It’ll be Kershaw’s third rehab outing as he continues to progress towards a mid-to-late August season debut coming off last year’s shoulder surgery. The 36-year-old veteran lefty struck out five over three shutout innings last weekend for Triple-A Oklahoma City. He figures to make an impact for fantasy managers over the final few weeks of the year, even in shallow mixed leagues. The results have been there for the future Hall of Fame southpaw, when healthy, over the last few years.

Wilson will join the Athletics for Friday’s second-half opener against the Angels after just 72 games in the minors since being selected sixth overall in last year’s MLB Draft. The 22-year-old shortstop has torn the cover off the ball this season in the upper minors with a surreal .438/.475/.687 triple-slash line with seven homers and two steals across 200 plate appearances. He doesn’t offer a ton of over-the-fence pop or stolen base potential upside, and Oakland’s lackluster supporting cast doesn’t exactly help either. Yet, his bat-to-ball skills give him a shot to make an impact for fantasy managers in the second half. He’s at least worthy of a speculative roster spot in deeper mixed leagues.

MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis adds that Burns will receive a $9.25 million signing bonus as the second-overall pick from the 2024 MLB Draft out of Wake Forest, narrowly surpasses the record-setting $9.2 million figure current All-Star Paul Skenes received last year from the Pirates as the top-overall selection. The 21-year-old right-hander projects as an impact fantasy contributor in the near future as he boasts a triple-digit fastball and arguably the best slider in the entire draft class. It’s easy to envision him blossoming into an upper-echelon fantasy starter down the road given his impressive stuff. He’ll be worth monitoring closely over the next few months as he kicks off his professional career.

It’s an extremely important checkpoint that clears Tatis to “continue to incrementally increase his baseball activity.” He’s resumed playing catch and swinging a bat already, so he could move to facing live pitching soon, and then progress to a rehab assignment shortly after that. While that means he still may be weeks away from returning, it’s good to see that he’s making some progress entering the second half.

No indication yet on where exactly Hill will wind up at this juncture or whether there’s any actual interest from teams. However, the 44-year-old left-hander appears set on returning for what would be his 20th season in the big leagues since 2005. He was largely ineffective late last year with a calamitous 8.23 ERA in 10 appearances (five starts, and five relief appearances) following a midseason trade to the Padres. Yet, there’s probably some appeal here for a contending franchise to bring him in as a low-risk dice roll to see if there’s anything left in the tank.

Maldonado remains one of the better defensive catchers in baseball, despite his advanced age, but that doesn’t really matter for fantasy purposes where he’s been a complete non-factor for years. The 37-year-old backstop figures to have some appeal for a contender as a backup option given his defensive prowess, but he’s not going to have any sort of impact for fantasy managers, regardless of where he winds up next. According to Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, it’ll be Chuckie Robinson coming up from Triple-A Charlotte to take his roster spot following the All-Star break.

The deal is now official. With Yoán Moncada (adductor) due back at some point next month, and Lenyn Sosa heading to the minors, it seems like the White Sox are going to give Senzel some runway at second base coming out of the All-Star break. The former second-overall pick from the 2016 MLB Draft never quite lived up to those lofty expectations with Cincinnati and was cut loose earlier this month by the Nationals after posting a .663 OPS with seven homers and one steal in 64 games. The 29-year-old has undoubtedly underwhelmed to this point in his career, but he represents a worthwhile reclamation project for the White Sox over the next few months.

Duran came off the bench to slingshot the American League ahead with a tape-measure 413-foot moonshot to right field off Reds ace Hunter Greene in the fifth inning, which was enough for him to earn him MVP Award honors. The 27-year-old outfielder’s metamorphosis into an upper-echelon fantasy contributor, tallying 47 extra-base hits, including 10 home runs, and 22 stolen bases through 95 games, has been a big reason why the Red Sox find themselves in the playoff race coming out of the All-Star break.

Ohtani connected on a center-cut heater from Red Sox starter Tanner Houck, launching a colossal 400-foot no-doubter to right field, putting the National League ahead in the early stages of the Midsummer Classic. The 30-year-old two-way superstar became the first Dodger to homer in the All-Star Game since Mike Piazza back in 1996. It’s yet another signature moment for his end-of-career highlight reel.

Clase was summoned to protect a two-run lead in the final frame of the Midsummer Classic and needed just 13 pitches (11 strikes) to preserve the victory. The hard-throwing 26-year-old right-hander made quite a statement in his third straight All-Star Game appearance, striking out Pete Alonso to open the frame before retiring Elly De La Cruz on a ground out to second base. Padres rookie Jackson Merrill managed to get on-base with an infield single before he struck out Bryan Reynolds to slam the door.