Yesterday, I compared my xBABIP to actual BABIP to identify eight hitters with significant BABIP upside this season. Today, I’ll check in on six of the biggest xBABIP outperformers from 2018. These guys are at serious risk of dramatic BABIP downside, which would pull down their batting averages without an improvement in strikeout rate and/or jump in home run rate.
While my xBABIP equation wasn’t developed to serve as a next season projection, you could certainly use it as a historical guide, just the way you would normally review actual BABIP marks. That’s precisely what I do to formulate my Pod Projections. One of the various ways to utilize xBABIP is to compare the hitter’s mark to his actual mark to determine how “real” the result was. Today, I’ll identify and discuss eight fantasy relevant hitters who posted xBABIP marks significantly higher than their actual marks, suggesting upside this season if they are able to maintain those underlying skills.
Every season, there’s another can’t-miss top prospect. This year, that honor has been bestowed upon Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who ranked third on last year’s list. Not only does he find himself atop the 2019 mountain, but he’s the only prospect graced with a 70 (out of 80) Future Value grade, which equates to a 5.0 to 7.0 WAR and a top 10 overall player. That’s pretty incredible. Essentially, Guerrero is expected to be elite, a near surefire superstar, and the hype has predictably spread to fantasy leagues.
Yesterday, I compared batter HR/FB rates to my xHR/FB rates to identify nine hitters who posted xHR/FB rates significantly higher than their actual marks, suggesting upside this season if they are able to maintain those underlying skills. Today, I’ll check in on those hitters on the opposite end of the spectrum, with a list of six batters who overperformed their xHR/FB rates most. If the underlying skills driving the xHR/FB rates stick in 2019, these hitters are at serious risk of HR/FB rate regression.
While my xHR/FB rate equation wasn’t developed to serve as a next season projection, you could certainly use it as a historical guide, just the way you would normally review actual HR/FB rate. That’s precisely what I do to formulate my Pod Projections. One of the various ways to utilize xHR/FB rate is to compare the hitter’s mark to his actual mark to determine how “real” the result was. Today, I’ll identify and discuss 9 hitters who posted xHR/FB rates significantly higher than their actual marks, suggesting upside this season if they are able to maintain those underlying skills.
We humans love to categorize and label things. Are you an extrovert or introvert? Does your favorite band play rock or pop music? Is that movie you saw last night a drama or romcom? Are pancakes a breakfast food or the best dinner ever? So it’s no surprise that this infatuation with ensuring everything fits into a box has spread to fantasy baseball. But I just don’t get it.
Yesterday, I discussed 10 hitters with big HR/FB rates whose marks were actually validated by their xHR/FB rates. Comparing HR/FB rate to xHR/FB rate helps guide my 2019 Pod Projections. Now let’s flip it and check on the hitters who posted surprisingly low HR/FB rates, but that were actually validated by low xHR/FB rates.
One of the first steps you must take en route to completing a player projection is determining if the previous season’s performance was “for real”. We all use historical statistics as our baseline for future forecasts, and the Pod Projections are no different. How do we come up with a home run projection? There are a bunch of components driving that projection, one of which is the hitter’s HR/FB rate. We could use my xHR/FB rate equation to look back and help determine whether a hitter’s actual HR/FB rate was real. So let’s begin with the guys who posted high HR/FB rates that xHR/FB completely supported. Though the validation doesn’t automatically mean a repeat is in the cards, there’s certainly better odds than if the metric suggested great fortune was primarily behind the mark.
Alas, it’s Pod Projections time, as the 2019 forecasts are now available! As usual, I’ll dive into my projection methodology (detailed in Projecting X 2.0) by sharing my process on several hitters and pitchers.
On Tuesday, the Blue Jays signed Freddy Galvis to a one-year contract. This could be a signal that the Jays have given up on Devon Travis at second base, who was terrible both offensively and defensively last season, which would push Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to second, opening up shortstop for Galvis. Amazingly, Galvis has now been an every day player for four straight seasons, and yet has never posted a wOBA exceeding .298. Will a move to Toronto, playing half his games at the Rogers Centre, be the spark he needs to finally get that wOBA over .300? Let’s check the park factors.
