Greg Allen (OF, NYY) - Week 18 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 8% of leagues

ANALYSIS: There's always one or two players every season who seemingly come out of nowhere to remind you why you made a mistake addressing stolen bases so heavily back on draft night, and at this point in 2021, that player is Greg Allen. The 28-year-old San Diego State product flew under the radar for most of his minor league career, and in four separate MLB stints with the Tribe and Padres, he failed to produce an OPS north of .654 in 557 total AB. Having said that, the dude has wheels that would make Lewis Hamilton jealous, and he's sharply improving at making his way to the base-paths at the major league level.

In 587 MLB AB, despite having a composite slash of .242/.308/.351, Allen has racked up 37 stolen bases in 42 tries (88.1%), with five unanswered swipes in the mere 30 AB he has taken in 2021. He's off to a hot start too, clubbing five XBH (four doubles and a triple), walking at an improved 12.5% clip while holding strikeout frequency to 25%, slashing .300/.450/.500. His batted ball figures aren't daunting (85.7 MPH average exit velocity and 28.6% hard hit rate), but the key is in Allen creating a career-high 42.9% line drives, allowing him to get off to the races to the tune of a .200 ISO and a possibly sustainable .429 BABIP. In seven minor league seasons (1,953 AB), Greg Allen collected 173 steals against 47 caught-stealing (78.6%), and his batting efforts only got better as he climbed to the upper stages of the farm system. Even with some new pieces in the Yankee outfield, if you need steals in a deeper league, this is the guy to look to for quick conversion.

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