Eric KarabellApr 23, 2026, 06:48 AM ETCloseEric Karabell is a senior writer for fantasy baseball, football and basketball at ESPN. Eric is a charter member of FSWA Hall of Fame and author of “The Best Philadelphia Sports Arguments”.Follow on XMultiple Authors
Murakami sure acts statistically like Schwarber. This isn’t such a bad thing, you know. Schwarber has made exciting strides in his game since 2023, crushing left-handed pitching last season and hitting .248. He has walked more than 100 times in three consecutive seasons, while averaging more than 200 strikeouts in that span. This is what Schwarber is, and it made him a top-25 selection in ESPN ADP. Even in 2023, he was a valuable player.
Don’t be surprised … if Philadelphia Phillies LHP Jesus Luzardo is a top 20 fantasy hurler yet again
Even with several outfield upgrades, the Phillies remain one of the worst defensive teams in the sport (and have been for years), but a .353 team BABIP remains ridiculously high. It will normalize some. Houston is next at .325, but their pitching really has been terrible. The Phillies have a 3.52 xERA and 3.62 FIP to go with their 4.99 ERA. That combination cannot continue. LHP Cristopher Sanchez (.413 BABIP!) has overcome this issue so far, but Luzardo and RHP Aaron Nola have not.
Always watch for the missing of bats. Luzardo is missing so many bats. He’s been inefficient and a bit wild, already with more wild pitches than all of 2025, but a 54% LOB rate is also — surprise! — the unluckiest in the sport. Go get Luzardo (and Garrett Crochet, Kyle Bradish, Nathan Eovaldi and Logan Webb, among others, too) while you can.
Then again, these are the Dodgers. They score a ton of runs and get to face the Rockies a lot. This can mitigate volume worries. Rushing can fill in at first base as well as the outfield, and we have already seen the amazing Shohei Ohtani take a day off from hitting. Perhaps there will be more days off as the best team in the league preps for October.
Fantasy managers have made Rushing the most-added catcher in fantasy. While it should be Detroit Tigers starter Dillon Dingler, who plays considerably more and boasts a solid .874 OPS (and legitimate .264 ISO), this isn’t a bad investment, yet. Some are starting to drop Kansas City Royals starter Salvador Perez (hitting .180), Houston Astros starter Yainer Diaz (.197) and Miami Marlins runner Agustin Ramirez (.212, with only one stolen base). I would call dropping any of them premature.
Luzardo will enter his sixth outing of the season, scheduled for next Tuesday against the San Francisco Giants, with a bloated 6.91 ERA and 1.54 WHIP — and, not surprisingly, rostered in fewer leagues than he was a week ago. Fantasy managers are nothing if not overreactive. The Phillies are off to a brutal start for myriad reasons. but one of them is that they have been historically unlucky when it comes to BABIP, both on offense and on defense. These figures should normalize, with the higher skilled players improving.
Last season, Luzardo finished with a 3.92 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP and 216 strikeouts (fifth in MLB), while winning 15 games. He overcame a brutal two-start stretch in May/June when he permitted 20 earned runs over 5 2/3 innings to the Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays. Remove those outings and Luzardo had a 3.03 ERA. He pitched well most of the season. It doesn’t look like he is pitching well today — because he isn’t. However, his 6.91 ERA comes with a .395 BABIP, third highest among qualified pitchers. Luzardo’s xERA is 3.61, his FIP is a cool 3.25. Patience, grasshoppers.
Dodgers C Will Smith seems a tad underappreciated in fantasy, as the three-time NL All-Star delivered another solid campaign in 2025, hitting a career-best .296 and offering the power numbers we have come to expect, though they were a bit down because a late-season IL stint lowered his overall volume. Still, while nine catchers scored more fantasy points in 2025, none offer the consistency we have seen for six seasons. Smith went fifth among catchers in ESPN ADP, which is fair. I have him in multiple leagues, after fading the top catchers and adding Smith in the middle rounds.
Eric KarabellApr 23, 2026, 06:48 AM ETCloseEric Karabell is a senior writer for fantasy baseball, football and basketball at ESPN. Eric is a charter member of FSWA Hall of Fame and author of “The Best Philadelphia Sports Arguments”.Follow on XMultiple Authors
CloseEric Karabell is a senior writer for fantasy baseball, football and basketball at ESPN. Eric is a charter member of FSWA Hall of Fame and author of “The Best Philadelphia Sports Arguments”.Follow on X
Each week in MLB is its own story — full of surprises, both positive and negative — and fantasy managers must decide what to believe and what not to believe moving forward. Perhaps we can help. If any of these thoughts come true… don’t be surprised!
Don’t be surprised … if the Los Angeles Dodgers boast two of the top 10 fantasy catchers