Kevin Kiermaier’s Useful Splits

In his first extended stint of big league action, Kevin Kiermaier has shown a talent for hitting right-handed pitchers. To say a left-handed hitter can do damage against opposite-handed pitching is no new development, but Kiermaier has seemingly flown beneath the radar.

The 24-year-old has made it into 99 games thus far and has accrued 336 plate appearances. His overall .262/.314/.452 isn’t too inspiring, although his numbers versus righties is a strong .282/.340/.498, good for a 139 wRC+ in 267 PAs. Of his 10 home runs, nine have happened while facing a righty. The table below displays some relevant splits.

	AVG	OBP	SLG	BABIP	K%	BB%	GB%	FB%	HR/FB%
Vs LHP	.188	.212	.282	.244	26.1%	2.9%	58.1%	20.9%	11.1%
Vs RHP	.282	.340	.498	.314	17.2%	7.1%	51.3%	32.8%	14.5%

Besides the obvious triple slash difference, I find the batted ball rate difference fascinating. Among hitters with at least 300 PAs, Kiermaier’s 52.6% overall ground ball rate ranks 22nd. In isolation against southpaws (minimum 50 PAs) his 58.1% ground ball rate ranks 23rd. Of course when dealing rates of this sample size we need to realize we’re still well withing the small sample size range, however this major league info jibes with what we’ve seen from Kiermaier’s minor league performance.

Courtesy of Minor League Central, we can see Kiermaier’s MiLB splits from 2011 and later. From 2011-13, he posted a 58% GB% against lefties and a 48.9% GB% versus right-handers in 416 and 986 PAs respectively. The OPS splits, even in the minors, for him are significant at .664 against same-handed pitchers and .773 when facing a righty.

Kiermaier has a use on most fantasy teams in formats larger than standard 12-team mixed leagues. Even in those 12-teamers he can have use as a bench bat given his talent for crushing right-handed pitchers. Playing time may be an issue with David DeJesus and Matt Joyce both being left-handed as well as Ben Zobrist also getting time in the outfield. Factor in Wil Myers need to get PAs and the outfield gets awfully crowded.

I’ve grabbed Kiermaier in a deep keeper league to try and hang on to him for next year. Even with the Zobrist/Joyce/DeJesus/Myers group all under contract or cost controlled through next season, Kiermaier’s pop and a bit of speed (he’s never had fewer than 17 steals in a season) make him for a very nice and extremely cheap keeper. I like his ground ball rate to get some AVG and his walk rates make him playable (against righties) in on-base percentage leagues. Like any platoon player you’ll have to closely monitor his playing time, however Kiermaier could make it worth your while. He is available in over 80% of CBS formats and over 95% of ESPN and Yahoo! leagues.