J.J. Hardy (SS, BAL) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add In Most Leagues

ANALYSIS: J.J. Hardy is owned in just 67% of Yahoo! Leagues which is surprising considering the lack of fantasy depth at the shortstop position. Fantasy baseball owners may have avoided picking him up due to Hardy’s sudden lack of power. For a guy who has hit at least 22 bombs five times during his career, the fact that he didn’t hit his first home run until 6/21 had to be troubling. The good news is that he has hit four homers since that time. And given that power hitters, and Hardy especially, tend to hit the ball out in bunches, his home run percentage should soon return to its normal range. If you need an example of just how streaky Hardy can be, check out his 2008 season. In his first 53 games that year he hit just two home runs, and he followed that up by hitting 22 in the last 93 games of the season. Other than his power outage, Hardy has been a very consistent hitter this season and his batting average hasn’t dipped below .279 since 5/21. If you throw in the fact that Hardy’s stats typically get better as the season drags on it would be wise to consider picking him up for the long haul. He is not the best fantasy shortstop but you could end up doing a heck of a lot worse.