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
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