A.J. Reed (1B, CHW) - Week 16 Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: The Chicago White Sox have struggled to manufacture offense out of the DH slot this season, and with Yonder Alonso's tenure with the team already over (and his tenure with a new one has already begun), the club has opted to roll the dice on former highly-touted prospect A.J. Reed. The former Kentucky Wildcat has experienced some well-documented ugliness at the MLB level (.498 OPS in 131 AB for Houston), and those early struggles combined with the transition to a new city might create uneasy sensations reminiscent of Mark Appel.

Despite his spotty major league track record, Reed is still just 26 years old, and the White Sox evidently see enough in him to have promoted him to the majors immediately upon acquisition. That faith may not be unfounded, as Reed has slugged his way to 89 home runs and a .260/.351/.517 slash in 1,391 AB at the Triple-A level, including 40 bombs, 143 RBI, and OPS of .851 and .798 over the past two seasons for Fresno and Round Rock. Even with a horrendous line in a very brief MLB sample size, A.J. Reed packs way too much power to just write off after allowing so little time for adjustment. I'm rather sure we've all heard of late bloomers, and 26 is not all that late to start gathering your big league footing. If he pans out or strings together a few solid weeks of work for the south-siders, Reed could pay massive dividends to those in deeper leagues.