Fantasy Baseball: 6 Hitters With a Lot to Prove in 2018
Rougned Odor, 2B, Texas Rangers
Fresh off signing an extension with the Texas Rangers prior to 2017, second baseman Rougned Odor posted his second consecutive 30-homer campaign. That's a worthy accomplishment for any player -- especially someone playing at the keystone -- but not much else went well for him.
That's evidenced by his anemic 61 wRC+, which is the worst offensive performance from a player with 30-plus homers in a season since 2000.
One of the 23-year-old's biggest issues is a lack of plate discipline, but that did improve this past year. After posting a 3.0% walk rate in 2016, that number crept up to 4.9% in 2017. And while he's still chasing too many balls out of the strike zone, we could see this improvement in his chase rate, which decreased from 41.8% to 38.3%.
However, with a batted-ball profile that didn't look all that different from the year before, how did Odor have such a dreadful season at the plate? It didn't help that his performance against four-seam fastballs plummeted. The below table shows how his swing rate on strikes (Z-Swing%), contact rate on strikes (Z-Contact%), strikeout rate (K%), OPS, ISO, wOBA, and wRC+ changed between 2016 and 2017 against this pitch.
| Year | Z-Swing% | Z-Contact% | K% | OPS | ISO | wOBA | wRC+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 72.2% | 88.8% | 19.6% | 99.8% | .369 | .411 | 174 |
| 2017 | 74.8% | 81.6% | 25.8% | 65.9% | .209 | .282 | 86 |
In order for him to bounce back in 2018, he'll need to take advantage of four-seamers in the zone much better than he just did.
