Bradley Zimmer (OF) - Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups

Jon Denzler profiles Cleveland Indians OF Bradley Zimmer as a waiver wire pickup and add in Week 3 of the 2018 MLB season for his power/speed combo.

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

OWNED IN: 40% of Leagues

ANALYSIS: Bradley Zimmer represents the unusual combination of power and speed, but that often comes at the expense of contact and AVG.  Still, the glove alone keeps him the lineup, meaning that owners should not be worried about a platoon limiting Zimmer’s playing time.  Last year was a bit of a roller coaster for Zimmer with a tOPS+ of 127 in the first half, and then a 72 in the second half. What is interesting is that while the strikeouts were higher in the second half, the jump was not extreme.  In a similar number of games started (37/36), Zimmer saw his Ks jump from 43 to 56. Pitchers making adjustments can perhaps explain most of this, but at the same time even with those first-half numbers, Zimmer was a great play.

Looking to this year, Zimmer is off to a great start: .273 AVG with one home run and two stolen bases.  While the counting stats do not jump off the page, the high average is an interesting point on its own. Even more, Zimmer has dropped his Soft% from 18.2% in 2017 to 10.7% this year.  On the other side, his Hard% has jumped from 33.5% to 39.3% showing good trends in both numbers. If Zimmer can keep his AVG up with that Hard%, expect the ball to leave the yard, and when they do not his 70 CV speed tool will end most sequences with him at second.