Jose Pirela (2B/OF, SDP) – Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: Jose Pirela is getting consistent major league at-bats for the first time in his career, and the results have been solid. Through 234 plate appearances, he is posting a .241 ISO with just a 21% strikeout rate.

Pirela’s power has been a surprising part of his game as his ISO regularly hovered around .150 throughout all of his minor league stops. However, his batted ball profile indicates that he should be able to maintain a high average at the very least as he does not strike out often, makes good contact, and has a high groundball rate. His run scoring potential is also solid given that he has a 7.3% walk rate that has helped him post a .355 OBP. Given that he is regularly batting third in the Padres’ lineup, he has counting stat upside even as part of a poor lineup. That upside is currently coming to fruition as he has seven RBI and eight runs through half of August.

Even if Pirela’s power does come down a bit, his ability to get on base and his spot in the Padres’ batting order gives him the potential to rack up counting stats while also being an asset in ratio categories as well.