Jason Heyward (OF, CHC) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

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OWNED IN: 31% of Yahoo! leagues

ANALYSIS: 

If Heyward is going to continue coming to the plate with runners all over the bases, it’s hard to see him slowing down. He’s up to 43 RBI on the season and his wOBA against right-handers is up to .379. He’s hit 15 home runs and has added 10 doubles and three triples. He’s always a stolen base threat and he only strikes out 18% of the time, so there isn’t much of a risk here. He’s certainly a platoon hitter and can be ignored against lefties, but they’ll only come up one every three or four nights.

It’s getting hot in Chicago and the runs are going to start pouring in. This is one of the three most lethal lineups in baseball and Heyward is finding himself in the five or six hole on most nights. He’s seeing pitches to hit and typically has ducks on the pond. I don’t see Heyward as much of a short term investment, but the Padres and Giants have two poor pitching staffs and the Cubs should put up plenty of runs in both spots. Heyward is still a huge liability against lefties, so you can probably do better in any league smaller than 12 teams.