Tigers Jeimer Candelario: Deep waiver wire add

The Tigers young third baseman Jeimer Candelario is performing well in recent weeks. He makes a good addition as a starter in deep leagues.

The Detroit Tigers are hanging around in the American Leauge Central, just 3.5 games behind of the first place Cleveland Indians. One of the reasons is the contributions they’ve gotten from third baseman Jeimer Candelario. His performance and the struggle of some others make him worthy of a roster add.

Candelario is just 22 years old but already has 63 games under his belt, including 20 games this season. Moving from the Chicago Cubs to Detroit proved to be what he needed to get his career going. Candelario posted a .136 average in 44 at-bats with the Cubs.

With Detroit, however, he is hitting .305 with five home runs, 23 RBIs and 23 runs scored in 177 combined at-bats. This season is off to a good start. Candelario has a .277 average with three homers, 10 RBIs and seven runs.

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Candelario has nine walks to 20 strikeouts. His walk rate is a little lower than his minor-league numbers but the strikeout rate hasn’t gone up too much as a result, either.

He is also doing a good job keeping his batted ball profile at managable levels. Candelario has a 17.5 percent line drive, 46.0 groundball, 36.5 fly ball and 13.0 HR/FB rates.

Candelario is the only player on the Tigers to play all 20 of their games. I expect a rest day coming soon but that consistent playing time will only help him rack up the counting stats. It also helps that the veteran hitters are heating up as the weather gets warmer.

Candelario will gain popularity in fantasy leagues as Anthony Rendon was placed on the 10-day DL. Eugenio Suarez, Jake Lamb, Josh Harrison and Justin Turner are also on the DL. With the third basemen pool a bit shallow to start the season, Candelario is getting some love.

He’s been added 10.3 percent of ESPN and 23 percent of CBS leagues over the last week. Candelario is owned in just 15.9 percent in ESPN and almost 50 percent in CBS leagues. I said it before, but CBS leagues seem to be ahead of the curve when adding these young stars.

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Candelario has shown some pop so far in the short season. He is fourth in the team in RBIs, first in home runs and fourth in batting average. The more he plays, the higher those numbers will get. Add him now as a starter and for depth later in the season.