Jackson Chourio reaches twice, steals base

One of the main components of the Tarik Skubal trade with the Dodgers last month, Ryan will make his Tigers debut against the Nationals on Monday. The hard-throwing 28-year-old top pitching prospect made four starts for Los Angeles before undergoing Tommy John surgery back in 2024. He’s spent the entire year pitching at the Triple-A level, compiling an impressive 47/9 K/BB ratio across 41 innings of work. Simply put, Ryan offers enough strikeout upside to be interesting as a streaming option for fantasy managers, even if he’s highly unlikely to work deep into Monday’s outing. He’ll get the ball in place of an injured Troy Melton (arm) during Detroit’s regular-season finale against the Pirates on Sunday.

Jung gets the nod to replace an injured Colt Keith (thumb) on Detroit’s roster for the final week of the regular season. The 25-year-old was one of the better prospects in the organization a couple years ago, but he simply hasn’t produced enough at the plate to warrant consideration for a semi-permanent role at the highest level. He can be safely ignored in all fantasy formats.

It remains a bit murky regarding what exactly, if anything, is bothering Melton, which is the biggest concern from a long-term standpoint. He’s presumably headed for further evaluation and imaging to determine whether he’s dealing with any structural damage in his arm. The 25-year-old was lifted from Sunday’s start against the White Sox with a trainer in the fourth inning. He’s obviously done for the remainder of the season and finishes with an encouraging 2.76 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 94/37 K/BB ratio across 114 1/3 innings over 20 starts. He’s going to finish as a top-50 range fantasy starter, with his meteoric rise being fueled by a mechanical change that he made back in late June that led to a velocity spike. He’ll be a popular mid-round selection in drafts next spring.

Keith’s season is officially over after playing through a lingering left thumb issue for the last couple weeks. The 25-year-old infielder finishes the year hitting .258/.322/.406 with 51 runs scored, 10 homers, 36 RBI and six steals in 423 plate appearances. He offers some power and stolen base production, but not enough to be relevant in most fantasy leagues despite possessing multi-position eligibility.

Jenkins draws his second consecutive opportunity atop Minnesota’s lineup after hitting .529 (9-for-17) with two homers over his last five games. The 21-year-old phenom has managed to turn things around after a rocky start to his big-league career and is finally starting to look like the hitter that fantasy managers saw at the Triple-A level for the last few months. He should be rostered in deeper fantasy leagues, especially with a six-game week to close out the season.

It’s a massive relief that Bregman didn’t suffer any additional serious injuries when he was hurt in a freak accident while standing in the on-deck circle during Sunday’s game against the Reds. The 32-year-old third baseman was one of the hottest hitters in the game during the second half, hitting .296 (68-for-230) with 17 home runs and 48 RBI in 59 games following the All-Star break. It’s an unfortunate development for fantasy managers heading into the home stretch in rotisserie leagues, and head-to-head formats still running, but it sounds like there’s optimism that Bregman will be able to return at some point during Chicago’s upcoming postseason run. It’ll likely be a combination of Pedro Ramírez and Matt Shaw handling the hot corner in his absence.

Cease added that he’s been diagnosed with shoulder inflammation after undergoing an MRI over the weekend following Friday’s lackluster start against the Rangers. The 30-year-old upper-echelon fantasy starter added that they’re still determining whether he’ll make another start this season, but he doesn’t believe the issue will impact his availability for next year. That’s the encouraging news. It seems highly unlikely that he’ll take the ball again this season with Toronto sitting three games out of the final AL Wild Card playoff spot entering the final week of the season.

Now this is fun. Davidson has joined San Francisco ahead of Monday’s series opener against the Twins after a sizzling-hot stretch to close out the year at Triple-A Sacramento where he’s hit .367 (18-for-49) with three homers since the start of September. He finished the season slashing a robust .290/.361/.527 with 29 homers and 20 steals in 125 games in the upper minors. The 24-year-old has gone from undrafted a couple years ago to one of the top prospects in San Francisco’s system. He possesses a fantasy relevant skillset and should be an interesting X-factor during the final week of the year. He’s worthy of a speculative roster spot in deeper mixed leagues.

It’s been an abysmal lost season for Guerrero, who has gone from one of the most fearsome hitters on the planet during last year’s postseason to a non-factor at one of the thinnest position groups in the fantasy landscape. A compelling explanation, most likely due to playing through physical issues, will be unearthed at some point in the next few months, but it doesn’t make things any easier for fantasy managers to stomach. The 27-year-old franchise cornerstone is sitting out after making an early exit from Sunday’s game against the Rangers with lower back tightness. It’ll be rookie Sean Keys taking over at the cold corner.

Holliday finishes a very disappointing year with a .229/.300/.340 line in 98 games. His hard-hit rate was just 33 percent, down from 40 percent last year and 45 percent in 60 games as a rookie in 2024. He wasn’t very good defensively at second base, either. Maybe the wrist took a toll on his offense, but all things considered, he shouldn’t be promised a starting job next spring.