Fantasy Baseball 2018: What to expect from Eric Thames in Year 2?

Brewers first baseman Eric Thames crushed the ball in the first month of the season but fell off. What should we expect in his second season back?

The Milwaukee Brewers made a big splash last season when they announced the signing of Eric Thames. Thames was dominating Korean baseball for the past three seasons after a poor first stint in the majors. Now back and better than before, what kind of production should we expect from the 31-year-old?

The Brewers haven’t been that active this offseason, only re-signing Jhoulys Chacin and adding Boone Logan. The offense will look practically the same. Thames will have lineup protection with Ryan Braun and Travis Shaw hitting behind him. It’s up to him, though, to make good contact and get on base.

In his first season back in the majors since 2012, Thames hit 31 home runs, 63 RBI and .247 with 163 strikeouts, 75 walks and a .359 on-base percentage. The first month is what people remember most, 11 HR/19 RBI/.345 in 24 games.

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He was a steal in drafts because no one knew what to expect from him. He’s been gone for so long and when he was in the majors, he wasn’t that good. I was able to draft him in Round 21 and benefitted from his awesome first month. Unfortunately, I was unable to trade him before things got worse.

Thames was all people were talking about and fantasy owners couldn’t get enough from him. I talked about him being a sell-high candidate. The home run and walk rates were too high to maintain throughout the rest of the year and that was the case.

For the rest of the season, Thames hit .226/.335/.455 with 20 home runs, 44 RBI and a 140:57 K:BB ratio. He finished as the No. 109 hitter on the Player Rater, just ahead of Ryon Healy. If Thames was able to keep his average above .260 and maintain the power, he would have been a top-30 hitter.

As the season wore on, Thames was swinging at more pitches. He had a 22.3 strikeout and 17.5 walk rate in April. That dropped to 33.7 and 9.6, respectively for July. Thames’ groundball rate went down in the summer but even with more fly balls, his HR/FB rate dropped to 20 percent in the summer months.

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There’s no doubt Thames can hit for power. If he can improve his patience at the plate, then we got a different batter on our hands. Though, I don’t see him making any drastic changes. For a 30-home run, .250 hitter, Thames should be drafted in the 19th round of standard leagues.

The power is nice but make sure you have a nice cushion for your batting average to offset the negatives.

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