San Diego Padres Melvin Upton Jr: Waiver Wire Add

By Brad Kelly | May 19, 2016

Apr 24, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres left fielder Melvin Upton Jr. (2) hits an RBI single during the fifth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports /

Melvin Upton Jr. seems to have a found a home with the San Diego Padres and after a solid start to begin the season. Could fantasy owners look to him again as a waiver wire add?

What do fantasy owners do with former fantasy darlings that seemingly disappear, yet all of a sudden reappear better than ever?

The artist formerly known as BJ Upton, seems to have found a new home with the Padres and is now off to one of the better fantasy starts of his career, so should fantasy owners trust him once again?

Melvin Upton had absolutely hit rock bottom over the last three seasons after his exit from Tampa. He was awful with the Braves, so Atlanta basically was willing to do whatever they could to get rid of him and they eventually found a taker in San Diego.

While Upton by no means lit it up for San Diego last season, towards the end of the year he began to show signs of life at the plate. It feels weird to say it, but Upton is now 31-years-old and will never hit the ceiling that many pundits thought he would early in his career. But, he still possesses the dynamic skillset that he was once lauded for.

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He currently sits with a .274/5 HR/16 RBI/7 SB/.794 OPS line this season. After only batting .231 in April, he has really picked it up as of late, batting .314 in May. It would be nice to see his steal attempts climb back to the rate that we saw in April, only one steal this month, but his 17 hits and three homers help negate that loss.

The Padres have a top-heavy lineup that lacks depth, so his counting stats will continue to be mediocre at best. Yet, an encouraging sign this season has been his success against righties to the tune of a .310 AVG. While he has made some small adjustments at the plate, it seems as though he has regained the bat speed that he once had. Which has been furthered evidenced by his career high 35% hard contact rate.

It is also important to note that his 11.7 BB% is the highest it has been since 2011, which is a good indicator of how well he is seeing the ball. He still strikes out a ton, but by simply raising his walk rate by a mere 2% from 2015, it helps his speed numbers and stabilize his AVG.

Next: Chris Owings: Deep Waiver Wire Add?

Fantasy owners should add Melvin Upton off the wire while he is hitting the ball well right now. With speed down across baseball as well, he becomes an attractive candidate that could flirt with 20 SB and 15 HR this season. Make the move.

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