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Eric Karabell
Multiple Authors
Each week in MLB is its own story — full of surprises, both positive and negative — and fantasy managers must decide what to believe and what not to believe moving forward. Perhaps we can help. If any of these thoughts come true… don’t be surprised!
Don’t be surprised … if Los Angeles Angels OF Mike Trout remains a top-10 fantasy hitter all season
It’s certainly fair to worry about whether generation talent Trout, a future first-ballot Hall of Famer in his age-34 season, will be able to stay healthy enough to aid fantasy managers for all six months of this and future regular seasons. After all, he has shown an alarming deficit of durability since 2021, although Trout was able to suit up for 130 games in 2025. However, while doing so last season, Trout hit only .232 and struck out at a career-worst 32% rate. In retrospect, durability was not Trout’s biggest concern.
Trout’s first four weeks of 2026 have been noteworthy for several reasons, among them his being able to appear in all but one of his team’s games. He also returned to playing center field (though not particularly well) after spending nary a game at the position last season. We also cannot help but notice key changes at the plate. Trout enters Wednesday featuring a career-best 22.9% walk rate, with an impressive 19.3% strikeout rate. Houston Astros OF Yordan Alvarez and Trout are alone among the current home run leaders with more walks than strikeouts.
Are Trout’s investors looking to trade him for safer, more reliable options? We cannot argue that fair approach, but what if Trout keeps hitting home runs, continues to show elite plate discipline and, perhaps most importantly, manages to show up in darn near every box score? That would be amazing! Trout is not only on pace for 47 home runs — a figure he has yet to reach among his myriad achievements — but he is also 5-for-5 in stolen bases, after attempting just 16 steals over the prior six seasons. Mock if you will, but Trout last swiped more than 11 bases during the 2018 season!
Let’s choose to be optimistic and also thankful that this topic is reasonable after so many years of disappointment. Trout’s barrel rate of 25.6% has never been this high (19.7% in 2022 is his best mark). His 92.7 mph average exit velocity mark would be the second-highest mark of his career. The power and plate discipline are elite — and not only when he hits at Yankee Stadium (five home runs in a four-game set earlier in April). The .248 batting average (up 16 points since Sunday) is not great, but Trout’s .246 BABIP is rather unlucky. It was .310 last season. Frankly, Trout’s numbers might actually improve!
Perhaps expecting top-10 production isn’t bold enough. What a gift for the Angels and fantasy managers alike!
Don’t be surprised … if Cincinnati Reds 1B Sal Stewart wins the NL Rookie of the Year award
The pool of rookies in the National League seems to be quite stacked and most people probably expected Pittsburgh Pirates SS Konnor Griffin to run away with this award. Perhaps he will, but Griffin (.226, 29.3% K rate) isn’t off to a great start. However, New York Mets RHP Nolan McLean is thriving and St. Louis Cardinals 2B/SS JJ Wetherholt has certainly impressed as well.
Stewart enters Wednesday ranked fourth among all hitters in fantasy points, behind only Los Angeles Dodgers DH/P Shohei Ohtani, Alvarez and Trout. That’s it! Stewart, 22, debuted last season with five home runs over 18 September games, though with only three walks (5.2%) and a high K rate (25.9%). He did not attempt to steal any bases. He always hit in the minor leagues, but, as usual, the Reds seemed to be overbooked with young hitters, and there was no guarantee Stewart would play regularly. Many of us expected he would find a way, but we cannot pretend to have expected these numbers.
Stewart, the No. 32 pick in the 2022 draft, is among the leaders in home runs with nine, has knocked in a run per game and his .979 OPS ranks sixth, a smidge behind Trout. He is the cleanup hitter for an overachieving, contending club, and he has stolen seven bases in as many chances. Unlike Trout, Stewart isn’t blessed with remotely notable speed. Stewart’s breakout minor league season was 2025, when he hit .309/.383/.524 at Double- and Triple-A, with 20 home runs and 17 steals. He may achieve those numbers before this year’s All-Star break.
There is nothing sketchy behind any of these numbers, either. Like Trout, Stewart is hitting everything hard and on the barrel without much swing-and-miss. Five of his home runs have been hit to right-center field, too. It really is awesome to see this combination of power and plate discipline. Stewart is no ordinary rookie. Griffin may get more attention, but here we have a mature rookie on pace for 50 home runs, 162 RBIs and 38 stolen bases. No rookie has come close to doing that before!
Don’t be surprised … if New York Yankees RHP Cam Schlittler joins LHP Max Fried as a top-10 fantasy hurler
Schlittler, 25, posted a 2.96 ERA (3.73 FIP) and 27% strikeout rate over 14 starts as a rookie last season, and he thrived during two tense, elimination playoff starts, permitting just two earned runs over 14⅓ innings (1.26 ERA). Armed with a hard cutter and a harder sinker, this 2022 seventh-round selection has permitted three or fewer runs in 21 out of his 23 career starts, including the playoffs. Few recognized Schlittler as being close to a top prospect entering last season, but he enters Wednesday only two fantasy points behind sudden Angels ace RHP Jose Soriano for the most fantasy pitching points.
Tuesday night’s expected showdown with Texas Rangers ace RHP Jacob deGrom was all Schlittler, as he permitted three hits over six shutout innings, lowering his ERA to 1.51 and his WHIP down to 0.74. Right-handed batters are just 7-for-62 (.113) against him. There is a little BABIP love here, but Schlittler’s swinging-strike percentage is up from 12.1% to 16.2%. He leads baseball with a 1.52 FIP. Fried (2.72 FIP) and RHP Will Warren (2.77 FIP) are also among the FIP leaders. Perhaps LHP Carlos Rodon and RHP Gerrit Cole will soon join them there.
Fried is enjoying another stellar season, after winning 19 games and finishing ninth in fantasy pitching points last season. Rodon was seventh. How many Yankees can end up in the top 10 this year? Rodon and Cole probably cannot get there due to starting their respective seasons late due to injury, but Schlittler and Fried are well on their way. This is an elite rotation, with a strong defense behind it. Nothing Schlittler is doing looks the least bit fluky.
