were confined to April, and he was at his best over the final two months, batting .302 (57 for 189) with 20 homers and a 1.030 OPS to give him his highest full-season OPS (.884) since his 53-homer 2019.
• Elly De La Cruz may no longer be a 60-, 50- or even 40-steal threat, but he eked out a 30/30 season (on the nose, it turns out) thanks to a massive September in which he batted .348 (31 for 89) with nine homers, six steals and a 1.156 OPS. His overall batting average (.283) increased for a fourth straight season, making him a candidate to be drafted in the top five next year.
• You may have left with some concerns about Ben Rice, whose production took a dive without partner-in-crime Aaron Judge, but his September turned out to be nearly as strong as his April, yielding a .333 (27 for 81) batting average with six homers and a 1.055 OPS. Judge was only in the lineup for about a week of that time, too.
• Granted, Drew Rasmussen was pretty great from the get-go, but he found another gear as the year drew to a close, putting together a 1.73 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 9.4 K/9 in his final 11 starts. He's not the biggest bat-misser, but he's a ratios darling from way back, and now that he's taking on an ace workload, you shouldn't be surprised if he's one of the top 12 pitchers drafted.
• Jac Caglianone may have struggled out of the gate, but he finished the year particularly strong, batting .380 (57 for 150) with six home runs and a 1.015 OPS over the final two months (41 games). With that, he ended up having the breakthrough season so many predicted for him. While it was more batting average-heavy than anticipated because of a suboptimal launch angle, he's well on his way to being an offensive force, placing in the 97th percentile for average exit velocity and the 98th percentile for max exit velocity.
• You had likely already written off Nolan Arenado -- and fairly, given that his always marginal exit velocities had receded further, denying him even 20 homers in consecutive seasons -- but he came on so strong at the end of 2026 that he skipped right past 20 homers and finished with 30 for the first time since 2022. Of those 30, 16 came in the final two months and nine in September, when he also hit .349 (29 for 83). I don't know that there's much to take away from it -- he will turn 36 early in 2027, after all -- except that you should probably still give half a thought to him on Draft Day, particularly with third base being so weak.
• Sal Stewart seemed like the obvious choice for NL Rookie of the Year after JJ Wetherholt fell off, but Carson Benge made a race of it at the end, batting .321 (61 for 190) with nine home runs, five steals and an .896 OPS over his final 48 games. You can backdate that stretch to the start of July without those numbers dipping too much, seeing as he batted over .300 in each of the final three months. In all, Benge hit .282 with 20 homers and 22 steals, which is a tremendous start for a player who may be trending toward an early-round future.
• Teoscar Hernandez is the main obstacle for the logjam of Dodgers outfield prospects hoping to break through, so it's actually kind of disappointing that he capped off a bad season by hitting .352 (32 for 91) with five homers and a 1.015 OPS in his final 25 games.
• If you feel like Spencer Torkelson up and vanished just a year after returning to respectability, well, that was true for most of 2026, but it turns out a late surge brought his 2026 numbers within shouting distance of his 2025 numbers. He slashed .296/.432/.648 in September, tacking on six of his 26 home runs.
• We've been down this road before with Cal Quantrill -- who put up respectable, if confounding, numbers for the Guardians in 2021 and 2022 -- and let's just say that it's unlikely to end in a good place. But even so, he was one of the clutchest pickups down the stretch this year, delivering a 1.75 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 7.8 K/9 over his final 11 starts.

Concerning developments

• A torn UCL basically had no impact on Shohei Ohtani as a hitter the two times it happened in 2018 and 2023, but a combination of knee, biceps and neck soreness dealt him enough of a blow to put him on the IL in mid-September. That cocktail of injuries also prevented him from taking the mound at any point in the second half. Given the importance of his bat to the Dodgers' rapidly aging lineup, it's reasonable to wonder if Ohtani's two-way status is in jeopardy. There may even be questions about his bat after he hit just .232 (32 for 138) with a .745 OPS and 30 percent strikeout rate over the final two months, but again, a combination of injuries, none of which sounds so serious on its own, is likely to blame.
• Among the many players who suffered a broken hamate bone in 2026, Jose Ramirez drew the short straw, batting .229 (47 for 205) with just two home runs and a .598 OPS from his July 22 return. At least, we can hope it was a hamate bone injury, which is known to compromise grip strength and power production for a time, but Ramirez is 34 and has always had the sort of exit velocities that leave little margin for error power-wise.
• Ketel Marte spurned the Diamondbacks by going AWOL in mid-August, when they were still fighting for their playoff lives. He was reportedly frustrated over lingering knee pain. Additionally, he didn't ingratiate himself with manager Torey Lovullo by retreating inward rather than communicating and may be on the outs with the organization now. He also didn't perform well throughout the ordeal, batting .228 (54 for 237) with just five home runs from July 1 on, but his exit velocities mostly returned to normal once he came off the IL Aug. 31. Still, it's never comforting betting on a bounce-back from a 33-year-old.
• You may have thought Eury Perez overcame his early control issues by swapping out some four-seamers for more two-seamers, but I regret to inform you that the trick was short-lived. The walks picked up again in August, and over his final seven appearances, including six starts, he had a 6.89 ERA, 1.60 WHIP and 9.5 K/9. That's even with him throwing a one-hit shutout in his final start, which I suppose you could take as a reason for hope, but the inconsistency is discouragement enough from a pitcher who once tracked toward being an ace.
• Julio Rodriguez had his typical first half, which is to say not great, but the expectation was that he'd make up for his .259/.323/.424 slash line with a big second half, following his usual pattern. Instead, he sank further into the depths with a .230/.286/.369 slash line after the All-Star break. He did miss the final two weeks of the first half with a concussion, which would suggest it was of a severity that might leave some lingering symptoms. It's a more logical explanation than pure decline for a 25-year-old who had been on a Hall of Fame track up to that point, but even if it's the case, it's a concern in its own right.
• Excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020, Freddie Freeman's 16 home runs represented a career low, but he was on about his usual pace until the second half, when he homered just one time. He was playing through patellar tendinitis that eventually required the Dodgers to give him some days off, but the damage to his stat line was wholesale. He batted just .184 (14 for 76) in September. Presumably, he'll be fine when he's at 100 percent, but considering he just turned 37 in September, how often will that be?
• Kyle Bradish was a disappointment pretty much from the start. You might have thought he was trending the right direction when his ERA dropped to a season-low 3.49 on July 22, particularly since the Orioles saw fit to give him a five-year extension around that time. It was all downhill from there, though, resulting in a 5.83 ERA, 1.82 WHIP and 6.9 K/9 over his final nine starts. What hope is there for a bounce-back after that kind of finish?
• If you're wondering whether Roman Anthony ever made it back from the torn tendon sheath that was initially diagnosed as a wrist sprain, the answer is yes. He played the final 25 games of the season, batting .262 (27 for 103) with four homers and a .797 OPS. Unfortunately, he didn't make it through the Red Sox's first postseason game against the Yankees because of muscle damage in the same wrist, and he admitted at that point that "the hand was never really fully 100 percent." So what's it going to take to get it there if four months weren't enough?
• Jordan Walker was arguably the biggest breakout player of 2026 and earned national recognition when he won the Home Run Derby midway through, but he didn't exactly stick the landing, batting .172 (15 for 87) in September. He was apparently playing through hip discomfort this time, which would be a reassuring explanation, except that the new swing mechanics that brought about his breakthrough likely contributed to the discomfort.
• CJ Abrams had a career season, showing himself capable of 30 home runs after topping out at 20 the previous three years, but he still couldn't avoid the second-half slump that's plagued him for his entire career. His first week after the All-Star break went swimmingly and, in fact, was one of his hottest stretches of the season, which may have lulled you into a false sense of security. He then hit just .191 (36 for 188) with a .629 OPS over his final 48 games. Playing through a sprained ankle, which he suffered in mid-August, may have contributed to those struggles, but again, the poor finish was basically par for the course.
• After batting .317 (78 for 246) with an .879 OPS through July, setting him up for a career season (at least on a per-game basis), Jeremy Pena hit .229 (46 for 201) with an .705 OPS over the final two months. Of even greater concern is that he struck out 31 percent of the time during that stretch compared to 18 percent previously and 17 percent in both 2024 and 2025. He was playing through a swollen left hand part of that time, having taken a pitch off the knuckles on Aug. 19, and maybe deserves a pass for that reason. The escalating strikeout rate is still enough to give you pause, though.
• After an encouraging 2025 that first put him on the map in Fantasy, Dillon Dingler joined the ranks of the elite in the first half of 2026, entering Aug. 7 batting .278 with 26 home runs and an .877 OPS. He fell apart thereafter, though, batting .149 (22 for 148) with one home run and a .398 OPS over his final 39 games. Fatigue may have contributed to some mechanical failures during that time, and because he also showed strong hitter qualities in 2025, I remain hopeful. But there isn't an established baseline for exactly what kind of hitter he is.
• JJ Wetherholt ranked third in the NL in WAR at the All-Star break and seemed like a shoo-in for Rookie of the Year, but a bum wrist wrecked his second half, causing him to hit only .210 (39 for 186) with a .608 OPS. Even an IL stint at the start of September wasn't enough to get him right. He returned to go 8 for 32 (.250) with just one extra-base hit (a double) in nine games.
• Wyatt Langford seemed poised to deliver on his potential finally for the first few months of 2026, but he crashed and burned at the end, batting .188 (33 for 176) with a .661 OPS in August and September. He did miss time earlier in the year with flexor and hamstring strains, but I'm not sure you could blame the struggle on either injury, given that he went 16 for 48 (.333) with four home runs in his first 12 games back from his final IL stint.
• The decline of George Kirby continues. He seemed like he ended the first half in a pretty good place, but then he allowed seven earned runs in his second start back from the break. It only got worse from there. His final seven starts, not even counting that seven-run disaster, yielded a 6.33 ERA, 1.78 WHIP and 7.6 K/9. It's hard to imagine he'll get the same benefit of the doubt on Draft Day after a second straight year with an ERA over 4.00.
• Corbin Burnes recovered from Tommy John surgery in time to make three starts, but I wouldn't say he was as good as new. The 7.84 ERA is dismissible, since weird things can happen over such a small sample, but a 2 mph decrease is inauspicious, to say the least.

Psych!

• Just when it seemed like the Brewers' pitching development lab had done it again, nurturing the twice-cast-off Harrison into the ace he always should have been, the 25-year-old collapsed so completely that he was banished to the bullpen for most of September. His 2.79 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 11.1 K/9 through 21 starts gave way to a 16.05 ERA, 3.24 WHIP and 10.2 K/9 in his final seven appearances, three of them starts, to leave him with a 4.20 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and 11.0 K/9 overall. If you're looking for an explanation, there were reports of fatigue contributing to mechanical issues, which obscures the picture further for 2027.
• For a while there, it seemed like the fears over the amount of swing-and-miss in Munetaka Murakami's game were overblown. He was batting .244 with a .935 OPS through the end of July, which you'll definitely take from a guy striking out upward of 30 percent of the time. But then he hit just .156 (30-for-192) in August and September, bringing his overall batting average down to .207. Between that mark, his 35 homers and his .825 OPS, his rookie season greatly resembled some of the best Joey Gallo had to offer, which is the exact comp many were making for Murakami coming into the year. As with Gallo, Murakami's issue is less that he swings at balls than that he misses on strikes. His 69.5 percent zone-contact rate was nearly 10 points worse than the next qualifying batter.
• Troy Melton wasn't really replicating the bat-missing ability he showed in the minors, but he had a 1.46 ERA and 0.90 WHIP through 13 starts anyway. Turns out it caught up to him in mid-August, yielding a 5.77 ERA and 1.66 WHIP over his final seven starts.
• Casey Mize, Robbie Ray and Foster Griffin are three other pitchers whose underwhelming peripherals ultimately caught up to them, and it just so happens that all were moved at the trade deadline. Mize had a 7.46 ERA and 1.68 WHIP in his 10 starts for the Padres; Ray had a 5.02 ERA and 1.54 WHIP in his nine starts for the Padres, and Griffin had a 5.19 ERA and 1.62 WHIP in his nine starts for the Guardians.
• If you remember the aforementioned Fernando Tatis and Jackson Merrill turning their seasons around, then you may remember the same for Manny Machado. But it turns out his was confined to July, when he hit .292 with a .921 OPS. He hit .224 with a .664 OPS in his 51 games thereafter.
• You remember how Ozzie Albies overcame a career-worst 2025 to reclaim his high standing at second base? Cue the video of Jonathan Frakes repeatedly saying it didn't happen because, well, it didn't happen. It looked that way at the start. Albies had a monster April and managed to stay afloat all the way through July. But then he stumbled in August and fell flat on his face in September, hitting a combined .178 (33 for 185) between the two months. His totals were decent because he played in all 162 games, but his final OPS (.685) was nearly as bad as in 2025 (.671).
• Another former Fantasy standby who you may recall was enjoying a bounce-back season, even earning an All-Star nod, was Bryan Reynolds, who hit .283 with 14 homers and an .878 OPS in the first half. Well, I'm sorry to tell you that he hit .229 with just three home runs and a .659 OPS in the second half. I don't see much explanation for it in the underlying data, but I will point out that his final batting average (.261) and OPS (.789) were roughly in line with his career norms. Perhaps he simply regressed to the mean.
• You probably thought the Rockies had a star on their hands in Mickey Moniak, right? Well, despite batting .278 with an .881 OPS through the end of July, he was basically useless thereafter, batting .173 (27-for-156) with a .561 OPS.
• Riley O'Brien managed to hold onto the Cardinals closer role all season, which is how he wound up leading the NL with 38 saves. I suspect he failed his audition for next year with a 9.00 ERA over his final 13 appearances, which included three blown saves and an additional loss. He's simply too hittable for the role.
• You remember that flash in the pan that was Esmerlyn Valdez, who homered 12 times over a 25-game span in June and July? Well, he homered just three times in 35 games thereafter, batting .169 (20 for 118) while striking out 38 percent of the time. I'm not even sure he'll make the team next spring.
• Bryce Miller's all-too-brief turnaround was confined mostly to June, but since he still had a 2.80 ERA at the end of July, you may not realize the extent of his downfall. Between August and September, he had a 6.45 ERA and 1.57 WHIP in nine starts, which means he probably doesn't need to be drafted outside of deeper leagues.
• After failing to deliver on his initial sleeper appeal, Jacob Lopez started to gain traction again after the All-Star break and sustained it for nine starts, putting together a 2.36 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 10.9 K/9. But anyone who bought in was made to regret it as he staggered to a 13.86 ERA and 2.19 WHIP over a three-start span in September. His final outing Sept. 25 was a good one (one earned run on two hits over six innings), but the damage was already done, likely preventing much in the way of buy-in for 2027.
• Maybe you held on long enough to see Noah Cameron dominate over a seven-start stretch, calling his own pitches and fading his four-seamer en route to a 1.29 ERA and 0.72 WHIP. Unfortunately, he was business as usual in September, by which I mean a 4.82 ERA and 1.29 WHIP across five starts.
• The Jake Bennett hype was also short-lived. After a seven-start stretch in June and July in which he delivered a 1.80 ERA and 0.84 WHIP, he reverted to a 4.91 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in his final nine appearances.

Late-season call-ups

• After eviscerating Double-A with a 1.06 ERA, 0.64 WHIP and 13.0 K/9, Kade Anderson finally got the call in late August and performed about like a common streamer would with a 3.79 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 8.1 K/9 in seven starts. His plus control and 13.1 percent swinging-strike rate offer reason for continued optimism, at least.
• Josue De Paula came up for about two weeks to fill a need left by Shohei Ohtani and did everything you would hope a top-five prospect would do, drawing 11 walks while striking out just five times for a .323/.500/.581 slash line. He was still sent down after Ohtani came off the IL, though, which makes you wonder how motivated the Dodgers are to make way for him.
• Walker Jenkins had seemingly mastered Triple-A when he got the call in late August, having slashed .308/.407/.532 in 69 games there, but even with his excellent plate discipline, he struggled to adapt to the majors. His .385 (15 for 39) batting average with three home runs (compared to just three strikeouts) over his final 10 games should be enough to get him on the opening day roster next year.
• The hype ramped up again quickly for Ethan Salas once he got to Triple-A, and on Sept. 2, he became the youngest catcher to debut since Ivan Rodriguez in 1991. He was expected to play just a bit role at first but was starting every other game by season's end, likely putting him first on the depth chart for 2027.
• Joshua Baez kicked off his time in the majors with a three-homer game and concluded it with an IL stint for an oblique strain. In between were a lot of strikeouts (a 31 percent rate overall) but also enough hard contact to make him a worthy sleeper for 2027.
• Leonardo Bernal came up on Sept. 1 and started every one of the Cardinals' final 24 games. They've described him as "an everyday, workhorse catcher" and are so sold on the idea that they're expected to experiment with Rainiel Rodriguez, an even higher-end catcher prospect, at third base. It makes sense, too, when you scope out Bernal's offensive and defensive metrics.
• Quinn Mathews was sent back to the minors after his Aug. 1 debut, but not for long. He came back about two weeks later and wound up making nine major league starts in all, putting together a 3.83 ERA, 1.38 WHIP and 8.4 K/9. The control wasn't quite as bad as feared, but he was also just an average bat-misser with a 10.6 percent swinging-strike rate.
• George Lombard seemed a bit overmatched when the Yankees first called him up in August. By the end of September, he was beginning to impact the ball like he did at Triple-A, homering four times and delivering his four hardest-hit balls (all better than 110 mph) over the final two weeks. He could be in for a lengthy run as Yankees shortstop.
• Aside from a 10-day stretch in which he was sidelined by a hamstring strain, Kaelen Culpepper was the Twins' starting shortstop basically from the time he arrived in early August. He didn't do anything to disqualify himself from the role in 2027. His contact quality was a bit lacking, but we've seen better from him in the minors.
• Lazaro Montes was held to a strict platoon after arriving Sept. 1 -- a reasonable choice, judging from his minor league splits -- and yet he still struck out 41 percent of the time. He hit the ball plenty hard, resulting in four home runs over 59 plate appearances, but he may not be quite ready for prime time.
• Bo Davidson spent only a week in the majors after forcing his way there with a .390 (46 for 118) batting average and 10 home runs in his final 30 games at Triple-A, and he continued to roll with the big club, going 7 for 20 (.350). It was too small of a sample to make much of it, except that he'll have the inside track for a starting job next spring.
• Emmanuel Rodriguez's debut came a couple of weeks after Walker Jenkins', mostly because the Twins had to make sure he was fully recovered from his UCL repair. Though he hit just .178 (8 for 45) during his stint with the big club, he delivered solid exit velocities and homered twice. He won't be a shoo-in for a job next spring but will definitely be in the running.
• Though still hit-over-power at Triple-A, Angel Genao showed enough of the latter there to generate real enthusiasm prior to his Aug. 5 promotion. Unfortunately, he simply didn't do much with the chances he was given as he bounced between second base, third base and shortstop. The low strikeout rate and respectable exit velocities give reason for hope, but there may not be an opening for him to begin 2027.
• River Ryan, who was the second-best prospect acquired in the Tarik Skubal deal, made two starts for the Tigers late in September, though they were starts only by technicality, given how short they were. It's forgivable because of all the time he missed with a hamstring strain, but it keeps him as something of a mystery box at age 28.
• Hector Rodriguez isn't as well-known as some of the prospects on this list, but he showed big power at Triple-A, homering 27 times in 104 games prior to his August promotion. And while his six homers in 152 plate appearances with the big club made for a rather modest total, he did hit one 115.2 mph.
• Michael Arroyo made only seven starts after arriving in early September, but he showed well in them, going 13 for 35 (.371) with a homer and two doubles while striking out just 15 percent of the time. He always demonstrated pretty good power and on-base ability in the minors, despite marginal exit velocities. It remains unclear if the Mariners will be able to find regular at-bats for him between second base and left field.

Other interesting developments

• Sandy Alcantara had a fine year for points leagues, mostly on account of him leading the majors in innings (214), but a bumpy finish put his ERA (3.87) and WHIP (1.23) on the high side. What's most interesting, though, is that three of his final four appearances came in the ninth inning to close out a game, giving him three saves to go along with 13 wins. He continued to take his regular turn in the rotation during that time, leading to him making two starts (of normal length) and three relief appearances over a 14-day span. Eury Perez also worked a scoreless eighth inning under similar circumstances, which suggests that the Marlins may be willing to let their starters, especially Alcantara, replace their side session with an actual relief appearance in between starts. "It shows the innovation of this organization that we're continually willing to try these things," president of baseball operations Peter Bendix said. How much more valuable is a decent starter if he's also a part-time closer?
• Speaking of starting pitchers getting saves, Kodai Senga got eight down the stretch for the Mets, being used exclusively as a short reliever over his final 18 appearances. A couple of late hiccups brought his ERA to 3.78 and his WHIP to 1.32 during this time, but he missed plenty of bats and looked at home in the role. The organization seemed to embrace it, too, giving him a dramatic, Michael Jackson-themed closer entrance. Devin Williams, who was sidelined by a shoulder strain when Senga began this transition, did return to make two appearances, both in the eighth, to bring his ERA to 4.43. After consecutive bad years for the former Brewers standout, I think it's up in the air whether he or Senga will get the first crack at closing next year.
• Having already been discarded by the Reds, Christian Encarnacion-Strand seemed like he would live out his days as a Quadruple-A type bouncing between the majors and the minors for one organization after another. But he may have found a home with the Orioles, and at a position (third base) that he had seemingly outgrown. In all, he hit .277 (54 for 195) with 11 homers and an .838 OPS in 58 games for his new club. Alternating with Encarnacion-Strand between third base and DH (though more DH in his case) was Coby Mayo, who also came on strong with a .274 (34 for 124) batting average, nine home runs and .906 OPS over his final 35 games.
• An injury to Endy Rodriguez thrust Rafael Flores into a more regular role behind the plate, and he thrived in it, batting .276 (34 for 123) with 10 home runs and an .887 OPS. It was particularly surprising in light of his performance at Triple-A, where he hit .228 with just four home runs in 65 games prior to his August promotion. He was more competent at the plate in 2025, a year split between the Yankees and Pirates organizations. He'll be a sleeper of sorts at a deep catcher position.
• Jonah Tong was the best pitcher in the minors in 2025 (1.43 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 14.2 K/9 in 22 starts) but then faltered once he got to the majors. Worse yet, he seemed like a lost cause in his return to Triple-A this year, putting together a 4.54 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 10.6 K/9 in 23 starts. The 23rd and final outing there, though, was excellent, seeing him strike out eight over seven one-hit innings, and he had two similar outings in his four after being called back up, compiling a 3.92 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 11.8 K/9. His fastball actually played like the bat-missing offering it needs to be.
• Victor Mesa was an international signing of some note way back in 2018, but he never amounted to anything with the Marlins before finally getting a look with the Rays midway through this season. He carved out a role early on as a part-time lefty-mashing outfielder, and that role only got bigger as his production picked up. He saved his best for last, returning from an IL stint for a hamstring strain Sept. 1 to hit .355 (27 for 76) with four homers, three steals and a 1.015 OPS in that final month. A look at his Baseball Savant page shows he's decent at everything, with his greatest strength probably being how well he puts the ball in the air. He just seems like the sort of player the Rays scoop up on the down-low and get real production out of.
• The book on Brayan Bello early this season was that he could only be trusted as a bulk reliever and not as a conventional starter, but after spending most of June and part of July in the minors, he excelled in whatever role the Red Sox used him. Granted, it was still bulk relief most of the time, but in those final 14 appearances, in which he averaged about four innings, he put together a 2.11 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 7.8 K/9. He also had a 57 percent ground-ball rate that would have ranked second among qualifiers. His role for 2027 remains in question -- and I wouldn't say he has huge upside -- but Bello isn't a lost cause for Fantasy.