This article is part of our Sorare MLB series.
I'm doing things a bit differently this week, because Sorare is doing things a bit differently. The chicks that dig the long ball (to reference a decades-old ad campaign) will have to adjust expectations. Sorare is running contests using "reverse power." What does that mean? In essence, Sorare points are being reversed. Singles will be worth 10 points instead of three, while home runs will be worth three points instead of 10. Additionally, doubles will be worth eight Sorare points instead of five and triples, yes, will be worth five points instead of eight.
Thus, this week my upgrades are hitters who have a better profile for "reverse power" contests and my downgrades will be the ones whose profiles are flipping around in a worse way. For the holds, I'll look at a couple pitchers, just to still get those into the mix. "Reverse power" isn't sticking around forever, after all!
The number in parentheses is each player's last limited card sale price as of June 12.
Upgrades
Julio Rodriguez, SEA ($63.23): Rodriguez's bizarre power outage this season will actually benefit Sorare players now! After a season with over 30 homers and 30 doubles, Rodriguez fell out of the MVP race early thanks to his .344 slugging percentage on the campaign. The Mariners outfielder is still hitting a lot, though. He has 74 hits in 70 games, but with only five homers, six doubles and zero triples. Oh, and stolen bases still matter, and Rodriguez has 16 of those.
Alec Bohm, PHI ($27.54): What about the guys whose profiles scream "doubles power?" Those are worth three more Sorare points than usual, after all. Bohm tends to be middling against same-handed pitchers but smashes those on the flip side. Last year, for example, he had a .701 OPS versus righties and a .929 OPS versus southpaws. This season, though, his OPS versus righties is up to .857, though his numbers have dropped against lefties, but a lot of that is on the power front. Bohm has six homers on the season, but leads MLB with 23 doubles.
Jeremy Pena, HOU ($18.43): Shortstop Pena has established himself as a worthy successor to Carlos Correa. He's got his average up to .292 this season, though his OBP is only .324, because the dude still won't take a walk. Of course, that's not particularly pertinent here. What matters is that Pena has racked up 77 hits, but only five of them are home runs. In fact, only 10 of them are doubles. The Astro is tallying a ton of singles, which is perfect for these contests.
Jacob Young, WAS ($8.71): Representing the "Zero Homers Club" we have Young. Washington's centerfielder is one of the foremost slap hitters in MLB, but he's batted .262 across 56 games. Also, he's stolen 17 bases in those 56 games after stealing 13 in 33 last year. Young may top out at a double, but he can hit, and he can do damage on the basepaths.
Holds
Kevin Gausman, TOR ($8.66): If you held onto Gausman through his tough start to the season, or picked him up while his stock was down in hopes of a turnaround, keep on holding on! He had two bad starts in April, including one that yielded a staggering minus-10.0 Sorare points, but four times in his last eight starts he's had over 30.0 Sorare points. He has a 4.00 ERA through 13 starts, but has a 3.37 FIP. The guy with a 2.83 ERA over his last 10 starts? That's the pitcher I believe Gausman is and the pitcher I believe he'll continue to be.
Erick Fedde, CWS ($4.63): I am coming around to the notion that I was wrong on Fedde. He was a bad pitcher with the Nationals. Then he went to Korea in 2023, tweaked him approach, and was fantastic. That earned him a shot with a White Sox team that had nothing to lose. He opened the season with 20.5 Sorare points against the Tigers and then had 16.0 Sorare points against the Royals. Then he got thumped by the Guardians and I thought, "Okay, that was fun, but Fedde is going to struggle in MLB again. This isn't Korea." Well, it's now 14 starts and he has a 3.10 ERA. That beats his 3.60 FIP by half a run, but since the start of May he has three starts of at least six innings and zero runs scored. It does seem like Fedde has genuinely remade himself.
Downgrades
CJ Abrams, WAS ($32.01): Young is an upgrade with this formatting, but his teammate Abrams is a downgrade. Thanks to his speed, Abrams has five triples. Triples are fun! They also are not as valuable with "reverse power." He also has 11 homers through 61 games. Abrams has batted .248, so his triples and homers make up a sizable part of his profile.
Cody Bellinger, CHC ($28.33): Belling rebounded last year by hitting .307 with 26 home runs. This year, he's been solid when healthy, having batted .267 with nine homers and 12 doubles. However, I see some percentages that concern me for the "reverse power" scenario. Bellinger has a 31.4 percent groundball rate, a 17.1 percent line drive rate, and a 51.5 percent flyball rate. When half of the balls you hit are flies, it can be tricky to get hits, especially singles.
Giancarlo Stanton, NYY ($12.83): Stanton, now 34, is not the guy the Yankees originally acquired. He's still strong, so he still hits home runs. That's also about all he does. With a .288 OBP, Stanton is primed to have his third season in a row finishing below .300 in that category. Seventeen of his 54 hits have been home runs. It's fun when Stanton barrels one up, but when he's not doing that, he's not really doing anything.
