8 Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers - Jeremy Pena, Braxton Ashcraft, Austin Riley, More

June 4, 2026

Jeremy analyzes 8 fantasy baseball risers, fallers, breakouts for hitters and pitchers in Week 10 of 2026. He discusses buy/sell candidates for fantasy baseball.

Welcome to another midweek edition of Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers for Week 10 of the 2026 season! In this piece, I’ll take a look at Jeremy Pena, Braxton Ashcraft, Austin Riley, and more. 

Staying up to date on the most recent hot and cold performances is vital to a successful fantasy season. Each week, we take a look at four players trending up the rankings and four players who are losing value. Whether you're looking for a potential waiver wire move or trade, this article should give you an idea of who to target and who to avoid.

The major league baseball season is a long one, and it can be a lot to keep track of as performances fluctuate. Reading this series each week should give you the insights needed to gain an edge over your league mates and hopefully win a fantasy championship.

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Risers

Ronald Acuna Jr., OF, Atlanta Braves

Ronald Acuna Jr. has been the hottest hitter in baseball over the past week, launching five home runs and stealing six bases since last Wednesday. While there shouldn’t have been any real concern for the superstar, many of his fantasy managers were starting to get antsy as his slow start dragged on and on. 

He quickly put that behind him, raising his total home runs from two to seven in a four-game span, and he’s now slashing .249/.375/.435 with the seven homers and 13 steals. It’s also important to note that some bad luck played a part in his earlier cold spell, as his 91st percentile xSLG of .523 is much better than his actual slugging percentage.

Watch out, MLB, Ronald Acuna is starting to heat up.

Homered in back-to-back games.

113.3 mph EV
429 ft
81.5 mph bat speed

He can turn it on in the blink of an eye, so hopefully those who have been patient enough will start to see some results. pic.twitter.com/Z5cTXKn018

— Nicho Roessler (@NichoRoessler) May 30, 2026

It also didn’t help that the 28-year-old spent time on the injured list with a hamstring strain and suffered a bruised thumb upon returning. It was an overall awkward beginning to the season for the outfielder, and it looks like he's finally putting that behind him.

While it’s not breaking news that Acuna is good, it’s still important to highlight him as a riser. Similar to how Ketel Marte was featured in the previous edition of this piece, it’s great to finally see elite hitters break out of extended slumps. That’s especially true for Acuna, who is one of a handful of players with the upside to be the number one hitter in fantasy in any given year. 

Jeremy Pena, SS, Houston Astros

Pena was held out for over a month with a hamstring strain, but has been on fire since returning on May 18. That’s especially true over the past week, as he headed into Wednesday batting .375 with two homers in the last seven days. He kept up that streak on Wednesday, going 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, and three runs scored. 

On the season, Pena is slashing an excellent .290/.345/.430 with three homers and three steals in 25 games. The 28-year-old had a huge breakout in 2025, launching 17 home runs and stealing 20 bases while batting .304. His production this season looks shockingly similar so far, and it’s safe to assume that this is just who he is now. 

¡Jeremy Peña se encarga de poner a la gente en Houston de pie! pic.twitter.com/B9dWWgmmAT

— MLB Español (@mlbespanol) May 30, 2026

The missed time this year and his lack of a track record outside of last season still make him under-appreciated by many, as a 20/20 player with an elite batting average is clearly a must-start fantasy option. For the rest of the season, he should be moving up rankings ahead of struggling shortstops such as Bo Bichette and Geraldo Perdomo. 

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Risers

Braxton Ashcraft, Pittsburgh Pirates

Ashcraft continues to impress, most recently on Sunday with 11 strikeouts over six two-run innings against the Twins. In six starts in May, the youngster posted a 1.99 ERA and 0.93 WHIP with 42 strikeouts and five walks over 40 ⅔ innings. 

Braxton Ashcraft has himself an 11-strikeout day 👏 pic.twitter.com/wm1yoQKSSc

— MLB (@MLB) May 31, 2026

He constantly keeps hitters guessing with a 36.8% chase rate (96th percentile), while displaying excellent control and great bat-missing ability. Not only is he great on a per-inning basis, but he’s efficient, too. The 26-year-old has completed at least six full frames in nine out of 12 starts, and four of them were at least seven innings. 

While Bubba Chandler got most of the hype this offseason to potentially become the next elite fantasy option on the Pirates, it turns out that Ashcraft has what it takes instead. He actually has a lower ERA than Paul Skenes at the moment, which is definitely not something anyone expected before the year. The righty has established himself as a top-25 option at the position moving forward. 

Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees

Gerrit Cole made his third start of the season on Wednesday night, allowing four runs on six hits and one walk with two strikeouts over 5 ⅓ innings. While that’s not necessarily a good performance, I still wanted to include him as a riser after how dominant he looked in his first two outings.

It began with six shutout innings against the Rays with two strikeouts in his first major league start since September 26, 2024. He followed that up with his second start on May 27th, when he struck out 10 over 6 ⅔ scoreless frames against the Royals. You can never be completely sure how a pitcher will look coming back from Tommy John, and that’s especially true for a 35-year-old. 

To immediately shake off the rust and deliver two elite performances had Cole skyrocketing up rankings, back into the top-30 starting pitchers. While I don’t expect him to step back into being a top-5 overall pitcher, consistent ace performance isn’t out of the question for the veteran. It’s safe to say that fantasy managers who stashed the righty are feeling pretty good right now. 

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Fallers

Jakob Marsee, OF, Miami Marlins

Jakob Marsee was a divisive player heading into 2026, after slashing .292/.363/.478 with five home runs and 14 steals in 55 games in 2025. That’s a 15-homer, 41-steal pace over 162 games with an elite batting average, so it’s no surprise that many were excited to draft him. 

However, the concern was the lack of a track record. While the speed was always evident, with 98 steals in 235 minor league games between 2024 and 2025, he slashed just .246/.379/.438 in the minors last season before being recalled. While the on-base percentage was still great due to an elite walk rate, the batting average jump in the majors came as a surprise. 

So far in 2026, it’s looking like those 55 games last year may have just been a flash in the pan, as Marsee is now slashing .199/.326/.301 through 259 plate appearances this season. There aren’t many signs of improvement either, with a .143 batting average in the past 14 days. The 15 steals are still nice, but the quality of contact is too poor to be a standout option in fantasy. 

Austin Riley, 3B, Atlanta Braves

Riley still hasn’t got anything going this season, slashing .208/.285/.358 with eight home runs, 32 RBI, 30 runs, and four stolen bases in 62 games. It’s gotten even worse recently, as he has a .184 batting average over the past week. While it’s usually not recommended to get too worried over an elite player’s slump, it’s hard to even consider Riley elite anymore. 

He slashed just .260/.309/.428 with 16 home runs in 102 games last season, before an injury sidelined him for the rest of the year. Many hoped that he was due for a second-half rebound before the injury, but if 2026 is any indication, it doesn’t look like that would have come. The 29-year-old has a 29.3% strikeout rate that is extremely tough to find success with, and his .213 xBA confirms that there’s no bad luck in play.

It’s now been three years since Riley was last an elite third base option in 2023, when he hit 37 home runs with a .281 batting average. It’s very unlikely he ever returns to that form, but at this point, it would be nice to see even above-average production from the former star. 

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Fallers

Sandy Alcantara, Miami Marlins

Sandy Alcantara came out of the gates hot in 2026, going at least seven innings in each of his first three starts, including a complete-game shutout against the White Sox on April 1st. Unfortunately, the next time he made it through seven full frames wasn’t until his last time out in his 13th outing of the season. 

Many of the starts in between haven’t been pretty, as he allowed seven or more runs three separate times, bringing his season ERA to 4.59 and WHIP to 1.30. While he did bounce back slightly his last time out, that was coming off of allowing 14 combined runs in his previous two starts. 

Those ratios especially hurt, considering the 30-year-old is also a huge strikeout detriment, with 57 strikeouts in 82 ⅓ innings. His 16.3% strikeout rate ranks in the 14th percentile, which is not what you like to see from the former ace. 

Alcantara was never a strikeout specialist, but he counteracted it with an elite groundball rate. While the veteran was achieving a groundball rate over 50% with ease in his prime, that number sits at only 44.7% in 2026. While he’ll still have moments of greatness from time to time, the amount of contact he gives up ultimately leads to too much volatility to be a consistently good option for fantasy. 

Trevor Rogers, Baltimore Orioles

Trevor Rogers broke out in a big way in 2025, posting a 1.81 ERA and 0.90 WHIP with 103 strikeouts and 29 walks in 109 ⅔ innings. It was easy to predict some regression for the 28-year-old, as no one was expecting him to be anything close to a fantasy ace in 2026. 

However, even with the expected regression, Rogers is still managing to be a massive disappointment for fantasy this season. The lefty started the year on the right track, with three straight quality starts, but hasn’t logged one since. He had a brief stay on the injured list due to an illness, but since returning on May 12th, he has allowed 21 earned runs on 24 hits and eight walks with only 11 strikeouts in 18 ⅓ innings over his past four starts. 

The two most obvious changes between now and last season are his strikeout rate falling from 24.3% to 17.3% and his groundball rate dropping from 46.4% to 35.6%. He was also never good at avoiding hard contact, so these things combine to make him a pretty bad option for fantasy at the moment. 

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