Bobby Bradley (1B, CLE) - Week 16 Waiver Wire Pickups

3 years ago by Mike Marteny

BALLER MOVE: Add in leagues of 14+ teams

ROSTERED IN: 13% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Bradley struggled in his September call-up in 2019 and didn't play last year due to the pandemic. Cleveland started him at AAA Columbus this year to get his footing back under him. After hitting just .196 in 26 games, he got the call to the show. Why? Because Josh Naylor was even worse. Bradley did hit nine homers at Columbus and has a track record of mashing in the minors. Bradley was extraordinarily unlucky at Columbus this year with a .182 BABIP. His metrics told a much better story than that offputting batting average.

Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers received five total writing awards and 13 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, tops in the industry! Congrats to all the award winners and nominees including Best MLB Series, NFL Series, NBA Writer, PGA Writer and Player Notes writer of the year. Be sure to follow their analysis, rankings and advice all year long, and win big with RotoBaller! Read More!

It appears that hitting in Cleveland is easier than in Columbus. In his first 31 games with Cleveland this year, Bradley is hitting .240 with 10 homers and 20 RBI. The 13 walks in 104 at-bats are a nice touch as well. The 11.4% walk rate is well above league average and the 29.8% K percentage is right around league average. The .250 BABIP is well below what he put up in the minors, so we can expect a better average from him.

Bradley hits the ball hard. The 90.2 mph average exit velocity and 114.2 maximum exit velocity are both well into the 90th percentile. He also has a superb 22.7% barrel percentage. Bradley has more barrels (15) than some guys have in over 200 at-bats this year! His expected stats are not much lower than they currently are. In fact, his xwOBA is higher than his current OBA. The .258 xBA should be about where we expect Bradley to end up in terms of average.

If you are in need of power, give Bradley a look. He hit more than 25 homers in every full minor league season except 2017 when he fell just short. Bradley's plate discipline has been an issue at most stops along the way, but so far he is only striking out at a 29.8% clip with a nice 11.3% walk rate. If he can keep that up, his average wont hurt you and he could be even more of an asset in leagues that count OBP.

Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App

Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy baseball app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, sleepers, prospects & more. All free!