Fantasy Baseball: Get these guys on your team before anyone else does!

Gear up for some bargain shopping!

We’re now deep into the season where 2026 stat lines are increasingly being considered full-year trends and panic among them. Fantasy baseball Managers whose teams started slowly are only growing. Nevertheless, season-long sample sizes remain small and the trade market is full of opportunities.

Whether it’s past history, a tough schedule or just plain awful luck, some slow players have reason to make a strong case for a change. These early mirages should be at the top of your trade target list.

Granted, no each The sluggish superstar is bound to improve in the coming weeks. Alec Manoh (2023), Randy Arrozarena (2024) and Anthony Santander (2025) are just a few examples of players from the past three seasons who have not overcome their opening month slump. Always closely examine a player’s early slump factors, his underlying metrics and his team’s off-year outlook, and make a specific call with each before making any trades.

That said, I’m not worried about any of the bottom four players. In fact, this is prime time to go “all in” on any of their businesses.

Fernando Tatis Jr., off, San Diego Padres

Two Tatis statistics pop off the page — and, you know, I’m all about statistics.

• He ranks third in the majors in hard-hit rate (60.4%).

• Still, after hitting 25 home runs last year, through 35 Padres games and 148 trips to the plate this season, he zero Homer

The futility of Tatis’ ability seems inconceivable, until you consider how hard luck he’s had on batted balls. He has hit the baseball at least 100 miles per exit velocity 44 times — only four hitters have done it more often — yet has just a .416 wOBA.

Tattis also averaged 0.86 fantasy points on that batted ball. To put that in perspective, from 2023-25, he averaged 1.79 points. Heck, the League The overall average this year is 1.93 points.

One more thing about Tatis’ home run drought: It’s not the first time in his career that he’s had more than 100 plate appearances between homers. he had two Last season alone such streaks lasted 132 and 101 straight plate appearances, yet he finished top-30 in both fantasy points and overall. Player Rater.

Perhaps Tatis is a streaky player? Two monthly and three weekly awards reinforce that argument. You want to stay ahead of the curve in a potentially hot spell, and if you can get Tatis under a cent to where I currently value him — again a top-30 overall player — he’s got to work.

Outfielder I like him: James Wood.

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Jesus LuzardoSP, Philadelphia Phillies

He’ll be tougher to pull away after totaling 48 fantasy points in back-to-back quality starts last week plus, but the truth may be Luzardo’s 5.09 season ERA. shake Among his managers, while his 75 fantasy points on the season still rank outside the top 50 starting pitchers.

Ignore the folly of believing his seasonal numbers, and pay the premium price — yes, a top-10 capable fantasy starting pitcher despite his early returns — if you have the chance. I look at Luzardo and see two problems:

• Three of his starts so far (of seven total) have come at Coors Field in Colorado (one) and against Chicago Cubs (two), No. 3 offense in the majors in terms of runs per game.

• He allowed a .368 batting average on balls in play (fourth worst among ERA qualifiers) and he allowed just 62.0% of runners to reach base (third worst).

None of those things are entirely within Luzardo’s control, and, while he’s going to face other elite offenses, when things break well for him in the batted-ball department, he’s more than capable of rising to the occasion. He’s scored 23-plus fantasy points in his last two Coors assignments, for example, and he’s totaled 37 points in his two starts against a loaded 2025. Los Angeles Dodgers.

Starting pitcher I like him: Logan Webb.

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Ketel Marte2B, Arizona Diamondbacks

The concern with Mart throughout the year is that he has a bit of an injury history, having made five trips to the IL over the past five seasons (2021-25) totaling 124 days of absence. If so a little Risk scares you, I understand your reluctance to trade for it.

That aside, Marte has been a great — and underrated — fantasy hitter in his push and hit. The hard-to-fill 2B position he plays certainly helps boost his value.

Mart’s 1,313 fantasy points since the start of 2023 are more than any other starting second baseman, and he is the only 2B-eligible hitter to hit at least 25 home runs in each of the past three seasons. That’s a big deal if you consider that, league-wide, that accounts for second basemen from afar Worst home run rate (2.1%) and isolated power (.127) of any individual defensive position.

Yes, second basemen also have the highest batting average of any position, .255, and have the third-best on-base/game rate. But if the piece of the puzzle that fits your list is a run-producer, then Marte is your guy.

We haven’t seen Mart’s best yet, but even as an underperformer, he’s been largely unlucky with batted balls. His .290 wOBA is 73 points below expectations, such a wide difference between batting title-worthy

He’s a player that enters the year in my top 15 overall players, and I don’t think much has changed to move him significantly down the rankings list.

Second baseman I like him: Nico Horner.

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Devin Williamsrp, New York Mets

Things haven’t gone well in Metsville so far, and Williams, who contributed three disastrous outings during the team’s 12-game losing streak a few weeks ago, may seem like an easy scapegoat. After all, he similarly struggled across town at this stage of the season a year ago, a very close memory.

Digging deeper, Williams has historically Struggle to kick off the season on a positive note. His 5.24 career ERA in April was easily his highest in the regular six months of the season, 2.25 runs higher than his next highest. Even if we exclude both this and last season, his worst ERA by month is 2.96 in April, his second-worst is 2.51 in May, and he hasn’t had an ERA over 1.65 in any of the following four months.

Williams’ .519 BABIP is also outrageously high, his most representative metric of the factors that plagued him at this point last year. To put that into perspective, Statcast estimates that the right-hander’s batting average should be allowed 106 points lower than it currently is — the fourth-largest difference in that direction among all relievers.

The Mets don’t have an option for Williams in the ninth, and they have 14 million reasons to persevere through his typical early struggles. Neither is the party this Bad, and correct the result from a team-Broader perspective should result in more leads to protect for nearby.

Considering all the turnover at the position so far, we’re still looking for an easy top-five relief pitcher here. Trade accordingly.

Player I like him: Aroldis Chapman.