Willie Calhoun

Willie Calhoun

30-Year-Old OutfielderOF
Los Angeles Angels AAA
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Calhoun illustrated his potential with the Rangers in 2019 as he batted .269 with 21 home runs in just 83 games, but the juiced ball that season likely played a major role in his production. The past four years have been rough, though the 29-year-old enjoyed a bit of a rebound in 2023 with a .712 OPS and five homers in 44 games for the Yankees. He joined the Angels for 2024 on a minor-league deal and is poised to begin the season at Triple-A given their outfield depth, but given those outfielders either have troublesome injury histories (Mike Trout, Aaron Hicks, Taylor Ward) or an unproven MLB track record (Mickey Moniak, Jo Adell), Calhoun could see some run in the big leagues at some point this year. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season
From Preseason
$Signed a one-year contract with the Angels in December of 2023.
Receives outright assignment
OFLos Angeles Angels  AAA
August 17, 2024
The Angels outrighted Calhoun to Triple-A Salt Lake on Saturday after he cleared waivers.
ANALYSIS
Calhoun was designated for assignment Thursday after appearing in 68 games and posting a .695 OPS while primarily serving as a DH for the Angels. He'll return to Salt Lake, where he's logged a .260/.339/.354 slash line in 109 plate appearances this season.
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Batting Stats
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2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
52
3
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
3
3
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+49%
OPS vs RHP
2024
 
 
+52%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
+656%
OPS vs RHP
2022
 
 
+138%
OPS vs LHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .472 47 4 0 2 0 .171 .277 .195
Since 2022vs Right .701 418 45 11 37 0 .235 .311 .390
2024vs Left .476 31 3 0 1 0 .185 .290 .185
2024vs Right .724 223 23 5 19 0 .252 .318 .406
2023vs Left .100 10 1 0 0 0 .000 .100 .000
2023vs Right .756 139 15 5 16 0 .256 .324 .432
2022vs Left 1.100 6 0 0 1 0 .400 .500 .600
2022vs Right .463 56 7 1 2 0 .106 .250 .213
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+34%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+31%
OPS at Home
2023
 
 
+18%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+371%
OPS at Home
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .771 250 28 10 27 0 .233 .328 .443
Since 2022Away .575 215 21 1 12 0 .224 .284 .291
2024Home .785 133 13 5 15 0 .252 .331 .454
2024Away .598 121 13 0 5 0 .236 .298 .300
2023Home .769 75 9 4 9 0 .224 .307 .463
2023Away .654 74 7 1 7 0 .254 .311 .343
2022Home .721 42 6 1 3 0 .182 .357 .364
2022Away .153 20 1 0 0 0 .053 .100 .053
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Stat Review
How does Willie Calhoun 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
0.74
 
BB Rate
9.1%
 
K Rate
12.2%
 
BABIP
.263
 
ISO
.135
 
AVG
.245
 
OBP
.315
 
SLG
.380
 
OPS
.695
 
wOBA
.308
 
Exit Velocity
89.0 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
30.1%
 
Barrels/PA
2.4%
 
Expected BA
.258
 
Expected SLG
.358
 
Sprint Speed
21.3 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
43.2%
 
Line Drive %
19.6%
 
Fly Ball %
37.2%
 
Prospect Rankings History
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Defensive Stats
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Willie Calhoun See More
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93 days ago
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101 days ago
Looking for a Friday FanDuel MLB DFS salary saver? Look no further than Kyle Harrison in a pitcher-friendly park versus a bad offense.
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
Once an interesting prospect, Calhoun has failed to establish himself across parts of six seasons in the majors, hitting .240/.299/.404 (good for an 84 wRC+) overall. Last season, he appeared in just 22 games and hit just .135/.274/.250. The Yankees will try to get him back on track, but he hasn't given many reasons to believe a sudden improvement is on the horizon.
Calhoun was the key return for Texas when it sent Yu Darvish to the Dodgers at the 2017 trade deadline. He had a breakout season in 2019, but then took a Julio Urias fastball to the face in 2020 spring training just before everything was shut down and struggled through the shortened season once he returned. This past season was derailed when he suffered a fractured forearm from a Kris Bubic fastball and needed surgery to repair the fracture. The past two seasons have been a wash for the talented hitter with 2022 an opportunity to recover his value. He appears to be the projected leadoff hitter in Texas when a righty is on the mound in front of the newly acquired hitters, which should help his runs scored total. Calhoun may also earn more at bats against lefties should he show he is fully recovered from the 2020 and 2021 traumas inflicted on him by southpaw pitchers. Do not write him off just yet.
A shortened 2020 turned out to be a disaster at the plate for Calhoun, who finished the year with a .190/.231/.260 slash line, one home run and 13 RBI in 100 at-bats (29 games). He entered the year coming off the best performance of his brief career, smashing 21 long balls and driving in 48 over just 83 contests, but he wasn't able to build off that performance, much to the chagrin of fantasy owners. Despite Calhoun's struggles, it was reassuring to see that his K% remain at 15.7, the same as in 2019, and his exit velocity also was similar to his breakout season (89.3 mph). Opposing pitchers did appear to take notice of Calhoun's success in 2019, throwing fastballs to the slugger just 40.3% of the time in 2020, compared to 51.7% in 2019. The 26-year-old will attempt to start anew in 2021, as he's poised to see everyday playing time in left field and in the DH slot for the Rangers.
It took a couple of seasons after the Rangers traded Yu Darvish to acquire him, but Calhoun finally had a breakout year. The 24-year-old took advantage of injuries in Texas to get playing time and showed his offensive potential, posting a .269/.323/.524 line in 337 plate appearances. The 21 homers and 99 runs-plus-RBI in half a season were impressive, as was the hard contact he made throughout the season once he stayed in the lineup. He struggled against fellow lefties, as his BA was 65 points better against righties and 14 of his 21 homers came off righties. However, his plate-discipline numbers did not have the big split we often see from youngsters, which is an encouraging sign for him moving forward. The new park in Arlington will present a new offensive environment for Calhoun and the rest of the Rangers, but it does appear that it will favor lefty sluggers.
Calhoun opened the season at Triple-A Round Rock, ostensibly to work on his defense, but also with team control in mind. Unlike in most instances, the defense excuse held water as the second-baseman-turned-outfielder is best suited at designated hitter. Calhoun was promoted at the All-Star break after slashing a modest .294/.351/.431 for the Express. He was sent back down Aug. 10, returning when rosters expanded. With the Rangers, Calhoun never got in a groove, especially with respect to power. His normally stingy strikeout rate rose and when he did make contact, it often lacked authority. He didn't have enough batted-ball events to qualify, but in the limited sample, his exit velocity and especially barrels were low in large part due to struggles facing lefty pitching. Calhoun should be afforded the chance to break camp at minimum facing all right-handed pitchers. There's still a chance he plays full time, just don't pay for it this season.
Here’s how the Willie Calhoun drinking game works: Every time a baseball writer on Twitter says something along the lines of, “Willie Calhoun can flat out hit,” you take a drink. If you had been playing this game when Calhoun was sent to Texas as the headliner in the deadline deal that sent Yu Darvish to the Dodgers, you may have ended up in detox. The man is good at hitting. He would have to be, considering he is built like a bowling ball and is a below-average defender at every position. Calhoun’s strikeout rate was never higher than 15.9 percent in the minors and his wRC+ was never lower than 123, while always being young for his level. He played second base with the Dodgers, but will be deployed in left field and at DH with the Rangers. Given how bad he is defensively, there’s a chance he sits against lefties, as he projects to do most of his damage via a pull-heavy approach against righties. He will spend most, if not all of the season in the majors.
Calhoun showed impressive power from the left side of the plate in 2016. Despite standing at just 5-foot-8, the 21-year-old clubbed 27 home runs and tallied 88 RBI in 132 games at Double-A Tulsa. The power surge did come at a cost, though; Calhoun hit a career-low .254. Still, Calhoun may have been unlucky, as he sported a low BABIP (.242). Indeed, Calhoun is not a high-strikeout player, as the second baseman fanned just 65 times in those 132 contests. It remains to be seen where Calhoun will end up playing in the field, as his defense is suspect. Still, Calhoun's power potential combined with the ability to make contact may force the Dodgers to find a place for him to play. Calhoun should start 2017 at Triple-A, with the chance to see the majors before the year is through.
Of the players selected outside of the first 100 picks in last year’s draft, Calhoun is the most intriguing. The 5-foot-9 second basemen slipped, because that is what happens to diminutive players who have already been pigeonholed at the keystone. However, Andrew Friedman clearly had his eyes on Calhoun, as he had previously drafted him in the 17th round in 2013 with the Rays, but was unable to sign him. Calhoun immediately rewarded Friedman’s persistence, slashing .316/.390/.519 with 11 home runs in 73 games across three levels. His rapid ascension to High-A after getting drafted almost exactly mirrors that of the No. 2 overall pick, Alex Bregman, only Calhoun hit for more power and is seven months younger than Bregman. After playing 20 games at High-A to close out the year, he could head back there at the start of 2016, and should remain on a fast track to the majors if he continues to hit.
More Fantasy News
Designated for assignment
OFLos Angeles Angels  AAA
August 15, 2024
The Angels designated Calhoun for assignment Thursday, Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Clubs late homer
OFLos Angeles Angels  AAA
August 13, 2024
Calhoun went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Tuesday's 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays.
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On bench against lefty again
OFLos Angeles Angels  AAA
August 11, 2024
Calhoun is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Nationals, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com reports.
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Idle versus lefty
OFLos Angeles Angels  AAA
August 10, 2024
Calhoun isn't in the Angels' lineup for Saturday's game against Washington, Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register reports.
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Not in Thursday's lineup
OFLos Angeles Angels  AAA
August 8, 2024
Calhoun isn't in the Angels' lineup for Thursday's game against the Yankees, Erica Weston of Bally Sports West reports.
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Making push for roster spot
OFNew York Yankees  AAA
March 21, 2023
Calhoun is making a push to be included on the Yankees' Opening Day roster, Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News reports.
ANALYSIS
Calhoun is batting .344/.447/.500 with one home run and a 3:6 K:BB over 14 games this spring. He's also impressed the coaches with how hard he's worked on defense, an aspect of his game which has been much-maligned during his career. "He's swung the bat so great," third base and outfield coach Luis Rojas said. "And he's been so coachable. So it's definitely been a delight to work with and be around him. Everyone's pulling for him." Left field is theoretically open for the Yanks, although the team views Calhoun as a better fit for right field at Yankee Stadium, where he wouldn't have to cover as much ground. Aaron Judge could see more time in center field while Harrison Bader recovers from his oblique injury, potentially opening up more available playing time in right.
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