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Most every week, Scott White will highlight some of the more notable changes to his rest-of-season rankings. You'll find said rankings here and are urged to bookmark them if you haven't already. There's no better resource for gauging player value throughout the long season.

Back in my wayward youth, when I still doubted the legitimacy of Pete Crow-Armstrong's breakthrough, I made a comparison on the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast that I thought was so devastating it would end the argument then and there.

"Well, how do you feel about Ceddanne Rafaela? Because by the data, they look about the same."

About that ...

You may not have noticed if you don't roster Rafaela because he wasn't an All-Star and doesn't rank among the league leaders in any offensive category, but like Crow-Armstrong, he's turned himself into a player. Not as good as Crow-Armstrong, of course, but he entered play Tuesday batting .323 (52 for 161) with 12 homers, seven steals and a .972 OPS over his past 44 games. Head-to-Head points isn't even his ideal format, given his allergy to walks, yet for the season, he's averaging about as many points per game as Maikel Garcia and Brendan Donovan.

It's time for the rankings to reflect that.

The 10 biggest rankings moves for this week

  1. The position where Rafaela's climb is most startling is second base, partly because he wasn't eligible there as recently as a week ago. But more to the point, the position is so lacking in high-end contributors that even the smallest nudge can catapult a player into the top 10. In Rafaela's case, I'm willing to go as high as sixth in 5x5 Rotisserie and eighth in Head-to-Head points. He's closer to 15th at shortstop and 36th in the outfield just because those positions have more to offer, but he's well within the startable range for both. Fair to say, then, I'm mostly buying into his recent run of success. His actual stats align almost perfectly with his expected stats, and his exit velocities and contact rate have improved markedly from a year ago.
  2. Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy have gone from being a frustration in Fantasy to a blessing, with both climbing into my top 12 catchers now that the Braves have seemingly turned the page on Marcell Ozuna. Rather than splitting at-bats, the two are playing virtually every day, switching off at the DH spot, and both offer considerable offensive potential at a position that's normally lacking in it (albeit less so this year). Murphy's 16 home runs rank fifth at the position, even with all his lost at-bats, and Baldwin might be the front-runner for NL Rookie of the Year.
  3. With this being my first full rankings audit in a couple weeks, I was a little slow to the draw on Eury Perez, having to move him up about 30 spots in light of his renewed studliness. We regarded him as an emergent ace prior to his Tommy John surgery last year, and his 1.17 ERA, 0.61 WHIP and 10.2 K/9 over his past four starts would suggest he's no worse for wear. Slotting him 29th, just behind Ranger Suarez and Jesus Luzardo, better reflects my level of trust in him.
  4. The starting pitcher who ranks just behind Perez at 30th is Kris Bubic, and his tumble is even more notable at relief pitcher, where he goes from fifth to 10th in 5x5 Rotisserie and first to fifth in Head-to-Head points. The change is in recognition of his increasing innings total and some early signs of him wearing down. That's hardly surprising given that he threw a combined 82 innings between the majors and minors in 2023 and 2024 and hasn't thrown more than 130 in a season since 2019. He's already at 113 2/3 this year. Moreover, the Royals wouldn't seem to have anything to play for anymore, and seeing as Bubic has only one more year of team control left, they might opt to do what the White Sox did with Garrett Crochet down the stretch last year, wrapping him in bubble wrap to preserve his trade value. That's the doomsday scenario for Bubic's Fantasy value, but the bottom line is that you should expect shorter and less dominant outings moving forward.
  5. I had been reluctant to move Austin Riley behind upstart Junior Caminero, trusting in his elite track record and usual second-half surge, but his abdominal strain, for as minor as it seems, was enough for me to pull the trigger finally. It doesn't hurt that Caminero has shown no signs of slowing down, getting off to a quick start in the second half. Likewise, Eugenio Suarez has performed at an elite level for long enough (he has 55 homers and 137 RBI over the past calendar year) that I can no longer justify keeping him behind Riley either. Even if Riley returns as soon as expected and finds his footing right away, how is it an improvement over what those two are already doing? 
  6. Turns out reports of Marcus Semien's demise were greatly exaggerated. Or at least a little exaggerated. He's come out of the break cold, but even so, he's batting .293 with 10 homers, five steals and an .898 OPS over his past 45 games, making him far and away the top second baseman in Fantasy during that time. I've moved him all the way up to fourth at second base -- a position where, again, it doesn't take much to pass off as elite. Semien at least has a track record to justify it. His sudden turnaround, which was hardly forecast by the data, should also serve as a reminder that it's not too late for Ozzie Albies, who's seven years Semien's junior.
  7. Sean Manaea and Brandon Woodruff have both recently returned from season-long injury absences and made strong enough impressions to rank inside my top 50 at starting pitcher, moving ahead of season-long teases Jack Flaherty, Shane Baz and Tanner Bibee. I have more confidence in Manaea, particularly since he's still throwing with the lower arm angle that propelled him to new heights down the stretch last year with a 3.09 ERA, 0.85 WHIP and 9.9 K/9 in his final 12 starts. Woodruff has performed the more impressively of the two, striking out 23 in 16 2/3 innings across three starts, which at least has me open to the possibility that he'll be able to navigate the loss of 3 mph on his fastball. But that's not normally how such a steep decline in velocity works, and Lance McCullers should serve as a cautionary tale for buying into a dominant three-start stretch from a pitcher who's clearly damaged goods. Still, Woodruff has earned the right to be ranked like he could be the exception to the rule.
  8. Quinn Priester is already with his third organization and didn't have the most dominant minor-league career, so you'll excuse me for not taking him seriously at first. But he does have some pedigree, with more than one publication ranking him as a top-100 prospect once upon a time, and he also has one standout skill that's often overlooked by Fantasy evaluators. His 57.8 percent ground-ball rate would rank fifth, just behind Framber Valdez and Cristopher Sanchez, if he had the innings to qualify. Kind of makes his 2.41 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 8.8 K/9 over his past 10 appearances easier to understand, and while he's almost certainly not that good, he's good enough to rank as a must-roster pitcher in Fantasy, climbing just inside my top 60.
  9. Freddie Freeman has gone from second to fifth in my first base rankings as his batting average has plummeted from .374 to .293 since the start of June. A wrist contusion is just the latest of the ailments he's reportedly playing through, and it's not a stretch to think they could be impacting his performance. Of course, lowering him to fifth only means moving him beyond other first base royalty like Bryce Harper, Vladimir Guerrero and Matt Olson, so it may not be the statement it appears to be at first glance.
  10. Chances are you were counting down the days to Eury Perez's return from Tommy John surgery and are doing the same for Shane Bieber now, but Kyle Bradish is something of a forgotten man in Fantasy as he prepares to make his first rehab start Thursday. Likewise, Luis Gil, who's on the mend from a strained lat, hasn't gotten much notice in Fantasy even as he's missed a ton of bats through two rehab starts. I've slotted Gil 82nd and Bradish 88th, putting them alongside recently trending pitchers like Joe Boyle and Slade Cecconi, which should be enough to get them noticed again.

A few others worth highlighting

  • After an impressive 2024, Teoscar Hernandez began 2025 on such a heater that I'll admit going into autopilot mode with him, happy to leave him in the 15-20 range of my outfield rankings. Seeing as he's batting .208 with a .596 OPS since the start of May, though, I've dropped him closer to 30th.
  • Some notable outfield adjustments on the other end include Randy Arozarena going from 34th to 27th, George Springer going from 45th to 33rd and Taylor Ward going from 55th to 42nd.
  • After disappearing for most of May and June, Carson Kelly is once again looking like a Fantasy asset, batting .349 (15 for 43) with four homers in July. Catcher is hardly the position of greatest need right now, but Kelly has put himself back in the rosterable range, climbing to 17th for me (which may not sound so high but places him between J.T. Realmuto and Austin Wells).
  • The state of first base has deteriorated such that I can no longer casually write off Christian Walker, and he's showing signs of turning things around anyway, batting .344 (21 for 61) with three homers in July. He's back up to 17th for me after sliding all the way to 25th.
  • Ben Rice's playing time has become so sparse with the return (both physically and productively) of Giancarlo Stanton that, even with the catcher eligibility, there isn't a place for him in Fantasy anymore. I still think he has real talent as a hitter, but I've lowered him to 19th among catchers.
  • Luke Keaschall is on a rehab assignment, preparing to return from a fractured forearm that's sidelined him since April 25. I've moved the rookie up to 26th at second base in the hopes he can pick up where he left off, showing exemplary plate discipline and a high aptitude for stealing bases.