Trevor Hildenberger (RP, MIN) - Week 20 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

OWNED IN: 7% of leagues

ANALYSIS: After the dealing of Fernando Rodney to the Oakland Athletics, a the Minnesota Twins are going to have to find a replacement for high-leverage situations among their bullpen that holds the sixth-worst ERA in baseball at 4.67. Of those candidates, Trevor Hildenberger stands out as a strong contender for several reasons. For one, despite a recent stretch of particularly ugly outings to kick off August, he had been producing a solid amount of encouraging peripherals. From April through July his K/9 steadily increased every month from 6.23 to 10.80, and though his walk rate went a little back and forth, he still has a controlled cumulative BB/9 of 2.6 on the year. He posted hard contact rates as low as 31%, 34.3%, and 21.2% in April, May, and July; while forcing soft contact rates between 15.2% and 25.7% in the months leading up to August.

Hildenberger has had a rough go at it thus far in August, there is no doubt about it. Allowing 55.6% hard contact and 11.1% soft contact on a GB/FB ratio of 0.50 can get you tuned up. Thankfully, these figures seem to be telling of a rough stretch, not a persistent performance issue. Hildenberger is typically phenomenal at forcing grounders (he produced GB/FB ratios between 1.83 and 1.89 in the three months leading up to August) and this when recovered, could pair up with his momentous strikeout rates to be a one-two punch out of his ongoing slump. The Twins may very well opt to make Trevor Hildenberger their next closer, considering the fact that he earned a save last season in a successful but limited big league campaign and he has 52 minor league saves to his name. If that happens, look for him to recover soon back to his normal grounder-forcing ways and start immediately earning saves for 53-62 Minnesota.