David Freese (1B/3B, PIT) - Week 21 Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: Pittsburgh Pirates infielder David Freese is doing just enough to get a fantasy squad into the playoffs. He continues to hit for a very high average. Unfortunately, the other counting stats will depend on his teammates. In the last two weeks, Freese has one homer with six runs, five RBI, and a .344 AVG. He is also hitting .324 overall in the second half, which should give optimism that he can produce. The Pirates believe so because even though he is not a traditional power bat, they often have him in the cleanup spot. Freese has very good plate discipline. He plays mostly within the strike zone and doesn’t chase many pitches outside the zone (25.8%). He is only striking out at a reasonable 20% rate and the confidence continues to increase.

Freese has decent matchups in his six games this week. He is slated for three games at home against Atlanta followed by three games in Milwaukee. Freese gets to face four righties this week, against which he is hitting .300. Of course, he is also hitting .294 against left-handed pitchers. Despite his success, the Pirates have recently been resting him against righties, so be prepared to have an alternate if that trend continues.