4 Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers - Jurickson Profar, Nolan McLean, Elly De La Cruz, Joe Ryan

Connelly's fantasy baseball risers and fallers for Week 23 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 23 of the 2025 season! Today, I'll look at Jurickson Profar, Nolan McLean, Elly De La Cruz, and Joe Ryan.

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.

At this point, fantasy managers are either starting the fantasy playoffs or trying to finish strong in roto leagues. If you are not in those scenarios but are still tuning in, thank you! If you are, let's get into some Fantasy Risers and Fallers to help you prep for the final few weeks!

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Fantasy Baseball Hitter Riser

All stats are current as of Sunday morning, August 31, 2025

Jurickson Profar, Atlanta Braves (OF)

.268/.372/.491 Slash Line, 12 HRs, 37 RBI, 8 SBs

Jurickson Profar had a surprise breakout 2024 season with the Padres at age 31. He had to serve an 80-game suspension with the Braves this season after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance, but he picked things up as soon as he rejoined the team. His August has been particularly stellar; can he carry it into September?

Profar has produced both batting average and power in August, all while maintaining strong plate discipline. His .306/.436/.620 slash line comes with nine HR, 26 RBI, and six stolen bases. He has hit the ball about as hard as he has all season, but his 45.1% hard-hit rate and 11.0% barrel rate are both higher than his season marks.

Jurickson Profar goes deep again!

His second homer of the day lands in the second deck! pic.twitter.com/6QGSj88l1d

— MLB (@MLB) August 27, 2025

These results could be due to increased plate discipline. Profar typically walks at a solid rate without striking out, but his 17.3% walk rate and 12.8% strikeout rate in August are both excellent marks. He has been more selective at the plate, swinging at fewer pitches while maintaining a similar contact rate.

Profar has been a fantasy hopeful for many seasons, but didn't truly come around until last season. He doesn't particularly stand out in batted-ball profile or speed, but he has made the most of his skills to be an all-around fantasy contributor.

He is a five-category contributor in roto leagues, and his approach at the plate boosts his fantasy value in points leagues. I see no reason why Profar can't help fantasy managers down the stretch.

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Riser

All stats are current as of Sunday morning, August 31, 2025

Nolan McLean, New York Mets

3-0, 0.89 ERA, 0.69 WHIP, 28.8% Strikeout Rate, 20 1/3 IP

Late-run fantasy assets can emerge at the end of the season as rosters expand. Nolan McLean has only made three big-league starts but has looked excellent. The 24-year-old is currently the 37th overall prospect and the Mets' top pitching prospect, per MLB Pipeline. Should fantasy managers put their trust in a rookie?

McLean may be fresh to the big leagues, but he already has a seasoned approach. He has a four-pitch arsenal that he primarily employs, with his sweeper being his primary pitch at 28.9% usage. His sinker and four-seam fastball have above-average velocity, and he has done an excellent job keeping the ball on the ground.

His strikeouts have come from an unusual deployment of his pitches. His two primary pitches, sweeper and sinker, have relatively low swinging-strike rates. However, his curveball and his four-seamer serve as his swing-and-miss weapons, with respective 19.6% and 17.1% swinging-strike rates.

NASTY stuff from Nolan McLean 🤢 pic.twitter.com/J7QsG30WC0

— MLB (@MLB) August 28, 2025

Fantasy managers may be hesitant to trust a fantasy prospect for the playoffs, even if they are top-tier. McLean proved himself at both Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse this season, and that has continued with the Mets. His next matchup will be a tougher one at the Tigers, but I would be comfortable giving him the nod based on his stellar couple of starts.

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Faller

All stats are current as of Sunday morning, August 31, 2025

Elly De La Cruz, Cincinnati Reds (SS)

.273/.342/.453 Slash Line, 19 HRs, 77 RBI, 32 SBs

Elly De La Cruz is one of fantasy's most exciting players and has put together solid numbers overall this season. However, he has cooled off in the second half with a .247/.303/.358 slash line, one HR, seven stolen bases, and a 29.7% strikeout rate in 175 plate appearances. It is tough to turn away from such a high-caliber player, but what should fantasy managers make of his slump?

Either fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you look at this), the explanations for is struggles are not that difficult to pinpoint. De La Cruz has always had a ton of swing-and-miss in his game. His career strikeout rate is a poor 30.1% with a 13.2% swinging-strike rate. As such, it should not come as a surprise to fantasy managers if at any point he stops hitting the ball.

FULL AT-BAT: Shohei Ohtani vs. Elly De La Cruz

On pitch No. 8, Shohei won Round 1 🔥 pic.twitter.com/upCHdbeok5

— MLB (@MLB) August 28, 2025

Due to this, his batting average production is typically limited. De La Cruz has great speed, which bolsters his BABIP, but even a .358 BABIP in the second half has not been enough to pull his batting average above .250. This pattern has remained consistent throughout his career, so I am not inclined to attribute the BABIP-batting average discretion to bad luck.

I am comfortable saying that his power drought could be attributed to bad luck. De La Cruz hasn't hit the ball quite as hard in the second half, but his 89.4-MPH average exit velocity and 8.1-degree launch angle should have resulted in more than one HR.

As I mentioned, some players are too good not to trust in fantasy, especially in crunch time. De La Cruz's skills are undeniable, but he has struck out way too much in the second half, has produced no power, and has compounded his offensive woes with defensive errors. At worst, I would try to sit De La Cruz where possible for now, particularly in points leagues.

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Faller

All stats are current as of Sunday morning, August 31, 2025

Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins

12-7, 3.22 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 28.3% Strikeout Rate, 148 IP

Joe Ryan is having one of his best seasons yet, earning himself a spot on the American League All-Star team. This makes his last two starts particularly frustrating, as he has allowed 11 earned runs. Ryan has been a solid fantasy option for most of the season; do fantasy managers need to worry for the final month?

Ryan did face tough matchups in those starts, facing the Athletics at home and the Blue Jays on the road. However, he is too high-caliber of a fantasy option to consider the matchups. The first thing that stands out in his recent performance is allowed HR. Ryan has always been a flyball pitcher who works up in the zone, and has been prone to allowing HR at times.

He allowed three HR in his last two starts, which could be due to the hard contact he allowed. He has given up hard contact this season with a 90.5-MPH average exit velocity, and things were even worse in his last two starts at 94.8 MPH. His 55.6% hard-hit rate is also quite high.

Interestingly, Ryan kept the ball out of the air compared to normal, as his 10.8-degree launch angle was much lower than his 18.8-degree season average. The bottom line is that allowing hard contact in most forms will lead to damaging contact, as evidenced by his bloated 1.78 WHIP in those starts.

At the time of reading this article, Ryan will have faced a Padres lineup that has been picking things up. If he turns things around in that start, fantasy managers may be able to flag his two-game skid as a blip and proceed with confidence for the fantasy playoffs.

The Padres have faced today's Twins starter Joe Ryan only once before.

That came in July of 2022 in San Diego, when Ryan allowed 10 earned runs on 8 hits in 4.2 innings.

5 of those hits were homers...for Luke Voit, Ha-Seong Kim, Eric Hosmer, Jorge Alfaro, and Manny Machado.

— Sammy Levitt (@SammyLev) August 31, 2025

However, if things go poorly, they will be faced with a tough decision. His next start would likely come against the Royals, who have also been hitting for power lately. Implosion starts at this point in the season can tank roto ratios and put fantasy managers behind in weekly points matchups.

Ryan's performance on Sunday will set the stage for how fantasy managers may treat him the following week. Even if he does poorly, his upside is so high that fantasy managers may be inclined to start him anyway. I wouldn't be opposed to benching him in a fantasy playoff matchup if fantasy managers had the depth to do so.

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