MLB Real Talk: Snatch Adams

Got a hole? Let Matt Adams fill it (pause).

I first brought up the legend of Matt Adams in the first base edition of “Tiers, Not Fears,” pointing out the massive power potential and the slew of aging, possibly fragile position players sitting on St. Louis’ active roster. Now that Lance Berkman is out, the Matt Adams era is finally underway.

Find out why he needs to be owned in all 12-team leagues after the jump:

Those of you who’ve checked in on Matt Adams probably already know why he’s worth a pick up: he’s got incredible power potential. Adams rocked a .240 ISO throughout the minors and sat above .260 AA and AAA. In other words, if his power translates to the bigs, he’ll be a very valuable commodity in the HR and RBI categories. Of course, like many green prospects, Adams has his flaws. You’d like to see him try to get on base more often as the slugger sported a mere 7.1 BB% in the minors. Also, there may be a major adjustment coming now that he’s in the majors. While Adams killed AA pitching last year, he only saw 152 PAs in AAA prior to his call-up and while his numbers there were epic, that production came in the PCL league (where Dallas “Where Are They Now?” McPherson looked like a Hall-of-Famer).

Yet even with the on-base concerns and adjustment to big-league pitching, there really is no argument that can be made against adding Adams to your roster. Power is hard to come by on the free agent heap, and when a hitter who has done nothing but mash in the minors gets the call for everyday duty, he deserves to be scooped up (if only on a speculative basis). Worse case scenario: Adams struggles mightily against major league pitching, sees his strikeout percentage sky-rocket, gets demoted, becomes a shell of his former self, and begins handing out rim-jobs on the Vegas strip to earn a living (by the time he’s doing that, under the proposed alias of “Chester the Cleaner,” he’ll already be released back to waivers, with no real harm done to your fantasy squad). Best case scenario? Adams continues to pelt baseballs the way he has on every stop of his pro career and becomes a reliable power source for all the smart fantasy owners who picked him up early. Either way, the move costs you nothing. Do work SoR readers, do work.