It’s the first Monday after the All-Star break, the MLB trade deadline is less than ten days away and the second half of the season is moving at full throttle. That means it is time to start to really buckle down and spend some time on the waiver wire, to find some lesser owned players who could turn out to be second-half gold. I’ve got four names today that I hope all have a little bit of that gold on them.

Michael Toglia – 1B – COL – 23%, Yahoo

It’s taken parts of three seasons, but Toglia is finally getting the chance to show off his most valuable tool: his power. He was graded as having plus-power as a draftee, then went out and hit nine home runs over 176 plate appearances in Low-A after getting drafted in 2019. Covid cost him a developmental year, but he made up for it in 2021, hitting 22 home runs in 499 plate appearances between High-A and Double-AA. Then he hit 30 in 495 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A in 2022, before getting called up for a 120 plate appearance cup of coffee, where he only hit two home runs and, struck out 36.7% of the time and turned a 0.338 BABIP into a 0.216 batting average. 2023 was more of the same, perform very well in the minors (Triple-A) then get called up to the big leagues and struggle to make contact and hit for power. This year has been a bit different, though. He did start the year off in the big leagues, but struggled and was sent back down by the end of April to Triple-A again, where he hit nine home runs in 135 plate appearances, a home run pace he bested on once before in the minor leagues (seven home runs in 75 plate appearances in Triple-A in 2022), before getting called up to the Rockies and sticking since June 6th. Since the June recall, his numbers have gotten progressively better: 40.8% strikeout rate in March/April, 30.3% in June and now 29.2% so far in July; his walk ate has gone up from 2% in March/April to 7.9% in June to now 12.3% in July. Some key improvements this season, compared to seasons prior, is that he is swinging at less pitches outside the zone (chase rate of 27.4%), but making far more contact with the ones that he does (his O-contact rate is up 10.1% from 2023 to 2024), which has resulted in a jump of 5.3% in his overall contact rate. He also has elite (if he qualified) barrel (17.5%) and hard-hit (52.5%) rates and average exit velocity (92.6 MPH). He can hit home runs out of any park, but will perform especially well in Coors. now, the strikeout rate will always be high, because he has a terrible whiff rate (32.5%) and swinging strike rate (14.4%, which did drop 3.7% from last year). If he gets in another 200 or more plate appearances the rest of the season, I don’t see why he won’t make a real push for a 30 home run season.

League Size Recommendation: 14 team or deeper, but keep an eye in 12 team

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