8 Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers - Bryce Eldridge, Reid Detmers, Trey Yesavage, More

June 18, 2026

Jeremy analyzes 8 fantasy baseball risers, fallers, breakouts for hitters and pitchers in Week 12 of 2026. He discusses buy/sell candidates for fantasy baseball.

Welcome to another midweek edition of Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers for Week 12 of the 2026 season! In this piece, I’ll take a look at Bryce Eldridge, Reid Detmers, Trey Yesavage, and more. 

Staying up to date on the most recent hot and cold performances is important to achieve a successful fantasy season. Each week, we'll take a look at four risers and four fallers who are trending up and down the rankings. This article should give you the insights you need, whether you are looking to make an add, drop, or trade.

The major league baseball season is long, and it's easy for certain details to slip under the radar. Reading this article each week should give you a great starting point to know the hottest and coldest players to possibly buy or sell. Without further ado, let's get into it.

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Risers

Bryce Eldridge, 1B, San Francisco Giants

After a bit of a slow start upon his promotion that was accompanied by inconsistent playing time, Bryce Eldridge has been a hitting machine once he began to stick in the lineup every day. Entering Wednesday, he was batting .393 with four home runs in the past 30 days, and batting .444 with two homers in the past week.

He kept that same energy in a doubleheader on Wednesday, where he went 3-for-9 with yet another home run. Everyone already knew that the rookie possessed massive amounts of raw power, and he has certainly shown it so far with a 57.5 hard-hit rate, a 113.4 mph max exit velocity, and a .550 xSLG.

BACK-TO-BACK JACKS 💪 pic.twitter.com/ks7anaX2rG

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) June 18, 2026

What’s more shocking is his 20.3% strikeout rate, which is an extreme improvement over the 29.9% clip he posted in Triple-A. While it is likely to regress at some point, the concerns of Eldridge being overwhelmed with a strikeout rate over 35% have certainly been discarded. 

The 21-year-old is slashing .318/.406/.564 and even has an elite 13.3% walk rate, as he’s truly been the complete package as a hitter this season. I wouldn’t expect him to continue to bat over .300, as a mark around .260 seems much more likely, but Nick Kurtz has shown us that it’s possible for a high-strikeout slugger to maintain a high average. 

Eldridge is clearly a must-roster and must-start player at this point, and he has true difference-making fantasy upside. His ceiling is comparable to Kurtz, but even a more conservative outlook from here on out is something that fantasy managers would be very happy with.

Bryan Reynolds, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

Bryan Reynolds has been on fire as of late, as he entered Wednesday batting .393 with three homers in the past seven days. His hot stretch spans far beyond this week, as even over the past 30 days, he's hitting .327. His huge game came on Tuesday, when he went 4-for-5 with two home runs, and he even carried that performance into Wednesday, collecting two more hits, including a double.

Bryan Reynolds goes yard again!

His second homer of the game brings the @Pirates level 🏴‍☠️ pic.twitter.com/2pT7B3qErq

— MLB (@MLB) June 17, 2026

He's now hit safely in nine straight games and is slashing .283/.400/.472 with 10 home runs, 47 RBI, 50 runs, and five stolen bases on the season. The veteran has been so steady that he's mostly flown under the radar, despite being an elite fantasy outfielder up until this point. Last season was a huge step down for him compared to his usual standards, despite posting similar underlying metrics to that of the rest of his career.

It certainly looks like the 31-year-old is putting that down year behind him, with a .372 xwOBA that ranks in the 88th percentile and a career-best walk rate of 15.3%. Most importantly for Reynolds is that he finally has a strong supporting cast after spending his entire career on a Pirates team that is typically lackluster offensively.

They finally brought in some reinforcements with Brandon Lowe and Ryan O'Hearn, along with Oneil Cruz and Konnor Griffin, who are injured right now, but great offensive talents. This has allowed the outfielder to rack up the counting stats, as the 97 combined runs and RBI put him on pace to soar past his numbers of the past.

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Risers

Reid Detmers, Los Angeles Angels

Reid Detmers continued his recent dominant stretch on Tuesday, delivering seven shutout innings with three strikeouts against the Diamondbacks. This was his third straight quality start, and his fourth in his last five outings. In those five starts, he’s allowed only five runs on 12 hits and five walks with 39 strikeouts over 33 innings. 

It looks like the lefty has turned a page after allowing eight runs to the A’s on May 19th, posting a 33.9% strikeout rate and 4.3% walk rate since. In the 10 starts prior, Detmers posted a 25.4% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate, which is a stark difference. On the season, the 26-year-old now has a 3.68 ERA and 1.00 WHIP with 100 strikeouts through 88 innings pitched. 

Not only does that represent his career-best WHIP, but it’s not even close to his previous best performance, which was 1.21 all the way back in 2022. He’ll always be somewhat of a volatile pitcher, and I don’t necessarily expect the 4.3% walk rate to continue over the rest of the year, but it’s clear that we are seeing an improved version of Detmers that shows off significantly more good than bad. 

Dustin May, St. Louis Cardinals

Dustin May had his best start yet on Monday, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning against the Padres and ending up with a complete-game shutout with nine strikeouts. He allowed just one hit and walked one. This marked his second consecutive scoreless outing, as he pitched six shutout innings against the Mets two starts ago. 

While it’s true that the Padres have been the worst offense in baseball this season, May has been an excellent fantasy option for a while now, against offenses of all strengths. After allowing 13 combined runs in his two starts of the season, he’s only allowed more than three runs in a start once since then. If you don’t include those first two horrible outings, his ERA drops from 3.75 to 2.54, while his WHIP goes from 1.14 to 0.98. 

Dustin May tossed a complete-game shutout last night.

Last 4 Starts: 27.2 IP, 1.30 ERA, 0.58 WHIP, 4% BB, 33.3% Kpic.twitter.com/CuNuJwuFeA

— RotoBaller MLB (@RotoBallerMLB) June 16, 2026

While he’s certainly been a great fantasy pitcher as of late, there are still some concerns. For one, a 22.8% strikeout rate isn’t what you’d hope for out of a potential ace, while his 46.7% hard-hit rate, which ranks in the 7th percentile, is less than ideal. The 28-year-old doesn’t really stand out in any one area, but he’s making it work, regardless. While I do think regression is likely coming, May should still be considered in the top-50 starting pitcher range for the rest of the season.

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Fallers

Xavier Edwards, 2B/SS, Miami Marlins

Xavier Edwards got off to an extremely hot start, batting .336 in April and .291 in May, and even showing off some newfound power with five home runs in the second month of the season. However, that all changed in June, as he entered Wednesday slashing just .191/.293/.191 with no extra-base hits in 14 games. 

It’s even worse in the past seven days, as the infielder is just 3-for-22. Obviously, you didn’t draft Edwards for his power, but the splurge of home runs was something that did have him raising up rankings, as any pop at all was much better than what he had shown previously in his career. Unfortunately, the power binge is now beginning to look like a fluke, as the last time he went yard was May 19th. 

Even if he does go back to being a zero for power, the 26-year-old’s stolen base output has been a bit disappointing, too. Don’t get me wrong, 11 steals is a good number, but not necessarily for someone who was drafted to be a specialist at the category. That makes his batting average his only real standout contribution, and when he’s in a cold spell like this, he quickly becomes a detriment to even have in your lineup. 

He’s been getting on base at such a low clip over the past two weeks that he only has swiped one bag, making him a true five-category disappointment over that span. While I do think better days are ahead, Edwards should be considered a low-end fallback option at second base and shortstop, rather than a potential difference maker.

Brayan Rocchio, 2B/SS, Cleveland Guardians

Brayan Rocchio was looking like a surprisingly useful hitter for fantasy over the first two months of the season, slashing .293/.374/.415 with four homers and nine steals through 58 games. However, he’s been one of the worst hitters in baseball as of late, entering Wednesday 1-for-13 over the past seven days and slashing .154/.222/.282 in June. 

His strikeout rate and walk rate are beginning to regress back toward his career norms, and the quality of contact was never there to begin with. The 25-year-old’s .253 xBA and .361 xSLG are noticeably worse than his actual stats, and he’s posted a 3.1% barrel rate (13th percentile) and 32.7% hard-hit rate (17th percentile) on the season. 

The hot streak was nice while it lasted, but it’s becoming clear that Rocchio is reverting back to being a very fringy fantasy option. He still has his place as a low-end middle infield option in 15-team or deeper Roto leagues, but other than that, he likely belongs on the waiver wire.

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Fallers

Connelly Early, Boston Red Sox

Connelly Early had the worst start of his season this past Sunday, allowing six runs on 11 hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 4 ⅔ innings against the Rangers. It was the second straight start where he failed to go five innings, and the fifth time this season. Efficiency has been a real problem for the youngster, who’s only pitched at least six full frames in five of his 14 starts. 

That puts a hard cap on his ceiling in leagues that reward quality starts, and on the season, he now holds a 3.81 ERA and 1.32 WHIP. Not only has his control been below-average, but so has his bat-missing ability. Despite striking out hitters at a 36.7% clip through four major league starts last year and 31.9% in the minors, that number has fallen to only 22.0% this season. 

Combine that with a 10th percentile barrel rate of 11.4% and a 32nd percentile xERA of 4.51, and it’s amazing that Early hasn’t been getting even worse results all this time. The underlying metrics showed regression was coming for a while now, and it seems to finally be hitting. While the 24-year-old still has breakout potential in the long term, it doesn’t look like 2026 is the year we’ll see it.

Trey Yesavage, Toronto Blue Jays

Trey Yesavage had a lot of high hopes entering the season, and he showed some promising signs through his first five starts. However, his most recent four have been nothing short of disastrous. He allowed five or more runs in three of those four starts, and even on May 30th when he held the Orioles to one run, it was a miracle he did so considering he walked seven batters. 

Over that span, the youngster has allowed 17 runs on 16 hits and 17 walks in 22 ⅓ innings, which is about as bad as you can get. The high walk rate is nothing new, as Yesavage walked batters at a double-digit clip even in the minors last season, but the recent rate takes it to an entirely new level. 

Another drastic shift from his time in the majors last year has been his groundball rate, which was over 50% through his regular season and playoff appearances last season. In 2026, however, that number is just 36.8%, which ranks in the 24th percentile. The 22-year-old is still managing to avoid hard contact for the most part this season, so it’s not all bad, but it’s tough to trust him in your lineup until he finds a way to get the walks under control.

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