Fantasy Baseball Buy-Lows? Unlucky Star Players (Week 20)

August 12, 2026

Frank's fantasy baseball buy-lows, breakouts, trade candidates to target for Week 20 in 2026. These unlucky players are underperforming early for fantasy baseball.

Welcome back, RotoBallers, to another edition of Buy-Low Candidates for Week 20 of the fantasy baseball season. Each week of the fantasy baseball season, we look at struggling star players who are top buy-low candidates. Last week's list included names like Jacob deGrom, Riley Greene, and Hunter Greene.

For this week, we will dive into four more buy-low candidates. These four players haven't been dependable fantasy options recently, but things should turn around for them within the next few weeks. It's best to acquire them now while their fantasy value is at its lowest. Each of these players is rostered in over 60% of Yahoo! leagues and should be viewed as trade targets.

Let's dive into the four best buy-low candidates right now for Week 20. This includes two hitters and two pitchers. Some of these players will be harder to acquire than others, but the key is to use their recent disappointing performance as a sales pitch. With that in mind, read on to find out why I'm trying to buy low on Tarik Skubal, Gunnar Henderson, JJ Wetherholt, and Trevor Rogers.

Tarik Skubal, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers (99% Rostered)

Everyone was excited to see Tarik Skubal's fantasy value go through the roof once he was traded to the Dodgers. After all, this was the back-to-back AL Cy Young winner joining a super team, putting him in a terrific position to rack up wins.

But so far, it's been an underwhelming start for Skubal in Dodger Blue, as he's put up a 4.09 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP with a 26.7% strikeout rate and an 8.9% walk rate in 11 innings. Skubal only went five innings in his last start, which came against the lowly Royals.

You can try to emphasize these two disappointing starts as your sales pitch to try to buy low on Skubal. You can also add this important point: with the Dodgers dominating the NL West, there's no need for them to push Skubal.

We've seen this in his two starts so far, as he's only thrown 85 and 95 pitches. With Blake Snell returning and Tyler Glasnow on the mend, there's a chance that the Dodgers can limit Skubal's innings to keep him fresh for the postseason.

Tarik starts his Dodger debut with a strikeout! pic.twitter.com/78RJGh1j6k

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 5, 2026

Maybe you can offer someone like Chase Burns and another piece to trade for Skubal. This is likely your only chance to make this move, as it's likely that Skubal will dominate in his next outing.

You can only keep an ace like this down for so long. There's no need for me to sell you on advanced metrics with Skubal here. You all know what makes him dominate opposing hitters. The main takeaway here is to use his recent string of disappointing starts as a buying opportunity. It doesn't hurt to at least try.

Gunnar Henderson, SS, Baltimore Orioles (98% Rostered)

Gunnar Henderson is having a disappointing season, slashing .212/.293/.382 with 18 home runs and nine stolen bases in 535 plate appearances heading into Tuesday's action.

His barrel rate has fallen from 8.5% to 7.0%, and the fantasy manager with Henderson has likely grown extremely frustrated. After all, Henderson went in the late first/early second in drafts. He hasn't even come close to providing value at that cost.

When looking at Henderson's stats after the All-Star break, we haven't seen any encouraging signs, as he's slashing .150/.292/.275 with one home run in 96 plate appearances.

Needless to say, it's going to be a lot easier to buy Henderson than someone like Skubal. The good news is that in the last seven days, Henderson has been hitting the ball much harder, registering a .418 xwOBA, which ranks 22nd in MLB. We saw that yield some strong results on Tuesday night, as he went yard against the Twins.

Gunnar Henderson adds on for the @Orioles! pic.twitter.com/detRMClzKz

— MLB (@MLB) August 12, 2026

Simply put, Henderson is too talented a hitter to be performing this poorly for the entire season. Perhaps the home run against the Twins can get him going to finish the year on a heater.

Since his season-long numbers are still atrocious, there's a chance that you're still able to acquire Henderson at a discount. I'd try to flip someone like Zach Neto to see if that can get it done. Add in a fringe starter as a sweetener to your deal. This is the kind of move that can help you win your league down the stretch.

JJ Wetherholt, 2B/3B/SS, St. Louis Cardinals (92% Rostered)

JJ Wetherholt is having a terrific rookie season, slashing .247/.352/.384 with 16 home runs and 12 stolen bases in 512 plate appearances. But he's been much more valuable in real life than in fantasy baseball, which could make the manager in your league impatient.

This is especially true because Wetherholt has hit a rookie wall in the second half, slashing .195/.333/.322 with three home runs in 105 plate appearances.

However, there are some encouraging signs with Wetherholt lately, most notably in his batted ball metrics. In the last seven days, Wetherholt has a .496 xwOBA, which ranks eighth in MLB.

Seeing him hit the ball harder in this small sample could indicate that he's ready to break out of his slump. This is just the ebbs and flows of a long season, where a first-year player has to make adjustments after the league has gotten used to his strengths and weaknesses.

JJ Wetherholt leadoff homer! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/0eLUDyZAxj

— MLB (@MLB) April 30, 2026

Wetherholt is especially appealing in OBP leagues, but his power and speed combo plays everywhere. I'd try to flip a middle infielder who has been producing more than him lately. Maybe you can get Wetherholt for someone like Xavier Edwards, who has more speed but a lot less power than the Cardinals middle infielder.

Trevor Rogers, SP, Baltimore Orioles (81% Rostered)

Trevor Rogers has been a dependable innings-eater for the Orioles, putting up a 4.21 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP with a 20.3% strikeout rate and a 6.8% walk rate in 119.2 innings.

Those numbers look even better when you look at what he's doing lately. In his last 12 starts, Rogers has a 2.41 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP with a 22.6% strikeout rate and a 5.7% walk rate in 71 innings. The underlying metrics look good here as well, as highlighted by a 2.99 xERA.

Orioles starter Trevor Rogers' velo is way up vs. Twins. Of his 20 fastest pitches of the season, 11 have come tonight.

He's hit 97+ mph 3 times this season -- 2 times tonight.

This 97.4 mph pitch in the 2nd inning was his fastest of the season: pic.twitter.com/8ojU1tsWMl

— Jake Rill (@JakeDRill) August 11, 2026

So, why am I recommending Rogers as a buy low? Well, that's because his last outing went poorly, as he lasted only four innings against the Twins, allowing two earned runs with two walks and four strikeouts.

We can use this moment as a buying opportunity for a veteran lefty who has turned his season around. Remember, Rogers went on a long stretch of strong production last year, so perhaps he's doing it once again.

Maybe you can flip someone like Peter Lambert to get Rogers. That would be a pretty even deal, but I prefer Rogers because he's more proven. With the velocity gain that Rogers showed in that disappointing performance vs. the Twins, I anticipate much better results out of the Orioles lefty going forward for the remainder of the season.

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