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

Jac Caglianone, 1B/OF, Kansas City Royals

For the first two months of this season, Caglianone didn't hit much, hardly played versus lefties and rarely batted higher than sixth in the Royals' order. Thankfully, since then none of those things has been true.

Dating back to June 1, Caglianone is slashing .308/.348/.575 with 17 home runs, 49 RBI and five stolen bases covering 64 games. He's also cut his strikeout rate to 22 percent over that span after it sat at 30.8 percent for the first two months. If you condense it down to just August, he's collected a 1.192 OPS with five homers and 20 RBI across 16 tilts. Caglianone missed three games in late July with a shoulder problem, but he's started each of the last 22 games since returning to action, batting third in 21 of them (and he hit fourth in the other). The left-handed-hitting Caglianone has also been in the lineup each of the last 14 times the Royals have faced a lefty (when he's been healthy).

Jackson Holliday, 2B, Baltimore Orioles

Holliday spent much of last season batting leadoff for the Orioles, and he might have opened this season back at the top of the batting order if not for hamate bone surgery that knocked him out for most of the first two months of the season. Lately, he's getting some chances again in the leadoff spot.

When Holliday did make it back in late May, each of his first 14 starts of the season came from the bottom third of the batting order. That's mostly where he remained until the calendar flipped to August. Holliday batted fifth in three of Baltimore's first five contests this month, and over the last 11 tilts he's hit third eight times, first twice and second once. Though he's slashing .276/.351/.367 since the All-Star break, Holliday has yet to provide much counting-stats juice, providing only one home run and two stolen bases (while being caught three times). Perhaps the most encouraging thing about Holliday's season is his improvement against left-handed pitching. He slashed a sickly .180/.253/.288 against southpaws in his first two seasons, but so far in 2026 Holliday has been better versus lefties (.259/.365/.370) than righties (.233/.326/.374). As a result, the lefty swinger has hit third three times and leadoff once the last four times Orioles have faced a lefty.

Spencer Jones, OF, New York Yankees

Injuries to his teammates have forced Jones into an everyday role for the Yankees. Lately, he's also been entrusted with some prime spots in the batting order.

In Jones' first 23 starts in the big leagues, he batted higher than sixth only twice. In his 20 starts since the All-Star break, the rookie outfielder has hit fifth or higher 13 times, which includes three starts out of the No. 3 spot. He's made 18 consecutive starts for the Bronx Bombers, and that includes three against lefties for the lefty swinger. It's a very small sample, but Jones has put up an 1.164 OPS in 30 plate appearances versus southpaws and just a .565 OPS in 129 plate appearances against righties. The production has been up and down, but Jones' Statcast data has been, unsurprisingly, robust, with a 59 percent hard-hit rate, 14.3 percent barrel rate and 94.5 mph average exit velocity.

Brett Bateman, OF, Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays picked up Bateman from the Cubs at the trade deadline in the deal that sent Kevin Gausman to Chicago. The 24-year-old outfielder did not have to wait long after the trade to get his first opportunity in the big leagues.

Bateman has started 10 of 11 contests for the Blue Jays since being called up Aug. 7, which includes four starts in five games versus left-handers for the lefty swinger. After being slotted into the No. 9 spot in the lineup for his major-league debut, Bateman has batted either first or second in each of his last nine starts. Bateman has zero power, but his offensive strength is getting on base and stealing bases, so he could have some utility in fantasy leagues if those are areas where your team is lacking.

Quick Hits: Jeff McNeil has started 11 of the last 12 games versus righties and has batted leadoff in four of those starts … Tyler O'Neill has started 10 of the past 11 games for the Orioles and has hit either fourth (seven times), first (twice) and third (once) over that stretch … The Red Sox have put Nick Sogard in the lineup for 18 games in a row and have used him at leadoff in 13 of those … Jo Adell has started 11 of 13 tilts since joining the Guardians and has not hit lower than fifth in any of those contests … Christian Vazquez has started three of the last five and five of the last nine games at catcher for Houston … The lefty-swinging Wade Meckler has occupied the leadoff spot each of the last nine times the Angels have faced a righty … Moises Ballesteros has garnered 13 starts in 14 games since landing with the Angels at the trade deadline … Vaughn Grissom has been out of the Halos' lineup just twice in the second half … Heliot Ramos has started 11 of 12 contests since arriving in the Bronx, and he's hit fourth or higher in nine of those tilts … The Mariners eased Brendan Donovan back into things with six starts from the seven spot and two starts from the six spot since he returned from the IL, but his last three starts have come from the leadoff spot.

Trending Down

Travis Bazzana, 2B, Cleveland Guardians

Bazzana hit the ground running in the big leagues, slashing .274/.373/.469 with seven home runs and 12 stolen bases across his first 48 games. Things have not gone as smoothly in his last 43 tilts, with the rookie sporting a lowly .188/.280/.261 line with two long balls and five steals.

From late May until just after the All-Star break, Bazzana batted leadoff for the Guardians almost exclusively. That has not been the case lately, however. Seven of the rookie second baseman's last eight starts have come from either the No. 6 or No. 7 spot in the lineup, and he's batted fifth or lower in 18 of his past 23 tilts. Additionally, the left-handed-hitting Bazzana has been absent from the lineup two of the last four times Cleveland has gone up against a left-hander. The former No. 1 overall draft pick has collected just a .523 OPS versus lefties this season, as compared to a .778 OPS against right-handers.

Cedric Mullins, OF, Tampa Bay Rays

Mullins rode a hot June to a better spot in the Rays' lineup, as nearly all of his starts from early July to early August came out of the cleanup spot. However, Mullins' struggles at the plate since then, combined with the team's addition of Liam Hicks to take over the No. 4 spot, has meant a move down in the order for the outfielder.

Since the trade deadline, Mullins has made two starts from the No. 6 spot and eight starts from the No. 7 slot in the batting order. Since the beginning of July, the 31-year-old has delivered a .215/.276/.413 batting line. Though fantasy managers probably would have signed up for 13 home runs and 18 stolen bases from Mullins by mid-August, he has tallied only 39 RBI and 47 runs despite often hitting in the middle of an above-average Rays offense. Mullins' expected stats in 2026 have been dreadful, as his xwOBA (.255) and xBA (.185) both rank in the first percentile. 

Jose Caballero, SS/2B/3B/OF, New York Yankees

Unlike Anthony Volpe, Caballero remains on the major-league roster. However, the arrival of George Lombard as the Yankees' everyday shortstop has forced Caballero into a little-used utility role.

The Yankees have played 12 games since Lombard was summoned to the big leagues, and Caballero has been on the bench for nine of those contests. He has managed three stolen bases over that span, but a total of 13 plate appearances and only one hit over a two-week stretch isn't going to cut it. Caballero has stolen 30 bases, added a career-high 12 home runs and hit a respectable .242, so fantasy managers are surely content with what they've received from the utility player. That said, he's currently not startable with how little he's played of late.

Yainer Diaz, C, Houston Astros

Is Diaz no longer the Astros' starting catcher? Things seem to be trending in that direction.

Over Houston's last five contests, Diaz has made only two starts. In his team's past nine games, Diaz has been in the lineup on just four occasions. It seemed like Diaz might be coming out of his season-long offensive funk in July, when he put up an .891 OPS with five home runs across 63 plate appearances. However, he's since fallen flat in August with a .443 OPS. He still makes a lot of contact, having posted a career-low 15.4 percent strikeout rate this season, but with a 34.8 percent hard-hit rate, 5.1 percent barrel rate and 87.8 mph average exit velocity, Diaz's quality of contact has fallen off for the second year in a row. His defense is not good enough to make up for a lagging bat, which is why Christian Vazquez — who turns 36 later this week — has been seeing a playing time uptick.

Quick Hits: Brayan Rocchio was the Guardians' cleanup hitter for a stretch at the end of July, but he's been down in the No. 9 spot for each of his last six starts … Angel Martinez has been handed just two starts in the last five and four starts across the last eight contests … He's spent most of his time this season batting cleanup, but seven of Colson Montgomery's last eight starts have come from the No. 6 slot … Six of Christian Walker's last seven starts have come from the six or seven spots in the Astros' lineup … Jasson Dominguez made 22 consecutive starts before the trade deadline but was then optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre the day after the deadline … After getting some run in the leadoff spot and the two hole, Cole Young's last three starts have come from the sixth spot in Seattle's batting order.