Carson Kelly (C, ARI) - Week 19 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Two Catcher Leagues

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ANALYSIS: 

It’s down to Alex Avila and Carson Kelly at catcher for the Diamondbacks. Kelly has been behind the plate for most of the contests, with Avila taking about 1/3 of them vs righties. Kelly was a huge prospect for the Cardinals and his power has been more than impressive, sitting at 14 home runs and 17 doubles through just 240 plate appearances.

If you’re looking for a negative, his wOBA is .500+ against lefties and a .308 vs righties. It’s certainly not bad to have such a high wOBA, but’s it’s inflated by a .440 BABIP. It’s gone the other way against righties, so his peripherals point to him being just slightly better against left-handers. He has just as much power vs both sides and will keep getting better as he gets used to MLB pitching. If you’re in need of a catcher, Carson Kelly is going to continue starting the majority of games and has a lot of upside from the catcher position. It may not seem like it, but Kelly has the ninth most home runs and the fourth best wOBA of any catcher. He’s worth an add if catcher is a position of need.