There's one thing quite evident about Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez's poor start -- he's not making much contact. Alvarez has struck out 15 times in 11 games and Fantasy owners are fed up, dumping Alvarez onto waivers.
While it's frustrating to watch Alvarez mired in another cold streak, I don't think Fantasy owners should be dropping the 26-year-old infielder. You are going to have to deal with a high strikeout rate from Alvarez, but you are dropping him when he has a .086 batting average. How much worse can it really get? You have already lived through the horror. You are going to miss reaping all the rewards.
I'm confident a positive market correction is due because Alvarez has a 22.5 swinging strike percentage, which is well above his career average (13.6 percent), according to FanGraphs.com. His plate discipline numbers are all out of whack and Alvarez should eventually come back to his career norms, so there's plenty of room to improve here.
If anything, take Alvarez out of active lineups, but I can't condone dropping a potential 30-homer bat just yet.