| | | | Wednesday, June 18, 2025 | | When Jurickson Profar was suspended for 80 games, it wasn't clear he would have a real role for the Braves even when he was able to return. After all, why give everyday at-bats to someone who wouldn't even be eligible for the postseason? | | But with the Braves sitting seven games under .500 after a win against the Mets Tuesday, they're in a spot where they might need a miracle to make the playoffs. And, with their left fielders collectively hitting .217/.271/.283 on the season, it's not like they have anyone they'd want in their playoff lineup to take plate appearances away from. Which means when Profar is eligible to return from his suspension on July 2, he's probably going to have an everyday job waiting for him. It might be just the miracle the Braves need to get back into the playoff picture. | | And he's going to be in a very valuable position when that happens. Manager Brian Snitker told reporters Tuesday he will likely use Profar as his primary No. 2 hitter when ready. Profar began the process of getting ready Tuesday by going 2 for 3 with a walk for Triple-A Gwinnett in his first rehab game. Profar figures to play everyday for the next two weeks before being activated for July 2. | | And Profar was absolutely a must-start player in Fantasy the last time we saw him, as he hit .280/.380/.459. He combined his typically excellent plate discipline with the best quality of contact of his career, leading to a career-high 24 homers, 94 runs, and 85 RBI. There's no guarantee he'll be that good this season, but the upside is worth taking the risk on in basically every Fantasy format. | | You can't stash him in an IL spot, which complicates things, but you have bench spots to take risks on players with upside like Profar's, and it's only two weeks now. Profar is rostered in just 28% of CBS Fantasy leagues, but that number will probably be 100% in two weeks. Now's your chance to beat the rush. | | Here's what else you need to know about from Tuesday's action around MLB: | | | | Wednesday's top waiver-wire targets | | | | Cam Smith, OF, Astros (56%) – Maybe the game is starting to slow down for Smith. Remember, he made his MLB debut on Opening Day after just 32 professional games, and he was doing so while trying to learn a brand new position on the fly, so some early-season struggles shouldn't exactly have been a surprise. He's made some adjustments to produce more consistent contact over the past month-plus, but at the expense of the power that was supposed to be his calling card. He broke out of a nearly two-month homerless streak with a pair of 400-plus foot homers Tuesday, so let's hope this is a sign of the talented rookie starting to figure it out. It's just one game, but with a player with this kind of upside, you'd rather be early to adding them than late. | | Michael Soroka, SP, Nationals (39%) – The Nationals' losing streak reached 10 games Tuesday against the Rockies , but it wasn't Soroka's fault. He put together a quality start with nine strikeouts over his six innings of work, with the slurve generating 12 swinging strikes to lead the way. Soroka has a 3.71 ERA with 21 strikeouts in 17 innings since the start of June, and there's clearly strikeout upside here. He's a work in progress otherwise, but these flashes have been impressive. You won't want to start him against the Dodgers later this week, but a matchup against the Angels next week looks pretty intriguing. | | Michael Toglia , 1B, Rockies (18%) – Is history repeating itself? Toglia was so bad early last season that he earned a trip back to Triple-A, but he hit .233/.331/.469 with 21 homers in 409 plate appearances after returning and was generally a pretty useful Fantasy option. He was disastrously bad to open this season as well, but he's back after a few weeks down at Triple-A and is 4 for 9 in his first two games back, including two homers Tuesday. Toglia had a very strong .358 expected wOBA last season, so if he can keep the strikeout rate closer to 30%, I still think he can be very useful for Fantasy. He's not worth adding in all leagues yet, but he could be if he keeps this up. | | | | Wenceel Perez, OF, Tigers (9%) – I'm not quite sure where it's coming from, but Perez kind of looks like a difference maker right now. We're still dealing with a very small sample size (just 62 plate appearances for the season), but he is now hitting .316/.355/.702 after homering and getting two hits for the second game in a row Tuesday, and he has the underlying numbers to back it up. Perez has a 91.2 mph average exit velocity and .406 expected wOBA for the season now. That's a more than 100-point improvement in xwOBA from last season, and Perez was generally not a big power source in the minors, so I'm inclined to write this off as just a hot streak. But if you're the type to play the hot hand, his is sizzling right now. | | Masataka Yoshida, DH, Red Sox (8%) – With Rafael Devers out of the picture, the Red Sox suddenly don't need to worry about whether Yoshida can throw or not. He's been able to hit since Spring Training, but hasn't progressed to being able to throw coming off offseason shoulder surgery, and with Devers around, that meant there was no rush to get Yoshida going. But with the DH spot free, Yoshida could begin a rehab assignment soon and would figure to be the team's primary option against right-handed pitching before long. That probably won't be enough to make him matter in most 12-team leagues, especially H2H points leagues. But Yoshida is a .284/.343/.433 hitter in his career and could have some appeal in deeper leagues and especially daily leagues. | | | | Tuesday's standouts | | Jesus Luzardo, Phillies @MIA: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K – Ah. Well. Nevertheless. Luzardo's command just wasn't sharp in this one, and the Marlins made him pay. That's three bad starts in his last four, though obviously this one wasn't nearly as bad as the previous two, and he did sneak in a 10-strikeout effort against the Cubs in there. It's frustrating right now, but I think you've just gotta keep Luzardo active and hope he works his way through this rough patch. I'm pretty confident he will. | | Seth Lugo, Royals @TEX: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K – There hasn't been a more confounding pitcher in baseball than Seth Lugo over the past 15 months. And it's been heightened this season. On the surface, he's been about as good as he was last season, but one peak under the surface suggests a huge skills decline – he has gone from limiting hard contact at a solid level to giving up tons of loud contact, with a .428 expected wOBA on contact entering this one. Add in a lower strikeout rate and higher walk rate, and it seems like this season should have been a disaster for him. But it hasn't, and at least on Tuesday, he looked as good as he did at any point last season – something that's happened more often to the Rangers than anyone expected. I still think Lugo should be viewed as a sell-high candidate, but I've been saying that for a while now, and it hasn't worked out yet. | | David Peterson , Mets @ATL: 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K – Like Lugo, what Peterson is doing shouldn't work, but he keeps defying the odds. Peterson generates a bunch of ground balls and generally limits damage on contact, but there's no reason to think his skill set should be able to sustain a sub-3.00 ERA two seasons in a row. His xERA was 4.56 last season, and while it's much improved in 2025, it's still more than a run higher than his actual 2.60 ERA. I think in the long run he's going to settle in as a high-3.00s ERA guy and a streamer, but I don't think you can sit him when he has gone at least seven innings in four of his past five starts and at least six in seven of eight since the start of May. | | Will Warren, Yankees vs. LAA: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 11 K – We keep getting these incredibly interesting performances from Warren, signs that there is clearly talent and upside here. And then you look up and he's got a 4.83 ERA – and he had an ERA near 6.00 last season in Triple-A, so it's been a multi-year trend. The underlying numbers are much better for Warren, but that hasn't turned into consistent production yet. I'll take his 3.75 xERA if he can get there, I'm just not sure how much I trust it. He's around 80% rostered in CBS Fantasy leagues, and that feels right. | | Matthew Liberatore, Cardinals @CHW: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K – I'm starting to think Liberatore's success over the first two months was just a mirage. This was his best start since June, but it was also just four swinging strikes on 86 pitches against the White Sox, which is pretty grim. Liberatore's slider continues to be a very good pitch for him, but the rest of the arsenal is pretty iffy, and I'm not sure he's much more than a streamer in Roto leagues – he's worth hanging on to in points leagues for his SPaRP eligibility, though. | | Shane Smith , White Sox vs. STL: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K – Smith continues to struggle to hold his velocity deep into his starts, and I think that explains why we've seen so few six-inning starts from him. There's some talent here, but I think Smith still has some seasoning left to do – his 2.85 ERA is still almost a run lower than his xERA, and I suspect both numbers will worsen as he gets closer to reaching last season's career high of 94.1 innings. Smith has some good traits, including a good four-seamer and a suite of breaking balls that either miss bats or generate weak contact (or both in the case of the changeup and curveball). I just think next year might be the year he actually goes from "interesting" to "legitimately helpful" for Fantasy. | | Walker Buehler, Red Sox @SEA: 3.1 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 4 BB, 2 K – Besides the fact that he used to be Walker Buehler, I don't see any reason to think Buehler needs to be rostered in anywhere close to 71% of CBS Fantasy leagues. He hasn't pitched like that guy since 2021 at this point, and outside of a few brief glimpses, he really hasn't looked like he belongs in an MLB rotation since coming back from Tommy John surgery last season. I'm comfortable dropping Buehler in basically all leagues at this point. | | Kyle Hendricks, Angels @NYY: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K – The Yankees lineup is really slumping right now. I have literally no other thoughts on this start. I don't think I have to tell you not to chase it, right? | | News and notes | | In Rafael Devers' introductory press conference with the Giants, he said he's willing to play defensively wherever they want him to, and he will apparently see some time at 1B. I know why Red Sox fans might be annoyed about that, but I think it's pretty clear that the Red Sox spoiled that relationship with their lack of communication with Devers going back to the offseason, and he just wasn't going to accommodate them as a result. He's happy to do it somewhere he feels wanted. Funny how that works. | | Tyler Glasnow threw two innings and about 40 pitches in a live batting practice Tuesday. He's working his way back from a shoulder injury, so let's hope he avoids any setbacks and can continue to ramp up. | | Will Vest passed all tests and has been declared ready to pitch. He suffered a finger injury on Sunday, but it seems like he's avoided any serious concern. Let's see how he looks in his next couple of appearances, but he should remain right in the mix of the Tigers' closer committee. | | Luke Weaver threw a 20-pitch live batting practice Tuesday, his first time facing hitters since suffering a hamstring injury. It'll be interesting to see what the Yankees do with the ninth inning when Weaver is healthy, because Devin Williams has settled back in nicely as the closer in Weaver's absence. Both remain worth rostering in pretty much all leagues until we know what the plan is. | | Emmet Sheehan will return from Tommy John surgery and start Wednesday against the Padres. He's put up pretty dominant numbers in his minor-league rehab assignment and has great stuff, but he'll probably be limited to around 70-80 pitches for a while, so you should still view him as an upside stash for your bench. | | AJ Puk will visit Dr. Neal ElAttrache after experiencing more left elbow discomfort. That's not what you want to hear. | | Max Scherzer is aiming to throw 70-75 pitches in his second rehab start at Triple-A Wednesday. If all goes well, his next start would come with the Blue Jays. | | Tylor Megill was placed on the IL with a right elbow sprain. He'll likely miss at least a month and can be dropped in most leagues if you need the roster space. | | Gabriel Moreno was scratched from the lineup due to right hand soreness. | | Luis Gil is scheduled to throw against batters Saturday, his first time doing so since suffering a lat injury during the spring. | | Bryson Stott was in the lineup despite hyperextending his elbow Monday. | | Trevor Rogers has been added to the Orioles' taxi squad and is expected to start Wednesday against the Rays . He was decent in his lone start with the Orioles this season, but was struggling at Triple-A, so he'll have to show us something before he's anything more than an AL-only flier. | | Adam Mazur is expected to make a start with the Marlins this week. He has a 3.62 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and 8.3 K/9 at Triple-A this season. He's just an NL-only add for now. | | | | | | | | Big 3 | | 24/7 Sports News | Ice Cube's 3-on-3 tournament is back this Saturday at 1 ET on CBS and streaming on Paramount+!
Watch Live
| | Stream CBS Sports HQ, your free, 24/7 snapshot of all the sports that matter to you. Catch highlights, in-depth analysis & breaking news anywhere you are. Download the CBS Sports App to watch today.
Watch Free
|
| | | | |
|
|
