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 National League.
Trending Up
Daylen Lile, OF, 
Washington Nationals
Would it surprise you to learn that Lile has been a top-20 fantasy outfielder this season? It did me!
Lile has, for the most part, been a steady accumulator during the 2026 campaign, but his production spiked in August with seven home runs, 26 RBI and a .292 batting average. He spent much of that month batting cleanup, but during a 3-for-34 start at the dish in September he shifted down to the No. 6 spot in the batting order. However, the left-handed-hitting Lile's last five starts against righties have come from the two hole, and he's collected an .848 OPS with a pair of long balls and seven RBI across his last eight contests. Lile has clubbed 12 of his 22 home runs and driven in half of his runs since the All-Star break, doing so in 164 fewer plate appearances than he had in the first half.
Dustin Harris, OF, 
San Diego Padres
The Padres have had trouble settling on a No. 2 hitter all season. Lately, it's been Harris getting an opportunity to hit in the desirable lineup spot.
San Diego signed Harris to a minor-league contract during the All-Star break and promoted him a few
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 National League.
Trending Up
Daylen Lile, OF, Washington Nationals
Would it surprise you to learn that Lile has been a top-20 fantasy outfielder this season? It did me!
Lile has, for the most part, been a steady accumulator during the 2026 campaign, but his production spiked in August with seven home runs, 26 RBI and a .292 batting average. He spent much of that month batting cleanup, but during a 3-for-34 start at the dish in September he shifted down to the No. 6 spot in the batting order. However, the left-handed-hitting Lile's last five starts against righties have come from the two hole, and he's collected an .848 OPS with a pair of long balls and seven RBI across his last eight contests. Lile has clubbed 12 of his 22 home runs and driven in half of his runs since the All-Star break, doing so in 164 fewer plate appearances than he had in the first half.
Dustin Harris, OF, San Diego Padres
The Padres have had trouble settling on a No. 2 hitter all season. Lately, it's been Harris getting an opportunity to hit in the desirable lineup spot.
San Diego signed Harris to a minor-league contract during the All-Star break and promoted him a few weeks after he got off to a hot start at Triple-A El Paso. He was thrown into the lineup right away, drawing starts in nine of the Padres' first 10 games against right-handed pitching, but the left-handed hitter didn't bat higher than seventh in any of those starts. However, Harris has settled into the No. 2 spot in each of his last nine starts, and he's slashed .325/.349/.425 with 10 RBI and three stolen bases during that stretch. The quality of contact is abysmal (20 percent hard-hit rate), but Harris has just a 14 percent strikeout rate and has stolen nine bases in 10 attempts on the year.
Teoscar Hernandez, OF, 
Los Angeles Dodgers
Hernandez entered the month of September sporting a pedestrian .708 OPS with only 12 home runs across 101 contests. On Sept. 1, he was situated in the No. 8 slot in the Dodgers' batting order. Lately, however, Hernandez has found himself creeping back up in the lineup.
When an aggressive hitter with a high strikeout has a multi-month slump in their mid-30s, it's fair to wonder whether they'll ever come out of it. I don't know if Hernandez is in the clear in that regard, but he's certainly finishing up the regular season on a high note in slashing .352/.439/.549 with three long balls, three stolen bases and an 11:18 BB:K in 19 September tilts. Each of the veteran outfielder's last two starts against lefties have come from the third spot in the lineup, and he's hit fifth twice, fourth once and sixth once in his last four contests versus right-handers. Though the right-handed-hitting Hernandez has traditionally been better versus southpaw hurlers, his splits have been extreme in 2026 with a .910 OPS against lefties and .689 OPS versus righties.
Javier Sanoja, 2B/3B/SS/OF, 
Miami Marlins
Though Sanoja has served as the Marlins' primary third baseman throughout the 2026 campaign, it always felt like he was simply keeping the seat warm until one of the team's other higher-upside bats took over at the hot corner. Instead, Sanoja's grip on the job looks as tight as ever as he finishes the season with a flourish.
Across 46 games since Aug. 1, Sanoja is sporting a healthy .337/.378/.556 batting line with seven home runs, 33 RBI, five stolen bases and a 11:15 BB:K. Coming into that month, he was slashing .265/.305/.390 with three home runs, six stolen bases and a 16:23 BB:K in 93 contests. In Miami's last six games, the righty-swinging Sanoja has batted fifth three times, cleanup twice and sixth once. He's hit fourth five times this month, including once against a righty this past weekend. Two-thirds of Sanoja's starts this season have come from the bottom third of the batting order, and most of his starts (45) have been from the No. 9 spot, but he's earned a more favorable spot in the lineup.
Quick Hits: Pavin Smith has climbed his way back into the mix with the Diamondbacks, starting six of the past nine contests … Juan Brito has been in the lineup for seven of the past 10 tilts for the Reds, though they faced just two righties over that span … Joey Ortiz has started 11 of the last 13 contests for the Brewers … The Pirates have given Ronny Simon starts in five of their past six games … Shay Whitcomb has been in the lineup for all but two of the Giants' previous 14 tilts … Thomas Saggese has drawn 20 consecutive starts for the Cardinals.
Trending Down
Ryan Waldschmidt, OF, 
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Diamondbacks have fallen out of the playoff hunt, and Waldschmidt has fallen out of a regular role.
In his team's last eight games, Waldschmidt has not seen his name written into the lineup a single time, and he's received a total of just two plate appearances during that span. Prior to this, the rookie outfielder had started 79 percent of Arizona's games in the second half. Waldschmidt has not given the Diamondbacks much of a reason to play him lately, as he's slashing a lowly .210/.322/.290 with two long balls in 100 plate appearances since the beginning of August.
A.J. Ewing, OF, 
New York Mets
From July 3 to Aug. 28, every one of Ewing's starts against right-handed pitching came from the leadoff spot. In 22 contests since then, he's batted higher than sixth just once (and he batted fifth that game).
Ewing suffered through a dreadful August, slashing an anemic .171/.243/.219 with zero RBI that month. He's rebounded nicely so far in September, however, hitting .354/.411/.523 with three home runs. Will the strong finishing kick earn him another look at the top of the batting order? For whatever reason, Ewing has really struggled while batting leadoff, slashing just .211/.273/.301 in 40 contests. Meanwhile, he's got an OPS over 1.000 from the No. 7 spot and an OPS over 1.100 from the No. 8 spot in the Mets' lineup.
Brady House, 3B, Washington Nationals
One of the main goals coming into a season like the Nationals were anticipating was getting a better handle on which players can be part of your core moving forward. I'm still not sure the Nats have an answer one way or another on House.
House has undoubtedly improved in 2026 upon what he did in 2025 with the big club. His OPS (.574 to .700), hard-hit rate (46.3 percent to 48.2 percent), barrel rate (4.3 percent to 10 percent) and walk rate (2.8 percent to 7.9 percent) have gone up, while his strikeout rate (28.5 percent to 25.9 percent) has gone down. However, the splits have been extreme, as the right-handed-hitting House has blistered lefties to the tune of a .347/.426/.547 batting line but gotten worked over by righties (.193/.250/.325). The 23-year-old has been absent from the lineup four out of the past six times the Nationals have gone up against a righty.
Nolan Gorman, 3B, 
St. Louis Cardinals
A season-ending ankle injury suffered by Blaze Jordan in late August afforded Gorman another opportunity at third base for the Cardinals. Unfortunately, he's fumbled his chance again and at this point he might not have any left.
Upon being recalled from Triple-A Memphis, the lefty-swinging Gorman drew starts in each of the team's first 14 games versus right-handers. However, in the Cardinals' last five contests against righties, Gorman has been penciled into the lineup on just one occasion. He has not been in the lineup a single time against a traditional left-handed starter since he was recalled. Gorman is sporting a .585 OPS and 31.8 percent strikeout rate on the season, and he's got just a .536 OPS during his latest stint with the big club.
Quick Hits: Tommy Edman has been moved back down the Dodgers' batting order in two of the last three games against right-handers, batting seventh once, eighth once and ninth once … Xavier Edwards has been out of the lineup three times and hit seventh twice since coming back from a thumb injury, and his thumb has been bothering him again … The Brewers have penciled David Hamilton's name into their lineup just five times across their last 13 contests … Jacob Gonzalez has been absent from the lineup for eight of the last 11 contests … Spencer Horwitz has started only five of the last 10 games for the Pirates and his last four starts have come from the No. 8 spot in the batting order … After batting second regularly versus righties for nearly two months, Jake Cronenworth hasn't hit higher than seventh in any of his last 10 starts … Abimelec Ortiz has started just five of the past 11 tilts and eight of the last 16 contests for the Nationals.
