Nicholas Castellanos (3B, DET) – Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: Nicholas Castellanos looks prepared to take another step forward in his power and counting stats production, though his ratios have lagged behind to this point in the season.

Although Castellanos has already posted eight home runs this season, his batted ball profile suggests there is plenty more power lurking. Castellanos has a whopping 49.4% hard contact, second highest among qualified batters, but just a 12.5% HR/FB rate. His 33.7% flyball rate will undoubtedly hold him back some, but given his career rate of 38.9% there is hope that rate will increase as the season wears on. As for his abysmal .232 average, there isn’t much indication that Castellanos is deserving of such a fall as his strikeout rate remains steady and his infield flyball rate is nearly non-existent at 1.8%.

Given the landscape of third base as a relatively deep position, picking up Castellanos at this point would be betting on his current metrics leading to better results in the future. Fortunately, it isn’t as if he is providing no production now, as he's on pace for 86 RBI and 81 runs, both of which would be career highs by a large margin. With positive regression looking likely in both power and average, Castellanos is a nice option to look at for a corner infield or utility slot.