Miguel Cabrera (1B, DET) - Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

OWNED IN: 16% of leagues

ANALYSIS: 

Could it be? Is Miguel Cabrera back? Well, his early numbers are certainly promising. Miggy has slugged four homers and has a .302 ISO in 43 PA going into play Sunday. The future Hall-of-Famer is pulverizing the ball, with a 94 MPH average exit velocity, and a whopping 59.4% hard hit rate. It’s only 32 batted balls, but it’s hard to not be impressed by that number. The big man has feasted on fastballs this season, hitting .333 with a .442 xwOBA and 98.4 MPH average exit velocity. The average big league fastball is 93.1 MPH, and Miggy is sending it back more than five MPH harder than pitchers are throwing it in. Miggy has been quite unlucky on balls in play thus far, with a .209 AVG and .179 BABIP. Nobody expects Cabrera to leg out grounders, but he could easily add 100 or more points to that BABIP, especially considering his 28.1% line drive rate and 12.5% barrel rate. Again, it's a small sample size, but this is some impressive hitting, and even though Cabrera’s been fighting off age and injuries the past few seasons, there’s tons of natural talent lurking in this bat. Cabrera is a great add for those in need of power, and he should contribute in the batting average department too once things even out for him.