Do Not Leave A.J. Pollock on the Waiver Wire

A guy with a 151 wRC+ is owned in just 17% of Yahoo! leagues as the playoffs in head-to-head formats are taking place and while roto players are fighting for the top spot in their leagues. In my main league I was actually scouring the waiver wire last night and was able to pick Pollock up, and it’s a very competitive league with guys who are very keen on the wire.

A.J. Pollock’s breakout was stymied by a fractured hamate bone, which is often a very debilitating injury but has seen success stories post fracture as well. He has started three games since he returned from the disabled list after missing three months with the injury and has four hits and a stolen base in 12 plate appearances. He also appeared as a pinch hitter on Sunday and recorded a hit, but playing time is certainly the concern as the Diamondbacks are far, far out of the race and will want to ease a potential budding star back into the lineup.

Daily formats are the most attractive for Pollock, since he will likely have his playing time monitored for the first few weeks. Plus its already Tuesday anyway, and if you hadn’t added and started him for the week this week you could very well be out of the playoffs for next week. If you have the ability to put a waiver claim in on him I would most certainly recommend it, almost regardless of what else you have going on your roster. He should be picked up in all formats as his combination of speed and power is unparalleled on the wire, assuming his injury is not still lingering.

I wrote about Pollock for RotoGraphs back in May and it was unfortunate that the injury occurred just a few weeks later, but his injury should give teams that are looking for any addition possible a potential free upgrade down the stretch run. Do not let an opportunity like this pass up, if it is available to you. Deeper leagues will likely have already seen him picked up, but as I mentioned a 12 team competitive league with keen owners left him on the wire and I was lucky enough to grab him – and hopefully you will be too.

Going forward ZiPS and Steamer project a roughly league average hitter, with a decent average, limited walk rate, and somewhat average power. I would never expect Pollock to keep up his .374 BABIP and his power may come back down due to the hamate injury, but I expect the speed to remain steady as he has proven to be an effective base stealer and has already stolen a bag in his first few games back. Over 600 plate appearances he would have a 18 homers and 27 steals. And while that is obviously very elemental analysis, leaving that type of production on the waiver wire is certainly not advised.