Mike Yastrzemski

Yastrzemski sat against some southpaws, but 24% of his plate appearances came against lefthanders. In his first two seasons, Yastrzemski hit lefties slightly better, but last season he slashed .170/.254/.259 in that scenario. To be fair, he also slipped versus righthanders, but not to the extent against lefties. Southpaws fed Yastrzemski more breaking balls and off-speed stuff last season and responded with a .088 BABIP compared to over .400 his first two campaigns. Oddly, Yastrzemski's contact and exit velocity were in line with prior season; his BABIP simply cratered. While this bodes well for a rebound, reverting to 2019 and 2020 levels is optimistic. Overall, Yastrzemski's contact and power skills are stable, but he's been subject to batted ball whims. He's also older than many perceive as he'll turn 32-year-old in August. Draft for power, but don't expect a full batting average rebound.

Even as the grandson of a Hall of Famer, Yastrzemski has had his doubters, but he quieted those doubters with a brilliant 2020 season. Yastrzemski finished seventh among MLB hitters in fWAR (2.7) and finished as OF15 in rotisserie leagues. He was far more patient at the plate than he was during his rookie season, cutting his Swing% from 47.1% to 38.9% and upping his walk rate from 7.8% to 13.3%. It's great to see that even as he was taking more pitches, he was still all over the hittable pitches that were in the strike zone. His Statcast numbers are all over the map as Yastrzemski ranked in the bottom 40th percentile in hard-hit rate and the expected stats say he was out over his skis, but at the same time his xwOBA and xSLG were in the top 20% of the league. He is already 30 and not a great athlete, but Yastrzemski is now the face of the Giants and the recent changes at Oracle Park have helped offense.

Yastrzemski finally broke into the majors in 2019 after being traded from the Orioles to the Giants prior to the season. The outfielder got off to a slow start following his promotion in May, but he found his groove after the All-Star break and posted a 136 wRC+ over 70 second-half games. Yastrzemski's 21 homers -- which came in just 371 at-bats -- tied for most on the Giants, while his .852 OPS and 121 wRC+ led all players on the team with at least 200 plate appearances. Although Yastrzemski could stand to improve his approach (7.8 BB%, 26.0 K%), his strong batted-ball profile suggests his success is for the most part believable. Yastrzemski was shielded pretty heavily against lefties in his debut season, though he performed well enough in his limited opportunities (.943 OPS in 89 PA) to potentially earn more at-bats against southpaws in 2020. Either way, he should remain a fixture in the lineup.