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
Anthony Volpe, SS, 
New York Yankees
It seems pretty clear at this point that Volpe is not the Yankees' long-term answer at shortstop. However, he's making a late-season push to throw his hat into the ring to be the club's solution at second base.
Jazz Chisholm suffered a right thumb sprain last week, an injury that puts his availability for the remainder of the regular season in doubt. Volpe was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to take Chishom's spot on the roster, and he's picked up five starts in six games at second base. He cranked a grand slam as part of a three-hit, five-RBI day from the nine spot in the batting order in his first game back in the majors. Volpe had been swinging a hot bat at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before being called up, slashing .292/.390/.660 with 10 home runs and eight stolen bases in 28 games, and manager Aaron Boone is riding with Volpe over Jose Caballero as Chisholm's replacement.
Kyle Teel, C, 
Chicago White Sox
The suddenly reeling White Sox have tweaked their lineup a bit recently in hopes of jumpstarting things. One of those changes involved Teel being moved to a higher-profile spot in the batting order.
When Teel returned earlier
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
Anthony Volpe, SS, New York Yankees
It seems pretty clear at this point that Volpe is not the Yankees' long-term answer at shortstop. However, he's making a late-season push to throw his hat into the ring to be the club's solution at second base.
Jazz Chisholm suffered a right thumb sprain last week, an injury that puts his availability for the remainder of the regular season in doubt. Volpe was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to take Chishom's spot on the roster, and he's picked up five starts in six games at second base. He cranked a grand slam as part of a three-hit, five-RBI day from the nine spot in the batting order in his first game back in the majors. Volpe had been swinging a hot bat at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before being called up, slashing .292/.390/.660 with 10 home runs and eight stolen bases in 28 games, and manager Aaron Boone is riding with Volpe over Jose Caballero as Chisholm's replacement.
Kyle Teel, C, Chicago White Sox
The suddenly reeling White Sox have tweaked their lineup a bit recently in hopes of jumpstarting things. One of those changes involved Teel being moved to a higher-profile spot in the batting order.
When Teel returned earlier this month from his second lengthy, injury-induced absence, he did so as the No. 9 hitter in his first four starts. However, the last three times Teel has been in the lineup he's been situated in the two hole. Teel has reached base twice in each of those starts while batting second, and he boasts an 13.5 percent walk rate in 2026 and a 12.7 percent walk rate thus far during his time in the majors. The young catcher is also sporting a 48 percent hard-hit rate and 14 percent barrel rate so far this season, though that's been in a small sample of only 30 contests.
Dylan Beavers, OF, 
Baltimore Orioles
Beavers has bounced around all over the Orioles' lineup this season, hitting in every slot at least once outside of the No. 2 spot. Lately, he's been employed as the team's leadoff man.
The left-handed-hitting Beavers has been perched atop the lineup for each of his last five starts, with four of those coming against right-handed hurlers. Prior to this stretch, he had not batted higher than fifth in more than a month. Beavers has had a fairly underwhelming season on the whole, but he has collected an .811 OPS with four long balls over his last 25 games to earn a move up in the batting order.
Mickey Gasper, C/1B, 
Boston Red Sox
Gasper was in the minors and not on the big-league roster when the Red Sox went on their ridiculous midseason run, but no one has done more over the past month to keep the team's offense afloat.
Dating back to Gasper's recall from Triple-A Worcester on Aug. 17, the 30-year-old is slashing an utterly ridiculous .308/.477/.785 with nine home runs, 16 RBI and a 17:10 BB:K over 86 plate appearances. The switch hitter has started all but one game against right-handed pitching over that span, and each of his last 12 starts have come from the No. 2 spot in the batting order. However, there would not appear to be a clear path to playing time for Gasper once Ceddanne Rafaela (quad) returns, assuming the Red Sox don't intend to bench Jarren Duran. Gasper has begun to cool off a bit of late, going 3-for-20 over his last eight games.
Quick Hits: John Peck has taken over as the Tigers' primary shortstop down the stretch, starting 11 of the last 14 games … The Mariners have employed J.P. Crawford as their leadoff man in each of their last seven contests … Jorge Mateo has assumed the shortstop job for the Rays since Taylor Walls (hip) got hurt, starting seven of the past right tilts … Victor Mesa has started 11 of 13 contests since coming off the injured list, and he's batted cleanup or fifth for the Rays in his last five starts … Though he rarely plays against right-handers, the righty-swinging Justin Foscue has hit third twice and leadoff twice in the Rangers' last four games versus lefties.
Trending Down
Colson Montgomery, SS/3B, Chicago White Sox
For the first two months of this season, Montgomery did his best to prove his strong finish to the 2025 campaign was no fluke. For the last four months, he's left us all wondering how good he actually is.
Montgomery popped 15 home runs in 58 games while slashing .235/.329/.498 with a 29.2 percent strikeout rate through the end of May. Since June 1, he's sporting a .183/.262/.370 batting line with 16 long balls and a 38.7 percent strikeout rate across 85 contests. In his last eight games, Montgomery is 1-for-29 with 17 punchouts. That recent rough stretch has finally resulted in a move down the batting order, as the 24-year-old has hit eighth twice and seventh once over the last three starts. Prior to that, he hadn't hit lower than sixth all season, and most of his starts this season have come from the cleanup spot.
Spencer Torkelson, 1B, 
Detroit Tigers
We know that there are going to be peaks and valleys with Torkelson. Lately, one of those valleys has been costing him playing time.
Torkelson has started four straight contests for the Tigers, but before that he was out of the lineup for three games in a row and four times in a five-game span. The first baseman went homerless in August, and prior to his recent stretch of four straight starts, Torkelson had hit only .141 with a 38.4 percent over 23 contests. All four of Torkelson's last five starts have come from the No. 7 spot in the Tigers' batting order. Tork did homer for the second time in three contests Tuesday, so perhaps he will close out the season with one of those peaks.
Jackson Holliday, 2B, Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles were counting on Holliday taking a step forward this season. Instead, what they got was a step back during an injury-shortened campaign.
Holliday underwent hamate bone surgery in February and encountered a couple setbacks while rehabbing, which meant he didn't make his season debut until May 19. The 22-year-old put together a quality .261/.367/.401 batting line in 58 games through the end of July, but since Aug. 1 he's slashed an anemic .196/.224/.278 across 40 contests. From Aug. 7 to Sept. 2, Holliday batted between first and third in all of his starts. However, he's been down as low as the No. 7 spot a couple times since then and has also batted fifth on two occasions.
Taylor Ward, OF, 
Seattle Mariners
Ward's walk season has been at best bizarre and at worst disastrous. It's definitely veered closer to the latter since he joined the Mariners at the trade deadline.
When Ward was acquired via trade last month, he'd managed only seven home runs in 111 games for the Orioles, one year after swatting a career-high 36 long balls. However, he was still an above-average offensive player thanks to a 17.2 percent walk rate and .383 on-base percentage. Though he's still drawn free passes at a healthy 12.9 percent clip with Seattle, Ward has produced a lowly .113/.237/.138 batting line with one extra-base hit (a triple) across 28 contests. As a result, Ward has gone from everyday player to short-side platoon bat to reserve. The right-handed-hitting Ward has yet to start a game against a right-hander in September, and he wasn't even in the lineup each of the last three times Seattle has faced a lefty.
Quick Hits: Samuel Basallo has started only five of the Orioles' past 11 games as he continues to struggle at the plate while battling a nagging shoulder problem … Angel Genao's playing time has dipped lately, as the rookie infielder has seen only three starts across the Guardians' previous seven tilts … Javier Baez has been included in the Tigers' lineup just once over his team's last nine games … Each of Josh Naylor's last nine starts have come from the six spot in the Mariners' lineup, which is the lowest he's batted this season … Braden Montgomery has been out of the lineup twice and batted ninth twice in the White Sox's last four games.
