This article is part of our Sorare MLB series.
While others get distracted by the upcoming college football season, or analyzing Xavier Hutchinson's performance in the Hall of Fame Game, you're still locked in with your Sorare MLB lineups. As such, I must in turn be locked in with my recommendations. Reciprocal effort! There's still space for Upgrades, Holds and Downgrades. Laurel-resting? That's not for us! Here are my recommendations.
Upgrades
Jazz Chisholm, NYY ($24.16): Obviously, Chisholm beginning his tenure as a Yankee with a pair of two-homer games (and over 30.0 Sorare points in each) was not setting the long-term template. That being said, Chisholm has always been a talented, if flawed, player. Staying healthy and exhibiting discipline at the plate have both been issues, but his dynamism shows in his four 10/20 seasons. One might imagine that leaving the disaster that is the Marlins for a contender in the Yankees might put some pep in his step as well. A healthy, engaged Chisholm with actual talent around him is an enticing player.
Brady Singer, KC ($5.28): Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo have stolen the show for the Royals. The former was a breakthrough sensation last season, while the latter is an out-of-nowhere Cy Young candidate. That has led to Singer's own improvements being overshadowed. He has a 3.03 ERA on the season, and a 2.52 ERA over his last nine starts. Singer has only given up two homers in that time, both in the same game against the Red Sox. Every other one of those starts have yielded at least 15.0 Sorare points. Not bad for a mid-rotation starter.
Gavin Lux, LAD ($4.28): Recently, there was an article on the MLB website about a handful of traditional "slap hitters" who had changed their approach at the plate with encouraging results. One of those hitters? Lux. The Dodgers second baseman has an 1.197 OPS over the last three weeks, effectively locking up a regular role. His recent run has some games with high Sorare points, but what stands out to me is the steadiness of his performance, with lots of outings with a handful of Sorare points. That's not exciting, but it is reliable.
Austin Hays, PHI ($3.14): Hays was something of an odd-man-out with the Orioles, but in moving from one World Series hopeful to another, he still managed to find a regular role. The Phillies needed a right-handed bat for its outfield, and Hays has been playing regularly since the deal went down. That includes a game with 32.0 Sorare points.
Holds
Royce Lewis, MIN ($63.84): I get the worry. It can't last, right? I'm a Tigers fan, and one of my greatest baseball-related wishes is for Lewis to string together a run of good health. Maybe a plausible desire is a "last two seasons of Christian Yelich" level of health. He's so good. He has a career .953 OPS. Since returning from injury, he has three games with over 20.0 Sorare points. The problem is that "since returning from injury" has been a career-long caveat with Lewis. At 25, he's played in 105 career MLB games. He's torn his ACL twice. I don't want to bet on injury, though. Lewis' skill is obvious. If he gets hurt again, maybe holding onto him didn't pan out. What if he does stay healthy, though? That's what to hold onto.
Jack Flaherty, LAD ($23.06): There was no reason to think that moving from the Tigers to the Dodgers was going to impede Flaherty's rebound season. Now we have a bit of data to support that. It was just one start, but Flaherty picked six shutout innings, allowed one walk, and tallied seven strikeouts. The result: 33.5 Sorare points. I see no practical justification for believing we won't get more of the same from Flaherty.
Downgrades
Ezequiel Tovar, COL ($16.50): A few weeks ago, Tovar was hot. Over the last week, he's been ice cold, putting up six games in a row with 2.0 or fewer Sorare points. Right now, that's part of the deal with Tovar. This is an absolutely bananas stat: Tovar has struck out 138 times in 112 games…and has walked just 15 times. I know that swinging away is less frowned upon these days and that strikeouts are a bit more accepted, but that is not an acceptable ratio. That utter lack of discipline makes it difficult to sustain production long term. I'm not high on Tovar as a result.
Cristopher Sanchez, PHI ($5.65): Sanchez started the year as a potential new ace in the Phillies' rotation. He followed up his 3.44 ERA in 2023 with a run that earned his a spot on the All-Star game roster. On either side of the break, though, he's looked different. Over his last six starts, Sanchez has a 5.67 ERA. That includes a game with negative Sorare points. He gave up three homers in those starts. That may not feel like a lot, but on the season he's given up a mere 0.28 homers per nine innings. His 23.0 line-drive percentage is also a career high. It seems like regression toward the mean has kicked in with gusto.
Nolan Gorman, STL ($2.80): Last season, Gorman seemed like he might have a Kyle Schwarber-esque future with the Cardinals. There was no threat he would win a batting title, but in 2023 he slugged .478 and hit 27 homers in only 119 games in his age-23 season. Unsurprisingly, when this year began, Gorman was regularly drawing into the lineup. That's changed. On July 22, Gorman picked up 13.0 Sorare points. Since then, not only does he have zero games with double-digit Sorare points, he's been out of the lineup seven times. At least in the immediate future, and perhaps long-term, Gorman doesn't seem to be in the plans for the Cards.
