David Freese (3B, LAA) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in AL-Only / Deeper Leagues

ANALYSIS: David Freese is probably most remembered for being the World Series hero for the Cardinals in 2011. However, after his trade to the Angels, he hasn't quite been the same player for most of this year. Contrary to his last name though, Freese has been heating up at the dish lately with 2 homers in his past 4 games, making him the most recent addition to our waiver wire sleepers list. Over his last 7 games, he's also batting .533 with 6 RBI and 3 Runs, to go along with the 2 bombs. Unfortunately, he did come up with a bruised shin on July 5th, but the injury doesn't seem too serious as he's back in the lineup tonight.

Since 2011, Freese has been someone who has offered some pop and generally has been an RBI producer, reaching double digits in home runs every year except 2013 when he had 9. He is still offering that same sort of power with his 4 homers before the All-Star break, but as previously mentioned most of those have come in recent days. The worrying thing about Mr. Freese (not to be confused with the Batman villain) this year is that strikeout numbers are up by almost 6% and his ISO is down. The rest of his numbers are more or less in line with his career, suggesting that Freese may have become too aggressive to try to hit more home runs.

Still, third base isn't exactly bursting at the seams with its depth this year and you could do much worse than taking a look at a former World Series MVP, especially while he's hot. Freese is worth an add in AL-Only formats, or deeper leagues, and is worth a watch in shallower leagues to see if he can keep up recent trends after coming back from his shin injury.