2017 FANTASY BASEBALL PLAYER ANALYZER: WIL MYERS 1B/OF SAN DIEGO PADRES

Just when it started to look like Wil Myers would never live up to the sizable hype that surrounded him when he first arrived on the major league scene with the Tampa Bay Rays, the guy put it all together in a better-than-anyone-expected 2016 campaign.  The key to Myers’ breakthrough was the fact he finally stayed healthy after enduring lengthy DL stints ever year from 2013-15.  Finally figuring out how to stay on the field, Myers’ power and athleticism did its thing as he hit 28 home runs, stole 28 bases, scored 99, runs, and collected 94 RBI.  About the only negative thing you could say about Myers’ season was that his average was a underwhelming at .259 but that was never his strong suit to begin with (.257 career hitter).  While Myers strikes out too much (23.7 K/9 ), he offsets that by drawing a high number of walks (10.1 BB/9).  While we do hate the ballpark, Myers is still very young (26 this past December) and thus, he has some ceiling left to tap into.  Also Myers hit 18 of his 28 home runs at home and batted over .300 there which means the dimensions of Petco Park should not be held as much against him.  A 30/30 year is not out of the question given what we have seen but Myers has to prove he can continue to stay healthy.  Health is the biggest issue here going forward as Myers has not shown he can consistently stay on the field but this kind of speed at first base is almost impossible to find (outside of only Paul Goldschmidt).  In fact you can call Myers by the name of Goldschmidt-lite given the similar numbers outside of batting average and the Padres first baseman will come a few rounds cheaper. 

2017 PROJECTION:  .259 26 HR 90 RBI 92 R 25 SB