One Man’s Trash: Are We Healy Done With Ryon?

When acquiring players via FAAB, the mental mind f’ing is both exhilirating and annoying at the same time. Is that bid enough? I really want this player, but everyone is talking and writing about him, so the price will be high. I should probably go up a few dollars. Hmmm, maybe that’s not enough. 10? 20? Let’s see who else is likely to bid on him. Yeah, probably have to go up 50. But what if that’s too much? I could maybe get him for cheaper. Yeah, I’ll take it back down. Click. Click. Looks at bid. Click click down. I don’t want to end on a whole number though. Click. Click. I always end on 3 or 7. Click. Click. Oh, F it. Click Click Clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick up. YOLO! This happens for in-demand players who are hot or have massive potential. Ryon Healy, on the other hand, is not hot and doesn’t have game-winning potential. In fact, he’s been dropped in 10.2% of ESPN leagues, to bring his ownership down to 52.2%. He’s been so bad that ESPN doesn’t even bother fixing the discrepancy in batting average on his player page and team starting lineup page. “Don’t sweat it, Tim. No need to fix. Who is going to be searching for Ryon Healy anyways?” Healy was smoking hot to start the season, as he hit two home runs in Japan and opened on a six-game hitting streak. Once the calendar flipped to April, outside of two games, it’s been a barren wasteland. Are we Healy done with Ryon?

The last two seasons, Healy has clubbed 25 and 24 home runs respectively. Good, not great, but there were only 48 players in all of baseball to hit at least 24 home runs last season, so there’s value. He doesn’t provide stolen bases and won’t walk much, but the contact rates are good and the strikeout rate is manageable. The two things that jumped out to me when digging into his numbers were the lefty/righty and home/away splits. Over his career, Healy has been good against both lefties and righties, with a slight lean in success against lefties. This year, the walk and strikeout rates are up, while the batting average is down against left-handed pitching. While he hasn’t hit a home run against a lefty yet, he does have three doubles. The main thing, though, is that he’s only had 17 plate appearances against left-handed pitching, which computes to 16% of his plate appearances. For perspective, over his career, that number is 26%. His perceived futility against lefties should…..poof….disappear as the season progresses.

As for the home/road splits, Healy has been flat out bad at home. Strikeout rate is up, average is down, and all the power numbers are down. Let’s see, the Mariners have played 10 home games so far. In those games, they’ve faced Carlos Carrasco, Shane Bieber, Trevor Bauer, Gerritt, Cole, Justin Verlander, Wade Miley, Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi, and Chris Sale. Tough. Throughout his career, Healy has been a better player at home, even though he played two years in Oakland. Last season, his first with Seattle, Healy was much better at home than on the road. As with the lefty/righty splits, things should turn around as more games are played.

We Healy should exhibit some patience with Ryon, as things should pick up as he gets more plate appearances. In addition, he does have multi-position eligibility (1B/3B).

TREASURE, BUT WITHOUT THE BLING