4 Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers - Kyle Stowers, Quinn Priester, Rafael Devers, Yu Darvish

July 21, 2025

Connelly's fantasy baseball risers and fallers for Week 17 of 2025. He assesses hitters and pitchers performing well and poorly to determine their future value.

Welcome, everyone, to another edition of RotoBaller’s Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers article series for Week 17 of the 2025 season! Today, I'll look at Kyle Stowers, Quinn Priester, Rafael Devers, and Yu Darvish.

Keeping up with the latest hitter and pitcher trends is a key component for a successful season, and RotoBaller is here to help fantasy managers! Each week, I will select a few players who have performed well recently and a few who have not, and I will analyze their performances to determine how their future outcomes may be affected.

We only have a few games of data coming out of the All-Star break, so I will just focus on four Fantasy Risers and Fallers. The trade deadlines for MLB and fantasy managers are quickly approaching, making it a crucial time to assess the potential future value of key players. Welcome back after a slight break. Let's get into it!

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Fantasy Baseball Hitter Riser

All stats are current as of Sunday morning, July 20, 2025.

Kyle Stowers, Miami Marlins (OF)

.299/.376/.566 Slash Line, 21 HRs, 59 RBI, 4 SBs

Kyle Stowers started his career as a fantasy prospect, one of many promising hitters in the deep Orioles' farm system. He never got a chance at routine playing time and was traded to the Marlins last season. He has taken full advantage of his opportunity, slashing .299/.376/.566 with 21 home runs in 355 plate appearances. Could the National League All-Star continue his performance through the second half?

Stowers’ batted-ball profile seems to support his high-end power production. He has always impacted the ball well, and his 91.7 mph average exit velocity and 53.7% hard-hit rate are both in the top 20 percentiles of baseball.

KYLE STOWERS
WALK-OFF BLAST
ARE YOU KIDDING?! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/V9AF0js8a6

— MLB (@MLB) July 19, 2025

What stands out is his 19.9% barrel rate. Not only is this in the top two percent of baseball, but it is almost double his next-best season mark. Fantasy managers may be skeptical that he can keep this up. The good news is that he has changed his swing from previous seasons, swinging the bat much faster than before. Stowers’ 75.2 mph swing speed is 1.5 mph faster than last season and is among the fastest in baseball.

Stowers has finally gotten the chance to settle in and put his skills to work. He hits the ball extremely hard and has made improvements to his approach at the plate. His 27.9% strikeout rate is still too high, but it is a career low and comes with a solid 10.1% walk rate. Overall, I see no reason that Stowers can’t continue to be a high-end fantasy contributor in the second half.

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Riser

All stats are current as of Sunday morning, July 20, 2025.

Quinn Priester, Milwaukee Brewers

8-2, 3.33 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 20.4% Strikeout Rate, 94 2/3 IP

Fantasy managers have heard Quinn Priester’s name for some time now, as he is a prospect who has bounced around organizations. The 24-year-old had to step up due to injuries in the Brewers' rotation. Whether pitching in bulk relief or starting, Priester has been effective. He kicked off the second half with a 10-strikeout performance against the Dodgers; should more fantasy managers be buying in?

What a night for Quinn Priester at Dodger Stadium💪

6 IP | 3 H | 0 R | 0 BB | 10 K pic.twitter.com/BpYwWOr6YF

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 19, 2025

Priester now has a 10-strikeout and an 11-strikeout performance this season, but fantasy managers should not come to expect that. Priester doesn’t have overpowering stuff and relies on contact on the ground. He has been successful at this, inducing a 57.3% ground-ball rate, thanks to his sinker. He has allowed harder-than-average contact, but his ground-ball rate is in the 95th percentile of baseball.

Priester does have the ability to generate swings and misses with his slider and curveball. Both pitches have swinging-strike rates north of 17% this season, and he relied more on his curveball during his 10+ strikeout outings. Ironically, all of his strikeouts against the Dodgers came on his sinker and cutter, but the interplay of his off-speed pitches is crucial to help his fastballs play up.

You and everyone you know should be talking about Quinn Priester pic.twitter.com/myUFWobqmW

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 19, 2025

Pitchers like Priester are not as exciting from a fantasy perspective and have less room for error. However, he has done a good job executing his approach and has shown some flashes of potentially raising his strikeout floor. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to attempt to sell high on him after his strong second-half start, but fantasy managers should hopefully have a high-floor pitcher for the rest of the season.

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Faller

All stats are current as of Sunday morning, July 20, 2025.

Rafael Devers, San Francisco Giants (3B, UT)

.255/.381/.458 Slash Line, 17 HRs, 68 RBI

There were some concerns about Rafael Devers after his very slow start to the season; he made the first edition of Fantasy Fallers. However, he got things back on track to the point of being traded to the Giants in mid-June. The change of scenery has not suited him, as he has slashed just .206/.325/.330 with his new team. Do fantasy managers need to start worrying again?

Devers did shift from one of baseball's most hitter-friendly parks to one of its most pitcher-friendly, but that should not have affected a hitter of his caliber. The shift hasn't brought about any negative changes in his batted-ball profile. Devers has produced a 92 mph average exit velocity and a 57.1% hard-hit rate since joining the Giants.

That exit velocity is down 1.5 mph from his season average, but it is still strong, and his hard-hit rate is up over one percentage point compared to his season mark. His 10.4-degree launch angle would be one of the lowest of his career, but it isn't that far off from his career average of 11.6 degrees.

His quality of contact hasn't been an issue, but making contact has been. Devers has amassed a poor 30.8% strikeout rate with the Giants, a part of his game that is usually not an issue. Interestingly, his swinging-strike rate and swing rate are both within range of his season marks, so he may simply be going through a slump of bad luck.

MUST SEE: Full pitch-by-pitch of Aroldis Chapman's showdown with his rival-turned-teammate-turned rival again, Rafael Devers 🔥 pic.twitter.com/VY9DduohGb

— MLB (@MLB) June 21, 2025

Devers is currently not producing for fantasy managers, but there are still signs under the hood that he is one of baseball's best hitters. He may need a bit more time to get adjusted to his new team, ot he may simply be in a slump. Regardless, Devers is way too strong of a fantasy asset for me to give up hope.

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Faller

All stats are current as of Sunday morning, July 20, 2025.

Yu Darvish, San Diego Padres

0-2, 6.08 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 13.3% Strikeout Rate, 13 1/3 IP

Yu Darvish missed most of the first half of the season on the injured list with right elbow inflammation. The 38-year-old has made three starts and has little to show for it, going 0-2 with a 6.08 ERA, a 1.50 WHIP, and a 13.3% strikeout rate. This is a small sample size, and Darvish has a history of being an above-average fantasy contributor. Has age and injury finally caught up to him?

Attempting to diagnose Darvish's pitch mix is tricky, as he is a true kitchen-sink pitcher. The good news is that his velocity and spin rates on all of his pitches are similar to what they were over the past several seasons. He may throw nine pitches, but one big issue clearly stands out.

Darvish has relied primarily on his slider for the last two seasons, and his performance with the pitch this season has been awful. He has left the pitch in the middle of the plate, and it has gotten pummeled. Again, even as his primary pitch, he has thrown it only 21.9% of the time. Unfortunately, that has been too much.

It is tough to make strong declarations on Darvish after just three starts. He pitched five innings in his last start, but it's clear that he will need some time to get ramped up. He hasn't pitched more than 150 IP since 2022, but he managed a useful 3.31 ERA and 23.6% strikeout rate in 81 2/3 IP last season.

Yu Darvish spoke about how he's progressing from start to start, how he feels about his stamina after not making any rehab starts and how he responded after giving up 2 runs in the 2nd inning: pic.twitter.com/05vE8VnVmo

— 97.3 The Fan (@973TheFanSD) July 20, 2025

I don't have a ton of confidence in Darvish at this point in his career, but I will keep an eye on his next few starts. He is currently rostered in just 49% of leagues. I wouldn't be opposed to treating him as at least a streamer if he can prove that he can turn in complete, solid starts. However, he will need to first earn that trust.

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