Yasmany Tomas Profile (Fantasy Baseball)

When Yasmany Tomas defected from Cuba, he was considered to have immense power. The Diamondbacks were one of the primary believers, signing the 24-year-old outfielder to a six-year, 68 million dollar contract. After taking a year away from baseball, he struggled to find his way against Major League pitching and plenty wrote him off as a bust. 2016 was a tale of two halves for Tomas, so which will fantasy owners see this season?

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2016 Overview

Tomas went undrafted in the majority of fantasy leagues last season but became a hot pickup in the second half of the season. He was incredible against left-handed pitchers with a .364/.423/.690 triple-slash line, but struggled against righties, batting just .242/.276/.449. In all, he knocked 31 homers in just 131 games started. If he had played a full season, he likely would have ended up around Chris Davis, Big Papi and Kris Bryant. Oddly, much of his power came away from Chase Field, which is considered Coors-lite.

Tale of Two Halves

In the first half, Tomas looked like the same mediocre player we saw in his 2015 debut, with limited power and many more strikeouts. In the 2^nd half, Tomas found his power groove, increasing his ISO from 189 to 290, and managed to drive in an extra 15 runs in 50 less plate appearances as a result. His OPS was remarkably higher than Bryant, Altuve, Donaldson, Seager, Rizzo and Goldschmidt in the 2^nd half which is even beyond the type of production Arizona expected when they signed the slugger.

2017 Outlook

Tomas is now the ideal age for a power hitter with a big body, at 26. He very well may lead the National League in homers this season if he can stay on the field and carry over his momentum from 2016. Tomas had the talent to morph into a top 50 fantasy asset this season. With that said, the expert consensus has him graded as just a 17th round pick (up two rounds from a month ago). Likewise, his projections see him hitting just 21 homers, but if you are like me, that is good news because it means we can draft him at a significant discount.

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