10 Spring Training Position Battles With Major Fantasy Baseball Implications
Houston Astros' Designated Hitter
Catchers who don't catch are the rainbow unicorns of fantasy baseball. If you see one, you gotta snag it while you can. It seems like Evan Gattis is in line to be that in 2018, but that may not be as much of a slam dunk as it seems.
Gattis is coming off of a mighty strange year in 2017. He took some steps forward by cutting his strikeout rate to 15.4%, but he also had a walk rate three percentage points lower than his 2016 mark and saw his isolated slugging percentage drop 64 points. His 33.6% hard-hit rate was below the league average for designated hitters of 34.8%.
You could chalk this up to being a side product of catching, which shouldn't be as big of a factor this year. But Gattis also posted just a 29.2% hard-hit rate and 25.8% soft-hit rate while acting as the designated hitter compared to marks of 37.1% and 16.4% as a catcher. When Gattis caught 799 innings in 2014 (compared to 413.2 in 2017), he posted a .230 isolated slugging percentage with a 38.7% hard-hit rate.
If catching didn't negatively affect him in the past, and he didn't perform better when he wasn't behind the dish, this excuse is still valid but loses a bit of its muster.
What helps Gattis' cause is that his numbers against lefties weren't as solid as we've come to expect. If he were to see those rebound while maintaining his skills against righties, he'd look pretty decent. But the margin for error here is slim.
As the defending World Series champs, the Houston Astros are not short on depth. Derek Fisher struggled with strikeouts in the majors last year but is a potential power-speed stud who could demand playing time, A.J. Reed is coming off of a 34-dinger season in Triple-A, and J.D. Davis is blocked at third base but flashed some major pop in the minors, as well.
None of those guys are projected to make the opening-day roster by Roster Resource, but all are young and could impress this spring. The Astros have also been tied to Miami Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto, which could further clog things up. There are a lot of mouths to feed here, which certainly isn't a bad problem to have if you're the Astros. It just casts some doubt on Gattis' value.
Right now, Gattis is the 141st pick off the board in NFBC, which isn't a terrible price. If he gets every-day plate appearances as the designated hitter, he should blow past that. But we'll have to keep tabs on this team in the spring because they're one breakout away from a full-blown log jam.
