MLB

Fantasy Baseball: 10 Players Who Surprised Us in 2017

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Travis Shaw, 3B, Milwaukee Brewers

Preseason ADP: 303.68

When the Boston Red Sox traded Travis Shaw to the Milwaukee Brewers for Tyler Thornburg, it looked like the third baseman's fantasy stock received a big boost. Not only was he getting penciled in as the starting third baseman, but moving from Fenway Park to Miller Park was a much better fit for the left-handed hitter, according to Baseball Prospectus' park factors by handedness.

And boy, was that certainly the case.

The Mayor of Ding Dong City lived up to his nickname by blasting 31 dingers and driving in 101 runs over 606 plate appearances for a Milwaukee club that was surprisingly in playoff contention all the way up until the final weekend of the regular season. To put this power production in perspective, it was virtually the same as what he'd done between 2015 and 2016 in Boston (29 homers, 107 RBI) in 778 combined plate appearances.

Shaw's 37.6% fly-ball rate is actually the lowest he's ever produced in a single season, but his quality of contact received a big boost -- both his 37.1% hard-hit rate and 15.8% soft-hit rate are new personal bests. Despite hitting fewer fly balls, the third baseman made the most of the ones he put in the air.

The 27-year-old posted a 215 wRC+ and .664 ISO on fly balls in 2017, which were huge increases compared to 2016 (128 and .434, respectively). What's also encouraging is that his process led to those results, as his pull rate (33.1%) and hard-hit rate (45.0%) for this specific batted-ball event are easily new career highs.