This article is part of our Sorare MLB series.
It's the end of August. With the final month of the 2024 MLB season about to begin, as a Sorare player you are probably both thinking about the immediate future of your lineup while also keeping one eye on filing away a plan for 2025. Who can help give your lineup a boost? This is an area where a team having nothing left to play for can actually benefit you, because suddenly guys are getting opportunity they wouldn't otherwise get. Others, well, they may have an eye on the future as well, because the rest of 2024 is not looking bright for them. Onto the Upgrades, Holds, and Downgrades.
Upgrades
Lawrence Butler, OAK ($12.30): Just the other day I read an article from Kiley McDaniel on ESPN in which he included Butler as one of the 10 best players born in the year 2000. I will admit he wasn't on my radar as being quite that good or having quite that much upside. He does have 16 homers and 12 stolen bases in 99 games for the Athletics, though, and he's now a regular in the outfield. In the last week he has four games with 13.0 or more Sorare points and the arrow seems to be pointing up on the young hitter.
Yanier Diaz, HOU ($10.15): How well has Diaz hit this year? Well enough that the Astros felt comfortable moving him from catcher to first base. You have to hit a much higher threshold to be viable offensively at first, where the league averages a .730 OPS, than at catcher, where the league-average OPS is .687. Houston thinks Diaz is good enough to slot in at first base, and in turn Diaz's body will face less wear and tear, which could make hitting easier. He has an .850 OPS over the last three weeks while racking up plenty of double-digit days in terms of Sorare points in August. I will note that his career .914 OPS at home in his career is much higher than his .696 OPS on the road…but also he has a .914 OPS at home!
Matthew Boyd, CLE ($4.58): After having Tommy John surgery, Boyd was able to ramp up by tearing through a handful of appearances in the minors. That earned him a return to the majors, but this time with Cleveland. He's made three starts. Two of them have been quite good and earned him over 24.0 Sorare points each time. The other wasn't so good, but he was visiting Yankee Stadium and, stop me if you've heard this before, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto took him yard. That'll happen to the best of pitchers. Boyd has an established history of keeping his fellow lefties in check (Soto's otherworldly abilities aside) and he seems to have a spot in Cleveland's rotation. Even when Carlos Carrasco gets healthy, why would the Guardians want to give a guy with a 5.02 ERA over the last five seasons another opportunity to start?
Josh Bell, ARI ($2.19): A couple games with over 30.0 Sorare points fresh after joining the Diamondbacks definitely made a splash. The switch-hitting Bell escaped the Marlins and suddenly has improved his OPS by over 100 points. With Christian Walker banged up at first, and Joc Pederson only really an option at DH against righties, Bell should see plenty of playing time down the stretch for the Diamondbacks. They brought him in for a reason, after all.
Holds
Pete Alonso, NYM ($15.51): With 29 doubles through 133 games, Alonso will set a new personal high on that front. With 28 homers, he's going to fail to get to 40 for the first time since 2021 when he hit "only" 37. A 30/30 season of this ilk is quite good, even for a first baseman, but is it what you look for from Alonso? He can still crush it at times, and has two games with over 30.0 Sorare points in August. One of them was a Coors Field, though. The Mets slugger is hitting well, but he's not hitting like Pete Alonso, and thus I have him as a hold.
Aaron Nola, PHI ($5.25): Nola is coming off a start that earned him 35.0 Sorare points, which is a cause for celebration, but if you aren't already on board, there's not a need to rush out, per se. While Nola has seen his ERA drop from 4.46 last season to 3.30 this season, his FIP has only moved from 4.02 to 3.93. His homer rate has dipped a smidge, but so has his strikeout rate. I will note that he had a 5.43 ERA on the road last year but has gotten that down to a workable 3.78 this year. A higher floor does help assuage some concerns.
Downgrades
Julio Rodriguez, SEA ($35.33): Better luck next year, J-Rod! Over the last three weeks, Rodriguez has a .472 OPS. He has more games with negative Sorare points than double-digit Sorare points since returning from injury. Rodriguez isn't likely to go 20/20, much less 30/30. What's a bit concerning is that his .331 BABIP is right in line with his .330 BABIP last season. I imagine he'll look better in 2025, but 2024 looks like a lost season.
Marcus Semien, TEX ($6.65): Semien has been more up-and-down than Rodriguez, but he's also primed to turn in a disappointing campaign. In August he's only had a handful of games with negative Sorare points, but he also hasn't hit 20.0 points in any outing. His .678 OPS over the last three weeks features a sub-.300 OBP. What's a concern is that his output against his fellow righties has tanked in 2024, as he has a .668 OPS versus right-handed pitchers.
Kutter Crawford, BOS ($3.74): Crawford began July with three excellent starts, each of which earned him over 30.0 Sorare points. Since then, he hasn't even hit 20, and he even had a start with negative Sorare points. That's rare for a pitcher. In those seven starts, he has an 8.13 ERA and has allowed a staggering 3.7 homers per nine innings. Now, I grant you that's unsustainably high, but he's given up 1.7 home runs per nine on the year, and his recent run is likely not sheer bad luck.
