Nelson Velazquez

Nelson Velazquez

25-Year-Old DHDH
Kansas City Royals AAA
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Velazquez played in just 13 games for the Cubs in 2023 before being shipped to the Royals at the trade deadline, and he appeared in 40 games over the final two months of the year. The 25-year-old showed off his power with 17 home runs plus 35 runs and 34 RBI in just 179 plate appearances overall. He improved his strikeout rate three points from his first look in MLB during 2022, though it was still high at 28.5 percent, and he had a solid 8.0 percent walk rate. A 21.4 percent barrel rate trailed only Aaron Judge among players with at least 170 plate appearances, while a 32.1 HR/FB led the league in the same sample size. All of those figures are clearly unsustainable, but Velazquez's power potential is obvious with 23 homers in his first 130 MLB games. He should have plenty of at-bats for Kansas City in 2024, and he appears to be a safe bet for double-digit and possibly 20-plus homers, though the swing-and-miss in Velazquez's stroke still leaves plenty of risk despite the clear upside. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season
From Preseason
#289
ADP
$Signed a one-year contract with the Royals in February of 2024.
Sent back to Triple-A
DHKansas City Royals  AAA
June 24, 2024
The Royals optioned Velazquez to Triple-A Omaha on Monday.
ANALYSIS
Velazquez was hitting just .122/.240/.171 in June and had seen his playing time dry up, so the Royals have elected to send him down to the minors with the hope that he can get on track at the plate. Expect Freddy Fermin to continue seeing an uptick in playing time with Velazquez now at Omaha.
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Batting Stats
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2024
2023
2022
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2023 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
3
11
21
3
4
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
4
9
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+3%
OPS vs LHP
2024
 
 
+21%
OPS vs LHP
2023
 
 
+36%
OPS vs RHP
2022
 
 
+26%
OPS vs LHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .734 206 32 9 23 1 .211 .306 .428
Since 2022vs Right .712 409 54 22 64 6 .212 .276 .435
2024vs Left .726 70 11 1 7 1 .250 .343 .383
2024vs Right .602 160 20 7 20 1 .179 .244 .359
2023vs Left .708 54 9 4 7 0 .184 .259 .449
2023vs Right .966 125 26 13 27 0 .257 .320 .646
2022vs Left .756 82 12 4 9 0 .197 .305 .451
2022vs Right .599 124 8 2 17 5 .211 .274 .325
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Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+27%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+14%
OPS at Home
2023
 
 
+117%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+27%
OPS on Road
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .801 322 48 18 53 4 .233 .304 .497
Since 2022Away .630 293 38 13 34 3 .189 .266 .364
2024Home .682 115 18 4 15 1 .218 .296 .386
2024Away .598 115 13 4 12 1 .183 .252 .346
2023Home 1.111 114 26 13 28 0 .297 .368 .743
2023Away .512 65 9 4 6 0 .131 .185 .328
2022Home .574 93 4 1 10 3 .174 .237 .337
2022Away .731 113 16 5 16 2 .232 .327 .404
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Stat Review
How does Nelson Velazquez compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.31
 
BB Rate
8.3%
 
K Rate
26.5%
 
BABIP
.237
 
ISO
.166
 
AVG
.200
 
OBP
.274
 
SLG
.366
 
OPS
.640
 
wOBA
.284
 
Exit Velocity
88.2 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
31.3%
 
Barrels/PA
5.7%
 
Expected BA
.214
 
Expected SLG
.396
 
Sprint Speed
24.2 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
37.4%
 
Line Drive %
14.3%
 
Fly Ball %
48.3%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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159 days ago
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Lineup Lowdown: American League
162 days ago
The New York Yankees are one of the teams highlighted in Ryan Boyer's Lineup Lowdown, taking a hard look at batting orders throughout the American League.
2023 Fantasy Outlook
Velazquez made his MLB debut in 2022 at the age of 23 and showed some flashes of potential, though it was mostly a struggle overall. He hit six home runs and drove in 26 across 77 games while stealing five bases in seven attempts. However, he also struck out nearly 32 percent of the time, which isn't surprising for a rookie, and his .205 batting average and .286 on-base percentage leave plenty to be desired. With the Cubs in rebuilding mode, Velazquez could get a longer look in 2023 despite his early scuffles. Ian Happ, Christopher Morel and Seiya Suzuki project as the three starting outfielders, but Velazquez could back up any of those players, and he also has a path to playing time at DH, particularly with veteran catcher Willson Contreras no longer around. Velazquez may struggle to hit for a high average, but if he can get to double figures in home runs and steals, there may be some fantasy value here.
More Fantasy News
Back in lineup Sunday
DHKansas City Royals  AAA
June 23, 2024
Velazquez will serve as the designated hitter and bat seventh in Sunday's series finale against the Rangers.
ANALYSIS
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Sitting again Saturday
DHKansas City Royals  AAA
June 22, 2024
Velazquez is not in the starting lineup for Saturday's game against Texas.
ANALYSIS
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Absent from lineup again
DHKansas City Royals  AAA
June 21, 2024
Velazquez is not in the lineup for Friday's contest versus the Rangers.
ANALYSIS
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Not starting Sunday
DHKansas City Royals  AAA
June 16, 2024
Velazquez is not in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Dodgers.
ANALYSIS
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Getting breather Friday
DHKansas City Royals  AAA
June 14, 2024
Velazquez is out of the lineup for Friday's game against the Dodgers.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Likely ticketed for minors
DHChicago Cubs  AAA
March 12, 2023
Patrick Mooney of The Athletic believes Velazquez could begin 2023 in the minors in order to receive consistent playing time.
ANALYSIS
The 24-year-old made his MLB debut last year and had a .659 OPS and 31.6 percent strikeout rate in 77 games. Velazquez would likely serve as a No. 4 outfielder for the big-league club given the offseason additions of Cody Bellinger and Trey Mancini, and seeing regular playing time with Triple-A Iowa could be more beneficial for his development. Regardless, Velazquez shouldn't be expected to have much of a fantasy impact in 2023, at least while the group of current outfielders remains with the club and healthy.
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