Justin Upton Stays with Angels, Fantasy Baseball 2018 Outlook

The Angels added another piece to their outfield by signing veteran Justin Upton to a five-year deal. What can we expect from a full year in LA?

The Los Angeles Angels haven’t done much to help Mike Trout reach true superstardom with a World Series ring. There was the Albert Pujols signing but it hasn’t been nearly enough. The Angels brought back  another veteran to help sure up the offense. How will Justin Upton fair in a full season in LA?

In a combined year with the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles, Upton hit .273/.361/.540 with 35 home runs, 109 RBI and 100 runs. He also had 14 steals in 19 attempts with a 180:74 K:BB ratio. He finished the season as the 11th-best outfielder on the ESPN Player Rater and 17th-best hitter. As an eighth-round pick, that is excellent value.

The overall numbers look good on the surface, but how to the splits play out? Most of the damage was done in Detroit. In just 27 games with the Angels, he hit .245 with a 7 HR/15 RBI/19 R line. If you owned him, the final month of the season was a bit disappointing but hopefully, you were able to enjoy the first five months.

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Upton spent most of his career in the National League. He then spent a season and a half with the Detroit Tigers before being traded to the Angels. While he had good success in the NL, he posted back-to-back 30 home run seasons in the American League.

Even with the down month with the team, the Angels decided to rework Upton’s four-year deal and added a fifth year, keeping him in LA until 2022.

Upton hit in the number three spot in the lineup, between Trout and Pujols. Even with Pujols getting up there in age, that is still a dangerous trio to face. He will get plenty of opportunities to get good pitches to hit and drive in runs. No team can avoid pitching to all three of them.

Though, he is 30 years old with a 28 percent strikeout rate over the last two seasons. Upton is still swinging at 12.5 percent of pitches, top-35 among all qualified hitters. His fly ball and hard contact rates are good enough to offset the strikeouts.

As for next season, ESPN’s Tristan H. Cockcroft ranks Upton as a fourth-round pick and No. 10 outfielder. Two of CBS Sports’ contributors have him No. 16 and two others have him No. 22 among outfielders.

Next: Does World Series affect Yu Darvish's value?

I feel more comfortable having him closer to 20 than 10. If you can draft him as your No. 2 outfielder in the fifth round, I think you can have a good return on that investment.