Raimel Tapia (OF, COL) - Waiver Wire Pickups

Andrew Ericksen analyzes Colorado Rockies OF Raimel Tapia as a waiver wire pickup or add target for Week 9 of the 2019 fantasy baseball season. Tapia should be the new leadoff man for the Rockies while Charlie Blackmon is out.

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ANALYSIS: Raimel Tapia took over the leadoff spot in the Rockies lineup following the calf injury to Charlie Blackmon this past Thursday. Tapia recorded a hit in each of the five games he played in last week and is now slashing .282/.325/.507 on the year.

Tapia's making extremely hard contact at the plate with a hard hit rate of 39.4% that shatters his 2018 and 2017 hard hit rates, 22.2% and 12.9%, respectively. Meanwhile, his exit velocity of 89.6 is a career-best rate as well. These are extremely encouraging numbers to see from a hitter playing his home games at Coors. The power numbers haven't yet materialized due to the fact that Tapia's not elevating the ball nearly enough right now, with a ground ball rate of 48.5%. If he can revert to something closer to last year's GB% of 23.5 while continuing to make hard contact, there could be something very legit here.

Blackmon was placed on the 10-day IL today. It doesn’t sound like a lengthy stay on the IL for Blackmon, but he’ll at least miss this entire week, which features an alluring seven-day home stand for the Rockies. Tapia will likely suit up for each game, or at least six of them, and figures to primarily slot in at the leadoff spot. This makes him a fantastic add in all leagues for this week, with the potential for longer value should Blackmon continue to be sidelined.