Fantasy Baseball Drop Candidates: Injuries and Slumps Forcing Tough Decisions

Let's now turn our attention to fantasy baseball drop candidates before the weekend hits.

Here are drop articles from Monday and Wednesday.

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.

Adley Rutschman - Baltimore Orioles

Rutschman is rostered in about 96% of fantasy leagues right now. He's trending down a bit because of an injury.

He was hit in the left ear with a throw on a play at first. There's no update on his status, so that will be something to watch.

Rutschman has had a bounceback season so far, hitting .254 and getting on base at a .329 clip over 54 games and 228 plate appearances. He has 15 doubles, eight home runs and a triple among his 51 total hits.

The primary catcher has 40 RBIs, 26 runs scored, 23 walks and 33 strikeouts as well. He's looked much better this season than he did in 2025, when he was limited to 90 games.

Rutschman's status will determine how fantasy owners approach him. He's producing enough to own and utilize in most leagues, but if he misses time, then he could be dropped. Be watching his status and react accordingly - when he's back on the field though, add him to your fantasy roster if he becomes available in your league.

Spencer Strider - Atlanta Braves

Strider is also being let go because of an injury. He's at just 76% owned right now, and that continues to plummet.

He was transferred from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL. Strider has an elbow injury that is shutting him down for at least four weeks. The hope is to get him back on the mound in the latter half of August.

The oft-injured pitcher has only started eight games this season. Strider is 4-2 with a 5.31 earned run average, so he hasn't pitched very well when healthy. He's allowed 24 runs (23 earned) on 33 hits and 20 walks over 39 innings, while striking out 46 batters along the way.

Strider wasn't pitching very well, but him being injured doesn't help matters - now, he can't help your fantasy team at all. It's a bummer, but not all that surprising given his injury history.

He's talented enough to stash in a lot of fantasy leagues, but if you are out of roster/IR spots, then Strider is droppable. In the league I own Strider in, I have him in an IR spot for now, but he'll become droppable if anyone else hits the IL from my squad. Stashing Strider for a little over a month of possible pitching yet this season just isn't a very wise move, especially in standard leagues.

Keep him around in deeper leagues, but move on from him in standard leagues if you need more immediate fantasy help

Royce Lewis - Minnesota Twins

Lewis is sitting near 52% rostered at this moment. He's starting to trend back down after soaring up as a fantasy asset over the past couple weeks.

Lewis isn't hurt, so he's trending down for poor results on the field. Over his past three games, he has just one hit over 14 plate appearances. Lewis has struck out seven times, but also has a walk, two RBIs and two runs scored, so it hasn't all been bad.

In 42 games and 166 plate appearances this season, Lewis has a .199 average and .283 OBP. He has 29 total hits, including six homers and five doubles. Lewis has 20 RBIs, 17 runs scored, 16 walks, four stolen bases and 48 strikeouts.

Lewis can be a good fantasy asset at times, but between inconsistent hitting and injury woes, he's a better deep-league fantasy asset. He's trending toward just being owned in deeper leagues now.

Keep tabs on him in case he heats back up eventually, but only keep him around in deeper leagues otherwise.

Cole Ragans - Kansas City Royals

Ragans is another one being let go because of an injury. He's owned in roughly 82% of leagues right now.

Ragans was transferred to the 60-day IL with an elbow injury of his own. He's been out since May 8, and will now miss at least the first couple weeks of July.

He struggled in his eight starts early on, and sits with a 4.84 ERA over 35 1/3 innings. Ragans is 1-4 and has allowed 20 runs (19 earned) on 27 hits and 23 walks, while striking out 45 batters.

He's been a better fantasy asset in the past, but has struggled each of the past two seasons. Injuries are becoming an issue as well for Ragans.

With the Royals struggling this season, I expect the organization to play things carefully with Ragans. Like Strider, he is droppable if you are out of fantasy roster spots for him.

With Ragans maybe coming back sooner though, I'd hold out hope for Ragans in a decent amount of leagues, and especially deeper ones. He hasn't pitched well enough to stash though, so if you don't have room for him any longer, don't be afraid to move on from Ragans.