Jose Martinez (1B/OF, STL) - Week 1 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 10+ Team Leagues

OWNED IN: 22% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Martinez looks like he could be the next late bloomer to turn into a power stud after tallying a .309/.379/.518 triple slash in 307 big-league PAs for St. Louis. I’m sure you’ve heard about his wild 2017 and his 90.4 MPH average exit velocity, good for 26th on the leaderboard (min. 100 batted-ball events) right in between Carlos Correa and Robinson Cano. Out of batters with at least 300 PAs, Martinez’s line-drive rate of 26.6 percent was the eighth best.

He can play first base and spell the corner-outfield spots, and is really just one injury to Matt Carpenter, Jedd Gyorko, Kolten Wong or Paul DeJong away from everyday ABs. Carpenter, Gyorko and even Wong are no bastions of health and it’s conceivable that J-Mart just pushes his way into the lineup anyhow, making the six-foot-seven powerhouse a premier stash.