4 Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers - Brenton Doyle, Hurston Waldrep, Seiya Suzuki, Framber Valdez

Connelly's fantasy baseball risers and fallers for Week 22 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 22 of the 2025 season! Today, I'll look at Brenton Doyle, Hurston Waldrep, Seiya Suzuki, and Framber Valdez.

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.

There is just about one month left in the season, which means that fantasy managers are either entering the fantasy playoffs or trying to protect their roto standings. Every roster move can have a large impact, so fantasy managers need to be as informed as possible. Tough decisions will have to be made, so let's take a look at some Fantasy Risers and Fallers!

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Fantasy Baseball Hitter Riser

All stats are current as of Sunday morning, August 24, 2025

Brenton Doyle, Colorado Rockies (OF)

.247/.291/.403 Slash Line, 14 HRs, 50 RBI, 13 SBs

Brenton Doyle emerged as a well-rounded fantasy contributor in 2024, making him a top-75 overall pick for 2025. He has not been nearly as productive this season, but he has turned things on in the second half with a .400/.421/.678 slash line. Can he continue his hot streak for the rest of the season?

Doyle has taken a more effective approach at the plate in the second half. He owns a poor career strikeout rate of 28%, but his strikeout rate in the second half is a solid 19.8%. He has done this while swinging at more pitches. He has particularly been much more aggressive on pitches in the strike zone and has made more contact.

This approach has led to more damaging contact and results. Doyle’s second-half BABIP is a wild .446, which is likely partly bolstered by his speed but also by his increased solid contact.

Brenton Doyle, last 18 games...

64 PA, .400/.429/.617, 4 HR, 2 SB#Rockies pic.twitter.com/KRkU3tvRNn

— Eric Cross (@EricCrossMLB) August 15, 2025

The one aspect of his game that is still lacking is stolen bases. Doyle does have elite speed and has been successful at stealing bases this season, converting 13 in 14 attempts. However, despite the team’s declaration to be more aggressive on the basepaths this season, Doyle has not participated as much.

Doyle is an intriguing fantasy option, boasting power and speed, hitting in Coors Field. He ran into issues in the first half by striking out too much, but that has gotten under control. His lineup context isn’t great, but I think Doyle could help fantasy managers down the stretch.

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Riser

All stats are current as of Sunday morning, August 24, 2025

Hurston Waldrep, Atlanta Braves

4-0, 0.73 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, 27.0% Strikeout Rate, 24 2/3 IP

Hurston Waldrep has been on fantasy radars for some time and has emerged again. The 23-year-old pitching prospect got a brief big league opportunity last season, which went poorly.

He had only produced ok results this season with Triple-A Gwinnett. He got called up at the beginning of August and has looked like the prospect fantasy managers were hoping for. Should he be trusted for the rest of the season?

He has only pitched 24 2/3 innings, but Waldrep has looked excellent by all accounts. His Statcast page is covered in red, and he has done a great job limiting hard contact and keeping the ball on the ground. This has resulted in a strong .220 BABIP against.

Hurston Waldrep for the @Braves this season:
24.2 IP, 24 K, 0.73 ERA, 0.77 WHIP 👀 pic.twitter.com/YvEjvIkrba

— MLB (@MLB) August 21, 2025

He has shaken up his pitch arsenal, ditching his four-seam fastball for a cutter and relying more on his curveball. He has generated a solid 27.0% strikeout rate and a 12.1% swinging strike rate overall. His swing-and-miss success has been driven by his splitter with a 23.8% swinging strike rate. He has used this as his primary pitch, throwing it 31.4% of the time.

Everything checks out for Waldrep, and he looks like the fantasy prospect everyone was hoping for. It doesn’t appear that he will be limited, given he got called up so late. He has pitched at least 5 2/3 innings in each of his four outings. Waldrep appears to be a legitimate addition for fantasy managers to bolster their pitching staffs for the rest of the season.

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Faller

All stats are current as of Sunday morning, August 24, 2025

Seiya Suzuki, Chicago Cubs (OF/DH)

.243/.317/.480 Slash Line, 27 HRs, 87 RBI, 4 SBs

Seiya Suzuki is having a career season at a glance, already reaching a career-high in home runs and RBI. Unfortunately, most of that production came in the first half of the season. Suzuki has slumped in the second half, slashing just .179/.309/.259 with two HR and 10 RBI. With the Cubs slumping overall, should fantasy managers pivot away from Suzuki?

Taking a closer look, there are still some good signs for Suzuki. His 90.8 MPH average exit velocity and 47.6% hard-hit rate in the second half are not nearly as strong as his season marks, but they are still above-average. Additionally, his 23.5% strikeout rate is lower than his season mark, and his 16.2% walk rate is higher than his season mark.

Suzuki has been impacting the ball well but has gotten poor results. His .225 BABIP is much lower than his season mark of .281. The biggest indicator of bad luck is his HR/FB rate. Suzuki's season mark is 17.0%, which makes sense given how well he has impacted the ball. He has done a good job of that in the second half, but his HR/FB rate sits at just 5.6%.

The concept of regression for players usually necessitates enough time, which is quickly running down this season. Suzuki has swung the bat well in the second half but has not yet gotten equivalent results. I would expect those results to eventually come, although fantasy managers are running out of time to wait. Even so, I think there is still enough time to hold out hope.

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Faller

All stats are current as of Sunday morning, August 24, 2025

Framber Valdez, Houston Astros

11-7, 3.32 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 23.5% Strikeout Rate, 157 1/3 IP

Framber Valdez has been a high-end, high-floor fantasy starter throughout his career. His season numbers look as one would expect, but he has amassed a bloated 7.33 ERA and 1.76 WHIP in his last four starts. Can he be trusted down the stretch?

Valdez did face some tough opponents, but he is typically matchup-proof. The first thing that stands out is a plummet in his K-BB rate. Valdez’s season stats sit at a respectable 23.5% strikeout rate and an 8.3% walk rate. His strikeout rate in the last four games has been just 11.1% with a 9.3% walk rate for a poor 1.9% K-BB rate.

He has also allowed fewer groundballs in his last four starts, which has hurt him overall. Valdez has always allowed hard contact, but is an elite ground-ball pitcher, which limits the damage. His launch angle over the last four starts sits at 6.2 degrees, which is strong overall but is much higher than his 2.4-degree season mark.

Valdez's ground-ball rate of 53.7% over his last four starts is lower than his 59.1% season mark, which may explain his inflated .361 BABIP. It may not seem like a huge shift, but his 5.18 SIERA suggests that the shifts in his batted-ball profile recently are substantial.

Valdez has simply not been successful in August and has been on a poor start streak. He hasn't struck anyone out, he has had two four-walk games, and he has allowed more hard contact off the ground. It isn't uncommon for even the best players to experience slumps, but it makes things challenging when they occur right before the fantasy playoffs.

Valdez will have a good chance to right the ship in his next scheduled start, which will be against the Rockies in Daikin Park. He has lasted at least five innings in his poor starts, which makes the results slightly more tolerable in points leagues. I would begrudgingly start him in points leagues this week, but even with a good matchup, I may sit him in roto leagues.

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