As we move into the dog days of summer, we called upon the resident gurus to take up pens and pencils, keyboards and abacuses and put together our annual mid-year positional rankings. The rankings in the table below are the composite rankings of our staff, and for each position a couple of us will profile some risers, fallers, and names to know.

RISER: TRENT GRISHAM, NEW YORK YANKEES (PRESEASON: NR, CURRENT: 85)

Trent Grisham has been a fantasy baseball dream for many players this season, going from unranked to putting up all-star caliber numbers for much of the season. Out of nowhere this season, he’s hit 28 home runs, with a slash line of .246/.353/.477. That’s good enough for a wRC+ of 133 and he is walking at a career high rate of 13.5%. To go with the improved ability to take a walk, he also dropped his strikeout rate down to a career low 21.7%. He has translated a 100th percentile chase rate of just 16.9% into more walks this season and has actually been barreling baseballs now. What has also helped his transformation is a career high pull rate of 50% and a career low opposite field rate of 14.6%. He is converting those pulled barrels into home runs. Ultimately, his ranking is well deserved with a significant increase in numbers this year, especially the power. The big question is, can he sustain it into future seasons? I think he will and that makes his ranking of 85, from being unranked, possibly even being still too low. He plays in a great left handed hitters ball park and should be able to keep hitting enough balls in the air to make a fantasy impact for the next few seasons.

FALLER: IAN HAPP, CHICAGO CUBS (PRESEASON: 29, CURRENT: 67)

Ian Happ has had a rough season, but it hasn’t been as bad as you might think. His slash line sits currently at .234/.335/.397, as he also has added 17 home runs. His walk and strikeout rates have been fine, but the real culprit for the down year has been the career low ISO numbers to go with the suboptimal batting average. He is hitting the ball not as hard compared to previous seasons and has barreled the ball less. That has been the source of the lower numbers, he is just not making as much good contact as he normally does. Ultimately, he is a reliable outfielder for fantasy baseball players, but nothing special. This was a down year, but the numbers do not suggest it should stay this way and could actually improve back to his 2024 level. The outfield is getting crowded in Chicago, so he could be in need for a change of scenery going into next season. If he can’t improve his quality of contact down the line, expect his slide this season in the ranking to continue.

PLAYER TO WATCH: LAZARO MONTES, SEATTLE MARINERS (PRESEASON: 39, CURRENT: 43)

Lazaro Montes continues to be a polarizing prospect for the Seattle Mariners because of one thing really, contact rates. Is that really an issue though with how hard he can hit the ball? I don’t think so, and his numbers this year continue to show that he can put up impactful numbers. On the year, across High-A and Double-A he is hitting .248/.356/.538, with 32 home runs, 17 doubles, a 14.4% walk rate, a 28.8% strikeout rate, and a 142 wRC+. His numbers were better at High-A than they have been at Double-A and I think that is a key point to remember with him. He has been a prospect who takes a little bit of time to adjust to a level and then dominates it. The second go around at each level for Montes has yielded better contact rates, even if only slightly, but the strikeout rates the second season at each level have decreased noticeably. Assuming that trend continues, he should make it to Triple-A next season, with an MLB debut as early as late 2026 and he is still just 20-years-old. The tools are all there to be a big time power hitting major leaguer.

(Daniel Labude)

RISER: PETE CROW-ARMSTRONG, CHICAGO CUBS (PRESEASON: 43, CURRENT: 10)

There are undoubtedly very few players who have seen a greater rise in value and ranking between the start of the season and now than Pete Crow-Armstrong. He rose from a preseason ranking of 43 all the way up to the top 10 of the mid-season update. He has been instrumental in the surge the Chicago Cubs are making towards a playoff berth. In fact, he is on the precipice of joining the 30/30 club at just 23 years old. As we end the month of August and flip the calendar over to September, he is slashing .252/.291/.789, adding 28 home runs, 31 stolen bases, 83 RBI, and 81 runs scored. Out of all qualified hitters, he ranks in the top 25 for runs, RBI, home runs, and stolen bases. He is someone that is truly an all-around hitter capable of producing elite-tier stats across-the-board for dynasty players.

As a stat-stuffing, team-carrying, elite hitter, there is no question Crow-Armstrong has earned his position in the top 10 of our mid-season update. The real dilemma is whether or not you can trust him to maintain his level of play, or if the high ranking was too aggressive. All you have to do is look at his slash line to see where my concerns originate from and this is even before you get to his underlying profile. For the year, he has managed to put up some elite level stats, but has done so with a .291 OBP. Yeah, that is not a typo, I had to quadruple check those numbers myself (a double check just wasn’t enough). A .291 OBP is good enough to be ranked 141 out of a possible 152 qualified hitters.

Now looking at his underlying profile, you can see big issues which might give reservations about Crow-Armstrong’s ability to continue to maintain his level of play this season. He has a 42.5% chase rate (2nd percentile), a 28.8% whiff rate (21st percentile), a 24% strikeout rate (34th percentile), and a 4.3% walk rate (4th percentile). It is a profile which shows he chases pitches out of the zone far too much, he whiffs at pitches at an alarming rate, strikes out too much, and doesn’t walk. Put me in the avoid category, as he has far too risky of an underlying profile for me to believe he will continue to put up stats worthy of being ranked in the top 10. In fact, he may already be seeing the effects of his profile, in August he slashed .160/.216/.230, with only one home run and two stolen bases. It is something worth closely monitoring at the very minimum.

FALLER: LAWRENCE BUTLER,  ATHLETICS (PRESEASON: 20, CURRENT: 34)

Lawrence Butler checks in as one of the fallers in our mid-season update. He went from a preseason ranking of 20, down to a current rank of 34. He was one of my avoids prior to the season, so his fall is not a shock to me. He has posted a slash line of .229/.301/.405, with 18 home runs, 17 stolen bases, 52 RBI, and 71 runs scored. Even with a hitter-friendly home ballpark in Sacramento, he has failed to live up to the hype some in the industry were throwing his way prior to the season. His strikeout rate has increased from 23.9% in 2024, to 28.7% this season. His contact rate has also fallen, going from 75.2% in 2024, down to 69.1% this year. His whiff rate was in the 34th percentile last year, but  now it’s in the 4th percentile. His strikeout rate almost mimics those percentile changes as well. He can be good for some counting stats, but his elite outlook is not nearly as rosy as it was prior to the season.

PLAYER TO WATCH: MICHAEL HARRIS II, ATLANTA BRAVES (PRESEASON: 15, CURRENT: 35)

For me, a player to watch is none other than a faller on the latest update, Michael Harris II. He went from being ranked 15th prior to the season, to being ranked 35th with this update. For the season, he is slashing .251/.272/.413, with 17 home runs, and 15 stolen bases. He has a very similar profile and fantasy impact that Lawrence Butler has had, except he is someone I think can bounce back and in a big way. There have been some rumors he made some adjustments around the All-Star break and that seems to check out when you dive into his stats. Prior to the All-Star break, he slashed .205/.229/.310, with six home runs, 12 stolen bases, a measly 2.8% walk rate, and a putrid 43 wRC+. Since the All-Star break, he has slashed .335/.353/.604, with 11 home runs, three stolen bases, and a sizzling 162 wRC+. Before the break his average exit velocity was 88.9 mph, but after it his exit velocity has been 93 mph. He’s still not walking and striking out around 20% of the time, but he has been smashing everything when he puts the ball in play. He is someone I’m watching closely to see if this massive turnaround can be the real thing, something similar to the in-season change in profile that Miguel Vargas made toward the beginning of the season.

(Brian Labude)

RISER: KYLE STOWERS, MIAMI MARLINS (PRESEASON: NR, CURRENT: 18)

The perception of the Orioles/Marlins 2024 deadline trade has really changed since Sports Illustrated published its article titled “Baltimore Orioles Trade with Miami Marlins Hasn’t Worked Out for Either Side.”  While Connor Norby continues to underwhelm (80 wRC+ and two IL stints), Trevor Rogers has bounced back in 2025, posting a 1.43 ERA and 0.81 WHIP with 60 strikeouts over his first 11 starts.  Not to be outdone, however, Kyle Stowers has been a revelation for the Marlins.  Putting up numbers not seen since his days in the lower minors, Stowers has posted a 147 wRC+ with 25 homers over 115 games.  He has pitched in 5 steals as well!  While he is still striking out a ton (9th percentile on Savant), he has brought his walk rate up to 10.3%, which is just about in line with his minor league numbers (Stowers’s walk rate hovered in the 5-6% range during his first two seasons in the majors).  His numbers have jumped up across the board, but notable to me is that his batting average versus lefties increased from .175 in 2024 to .258 in 2025, showing that he is not hopeless in the dreaded lefty/lefty matchup, which should keep the Marlins from platooning him as they continue to build their roster.  From unranked to Top 20 outfielder in one half, Stowers looks to have a bunch of 30+ homer seasons in front of him from the middle of the Marlins lineup.

FALLER: SPENCER STEER, CINCINNATI REDS (PRESEASON: 37, CURRENT: 91)

After tearing up the minor leagues, Spencer Steer had a cup of coffee in 2022 that was mostly forgettable, outside of solid plate discipline numbers (10.2% BB% and 24.1% K%).  Those plate discipline numbers carried over into 2023 where Steer put up a 118 wRC+ as a 25 year old with 23 homers and 15 steals.  Even though his numbers at the plate took a hit in 2024 (98 wRC+), Steer still hit 20 homers and turned up the volume on the bases with 25 steals.  With (just about) average output at the dish, the 20/25 season pushed Steer from our OF55 in 2024 to OF37 at the beginning of 2025.  Unfortunately, the dip in plate production continued this year as Steer is producing just barely better than his rookie year, putting up an 89 wRC+ with 15 homers and six steals over 112 games.  Alarmingly, his walk rate, which has held steady through the first three years of his career, has fallen to 7.4%.  I wanted to think that his March shoulder injury was the reason for the downturn, but Steer had a great June, but then fell right back into his 2025 norm.  With a strong minor league career and two good seasons under his belt, Steer should not fall too far off of our radar, but he does not appear to be the OF2 in lineups that we thought he would be.

PLAYER TO WATCH: ISAAC COLLINS, MILWAUKEE BREWERS (PRESEASON: NR, CURRENT: 102)

I am keeping my eye on former September 2021 Minor League Player of the Month Isaac Collins and apparently so is the baseball world.  The switch-hitting Collins was taken by the Brewers in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft in December 2022 with little fanfare.  He was promoted to Triple-A in May 2023 after putting up a 135 wRC+ with 10 homers, 29 steals, and a 19.9% BB% in Double-A.  In 2024, he was equally productive in Triple-A, but in a different way, trading some patience for power, producing an ISO over .200 for the only time in his career.  After a short cup of coffee in 2024, Collins made the Brew Crew out the gate and has not looked back.  On pace for a 13 homer/21 steal season at 27 years old, Collins has never been better (OBP of .387 and 139 wRC+).  He is better as a left handed batter than a right hander, which is good.  He has hit much better on the road, which is interesting.  He has had only one bad month (May 2025), so we can hope for consistency.  Based on his Savant page, Collins has above average bat speed (72.7 mph) and makes elite swing decisions (93rd percentile in Chase%), which seems like a recipe for success.  It looks like we have a nifty player who can put up strong OBP numbers with 10+ homer power and 20+ steal speed.  That is a valuable player in our game and there is upside for counting stats in the right offense, which the Brewers are right now.

(The Roto Red)