Brandon Maurer (RP, SD) - Waiver Wire Pickups

Baller Move: Add in all leagues

Owned in: 25% of Fleaflicker leagues

Analysis: The San Diego Padres dealt Fernando Rodney to the Miami Marlins. That means there is a gap in the 9th inning for the Padres, and 26-year old Brandon Maurer is going to fill it.  This season Maurer has a 5.67 ERA, 1.412 WHIP, 1.4 HR/9, 4.1 BB/9, with a nice average of 11.1 K/9. Maurer has never had this problem with walks in his short career with previous season BB/9 averages of 2.7, 2.5, and 2.6; but he also never struck out batters at this nice of a clip with previous season K/9 rates of 7.0, 7.1, 6.9.

Maurer has been off this year, but last season he had a 3.00 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and just 0.5 HR/9 which you would expect in Petco Park. In his successful 2015, he threw his slider more than any pitch in his arsenal at 42.3% frequency and it averaged 88.2 mph while he threw his fastball 38.6% of the time at an average clip of 94.9 mph. This year he is tossing his fastball the most at 49.6% of the time and it is traveling faster at 95.4 mph, while his lesser used trusty slider is moving much slower at 84.4 mph. Maurer is valuable as long as he is the Padres closer, and he should consider focusing less on throwing heat half of the time and more on getting velocity back on that slider.