Joey Wendle (2B/3B/SS, TB) - Week 4 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 5% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Here's an interesting note: if you were going strictly by WAR, Joey Wendle would've beaten Shohei Ohtani, Miguel Andujar, and Gleyber Torres for the 2018 AL ROY with a 4.8. Aside from that, Wendle is attempting to recover in 2020 from a subpar showing last season that saw him miss a lot of time on the field, and so far, he is off to a great start. Over his first 35 AB, the product of West Chester University has three XBH (one double, one triple, one HR), one steal, and a slash of .286/.359/.457.

Wendle walks at a solid clip of 7.7%, but even more key to offensive success, his strikeout rate is also at 7.7%. He doesn't necessarily produce great contact quality on batted balls, as he is hitting for just 28.1% hard contact and 18.8% soft contact, but the silver lining is in his 28.1% line drive rate and 0.92 GB/FB ratio which gives a large percentage of pitches hit by Wendle a good chance of finding open space and makes his .290 BABIP seem sustainable. In a season like this, defensive versatility is a bigger factor than ever before, and with three positions that you can plug Joey Wendle in for, his well-rounded start makes him a prudent acquisition in deeper leagues.