Pickups of the Day: Don't Forget About Trent
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. Today’s edition features an outfielder picking up more playing time in San Diego and a veteran reliever who is close to returning in Los Angeles.
Trent Grisham, OF, Padres
Available in 96 percent of Yahoo leagues
There have been many underperforming teams in baseball this year, and one of the more prominent teams in my mind is the San Diego Padres. They just lost a series to the Washington Nationals and are clearly positioned as the fourth-best team in the National League West. However, there is an outfielder that has drastically underperformed his underlying stats.
Outside of two games where he was injured, Grisham has been playing every day as the Padres centerfielder, even, surprisingly, against southpaws. During that time, the 26-year-old has hit .242/.315/.364 with a homer and four swipes. While that doesn’t necessarily scream, “Pick me. Choose me. Love me.”, you could do worse. I bet you are wondering though, “I thought you said there were some things under the hood with Grisham?” Oh, there is!
This year, Grisham has increased his barrel percentage from eight percent to 15 percent. An improvement that is great to see! However, his HR/Barrel percentage dropped from 68 percent last year all the way to 25 percent this year. For some context, a league average HR/Brl is around 50 percent. So not only is he underperforming last year's rate, but is massively underachieving from a league-average standpoint. While disappointing in any one particular stat doesn’t automatically project future success, there is a bit of hope that Grisham will have a much better second half. Also, to add a little more fuel to the fire, the Padres have one of the best hitting matchups this week as they started a three-game series against the porous Pirates pitching staff and will end the week with a series at Great American Ballpark.
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Daniel Hudson, RP, Dodgers
Available in 93 percent of Yahoo leagues
The Dodgers haven’t been the capital D Dodgers of the last couple of years, and one of the reasons why is their bullpen. While they have some excellent seventh or eighth-inning guys like Evan Phillips or Brusdar Graterol, they haven’t found their lockdown guy.
Enter Daniel Hudson, perhaps?
Hudson has been recovering from an ACL tear in his left knee and is scheduled to return to the Dodgers bullpen on Friday. Hudson has made six appearances between the Arizona Complex League and Triple-A, and the 36-year-old has posted 8 ⅓ scoreless innings with an impressive 13/1 K/BB ratio. While it is not set in stone if Hudson will secure the closer role once he returns, the lack of possible closers on the waiver wire is slim, and you could quickly pivot if the Dodgers decide to go a different route.
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