Trevor Hildenberger (RP, MIN) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

OWNED IN: 24% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Trevor Hildenberger has not had a great season, there's really no other way of spinning it. He's sitting at a 4.31 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 59/22 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and has allowed an eye-popping 11 homers on the year. His 1.5 HR/9 allowed is almost double his 2017 HR/9 rate of 0.86.  However, fantasy baseball is about opportunity a lot of the time, and Trevor Hildenberger is getting his. He's currently entrenched as the Twins primary closer and has recorded five saves in the past three weeks. Granted, he did serve up two home runs in those outings, but there's definitely value in finding a primary closer on the waiver wire this late in the fantasy baseball season.

Hildenberger has a very unorthodox sidearm throwing motion that he mixes up during at-bats, and he's shown an ability to generate a lot of groundballs when he's on his game. Interestingly, he has a 3.85 xFIP, which replaces actual home runs allowed with the league-average home run rate. If Hildenberger can keep the ball low and reduce the home runs allowed, he can be a very valuable fantasy asset for the stretch run.  As it is, he's still a nice pickup for any team in search of closer help in 12+ team leagues as the opportunity is clearly there for the young pitcher.