Ryon Healy (44.7% owned – increase of 18.3%) has hit 13 home runs in 57 games this season. In 72 games last year, Healy clubbed 13 home runs in 72 games. For those that are too lazy to use their desktop abacus, that comes out to 26 home runs in 129 games to begin Healy’s major league career. As John Hickey of The Mercury News wrote, “For the A’s, only two men have done better – the Bash Brothers. Mark McGwire hit 42 homers in his first 128 games and Jose Canseco hit 28 over the same number of games to start his Oakland career.” Yo Grey!!! Time to schedule another interview with Jose. The thing that immediately jumps out to me is the .331 BABIP. Regression, right? Well, he had a .352 BABIP last season. The projection systems have him slated for a .310-ish BABIP and .270-ish average for the remainder of the season. I’m not one to argue with the computers. It’s the same reason why I married Chinese. Just in case either take over the world, I’ve got some protection. As I continue to research Healy, the numbers look good. The contact rates are good (88.3% in the zone and 76.5% in general) and swinging strike rate is decent for a power hitter (10.9%). The chase rate of 34.2% is high (Top 30), but a far cry from the 47.1% by Corey Dickerson. Healy is mashing lefties (.408 average with five home runs), but what’s most impressive are the .346 average and 10 home runs at O.co Coliseum, which is an albatross for power. The cherry on top is that Healy plays everyday, which is sometimes worrisome with the ADD platoon nature of the A’s. TREASURE
Here are a few more players that caught my eye on the most added/dropped list for the week:
Alex Avila (41.6% owned – increase of 10.4%)
Avila is batting .324 and has clubbed nine home runs. He’s been batting second in a potent Tigers lineup and the wOBA is .452!!! Holy Batman!!! Before we start collecting bat dung, mixing it with drops of blood, boiling it in a bubbly cauldron so that we can drink the concoction while genuflecting to the Avila statue some freak made on the internet….whew…I’m tired from writing that sentence. Before we do all that, let me break it…break it….break it down. The BABIP is an insane .433 and the ISO is .324. If you believe those numbers are sustainable, I’ve got DFS lineups for today’s slate that are GUARANTEED to ship you all the money. Avila is striking out 30% of the time. Now, ponder this. He only chases 12% of pitches out of the strike zone and only has a 10.8% swinging strike rate. How is that even possible? Am I high right now? Anyways, the hard contact rate is 57.7%!!! For perspective, if Avila had enough plate appearances to qualify, that rate would dwarf the current leader by almost 7%. And that brings me to my next point. The plate appearances. For one, he’s a catcher so he’s not going to play everyday. Secondly, he’s been receiving more run lately due to the James McCann injury, who will be returning soon. I could go on and on, but my head is starting to hurt. TRASH
People still dropping Aaron Altherr and Ian Happ? SMH. Please reference last week’s post for my thoughts on them.
Adam Frazier (20.7% owned – decrease of 10.9%)
I’m so glad Frazier is not a thing. He’s a contact hitter…Sorry, I have to take this call. Some telemarketer wants to give me something for nothing. I’m very intrigued.
Danny Valencia (21.6% owned – increase of 14.1%)
The .283 batting average and five home runs sound pretty meh. Especially, at the 1B and 3B positions. Heck, even at OF. The thing is, Valencia is eligible at all three of those positions and, in this DL-infested environment that we currently live in, that is extremely valuable. There really is a lot to like with Valencia. Strikeout rate is only 20.2% and he’s lowered the swinging strike rate from 12% down to 9.5%. Contact rates are 87.6% in the zone and 77.8% in general. The wOBA is .338 and ISO is .155, nothing out of the ordinary, but signifying that there is power. He hits both lefties and righties well and gets bumped up to the two-hole against lefties. He hits sixth against righties, so still not too shabby, especially considering that Cano, Cruz, and Seager are the ones ahead of him. TREASURE
