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 National League.
Trending Up
Curtis Mead, 1B/3B, 
Washington Nationals
The Nationals' potent offense has been one of baseball's biggest surprises this season, and no one has done more to enhance their standing than Mead. Acquired from the White Sox just after Opening Day, Mead played sparingly for the first month-plus of the season but has taken over as the Nats' regular third baseman since Brady House was optioned. Mead has started 11 of the past 13 contests and has batted either second (versus lefties) or third (versus righties) in those starts. He homered four times during that span to push his season total to eight.
Mead is a former top-50 prospect who is still just 25, but this is the first time he's shown much of anything at the major-league level. He looks like a totally different hitter, cutting his strikeout rate to 17.7 percent (career 23.4 percent strikeout rate coming into 2026) and upping his walk rate to 13.4 percent (career 5.7 percent walk rate coming into 2026). Mead is also sporting a 45 percent hard-hit rate, a 10.8 percent barrel rate, a 49.1 percent pull rate and 22.5 percent pull-air rate, numbers that are all easily career highs.
Andy Pages, OF, 
Los Angeles Dodgers
Pages has
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 National League.
Trending Up
Curtis Mead, 1B/3B, Washington Nationals
The Nationals' potent offense has been one of baseball's biggest surprises this season, and no one has done more to enhance their standing than Mead. Acquired from the White Sox just after Opening Day, Mead played sparingly for the first month-plus of the season but has taken over as the Nats' regular third baseman since Brady House was optioned. Mead has started 11 of the past 13 contests and has batted either second (versus lefties) or third (versus righties) in those starts. He homered four times during that span to push his season total to eight.
Mead is a former top-50 prospect who is still just 25, but this is the first time he's shown much of anything at the major-league level. He looks like a totally different hitter, cutting his strikeout rate to 17.7 percent (career 23.4 percent strikeout rate coming into 2026) and upping his walk rate to 13.4 percent (career 5.7 percent walk rate coming into 2026). Mead is also sporting a 45 percent hard-hit rate, a 10.8 percent barrel rate, a 49.1 percent pull rate and 22.5 percent pull-air rate, numbers that are all easily career highs.
Andy Pages, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers
Pages has been arguably the Dodgers' most consistent hitter this season, but he hasn't occupied a consistent spot in the batting order. At least, not until recently.
Pages has been situated in the two hole in each of the Dodgers' last seven contests, and it hasn't mattered whether it's been a right-hander (four times) or left-hander (three times) on the bump for the opposition. The 25-year-old's 46.8 percent hard-hit rate and 90 mph average exit velocity this season after both easily career-best marks, and his 10.2 percent barrel rate is just shy of his career high. Pages is also sitting on a career-low 18.7 percent strikeout rate, which has helped him to a .283 xBA which ranks in the 85th percentile. Pages remains an aggressive hitter who is likely to encounter a slump at some point, but he's in an incredible spot for fantasy value right now as the Dodgers' No. 2 hitter behind Shohei Ohtani and ahead of Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, et al.
Ryan Waldschmidt, OF, 
Arizona Diamondbacks
Upon being recalled from Triple-A Reno, Waldschmidt made his first 14 starts for the Diamondbacks from the No. 9 spot in the lineup. He slashed .326/.392/.413 over that stretch and since then has batted sixth four times and also fifth on four occasions.
Unfortunately, the rookie outfielder has cooled off since a move up in the batting order, going 7-for-32 with a 2:13 BB:K. Swing and miss has been an issue for Waldschmidt in the early going with a 32.2 percent strikeout rate, which is a surprise for a guy who struck out at just an 18.6 percent clip in the minors. Breaking balls have been the bugaboo for Waldschmidt, as he's sporting just a .253 xwOBA and 58.3 percent whiff rate on breaking pitches. However, Waldschmidt has shown aggressiveness on the basepaths with five steals already on six attempts, and he's also had no trouble getting the ball in the air with a 27.5 percent pull-air rate.
Blake Dunn, OF, 
Cincinnati Reds
At the beginning of May, Dunn remained at Triple-A Louisville. At the beginning of June, he's the Reds' everyday leadoff hitter. Or, at least he was until moving down in the batting order Tuesday.
When Dunn was elevated from part-time outfielder to regular leadoff man, he had collected a .355/.412/.581 batting line with one home run and a pair of stolen bases over his first 12 tilts. Since then, Dunn has managed a lowly .200/.256/.225 slash line across nine contests. He's split his time between center and right field, eating into the playing time of both TJ Friedl and Will Benson. The 27-year-old Dunn has elite speed and collected an 11.6 percent walk rate in the minors. He could be a real asset in the stolen-base department if he reaches base enough, but making contact has been an issue. Dunn has struck out at a 30.4 percent clip so far at the big-league level, and he's whiffing at nearly a 50 percent rate against non-fastballs in 2026.
Quick Hits: Jake McCarthy has started 16 straight and has hit leadoff each of the eight times the Rockies have faced a righty … Jorge Mateo is eating into the struggling Ha-Seong Kim's playing time. He's made five consecutive starts, including three at shortstop … Michael Harris has hit in two hole the last three games and in six of his past 11 starts. Had not previously batted higher than fourth this season … Pete Crow-Armstrong has been in leadoff spot for the Cubs' last eight games versus righties and batted second against the last two lefties the team faced … Tyler Freeman has started 10 of the past 11 tilts, all in right field. Has not batted lower than fourth during that stretch and his last four starts have been from the No. 2 slot … Brandon Marsh has batted cleanup in the Phillies' last three games versus right-handed pitching and has started six of the past seven against southpaws … Spencer Horwitz has become the Pirates' new leadoff man the last seven times they've gone up against a righty … With Gavin Sheets playing more left field, Ty France has been in the lineup for seven of the past eight tilts at first base … Jimmy Crooks finally got the call after a hot start at Triple-A Memphis. He'll eat into Pedro Pages' playing time at catcher for the Cardinals … Bryce Eldridge has started nine of the past 10 games. Prior to that, had five starts in a 12-game stretch.
Trending Down
Ildemaro Vargas, 1B/2B, Arizona Diamondbacks
Vargas has been one of the better stories in baseball this season, getting off to the best offensive start to his career in his age-34 campaign. Unfortunately, we're starting to see some cracks in the foundation.
After slashing .340/.359/.543 in his first 40 contests, Vargas is only 5-for-45 (.111) across his last 13 games. From April 26 to May 25, Vargas never batted lower than fifth in the Diamondbacks' order. Since then, he's hit sixth four times and seventh three times. The timing for Vargas' slump isn't great, either, as Pavin Smith is back from the 60-day injured list and could push to overtake Vargas at first base.
Andrew Vaughn, 1B, 
Milwaukee Brewers
Vaughn fractured his left hamate bone on Opening Day, causing him to miss nearly six weeks of action as he recovered from surgery. Since returning, Vaughn has slashed .354/.425/.508 across 21 contests. However, he's been in the lineup for just 64 percent (16-of-25) games during that span.
Though he's started all six games versus left-handed pitching since coming off the injured list, the righty-swinging Vaughn has been in the lineup only 10 times in 19 tilts against right-handers. Given the aforementioned numbers he's put up since being activated, Vaughn's less-than-ideal playing time allotment has more to do with how well Jake Bauers (.275/.356/.495) has performed. The tide could be turning here, however. Three of Bauers' last four starts have come in the outfield (two in left field, one in right field), leaving first base to Vaughn those days. I doubt Bauers will become a full-time outfielder, but we could continue to see Sal Frelick and/or Garrett Mitchell getting extra days off and Vaughn's playing time tick up.
Adolis Garcia, OF, 
Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies brought Garcia aboard over the offseason in hopes that he could help make up for Nick Castellanos' declining production. Instead, they're getting even less out of their right field spot.
Garcia has been particularly brutal lately, going 4-for-60 with a 44.3 percent strikeout rate over his last 20 contests. He's batted eighth over the Phillies' last three games and has not hit higher than seventh over his past seven starts. That came after a month-long stretch from mid-April to mid-May when Garcia was the Phillies' regular cleanup man. Hitting coach Kevin Long has gotten Garcia to be less aggressive at the plate, as his 44.3 percent swing rate and 28.8 percent chase rate are both well below what we're used to seeing from the 33-year-old. Unfortunately, his zone swing rate is also way down at 63 percent, so Garcia has been more passive than patient. He's also not making contact with the pitches he does swing at with a 31 percent strikeout rate.
Will Smith, C, Los Angeles Dodgers
For the first six weeks of the season, no player spent more time batting third for the Dodgers than Smith. Through May 19, he never batted lower than fifth. Since then, he's hit that high only once and has spent most of his time batting seventh. He's also sat in favor of Dalton Rushing each of the last two times the Dodgers have faced a righty.
Smith's production has been down this season, especially compared to his excellent 2025 campaign. A look under the hood suggests there's not anything to worry about, however. He's been one of the unluckiest hitters in baseball, sporting a 64-point gap between his xwOBA (.386) and wOBA (.322). That's the fourth-highest gap in all of baseball, and Smith's xwOBA ranks 21st among 259 batted-ball qualifiers. He'll be fine, and a move back up in the batting order eventually should be inevitable.
Quick Hits:
The Reds desperately want Matt McLain to be an offensive force and he's shown glimpses of that, but the consistency just hasn't been there. Over his team's last eight games, McNeil has batted ninth four times, eighth once and been out of the lineup on three occasions … I wrote about Edouard Julien in this space back in late April when he was serving as the Rockies' regular leadoff man, but over the last 15 contests he's been out of the lineup seven times and hasn't exited the lower-third of the batting order in his eight starts … With the aforementioned Spencer Horwitz taking over as the Pirates' leadoff man, Oneil Cruz has had to find a new spot. Since Ryan O'Hearn returned from the IL over the weekend, Cruz has batted sixth in each of the last two games versus right-handers.
