Yan Gomes (C, WAS) - Week 2 Waiver Wire Pickups

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OWNED IN: 36% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Yan Gomes is playing for a different team than the Cleveland Indians for the first time in six years, and he is carrying plenty of offensive momentum with him to his new home with the Washington Nationals. Last season as the Tribe's backstop he earned the first All-Star nod of his career behind 16 HR and a slash of .266/.313/.449 in 403 AB, all of which are his best figures in each category since the 2013 season when he earned a Silver Slugger distinction. Gomes finished 2018 with two high-performance months of August and September in which he produced five combined HR and consecutive OPS of .803 and .907, and has optimistically carried that string of success into 2019 where he excelled in Spring Training (four dingers and a .375/.405/.700 slash) and has already gotten off to a strong start at the plate for the regular season.

Gomes is still just 31 years old despite his veteran status, and for now holds clear control of the National's starting catcher spot in front of fellow veteran and offensive standout Kurt Suzuki. While it may not be ideal that Yan Gomes is typically smack-dab in between Ryan Zimmerman and Wilmer Difo in the Washington batting order, his reliability as a starter in conjunction with his long-building wave of momentum with the bat make him an asset of considerable value in most fantasy baseball leagues.