Josh Phegley (C, OAK) - Week 9 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

OWNED IN: 34% of leagues

ANALYSIS: No one will be impressed if you claim Josh Phegley. The 31-year-old catcher is in a timeshare with Nick Hundley but is getting the lion's share - 126 AB's to Hundley's 65 - and over those 126 AB's, Phegley is slashing .271/.317/.466, with 5 HRs and 28 RBI. Not exactly inspiring.

But in a year where catcher continues to be a never-ending dumpster fire, sometimes you need uninspiring band-aids to get you to a championship. Phegley certainly fits that description, having been better than you may have realized, as he approaches the end of May ranked as the #11 catcher in standard 5x5 Yahoo leagues. That's better than fellow bottom-scrapers Robinson Chirinos and James McCann, who are nevertheless more widely owned.

Phegley is considerably more inspiring (relatively speaking) against lefties, carrying a .375 wOBA, .888 OPS, with only a 6.5% k-rate; so if you can afford to mix-and-match with him and another mid-tier catcher, certainly do so. But most won't have that luxury and will have to deploy him against righties as well, against whom his wOBA and OPS drop to .322 and .758, respectively, along with a K-rate that jumps to almost 23%. At least his ISO stays static at .195 versus each hand. Not much of a silver lining, but beggars can't be choosers, and if you've been forced to pick through the catchers in the 12-15 range, then you are officially a beggar.

This might not be the best week to deploy Phegley, as he's facing righties in all 6 of his games, ending with matchups against Astro aces Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole over the weekend. However, if you're still waiting for Mitch Garver to return from the IL or are tired of waiting for Danny Jansen to remember how to hit, then Phegley could be your band-aid man.