MLB

5 MLB Hitters Who Need to Avoid Another Slow Start

Matt Musico  —  @mmusico8 Mar 29th, 2017
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Lorenzo Cain, OF, Kansas City Royals

Lorenzo Cain is the first Kansas City Royals player on this list, but he's unfortunately not the last.

A crucial piece to their consecutive World Series runs in 2014 and 2015, Cain entered last season fresh off a third-place finish in American League MVP voting thanks to an .838 OPS, 125 OPS+, 16 homers and 28 stolen bases 604 plate appearances.

The obvious hope was that he'd continue this production as the Royals prepared to defend their title, but it didn't happen.

Through 91 plate appearances in April, he slashed .220/.297/.293. While his .281 BABIP during the month was much lower than the .345 mark he's produced during his career, it wasn't as if his 60 wRC+ could solely be blamed on tough luck.

Making more hard contact will help, though -- after posting a career-high 32.2% hard-hit rate in 2015, it dipped down to 22.0% in April. Cain did bring his overall percentage up to 30.0% last season, but starting out hot could help get him rolling like we've seen in recent years.

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