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Brady Grove profiles Cincinnati Reds outfielder Phillip Ervin as a potential waiver wire pickup or add target for fantasy baseball leagues in Week 16 of the 2019 MLB campaign.
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ANALYSIS: Today is Phillip Ervin's 27th birthday, and he gave himself an early cause for celebration on Saturday by tying a Cincinnati Reds franchise record with six hits (in six AB) in a 17-9 win over the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field. In 56 AB for 2019, "Magic" Ervin has recorded seven XBH (one home run, three doubles, three triples), one stolen base (in an unfortunate three tries), and a .981 OPS. In 332 total MLB AB, this gives him a solid eleven homers, eleven steals (in 15 attempts), and cumulative slash of .271/.337/.440. Even with Nick Senzel and Yasiel Puig regularly occupying outfield slots, the opportunity remains for Ervin to earn further playing time over the likes of Jesse Winker.
A .559 BABIP is extremely high even for top-tier base-runners, let alone a guy like Ervin who doesn't actually measure as all that fast despite his history of gunning for stolen bases. That being said, the former first round draft pick for the Reds has started off his 2019 major league work by hitting for 42.9% hard contact and 28.6% line drives, and walking at a workable 8.2% clip. Even more encouraging, he has hit for six home runs, swiped six bags, and produced a .290/.384/.483 slash for Triple-A Louisville in 145 AB during this go around. Phillip Ervin is aggressive on the base-paths and he has found success in reaching base with consistently hard hit line drives, so if David Bell is going to continue to call on him, he can surprise a few people with his across-the-board contributions.
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