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
Wade Meckler, OF, 
Los Angeles Angels
Meckler was an offseason waiver claim of the Angels but was outrighted off the 40-man roster shortly after being claimed. Now, he's the Halos' No. 3 hitter.
Meckler's biggest attribute has always been his plate discipline. In the minors, he's sported a career 14.2 percent walk rate and a 16.6 percent strikeout rate. He had more walks (26) than strikeouts (23) between Double-A Rocket City and Triple-A Salt Lake when the Angels called him up in late May. He was immediately thrown into the Angels' lineup in the six slot upon his promotion and homered in his first contest. Meckler has added an additional home run and a pair of stolen bases since then while collecting an .873 OPS, which has resulted in a move to the No. 3 spot for each of the team's last seven contests. While Meckler is sitting on a lackluster 30.2 percent hard-hit rate, he's already got four barrels and also a 20.9 percent pull-air rate. Ultimately, I doubt Meckler has enough thump to be a useful long-term play in standard fantasy formats, but he can chip in with some steals and could be useful in on–base percentage leagues.
Cole Young, 2B, 
Seattle
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
Wade Meckler, OF, Los Angeles Angels
Meckler was an offseason waiver claim of the Angels but was outrighted off the 40-man roster shortly after being claimed. Now, he's the Halos' No. 3 hitter.
Meckler's biggest attribute has always been his plate discipline. In the minors, he's sported a career 14.2 percent walk rate and a 16.6 percent strikeout rate. He had more walks (26) than strikeouts (23) between Double-A Rocket City and Triple-A Salt Lake when the Angels called him up in late May. He was immediately thrown into the Angels' lineup in the six slot upon his promotion and homered in his first contest. Meckler has added an additional home run and a pair of stolen bases since then while collecting an .873 OPS, which has resulted in a move to the No. 3 spot for each of the team's last seven contests. While Meckler is sitting on a lackluster 30.2 percent hard-hit rate, he's already got four barrels and also a 20.9 percent pull-air rate. Ultimately, I doubt Meckler has enough thump to be a useful long-term play in standard fantasy formats, but he can chip in with some steals and could be useful in on–base percentage leagues.
Cole Young, 2B, Seattle Mariners
For about 75 percent of their games this season, the Mariners have used either Brendan Donovan or J.P. Crawford in the leadoff spot. Unfortunately, Donovan remains out with a nagging groin injury, and Crawford joined him on the injured list Monday with a hand issue. Part of the fallout has been Young ascending to the top of the batting order for three straight tilts versus righties.
Though he did fade in May following a nice April, Young started an 11-game hitting streak toward the end of last month, and he's slashing .292/.327/.354 with one home run and a 2:5 BB:K over that span (the hit streak came to an end Tuesday). The biggest improvement Young has made year-over-year has probably been in his work against fastballs. Last year, he hit just .181 with a .305 xwOBA against heaters, but this year he's batting .282 with a .360 xwOBA off fastballs. The quality of contact from Young remains fairly underwhelming in 2026, but he's been adept at pulling the ball (46.1 percent) and doing so in the air (22.3 percent).
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, 
New York Yankees
Through the Yankees' first 49 games of the season, Goldschmidt made only 17 starts, and he started consecutive games on just two occasions. In the team's last 17 contests, Goldschmidt has been in the lineup for all of them. Across the last eight tilts, he hasn't batted lower than third.
Goldy's playing time had already been trending up, and the unfortunate injury to Aaron Judge (ribs) has solidified it. Since Judge was hurt, Goldschmidt has batted third each of the last five times the Yankees have faced a right-handed pitcher. The 38-year-old managed to take righty Gavin Williams deep Monday, but his splits this season are hard to ignore, as Goldschmidt is slashing .400/.500/.800 against lefties and only .202/.256/.345 against righties. While he could remain in the lineup regularly for now regardless of the handedness of the opposing pitcher, Goldschmidt's leash versus righties is short, as Jasson Dominguez (shoulder) is due back soon and Giancarlo Stanton (calf) is getting closer.
Joc Pederson, DH, 
Texas Rangers
The Rangers opted to move former leadoff man Brandon Nimmo to the middle of their batting order on May 12 and installed Pederson as their regular leadoff hitter versus right-handed pitching. Since that day, Pederson has seemingly run with the gig, putting up a .923 OPS with six home runs and an 11:16 BB:K over 25 contests.
When Pederson is right, the 34-year-old hits the ball hard, he hits it in the air and he draws walks. This season he's got a hard-hit rate (47.3 percent) in the 80th percentile, a 27.5 percent flyball rate (the league average is 24.1 percent) and a walk rate (13.4 percent) in the 86th percentile. The left-handed-hitting Pederson rarely plays against lefty hurlers and is probably a long shot to gain eligibility at any position (he's played three games in the outfield and two at first base), but he could be a useful home run and runs source while he's in the leadoff spot against righties. It's a good sign that he remained at the top of the batting order this past weekend versus a righty after Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford returned from the IL.
Quick Hits: Colton Cowser has drawn six consecutive starts (three in right field, two in center field, one in left field) with Baltimore after having last started back-to-back games May 4-5 … Mickey Gasper has started 18 of the past 26 tilts for the Red Sox, and seven of his last 10 starts have been at catcher … Isiah Kiner-Falefa has been in the lineup for all but one of Boston's last 13 games (six at second base, four at shortstop, two at third base) … The White Sox have handed Jacob Gonzalez starts in seven of nine games since his promotion, including all six versus righties … Christian Walker began the season in the No. 7 spot in the lineup for the Astros, but he's hit lower than cleanup just once since April 30 (and he batted fifth that day) … Carter Jensen has hit leadoff each of the last eight times the Royals have gone up against a righty. Former leadoff man Maikel Garcia was injured for part of that, but Jensen still batted leadoff in the three games Garcia played over that span … Oswald Peraza has been out of the lineup for just two of the Angels' past 17 tilts, and he's been up in the cleanup spot for two of his last three starts … The lefty-swinging Kody Clemens has started all but one contest since May 15, including four versus traditional lefty starters. All of his last 11 starts have come from either the No. 3 or No. 4 spots in the Twins' lineup … Nathan Lukes has started nine of the Blue Jays' last 10 games and has hit either first or second in all but one of those starts …
Trending Down
Carlos Narvaez, C, 
Boston Red Sox
I mentioned above that Mickey Gasper has been getting regular reps for the Red Sox the last few weeks, and those have mostly come at the expense of Narvaez, who has admitted he was not anticipating being demoted and has not heard any explanation from interim manager Chad Tracy or anyone else.
Narvaez has been in the lineup only five times across his team's last 15 contests. It's been a struggle offensively for Narvaez, who is sporting a .209/.283/.304 batting line and 29.7 percent strikeout rate. In truth, the struggles date back to the second half of last season, as the 27-year-old catcher is hitting just .196/.255/.351 since last year's All-Star break. Narvaez dealt with a meniscus injury in 2025 before having offseason surgery, which could offer reasoning behind last year's fade but doesn't explain this year's futility. He remains a premium defender, though, and ultimately I don't think Gasper (or Connor Wong) is going to push Narvaez aside over the long haul.
Luke Keaschall, 2B 
Minnesota Twins
Keaschall drew plenty of hype during draft season after an excellent debut with the Twins last year. He was the team's No. 3 hitter on Opening Day and remained in that slot for 18 of his first 19 starts (and he batted second in the other game). Unfortunately, it's been a struggle at the plate for Keaschall in 2026, and as a result, he continues to scoot down the Twins' batting order.
Keaschall went deep back on April 6 but has been on a 53-game homerless drought since then, sporting a .650 OPS during that stretch. He's batted eighth for the Twins in his last two starts, and he has hit either there or seventh in 12 of his last 14 times in the lineup (and he batted sixth in those other two games). Keaschall has kept his head above water in fantasy by stealing 10 bases, and he's such a good contact hitter (15 percent strikeout rate) that he's not much of a batting average risk. The 23-year-old's quality of contact has been very weak, however, with an 84.3 mph average exit velocity that ranks in the bottom two percent, so it's difficult to summon much optimism about his hitting profile right now.
Evan Carter, OF, Texas Rangers
Carter has managed to stay off the injured list this season, which is a feat in and of itself for a player who's dealt with his fair share of maladies. Steady offensive production has been much more difficult to come by for the 23-year-old, however.
Carter has hit six home runs and stolen 10 bases (without being caught), which puts him on pace for roughly 15 homers and more than 20 steals. Those are numbers you would be fine with, particularly with how things have gone for Carter the previous two years. However, he is slashing just .174/.288/.326, a batting average that ranks 160th out of 161 qualifiers (but ahead of Manny Machado!). Carter has just a .203 BABIP, so there's some bad luck involved, but it would be a mistake to cast the bulk of the blame there, considering his .200 xBA and .294 xwOBA. He's spent time in every spot in the Rangers' lineup this season other than third, but Carter's last five starts versus righties have come from the bottom-third of the batting order, and he hasn't started a game against a traditional southpaw since April.
Colt Keith, 3B/2B, 
Detroit Tigers
From Opening Day through May 3, when Keith was in the Tigers' lineup, he never batted lower than third. Against right-handers, the left-handed batter didn't hit lower than third until May 24. He was still batting leadoff as recently as the team's final three games of May versus righties.
Since the calendar flipped to June, however, Keith has hit sixth twice and seventh four times against right-handed hurlers. Things were going fine in April (.326/.354/.402), but Keith is sporting a lowly .193/.258/.250 batting line since the beginning of May. He remains homerless on the season, which doesn't rise to Fernando Tatis levels of panic but is notable nonetheless. Keith's quality of contact has dipped across the board and his walk rate is nearly halved year over year (10.3 percent to 5.7 percent). I suspect Keith will ultimately be fine against righties moving forward, but he doesn't really have the upside to warrant waiting things out, especially since he never plays versus lefties and has been demoted in the lineup.
Quick Hits: Tyler O'Neill has been in the Orioles' lineup just four times in their last 11 games and has started consecutive contests versus righties just once since returning from the IL in late April … Jose Altuve was batting leadoff when he strained his oblique in mid-May, but since returning last week he's been the Astros' No. 5 hitter … Nolan Schanuel had been the Angels' No. 3 hitter before going on the IL with an ankle injury but has batted fifth in his first three starts back in the lineup … Jose Caballero has started 11 of 15 games since coming off the IL. Prior to landing on the IL, he had had only two days off all season, as Anthony Volpe has eaten into Caballero's playing time … After planting Jake Burger in the cleanup spot for six straight tilts, the Rangers have put him in the No. 7 slot the last four games … Though he's been in the cleanup spot each of the last two times the Blue Jays have gone up against a lefty, Kazuma Okamoto has been down in the seven spot the last six times the opposition has sent a righty to the bump.
