Did you just see a cat walk up a stairway twice? A glitch in the Matrix? Having deja vu? Did you just Google deja vu and feel like you had Googled it previously? Okay, yes, there was a Randal Grichuk sleeper post last year. When I wrote that Randal Grichuk sleeper post, I gave him the projections of 69/25/82/.253/8. And, he disappointed. Can you tell me by how much? Go ahead, guess. 18 HRs? 40 runs? 50 RBIs? Well, no. I mean, yes, he did disappoint, but not by nearly that much. His end of the season line was 66/24/68/.240/5. I’m not going to say he made good on my sleeper call, which is different and less Al Qaeda’ey than a sleeper cell, but you have to admit he wasn’t the flop you thought he was. Okay, don’t admit it. Live in your frickin’ “I’m always right” bubble! Quick question, do you have to dust when living in a bubble? Do you ever blow a bubble while in your bubble to get all meta? You know what? I don’t care! Keep your stupid answers to yourself! Though, if you wanna DM me the answers, I would appreciate it. So, what can we expect from Randal Grichuk for 2017 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Well, second things firstly, he’s a sleeper due to reasons pointed out above. People think he disappointed much more than he actually did. He hit 14 homers in the 2nd half with a .255 average. Same stats as Josh Donaldson. Oh, I know what you’re thinking, Donaldson hit for a better average. Yeah, he hit .257. As my Jewish grandmother would’ve said, big whoop. Carlos Santana hit 14 homers in the 2nd half last year, Todd Frazier hit 15 HRs, Chris Davis hit 16 HRs, Mookie Betts hit 13 HRs, Rizzo hit 11. Only 35 guys in the majors hit more homers than Grichuk in the 2nd half, and the Amazing Randal had fifty to sixty less ABs than most of them. Now for the red flags, his strikeouts. He harnessed them in the 1st half, lowering his K-rate from 31.4% (2015) to 22.7% in the 1st half. But, as previously alluded to, everything else looked like garbage in the first half (10 HRs in more ABs and hit .226). Then, in the 2nd half, he struck out at a 36.8% rate and put everything together. So, what gives? The more aggressive at the plate he is, the better everything else comes out. Can he lay off bad pitches and do well? Maybe, but he hasn’t shown that yet. Can he be aggressive and do well? Yes, that’s what he has shown. How much Grichuk can Grichuk chuck if Grichuk strikes out 30% of the time? A lot, apparently. I’m going to guess he’ll start this year doing what was successful with last year and not worry about taking pitches. For 2017, I’ll give him the projections of 72/28/86/.245/8 in 514 ABs and a rock solid number three outfielder with a chance to be a number two. The good kind of number two.
