J.A. Happ (SP, STL) - Week 20 Waiver Wire Pickups

August 8, 2021

J.A. Happ is a fantasy baseball waiver wire pickup for Week 20 of the 2021 MLB season. Consider adding the SP if he's free agent in your leagues.

BALLER MOVE: Add in leagues of 14+ teams

ROSTERED IN: 7% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Happ is 5-6 on the year with a 6.62 ERA, 1.568 WHIP and 17.4 percent strikeout rate. But managers should bank on a turnaround for Happ now that he's with St. Louis, especially after his Cardinals debut this past week in which he allowed two runs on five hits and one walk while striking out four over five innings of work.

He'll open up the week against a scuffling Pirates team that is averaging 3.3 runs per game and slashing .206/.288/.298 over their last 10 games. There won't be much benefit to be found in the splits, as Pittsburgh has virtually identical numbers against right-handers and left-handers, and they are hitting better at home this year with a .238/.317/.371 triple-slash line. He'll then face another struggling offense in Kansas City, as they are also averaging 3.3 runs per game over their last 10 games while slashing .206/.256/.384. Happ faced them three times this year with Minnesota, and he'll hope for numbers closer to his first outing against them (5 IP, 2 ER, 5 K) than what he put up his last two times out (9 1/3 IP, 10 ER, 6 K).

Happ is somewhat of a risky play this week — especially given his struggles against Kansas City the last two times he faced them — but with both the Pirates and Royals in the midst of slumps right now, this is probably the best opportunity managers will have to use Happ this season.

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