It's funny how the perception of a player can change so quickly in Fantasy Baseball. Akil Baddoo started the season as a relative unknown, making the leap from Class A to the majors, and became one of the best storylines of the early season, hitting .370 with four homers in his first nine major-league games. He was one of the most added waiver-wire claims in the first couple of weeks of the season and looked like he might be one of the best finds any team has made in the Rule 5 draft.
And then he fell into a slump that lasted about three weeks that took the shine off his fast start. In his next 17 games, Baddoo had just five hits in 50 at-bats, sporting a hideous 52% strikeout rate. Baddoo had been exposed. But then a funny thing happened: He started hitting again. Baddoo went 2 for 2 with three walks on May 11 and is hitting .367 in his last 31 games after going 3 for 5 Thursday against the Astros with two doubles.
And it's not just that Baddoo is hitting well. He's also walked 20 times to just 19 strikeouts in 100 plate appearances in that span, while stealing six bases. Far from being overwhelmed, Baddoo has adjusted incredibly well. He showed early on he had the tools to belong in the majors, and now he's showing that it's not just tools; he's a legitimate ballplayer.
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Will Baddoo keep this up? No, I don't think he's going to challenge for a batting title or post an on-base percentage over .450 for the rest of the season, obviously. But he's actually shown pretty solid plate discipline overall for the season, with a 24.4% chase rate that is actually a bit lower than the league average. Given his speed, that's a useful skill to have, especially if he can keep the swing and miss in check as he has for the last month-plus.
Baddoo isn't a must-roster player; he's sitting against most lefties, which could explain why his results have been so much better of late. However, he's shown that the early-season success wasn't just a fluke, and he deserves to be rostered in more than 29% of leagues. At the very least, in all 12-team or deeper category leagues.
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"wire" - Google News
June 25, 2021 at 08:14PM
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Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Akil Baddoo highlights the virtues of patience, faith in young hitters - CBS Sports
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