Rotoworld’s brand-new Pickups of the Day column is designed to help fantasy managers uncover a handful of widely-available targets over the course of the season. It could be a breakout candidate, a prospect stash, an injury replacement, a pitcher with a favorable matchup or week, a player who is due some better luck, or any other number of scenarios. If there’s value to be found on the waiver wire, we will find it and bring it your way. Today’s edition features the emergence of a potential impact fantasy starter in Arizona and the arrival of a top catching prospect in Oakland.
Tommy Henry, SP, Diamondbacks
Available in 80 percent of Yahoo leagues
It’s flown a bit under the radar, but Henry closed the first half in a dominant fashion, surrendering two earned runs or fewer in each of his final four starts dating back to June 17, compiling a microscopic 1.48 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 18/9 K/BB ratio across 24 1/3 innings during that span. Despite less than league-average fastball velocity, and a below-average strikeout rate, the crafty left-hander excels by generating weak contact, especially on swings outside the strike zone. He was giving up far too many round-trippers in the early stages of the season, but has given up only three homers combined over his last four outings, thanks to some recent changes involving his fastball and slider usage.
Per Statcast data, the 25-year-old southpaw has overhauled his pitch mix during his most recent string of successful outings, slashing his fastball usage from just over 50 percent of the time to roughly 40 percent of late. He’s also dramatically increasing his slider usage, more than doubling it from eight percent previously to nearly 20 percent during his recent four-start span. It hasn’t led to a massive uptick in strikeouts, but it has led to significantly less hard contact against his fastball, which has fueled those gains from a run-prevention standpoint. Simply put, the uptick in slider usage has increased the effectiveness of his fastball, resulting in fewer well-struck baseballs clearing the fences.
Henry will open the second half by taking the ball on Sunday in Toronto against the Blue Jays, who have graded out as below league-average this season against left-handed pitching, registering a lackluster .700 OPS, which ranks 24th in baseball at the moment. It certainly feels like the young southpaw has figured something out with his overhauled pitch usage trends, which should enable him to emerge as a viable back-end rotation option for fantasy managers in deeper mixed leagues.
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Tyler Soderstrom, C/1B, Athletics
Available in 84 percent of Yahoo leagues
Catching prospects typically require lengthier adjustment periods, thanks to their additional defensive responsibilities, as they acclimate to life at the highest level. However, Soderstrom possesses the upper echelon-caliber over-the-fence raw power to make an immediate impact for fantasy managers, even in shallow mixed leagues. The 21-year-old top prospect has launched 20 round-trippers across 69 games this season for Triple-A Las Vegas, just one year after clobbering 29 long balls across three minor league levels of Oakland’s system.
He’s always been a hit-first prospect, but has displayed the defensive chops to retain catcher eligibility for at least a few more years. The Athletics don’t exactly have a ton of superior alternatives at first base, so he should get plenty of run there over the last few months of the year. There’s certainly some batting average risk moving forward, but he figures to launch enough moonshots to be worthy of a roster spot at the catcher position in all fantasy formats until further notice.
