Dynasty Due Diligence: Early May 2026

Series Overview

This series aims to help readers conduct their routine due diligence in their dynasty leagues. It makes use of up-to-date OOPSY Peak projections and my own arbitrary whims to suggest free agent adds and drops as well as trade candidates and targets. Each entry will highlight a handful of players, both prospects and major leaguers, who have seen their perceived value shift recently. For each player I will offer a “verdict,” an open-ended recommendation on how I would value the player moving forward. Forgive me as these suggestions may sometimes enter the realm of “hot takes.” Most of my dynasty leagues are 14 to 20-team 5×5 roto leagues, but this series aims to be broadly relevant for all keeper and dynasty formats. Any reference to how a player projects using the FanGraphs auction calculator uses these settings with OOPSY DC (ROS) unless I say otherwise (15-team 5×5 SV 2 C). When referencing an OOPSY Peak WAR projection, I am referencing their up-to-date peak WAR projection assuming a full season of playing time, 600 PA for hitters and 198 innings pitched for arms.

MLB Players

Fernando Tatís Jr. OOPSY Peak WAR Projection: 5.4

Tatís’ zero home run output has understandably received a lot of attention of late. His launch angle is at a career low, while his BB% and K% are aligned with expectations and he’s stealing a ton of bases. There are plenty of reasons for optimism despite the slow start: his bat speed, barrel rate, and hard hit rate are each elite and above 2025 levels, while his .352 xwOBA is much better than his .284 wOBA. Further, launch angle is more of a descriptive indicator as opposed to a predictive one. Projections remain bullish on Tatís across the board accordingly, particularly OOPSY and THE BAT X, which give more weight to his good Statcast metrics. Both systems project him as the 7^th best hitter for the rest of the season, similar to how they projected him in the preseason. Try as I may, I find it hard to worry even a little about Tatís.

Verdict: Send aggressive trade offers to see if Tatís managers have lost any patience waiting for that first home run. Expect to be rejected swiftly as he is almost too obvious of a bounce back candidate. For instance, I would move Sal Stewart and Chase DeLauter for him. Stewart (3.8 OOPSY Peak WAR) and DeLauter (2.6 OOPSY Peak WAR) are very good players but they don’t quite project as fantasy superstars.

Jordan Walker. OOPSY Peak WAR Projection: 2.1

Walker has been one of the biggest breakouts of the 2026 season. OOPSY was the highest projection system on him entering the year, forecasting a 103 wRC+, while all the other systems rated him as an average or worse hitter. His projections are way up across systems given the hot start, with his OOPSY wRC+ now at 114, and THE BAT X now leading the way at 116. OOPSY Peak’s wRC+ is slightly more bullish, up to 117. Both systems now have him projected as a top 80 fantasy hitter for the rest of the 2026 season. His breakout appears real, but if you roster him, it’s probably worth testing the waters to see if someone is excessively weighing his 2026 performance and expecting fantasy superstardom.

Verdict: Walker has emerged as a legitimate top-75 dynasty bat. I would be tempted to try to use him as a headliner in a package to land a first or second round bat. For instance, you could try Walker and Bryce Eldridge (1.8 OOPSY Peak WAR) for Pete Crow-Armstrong (4.8 OOPSY Peak WAR) or Zach Neto (3.9 OOPSY Peak WAR). Otherwise, it’s fine to hold.

Bryan Woo. OOPSY Peak WAR Projection: 3.7

I initially wanted to write about Jesús Luzardo (4.8 OOPSY Peak WAR) and Cole Ragans (4.4 OOPSY Peak WAR) here, but I was ultimately too slow as both have looked better lately after a rough start to the season. At this point, they’d be boring choices to write up: Luzardo is OOPSY’s 5^th best projected starting pitcher for the rest of the season, a bit better than he was rated in the preseason, while Ragans is 26^th, a bit worse than he was rated in the preseason. Bryan Woo strikes me as a more interesting case. He is coming off probably the worst two-game stretch of his MLB career, a nightmarish nine innings featuring six strikeouts, zero walks, and a whopping six home runs. His Stuff+, velocity, and pitch mix are all basically identical to last year, however, so I don’t think he’s suddenly broken. The likelier scenario is that he starts to pitch more in line with his projections moving forward. In part because of T-Mobile, OOPSY remains super bullish, rating him as a top 10 starting pitcher the rest of the way, while Steamer places him at a slightly more sober 15^th. Either way, the rough stretch may have created a window to acquire Woo on a discount.

Verdict: Send out aggressive offers for Woo. For instance, I would move Shota Imanaga (2.4 OOPSY Peak WAR) and Clay Holmes (2.7 OOPSY Peak WAR) for him.

Cam Schlittler. OOPSY Peak WAR Projection: 3.9

Schlittler has been the very best pitcher in fantasy this year according to our player rater. It hasn’t been an obvious case of good luck, either, as his xFIP and SIERA are each below 3.00. OOPSY Peak has him inside the top 30 pitchers in terms of peak projected WAR, while Steamer and OOPSY project him to be around 45^th best starting pitcher for the rest of the 2026 season. He’s admittedly a tough guy to deal given how dominant he’s been; aim high if shopping him.

Verdict: There is no urgency to move Schlittler, but it could be worth trying to turn him into a young MLB bat, like Wyatt Langford (4.7 OOPSY Peak WAR), given the riskiness of pitcher health relative to hitter health. I’d also endorse challenge trades where you’d be swapping him for another young arm with even better projections, like Chase Burns (4.8 OOPSY Peak WAR). Or for a win now team, you could try Schlittler for Jesús Luzardo.

MILB Players

Anthony Eyanson has jumped to second best pitching prospect according to OOPSY Peak WAR. Kade Anderson stands alone ahead of him now. Seth Hernandez has also joined the top five pitching prospects on the back of his pristine Class A performance. Anderson and Hernandez both made the FanGraphs Top 100, while Eyanson’s upside got him a spot on this offseason’s Picks to Click article. Each of the three arms has the stuff to thrive in the majors, with Eyanson and Hernandez both able to reach 100 MPH. They’re all likely long gone in your leagues, but it’s possible Anderson and Eyanson may still be undervalued in the trade market. Hernandez, on the other hand, is already appropriately hyped as the industry was already bullish on him heading into the season. I discussed Anderson in the last edition of this article. For Eyanson, I’d be willing to swap him straight up for Ryan Sloan, who has struggled in Double-A this year. Note, Eyanson was just promoted to Double-A himself.

Other OOPSY Peak top 25 pitching prospects that may still be available in your leagues are Miguel Sime Jr., JT Quinn, Andrew Morris, and Coleman Crow. They aren’t must add prospects, but depending on who you’d have to cut, it’s worth considering adding each of them in leagues that roster 100 prospects leaguewide. Morris is probably the least hyped of the four. The Twins have been using him as a multi-inning reliever, but he could get a chance to start soon enough as his latest outing reached 3.2 innings. His Stuff+ is above average and his fastball averages 95 MPH.

Turning to prospect hitters, the battle for the top spot among non-debuted prospects in terms of OOPSY Peak WAR in the midseason Top 100 update is between Franklin Arias, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Rainiel Rodriguez. This trio stands a tier apart from the rest of the non-debuted prospect bats. Emmanuel Rodriguez offers loads of power and patience and absolutely belongs in the conversation for baseball’s best prospect in midseason lists. I’d be willing to move Max Clark or Leo De Vries for him, a high price to pay as both are also top 15 bat prospects according to OOPSY Peak. A.J. Ewing, now OOPSY Peak’s fifth best hitting prospect, has an outside shot to join the above prospect trio if he stays scorching hot. I’d be willing to move Carson Benge, Jett Williams, or Joshua Báez for Ewing straight up at this point. Among debuted “prospects,” Munetaka Murakami will have eclipsed the 130 MLB AB rookie threshold by the time this article is published. His hot start has OOPSY Peak viewing him as a younger Kyle Schwarber with the ability to play first, which was seen as the glass half full outcome this preseason, as opposed to the Joey Gallo glass half empty outcome. And Konnor Griffin remains well above any other prospect per OOPSY Peak.

Other OOPSY Peak top 50 hitting prospects that may be available in your leagues are Henry Bolte, Luis Lara, Carson Williams, Nelson Rada, Chris Suero, Edwin Arroyo, John Gil, and Pedro Ramirez. These guys should be virtually universally rostered in dynasty leagues. Suero’s primary position is catcher, but he also plays some first and outfield and may be more likely to stick in the outfield in the long-term.