Fantasy Baseball Weekend Stockwatch: Wyatt Langford's cycle caps breakout month; Gerrit Cole comes around

Fantasy Baseball Weekend Stockwatch: Wyatt Langford's cycle caps breakout month; Gerrit Cole comes around

The biggest Fantasy Baseball storyline all season long has been the misalignment between pitchers and hitters, with the former being overpowered and the latter underpowered.

But that balance is beginning to shift. As always happens when the weather warms up, offense is picking up, and the increase has been particularly stark in the past couple weeks. This table pretty much sums it up:

League BABIP

League HR/FB

Through June 14, 2023

.297

12.2%

Through June 14, 2024

.288

10.8%

June 15-30, 2023

.299

12.3%

June 15-30, 2024

.294

12.6%

The 2023 season struck a pretty good balance between pitching and hitting and was pacing well ahead of the 2024 season in terms of hitting "fairness" through June 14, as you can see. But 2024 has about caught up since June 15, still trailing in terms of BABIP but having an even higher home run-to-fly ball rate.

Not surprisingly, some of the biggest risers from this weekend are underachieving hitters suddenly returning to form.