Fantasy Baseball Lineup Lowdown: American League Trends

The goal with Lineup Lowdown is simple: we're looking for trends which could help identify players that might be undervalued or overvalued. Who is playing more/less? Who is moving up/down? This week, we will be focusing on players from the American League.

Trending Up

Cole Young, 2B, Seattle Mariners

The Mariners have employed seven different leadoff hitters this season as they try to spark an offense that's dragged all season. Young is the latest to get a turn in the spot.

Each of the last five times the Mariners have gone up against a right-hander, the left-handed-swinging Young has been atop the batting order. It's not the first time he's been used in the leadoff spot, as Young hit there for about a week in June when Brendan Donovan (groin) and J.P. Crawford were both hurt. However, better than 80 percent of his starts this season have come from the sixth spot or lower. Donovan should finally return from the injured list any day now, and he's a threat to retake the leadoff spot and push Young back down lower in the order.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Baltimore Orioles

Encarnacion-Strand was called up by the Orioles ahead of the start of the second half, but he started only one of three games in their first series out of the All-Star break. Since then, however, the 26-year-old has started seven of the last nine games.

Entering play Wednesday, Encarnacion-Strand had homered three times and plated nine runs in his first 30 plate appearances with Baltimore. All seven of his starts have come at third base, a position he played sparingly during his time in Cincinnati. He's been up in the No. 5 spot in the Baltimore lineup for four of his past five starts, and two of those tilts were against right-handers. This is Encarnacion-Strand's first stint in the big leagues since July of last season, as his tenure with the Reds was plagued by injuries and inconsistency before they gave up on him in April.

Ezequiel Duran, 1B/2B/3B/SS/OF, Texas Rangers

A shortstop batting third for the first-place Rangers is not a surprise. That it's Duran and not Corey Seager is.

Josh Jung had been serving as the Rangers' primary No. 3 hitter before going down last week with a strained calf. Over the last five contests it's been Duran in the three spot, and he responded with home runs in back-to-back games Sunday and Monday. That pushed his season total to 12, which is quite a feat given that he didn't homer a single time in 2025 and just three times in 2024. Half of those long balls have come in July, as Duran has collected a .960 OPS this month. Duran has also accumulated 17 barrels in 2026 after totalling only 11 combined across the previous two campaigns. Though he's mostly played shortstop of late, Duran should settle in at second base once Seager and Jung are back healthy.

Steven Kwan, OF, Cleveland Guardians

Earlier this month in this space, I wrote about how Kwan was demoted all the way down to the No. 9 slot in the Guardians' batting order amidst the worst season of his career. I noted then, however, that Kwan was starting to show signs of turning things around and could be back at the top of the batting order before long. That has since come to fruition.

Each of Kwan's last nine starts have come from the leadoff spot. The ascension back to the top of the batting order has come during a month of July that's seen the outfielder post a blistering .371/.463/.486 batting line with an 12:8 BB:K. He's also stolen five bases this month after tallying a combined three in the first three months of the season. Kwan sports a lowly 6.6 percent hard-hit rate and 83.9 mph average exit velocity in July but has benefitted from a .410 BABIP. Through the end of June, his BABIP was just .236 for the season.

Quick Hits: Donovan Walton has started at second base each of the last four times the Athletics have faced a righty … Jonah Heim has hit third three times and cleanup once in the last four games versus lefties, and he could draw regular starts against righties now after Shea Langeliers (knee) got hurt … The Orioles have leaned on Dylan Beavers as their leadoff man each of the last five times they've faced a righty … Andruw Monasterio has been at shortstop in Boston's last six games … The Red Sox have turned to Connor Wong over Carlos Narvaez at catcher lately, handing the former starts in six of the last nine tilts … It's been Petey Halpin in center field for the Guardians in 10 straight contests … Colt Keith is finding an offensive groove in July (.952 OPS), which led to him not batting lower than third the last 12 times the Tigers have faced a righty before he hit fifth Tuesday … Lucas Spence has settled in as the Astros' center fielder for nine of the past 11 tilts … Ryan Kreidler has been the Twins' starting shortstop for nine of the last 10 contests … Fourteen of Cedric Mullins' last 16 starts have come from the cleanup spot … Josh Smith has filled in at third base for the injured Josh Jung (calf) in the Rangers' last four games.

Trending Down

Cal Raleigh, C, Seattle Mariners

No one expected Raleigh to club 60 home runs again this season. Perhaps even fewer people expected him to have just 11 long balls four months into the season, however.

For the first six-plus weeks of this season Raleigh was situated in the two-hole in the Mariners' lineup, which is where he finished his historic 2025 campaign. He then hit cleanup for four games before being shelved for a month with an oblique strain. Manager Dan Wilson threw Raleigh back into the No. 2 slot upon his return, but that didn't last long. Raleigh was down in the six spot for the first time June 27, and that's where he's been each of the last three times the Mariners have gone up against a right-hander. The 29-year-old's already-high strikeout rate has spiked to 32.5 percent in 2026, and he's had huge year-over-year dips across the board in hard-hit rate (49.6 percent to 33.0 percent), barrel rate (19.5 percent to 11.4 percent) and average exit velocity (91.3 mph to 88.2 mph).

Cam Smith, OF, Houston Astros

Are the Astros running out of patience with Smith?

After starting 14 games in a 15-game stretch, Smith was out of the lineup for all three games of last week's series against the Marlins. He then started all three contests versus the White Sox, going 1-for-10 at the plate, before exiting the lineup again Monday. In those three games against the White Sox, Smith batted eighth twice and ninth once, which was the first time this season he was situated at the bottom of the batting order. Smith is just 1-for-27 in the second half and 7-for-60 in July. The 23-year-old has been one of the most unlucky hitters in baseball in terms of expected stats, as the 46-point gap between his xwOBA (.330) and wOBA (.284) is the fourth-highest in baseball. The production simply hasn't been there, though. Since July of 2025, Smith is slashing .198/.277/.329 across 619 plate appearances.

Kyle Manzardo, 1B, Cleveland Guardians

It's been a season of peaks and valleys for Manzardo. He's currently in the midst of a valley, and it's starting to cost him his typically favorable spot in the Guardians' lineup.

Manzardo got off to a brutal start this season with a .186/.268/.244 batting line and one home run in April. He then rebounded to slash .257/.351/.486 with nine long balls from May-June, only to plummet to a .136/.230/.258 line with two homers in July. In Manzardo's last five starts, he's hit sixth three times and seventh twice, and all five of those contests have come against right-handed pitchers. In the first half, the lefty-swinging Manzardo never hit lower than cleanup versus a righty. He was also out of the lineup once versus a righty last week, and he's been on the bench each of the last four times the Guardians have gone up against a southpaw. Manzardo's biggest problem this season has been swing-and-miss, as his strikeout rate has spiked to 31.9 percent in 2026 after sitting at 25.4 percent in 2025.

Logan O'Hoppe, C, Los Angeles Angels

Brandon Marsh was an All-Star for the first time this season. Meanwhile, the guy he was once traded for, O'Hoppe, is suffering through his worst season in the big leagues.

The right-handed-hitting O'Hoppe has been out of the lineup three of the last four times and four of the past six times the Angels have gone up against a right-handed hurler. Tyler Heineman — who was scooped up off the scrap heap last month — has garnered those starts instead, and there are rumors swirling that the Angels will be shopping for catching help at the trade deadline. O'Hoppe totaled 39 home runs over the previous two seasons, but he's gone deep only four times in 2026. His quality of contact has also plummeted, with his hard-hit rate dipping from 46.9 percent to 35.3 percent and average exit velocity going from 90.9 mph to 86.9 mph year-over-year.

Quick Hits: Earlier this month, I wrote about the Athletics giving Henry Bolte some run in the leadoff spot. It's been the opposite end of the spectrum lately, though, as Bolte hasn't escaped the lower-third of the batting order in his last 15 starts … Colton Cowser has started only three of the last five games against right-handed pitching, and the left-handed hitter has not been in the lineup versus a southpaw since June 22 … Coby Mayo has been in the Orioles' lineup for just two of their past six contests … The switch-hitting Brooks Lee has been down in the No. 8 slot in the Twins' lineup for each of the last four games, with three of those coming against lefties and one against a righty …