8 Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers - Chase DeLauter, Cam Schlittler, Mike Trout, more

April 6, 2026

Kipp's fantasy baseball risers, fallers, breakouts for Week 2 of 2026. He analyzes hitters and pitchers performing well and poorly to determine future values.

Welcome, everyone, to another edition of RotoBaller’s Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers article series for Week 2 of the 2026 season! Today, I'll look at players like Mike Trout, Cam Schlittler, Aaron Judge, and more.

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.

Following along here each and every week will give you an edge against your league mates and will allow you to be up-to-date on who is firing on all cylinders and who is struggling to make ends meet. Every game makes an impact, and there is no time to wait for regression. Let's get into some Fantasy Risers and Fallers who may force some tough decisions.

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Risers

Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles Angels

We all know what Mike Trout is capable of, and while it may seem odd to find him here, he was ranked 212 in the pre-season by Yahoo!, and finds himself ranked a top-ranked player in fantasy baseball through early season. He has started this season with two home runs, three RBI, and 11 walks.

We may be getting a glimpse of vintage Trout, as he has slashed .462/.650/.923 through the first weekend of the season. Whether or not he can keep this up is yet to be seen, but it would not surprise to see him flourish while he is still healthy, which is always the key to Trout's success. With that being said, we'll have to monitor the injury he sustained on Sunday after being hit with a pitch on the hand.

Overall, the Angels' offense has looked good, at least in the top half of the lineup, as Trout is currently situated between Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel, both of whom ranked inside the Yahoo! top 20 through March 30.

SCORELESS NO MORE!

Mike Trout homers on #OpeningDay! pic.twitter.com/540PJl6Gsu

— MLB (@MLB) March 26, 2026

Chase DeLauter, OF, Cleveland Guardians

Chase DeLauter has absolutely burst onto the scene with the Cleveland Guardians to begin the 2026 campaign. We already knew he was a top prospect with a ton of potential, but I do not think anyone saw this coming this early, and that is noted by the fact that he was under 50% rostered coming out of drafts.

He has started unbelievably hot, hitting five home runs and driving in nine across his first nine games. So far, he is slashing .313/.343/.781 through those nine games. While the power has been great to see take shape at the Major League level, the strikeouts have also been plentiful, as noted by his six strikeouts across his first 17 plate appearances.

It should also be noted that the Guardians clearly feel like he is ready for the big leagues, as they have him batting second against right-handed pitching, right between Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez. This will give him ample opportunity to drive in runs and score. Additionally, with Ramirez behind him in the lineup, DeLauter should continue to see good pitches to hit.

CHASE DELAUTER DID IT AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/JSdl4iixV9

— MLB (@MLB) March 29, 2026

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Risers

Emerson Hancock, Seattle Mariners

Emerson Hancock had a tremendous 2026 debut against the Guardians on Sunday Night Baseball. In that game, he pitched six strong innings, striking out a whopping nine hitters, and allowed zero earned runs while securing the win.

The nine strikeouts are especially impressive against Cleveland. In 2025, the Guardians posted a 22% K rate versus right-handed pitchers, which ranked them in the better half of the league. He was able to do this by generating a 42.9% whiff rate on his sweeper, a pitch he threw nearly 26% against Cleveland.

His second matchup came against the Los Angeles Angels, and he managed to strike out five across 6 2/3 innings pitched while allowing just one earned run on six hits. Needless to say, he delivered once again.

In 2025, Hancock used a standard slider, so we may see a new development here with him in 2026. I definitely will be tracking him throughout April to see how he develops.

Cam Schlittler, New York Yankees

Cam Schlittler is another pitcher who had a strong debut to begin his 2026 campaign. He went up against the San Francisco Giants and tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out eight and walking none.

The Giants were a tough customer for right-handed pitchers in 2025, as they ranked in the top half of the league in terms of K rate versus them, and also posted a respectable 104 wRC+, so this was pretty impressive to begin the season for Cam. Most of the work came from his four-seam fastball, which he threw 32.4% of the time and generated a whiff rate of 40%.

Generating that type of whiff rate on your main pitch with it being a fastball is very impressive at the big league level and gives me a ton of optimism when discussing his potential this season. His next matchup will come against the Mariners (before this article publishes), who are also a tough customer for righties, so I will be intently looking to see how he does in that one.

Update: He looked fantastic again in his second start of the season against Seattle, striking out seven over 6 1/3 innings pitched, while allowing no earned runs.

Cam Schlittler is the latest @Yankees pitcher to toss a gem 💎 pic.twitter.com/FA32lwEAtN

— MLB (@MLB) April 1, 2026

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Fallers

Manny Machado, 3B, San Diego Padres

Manny Machado was ranked 30th overall in Yahoo! preseason rankings, but through the first week of the season, he has now ranked nowhere close to that. He has hit just one home run and driven in just three runs while slashing .222/.417/.407.

While the .417 OBP is nice to see, he is not producing anywhere else, as noted by the fact that he has just six hits through his first 36 plate appearances. He has also failed to put the ball in play in seven of those 24 plate appearances and is posting a K rate near 20%.

Machado has shown some signs of breaking out of this slump, as he has hit in each of his previous two games, so perhaps we could see him in the riser category of this article before long.

Aaron Judge, OF, New York Yankees

To be clear, I do not expect Aaron Judge to be in this section of the article for very long, as he is known to be a bit of a slow starter; however, he has slumped in the first week of the season enough to warrant this notice.

Thus far, Judge is slashing  .250/.325/.528 with three home runs and seven RBI. While the three home runs are nice, he has just nine total hits on the season. He has also drawn just three walks, which is typically a big part of his game. This means he is not even helping players in OBP leagues, which is pretty shocking, even this early in the season.

He has also posted a 32.5% K rate, which tells us he is struggling immensely at the plate. He was ranked preseason second overall in Yahoo! leagues, but currently finds himself nowhere near where we would expect. I am sure he will be a riser before long, but for now, he is free-falling.

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Fallers

Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins

Joe Ryan entered the season ranked 56th overall in Yahoo! leagues, but currently finds himself ranked 557 overall after his first two starts. Overall, he has posted a 4.29 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, and struck out 10 batters across 9 1/3 innings pitched.

While Ryan looked good in his first start against Baltimore, allowing no earned runs and striking out seven, he got absolutely lit up in his second start against the Royals, allowing five earned runs and recording just three strikeouts across four innings pitched.

The matchup against the Royals obviously skews his stat line, and we are going to see some big swings in this article early in the season, especially for pitchers, as one bad start could make or break your stat line. The biggest issue for Ryan thus far has been his slider, which has generated a .963 xSLG, although he has thrown it just 13 times. Additionally, his sinker (29 pitches) has generated a .498 xSLG.

I would expect him to recover from the start against the Royals, but I also think he will have his fair share of struggles this season.

Shota Imanaga, Chicago Cubs

Shota is a guy I expect to be in this category multiple times this season, as he will inevitably have some serious ups and downs, given his propensity to give up the long ball. This was the case in his debut against the Nationals, as he allowed a dinger and four earned runs across his five innings pitched.

One positive from that start is that he struck out seven, but he is always going to be risky due to the home runs allowed. Last season, Imanaga allowed a whopping 31 home runs across 144 2/3 innings pitched. I really worry about him pitching at Wrigley Field once the weather warms up this summer, especially when the winds are blowing out.

Buckle up if you have him rostered, as it will be a rollercoaster of a season.

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