Robbie Grossman (OF, DET) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

3 years ago by Mike Marteny

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BALLER MOVE: Add in leagues of 12+ teams

ROSTERED IN: 38% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Grossman is one of those guys that's always an afterthought, even in the deepest of leagues, when it comes to fantasy baseball. He's a career .249 hitter and had only had double-digit homers once in eight major league seasons.......prior to this year, that is. So what's changed?

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Grossman, like many other hitters, has eschewed batting average in the name of more power. He's hitting just .229 on the season, but already has a career-high 14 home runs. Is his newfound power sustainable? Why should we add a dude hitting .229 to our precious fantasy rosters? Aside from the fact that batting average is damn near impossible to chase, his .229 average doesn't tell the whole story.

Grossman's new approach has produced a career-high 19.9 degree launch angle and a 23.4% strikeout rate that is his highest since 2016. However, the 15.2% walk rate is a career best and once of the best in baseball (he's in the 96th percentile). In leagues that count OBP, that's huge. It could also explain why Grossman already has a career high in steals as well with 11. If you

This also means that Grossman is prone to wicked slumps. He hit just .212 in the entire month of April and .184 in June. However, Grossman is hitting .279 in 14 July games with four homers and eight RBI already this month. He's even padded his steal total with two swipes. He has scored nine runs in just 14 games as well.

If you look closely at how the Tigers have done as a team, Grossman's success has seemed to be right in line with the rest of the team. The Tigers' offense is rolling right now. A big reason is Akil Baddoo settling nicely into the leadoff role and Grossman and his newfound power settling into the middle of the order. A guy who already has double digits in homers and steals is a nice commodity in 5x5 leagues, especially when you don't have to pay anything to get him.

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