Six Late-Season Studs to Save Your Fantasy Playoff Hopes Before the Deadline

Tick, tick, tick...

The fantasy baseball trade deadline hits Friday at noon ET. If you haven't audited your roster yet, what are you waiting for? Trades need both sides to sign off, so give your league mates time to actually hit accept. Time to scheme.

Last week, we broke down players with proven stretch-run histories. This week, it's pure gut calls. Here are six names I'm targeting before the clock strikes.

Jackson Chourio, OF, Brewers

Chourio is already heavily rostered—only 13 outfield-eligible players have a higher rate in ESPN leagues—but there's a strange vibe that he's just 'very good.' Nah. He's breaking out in a big way.

After missing 33 games with a fractured hand, Chourio has tweaked his stance, gotten more aggressive early in counts, and turned his contact quality way up. Statcast puts his barrel and hard-hit rates in the 90th and 85th percentiles, respectively—up from league average last year. He's added more than 150 points of slugging against fastballs compared to 2025. If he keeps this up, 30 homers is in play.

Max Fried, SP, Yankees

Fried is only four starts removed from a two-month IL stint for a bone bruise in his elbow, but he's already hitting 90 pitches and showing no loss of life on his four-seamer, cutter, or curveball. The workload question? Gone.

Now check the schedule: the Yankees face a soft remaining pitching slate, with 11 games against bottom-five offenses and nine more against Forecaster bottom-five units. Fried is also a notorious second-half heater guy—six quality starts in his final seven outings last year, six of eight in 2024, and five of seven in 2023. Bank on another run.

Luis Garcia Jr., 2B/1B, Yankees

Yeah, another Yankee. Get your 'homer' jokes out now—because homers are exactly the point.

New York has more remaining home games than anyone, and Garcia is pulling the ball (42.5%) and putting it in the air (56.2%) at personal-best rates. He's second in the majors with a .551 slugging percentage, trailing only Yordan Alvarez. And somehow he's still available in nearly 20% of ESPN leagues. Go get him.

Payton Tolle, SP, Red Sox

If you don't know Tolle, learn fast. He has 227 fantasy points since the beginning of May—16th among starting pitchers—and 76 over the past 30 days, good for 17th. Still available in more than a third of ESPN leagues.

The stuff is filthy: a 96.1 mph four-seam fastball, a cutter that generates 31% whiffs, and a curveball that has produced 27 of his 124 K's despite just 8.5% usage. He's tougher on righties, and his schedule is friendly. Stop sleeping on him.

Alec Burleson, OF/1B, Cardinals

Burleson is quietly 10th among all hitters in fantasy points—fourth among outfielders—yet he couldn't crack a 90% start rate in ESPN leagues until after the All-Star break. Absurd.

He's the only batting-title-eligible hitter with 75th-percentile-or-better numbers in barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and strikeout rate, per Statcast. Since the break, he's slashing .330/.408/.528 over 24 games. That's no fluke.

Josh Naylor, 1B, Mariners

The Mariners are making a push, and Naylor is showing signs of life. He's swiped eight bases in his last 29 games while riding a 25-game on-base streak.

Seattle's schedule is one of the friendliest for hitters down the stretch—especially in September, when they play 17 games against bottom-five teams in ERA, including six at the two most hitter-friendly parks in baseball (Colorado and Sacramento). If Naylor's improved patience sticks, he's a steal.

These are my gut calls. Your league mates might laugh—until you're holding the trophy.