Fantasy Baseball: 7 Hitters Whose Strikeout-Rate Trends Should Have Your Attention

Robbie Grossman, Minnesota Twins

Switch-hitting Minnesota Twins outfielder Robbie Grossman has never been a fantasy mainstay, but that might change if his current plate-discipline trends continue to hold.

The 27-year-old has enjoyed a nice batting-order promotion over the past week, alternating between the second and fifth spot in the Twins lineup while answering the bell with steady production, tallying a cool .333 batting average and eye-opening 1.017 OPS on the season.

Over this admittedly small early sample, Grossman has swapped punchouts for free passes, boosting last year's already notable 14.1-percent walk rate to an AL-leading 23.4 percent, all while cutting last year's 24.7-percent strikeout rate by nearly 10 percentage points.

Grossman's terrific batting eye is on full display here, with his out-of-zone swing rate plummeting from the stellar 20.5 percent mark that he boasted last year to a downright stingy 10.8-percent rate on the current season. Grossman's shrewd batting eye has paid dividends, helping him to a 48.6-percent hard contact rate that finds him inexplicably sandwiched between star sluggers Freddie Freeman and Ryan Braun on the MLB leaderboard.

There's little doubt that regression will come for the relatively unproven Grossman, but even so, his recent productivity should have him firmly on the radar in all but the shallowest standard leagues. And in leagues that account for OBP, adding Grossman seems like a no brainer.