Welcome to Pickup of the Day, where every weekday we’ll pick an under-the-radar player whose immediate value is on the rise. The idea here is to identify a starter who can give you some solid innings off the scrap heap, a talented backup who’s been given a chance because of a starter’s injury, an unheralded regular with a favorable matchup, or a potential breakout player who’s starting to put it together. Unlike regular waiver-wire advice, Pickup of the Day is geared more towards interim success, but hopefully we’ll have the intuition to help you snag a waiver-wire gem a few times this season.
Matt Holliday hasn’t played in a major league game in over a month and when he initially suffered his quad strain in early June there was talk that he might be done for the remainder of the 2015 season. So you can bet he’s been dropped in a range of fantasy leagues, and maybe owners were even justified in doing so given that he’d managed just three home runs through 52 games. But go pick him back up. Holliday is due to return on Friday and he’s always been a second-half player throughout his illustrious 12-year major league career. He’ll return to third spot in the Cardinals’ lineup and should be a good bet for both counting stats and rate stats down the stretch. Despite the lower power totals, Holliday was still sporting a cool .303/.417/.421 batting line when he went down at Coors Field on June 8.
