Nicholas Castellanos (3B, DET) - Waiver Wire Pickups

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OWNED IN: 34% of Yahoo! Leagues

ANALYSIS: By now many of you have heard about Nicholas Castellanos' hard-hit rate. For much of the season, Castellanos has been the leader (or second behind Miguel Sano) in hard contact %. The results were only so-so for Castellanos early on, but the hard-contact rate made it seem as if he was one hot streak away from becoming a superstar. While the superstar status is still yet to come, the results have trended upward for the young third baseman, as evidenced by his .317/.362/.537 line over his last 12 games heading into the All-Star break.

Despite his 49.6% hard contact rate, Castellanos only has 10 home runs on the season, thanks to a career-low FB rate of 32.6. If Castellanos can alter his launch angle and start driving the ball up, while maintaining his hard-hit rate, the home runs should start coming in bunches for the 25 year old.

Strikeouts remain an issue for Castellanos, as he has a 25% strikeout rate for the fourth consecutive year. However, his 7.8% walk-rate is a career high, a pleasant boost for fantasy owners in OBP leagues.

Overall, the potential for a big second half for Castellanos remains very high, high enough that he should be owned in all fantasy formats. He could very easily provide double-digit home runs and 40 or more RBI down the stretch, numbers that can help a team in any format win themselves a fantasy baseball championship.