Top Fantasy Baseball Performers – Week 4
It was an eventful fourth week of the season, as established stars begin to emerge from April slumps and the weather gets hotter as we inch towards the summer months. There were many surprise additions and a fair share of expected inclusions, but here are the top fantasy performers from this past week. Find out who the top hitters and pitchers from the fourth week of the 2022 MLB season were by exploring the rest of this article.
Rankings are based on Fantasy Pros player rater rankings from the fourth week of the season (4/28 – 5/4). The player rater is 5×5 rotisserie-based because that is the most universal format, making it easy to compare players across different sites.
Hitters:
1. Aaron Judge – OF, New York Yankees
Week 4 Stats: 27 PA, .308 AVG, 6 R, 5 HR, 13 RBI, 1 SB, 1.256 OPS
All rise, here comes the Judge, hitting bombs at a league-leading pace. He led all batters with his five homers this past week, catapulting him to a tie atop of the full season leaderboard with nine now on the campaign. His Statcast metrics are at career-bests right now across the board, so this week’s performance is warranted as Judge makes a push for AL MVP honors in what could be his final season in pinstripes.
2. Rowdy Tellez – 1B, Milwaukee Brewers
Week 4 Stats: 23 PA, .400 AVG, 6 R, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 0 SB, 1.578 OPS
Things are getting Rowdy at American Family Field as Tellez has been crushing the ball in week four. The big left-handed first baseman set a Brewers franchise record with eight RBI on Wednesday, placing him third in the National League for most full-season RBI with 21 on the year. He was one of just three players to mash at least four dingers this week, he led all qualified batters in OPS, and his 99th percentile, 22.8% barrel rate on the year suggests this power breakout is completely deserved.
3. Manny Machado – 3B, San Diego Padres
Week 4 Stats: 29 PA, .360 AVG, 7 R, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2 SB, 1.054 OPS
Machado topped all fantasy hitters in fantasy value in the first month of the season, and he’s continued his hot start into May, securing his second weekly top performer inclusion of the season. I’ve reiterated this in his blurbs already, but the main difference this year has been his aggressiveness on the basepaths, as he’s now up to five stolen bases on the year. His usually potent bat has also been just as consistent as his base swiping, leading him to .365 season-long average which is second in the Majors behind teammate Eric Hosmer.
4. Yordan Alvarez – OF, Houston Astros
Week 4 Stats: 29 PA, .333 AVG, 7 R, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 0 SB, 1.282 OPS
At 6’5”, Alvarez looks like someone that can mash baseballs, and he’s done that so far this season. His four homers this week brought his season total to eight and placed him with the second-highest total in the Majors behind the three mashers tied with nine. Unlike many other players across the league dealing with suppressed offensive numbers, Alvarez is having an awesome season and his Statcast metrics suggest he’s even been unlucky, as his .353 xBA and .736 xSLG are both in the 99th percentile.
5. Carlos Correa – SS, Minnesota Twins
Week 4 Stats: 32 PA, .452 AVG, 6 R, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 0 SB, 1.114 OPS
Correa’s first year in Minnesota has not gotten off to the way he or his team had hoped, but he’s begun to show signs of life in the past week, finally getting his strikeouts under control and punishing the baseball. While he’s still waiting for his power to return (just 2 HR on the season), his hot week at the dish that included the second-best qualified average in the AL, brought his average up to .264 on the season. It’s still early on in the season, so there’s no reason to think that Correa can’t continue to get back on track and finish the season as one of the game’s top offensive shortstops.
6. Pavin Smith – OF/1B, Arizona Diamondbacks
Week 4 Stats: 23 PA, .286 AVG, 3 R, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 1 SB, 1.110 OPS
You could have given me 100 guesses and I don’t think I could have told you that Smith made this list. He paved his way to inclusion by crushing three bombs and swiping a bag while remaining a consistent force in the lineup all week. Right now, the lefty has similar numbers to last season, but his Statcast metrics, particularly his career-best 96th percentile, 18.9% barrel rate, promise even better performances in the weeks ahead.
7. Kyle Tucker – OF, Houston Astros
Week 4 Stats: 26 PA, .455 AVG, 3 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 SB, 1.227 OPS
Similar to last year, Tucker got off to a slow start to the campaign but has come alive in the season’s fourth week. He posted the highest qualified batting average in the American League and coupled that with a pair of stolen bases and a long ball. Hold onto him with everything you’ve got because he will once again finish the year as one of the top fantasy outfielders in all of baseball and the 100+ point difference in his wOBA and xwOBA suggest a hot rest of the season is in store.
8. Christian Yelich – OF, Milwaukee Brewers
Week 4 Stats: 24 PA, .368 AVG, 7 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 0 SB, 1.237 OPS
Is Yelich finally getting back on track after back-to-back uncharacteristically down seasons? It may be too soon to tell, but if he has performances as he did in week four more often, he will definitely recoup a lot of the value he lost and get closer to returning to his MVP-caliber standards. The most promising sign is that his launch angle is up 6.6 degrees from last year to 9.4 degrees, proving that he’s getting the ball in the air more and could be tapping back into his power.
9. Julio Rodríguez – OF, Seattle Mariners
Week 4 Stats: 25 PA, .348 AVG, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 3 SB, .878 OPS
It was difficult to watch such a bright young star struggle in his first month, but he made up for it by swiping bags at a rate that I didn’t know he was capable of. This past week, he blasted his first career homer and added on three more swiped bags to his league-leading total of nine. Rodriguez may finally be making the adjustments he needs to excel in the Majors, and everyone will be rooting for him as he’s one of the most exciting rookies in the Majors.
10. Jon Berti – 2B/3B, Miami Marlins
Week 4 Stats: 23 PA, .300 AVG, 3 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 SB, 1.041 OPS
Having not hit a homer all year and with just 12 across his entire 216-game career, Berti surprised everyone by mashing two long balls on Wednesday. That landed him a spot inside the top 10 because he showed off his usual proficiency on the basepaths, swiping a couple of bags while batting an even .300. It’s definitely unlikely that someone of Berti’s caliber is a top weekly performer multiple times this season, but in his short 15-game sample, he is barreling (16.7%) the ball at an alarming rate (just 3.1% prior to ‘22) and could be someone to watch if he adds power to his already elite speed profile.
Honorable Mention: Jordan Luplow
While he wasn’t even a qualified hitter this past week, Luplow still produced the 15th-best offensive fantasy line from the fourth week thanks to a two-homer game on Sunday and a stolen base on Monday. Long known as a lefty-masher, Luplow is someone to watch in daily leagues as a player to pick up when the DBacks face a left-handed starter, as he owns a career 141 wRC+ versus lefties in his career compared to just a 78 wRC+ against righties.
Pitchers:
1. Justin Verlander – SP, Houston Astros
Week 4 Stats: 2 W, 13.2 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 11 K, 1.98 ERA, 0.66 WHIP
Securing top honors with two starts resulting in a win, Verlander was ace-like in Texas on Thursday before a solid outing against the Mariners on Wednesday, proving everyone wrong that doubted him in his TJ return. He went seven innings with just four hits allowed and one earned run with eight punchouts against the Rangers before taking on the Mariners and holding them to five hits and two earned across 6.2 innings while striking out three. It wasn’t the most electric week for the future Hall of Famer, but he was one of just two starters to secure two winning decisions and tied for the most innings pitched across the week.
2. Zack Wheeler – SP, Philadelphia Phillies
Week 4 Stats: 1 W, 13.2 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 5 BB, 14 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.88 WHIP
Wheeler faced plenty of adversity in his first three starts of the season, as he was coming off a shortened Spring Training and featured reduced velocity. This past week, he turned everything around with a couple of amazing starts, holding his opponents scoreless, while his fastball sat closer to the velocity he displayed in 2021. On Thursday, he held the Rockies to just one hit and four walks with seven strikeouts across six innings, and then he invited the Rangers into Citizens Bank Park for another masterful performance, pitching into the eighth inning and allowing just seven baserunners with seven more punchouts.
3. Alek Manoah – SP, Toronto Blue Jays
Week 4 Stats: 1 W, 13 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 14 K, 0.69 ERA, 0.62 WHIP
In his sophomore season, Manoah has been one of the most consistent aces across the first four weeks of the season. He somehow hasn’t made a single weekly top performers list despite his consistency but finished fifth on the monthly report. In week four, he destroyed the Red Sox in his first start, going seven strong, allowing four baserunners, and striking out seven, and then took on the Yankees, holding them to one run and four baserunners across six frames with seven punchouts.
4. Corey Kluber – SP, Tampa Bay Rays
Week 4 Stats: 1 W, 12 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 13 K, 0.75 ERA, 0.42 WHIP
After three years of injuries and ineffectiveness, the Rays may be the only team that can fix the former Cy Young Award-winning Kluber at this point. The veteran righty had two favorable matchups, holding the Twins to one hit and one run across six frames with six strikeouts before heading to Oakland and holding them scoreless across six more innings with seven strikeouts and just four baserunners permitted. It would be pretty impressive to see Kluber regain his old form after so many years out of service, but it’s a long season and his fastball is still sitting in the low-90. Fingers crossed!
5. Brad Keller – SP, Kansas City Royals
Week 4 Stats: 1 W, 13.1 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 0.68 ERA, 0.75 WHIP
What a start to the season it’s been for Keller, as he now owns a 1.74 ERA and 0.84 WHIP for the year. It seems to be a case of a pitcher being on a role as opposed to Keller having figured out the art of pitching, as evidenced by the 5/3 K/BB ratio he posted in week four. Nonetheless, he went to the South Side and held the White Sox to three hits and one earned across seven frames with three Ks before taking on the Cardinals in Kansas City and keeping them off the board for 6.1 innings with seven baserunners allowed and just two strikeouts.
6. Martín Pérez – SP, Texas Rangers
Week 4 Stats: 0 W, 14 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, 0.64 ERA, 0.71 WHIP
Pérez took on a couple of aces that made this list and matched their zeroes across both of his starts. On Thursday, he took on JV and the Astros, going seven strong, allowing just two hits and one earned while setting down four batters on strikes, and then faced off against Wheeler and the daunting Phillies lineups, not allowing them to cross the plate for seven frames and punching out four more batters. It’s a similar case to Keller where this pace may not be sustainable (0.0% HR/FB, .256 BABIP), but he could be a player to ride while he’s on a hot streak, especially as he prepares to take on Keller and the Royals next Tuesday.
7. Dylan Cease – SP, Chicago White Sox
Week 4 Stats: 1 W, 7.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 11 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.14 WHIP
It usually takes a pitcher having a two-start week for them to land on this list, but Cease made up for his scheduling misfortune by going off in the one start he was afforded. He cruised against the Angels, making their bats cease to exist, racking up 11 Ks with a 33.3% CSW% and now ranks third among all American League starters with 39 strikeouts on the season. The most promising sign is that he didn’t walk a single batter on Monday after struggling with the free pass for much of his career.
8. Freddy Peralta – SP, Milwaukee Brewers
Week 4 Stats: 1 W, 11 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 14 K, 2.45 ERA, 0.91 WHIP
With two mouthwatering matchups, Peralta did about what you’d expect versus the lowly Pirates and Reds. On Thursday, he held the Pirates scoreless in Pittsburgh across six frames, allowing just three hits while striking out seven, his best outing of the season so far. In his first start of May, he was solid against the Reds, going five innings with seven baserunners and three earned while striking out another seven batters, but even after those two great starts, he still owns an ugly 5.09 ERA on the season after posting a 2.81 mark in 2021.
9. Austin Gomber – SP, Colorado Rockies
Week 4 Stats: 1 W, 12.2 IP, 10 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 12 K, 2.84 ERA, 0.95 WHIP
Gomber had one of the most talked-about two-start weeks of the season last year, so much so that it turned his last name into a verb. In this two-start week, Austin avoided Gombering his fantasy managers, holding his opponents to two earned runs across each of his starts, pitching into the seventh against the Nationals on Wednesday after throwing six strong innings in Philadelphia last Thursday. The lefty has a ton of talent, but will ultimately be limited by pitching in the hitter haven that is Coors Field.
10. Tylor Megill – SP, New York Mets
Week 4 Stats: 1 W, 10.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 14 K, 2.61 ERA, 0.87 WHIP
This is Megill’s first appearance on a weekly article since the first week of the season when he took the league by storm. This past week, he was back on track, pitching the first five innings of the second no-hitter in Mets franchise history on Friday before a marvelous nine-strikeout performance against the Braves on Wednesday. While his velocity is down in comparison to the beginning of the season, he is still garnering great results while increasing the likelihood that he stays healthy throughout the season.
Honorable Mention: Dane Dunning (15)
Dunning: 1 W, 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 1.17 ERA, 0.52 WHIP
A singular masterful performance earned Dunning an honorable mention, as he finished week four as the 15th most valuable fantasy pitcher. The 27-year-old righty held the Braves to just one run while pitching into the eighth inning and striking out seven, one of the best performances we’ve seen from him in his time with the Rangers. His career 3.14 ERA at home is something to keep on file.
Special shoutout to Taylor Rogers (16th ranked week 4 pitcher) and Jordan Romano (27th), each of whom led the Majors with four saves apiece without permitting an earned run.
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