Fantasy Baseball: 5 Buy-Low Options for Season-Long Leagues
Manny Machado, 3B, Baltimore Orioles
Manny Machado's 2017 season is the poster campaign for rotten luck. I mean, look at these numbers.
| Season | Plate Appearances | Hard-Hit Rate | Fly-Ball Rate | wOBA | BABIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 713 | 33.1% | 38.5% | .370 | .297 |
| 2016 | 696 | 35.4% | 42.7% | .366 | .309 |
| 2017 | 365 | 40.2% | 43.2% | .312 | .239 |
Despite posting career-best numbers in fly-ball rate and hard-hit rate, Machado is being killed by the BABIP monster, which has his wOBA and triple-slash line (.230/.296/.445) at career-low levels.
Among 166 qualified hitters, Machado sits in the top 30 in hard-hit rate (25th) and fly-ball rate (29th), but he's 129th in wOBA. If he maintains this batted-ball profile, his numbers should to improve over the second half.
The only issue here is Machado's unquestioned status as one of baseball's premier talents, which could make it hard to get him at much of a discount, but it's certainly worth sending an offer out to his owner.
