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

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 18% of leagues

ANALYSIS: After a cold start to the season, Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera showed signs of breaking out with a two-home run game on Thursday against the Kansas City Royals. Three of Cabrera's first four hits of the year were home runs, which is very encouraging to see after a 2019 season where Cabrera hit just 12 home runs in 136 games. Despite last year's power outage, Cabrera still hit .282 on the year, which is a stark contrast to his .154 average through seven games this year. If he's making an attempt to sacrifice contact for more power, that's something that could actually benefit his fantasy value.

Cabrera's advanced stats certainly support the theory that he's selling out for power more this year. He had a barrel rate of just 6.4% last year. Through seven games in 2020, his barrel rate was a much more substantial 16.7%. Even if he continues sacrificing contact for power, his batting average is still unlikely to drop too drastically from last year's .282 clip. It should certainly normalize over the course of the season. He's a career .314 hitter and he's only hit under .282 twice in his 17 seasons in the majors.

Cabrera will be a mainstay in the three-spot of the Tigers lineup all year, and he has an improved support system flanking him this year with Jonathan Schoop in front of him and C.J. Cron behind him. He's worth adding in leagues of 14 teams or deeper.