The Dodgers transferred Will Smith to the 60-day IL on Tuesday after his neck disc inflammation failed to respond to treatment, shutting him down from all baseball activities. Manager Dave Roberts named Dalton Rushing and Eliezer Alfonzo as the catching tandem going forward, with Roberts expressing notable confidence in Alfonzo. Charlie Barnes was selected to fill the vacated 40-man roster spot. The earliest Smith can return is mid-August, and the team has not set a firm timeline.
Ronald Acuna Jr. played in a rehab assignment game on Wednesday and manager Walt Weiss said he hopes Acuna returns before the team's homestand ends July 23 — meaning activation today or tomorrow is on the table. Acuna has been out since June 9 with a hamstring strain and has shown no setbacks through his rehab work. The timeline has been consistently positive and the Braves have been cautious without cause for alarm.
Kohl Drake delivered in his MLB debut against the Athletics — five innings, one earned run, five strikeouts, including his first MLB punchout against Jonah Heim. His signature moment: loading the bases with nobody out in the third and escaping without a run, the kind of composure a struggling Arizona rotation desperately needed from a rookie. The Diamondbacks walked off in extra innings to win. Sewald blew a save but Drake's work was done by then.
The Rangers placed Jose Corniell on the 10-day IL with elbow inflammation. The concern is amplified by context: Corniell underwent Tommy John surgery in June 2024, only recently established himself at the MLB level, and now has elbow soreness in his first full season back. The Rangers have not indicated UCL involvement, but any elbow trouble in a post-TJ pitcher raises the obvious question. No return timeline has been set.
Who's Hot This Week
Alfonzo is the other half of the Dodgers' catching committee with Rushing. Dave Roberts said Alfonzo 'was born to play at the MLB level' — manager endorsements that specific are worth noting. In two-catcher formats, you need two catchers anyway, and Alfonzo in the Dodgers' lineup beats streaming a no-name from a bad offense. Add at 6% with essentially zero roster cost in 15-team-plus leagues.
Worth Reading
RotoBaller's SP-specific wire piece for Week 17, with deep dives on Leahy and the other arms worth targeting. Best read if you're short on pitching and want to know which streamers to prioritize this week based on matchup and ownership data.
Full position-by-position waiver wire rankings for the week with updated ownership percentages and priority tiers. Most useful piece in the slate for managers who want a ranked list across all positions rather than individual player deep dives.
Same-day streaming pitcher piece that leads with Leahy as the featured add. Covers his hot streak data, upcoming Cincinnati matchup context, and flags other emerging arms. Good companion read to the RotoBaller pieces above.
Smith was transferred to the 60-day IL on July 21 after his neck disc inflammation failed to respond to treatment. He was shut down from all baseball activities — no throwing, no hitting — and an August return is now best case. The Dodgers freed a 40-man spot by selecting Charlie Barnes. Dave Roberts named Eliezer Alfonzo and Dalton Rushing as the everyday catching tandem.
Corniell was placed on the 10-day IL with elbow inflammation. He underwent Tommy John surgery in June 2024 and made his MLB debut in September 2025. Elbow soreness in a pitcher only 13 months removed from TJ surgery is alarming, though the Rangers have not indicated UCL involvement at this time. No return timeline has been provided.
Acuna has been on the IL since June 9 with a hamstring strain but completed a rehab assignment game on July 22. Manager Walt Weiss said he hopes Acuna returns before the homestand ends on July 23. No setbacks reported. Activation as soon as today is possible.
The headline stat is hard to ignore: Bryce Miller's K-BB% has climbed from 10.2% in 2025 to 25.3% in 2026, and the gains have accelerated rather than leveled off — from 21.5% in May to 38.1% in June. The piece traces the improvement directly to a pitch mix overhaul: Miller dropped his sinker from 16% of pitches in 2025 to just 5% in 2026, replacing it with an expanded splitter that generates swing-and-miss in ways his old mix never could. The sinker was getting punished; the splitter isn't.
What makes the case compelling is that the strikeout improvements track across every contact layer, not just the surface numbers. Miller's walk rate stayed stable while strikeouts climbed — that combination is the fingerprint of a real improvement, not a BABIP-driven hot streak. The splitter plays particularly well against right-handed hitters, who are overmatched by the late movement dropping out of the zone. Athlon's analysis emphasizes that two consecutive months of improvement in both swing-strike rate and command is exactly the pattern that separates sustainable breakouts from flukes.
For fantasy purposes, Miller has crossed from SP4/5 territory into a legitimate SP2/3. He pitches for a Seattle team that needs him healthy in the rotation, and his second-half schedule is workable. If Miller is available in your league at any ownership below 50%, this piece is the push to add him before the rest of your leaguemates read it.
The July 22 Leverage Ledger covers an increasingly volatile save landscape heading into the trade deadline stretch. Paul Sewald blew his second save of the season during Kohl Drake's debut against the Athletics, highlighting Arizona's thin high-leverage depth even with a healthy rotation. Fewer than half of MLB teams head into August with a defined, locked-in closer — the deadline will reshuffle several bullpens further, particularly for contenders still looking for proven arms.
Read the full Ledger →| Closer | Team | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyler Wells | BAL | 🔴 Committee | Ryan Helsley remains on the 60-day IL with UCL inflammation — no surgery confirmed but not ruled out. Baltimore's ninth-inning committee shows no signs of consolidating: Wells leads by save count and July scoreless outings, but Andrew Kittredge, Rico Garcia, and Yennier Cano have all converted saves this season. No closer has been officially named. In 12-team leagues, Wells is the closest thing to a lead option; in 15-team-plus formats, own all four. |
| Alex Lange | DET | 🟡 Watch | Two blown saves this season have eroded confidence in Lange's hold on the Tigers' ninth inning. Will Vest and Keider Montero have both converted saves, and a third blown save this week would likely formalize a committee. Hold Lange in 12-team leagues but add Will Vest as a handcuff in deeper formats. |
| Jordan Romano | COL | 🟡 Watch | Romano has converted both Colorado saves since joining the team July 4 on a minor-league deal and appears to be the Rockies' preferred ninth-inning option ahead of Antonio Senzatela and Brennan Bernardino. The Rockies produce few save opportunities, but Romano's role is solidifying. Speculative add in 15-team-plus leagues — low floor, real path to saves. |
| Caleb Kilian | SF | 🔴 Committee | San Francisco's save committee remains three-way between Kilian (team-leading 8 saves), Erik Miller, and JT Brubaker. No pitcher has separated himself enough to be named the closer. In deep leagues, own all three; in 12-team formats, Kilian is the highest-probability option but saves will continue to be shared. |
Fernando Tatis Jr. hit the longest home run of the 2026 MLB regular season — a 474-foot blast off Braves reliever JR Ritchie in Atlanta during the Padres' 8-3 win. The ball cleared the left-field seats at Truist Park in the eighth inning with room to spare.
Full game highlights from the Tigers at Cubs on July 22. Chicago's lineup in action, batting order construction on display, and a useful window into how Jacob Webb and the Cubs bullpen looked in a real high-leverage situation.
Full game highlights from the Marlins at Astros on July 21 — Houston's lineup and bullpen in action one day before the Astros placed an outfielder on the IL, making this the last look at their full-health roster configuration.
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