AL Week 12 Strategy-June 15, 2025
In The Field
3B Isaac Paredes left Thursday’s game early with a left hamstring injury. Paredes is hitting .255 with 15 HR, 37 R, 42 RBI, and 0 SB. 3B Jazz Chisholm Jr. was not in the Yankees lineup on Thursday due to left groin tightness. He was back in the lineup on Saturday. Chisholm Jr. is hitting .214 with 9 HR, 21 R, 25 RBI, and 10 SB. He is hitting the ball hard (15% Barrels) but has struck out more (30% K) and walked more (12% BB), which has limited the number of balls he puts in play, lowering his batting average. 1B Luke Raley (oblique) started a rehab assignment on Thursday with Triple-A Tacoma. Raley has been out since the end of April. He was hitting .206 with 2 HR, 10 R, 8 RBI, and 2 SB. He is more valuable in daily leagues where you can take advantage of his career .246 AVG, .803 OPS, 42 HR, and 25 SB in 918 PA against RHP. OF Tyler O’Neill is struggling to recover from his shoulder injury. He sat out the past two games in Triple-A with renewed shoulder soreness and was shut down on Saturday after receiving an injection in his shoulder. He was expected to be activated this weekend, but that now looks unlikely. SS Jacob Wilson was out Tuesday and Wednesday with a hamstring injury. Wilson has been better than anyone expected and has provided fantasy value across the board (.366 AVG with 8 HR, 36 R, 38 RBI, and 5 SB). DH Giancarlo Stanton has started a rehab assignment. He is expected to join the Yankees soon. This is going to impact their lineup and has major fantasy implications. 1B Ben Rice has been getting most of his at-bats at DH, but that will be Stanton’s primary spot when he comes back. The Yankees have discussed potentially getting Rice at-bats at catcher, but that remains to be seen. What is most likely to happen is that Giancarlo Stanton, Ben Rice, Austin Wells, and Jasson Dominguez will get semi-regular playing time. This is going to hurt their value in deeper mixed league formats where they will not be getting everyday at-bats, but are talented enough to be rostered. Keeping an eye on how the Yankees deploy them following Stanton’s activation is going to be important. 3B/OF Matt Vierling has been positive about his shoulder recovery of late after suffering with the injury since the spring. He had resumed baseball activities and started a rehab assignment on Friday. He is going to DH while he continues his throwing program. His return is going to take some at-bats away from 3B Zach McKinstry and OF Javier Baez. OF Wilyer Abreu (oblique) is expected to return when first eligible on June 20, according to manager Alex Cora. Abreu is hitting .245 with 13 HR, 28 R, 32 RBI, and 4 SB. The Red Sox will have a playing time situation when Abreu does return. The recent call-up of top prospect OF Roman Anthony clouds the picture. The picture is a little bit clearer as long as 3B Alex Bregman is out because it allows SS Marcelo Mayer to play 3B and keeps 2B Kristian Campbell at 2B, which leaves RF open for Abreu. Once Bregman comes back, either they send one of the top prospects down or move Campbell to 1B, where he has been practicing for Mayer to play 2B. DH Masataka Yoshida is hoping to start a rehab assignment in late June or early July. He is going to have to prove that he is 100% healthy and productive before the Red Sox activate him. Even at that point, unless there are injuries, it is hard to see him having a regular role. OF Chris Taylor was placed on the 10-day IL with a fractured hand. 2B Michael Massey was placed on the 10-day IL on Tuesday with a left ankle sprain. Massey was hitting .202 with 2 HR, 10 R, 14 RBI, and 1 SB. 3B Royce Lewis left Friday’s game early with a left hamstring injury and was not in the lineup on Saturday. He was placed on the 10-day IL on Saturday afternoon. Lewis continues to be injury-prone and has struggled when on the field this year (.202 AVG with 2 HR, 10 R, 9 RBI, and 0 SB). Most of it is due to bad luck (.222 BABIP) because he isn’t striking out (15% K) and is hitting the ball hard (12% Barrels), but if he’s not on the field, it will be hard to turn it around. OF Evan Carter left Friday’s game after making a diving catch. Manager Bruce Bochy said that he is dealing with a minor wrist injury. He is expected to be out Saturday and is considered day-to-day. 2B Jonathan India came out of Friday’s game early due to a shoulder injury. He was not in Saturday’s lineup. OF Colton Cowser was out of the Orioles’ lineup on Friday and Saturday due to soreness from his collision with the outfield wall on Thursday. 3B Alex Bregman (quad) told reporters on Friday that he may not go on a rehab assignment and is currently running at 50%. This still puts him multiple weeks out from a return. SS Ha-Seong Kim (shoulder) was shut down on Thursday due to right hamstring tightness. He had been on a minor league rehab assignment. Kim is expected to start his rehab assignment again next week. The Angels called up 2B Christian Moore on Friday. He was hitting .279 with 5 HR, 31 R, 32 RBI, and 8 SB in 54 GP at Triple-A. He does have power speed potential, but he will need to keep the strikeouts in check to stay in the lineup. He struck out 27% of the time in Triple-A, which could mean upwards of 30% at the major league level, which is hard to get past unless you have elite batted ball statistics. OF Byron Buxton left Saturday’s game early after being hit on the elbow by a pitch. He is considered day-to-day. 1B/OF Ryan O’Hearn was scratched from the Orioles’ lineup due to left ankle discomfort. He has been really good this year (.310 AVG with 10 HR/3 SB).
On The Mound
Cole Ragans (shoulder) is set to get a second opinion on his left shoulder injury. Surgery isn’t believed to be needed, but manager Matt Quatraro admitted they won’t really know until next week. He is going to be out longer than the 15-day minimum. This is really unfortunate news for Ragans, the Royals, and fantasy managers. Jackson Jobe was placed on the 60-day IL on Thursday. He is going to have Tommy John surgery, which is going to end his 2025 season and sideline him for most of 2026 as well. Cody Bradford (elbow) completed a 22-pitch bullpen session on Wednesday. Reports were good out of that bullpen. He is going to need to continue to build up his pitch count and then multiple rehab starts before joining the Rangers’ rotation. Shane McClanahan got more bad news. He is going to go see another nerve specialist in order to plan the next steps of his rehab. He threw a bullpen last Friday but was shut down after, and is now going to another nerve specialist, so this does not seem to be good news for the talented left-hander. Nathan Eovaldi (triceps) is expected to throw a bullpen over the weekend after playing catch on Wednesday. He is progressing, but he is still without a timetable for his return. Kutter Crawford (knee/wrist) has taken a step back in his rehab. He did not feel “great” during a bullpen session, so he has gone back to just playing catch. It is his wrist that has been the problem recently. The White Sox traded for Aaron Civale. Civale has a 4.91 ERA and 1.36 WHIP through 22 IP. The skills have not returned to his breakout 2023 season (3.46 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 23% K, and 7% BB). The strikeouts have not bounced back, and his swinging strike rate has declined. There is not much fantasy appeal here. Pablo Lopez (shoulder) was moved from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. He is expected to be out for a minimum of two months, which means, best-case scenario, he is back mid-to-late August. This makes him a drop in leagues without IL spots and limited benches. Max Scherzer (thumb) started a rehab assignment (4.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, and 4 K). He was scheduled to throw 60-65 pitches and ended with 56. He will likely need at least two rehab starts before being activated. Logan Gilbert went six scoreless innings in his latest rehab with six strikeouts. He threw 72 pitches in this contest, which means that he is ready to be activated. He is expected to start on Monday against the Red Sox. Gilbert was great before the injury (2.37 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, and 33% K:BB with a 1.98 SIERA). Emerson Hancock (5.04 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 9% K:BB, and 4.57 SIERA) and Logan Evans (3.38 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 11% K:BB, and 4.42 SIERA) are the two candidates to lose their spot in the rotation. Evans appears to be the odd man out as he was the most recent call-up and could go back to Triple-A. Bryce Miller (elbow) is going to be out for 4-6 weeks with right elbow inflammation. He received a PRP injection on Tuesday and is going to be shut down from throwing for two weeks. Zebby Matthews (shoulder) has been shut down from throwing for two weeks due to a moderate subscapularis strain of his right shoulder. He will be reevaluated after the no-throwing period. The Twins called up Simeon Woods-Richardson to take his spot in the rotation. Bailey Ober is also dealing with a hip injury, but has not been placed on the IL. The issue is affecting his mechanics and velocity. The Twins’ rotation has been hit hard by injury this year. Alex Cobb (hip) had his rehab transferred to Triple-A Toledo. Cobb went 2 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, and 2 K. He is still building up his pitch count, and he hasn’t gone more than 2.1 IP in his three rehab starts. He also received an injection in his other hip on Friday, so it is unknown how much this is going to set him back. Reese Olson (finger) has been feeling good during his recent bullpen sessions. This led to him starting a rehab assignment with Triple-A Toledo on Saturday. Grayson Rodriguez (lat) expects to throw off a mound next week and is targeting a return sometime after the All-Star break. Tyler Mahle is dealing with a sore shoulder prior to his start. Manager Bruce Bochy was non-committal on whether he would make his next start or not.
In The Bullpen
Luke Weaver (hamstring) threw a bullpen on Wednesday. Reports were positive afterwards. He was given a 4-6 week timetable for his recovery when the injury initially happened, so he is tracking towards the shorter end of that. Devin Williams has filled in at closer after initially losing his job due to poor performance. Williams was better in May (4.22 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, and 28% K:BB) and has been good so far in June. Felix Bautista picked up his 13th save on Friday night. Aroldis Chapman continues to have a strong season with two more saves this week (12) to go along with a 1.55 ERA and 0.86 WHIP. Pete Fairbanks got a save on Friday, which was his first since June 6th. Jeff Hoffman has turned it around lately with two more saves this week (17), but if he ever falters again, Yariel Rodriguez appears to be the next guy up. He got a save chance this week. Kenley Jansen is still the closer in Los Angeles, but Reid Detmers is moving up the pecking order. He got a save and a win this week. He has been good in the month of June (0.00 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 1 W, 2 SV, 2 BB, and 10 K).
Players to add this week:
C Alejandro Kirk (TOR)- Alejandro Kirk has been red-hot over his last 7 games, hitting .522 with 2 HR and 5 RBI in 23 PA. For the season, he’s slashing an impressive .328/.367/.444 with 5 HR and 31 RBI through 55 games. He’s generating strong contact metrics (9% Barrels and 56% hard-hit) with a ton of contact (10% K). While power is modest, his contact quality and on-base skills make him a top streaming target at catcher this week.
3B Marcelo Mayer (BOS)-Marcelo Mayer has flashed potent offensive upside in Triple-A, slashing .271/.347/.471 with 9 HR, 43 RBI, and 2 SB over 170 PA. Since joining Boston, he’s hit .239 with 3 HR, 9 R, 4 RBI, and 0 SB. Over his last 7 GP, he is hitting .333 with 2 HR, 5 R, 2 RBI, and 0 SB. He is hitting the ball hard (10% Barrels and 52% Hardhit). Mayer is striking out too much (30% K), but that is expected for a rookie making the first round of adjustments to major league pitching. He is projected for a .250 AVG with 10 HR and a handful of steals the rest of the way, which is a usable fantasy profile.
SS Trevor Story (BOS)- Trevor Story started out hot and then went through a major slump, but has picked it up of late. He is hitting .283 with 2 HR, 7 R, 11 RBI, and 2 SB over the past 14 days. On the year, he is hitting .230 with 9 HR, 30 R, 34 RBI, and 11 SB. The average may be low, but he is going to provide value in the other four categories.
OF Joe Adell (LAA)- Joe Adell is hitting .229 with 13 HR, 23 R, 34 RBI, and 3 SB. He has cut his strikeout rate to 25% without sacrificing quality of contact (14% Barrels). Adell has also been very good in the month of June (.297 AVG with 6 HR, 10 R, 10 RBI, and 2 SB).
3B Addison Barger (TOR)-Addison Barger has carved out an everyday role for the Jays. He is hitting .267 with 7 HR, 21 R, 22 RBI, and 1 SB. He has good plate skills (7% BB and 24% K) and hits the ball hard (14% Barrels and 52% Hardhit). Projections have Barger as a 20 HR/5 SB guy over a full season’s worth of at-bats, which is worth owning in deeper mixed league formats.
1B/3B Miguel Vargas (CWS)- Miguel Vargas continues to be one of the White Sox’s best hitters in 2025. He is hitting .243 with 9 HR, 33 R, 30 RBI, and 2 SB. The underlying skills all look good (10% BB, 18% K, and 11% Barrels). He has been unlucky on balls in play (.267 BAIBP), but that is mainly due to a heavy fly ball approach (57% FB). If he can lower that launch angle, he can continue to have power and hit for a high average. Vargas has hit .265 with 8 HR, 22 R, 21 RBI, and 1 SB since May 1st.
SP Jose Soriano (LAA)-Jose Soriano has been a mixed bag in 2025. He has a 3.86 ERA and 1.50 WHIP with 7% K:BB. The strikeouts have gone down and the walks have gone up since last year. With that being said, he still has a 3.96 SIERA, elite ground ball rate (67% GB), and a plus fastball/sinker. Soriano has a two-start week (@NYY and HOU).
SP Sawyer Gipson-Long (DET)- Sawyer Gipson-Long is back starting games for the Tigers. He has made two appearances, including one start. Gipson-Long has a 4.32 ERA and 1.08 WHIP with 24% K and 3% BB. The last time we saw him was in 2023 when he made four starts for the Tigers (2.70 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and 22% K:BB). He has the stuff to miss enough bats and has shown good control, so he is worth taking a shot on.
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