Fantasy Baseball: 10 Surprises So Far in 2017

Yonder Alonso, 1B, Oakland Athletics

Preseason ADP: 548.43

The Start

Entering his age-30 campaign, we knew one thing about first baseman Yonder Alonso: He wasn't a power hitter. After all, hitting just 39 homers through his first 2,343 big league plate appearances was pretty solid proof.

Despite that, he's crushing every preconceived thought we've ever had about him as a baseball player this year. He's already set a new single-season career high in home runs with 12, while his .363 ISO, .421 wOBA and 178 wRC+ are eye-popping.

How Sustainable Is it?

This didn't all just happen by accident -- it was premeditated, partner. Apparently, Alonso was tired of hitting so many ground balls into the shift, so made a conscious effort to shift his approach and elevate the ball more.

His swing looks visibly different, and it's resulted in a career-low 23.8% ground-ball rate (44.1% last year) and a career-high 54.8% fly-ball rate (33.3% last year) with a 39.3% hard-hit rate, which would also be a personal best.

The changes he's made in his swing are very real, and with free agency on the horizon, it looks like he's figured things out just in time.