Diamondbacks: Jake Lamb struggles versus lefties kill his fantasy value?

Jake Lamb had a career best season for the Diamondbacks this year. But, do his putrid numbers versus lefties kill his fantasy value?

The Diamondbacks are fighting for their playoff lives against the Dodgers. With the odds against them, fantasy owners can reflect on the D’Backs performers this season. Jake Lamb was able to improve on his breakout 2016, but could his struggles versus lefties kill his fantasy value in 2018?

Jake Lamb was a breakout star in 2016, posting a .249/29 HR/91 RBI/.840 OPS line over 151 games. His was able to out perform that line, with a career best .248/30 HR/105 RBI/.844 line over 149 games in 2017.

While the power and run production was steady and what fantasy owners where in search of, there are some ugly numbers underneath the surface production.

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Lamb’s Achilles heel, much like many young left-handed hitters, is that he can not handle left-handed pitching at all. Last season, he posted a .164/4 HR/16 RBI versus LHP, and followed that with an awful, .144/HR/19 RBI line ths season.

He simply can not seem to adjust to lefties, and the Diamondbacks had no choice to not only sit him during the regular season, but now in the playoffs when matched up with a lefty.

For fantasy owners, the worries do not stop there. Lamb’s production has fallen off a cliff after the All-Star break the last two seasons. in 2016, he posted a .197/9 HR/30 RBI/.663 OPS line. This season, .204/10 HR/38 RBI/.735 OPS. A slight improvement, but with the struggles versus lefties and the drop off after the break, it serves as a frustrating mix.

That paints a discouraging picture, yet it would be remiss not to mention the good that Lamb does. Looking deeper at his batted ball data, he actually improved his walk rate to 14% and lowered his K rate to 24%.

He upped his LD rate to 21%, lowered his GB rate to 41%, and upped his FB rate to 38%. He still hits the ball as hard as anyone, he posted 51% Med and 36% Hard contact rates.

Going into his third season, something has to give. Lamb is improving, but getting worse in other areas. The struggles versus lefties are killing his weekly value, but when he gets hot, there is not a better performer at the hot corner.

Lamb has to be targeted with cautious optimism. He is a liability against southpaws, and the D’Backs are doing their best to shield him from facing them. The power is there, he looks to be capped right around 30-35 HR, but the RBI upside continues to help his stock in Arizona’s lineup.

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He will be a player to watch this spring. If he can adjust or show some adjustments to lefties, his value jumps into the upper echelon at the hot corner. But, he also shapes up to be a sell high candidate at the break as well. He is undoubtedly one of the more intriguing players in the draft.