Sometimes you write a fantasy baseball overrated post and think, “Grey, you’re like Coolio but instead of Medusa braids, you got brains and such.” Other times, you think, “You’re a Foolio who can’t even think of something to go with brains. ‘And such?’ How about ‘dumb much?'” With this Elvis Andrus overrated post, I legit don’t know if I’m being smart or stupid. It feels smart, but maybe it’s a blindspot and I’m just being dumb. It’s definitely not reassuring that I don’t know if I’m being smart or stupid by calling Elvis Andrus overrated. Jerry Lee Lewis would definitely think it was smart, and might add in Elvis was also bloated. “That Memphis porker grabbed my spotlight with his peanut butter-stained fingers and loosey-goosey hips.” That was Jerry Lee Lewis at the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. By the by, Jerry Lee Lewis is alive, and only 82 years old. That is news to everyone. Never the hoo, I’ve never seen a career year that I couldn’t squash and Andrus’s previous year is no different. Anyway, why is Elvis Andrus overrated for 2018 fantasy baseball?
Confidence in baseball breeds confidence like a bunch of bunny rabbits on steroids. Do something that works and you’re like, “Yo, I can do no wrong,” then you attempt to change a tire for a family of four in distress and the jack falls, smashing the minivan down on your foot, breaking it in sixteen places. See, confidence applies to real life too, but real life/schmeal life, we’re talking fantasy. I.e., not apples/not applying. Andrus’s K-rate went up last year and his walk rate went down. Know why? Cause everything was working; he was changing that minivan tire. The percentage he swung at outside the zone went from 27% to 34% and his overall swing rate went from 43% to 47%. He wasn’t even trying to wait for his pitch last year, he was swinging and it was working. The problem with that is if it doesn’t work this year, the bottom falls out. He hit the 28th most ground balls last year between Markakis (woof!) and Kendrys. Kendrys can hit grounders, because when he does hit fly balls they’re hard. Andrus’s Hard Contact was 30.5%; same as DJ LeMahieu. To put previous example in perspective, Kendrys had a 38% Hard Contact. Distance on homers for Andrus was 92nd with 404 feet on average, which is neither here nor there, perhaps, but you can look at him and see he is not a home run hitter. I know, with a name like Elvis, he should leave the building at a higher rate. All of this is backed up by a career HR/FB% of 5.1%. If he hit homers at his career rate last year, he would’ve had 8 homers. That sounds silly awful, but guess how many homers he hit in 2016? 8 homers. In 2015, he hit 7 homers, and I’m not going further back, but you get the drift. If not, move a little to the right and breathe in. I just ate sushi, and that’s my Tokyo drift! Not only do I think there’s a chance here for Andrus to fall to a sub-10 homer guy, I think there’s a chance his batting average plummets too. Steamer is projecting him for 12/22. Um, cool, if you’re Jose Peraza with a sprained ankle and can’t steal bags for two months. The more I go into this Andrus hate, the more I think I’m smart for calling him overrated, which means I’m prolly very stupid. Damn, coin, you have two sides!
