Baltimore Orioles outfielder Taylor Ward (hand) said he has been playing through a bone bruise in his hand that he suffered on April 13 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, according to Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun. It would help explain why Ward only has one home run in his first 148 at-bats with Baltimore this year. Since April 13, the 32-year-old veteran right-handed hitter has gone 18-for-85 (.212) with one homer, four doubles, four RBI, 19 runs scored, and a steal. However, he is drawing walks at a nice rate, drawing 31 walks while striking out 17 times. Overall, Ward is slashing .264/.424/.378 with an .802 OPS, 12 RBI, and 27 runs scored in his 148 at-bats. He says that his hand injury has healed now, so hopefully we'll start to see an uptick in power production from the former first-round pick in 2015 out of Fresno State. Ward is currently in the 83rd percentile for xwOBA, but he's in just the 28th percentile in hard-hit rate. We'll be watching closely to see if his hard-hit rate starts to creep up with better health. Fantasy managers may want to consider buying low on the right-handed power bat.

The Boston Red Sox may be struggling, but outfielder Wilyer Abreu hasn't been the problem so far in 2026. The 26-year-old Venezuelan outfielder is currently slashing .293/.374/.467 with an .841 OPS, six home runs, 18 RBI, 19 runs scored, and three stolen bases across 40 games and 171 plate appearances in his third full season in the big leagues. He has slowed down a bit in 10 games in May, but he hasn't been terrible at the plate, going 9-for-36 (.250) with two long balls, five RBI, four runs scored, and two stolen bases for a struggling Red Sox team that ranks 28th in baseball on offense with a .663 OPS. Abreu is currently in the 73rd percentile in hard-hit rate, the 81st percentile in xwOBA, the 85th percentile in expected slugging percentage, and the 62nd percentile in strikeout rate. He has also had reverse splits so far, hitting .372 (16-for-43) with one of his six home runs against left-handed pitchers. Fantasy managers should expect Abreu's average to come down a little, but his excellent glove will keep him in the lineup every day.

Washington Nationals outfielder Daylen Lile is heating up and extended his hitting streak to five games in the team's 10-4 win over the hosting Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday. Lile went 3-for-5 at the plate with two home runs and four RBI. The 23-year-old left-handed-hitting outfielder's homers came off Brady Singer in the fourth inning and reliever Luis Mey in the fifth frame. His home runs snapped a drought of 16 straight games with a long ball. During his current five-game hitting streak, the 23-year-old has gone 8-for-19 (.421) with two homers, two doubles, five RBI, and two runs scored to boost his season slash line to .264/.331/.423 in 163 at-bats. Lile is now up to five homers on the season and has added 19 RBI, 26 runs scored, and two stolen bases in 41 games played. He hasn't been excellent this year, but Lile could be turning a corner in mid-May.

Minnesota Twins right-hander Bailey Ober went the distance in a marvelous performance on Tuesday night in a 3-0 shutout win over the visiting Miami Marlins. Ober went all nine innings to win his fourth game of the season, allowing only two hits, walking none, and striking out seven batters. It was quite the bounce-back performance from the soft-tossing right-hander after he gave up a season-high five earned runs in five innings in a loss to the Washington Nationals his last time on the bump. His efficient and dominant outing on Tuesday now has the 30-year-old at 4-2 on the year with a 3.46 ERA (3.85 FIP) and 1.02 WHIP with 39 strikeouts and 15 walks in 52 innings of work over his nine starts. Ober needed just 89 pitches to finish off the complete-game shutout, and he retired the last 16 batters he faced against a Miami squad that was overly aggressive, leading to lots of quick innings. It was Ober's third complete game of his career. So far, Ober has done a fine job of reinventing himself in 2026 with a drop in velocity.