Blue Jays: Taking a Gamble on Devon Travis in 2017?

Devon Travis has shown flashes of promise with the Blue Jays, but injuries have slowed him. Should fantasy owners take another gamble on him in 2017?

Throughout the history of MLB, there are tremendously talented players that have been cursed by injuries. Devon Travis falls under that umbrella, as the talented second basemen shows flashes of promise, but can not stay on the field. Should fantasy owners continue to give him a look heading into 2017?

Devon Travis was drafted in the 13th round by the Tigers in 2012 out of Florida State University. He was flipped to the Jays in 2014 for Anthony Gose. Travis was pretty polished coming out of college, allowing him to rise through the minors quickly. He would make his debut in 2015, impressing with a .304/8 HR/35 RBI/.859 OPS over 62 games. But, he would have to have offseason shoulder surgery, delaying his debut in 2016 season.

The surgery would cost him all of April, and he took some time in May to get his timing back, but he impressed yet again with a .300/11 HR/50 RBI/.785 OPS line over 101 games. Travis was great for the Blue Jays after May, posting no less than a .284/10 RBI line per month throughout the end of the season. It looked as those he would emerge in 2017 as a solid fantasy second base producer, but once again an injury would slow his momentum.

Travis would suffer a bone bruise on his right knee in the playoff series against the Indians, which would then reveal that he needed surgery to remove a flap of cartilage that was in the knee-joint. He would go under the knife in November, meaning that he would have to rehab this spring training. He has not suffered any setbacks so far, but the team is taking it extremely slow with him.

Travis has been solid on the field and his peripherals are encouraging as well. He posted a 19% LD, 46% GB, 34% FB, 48% Med and 29% Hard contact rates. Then LD dipped some, but he offset it with more flyballs and an uptick in his hard contact. This led to the 11 HR and 28 doubles. If he can continue to make slight improvements in his batted profile, we could see his power jump to the 15 HR mark.

In terms of his speed, Travis was not running at the same pace as he did in the minors in the bigs, and now coming off a knee surgery, owners have to doubt that he will start to run now. Travis also posted a 20% K rate and 5% BB rate, which is clearly not a great clip, but his 83% contact rate definitely masks those concerns. He did have a healthy .353 BABIP last season, so some will question his AVG numbers, but he is a .317 minor league hitter.

While he may not be the 15 HR/15 SB threat as soon as 2017, he does have the track record in the minors to do so. While the speed numbers more than likely will not be there, Travis is the best option to leadoff for the Blue Jays. Travis does not do one thing in fantasy that stands out, but if he can maintain his numbers and add the counting stats bonus of hitting leadoff, all of a sudden he is a top-12 option at the position.

The injury concerns are legitimate and hurt his fantasy value. Even though he has not appeared in a game yet, he is taking part in drills and taking batting practice already. There will fantasy owners that stay away from Travis due to the injuries, but there will be others that are willing to take the gamble based on the situation and talent.

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Devon Travis has all the makings of a quality producer at second base in 2017. He is a player to watch this spring, as if he can avoid setbacks and appear in games before the start of the season, he serves as one of the better late round MI picks. He is worth the gamble in 2017 as he could provide a discount .280/15 HR/60 RBI/90 SB line.