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Most every week, Scott White will highlight some of the more notable changes to his rest-of-season rankings. You'll find said rankings here and are urged to bookmark them if you haven't already. There's no better resource for gauging player value throughout the long season.

There's a player rostered in less than 50 percent of CBS Sports leagues with a 95th percentile xBA, a 95th percentile xSLG, a 99th percentile average exit velocity and a 97th percentile max exit velocity.

Sounds like an almost perfect hitter, right? If something were to sink such a talent, it would most likely be a poor launch angle, a bloated strikeout rate or a playing time complication. But the first two simply aren't the case for this player, and he's quickly making the third a non-factor as well. Homering in four straight games will do that.

Yes sir, it's time to give Addison Barger his due.

Third base

  • Barger headlines the sudden influx of talent at third base (the infield spot most in need of one, serendipitously), for reasons already expressed. The playing time concern appears to be out the window now that he's started 23 of the team's past 24 games, including three against lefties, and the four-game homer streak is making his impressive data set more than just theoretical. It's enough for me to move him into the top 20 at the position, ahead of Jorge Polanco and Marcelo Mayer, and in shallower leagues, you might push the envelope even further for upside's sake. Barger has enough of it to enter into the top 12, potentially.
  • Joining Barger in the top 20 is Max Muncy, who has added glasses to his face and home runs to his tally -- nine of them, as a matter of fact, including six in his past seven games. In all, he's slashing .277/.398/.617 since he first put on the eyewear April 30, walking just as often as he's struck out (19). That last number is why Muncy is ahead of Barger in my Head-to-Head points rankings while it's the other way around in Roto.
  • Brett Baty was already nearly an everyday player prior to Mark Vientos hitting the IL with a hamstring injury, and he came to be so on merit, batting .271 (19 for 70) with five homers and an .839 OPS in 24 games since returning from the minors. He'll have a chance to earn an even bigger piece of the pie with Vientos sidelined and is now my 26th third baseman, ahead of Jonathan India, Javier Baez and Connor Norby.

Shortstop

  • If I had believed Jacob Wilson had 20-homer potential, I wouldn't have been skeptical of him because I wouldn't have felt like his Fantasy value hinged on something as unrealistic as him batting .350. He's on about a 20-homer pace now, and while it doesn't make sense from the data, he also homered at a pretty good rate this spring and last year in the minors, lending credence to it. And it just so turns out that he's also batting .350 (.355, as a matter of fact). So yeah, I'll move him inside my top 12, ahead of Dansby Swanson and also, at least in points leagues, Zachary Neto.
  • Xavier Edwards has returned from the IL (strained back), but I'm going to rank him more modestly this time around given how crowded the 15-20 range of the shortstop rankings has become, moving him only ahead of Anthony Volpe and Jackson Holliday.

Second base

  • The plunge continues for Matt McLain, whose batting average is down to .176. He drops behind Jordan Westburg and Maikel Garcia this week. I'd have more patience for him if the underlying data looked good, but it never did and has only gotten worse this year, with the 31 percent strikeout rate being particularly damning.

First base

  • The player here who you're most hurting to hear about is Jac Caglianone, the Royals phenom who was just called up Monday after delivering historic exit velocity readings (and the power production to match) in all of 50 minor-league games. His ascension is not unlike Nick Kurtz's, another early pick from last year's draft, so I think it makes sense for the two to rank alongside each other, with Caglianone trailing because Kurtz had already seemed to find his footing before hitting the IL with a strained hip (a stint that's expected to end Monday). It's a ranking that's meant to strike the middle ground between Caglianone's best- and worst-case scenarios, and it's with some pain given that early standouts like Ben Rice and Michael Busch now rank behind him. The next couple weeks will go a long way toward determining if Caglianone remains ahead of them or if, on the other end, he climbs all the way inside the top 10.
  • One first baseman who I could easily see Caglianone leapfrogging is Christian Walker, whose home run Tuesday wasn't nearly enough to save him from dropping behind Vinnie Pasquantino, Rhys Hoskins and Jonathan Aranda. That's mostly because of Walker's prolonged struggles at age 34, but those other three have all done something to improve their value over the past week.

Catcher

Outfield

  • There's been no slowdown in Pete Crow-Armstrong's performance, and if anything, the warning signs are becoming more muted. His pull air rate, which is the most straightforward way that a player with modest exit velocities can present as a power hitter, now looks like one befitting of a power hitter, ranking among the highest in baseball. His expected stats aren't trailing his actual ones by so much now either. I'm still not ready to rank him as the top-five outfielder he's been so far, but he's up to 14th for me, most notably leapfrogging Wyatt Langford.
  • The revelation that Yordan Alvarez has a fracture in his sore hand -- one that's only about 60 percent healed after a month-long absence -- necessitates that I move him down more deliberately, from eighth to 19th. Obviously, if I knew his absence would extend as long as two months, I would have moved him down further to begin with.
  • One reason why Alvarez ranks 19th rather than 18th is because I now think Christian Yelich needs to be tiered ahead of him, coming closer in value to players like Teoscar Hernandez and Seiya Suzuki than Jose Altuve and Cody Bellinger. The power and speed have been there all along, but a recent surge now has him on a 30-homer, 25-steal pace while also bringing his batting average up to a respectable number. I'm expecting even more to come in that regard.
  • Alvarez may be a ways away still, but Jazz Chisholm and Mike Trout recently returned from injury and come in just a little behind him at 21st and 23rd. It's a big jump for Trout especially, who was 39th in the last rankings update, but his return date wasn't widely known at the time. Plus, he's actually delivered since returning, which is more than can be said for some of the outfielders stuck in the 25-35 range, like Michael Harris, Luis Robert and Bryan Reynolds.
  • Given that the headliner of this article is third baseman Addison Barger, you may be interested in learning how high I've placed him in the outfield, where he's also eligible, and the answer is 55th. This is behind Austin Hays and Taylor Ward but ahead of notable injury returnees Parker Meadows and Colton Cowser.
  • Though the Rays seemed to have an appreciation for the way Chandler Simpson's speed transformed their lineup, starting him regularly as he piled up 19 steals in 35 games, they nonetheless sent him to the minors when they activated Jake Mangum, so you might think I'd bury him in the rankings. But no, he's down just nine spots, to 68th, because that's about the point when the quality dries up at the position. At least in five-outfielder Roto leagues, my first choice would be to stash him for the impact he'll inevitably have when he returns.

Starting pitcher

  • Even though Nathan Eovaldi just hit the IL with elbow inflammation, I haven't moved him down at all. He reportedly felt great after throwing Sunday, and the Rangers are expecting a minimal stay. I was under-ranking Eovaldi to begin with and honestly couldn't see myself moving him for either Freddy Peralta or Cristopher Sanchez.
  • Conversely, I haven't moved Eury Perez up amid reports of him returning from Tommy John surgery Monday. I had been inching him up throughout his lengthy rehabilitation and knew he was nearing the end of it when I slotted him 44th. That's as high as he needs to be until we see how he fares against major-leaguers.
  • Andrew Abbott climbs to 46th, ahead of Drew Rasmussen and teammate Nick Lodolo, following his seven one-hit innings against the Cubs' top-ranked offense Friday. You may think that's too low for someone with a 1.51 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 10.0 K/9, but I'll note that Friday's start was just his third of even six innings in length. His extreme fly-ball rate also makes him particularly vulnerable at his home park, as his 3.98 xFIP can attest.
  • Another big riser this week is Ranger Suarez, who's not quite as good as he seems at his best but should maintain a respectable ERA with his high ground-ball rate and win a fair amount of games with the Phillies offense backing him. Moving him up to 53rd isn't some huge statement, but it's 15 spots higher than a week ago.
  • Among those dropping behind Suarez this week are Zac Gallen, Chris Bassitt, Tony Gonsolin, Shane Baz and Max Meyer, with Baz and Meyer now having shed all of the goodwill they garnered earlier in the season Those five have also dropped behind Gavin Williams, whose WHIP remains high but whose stuff has played up in recent starts.
  • Other notable risers from the past week include Hayden Birdsong (67th to 56th), Taj Bradley (84th to 68th), Zebby Matthews (90th to 75th) and Mick Abel (93rd to 85th).

Relief pitcher

  • After briefly dropping out of the top 20 at the position, Devin Williams is back inside the top 15 with the news that Luke Weaver will miss 4-6 weeks with a hamstring strain. The ranking is a bit of a hedge, but my suspicion is that Weaver's absence will give Williams enough time to nail down the closer role again and perhaps even re-enter the top five at relief pitcher.
  • Even with all the injuries to the Dodgers bullpen, Tanner Scott has been working the eighth inning more often than the ninth recently, and manager Dave Roberts recently confirmed that the team has "no dedicated closer." Scott remains the best bet for saves in their bullpen, but it's not a particularly strong bet, which is why I've dropped him eight spots, behind Pete Fairbanks, Justin Martinez, Kyle Finnegan and Daniel Palencia.
  • Palencia? Yup, he's made a big move, climbing ahead of not just Scott but also Will Vest and Emilio Pagan. He's been near perfect since stepping into the closer role and seems to thrive on the emotion of it, so I've become convinced that he won't be ceding the job to Porter Hodge or Ryan Pressly anytime soon.