Fantasy Baseball 2018 Sleeper: Ryan McMahon
By Bill Pivetz
The Rockies rookie Ryan McMahon will start the season as their first baseman. With a little track record, he enters the 2018 season as a big sleeper.
The Colorado Rockies are one of three teams competing for a National League West title. The team added two bullpen pieces but not much else this offseason. The Rockies will enter this season with rookie Ryan McMahon as their first baseman. With the lineup he has around him, McMahon will be a sleeper to many fantasy owners.
McMahon made just 19 at-bats last season. He hit .158 with one double, one RBI and two runs scored in that span. Safe to say, it’s a very small sample size. The Rockies had Mark Reynolds as their starter with Ian Desmond making a couple of starts last season.
McMahon is listed by Roster Resource to hit seventh in the batting order. The Rockies have some pretty good hitters ahead of him, like DJ LeMahieu, Charlie Blackmon, Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story and Desmond to name a few. Hitting behind all of those hitters will help McMahon drive in a few runs.
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McMahon was able to lower his strikeout rate and maintain a good walk rate while moving up in the Rockies system.
The negative was that his groundball rate rose while he saw a decline in his fly ball rate. McMahon was hitting fewer balls to the opposite field as his pull percentage stayed in the mid-40s.
I didn’t rank McMahon inside my top-25 first basemen. He didn’t have enough playing time to make a big impact for his team. Plus, when he did get a chance to hit, it didn’t result in anything good.
However, that doesn’t mean that he won’t explode and be a highly sought after waiver add after the first month.
We’ve seen that plenty of times over the years. Matt Olson and Rhys Hoskins are two that come to mind. You win games in the draft but win your championship on the wire.
Next: Marlins Sign Cameron Maybin
McMahon wasn’t given enough time last season to adjust to the pace of play and skill level of the MLB. With his spring training focused on being ready for Opening Day, we should see a different McMahon this season. I like him as a deep bench option in mixed leagues and a sleeper starter in NL-only leagues.