Jorge Polanco (SS, MIN) - Week 20 Waiver Wire Pickups

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OWNED IN: 9% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Former top-100 prospect Jorge Polanco hasn't hit for any power to speak of in his extremely limited 129 AB in July and August this season, but he has quietly put together two solid months of production at the plate. In his cumulative work on the year he has a .760 OPS with a single homer and four stolen bases in six attempts. Over the last two weeks alone, encompassing 47 AB, Polanco hit his sole dinger for the year and produced a disciplined slash of .298/.353/.426. As discussed, his power isn't exactly his area of expertise. His ISO for the year sits low at .116 while his hard contact and soft contact remain lukewarm to downright destructive at times with respective rates of 33% and 24.7% on the year.

This raw power, as nonexistent as it may be, is also not where his value lies. For one, he has some solid batted ball peripherals to account for his offensive production. He holds an above average pull rate of 43.3% while his GB/FB ratio sits at 0.97 off of 41.1% fly balls and 18.9% line drives. When considered with the speed he possesses that allowed him to steal so many bases in the minors, his BABIP of .371 appears to be rather sustainable. Also, while his strikeout rate is rather high at 21.7%, his walk rate of 9.1% demonstrates his evolving improvement in the area of plate discipline in comparison to his previous MLB experience. At the age of 24, Jorge Polanco was considered a high-level prospect very recently for a very good reason. For his ability to generate base hits and walks and then start swiping bases, he could hold plenty of value down the home stretch for Fantasy Baseball Managers in need of consistent production from the historically shallow middle infield positions.