Angels: Luis Valbuena an Interesting Fantasy Selection in 2017?

By Brad Kelly | Jan 29, 2017

Jul 19, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Houston Astros third baseman Luis Valbuena (18) fouls off in the first inning against the Oakland Athletics at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports /

Luis Valbuena has an interesting blend of power and patience and the plate, making him an intriguing fantasy option now with the Angels. Should fantasy owners be giving him a closer look this season?

The holidays usually bring a lull in MLB moves and transactions, but player movement started to pick up this past week or so. One move that stood out was the Angels adding Luis Valbuena. Valbuena had his 2016 cut short due to a hamstring injury, but has shown an interesting skillset over the last few seasons. Should he be on more fantasy owners’ radar though?

The Angels will be Valbuena’s fifth MLB team since he entered the league in 2008. While he never really cemented himself as an everyday starter in the bigs, he has carved out a role as a utility type player. He finished the 2016 season with a .260/13 HR/40 RBI/.816 OPS line. It was not quite the hopeful follow-up performance to his 25 HR breakout in 2015, but a severe hamstring injury will do that.

He got off to a dreadful start, .183 AVG in April, but turned things around the very next month. From May to July, he posted at least a .259 AVG/3 HR/10 RBI/.836 OPS per month. His 24% BB rate was the highest of his career before the injury as well. While the power HR rate was down, the walk rate was up and he even notched only one less double than he did in all of 2015.

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Looking further into his batted ball data, his ratios were still right in line with his breakout in 2015. He posted another 20%+ LD rate, a sub 40% GB rate, and is still maintaining his 40%+ FB rate. While his Med contact rate dropped by 8%, he was able to raise his Hard contact rate to 36 last season. This helped lead him to his 17 2B in only 90 games and what should encourage fantasy owners that his power stroke has not gone anywhere.

Luis Valbuena landing with the Angels seemed odd at first because of the existing presences of Albert Pujols, C.J. Cron, and Yunel Escobar. Before the Valbuena signing, the entire Angels’ infield would have existed of RHH. Clearly, this paved the way for him to be a platoon possibility, but the Angels recently made it clear that he is in line for a lot of at-bats next season.

He will start the season at first thanks to Pujols’ offseason surgery, but he looks to also be the permanent DH versus RHP. Fantasy owners should find some confidence in knowing that he will get steady chances to provide. The power and patience are there, but he will also have a prime order in the lineup as well. With or without Pujols, Valbuena will slide into either the cleanup or 5th spot in the Halos’ lineup.

Meaning that he will have plenty of run-producing chances with Mike Trout and Kole Calhoun batting in front of him. The move from Minute Maid park to Angel Stadium on paper looks to hurt his power potential some, but over the last two seasons, he had exactly 19 HR on the road and 19 at home. He will stay in the division as well, so the 25 HR plateau is not a far out fantasy again in 2017.

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Luis Valbuena will not win fantasy owners their leagues next season, but he looks to be in a great situation to provide solid power and RBI totals in 2017. Most owners will write him off after his lackluster follow-up performance to his 2015 breakout, but astute owners can see the underlying value. Do not sleep on him this spring, as he could be a great late round CI or UTIL flier.

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