Weekly Fantasy Baseball Hitter Trends: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not?

Let's check in on some fantasy baseball players trending up and down.

We'll cover hitters in this story, then pitchers in another article. We'll look at the past week of play (May 12-19) for hitters, and focus on notable fantasy hitters when discussing the struggling ones. Let's dive in!

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Hitters Trending Up

Hit Leaders

St. Louis' Ivan Herrera and Brendan Donovan lead the MLB with 13 hits over the timeframe I set up.

I just got done talking about how Herrera needed to be rostered in more leagues, and this hot stretch is part of the reason why. He has a homer and three doubles among his knocks in the past week. Herrera is only rostered in 70% of leagues, and is barely outside the top-10 fantasy catchers despite missing a month - add him now.

Donovan is rostered in 100% of leagues, which is what you hope to see out of a top-100 fantasy pick. He has four doubles among his 13 knocks, and continues to deliver as a fantasy asset. Despite his big season and recent hot stretch, he might be an attainable fantasy bat because he's not a huge power threat - check in on him and see if you can get a good fantasy bat for pretty cheap in a trade.

Houston's Jeremy Pena has 12 hits over the past week. He has a homer and double among the hits. 

Pena is rostered in 87% of leagues, so a few of you reading this could pick him up for free. He's at a stacked fantasy position (shortstop), but he's delivering good enough results to roster and play over some other shortstops who are owned in more leagues right now. He's a better trade asset in deeper leagues, but he could be acquired for a pretty affordable price in standard leagues if you want to add the Houston infielder.

Home Run Leaders

LA Angels' Taylor Ward, LA Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani and Cincinnati's Will Benson have five home runs each over the past week.

Ohtani is obviously one of the top fantasy players in the game, and it's always good when he's delivering to that level. He's closing in on Aaron Judge for the top fantasy hitter spot in the game. The only way I'm trading Ohtani is if my fantasy team has been ravished by injuries, and he could be used to replenish my team's depth.

Ward is a guy who appeared in Tuesday's waiver wire story as well. His season-long numbers aren't great, but he's trending up right now and can be utilized in all leagues until he cools back off.

He's a better trade asset in deeper leagues. Ward is owned in 64% of leagues, so if you need a little power help right now, Ward is an option.

Benson was the key hitter in Monday's waiver story here. He's up to 44% owned after sitting under 5% on May 17.

Benson has been on a tear at the plate, and has been one of the top fantasy hitters for about a week now. He could be utilized in any fantasy league for the time being, but he's likely to fall back to being a deep-league option more often than not. He can still be started and rostered in standard leagues when he's hot like this.

Runs Scored Leader

Chicago Cubs' Nico Hoerner has scored a league-high 11 runs over the past week. Nobody else has scored over eight runs.

Hoerner is rostered in just about every fantasy league already, so if you want to acquire him, it'll likely be in a trade. With not much power to his game, he's a bit more attainable than he really should be. Hoerner's strong average and OBP, mixed with good run and RBI totals makes him a better fantasy asset than he's given credit for.

RBI Leaders

Arizona's Eugenio Suarez leads the MLB with 11 RBIs over the past week. He's rostered in 93% of leagues now.

Suarez is more a sell-high trade asset in my eyes than a guy to be targeting. His average and OBP are pretty low, with his big homer and RBI/runs scored totals powering him as a fantasy asset. I don't think that's sustainable all season, so I'd look to trade him now, because his trade value can't get too much higher, I don't think.

Ward, Ohtani and Benson all have 10 RBIs in the past week, as does Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong.

PCA is owned and started in just about every single league nowadays. He's really coming into his own this season, and stuffs the stat sheet across the board. His fantasy value is rising by the day, and instead of looking to sell high on him, I'm now in the boat of wanting to hold him and see just how high he might soar this season.

Hitters Trending Down

Least Amount of Hits

Toronto's George Springer and Boston's Kristian Campbell have just one hit over the past week. That's the lowest amount of hits among qualified hitters.

Springer has a double for his lone knock across 22 plate appearances. He's struck out seven times in that span. Campbell has a homer for his lone knock over 22 plate appearances. He's struck out eight times in that span.

Springer's own percentage is falling - he sits at 78% overall now. There's still enough in his season-long numbers to use him in standard leagues when he's going well, but during struggles like this, Springer should be dropped or benched.

Campbell was part of my drop candidate story on Monday, and has been over the past couple weeks. He's down to 70% rostered after being one of the bigger fantasy stars early in the season. I like his upside over Springer, but he's unplayable right now. Some fantasy teams struggling or sitting in the middle of leagues cannot wait for him to turn it around, so dropping him is the only course of action.

Least Amount of Runs Scored

Kansas City's Salvador Perez, Boston's Trevor Story, New York Mets' Pete Alonso and Milwaukee's Jackson Chourio are some bigger fantasy names with no runs scored over the past week.

Perez has just three singles for his only times on base in that span. He's down to 90% rostered, which is disappointing given where he was drafted before the season. Fantasy owners are running out of patience with the veteran, and some again have no choice but to move on from him.

Story is way down to 43% rostered after sitting near 80% near the end of April. He has three singles and a walk for his only times on base over the past week. Story is unplayable right now, and should only be rostered in deeper redraft leagues for the time being.

Alonso is still owned in all leagues and still has great season numbers. He just had a rough week when it came to driving in runs. There's nothing too big to worry about here.

Chourio has a double and two singles, along with a walk, over his past 31 plate appearances in the past week. He's also struck out 10 times. Chourio is still rostered in all fantasy leagues, but fantasy owners might face a tough decision with him if his 0-for streak keeps going much longer - I'd do my best to hold him, or look to trade him before outright dropping a top-end talent like Chourio.

Most Strikeouts

Baltimore's Gunnar Henderson and Crow-Armstrong are among the strikeout leaders over the past week.

While PCA has delivered fantasy points in other ways, Henderson has not been that good. He has four singles and two homers for his six hits in that span.

He was drafted early in round two in most fantasy drafts, and would have been a first-round pick if not for an injury. Henderson has been pretty disappointing since getting on the field, especially in his RBI total. Like Chourio, I'd look into trading Henderson before ever outright dropping him. Fantasy owners are losing patience with Henderson though, so now might be the time to pounce and buy low on him.