8 Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers - Carson Benge, Kyle Bradish, Eury Perez, More

May 21, 2026

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

Welcome to the mid-week edition of RotoBaller's Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers article series for Week 8 of the 2026 season! While you may be used to this type of article being posted on Mondays, with so many constant risers and fallers to keep track of, we decided to start providing twice as much content!

In this piece, we'll take a look at some players who weren't covered earlier in the week, such as Carson Benge, Kyle Bradish, Eury Perez, and more. Keeping an eye on the latest hitter and pitcher trends is vital to having a successful fantasy baseball season, as knowing who's rising and falling could give you the insight to make the perfect waiver wire move or trade to propel your team to the championship.

Following along closely every week will consistently give you a leg up over your league mates. With eight players featured in each piece, there will no doubt be some actionable insights that you can use to improve your team. Without further ado, let's get into it.

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Risers

Carson Benge, OF, New York Mets

Carson Benge got off to an awfully slow start to the season, slashing just .189/.247/.278 through the end of April. Hopefully you didn’t give up on him too early, though, as he’s batting .369 in May while drastically cutting his strikeout rate from 23.7% last month to 14.1% this month. 

His strong play, combined with the Mets' injury issues, has led to Benge earning everyday at-bats, with many coming in the leadoff spot. That will give him plenty of opportunities to rack up counting stats, and the 23-year-old is up to three homers and eight steals on the season. 

Carson Benge delivers his first career walk-off hit! pic.twitter.com/oct5TT05hI

— MLB (@MLB) May 14, 2026

While the power numbers are still disappointing overall, more should be coming now that he’s swinging a hotter bat in May, and the steals are at a 162-game pace of 28. The youngster is looking more and more like the player he proved himself to be in the minors, where he hit 15 homers and stole 22 bases in 116 games last season, and should also be a standout player in terms of plate discipline. 

Xavier Edwards, 2B/SS, Miami Marlins

Xavier Edwards entered the season as a solid fantasy asset who was expected to be an elite source of batting average and steals, while being almost a complete zero in power. However, the speedster has suddenly launched four home runs in the past two weeks, which matched his career total in the category prior to this season. 

The 26-year-old is now up to six long balls and six steals on the season. No one would have guessed that Edwards would have an equal output of those two stats by mid-May, and he’s looking more like an all-around threat every day. 

Known slugger, Xavier Edwards pic.twitter.com/Mgipw8NCrC

— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) May 19, 2026

It’s important to note that his exit velocities and barrel rate are still below average, but they are a far cry from the measly numbers he put up in 2025. His barrel rate is up from 0.8% (first percentile) to 6.9% (38th percentile), and his hard-hit rate is up similarly from 29.4% to 36.9%. 

I don’t think it’s likely that he keeps up this pace and flirts with 20 homers, but he’s at least shown enough pop in his bat to threaten double digits, which is a huge boost to his value when many drafted him expecting one or two at most. 

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Risers

Roki Sasaki, Los Angeles Dodgers

Roki Sasaki looked like a mess at the start of this season, and that may be putting it nicely. He failed to pitch five innings or more in three of his first four starts, and he allowed three or more earned runs in five of his first seven. 

However, the youngster looked like the best version of himself yet in his last time out against the Angels, allowing one run on four hits with eight strikeouts over seven strong innings. He induced 18 whiffs on the night with a 34% CSW, and likely sent many fantasy managers scrambling to the waiver wire to add him. 

Roki Sasaki was sharp today vs. the Angels:

7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
18 whiffs
34% CSW
76% Strike %

The surface stats and underlying data still aren’t pretty, but his control has quietly improved over his last 5 starts. Today, it all came together.pic.twitter.com/g5EBmhhx9S

— Nicho Roessler (@NichoRoessler) May 18, 2026

It’s also important to note that he looked improved two starts ago against the Giants, too, with five strong innings before giving up three straight hits and two runs to start the sixth. Those starts were against two of the worst offenses in the league, to be fair, but I’ll be ready to declare him a must-add if he looks good against the Brewers in his next outing. 

Kyle Bradish, Baltimore Orioles

Kyle Bradish has been one of the biggest disappointments this season, posting a 4.13 ERA and 1.51 WHIP after many expected the righty to break out as an ace. Fantasy managers were understandably losing hope, but if his last three starts are any indication, the time of worrying may be over.

Through 18 1/3 innings over his past three outings, Bradish has allowed five runs on 10 hits and seven walks with 23 strikeouts. The punch outs are especially promising, after he struck out less than a batter per inning over his first 34 innings of 2026. 

It’s important to remember he’s put up a 2.53 and 2.75 ERA in partial seasons in 2025 and 2024, along with a 2.83 ERA in 30 starts in 2023. There’s too much talent to give up on here, and it looks like he’s finally shaken off the rust.

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Fallers

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B, Toronto Blue Jays

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has been very disappointing so far in 2026, and he’s not showing any signs of improvement with a .136 batting average and one home run over the past two weeks. He only has three homers on the season to go along with a measly .281/.367/.371 slash line, which makes him look more like a slap hitter than an actual power threat. 

Reaching 30 home runs in a season has always been a struggle for the slugger, as his high ground-ball rate cancels out the hard contact that he excels at making. He did hit 30 exactly in 2024 but fell back to 23 last season, and it’s looking like 2026 may be another step back. 

The ground-ball rate sits at a suboptimal 48.1%, but the 27-year-old also isn’t hitting the ball nearly as hard as usual. His hard-hit rate is down to 43.5% from 50.7% last season, now at the 62nd percentile. Nick Kurtz has definitely overtaken him as the consensus number one option at the position for fantasy, and at this point, Matt Olson has a legitimate argument to be considered number two.

Taylor Ward, OF, Baltimore Orioles

Taylor Ward has not enjoyed his first year in Baltimore so far, and as of now, it’s only getting worse. The outfielder is hitting only .182 with one homer in the past two weeks, bringing his slash line down to .257/.415/.377 with two homers on the season. 

The on-base percentage is still great thanks to a league-leading 47 walks, but at this point, it’s probably safe to assume Ward won’t be matching the 36 round-trippers he launched in 2025. This is due to his barrel rate plummeting from 13.7% to 4.7%, as he’s clearly not feeling right at the dish at the moment. 

It’s important to note that Ward has always been a streaky player, and this is a stark reminder of that fact. The 32-year-old will likely get hot at some point, but not enough to repeat what he did last season. If that’s what you were expecting when you drafted Ward, it’s probably best to adjust your expectations.

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Fallers

Eury Perez, Miami Marlins

Like Bradish, Eury Perez has been one of the biggest pitching busts of the season. Unlike Bradish, he’s not showing any signs of turning things around. He possesses a 5.33 ERA and 1.41 WHIP, and is coming off a three-start stretch where he’s allowed 13 runs and walked 12 over 16 innings. 

Even if he got the control issues under control, he’s also posted a 17th percentile ground-ball rate along with a 5th percentile barrel rate, which is not at all a good combination. 

The 23-year-old will have to find a way to improve both the walks and the hard contact if he wants to deliver on his fantasy upside, but at this rate, it’s not looking like that will happen in 2026. 

Edward Cabrera, Chicago Cubs

Edward Cabrera has not looked like himself this season, posting a 4.00 ERA and, more concerning, a 20.7% strikeout rate. His struggles continued on Wednesday, allowing four runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks in three innings, before being pulled from the game with a blister. 

Prior to that start, he had gone seven straight starts where he gave up three earned runs or more. While things could be worse, three runs per start won't get the job done when he routinely fails to make it through the six full innings required for a quality start. 

As mentioned above, the biggest concern is his strikeout rate, which has dropped by a whopping 5.1% compared to last season, turning it from a strength to a weakness. Cabrera has historically struggled with control and allowing hard contact throughout his career, with his strikeout stuff being his only saving grace. Without that, it’s hard to picture him as a quality fantasy asset moving forward. 

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