Dad Power, Grown Man Strength, New Papas

Tyler O’Neill homers on Opening Day. Mike Trout homers on his birthday. And new dads homer what feels like all the time. 

So in honor of Father’s Day, I’ll comb through the Fangraphs Transaction Tracker to find a few newly minted pops, check in on how their season has been going, and offer a bit of not at all fatherly advice. 

Going down the list by dollar value produced thus far, let’s check in on all these dads.

Shea Langeliers is proving that his breakout 2025 season was no fluke. Cutting his strikeout rate from 27.2% in 2024 down to 19.7% and improving his average from .224 to .277, while slamming 31 homers, last season was a big breakout for the Athletics’ catcher. 

In 2026, Langeliers has done more of the same, showing no signs of regression. The 28-year-old backstop has 19 home runs through 70 games, with a 19% strikeout rate and .271 AVG. 

And there could be room for a bit more. As I wrote about last month, the A’s all surged during the summer in 2025, and Langeliers was no different, with 19 homers and 1.018 OPS in 57 games in the second half. Not much else to say here. 

Shohei Ohtani is similarly not someone you need to worry about. While his ISO has dropped relative to the last few seasons, he has slightly improved his walk and strikeout rates and upped his average to .297. And on the mound, he has quality starts in ten of his twelve starts with a 1.47 ERA and 19.4% K-BB. 

If you are lucky enough to roster the hitting version of Shohei, let alone both, you may be a bit worried about that power dip. And maybe the jolt that Dad Power is known to provide could help him out. Because the underlying numbers show he’s earned the diminished output. 

Projections have him down for somewhere between 22 and 24 homers for the rest of the season, which would see him finish well under his totals of 54 and 55 from the last two seasons, respectively. But again, he’s likely to hit around .285 with 40 homers this season. So we’re good. 

Michael Harris II, who did in fact name his son Michael Harris III, is enjoying what must be the Dad Power boost of the season. Known for first half slumps and slow starts over the last few seasons, the Braves’ centerfielder is rewarding fantasy managers who drafted the upside.

The 25-year-old is already up to 14 home runs while slashing a robust .306/.338/.516 in what is easily his best season since he burst onto the scene in 114 games as a 21-year-old rookie in 2021. 

It’s possible Dad Power helped propel him through his typical slow start and he will put up the first complete season as a star this year. Because if there’s one thing about him that feels bankable, it’s that he rakes in the second half. 

But looking beyond the splits, there are plenty of reasons to buy the early production. Harris is hitting the ball harder than ever, making more contact on pitches in the zone, and making more blast contact in general. If you have skittish managers in your league worried about his streaky history, he’s giving you no reasons to doubt him this season. 

And if you’re that skittish manager, do you really doubt this Dad Power narrative?

Freddie Freeman is fighting off Father Time just like he fights off borderline two strike pitches. The 36-year-old first baseman has cut his K%, is on pace to reach the 24 home run mark he hit last season, and though his average has fallen to .273, his BABIP is as low as it’s been in nearly 15 years. And he’s hitting the ball harder than he did last season. What a player. 

Dylan Lee has been one of the most reliable arms this season for the Braves, putting up a 34.4% strikeout rate with a 1.08 ERA over 33.1 innings this season, and earning himself a Ben Clemens writeup in the process. 

That Lee hit the paternity list on April 29 was not part of Ben’s analysis. That’s probably because his results speak for themselves. And here’s how Ben summed up those results:

Between the excellent command and the three outlier pitches that batters simply don’t see very often, Lee is putting opponents in consistently difficult positions. Everything is painted. Nothing moves the right way. Believe it or not, Lee is fifth among all relievers in swinging strike rate since he debuted. The guys ahead of him are Mason Miller, Josh Hader, Edwin Díaz, and Andrés Muñoz. Is that something you might be interested in?

Xander Bogaerts started his 2026 season looking like this year’s George Springer, a veteran who was lighting up his Savant page and absolutely smacking the ball. He’s cooled off considerably since. 

The remedy for hitting in San Diego may just be hitting the paternity list, which he did on June 12. But really, there is likely not much of a chance that Bogaerts will ever match the 19 home runs he hit in his first season with the Padres back in 2023. 

In June, he hit in the sixth spot in the lineup eight times, which he had done just twice in the two months prior. He still plays every day for the Padres, and will continue to do so. But if you’re not in an NL-only league, there may be upside to find elsewhere. 

Ryan Weathers, whose dad played in the majors, is 14 innings away from putting up a career-high. If that’s surprising, you must play fantasy football, or have some other reasons for tuning out in July. Because Weathers has never eclipsed 100 innings in the majors. In his six seasons, the lefty has reached 80 innings only three times, including this season. 

He is averaging roughly 5.8 innings per start though, and is striking out more than a batter per inning with a 4.13 ERA and 20.5% K-BB%, all backed up by a 3.35 xFIP. 

But given his widely-known track record of being less than healthy, he is likely tough to trade. 

While a sell high suggestion is the obvious advice if you can somehow pull it off, the crowded Yankees rotation has been widely publicized, and Weathers does not have the innings ceiling that the young Will Warren put up as a rookie last season, when the latter reached 162.1 innings. Plus, Weathers has settled back in with an average fastball velocity of 96 mph after lighting up radar guns in Spring Training. 

With Max Fried reportedly set to face live hitters by the end of this week, Weathers may have a solid month left as an uncontested member of the Yankees rotation. If you happen to have a less seasoned member of your league, or one who is willing to give Weathers the benefit of the doubt, you should not hesitate to sell.