Willie Calhoun (OF, TEX) - Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: FINALLY!!! IT HAPPENED!!! This week is just full of emotions for me.

After a surprise demotion to start the season followed by a mopey initial two months, Texas’ top prospect Willie Calhoun has finally gotten back to the show. While it’s exciting that we’ll finally get to see the short slugger in Arlington this year, there are numerous reasons for concern. Not the least of these is his production in the first half of 2018.

While his approach is still among the most advanced in baseball for any player under 25 (and many players over), the vaunted pop that Calhoun possessed has been absent thus far. Eight home runs over 408 plate appearances is quite the disappointment for the guy who hit 59 homers over his last two minor league seasons. That said, he’s been much better the last two months, as the aforementioned mopey month of April got him off to a poor start of .229/.308/.365. And while it’s taken some time to get going in terms of power production, he hit .429/.520/.619 over 63 at-bats in July, ending his first half with a solid .296/.341/.429.

The fact of the matter with Calhoun is that not much has actually changed with him, and the eye test supports that. His “struggles”, such as they were, at Triple-A were likely the result of his head not really being in the game, something to which Calhoun admits. While that may raise some of your personal red flags, and I understand that reflex, the fact is that this is still an extraordinarily gifted hitter with the power, launch angle, and batter’s eye to make pitchers pay and fantasy owners drool. Whether he’s up for good is really anyone’s guess, but if he’s in an MLB uniform, you’ll want to get your hands on him.