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.
Ben has been at RotoGraphs since 2012 and focuses most of his fantasy baseball attention toward dynasty and keeper leagues.
Pollock or Adam Eaton
Looking at their ZIPS, it’s Pollock. But Eaton might get a few more runs since he bats leadoff. Pollock if you need a couple HRs or some RBIs.
pollock over any of alex gordon, yelich, kennys vargas, jorge soler, or leonys martin?
Over martin, yes.
I’d also pick him up for Vargas
Well, you may be right, but AJ is not playing every day, and not playing all that great when he does play. I am in a head-to-head playoff match with players DTD on my bench; I don’t have space for him until he gets the every day gig.
Being benched on consecutive games, he does not inspire confidence.
Considering the DBacks position in the standings, and the old GM out, they may just let AJ play 4 games out of 7 the rest of the way while they audition the youngsters. And that is if he’s 100% healthy, still a question. If he doesn’t play every day, he can stay on the waiver wire with Pederson and the other rookie phenoms, or on the roster of the team that loses with him clogging up their lineup while not playing.
Pollock also has 4 games at Coors next week, which is one of the reasons I’ve been thinking about picking him up (I have a bye this week).
chuck, thank you.
COL is rolling with three lefties at the moment so you might only get two of those games.