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.

It won’t surprise you to learn that I spent most of this latest rankings update session working on relief pitcher. The position was turned upside down at the trade deadline, and if you’d like some insights into the biggest changes, you’ll find them in my latest Bullpen Report. This article addresses what that article doesn’t, which is where the incoming and outgoing closers rank relative to each other. It’s a rankings article, you see.

But of course, not all of the latest Fantasy Baseball developments are relief pitcher-related. There are also a number of noteworthy talents emerging at both corner infield spots, as in first and third base. We’ll begin this latest recap of my biggest rankings adjustments with those two positions.

First base

• I recently predicted that Nick Kurtz would be the top first baseman drafted next year. He’s the heavy favorite for AL Rookie of the Year, with a -5000 line according to BetMGM Sportsbook, and leads all first basemen with 3.73 Head-to-Head points per game. I’m chickening out in my rest-of-season rankings, though, slotting him only fourth, behind Bryce Harper, Vladimir Guerrero, and a resurgent Pete Alonso. That’s ahead of Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman, though, which means he’s firmly among the stalwarts at the position. The 22-year-old entered Monday batting .344 with 22 homers and a 1.224 OPS in his past 50 games, and his strikeout rate has also improved during that stretch, clocking in at 25 percent.
• For all the interest generated by recent call-ups like Warming Bernabel and Tyler Locklear, it’s a returning player who sees the biggest move up my rankings. Andrew Vaughn, who was optioned to the minors by the White Sox in May before being shipped to the Brewers a few weeks later, has made himself comfortable at home in Milwaukee, entering Monday batting .373 (25 for 67) with six homers and a 1.130 OPS for his new club. His stat line was lackluster in his four-plus seasons with the White Sox, but he has an elite pedigree as a former No. 3 overall pick who was rushed to the majors. Given the state of the White Sox’s player development operation back in those days, it wouldn’t surprise me if they simply dropped the ball with him. While this hot stretch is far from conclusive, it’s enough for me to bump Vaughn up to 17th at first base, behind the equally hot (but more likely sustainable) Christian Walker.
• I’ve mentioned Bernabel and Locklear already, and they debut at 26th and 37th, respectively. Bernabel gets the edge because he’s been absurdly productive through nine games, but he wasn’t some hotly anticipated prospect. His average exit velocity at Triple-A was 84.1 mph, which would rank third-to-last among major league qualifiers, and he’s not exactly stinging the ball in the majors. I’m more concerned that I’m ranking Locklear too low, not that he was prospect royalty either. He actually does impact the ball well, though, and was slashing .316/.401/.542 with 19 homers and 18 steals at Triple-A. Meanwhile, Coby Mayo, who has a wide open path to playing time with Ryan O’Hearn being traded, has climbed to 30th in my first base rankings, and C.J. Kayfus, a pretty good minor league hitter who’s getting looks in the outfield with the Guardians, debuts just behind Locklear at 38th.
• With so many risers at first base, somebody has to go the other way, and I’ve decided that Paul Goldschmidt has been getting far too much benefit of the doubt. He had a big game Monday, but the home run he hit then was his first since June 19. He’s not even an everyday player for the Yankees, sitting out every third or fourth game, so I’ve moved him down to 30th, behind Kyle Manzardo but ahead of Mayo.

Third base

• While former White Sox prospect Andrew Vaughn is the big riser at first base, former White Sox prospect Colson Montgomery is at third base. He entered Monday with the most RBI of any player since the All-Star break (21), also hitting seven home runs during that stretch. While it normally wouldn’t be surprising for a prospect of his caliber (ranking in the top 50 three years in a row) to make a big splash right away, Montgomery’s stock appeared to have cratered just prior to his promotion. He was struggling to adapt to Triple-A for a second year in a row, striking out upward of 30 percent of the time there, and even required a stint at Rookie ball to straighten things out. I’ve slotted him 16th at third base, right in between Royce Lewis and Cam Smith, because it’s the infield position that needs the most help right now, but I’m worried that his swing-and-miss tendencies will catch up to him soon. Don’t get too comfortable is all I’m saying.
• I mentioned that I’ve slotted Bernabel and Mayo 26th and 30th at first base. They’re also eligible at third base, where I’ve slotted them 21st and 28th. Kind of shows you the disparity between the two positions. Notably, Bernabel is ahead of both Mark Vientos and Matt Shaw, two big-name players who have performed far below expectations this year but are still running fairly high roster rates. I have my doubts about Bernabel, which should tell you I clearly have no faith in those two.
• I do have faith in Max Muncy, however, who returned from a bone bruise in his knee Monday. He’s back up to 12th in my third base rankings (11th in Head-to-Head points), which is where he ranked when he got hurt. His overall numbers are impressive enough, but remember, he was completely transformed after he began wearing glasses April 30, batting .287 with 13 home runs and a .989 OPS in 53 games.

Second base

• Not much happening here. Rookie Luke Keaschall is set to return Tuesday from a forearm fracture he suffered way back in April, and you may remember he was making a strong impression before then, swiping five bags in seven games with five walks to two strikeouts. It was a tiny sample, of course, but judging from his minor league numbers, it was the general shape that his production should take. I’ve slotted him 23rd at second base, ahead of Jorge Polanco and the recently traded Willi Castro.

Shortstop

• I’ve made bold changes here, namely by moving Jeremy Pena, Zachary Neto and Bo Bichette into the top 10, ahead of Oneil Cruz and Mookie Betts. This isn’t some knee-jerk response to recent trends. Cruz is batting .196 with a .650 OPS since the end of April. Betts has homered just three times since the end of May and is now batting .231 for the season. Meanwhile, Bichette has been on such a heater — batting .355 (61 for 172) with seven homers and a .960 OPS in his past 40 games — that his Head-to-Head point per game average (3.16) is on par with Trea Turner. The underlying data had suggested for months that Bichette, who’s no stranger to elite production, was due for an offensive outburst like this.
• Trevor Story is another former shortstop standout who’s enjoying a resurgence, batting .310 (58 for 187) with 11 homers, 10 steals and a .917 OPS in his past 49 games. Strikeouts have been just as big of a problem for the 32-year-old as injuries since he joined the Red Sox in 2022, but he’s gotten that rate down to 24.5 percent during this stretch. I don’t have as much faith in him as Bichette over the long haul, but I’ve moved him up eight spots, from 25th to 17th, which places him between Willy Adames and Dansby Swanson.

Catcher

• Not much happening here either. Shea Langeliers has been hotter than you may have realized since returning from a strained oblique at the end of June, batting .313 (31 for 99) with nine homers and a 1.010 OPS in 26 games. Between that and Marcell Ozuna reclaiming some DH at-bats in recent weeks, Langeliers is back ahead of the Braves tandem of Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin, putting him in my top 10 at catcher.

Outfield

• Cody Bellinger has begun to live up to the most optimistic projections for him at Yankee Stadium, batting .302 with 17 homers and an .893 OPS since the start of May. He now has a higher Head-to-Head point per game average than Fernando Tatis (3.40 vs. 3.34) for the year, so it’s time to rank him more aggressively, moving him (along with Christian Yelich) inside my top 15 at the position, ahead of Jarren Duran.
• Some of the highest draft picks at this position have gotten a free ride for far too long. The clearest example is Jackson Merrill, who initially got a pass for his slow start because he missed most of April with a strained hamstring. But in his last 65 games now, he’s batting .218 with 4 homers, a .618 OPS, and not a single stolen base. His Statcast readings are still pretty strong, with his expected stats in particular painting a promising picture, but I can no longer rank him higher than 30th at the position. That’s a 12-spot drop.
• Part of the reason I’m reluctant to move a projected standout like Merrill down too quickly is because of what we’re seeing lately from Luis Robert and Michael Harris. Both were also projected standouts, though maybe not quite as high-end as Merrill, but both were so miserable for so long that I came close to moving them outside of my top 50. All of a sudden, though, Robert is batting .368 (21 for 57) with three homers, seven steals and a .975 OPS over his past 16 games, and Michael Harris is batting .380 (27 for 71) with three homers, three triples, four doubles and a 1.053 OPS over his past 18 games. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re fixed, but would it surprise anyone if they were, given their talent level? Both are back inside my top 40, meaning ahead of Steven Kwan and Ian Happ (at least in Rotisserie).
• Ramon Laureano and Mickey Moniak are two surprise standouts that have been buried for far too long. Now, they’re both inside of my top 60, putting them in the same vicinity as Alec Burleson and Nick Castellanos.

Starting pitcher

• After trading off between the two for most of his career, Cristopher Sanchez seems to have landed on the ideal combination of bat missing and strike throwing, boasting a 1.71 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 8.5 K/9 over his past 11 starts, with eight of them lasting seven innings or more. That’s enough to vault him into the top 10 at the position, particularly as others (namely Logan Webb) have removed themselves from consideration.
• Blake Snell returned from a four-month absence for a shoulder injury Sunday and looked to be in his best form aside from a couple cheapie home runs by Yandy Diaz. His performance has been known to shift radically over the course of a season, but usually once he gets locked in, it holds for the rest of the way. He looked just as dominant during his four rehab starts — putting together a 1.32 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 15.8 K/9 with an absurd 24 percent swinging-strike rate — so I’m willing to show some faith in a pitcher who could legitimately be the best in Fantasy the rest of the way, slotting him 21st fresh off the IL.
• Three pitchers who I’ve been dead wrong about this year are Matthew Boyd, Brandon Woodruff, and Edward Cabrera, and all three get a nice bump in the rankings this week. My concerns for each came from a different place. Boyd has a long track record of mediocrity, and even this year, some of his main dominance indicators are pretty blah. Cabrera has been the source of about 1,000 fakeouts over his five-year career. Woodruff came back from shoulder surgery missing about 3 mph on his fastball. All three have been so good, though, that I’m inclined to take them more or less at face value. Boyd is up from 35th to 26th, Woodruff from 48th to 38th, and Cabrera from 75th to 45th.
• Bailey Ober’s first start back from a month-long IL stint Sunday was nothing special on the surface. He allowed four runs in five innings, continuing what’s been a disappointing season overall. But the hip injury that landed him on the IL was one that dated all the way back to spring training and seemed to be impacting his mechanics, which is why his fastball has lagged all year. It was back to its usual velocity Sunday, giving me hope that he can still turn his season around. I’ve only moved him up to 60th because I know better than to expect miracles, but that puts him firmly back in the rosterable range.

Relief pitcher

• To reiterate, this position has been totally overhauled, with the biggest risers being Randy Rodriguez and Cade Smith. Both are now in my top 10, and I’m being fairly cautious with that ranking. Each has the potential to be in the top five (where Aroldis Chapman and Jeff Hoffman now find themselves, by the way). I understand Rodriguez just blew a save chance in only his second opportunity since taking over for the departed Camilo Doval, but he still has a 1.54 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 12.3 K/9 for the year.
• Other risers include Dennis Santana, who’s taking over for David Bednar in Pittsburgh, moving into the top 20, and JoJo Romero and Cole Sands, who are purportedly taking over in St. Louis and Minnesota, moving into the top 30.
• Naturally, all the incoming closers means that certain relievers are dropping out of the role, the most notable among them being Mason Miller, who’s considered by some to be the most talented reliever in baseball. It’s why I’m not going to bury him in the rankings even though Padres manager Mike Shildt has so far demonstrated a clear preference for Robert Suarez. Suarez has had some massive meltdowns each of the past two years and will certainly have the shortest of leashes now, so I’ve only dropped Miller to 21st, which keeps him ahead of Romero and Sands.
• Meanwhile, Emmanuel Clase, who’s currently being investigated in a gambling probe and has had his locker cleaned out in Cleveland, is down to 24th, also ahead of Romero and Sands. He could theoretically return in September, and while that seems unlikely, I’d want to hold on in leagues where saves are scarce, which are the only ones where you’d be looking to add Romero and Sands anyway. Meanwhile, Bednar and Doval, who are both now setting up for Devin Williams with the Yankees, have fallen to 30th and 37th, respectively.