Francisco Cervelli (C, PIT) - Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: A couple weeks back I wrote about Francisco Cervelli as a stop-gap solution for fantasy owner's in very deep leagues. But he's come on strong for the Pirates as of late, including hitting his first home run of the year this past week. I still maintain that Cervelli is one of the most underrated fantasy catchers in baseball. He’ll hit for solid average but won’t help all that much in counting stats. Nobody would have considered drafting him to start the year, but his numbers are right in line with expectations and career averages.

After his recent hot stretch, Cervelli now has 13 RBI to go with his one home run and 14 runs. The Pirates are in the lower half of all offensive statistics, but batting sixth or seventh the majority of the time doesn’t drastically hurt his chances as far as opportunities go. While he may not be a household name, he won’t kill your teams batting average and will provide the occasional run or RBI. Cervelli is currently the 13th ranked catcher for fantasy purposes, and there's no reason he won't finish the season in the top 12.