8 Fantasy Baseball Risers and Fallers - Jordan Walker, Parker Messick, Josh Naylor, more

April 13, 2026

Kipp's fantasy baseball risers, fallers, breakouts for Week 3 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 3 of the 2026 season! Today, I'll look at players like Jordan Walker, Parker Messick, Josh Naylor, 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

Jordan Walker, OF, St. Louis Cardinals

Jordan Walker is finally developing into the top prospect he was touted as right before our very eyes. Through Saturday, he is slashing .314/.386/.706 with six HR, 13 RBI, 12 R, and six BB. He is posting an outstanding 1.092 OPS through his first 14 games as well.

Walker has been in and out of the big leagues since 2023, but has not amassed more than 16 home runs in any season; that looks extremely likely to change in 2026. He has been especially potent against left-handed pitching, as noted by his three home runs and 1.808 OPS through his first 14 plate appearances. While this obviously isn't sustainable, he has a .764 OPS against lefties since 2024.

Walker currently finds himself ranked as a top 10 fantasy player after entering the season ranked 352 overall in Yahoo! leagues. He is one of just a few bright spots in this St. Louis Cardinals lineup, and if he is somehow still available in your league, he needs to be added immediately.

Update: Mr. Walker homered once again on Sunday, bringing his total up to seven home runs, which leads the big leagues as of 2:50 p.m. EST on Sunday, April 12.

Jordan Walker ties Gunnar Henderson for the MLB HR lead with No. 6! pic.twitter.com/3Y182IF4UF

— MLB (@MLB) April 12, 2026

Drake Baldwin, C, Atlanta Braves

Drake Baldwin has made himself especially valuable to fantasy managers through the first two weeks of the season, as he plays the most offensively deficient position at catcher. Through his first 15 games, he is slashing .328/.397/.607 with five HR, 16 RBI, and 14 R.

Additionally, Baldwin has been batting second in the Braves' lineup, right between Ronald Acuna Jr. and Matt Olson, so he should continue to see pitches to hit, which only helps his value. He has also shown a solid ability to hit left-handed pitching thus far, as noted by his .889 OPS across his first 18 plate appearances.

Similar to Walker, I would not expect this exact trend to continue versus lefties, but the hot start is worth noting and is something to monitor moving forward. Baldwin began the season as the 139th-ranked player in Yahoo!, but he has currently supplanted himself within the top five.

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Risers

Kris Bubic, Kansas City Royals

Kris Bubic is back at it again in 2026 after having a rather successful 2025 campaign that saw him post a 2.55 ERA and 116 strikeouts across 116 1/3 innings pitched. Thus far in 2026, he has posted a 2.50 ERA with 23 punchouts across 18 innings pitched. He has also snagged two wins across his first three starts.

I am not quite sure why most folks were down on him this year, as he was a primary target of mine in drafts, and so far, he is paying off. He has generated a ton of swing and misses on four of his five pitches, and currently boasts a 9.8 K/9 mark. Worthy of note is the fact that he has currently posted a .133 BAA versus right-handed hitters, which is well above the .219 mark he has posted since 2024.

Bubic has made three starts this season, all of which have come at home, so it will be worth following him on the road to see if he can carry his success away from Kauffman Stadium. He currently sits ranked 38th overall in Yahoo! leagues after starting with a preseason ranking of 217.

Parker Messick, Cleveland Guardians

Being a big Cleveland Guardians fan, I had to include my boy Parker Messick in the risers section of the article this week, as he continues to look fantastic to begin the 2026 campaign. Overall, he has posted a ridiculous 0.51 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and 16 strikeouts across his first 17 2/3 innings pitched.

Additionally, he has recorded two wins across his first three starts. While he is not known for racking up a ton of strikeouts, it is nice to see that he has recorded at least five of them in each of his first three starts. The fact that he pitches in the AL Central will also help him as we get deeper into the season. So far, he has looked outstanding against strong offenses in the Dodgers, Cubs, and Braves.

He began the season ranked as the preseason 193rd overall player and has now worked himself up to 29th overall. He is still just rostered in 55% of Yahoo! leagues, so he may still be available in your league!

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Fallers

Josh Naylor, 1B, Seattle Mariners

It has been an absolutely abysmal start to 2026 for Josh Naylor, and unfortunately, he is on my roster in my high-stakes league, so I feel the pain on this one. He is currently slashing just .107/.180/.107 with no home runs and just two RBI. Additionally, he has yet to record a stolen base after recording 30 in 2025.

While I think Naylor will eventually turn it around in terms of the power numbers, I think the 30 stolen bases from last season were an anomaly, and we might be lucky to see double-digit steals this season. One positive sign with Naylor is the fact that he is posting just a 16.3% K rate, so at least he is putting the ball in play.

Again, I think he will start to turn it around here shortly, but the fact that he is currently ranked 842nd overall in Yahoo! leagues is not how anyone envisioned this season starting.

Update: Naylor hit two home runs in his first two plate appearances against the Astros on April 13, so perhaps that turnaround mentioned above is starting to take shape as we live and breathe.

Pete Alonso, 1B, Baltimore Orioles

Pete Alonso left the New York Mets for a massive payday with the Baltimore Orioles and was expected to produce immediately to begin the 2026 campaign, but that is not how it has worked out in any regard for the Polar Bear. Overall, he is slashing .167/.262/.259 with just one home run and three RBI through his first 61 plate appearances.

Alonso is also posting a 31% K rate, which is nowhere near ideal, and is a major step back from the 22% rate he posted last season with the Mets. Growing pains with a new club and ballpark could certainly explain some of the early struggles, but no one expected him to be ranked 565th through the first two weeks of the season.

The Orioles offense and Alonso's pedigree are too good to keep him down for long, but the rough start needs to be noted, and hopefully, he can turn it around in the coming weeks.

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Fallers

Jesus Luzardo, Philadelphia Phillies

After Jesus Luzardo posted a 3.92 ERA with 216 strikeouts across 183 2/3 innings pitched with the Phillies in 2025, I thought he had finally found his calling and would be ready to dominate in 2026. Unfortunately, that has not been the case, as he now has a 6.23 ERA through his first three starts.

While the strikeouts are still there, as noted by his 26 Ks through his first 17 1/3 innings pitched, he has allowed at least five earned runs in two of his first three starts. The only start he was effective in came against the Rockies, which is not exactly saying much in terms of his predicted future success.

While I think he will be a solid streaming option in certain matchups that have high strikeout upside, I cannot trust him against good offenses at this point in the season. That being said, I will note that one positive is the fact that his four-seam fastball is generating just a .196 xBA compared to a .300 BAA, so some simple misfortune could be to blame for some of the early-season struggles.

Eury Perez, Miami Marlins

Eury Perez is another starting pitcher I had high hopes for coming into 2026; however, he has struggled mightily with command to begin the season. Overall, he has posted a 5.06 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, and 18 strikeouts across 16 innings pitched. He has also walked nine batters across those 16 innings.

While six of those walks came in one start against the Yankees, he did walk two Cincinnati Reds in five innings pitched in his most recent start. He has also had the benefit of pitching at home in two of his three starts (against the Reds and Rockies) and still allowed five earned runs across 12 innings pitched.

The strikeout numbers have been pretty solid, similar to Luzardo above, but he will not be able to get by on these alone. He has to develop into a more efficient pitcher, which has been the story of his young career thus far. I am hopeful he will be able to turn it around, though, and think we might see him in the risers section before too long.

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