At this advanced stage of the season, most of the postseason hardware races have appeared to narrow to a clear leader (or two).
Yordan Alvarez is the clear favorite for American League MVP honors, Jacob Misiorowski holds a steady lead for the National League Cy Young and Kevin McGonigle is mostly assured of capturing the AL Rookie of the Year. Meanwhile, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Shohei Ohtani are immersed in a two-man race for NL MVP, while Cam Schlittler and Dylan Cease are duking it out for AL Cy Young.
But then there's the NL Rookie of the Year race, which on the surface looks like a two-man battle between the St. Louis Cardinals' JJ Wetherholt and Cincinnati Reds' Sal Stewart ... or is it? New York Mets rookie starter Nolan McLean remains on the fringe of the race with a 2.19 ERA over his last nine starts.
And then there's a teammate of McLean's who is arguably the top sleeper in the race, not to mention one who is one of the most underrated players -- and the week's top recommended pickup -- in ESPN fantasy baseball leagues.
Carson Benge, OF, Mets (33.8% rostered): That's right, it's Benge, who most remember for his awful opening month in the majors: a 21-game, career-opening span during which time he hit .136/.219/.197 and was in danger of being demoted back to the minors. Thanks to an adjustment to his batting stance in late April, he has quietly become one of the more productive hitters -- let alone rookies -- in baseball. Benge has hit .300/.357/.466 with 15 home runs and 13 stolen bases in his 104 games since, during which time only 34 other hitters have scored more than his 252 fantasy points. Yet, Benge somehow still remains available in nearly two-thirds of ESPN leagues.
Benge has settled into a run-producing, middle-of-the-order lineup slot over the past month-plus, batting .308/.363/.474 with five homers, 17 RBIs and seven stolen bases in the 35 games since his move down from the leadoff spot. And here's why he's not as outrageous a Rookie of the Year candidate as it might seem: He's just one home run behind race leader Wetherholt (although 11 behind Stewart), five stolen bases ahead of both, he has a batting average 15 points ahead of both, his wOBA is 10 points behind Stewart's but 11 ahead of Wetherholt's and his OPS+ is six points behind Stewart's but seven ahead of Wetherholt's. It's not outrageous that a strong finish by Benge could put him right in the mix.
Saves for the ... uh ... save
As we noted last week, you should always scoop up upper-tier potential saves -- and some more options fell directly onto the free agent list in recent days:
Tanner Scott, RP, Los Angeles Dodgers (36.4% rostered): Edwin Diaz's recent struggles, which saw him post a 12.91 ERA and blow three of six save chances, led to his return to the IL last Tuesday, re-opening the closer role for one of baseball's winningest teams. Scott, who was outstanding in the role the last time Diaz was sidelined, converting 16 out of 18 save chances with a 2.65 ERA and the seventh-most fantasy points among relievers during that time (182), is suddenly back in the spotlight. The lefty already has three saves since Diaz's IL placement.
What's especially appealing with Scott is that this job can be permanently his for the duration of 2026. With only 31 games remaining on the Dodgers' schedule, there's precious little time for Diaz to get himself right in time to prove himself worthy of a ninth-inning role entering the postseason. Diaz is ineligible for activation before Sept. 2 and he has already been said to be destined for a lower-pressure role initially upon his return to prove his worth in the later frames.
Beyond that, he's adjusting his arm angle while sidelined in order to ease the strain on his arm. As we know with many instances in the past, players who adjust their deliveries to compensate for injuries sometimes put themselves at risk for other ailments, so there's no guarantee that Diaz's tweak will result in future success.
High-profile weekend debut
We had another prominent MLB debut over the weekend, this time from a pitcher with eye-popping minor league stats. Considering what's ahead, he's well worth universal addition in all fantasy baseball leagues:
Kade Anderson, SP, Seattle Mariners (37.2% rostered): Though his MLB debut was hardly overwhelming (he tossed 5 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on his way to nine fantasy points on Saturday), Anderson's potential was apparent. He completed four shutout frames to begin the start and it was a challenging matchup for the Chicago Cubs at that.
Anderson, who had an astounding 10-1 record, 1.06 ERA, 0.64 WHIP and 40.5% strikeout rate in 18 starts for Double-A Arkansas at the time of his recall, has a diverse repertoire of four pitches (93.6 mph four-seam fastball, slider, changeup and curveball) that should make him an immediate fantasy asset.
It will also help that his Mariners are excellent at producing successful pitching prospects and they face one of the most favorable remaining schedules of any team. Of their final 31 games, 13 come against teams that rank among the bottom six in terms of runs per game and an additional four come at home against an Athletics offense that is second-worst in the majors in runs per game on the road.
Matchup men
Cade Cavalli, SP and Abimelec Ortiz, 1B/OF, Washington Nationals (64.7% and 5.5% rostered)
Cavalli has been fantasy baseball's best pitcher over the past 53 days. Read that again: Cavalli's 149 fantasy points scored over eight starts during that time leads the majors, ahead of Cease (139), Tarik Skubal (134) and even Misirowski (115, which is 11th on the list).
Heightened velocity on his four-seam fastball and usage of his cutter, while maintaining the better-than-35% whiff rate with his knuckle curve, have made the difference for Cavalli, who suddenly has the pitch repertoire of a genuine top-25 fantasy starting pitcher. He's also aligned for a fantastic schedule this week, getting starts at home against both the Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins. He then projects to face the Atlanta Braves at home, pitch at San Diego's Petco Park, then potentially face the Los Angeles Angels at home. Cavalli's roster rate needs to be much higher than this.
Mentioned in this space last week, Ortiz's addition partly looked ahead to this week, when he couldn't have drawn much more favorable matchups. The Nationals project to face six right-handed starting pitchers in their seven home games combined against the Rockies and Marlins, with Eury Perez being the only truly challenging assignment among those seven games. Ortiz has slugged .526 with five home runs in his 60 trips to the plate against right-handed pitchers, and he has hit three of those homers in the seven home games since his recall.