Tampa Bay Rays Steve Pearce: Waiver Wire Add
With Logan Forsythe out for at least a month, Steve Pearce gets his opportunity to show his stuff with the Rays.
Tampa Bay Rays second baseman, Logan Forsythe went down last week with a shoulder injury, which he suffered while at the plate. Steve Pearce will get the majority of starts for the Rays at second base. Pearce, thus far, has not been shy at the plate while he takes advantage of his opportunity. He is a solid waiver wire add for your team over the next couple of weeks.
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Pearce is batting .301 with six home runs, 17 RBI, and has scored 14 runs. All of this production coming off of 25 hits in just 83 plate appearances for the 33-year-old. Since the Forsythe injury, which occurred May 10, Pearce has accumulated eight hits, to go along with three home runs, and a very impressive eight RBI. Like I said, Pearce has not been shy so far this year as he has compiled a very nice resume to start 2016. Pearce too, has shown to have fantasy relevance in previous seasons.
Steve Pearce played for Baltimore the past few seasons. Through the past two, he has hit 36 home runs and 89 RBI while playing just 194 games. When given opportunities, Pearce has certainly made the most of them and is doing the same here so far this season. Pearce has an average strikeout rate for MLB players, so his production wont be brought down too significantly with K’s. And so far this year, his strikeout rate has shown to go down. Always encouraging for fantasy owners.
In a few games time, as he gets more experience under his belt at second, Pearce can be a solid utility player for fantasy owners out there. He will soon be eligible to play first base, outfield and eventually second base.
Having players who can play multiple positions are great to have on your fantasy team. It allows for a lot of mix and matching with your lineup to try to get the best possible match-ups every day.
With all of this being said, Steve Pearce is still owned in only 16% of ESPN leagues out there. In the last 15 days, Pearce ranks in the top 10, yes the top 10, for all fantasy hitters in term of points accumulated during that span. He is averaging about five fantasy points per game, depending on your scoring settings, over the last two weeks.
These are all encouraging signs for Steve Pearce, the Rays and fantasy owners. If you are out of luck at second base, take a look at Pearce. Playing at second is where I believe he can hold the most value for you and your fantasy team.