Fantasy Baseball: 9 Spring Training Position Battles With Big Implications
Houston Astros' Designated Hitter
Let's stay at catcher for a second, shall we? If you go to ADP for the position, you'll notice that Evan Gattis is the sixth name off the board as the 124th overall pick. That could be troublesome with all of the bats the Houston Astros have stockpiled.
First, there's Brian McCann, a left-handed stick who would make a natural platoon partner with the right-handed Gattis behind the dish. That gives Gattis at least some role. However, McCann still had solid peripherals last year, so you'd assume Gattis isn't catching when there's a righty on the bump, leaving his other sources of volume at designated hitter and in the outfield. Both are tough propositions.
Along with McCann from the New York Yankees came Carlos Beltran. Beltran is capable of playing the outfield, but 52.95% of his plate appearances came as a designated hitter last year. This will be Beltran's age-40 season, so you'd assume he's not going to be bucking that trend away from the field any time soon. This could force the team to choose between Beltran and Gattis as the designated hitter against righties, and even though Beltran excels against lefties, his marks with a righty on the bump were also better than Gattis' numbers.
| Versus RHP | Walk Rate | Strikeout Rate | Hard-Hit Rate | Soft-Hit Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlos Beltran | 5.8% | 16.5% | 33.6% | 16.5% |
| Evan Gattis | 9.4% | 28.9% | 32.7% | 17.1% |
Beltran's batted-ball numbers are slightly better, and his advantage in strikeouts nullifies the extra walks Gattis draws. This is another roadblock to playing time for Gattis.
Gattis has played the outfield in his career, but none of that came last year, and the Astros added Josh Reddick and Norichika Aoki in the offseason. Everywhere you look, there's stiff competition for playing time. Sure, he'll get plate appearances, but will it be enough to justify being the sixth catcher off the board?
This is not positive ambiguity. This is ambiguity that people are choosing to overlook. It's possible that Gattis wins a bigger role in spring training -- thus the inclusion here -- but as it stands right now, he's being overdrafted. Roster Resource projects Gattis out of the regular lineup against righties, and until something happens to change this, we should put him on our draft-day back burner.
