Fantasy Baseball Rest-of-Season Rankings: Scott Pianowski's updated risers and fallers as of May 4

Max Meyer, SP, Marlins (32%): It’s easy to get lost in the shuffle of the Miami rotation — Sandy Alcantara has a Cy Young Award and Eury Pérez is seen as a future star. But Meyer might be the ace of this year’s staff, holding a 2.68 ERA and 1.027 WHIP through seven starts. The timing could be right for Meyer to break through — he’s in his age-27 season — and Miami’s ballpark is a plus, as it significantly hurts power.

Logan Henderson, SP, Brewers (22%): Roger Sterling had a million memorable quips on Mad Men, including this gem: “The only thing worse than not getting what you want, is someone else getting it.” That’s how I feel about Henderson, who I drafted proactively in March then had to cut when he didn’t make the opening day roster. Injuries have pushed Henderson back to Milwaukee, and he looked sharp in his weekend tuneup (6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 8 K), on the heels of 17.2 dominant innings at Triple-A (1.02 ERA). I’m not getting the benefits of Henderson — my opponents are annoying — but maybe you can jump in, as he’s rostered in about a quarter of Yahoo leagues.

Downgrades

Luis Castillo, SP, Mariners (83%): I earmarked Castillo as a boring-value vet before the year, figuring the Seattle park would hide some of his mistakes entering an age-33 season. I’m starting to regret that angle. Castillo is off to a 6.29/1.660 start, with ground balls down and line drives up. His fastball still checks in at 95.1 mph, but that’s a couple of ticks down from his peak in Cincinnati. He’s had a little bad luck, but nothing significant — his xERA is slightly below six. He’s not an automatic start against the White Sox next weekend.

Matt McLain, 2B, Reds (50%): For the first month of the year, the Reds were very patient with McLain — slotting him second basically every game, with just two days off. But perhaps the other cleat dropped on the weekend — McLain was benched Thursday, then demoted to the ninth slot Sunday. That’s all justified for a hitter off to a .195/.308/.293 start. McLain is one of those batters who doesn’t chase but still strikes out more than average, which means he’s getting beat on pitches in the strike zone. The Reds have a plethora of infielders — and Noelvi Marte is crushing in the minors — so the leash with McLain isn’t infinite.

Ryan Walker, RP, Giants (61%): Walker’s had at least a slight lead in the San Francisco save chase, but that might be expiring. He blew two save chances last week, hounded by a bloated walk rate. Meanwhile, the Giants have several other relievers with good-to-great ratios: Keaton Winn, Erik Miller, Caleb Kilian, Matt Gage, JT Brubaker. I picked up some Miller shares over the weekend, but any speculative play against Walker is recommended right now. The Giants are eight games under .500, they can’t wait forever.