Zac Gallen and Tyler Soderstrom Among Friday's Top Fantasy Baseball Drop Candidates

After looking at some fantasy baseball waiver wire hitters and pitchers, it's time to go over some fantasy drop candidates. We won't cover anyone who appeared in drop stories on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Also be sure to check out the Friday streaming article.

More droppable player data can be located on the waiver wire trends most dropped tab, which can be found on any fantasy baseball page here at FantasySP. 

Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including waiver pickups, projections, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant.

Should You Drop Zac Gallen?

Gallen was let go in 3% of leagues today, bringing his overall mark down to 55%.

Gallen is in a funk on the mound, having allowed at least four runs in four straight starts. He's got an 8.02 earned run average over 21 1/3 innings in that span. Gallen has allowed 20 runs (19 earned) on 27 hits and 11 walks, while striking out 17.

Arizona is 4-8 in his 12 overall starts this season. Gallen is 3-7 with a 5.54 ERA over 66 2/3 innings. He's surrendered 42 runs (41 earned) on 61 hits and 32 walks, while punching out 66 batters.

Gallen has been a fantasy starter to utilize for several years, but he's really regressed this season. His career ERA is 3.46, and he hasn't been over 3.65 in any season since 2021.

His strikeouts per nine innings are down, while his walks per nine innings are up. Gallen's 1.40 WHIP this season is way above his 1.15 career mark.

Gallen has bounceback potential, so I'd be inclined to buy low on him in a trade. Sure, he's hard to trust with any start right now, but he can be benched until he bounces back. He shouldn't cost much in a trade, so eventually dropping him shouldn't hurt your fantasy team all that much.

If you can't find a trade partner, then his own percentage is likely to keep dropping as his struggles on the mound persist. Upcoming starts against the Braves and Mariners are ones Gallen could get going in, so I'd do my best to hold out hope on him. His time as a standard league option could be coming to a close though.

Should You Drop Tyler Soderstrom?

Soderstrom is rostered in 92% of leagues now. He's been just under 100% owned for most of the past month.

Soderstrom has no hits over his past four games, and has struck out eight times in that span. He has just two hits (both singles) over his past seven games and 29 plate appearances.

Across 57 games and 241 plate appearances overall this season, Soderstrom has a .257 average and .324 on-base percentage. He has 56 total hits, including 10 doubles and homers. He also has 31 RBIs, two stolen bases, 29 runs scored, 20 walks and 64 strikeouts.

He was one of the top fantasy first basemen and hitters overall earlier this season, but he's starting to regress. Soderstrom had a .204 average and .282 OBP for his career coming into the season, so regression was due to come. I don't think he's going to end this season with those marks, but his early-season totals aren't going to happen either.

Soderstrom has played first base and left field, so the dual position eligibility is good for his fantasy value. If he's not hitting though, he's not worth holding in all leagues anymore.

Depending on how your fantasy team is faring, you might need Soderstrom's roster spot to be producing, so that's when I'd be OK dropping him for a waiver bat that's heating up. I'd look to trade Soderstrom before dropping him though.

Keep rostering Soderstrom in deeper leagues, even if his struggles persist. He'll heat back up at some point, at which point he'll be added back in more standard leagues.

At the very worst though, Soderstrom is a good depth option in deeper redraft leagues.

Should You Drop Ronel Blanco?

Blanco is rostered in 30% of leagues. He's on the injured list with an elbow injury, and is going to miss the remainder of the season.

Blanco can be safely dropped in all redraft leagues. The only leagues he should be kept in are dynasty/keeper leagues.

Blanco was coming off a great 2024 season in which he went 13-6 with a 2.80 ERA over 167 1/3 innings. He had a 4.10 ERA over nine starts and 48 1/3 innings this season before going down with the injury.

Blanco was a late standard league pick on average this spring, so streaming his roster spot isn't a massive blow to standard league fantasy owners. Blanco owners in deeper leagues have a bigger hole on their teams, but there's enough pitching to get by without him the rest of the season - check out daily waiver and streaming articles for the best options.

Should You Drop Trevor Story?

Story is down to 30% rostered. He was at 74% owned a month ago.

He had four hits over his first three appearances this month, but has just 10 hits in the 20 games since. Story has a .159 average and .204 OBP across 23 games and 94 plate appearances this month. He has two extra-base hits, five RBIs, three stolen bases, seven runs scored, four walks and 30 strikeouts as well.

Over 54 games and 225 plate appearances overall this season, Story has a .218 average and .263 OBP. He has six homers and three doubles among his 46 total knocks, along with 21 RBIs, nine stolen bases, 22 runs scored, 10 walks and 67 punchouts.

Story is hitting sixth or seventh most days now for the Red Sox. He's still playing plenty, but when he's not delivering at the plate, he's simply not a good fantasy asset.

He's worth keeping around in some deeper fantasy setups, but Story should be benched for the time being. He's worth keeping an eye on throughout the season in case he heats back up, but right now there's not many fantasy leagues he should be deployed in. There's plenty of fantasy shortstops to go around too, so don't hold out hope for the oft-injured Story.

Should You Drop AJ Smith-Shawver?

Speaking of injuries, Smith-Shawver was placed on the 15-day injured list with a strained right elbow. The Braves are awaiting MRI results, but the young pitcher said he heard a pop in his elbow, which is usually not a good sign.

It's a bummer for Smith-Shawver, who was starting to settle in at the big league level. Across nine starts this season, he had a 3-2 record and 3.86 ERA over 44 1/3 innings. Smith-Shawver has allowed 20 runs (19 earned) on 42 hits and 21 walks, while striking out 42 batters. 

He had a blowup start on May 22, but had allowed three runs or fewer in every other start before that. Smith-Shawver was up to 86% owned on May 22.

You'll want to keep an eye on Smith-Shawver's MRI results, but for now, he can be dropped in standard redraft leagues and a few deeper redraft leagues. It's likely he's going to miss more than 15 days (and maybe the full season), and he'll be droppable in all redraft leagues if he's eventually ruled out for several weeks or the full season.

Should You Drop Ryan Walker?

Walker is owned in 75% of leagues right now.

He's being dropped because the Giants have removed him from the closer role. Camilo Doval is the team's closer moving forward.

Walker has struggled this season, and sports a 4.95 ERA over 20 innings pitched. He's 1-2 with 10 saves, two blown saves and a hold over 22 appearances. Walker has allowed 12 runs (11 earned) on 19 hits and seven walks, while striking out 19 batters.

Those numbers are a far cry from the 1.91 ERA, 10 saves and 10-4 record he posted over 76 appearances and 80 innings in 2024. He was averaging 2.5 more strikeouts per nine innings and 1.2 less walks.

Walker is still a pretty solid fantasy asset in a high-leverage relief role, which he'll settle into now. Those guys are usually only deep-league fantasy assets though, and that's where Walker is trending now.

He could eventually get the closer role back, or pitch well enough to sneak back into standard leagues despite not being the closer, so he's a reliever to keep tabs on. Walker should be dropped in standard redraft leagues and some deeper redraft leagues for now though.