Fansided

5 darkhorse players we never thought could have a great 2020 season

By Tre LyDay

SAN DIEGO, CA - AUGUST 22: Jake Cronenworth #9 of the San Diego Padres plays during a baseball game against Houston Astros at Petco Park on August 22, 2020 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - AUGUST 22: Jake Cronenworth #9 of the San Diego Padres plays during a baseball game against Houston Astros at Petco Park on August 22, 2020 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 03: Luke Voit #45 of the New York Yankees runs to first base against the Texas Rangers during the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium on September 3, 2019 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 03: Luke Voit #45 of the New York Yankees runs to first base against the Texas Rangers during the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium on September 3, 2019 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images) /

43. Scouting Report. 4. player. Luke Voit. Pick Analysis. 1B. New York Yankees

The only reason Luke Voit is on this list is that injuries in 2019 could have called into question the validity of his 2018 season for some people. Well, good news for Yankees fans, his 2018 season was no fluke and last season was just an outlier.

Just over 13 percent of his plate appearances end in a barreled ball and his hard-hit percentage is a whopping 50 percent. He’s tied with Nelson Cruz for first in all of baseball with a 196 wRC+ which measures a players run value to his team and is park-adjusted, 100 is average. So that gives you an idea of how good of a hitter he is.

His strikeout rate is slightly up from last season and his walk rate is down just over five percent from last year. Even with those trends he’s still sitting at a career-high .450 wOBA, how is he doing it? When you lead baseball with a .730 slugging percentage then your wOBA is going to be higher even without the walks since extra-base hits and quality of contact are factored into wOBA.

What’s been the key to Voit’s success? He’s swinging at the first pitch more often. His first pitch swing percentage has jumped from 43 percent in 2019 to a whopping 52 percent this season. He’s not likely to regress so long as he keeps making hard contact, and that’s not likely to happen because, just look how big the guy is.

He could start seeing more offspeed pitches as the season goes on because he’s whiffed on 60 percent of them. It’s still not very likely to happen because first pitch changeups aren’t something hitters see very often even from the elite pitchers.

With the injuries piling up once again for the Yankees, they’re going to need his production and then some.

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