Patrick Wisdom (1B/3B/OF, CHC) - Week 19 Waiver Wire Pickups

3 years ago by Mike Schwarzenbach

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 24% of leagues

ANALYSIS: It's the end of an era in Wrigleyville, as the Chicago Cubs traded away their core from the 2016 world championship squad. Kris Bryant is in San Francisco, Anthony Rizzo is in New York, which should leave Patrick Wisdom with all the playing time he can handle down the stretch for the Cubbies. Wisdom, a 29-year-old rookie, may not be part of the future in Chicago, but he's part of the present and brings enormous power to the Wrigley Field batters box. Fantasy managers in need of home runs or RBI should add the Cubs' new cleanup hitter if he's still available.

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Wisdom has big power. That much is obvious when looking at his Statcast data. Wisdom has an 18.5 percent barrel rate and a whopping 93.5 MPH average exit velocity through 57 games this season. He's got a 60% hard-hit rate on 92 batted balls and his expected wOBA on contact is .545; basically if Wisdom gets the bat on the ball he's hitting it hard. The problem for Wisdom has been too many strikeouts as he's whiffed 68 times in those 57 games. He does have 16 homers, however, so he's shown some ability to hit Major League pitching. If he can cut his strikeout rate to even the 30% range it's been in the minor leagues, then Wisdom should hit plenty more homers in the cozy confines of Wrigley.

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