Fantasy Baseball: 7 Hitters Whose Strikeout-Rate Trends Should Have Your Attention

Kyle Schwarber, Chicago Cubs

Like Villar, Chicago Cubs catcher-turned-outfielder Kyle Schwarber has a short track record of excellent fantasy production that has made him a somewhat divisive asset in the current season. And while his production returns have been nowhere near as deflating as those of the Milwaukee shortstop, Schwarber hasn't exactly lit up the box score, either.

He ranks outside the overall top 130 per numberFire's baseball ranking formula, hardly an impressive standing for a player who was being drafted in the early-single-digit rounds.

Schwarber's 33.3-percent strikeout rate on the young season might not, on the surface, seem to dispel fears that his prolific half-season run in 2015 was a mere flash in the pan. But a look at Schwarber's plate discipline metrics should spark some optimism -- his swinging-strike rate is actually down significantly, from 14.4 percent in 2015 to 9.3 this year, which is below league average. His out-of-zone swing rate is also down, while his in-zone contact has spiked significantly.

Fantasy owners with shares of the Cubs' slugger can also take solace in the fact that his hard-hit rate is still an impressive 37.5 percent, just a couple of percentage points below his mark from 2015. Statcast tracks his average exit velocity as 91.4 miles per hour, a top-40 mark across the majors.

All of which is to say, a strikeout rate somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 percent has always been very much in play for Schwarber, so the current trend, though far from ideal, shouldn't strike us as abnormal. Schwarber's draft-day price might have been too rich for some, but the way that this perceived lull seems to mask positive underlying trends should make for a nice in-season buying opportunity.