Fantasy Baseball Players Trending Down: George Springer, Patrick Corbin, Colton Cowser, Edwin Diaz, Elly De La Cruz and More

Discussing some of the worst-performing MLB players over the past month.

Yesterday, we looked at several MLB players who were trending in a positive direction. Today (you guessed it), we’ll look at players who are trending down.

We’ll focus on players that have enough playing time over the past 30 days to qualify.

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Worst Hitters

Among qualified hitters, Toronto Blue Jays’ George Springer has the least amount of hits over the past 30 days at just 12 knocks. Those hits came across 77 at-bats and 85 total plate appearances.

Springer has been a huge disappointment this season. He was a top-85 pick in most drafts, but is hitting under .200 for the season.

Springer is still owned in about 80% of leagues, but that number goes down pretty much every day. It’d be a lot lower if his ADP wasn’t so high. I’d determine the state of Springer on my fantasy team by how my squad was performing overall - if I was struggling, I’d move on; but if I was performing well, I’d hold on to Springer a bit longer.

Washington Nationals’ Jesse Winker has 13 hits over the past 30 days, while teammate Nick Senzel has 14. Milwaukee Brewers’ Blake Perkins and Baltimore Orioles’ Colton Cowser are also at 14 hits each.

Winker started the season extremely hot, but has cooled off in a big way. He’s owned in about 20% of leagues now, and outside some deeper leagues, I don’t see a reason to hold Winker any longer.

Senzel is only a fantasy option in extremely deep leagues, sitting at 3% owned right now. He’s hitting under .200, although he does have a .321 on-base percentage, so if he ever figures out how to rack up some more hits, he could be an intriguing waiver wire possibility.

Perkins was hot for a couple weeks when the Milwaukee Brewers were without Christian Yelich. The star hitter is back, and it comes at a good time as Perkins has cooled way off.

Perkins is only owned in 4% of leagues now, and is another deep-league fantasy option. He’s a guy to keep an eye on if another teammate goes down and then it results in Perkins playing nearly every day, but otherwise he’s pretty irrelevant for fantasy purposes.

Cowser was one of the top fantasy hitters in the game early in the season, but also has cooled off considerably. The Baltimore Orioles’ outfielder is still hitting .262 for the season, which speaks to his 59% own mark.

I mentioned this in a recent drop candidate story, but I view Coswer as a pretty strong backup fantasy outfielder even with his numbers fading. I expect him to get rolling at the plate again and at least be a serviceable fantasy backup.

Another hitting stat I want to take a look at is strikeouts, since those can negatively hurt fantasy players.

The Cincinnati Reds have two of the top three strikeouts leaders over the past month. Will Benson is at 42 Ks, while Elly De La Cruz and Chicago Cubs’ Michael Busch are at 38 punchouts each.

Benson is owned in about 10% of leagues, and I’m assuming most of those are extremely deep leagues. He’s hitting under .200, but does provide some pop (six homers), so I get why he’d be somewhat valuable to a deep-league fantasy owner.

Busch was on a tear at the beginning of the season, but now has a .235 average. He’s owned in 51% of leagues still after his hot start, and that number will continue to fade if he continues to struggle at the plate. He also provides some pop (seven homers) and drives in runs and scores a decent amount, so I get why fantasy owners are holding out some hope. I’d be ready to move on from Busch in most fantasy situations.

De La Cruz is owned in 99% of leagues, so he’s definitely not like the other two mentioned in the strikeout section. He’s hitting .254 for the season now, but has a good amount of homers (9), stolen bases (31), runs (35) and RBIs (23), so that obviously gives him a lot of fantasy value. He started really hot and hasn’t been able to sustain it. I’d be willing to at least entertain trade offers for De La Cruz if I owned him.

Worst Pitchers

Arizona Diamondbacks' Slade Cecconi, Cleveland Guardians’ Carlos Carrasco and Washington’s Patrick Corbin have the three worst earned run averages over the past month.

Cecconi has a 6.84 ERA over five games (four starts) and 26 1/3 innings. He’s 0-4 and has just 19 strikeouts over that span, so Cecconi isn’t a good streaming option.

Carrasco has a 6.33 ERA over five starts and 27 innings. He’s 1-3 and has 18 strikeouts over that span. Carrasco is now out with an injury, but when he’s back, he’s only a fantasy option in deeper leagues.

Corbin is a streaming option often when he’s pitching, but he’s really struggled most of the season. He has a 1-2 record but 6.08 ERA over five starts and 26 2/3 innings in the last 30 days. Corbin has only 14 strikeouts over that span - avoid Corbin until he proves he can deliver decent fantasy numbers.

I also want to take a look at blown saves, but focus on primary closers only.

New York Mets’ Edwin Diaz has blown three saves over the past month. Baltimore Orioles’ Craig Kimbrel has two blown saves, as does Los Angeles Angels’ Carlos Estevez, Atlanta Braves’ Raisel Iglesias and Kansas City Royals’ James McArthur.

Diaz is the biggest name of the bunch and is 1-1 with a 8.71 ERA across 10 games and 10 1/3 innings in the past 30 days. He’s actually not at 100% owned anymore, which is not great considering he was one of the first closers drafted in fantasy drafts. I think he’s too talented to struggle for long, but if he does, either try to trade Diaz or cut him completely.

Kimbrel is owned in 89% of leagues right now. He’s 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA over 11 games and eight innings in the past 30 days. His overall numbers are pretty solid, so I’m actually a bit surprised his own percentage isn’t even higher.

Estevez has not had a great season for the Angels, sitting with a 5.06 ERA and three losses. He’s 0-3 with a 7.00 ERA over the past month, which covers nine innings and games. Estevez only has 10 strikeouts over that span, and that only helps him get to a 47% own mark. He’s a fantasy option in deeper leagues, but is someone I’d avoid in standard leagues until he proves to be a better, more reliable closer.

Iglesias is owned in 96% of leagues and has really strong numbers overall, with a 2.33 ERA and 12 saves. His strikeouts are down though, at just 6.5 per nine innings. Iglesias has a 2.45 ERA over the past 30 days despite the two blown saves, which shows he’s fairly consistent. Fantasy owners would like to see his strikeouts increase, but at least he’s closing games and earning saves.

McArthur is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA over the past 30 days, which covers nine games and 10 innings. For the season, he has a 4.15 ERA and 11 saves, with a 1-2 record. He wasn’t a closer coming into the season, but is up to 62% owned right now. There’s better options out there, but he’s also enjoying a pretty positive season and could help fantasy teams in any league type.

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