Pickups of the Day: Tick-Tauch Goes The Clock
'Can't wait' any longer for Suzuki in fantasy
D.J. Short and Eric Samulski analyze a down year for Seiya Suzuki and why it's time to let the Cubs outfielder go for the remainder of the fantasy season.
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's return to form in Chicago and an emerging power-hitting option in Minnesota.
Mike Tauchman, OF, Cubs
Available in 66 percent of Yahoo leagues
The Cubs have been one of the hottest teams in the second half, going 16-7 since the All-Star break. The team’s performance led the front office to take Cody Bellinger off the block and become one of the buyers at the trade deadline. One of the reasons for their outstanding performance has been Mike Tauchman’s white-hot summer. Over the past month, Tauchman is hitting .325/.380/.566 with four homers, 20 runs, and 21 RBI across 92 plate appearances. So how did someone who played in Korea last season after being a below-league-average player for a few years suddenly become this good?
Last winter, Tauchman went to Driveline with the goal of improving his bat speed. Driveline recently published a blog post detailing the work that he and the Driveline crew did over the winter to make Tauchman the best player he can be. This information should give fantasy managers confidence that this isn’t some hot streak; there is something there there.
There is one downside to rostering Tauchman, however. He is strictly a platoon outfielder, but he is on the strong side, and bats lead off when he does play. That being said, if you need some help in runs and RBI, there is no one better on the waiver wire at this point in the season.
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Matt Wallner, OF, Twins
Available in 91 percent of Yahoo leagues
The Twins were surprisingly quiet at the trade deadline, but their fans can take some solace that they have one of the better hitters over the last month in their lineup. No, I’m not talking about Bryon Buxton or Carlos Correa; I’m talking about someone born and raised in Forest Lake, Minnesota, Matt Wallner.
The 25-year-old didn’t have much prospect pedigree when he was making his way through the Twins’ farm system, but pedigree doesn’t matter when you are hitting like he is. The 6’5” outfielder is hitting .268/.381/.573 with seven homers and 16 RBI across 97 plate appearances this season and has played so well that Trevor Larnach has been stuck in Triple-A St. Paul for most of the season. Wallner’s biggest hit came over the weekend when he hit a 415-foot two-run walk off homer Sunday off newly acquired Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald.
Not only can Wallner hit the ball a long way, he is surprisingly fast. He ranks in the 77th percentile in home to first time, which puts him fourth fastest on the Twins and puts him in line with Tyler O’Neil and Joey Wiemer. While he doesn’t use that speed to steal bases, he could use that speed to leg out a couple of extra hits and it makes me think that his .319 BABIP could stand to improve a bit. If you are in search of some power on the waiver wire, you could do worse than Matt Wallner.
