Daniel Hudson (RP, TOR) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

Brady Grove profiles Toronto Blue Jays veteran reliever Daniel Hudson as a potential waiver wire acquisition of value for fantasy baseball leagues in Week 17 of the 2019 MLB campaign.

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ANALYSIS: Daniel Hudson has long been a reliable fixture in major league bullpens around the league, but he has never amassed more than five saves in a single season (a feat he accomplished in 2016 with the Arizona Diamondbacks). Now, with a fantastic body of work for 2019 (2.79 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, a save in June, and a save in July through 42.0 IP) the 32-year-old alumni of Old Dominion University stands a fantastic chance of eclipsing that career-best figure if the stars align and Ken Giles is dealt at the trade deadline.

In the 16.0 IP since the start of June for the Toronto Blue Jays, Hudson has been on fire with a 1.13 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and a scorching 19 strikeouts. Additionally, from June to July he has improved his walk rate from 11.4% to 8.3%, while lowering his hard contact rate on batted balls by 5.1% and keeping line drives to a minimum 5.9% clip. Hudson packs a 96 MPH heater with some enticing velocity on his slider and changeup, and this aspect of his arsenal has helped him to either force a high volume of infield flyers on a low line drive rate or force a high volume of soft contact in conjunction with beefy strikeout tendencies from month to month. Though there are younger, more exciting arms in the Blue Jay bullpen, Daniel Hudson has been performing at a very high level all season long, and that has earned him the bulk of secondary high-leverage situations as evidenced by him ranking second on the team in saves over the likes of Joe Biagini. If Giles gets shipped to a new city, Hudson has considerably more value down the stretch.