Kevin Pillar

Pillar probably wants to forget about last season and just move on. His .231 average was the worst since his rookie season. After playing almost every day over the prior six seasons, Pillar only accumulated 347 plate appearances in 2021 as a result of an IL stint and the Mets having too many outfielders. He ended up on the short side of a platoon (career .771 OPS vs. LHP, .679 OPS vs. RHP). The main reason for his decline last season was his 23.3 K%, a seven-year high. Since he never walks (career 4.0 BB%), he only had a .277 OBP. Pillar tried to hit more home runs by pulling the ball and going for more loft. A career-best 13.3 HR/FB% came with the rest of his profile tanking. His fantasy value comes down to the team with which he signs and how much that team is willing to start him.

Pillar continued his run on a carousel of teams in 2020, as he was traded from Boston to the Rockies at the trade deadline. In his age-31 season, he posted a career-best .795 OPS with Boston over the first half of 2020, and he maintained his production with the Rockies to finish with a .798 OPS on the year. Pillar took fewer walks over the past several years, but his walk rate more than doubled to 5.8% in 2020. His hitting statistics didn't suffer, and he posted a career-best .335 BABIP, along with a 36.5% hard-hit rate. He had some difficulty putting his bat to the ball at times with a 12.5% swinging-strike rate and decreased 86.4 Z-Contact%, but he was still a solid producer as he seeks a new contract during free agency. The 32-year-old helped his case with a strong finish to the season and could land another starting job in 2021, but his boosted results may not be sustainable over 162 games.

Pillar's career path has taken some interesting turns of late. He has made a deliberate decision not to accept walks and be more aggressive at the plate. The approach led to a career-high in homers, his best contact rate in four seasons and 171 runs-plus-RBI. Yet, he has become very pull happy, with 2019 seeing him pull nearly 50% of his balls in play and also seeing him hit below .260 for a third consecutive season. Pillar can still go get baseballs in the outfield, and has been a consistent mid-teens steals guy the past few seasons despite a poor on-base percentage over that span. He was non-tendered by the Giants this offseason and may have to settle for a fourth-outfielder role in free agency. Pillar has always been better in real life than fantasy and he needs regular playing time to compile enough counting stats to be relevant in most formats.

You may not draft Pillar, but at some point, you'll have him, or a player of his ilk. Pillar is the model, "doesn't hurt you, helps you a little everywhere" guy whose defense keeps him in the lineup when healthy. That last part is key as despite averaging a reasonable 147 games the past three seasons, Pillar is usually docked for health concerns. Rostered for cheap speed without sacrificing much power, Pillar has posted consecutive seasons with homers and steals in the teens. His stolen-base ceiling is higher, but the Blue Jays don't run much, managing the third-fewest steals since 2016. Of slight concern: Pillar's fielding metrics have dropped each of the past two seasons, but they're still positive. His plate skills declined last year, as he walked a paltry 3.3% of the time while fanning at an 18.1% clip, his highest mark since becoming a full-time player in 2012. Pillar should be mixed-roster worthy for at least one more season, at a minimal cost.

Pillar now has three full major-league seasons in the books, and at this point, it seems safe to say that he is what he is. His walk rate has ranged from 4.1 percent to 5.2 percent over the past three years, while his strikeout rate has ranged from 13.5 to 15.4. There is only modest thump in his bat to go with the lackluster on-base skills (27.3 percent hard-hit rate last season), but Pillar compensates on the defensive end. Speed is his most appealing attribute in fantasy, but Pillar only attempted five steals in the second half last season and was caught two of those times. While Pillar did improve greatly against lefties last season, he gave all of that back with another decline in performance against right-handers (.230/.274/.354). Expecting a step forward in his age-29 season seems misguided, but Pillar will play every day and figures to produce something close to his three-year averages.

With leadoff man Devon Travis on the mend to open 2016, Pillar was afforded the top spot in one of the most potent batting orders in baseball. Unfortunately, he was unable to lock down the role, hitting just .198/.231/.291 in 86 at-bats as Toronto's table setter. Despite the disappointment, Pillar found a home at the bottom of the lineup and hit .277 when penciled in at the bottom third of the order, including .324/.369/.419 in 148 at-bats as the eighth hitter. Pillar is a solid contact hitter (82.2 percent rate in 2016) but has minimal power for an outfielder (.109 ISO) and doesn't get on base enough (.303 career OBP) to make him more than a below-average offensive threat (80 wRC+ last season). After swiping 25 bags in 2015, the 27-year-old disappointed by stealing just 14 bases on 20 tries. The center fielder's elite defense will continue to make him a mainstay in the Jays lineup, but fantasy leagues don't award points for web gems. A spot near the bottom of the lineup also caps his fantasy upside.

Pillar earned the starting center field job for the Jays and rode it out the entire season. He was mostly in there for his amazing outfield defense, but Pillar held his own at the plate, as he hit .278/.314/.399, tied his professional season high with 12 home runs and added 25 stolen bases in an efficient 29 attempts (86 percent success rate). After striking out nearly one out of every four plate appearances in his first season, Pillar nearly slashed his strikeout rate in half, as he struck out just 85 times in 628 plate appearances (13.5 percent). Combine that contact rate with his speed and Pillar should be able to maintain a solid batting average going forward. Pillar will also be in one of the best lineups in the league again next season with the Blue Jays, so a high run total like last year’s 76 is certainly possible again.

Pillar posted the best numbers of his professional career at Triple-A Buffalo last season, swatting 10 homers and stealing 27 bases in 33 attempts while carrying an .868 OPS. He appeared in 53 games for the Jays, where his strikeout rate spiked upon promotion to the big leagues for the second straight year (24.6 career K% in MLB). The departure of Anthony Gose will help to clear Pillar's path to a place on the Opening Day roster, but that route could be obstructed if the Jays acquire veteran outfield help through free agency or trade. At 26, he doesn't have much left to prove at Triple-A, and Pillar could exceed expectations if he finds a way to cut back on the strikeouts against top-level pitching. More likely, he'll end up on the small side of a platoon in the long run, after pounding lefties at Buffalo (.387/.400/.645) and posting a mediocre line against righties (.259/.316/.424).

Pillar reached the majors for the first time in 2013, producing an unsightly .206/.250/.333 line over 110 plate appearances. He fared much better at Triple-A Buffalo, where he turned in a .299/.341/.493 line after earning a midseason promotion from Double-A New Hampshire. Pillar's lack of power has allowed him to fly under the radar as a prospect, even though he possesses good speed and above average contact skills. He'll probably be more of a fourth or fifth outfielder than a starter, and he could compete for a reserve role in spring training.