Pickups of the Day: Aching for Andrus
Fantasy fill-ins after Bautista's UCL injury
D.J. Short, Paul Sporer and Eric Samulski discuss how fantasy managers should react to Félix Bautista's UCL injury and highlight potential fill-in options.
Rotoworld's brand-new Pickups of the Day column is designed to help fantasy managers uncover a handful of widely-available targets over the course of the season. It could be a breakout candidate, a prospect stash, an injury replacement, a pitcher with a favorable matchup or week, a player who is due some better luck, or any other number of scenarios. If there's value to be found on the waiver wire, we will find it and bring it your way.
In today’s column, we’re going to explore a second-half hero from the 2022 season who is coming on strong again and an interesting streaming option for Thursday’s MLB slate.
PICKUPS OF THE DAY
Elvis Andrus, 2B/SS, White Sox
Available in 87 percent of Yahoo leagues
One of the most surprising events of the 2022 fantasy baseball season was the sudden resurgence of Elvis Andrus following a deadline deal to the White Sox. The 34-year-old infielder – rejuvenated by an everyday role with a new ballclub – slashed .271/.309/.464 with nine homers, 28 RBI and 11 stolen bases in just 43 games with the White Sox to finish the season.
The underlying numbers seemed to support what he did, which made him a popular sleeper option heading into the fantasy draft season for 2023. To say that he wound up being a disappointment, would be selling it short. Through August 2, Andrus had been an unmitigated disaster. He was slashing a nightmarish .204/.280/.274 with just two homers, 20 RBI and six stolen bases (in 10 attempts) over 258 plate appearances in 73 games. Absolute rock bottom.
Since that fateful day though, things have started to turn around for the 35-year-old second baseman and he has looked more like the player that the White Sox acquired at last season’s trade deadline. Over his last 19 games, he’s slashing a robust .365/.390/.581 with three homers, 16 RBI and five swipes (in five attempts). Can he continue at that pace? Highly unlikely, though we did see that he was able to sustain that type of quality production through September in 2022. Pick him up now and ride the hot hand, and you just may have an unlikely five-category performer in the middle infield for the final month of the season.
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Joan Adon, SP, Nationals
Available in 95 percent of Yahoo leagues
We’re digging deep into the well on this one, which sometimes happens on days where we are faced with a short MLB schedule. Joan Adon joined the Nationals’ rotation at the beginning of August and has made four starts at the big league level so far this season. One of them – a disaster against the Phillies on August 18 – resulted in him surrendering six runs on six hits over just four innings. In the other three outings though, Adon allowed three runs or fewer in each of them.
He delivered his finest start of the season his last time out against the Marlins – firing six innings of shutout baseball while allowing just three hits and zero walks while striking out three. He just so happens to be scheduled against that same Marlins lineup on Thursday – this time in Washington. His chances of logging a quality start in that one seem quite high, though he shouldn’t be counted on for more than 3-4 strikeouts.
With limited available options on Thursday’s slate though, we’ll take what should be five or six innings of quality ratios, a decent shot at a victory and a couple of strikeouts. At this stage of the season, every incremental gain can be crucial, and Adon can help to push your squad in the right direction on Thursday.
