Andrew Vaughn (1B/OF, CWS) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

Chicago White Sox outfielder Andrew Vaughn is a fantasy baseball waiver wire pickup and add in Week 17 of the MLB season. I break down why he can help and continue to help your team.

BALLER MOVE: Add in leagues of 12+ teams

ROSTERED IN: 37% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Like many young players, Vaughn had some trouble getting going when he broke camp with the White Sox. He was a hot commodity in leagues that drafted closer to the start of the season, but his .255 average with just one RBI in the entire month of April had most owners jumping ship. Those that held on got the four homers and 11 RBI in May, but that came with an ugly .221 batting average. It seems that Vaughn has finally found some sort of happy medium.

Vaughn is hitting .290 in the last month with four homers and 10 RBI and 12 runs scored. The improvement of the White Sox offense as a whole doesn't hurt either, but he is finally showing some of the power that he had in college that made him a first-round draft pick of the White Sox in 2019. The six homers in 55 minor league games in 2019 was a bit of a disappointment, but Vaughn performed so well at the alternate site last year that he was rated the White Sox number one prospect this year.

So what can we expect from Vaughn going forward? Hard hit balls. Lots of them. His 115 mph max exit velocity is in the 95th percentile and his 49.5% hard hit percentage is in the 89th percentile. When Vaughn makes contact, he hits the ball very hard. The 91.6 mph average exit velocity is in the 85th percentile.

The metrics suggest that Kiriloff has been a touch unlucky so far. His .286 BABIP is low for a guy with a launch angle under 10%. It is also worth noting that his poor April stats across the board are dragging the overall numbers down. His launch angle, and therefore his homers, are up over the last month. Vaughn has an outside shot at 20 homers, which is quite amazing for a guy that didn't hit one out of the park until May 12 in his 24th career game.

If you need a boost to your power with some good RBI potential, Vaughn is s nice target. The batting average over the last month and his .278 average in his one minor league season in 2019 suggest that he should hit for a little higher average than he has so far.

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