The goal with Lineup Lowdown is simple: we're looking for trends which could help identify players that might be undervalued or overvalued. Who is playing more/less? Who is moving up/down? This week, we will be focusing on players from the American League.
Trending Up
Jarren Duran, OF, 
Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox delivered some shocking news this past weekend when they announced the firing of manager Alex Cora and most of the coaching staff. Former Triple-A Worcester skipper Chad Tracy has taken over as interim manager, and it's worth keeping an extra close eye on lineups after a team makes a change in the dugout.
Duran batted leadoff against the final two right-handers the Red Sox faced while Cora was still in charge and has remained there in three games versus righties since Tracy took over and also since Roman Anthony returned from a back issue. Anthony had started all but two contests at the top of the batting order before getting hurt, but he's been in the No. 3 slot in the last three tilts while Duran bats leadoff.
Duran had slotted in as the team's regular No. 3 hitter for the first couple weeks of the season, but in a seven-game stretch from April 14-21 he batted fifth twice, sixth once and seventh once and began the other three contests on the bench. It's not as if a hot stretch from Duran forced the Red Sox to elevate him in the lineup (he's got a .351
The goal with Lineup Lowdown is simple: we're looking for trends which could help identify players that might be undervalued or overvalued. Who is playing more/less? Who is moving up/down? This week, we will be focusing on players from the American League.
Trending Up
Jarren Duran, OF, Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox delivered some shocking news this past weekend when they announced the firing of manager Alex Cora and most of the coaching staff. Former Triple-A Worcester skipper Chad Tracy has taken over as interim manager, and it's worth keeping an extra close eye on lineups after a team makes a change in the dugout.
Duran batted leadoff against the final two right-handers the Red Sox faced while Cora was still in charge and has remained there in three games versus righties since Tracy took over and also since Roman Anthony returned from a back issue. Anthony had started all but two contests at the top of the batting order before getting hurt, but he's been in the No. 3 slot in the last three tilts while Duran bats leadoff.
Duran had slotted in as the team's regular No. 3 hitter for the first couple weeks of the season, but in a seven-game stretch from April 14-21 he batted fifth twice, sixth once and seventh once and began the other three contests on the bench. It's not as if a hot stretch from Duran forced the Red Sox to elevate him in the lineup (he's got a .351 OPS over his last 12 games). Rather, it's more about a struggling team shaking things up and putting a guy back to the spot he'd occupied for most of the previous two seasons.
Andrew Benintendi, OF, 
Chicago White Sox
When did Benintendi turn into Joey Gallo?
It has not worked out well for Benintendi in Chicago, and he appears to be taking extreme measures in hopes of altering the trajectory of his tenure with the White Sox. In the 31-year-old's first three seasons with the White Sox, he had a 16.6 percent strikeout rate and 32.3 percent hard-hit rate, and his highest pull-air rate in any season was 26.5 percent. This season, Benintendi has a 35.9 percent strikeout rate, a 61.1 percent hard-hit rate and a 46.3 percent pull-air rate that is the highest in all of baseball (by a wide margin). Benintendi's pull rate sits at 61.1 percent, which is also the highest in the game.
I don't know whether this new approach for Benintendi will ultimately work. Even with the massive improvement in how hard he impacts the ball, Benintendi's xwOBA of .289 would be the lowest full-season mark of his career. He probably needs to get that strikeout rate closer to 30 percent and also get his flyball rate to a less extreme level, and even then he'll be a batting average risk. Benintendi has been in the leadoff spot for the White Sox each of the last eight times they've faced a right-handed pitcher. It's an odd lineup placement given Benintendi's current hitting profile, but as long as it continues it will give his runs scored outlook a boost. The left-handed-hitting Benintendi has started only twice against lefties this season and has done so from the No. 7 spot in the lineup, so he'll have to do plenty of damage against righties to be a steady fantasy contributor.
Brooks Lee, 2B/3B/SS, 
Minnesota Twins
The Twins as a team have come back to earth after a surprisingly hot start. Lee, though, is trending in a positive direction.
After slashing a sickly .167/.219/.167 with zero extra-base hits in his first 10 games this season, Lee has hit .279/.353/.557 with five home runs and 13 RBI across his past 17 contests. Manager Derek Shelton has rewarded Lee with a bump up in the batting order. After batting either eighth or ninth in 22 of his first 23 starts (and hitting seventh in the other game), Lee hit leadoff Sunday and second Monday before getting a day off Tuesday.
How real is Lee's recent hot stretch? There's an 82-point gap between Lee's xwOBA (.314) and wOBA (.396) during the aforementioned 17 tilts. His hard-hit rate (38 percent) and barrel rate (six percent), while a step up from what he'd been doing, don't stand out. I'm certainly more interested in Lee in fantasy while he's hitting toward the top of the batting order, but I'm not sure the profile has changed.
Jasson Dominguez, OF, 
New York Yankees
It unfortunately came at the expense of a Giancarlo Stanton (calf) injury, but Dominguez is back in the big leagues.
Dominguez was squeezed out of an Opening Day roster spot after the Yankees re-signed Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger. He didn't sulk at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, though, earning a promotion after slashing .326/.415/.478 with three home runs, eight stolen bases and a 13:16 BB:K. Dominguez started in the designated hitter slot and batted sixth in his big-league season debut Monday and was back in the same spot Tuesday.
The Yankees are saying Stanton's calf strain is low-grade, so it's possible his stint on the IL isn't a long one. However, Stanton's injury history is obviously a lengthy one, and his maladies have often been leg-related. The Yankees are rolling right now and will not rush Stanton back, so there's a potential window for Dominguez to stick around a while. He should be a regular presence in the Yanks' lineup while Stanton is away, and after Randal Grichuk was designated for assignment, Dominguez could remain with the big club even after Stanton is back.
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Chase Meidroth, 2B/SS, Chicago White Sox
Meidroth was the White Sox's leadoff man for his first 14 starts of the season and batted second in his next three starts. The right-handed batter has continued to hit either first or second versus lefties, but he's been bumped down to seventh (five times) or eighth (once) against right-handers.
Meidroth is slashing .327/.393/.367 with one stolen base and a 6:12 BB:K across his last 13 tilts, so it would not surprise me if he finds himself back in the leadoff spot versus both righties and lefties sooner rather than later. The 24-year-old is fairly limited as a hitter, but what he does bring to the table are on-base skills. Meidroth sports a healthy 10.7 percent walk rate in the early going this season, and he was prolific in the minors when it came to drawing free passes with a 17.4 percent walk rate. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Andrew Benintendi — who has taken over as the leadoff man versus righties — is sitting on a 6.3 percent walk rate and .260 on-base percentage.
Matt Wallner, OF, Minnesota Twins
The left-handed-hitting Wallner was in the Twins' lineup for each of their first 14 contests of the season, even though the club went up against eight southpaws. He was the cleanup man for eight of those games, including on three occasions versus lefties.
Over the past two weeks, Wallner has not batted higher than seventh. He's been absent from the lineup four times over that stretch, including three times versus right-handers. While Wallner has managed to club three home runs, he's slashing just .172/.274/.290 with a 36.8 percent strikeout rate. It doesn't take a long look at Wallner's Statcast page to see that something is off. Over the previous three campaigns, Wallner has never had a flyball rate lower than 33.5 percent, a groundball rate higher than 34.4 percent or a pull-air rate lower than 24.8 percent. This season, Wallner is sporting just an 18.5 percent flyball rate, a 51.9 percent groundball rate and a 13 percent pull-air rate.
As long as he's healthy — and there have been no indications he isn't — Wallner should bounce back from a power perspective. He's just 28 and had a 133 wRC+ across the last three seasons, but he's currently sitting on a 61 wRC+. That said, Wallner has the type of all-or-nothing profile where things can go south in a hurry, so I'm not in a rush to buy low.
Luisangel Acuna, 2B/SS/OF, Chicago White Sox
I liked Acuna as a late-round target in drafts this spring. At the very least, I figured he was a good bet to pile up stolen bases in an everyday role, and I thought there could be more with the bat after he showed big power in winter ball following a swing change. The stolen bases have been fine, but Acuna's contributions with the bat have been non-existent and it's starting to cost him playing time.
Acuna is 6-for-7 in stolen base attempts across his first 24 games of the season, which is a nice feat considering how rarely he's been on base to run. With a .186/.256/.200 batting line, Acuna has been one of the worst hitters in baseball. Among the 250 players to accrue at least 70 plate appearances, he ranks 245th with a .456 OPS. His wRC+ of 32 ranks 244th, and his .219 wOBA ranks 245th. Acuna's .269 xwOBA points to some bad luck, but it's all relative because a .269 xwOBA is still terrible.
As a result of his offensive futility, the right-handed-hitting Acuna was absent from the lineup five times in a row when the White Sox faced a righty hurler before getting back in there Tuesday. Acuna is still playing versus lefties but has yet to escape the lower-third of the batting order. The speed and the triple-eligibility is nice, but he'll have to pick it up at the plate in order to be worth rostering.
Colton Cowser, OF, 
Baltimore Orioles
Cowser was the Orioles' Opening Day center fielder, but he might be playing his way into a reset at Triple-A Norfolk.
Across his first 63 plate appearances this season, Cowser is slashing an anemic .200/.274/.236 with only two extra-base hits (both doubles). He's striking out at a 31.7 percent clip, which is actually a slight improvement over the career 32.3 percent strikeout rate he had coming into the season. Though Cowser has an above-average 10.8 percent barrel rate and 43.2 percent hard-hit rate, his average exit velocity is lagging at 86.5 mph and he's pounding the ball into the ground at a rate of 56.8 percent.
Cowser has been held out of the starting lineup in four straight and five of the Orioles' last six contests, and he's started only eight of the past 18 games. Baltimore has faced a good number of southpaws over that span, but the left-handed-hitting Cowser has been out of the lineup four times versus righties across that stretch, as well. Dylan Beavers and Tyler O'Neill haven't been great so far, either, but they've been better than Cowser, and the O's have also received an unexpected contribution from Leody Taveras. Cowser just turned 26 last month, but he's been trending in the wrong direction since finishing runner-up in the AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2024.
