If you haven't gotten Triston Casas back in your lineup yet, you should. The 24-year-old returned this weekend from a four-month absence for cartilage damage in his rib cage and seemed to lock in right away, going 5 for 13 with a walk and three strikeouts. All of the hits were singles, but one was hit as hard as 107.2 mph.
The sample is too small to say for sure, but all signs point to him being the same promising hitter who topped so many breakout lists this spring. And at the late juncture of the season, he's as close to a game-changer as you can hope to find.
But he's not the only one. The Dodgers plan to welcome back two in the next couple days. Tommy Edman, who has spent the entire season working his way back from wrist surgery, is expected back Monday, while Max Muncy, who has been sidelined since mid-May with a strained oblique, should be back either Monday or Tuesday. Neither is quite as exciting as Casas, but both have been Fantasy mainstays for longer, with Edman supplying speed at three different positions and Muncy providing power in a deep lineup.
Word of their return came down this weekend, which I supposed makes them two of the weekend's biggest risers. If we limit the selection to those whose value changed based on performance, though, here are the top risers and fallers.
Stock Up
Quite simply, Brandon Lowe shouldn't still be available in nearly a quarter of all CBS Sports leagues. He went 2 for 4 with a homer in back-to-back games this weekend, giving him 15 homers (to go along with five steals) since the start of June. Those numbers may not mean much to you in isolation, but they make him the third-best second baseman in Head-to-Head points leagues during that stretch and the second-best in 5x5 categories, behind only Ketel Marte. And it's nothing new for Lowe, who hit 39 homers in 2021, his last fully healthy season. My suspicion is that an early-season oblique injury soured people on him, and an expectation of inconsistent playing time kept them away. But Lowe has avoided an IL stint since coming back in late May, even playing through a fractured toe, and has started 18 of the Rays' past 19 games. Time to give him the credit he deserves.
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Michael Kopech became the White Sox's closer by default, being the only reliever electric enough to take on the role. The competition with the Dodgers has been fiercer, but even so, he may have the role on merit. The right-hander with the triple-digit fastball recorded both of the Dodgers' saves over the weekend, preserving a one-run lead in both instances. He's been near untouchable since coming over at the trade deadline while his primary competition for the role, Daniel Hudson, has allowed at least one run in four of his past five appearances, including as a setup man for Kopech Sunday. If you factor in his final couple weeks with the White Sox, Kopech has now thrown 15 consecutive scoreless innings, allowing just four baserunners while striking out 21.
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If you've tuned out Corbin Carroll since his miserable first couple months, thankful that he was someone else's problem, take note of him going 3 for 11 with two home runs this weekend. It's only the latest sign of him turning things around. You wouldn't know it from the full-season numbers because the turnaround isn't reflected so much in his batting average, but since June 6, he's batting .251 with 11 homers, 12 steals and an .853 OPS. That's enough to make him the fourth-best outfielder in Head-to-Head points leagues and the sixth-best in Rotisserie during that time. Fair to say he's a problem we'd all like to have.
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After an embarrassing first stint in the majors, Jackson Holliday kicked off his second stint with a grand slam, going on to have the sort of home run binge that pushes him to the forefront in Fantasy. Junior Caminero's return to the majors has been quieter in that he has yet to connect for a home run, and yet his performance is perhaps as revealing that he means business this time. He's gone 6 for 18, including 5 for 11 this weekend, and while all of the hits are singles, he's already delivered an exit velocity of 116.3 mph, which is a mark only 15 other major-leaguers have met all season. He also has nearly as many walks (four) as strikeouts (five). In a word, he's looked comfortable, and the Rays have allowed him to be, giving him every single start at third base. If you really needed an excuse to pick up arguably the game's top hitting prospect, I'd say Caminero has given you one.
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Albert Suarez's initial introduction to the Orioles rotation in late May went well enough that he got picked up in a couple dozen Fantasy leagues, but then he fell on hard times in July and was booted back to the bullpen following the deadline acquisitions of Zach Eflin and Trevor Rogers. An injury to Grayson Rodriguez cleared the way again, and all Suarez has done since rejoining the rotation is throw three scoreless outings. His latest one Sunday lowered his ERA to 3.18, which, coming from a pitcher on the Orioles, of course merits interest. I don't want to oversell Suarez, whose strikeout and walk rates don't inspire much confidence, but he at least looks to be Fantasy-relevant again after having fallen completely out of favor.
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Bowden Francis' seven shutout innings Sunday might not count for much if he hadn't thrown seven one-hit innings in his previous start. In those 14 innings, he struck out 15 while walking no one, which is sure to attract attention even though his ERA still sits it 4.38. And that attention may not be misplaced. After all, Bowden had a 2.04 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 10.9 K/9 between the majors and minors last year. Much of that time was spent in relief, but any time a reliever with such numbers moves to the starting rotation, it's noteworthy. Francis doesn't have a standout pitch, but he throws strikes at a high rate and puts the ball in the air at a high rate, which helps to limit hits even if it makes him vulnerable to home runs. I'm still skeptical he'll amount to much, but he's at least put himself in the Fantasy conversation.
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Conventional prospect wisdom says that catchers require the utmost patience because their defensive responsibilities often inhibit their offensive development. The Giants didn't have such patience for Joey Bart, who they probably brought to the majors too quickly in 2020, just two years after drafting him second overall. But the 27-year-old is finding new life with the Pirates, connecting for two home runs over the weekend to make him 21 for 59 (.356) with six homers over his past 15 games. He impacted the ball just as hard with the Giants but wasn't as consistent about it, and his strikeout rate, which was 35.4 percent with that organization, is down to 26.3 percent with his new one. Bart has the tools and pedigree to be an impact catcher in Fantasy and is slugging his way into consideration even for one-catcher leagues.
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Stock Down
In isolation, a start like Saturday's wouldn't be enough to sour me on a pitcher with Zac Gallen's track record, but the longtime ace, who's been a top-five Cy Young finisher each of the past two years, now has a 4.64 ERA, 1.51 WHIP and 7.2 K/9 in his past 10 starts. The ugly stretch coincides with him returning from a hamstring strain, an injury that you wouldn't think would have any deleterious effects, but he's seemed totally lost since returning, as evidenced by the weird velocity spikes and varying pitch selections. It would be one thing if only the ERA was inflated, but with the walks up and strikeouts down, I'd be hard-pressed to slot Gallen in my lineup right now (though I wouldn't go so far as to drop him).
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You think Gallen has it bad? With this latest debacle Saturday, Nick Lodolo has a 5.11 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and 8.3 K/9 in his past 14 starts. His struggles also coincide with a return from injury -- in his case, a strained groin -- which may have been what started him down the wrong path. More specifically, his curveball has had a different movement profile since the injury, losing approximately one inch of vertical break and three inches of horizontal break. The whiffs have dried up as a result, and while Lodolo held his own without them at first, the wheels have come off in his past nine starts, during which he's put together a 7.15 ERA. It's reasonable to think the right mechanical tweak could snap everything back into place, but with no sign of it happening, Lodolo is unusable in Fantasy and over-rostered at 90 percent.
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Having a knuckleballer makes for a fun novelty, but there's a reason why they so rarely amount to anything in Fantasy. The pitch is unpredictable from start to start, and there aren't enough strikeouts in the good starts to justify the bad. True, you could dismiss Matt Waldron's latest start as another Coors Field casualty, but he's had it bad for a while now, putting together a 5.88 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 7.9 K/9 in his past nine starts. He'll likely have his uses in Fantasy still, but more as a streaming option than a lineup fixture.
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