I'm going to assume you already know about Ronald Acuna's season-ending knee injury, his second torn ACL in the past four years, this time in his left leg. It's an injury that ends a frustrating season before Acuna ever really looked like himself, and leaves some pretty significant questions about how to value him for 2025 and beyond – not to mention, obviously, a gigantic hole in the lineup of every single person who drafted him No. 1 overall this season.
It's the biggest news to come out of the long holiday weekend, and I wrote about what you might be able to do to at least try to replace him in reaction to the news Monday, which you can read here. My thoughts about Acuna's injury, who to consider adding, and who to consider trading for in his absence are there, and I spoke with Frank Stampfl on an emergency FBT podcast Sunday about the same topic, which you can listen to here.
Kyle Bradish might be back back
Despite Bradish's spring elbow injury, his velocity remains high compared to last season. This presents a double-edged sword: while his performance is promising, questions linger about his durability. Overall, I have few concerns about Bradish's performance. If I'm considering selling high, it's primarily due to the increased possibility of injury.
Hunter Greene might be breaking out
I don't know if it's because he's just getting lost in the shuffle or because nobody believes in it, but I'm genuinely surprised at how little hype there is around Greene right now, given his 3.06 ER and 2.55 xERA so far. His strikeout rate is down to a career-low 26.7%, but that's still a terrific number, especially combined with significant improvements in quality of contact allowed. Greene's fastball is getting a bit more rise than in the past, and he's commanding it better, leading to an elite .241 xwOBA on the pitch right now – it was .345 last season. Quality of contact metrics take a long time to stabilize for pitchers, so skepticism isn't unreasonable, but I think there might be an opportunity to buy high on Greene just because of how little anyone else seems to be buying in.
George Kirby, Pablo Lopez are going through it
Lopez's ERA has ballooned to 5.25 while Kirby's is up to 4.33 as both are really struggling in May. I'm more optimistic about Lopez figuring things out and becoming the ace we expected him to be, because the strikeouts and walk rates are both still elite, but I'd be trying to buy low on both with the expectation that they'll each shave at least a run off their current ERAs moving forward – in Lopez's case, I'd bet on close to two runs, as evidence by his 3.25 xERA. It's been frustrating to have both on your roster – I actually have both in one league – but they've got much better days coming in the future.
Justin Verlander turned back the clock
It was against the Athletics, so the caveats we typically apply there are worth keeping in mind. But this was the first time we've seen the big strikeout upside from Verlander since he came back this season, as he racked up 15 swinging strikes in this one, including at least three on his slider, curveball, and fastball. Verlander still does a good job of limiting hard contact – he's in the 91st percentile in hard-hit rate allowed so far this season – so if he can rediscover the strikeouts, there could still be some upside here.
Some stars are locking in
- Jose Ramirez homered three times this week and is 14 for 41 with six homers, five doubles and 27 combined runs and RBI over his past 10 games. He had a .752 OPS in his first 43 games prior to that, and he's still a first-round caliber player in my rankings.
- Julio Rodriguez doubled his homer total for the season with two over the weekend. He remains maybe the most obvious buy-low candidate at hitter, and a perfect target for those of you who lost Acuna.
- Corey Seager started turning things around about two weeks ago, and he's now hitting .351/.478/.919 with seven homers in his past 10 games after three homers this weekend. I'm afraid you missed whatever buy-low window might have been there, unfortunately. Or, fortunately, if you have him on your team and were getting frustrated.
There's a whole bunch more from this weekend you need to know about, and you can check out the FBT podcast episode from this morning as Frank Stampfl and I dive deep on everything you might have missed.
But we've got to keep on moving along, too. So, we've got the top waiver-wire targets from the weekend as well as Monday's action, plus some standout performances and more. Let's get to it.
Tuesday's top waiver targets
Mackenzie Gore, SP, Nationals (76%) – That's three straight where Gore has thrown at least six innings, with 20 strikeouts to six walks in 19.1 innings in that stretch. The growth of his changeup makes this the best version of Gore we've ever seen, and someone who needs to be rostered in all leagues.
Braxton Garrett, SP, Marlins (50%) – Garrett's overall 5.30 ERA is still pretty ugly, but all of a sudden, he has 19 strikeouts in 18.2 innings with just three walks, and a 3.28 ERA after he shut out the Diamondbacks over the weekend. Garrett is no ace, but he had a 3.63 ERA and 1.18 WHIP between 2022 and 2023, and should be rostered in pretty much all leagues.
Ryan Bliss, 2B, Mariners (2%) – The speed is the main draw with Bliss, who has 28 steals in 50 games this season after stealing 55 last year. However, he's not just some slap hitter, with 30 homers dating back to the start of last season, though he needs to sacrifice contact to get to that power, which is a limitation in his skill set. The likeliest outcome is he's not a difference maker for Fantasy, but that speed makes him worth a look in deeper categories leagues.
Ian Happ, OF, Cubs (66%) – Hamstring injuries followed Happ throughout the spring and into the start of the season, which might explain the slow start, as he had just a .635 OPS as last as May 13. However, in his past 10 games, Happ has three homers and three doubles, a sign that he's starting to turn things around. When he's right, Happ is pretty much a must-start outfielder, and he's available in more than one-third of CBS Fantasy leagues, so I'm looking for him anywhere he isn't rostered.
Nick Gonzales, 2B, PIT (27%) – Gonzales is a former first-round pick and top-50 prospect who fell out of favor after a pretty brutal first taste of the majors in 2023, but he never stopped hitting in the minors. Gonzales is the owner of a .300/.391/.531 line at Triple-A, albeit with little of the over-the-fence pop or stolen base upside we're typically looking for in Fantasy. But he's hitting well enough right now for the Pirates – .286/.359/.482 with very good underlying data – and playing pretty much everyday, that I think he's worth a look as a MI option.
Keibert Ruiz, C, Nationals (26%) – Ruiz was being drafted as a top-15 catcher this spring, but a brutal slump that saw him post an OPS below .400 through the season's first 24 games saw him dropped in many two-catcher leagues. But he's hitting .435/.417/.696 over the past nine games, and might have been dismissed by some Fantasy players a bit too soon. He still makes a ton of contact and should be a valuable source of batting average if nothing else, at a position where that remains incredibly hard to find. As a No. 2 catcher, Ruiz still has plenty of value.
Jonathan India, 2B, Reds (46%) – India hasn't turned his season around quite as dramatically as some of the other names here, but he did have a nice weekend, driving in six runs and scoring three over four games, with his third homer of the season. There's still a ton of upside in this Reds lineup, especially since I would expect him to move back up closer to the top once he gets going. I'm willing to bet he will.
Robert Gasser, SP, Brewers (47%) – Despite very good results overall, there didn't seem to be much reason to buy into Gasser when he had just six strikeouts in his first 17 innings of work. However, strikeouts were rarely an issue for Gasser in his climb up to the majors, and wouldn't you know it, he found those in his start against the Cubs Monday, fanning seven over six shutout, three-hit innings. He generated 12 swinging strikes, including six on his sweeper, which he'll need to be his putaway pitch moving forward, so that was a good sign. I don't think Gasser is a likely ace, or anything, but he's got some pedigree, a decent minor-league track record, and now, a truly great start. Let's see how he builds on it.
