Fantasy Baseball Player Notes

Reyes crushes the ball and has the potential to become one of MLB's elite power hitters. The problem is that he hits the ball on the ground way too often. He had a 46% groundball rate in 2021 and a 36% flyball rate. That's a low flyball rate for a power hitter, and yet it's the highest of Reyes's four-year career. His 64% contact rate last year suggests there's worrisome BA downside here. Reyes doesn't steal bases. His run totals have been unimpressive and don't figure to improve with the bottom of the Cleveland batting order looking so anemic. And Reyes is only DH-eligible in most leagues. Reyes could lead the AL in homers if he makes launch-angle adjustments, but let someone else chase that dream.

Straw is your quintessential no-power, all-speed player. He hit four home runs last year and that's not going to be anomaly given his incredibly low hard-hit rate. But he stole 30 bases and ranked in the 96th percentile in sprint speed. He'll lead off for the Guardians this season and given their likely futility on offense, it's reasonable to expect Straw to try to swipe a bag at every chance he gets. If you're covered in power, he's a fine pick, but don't have any dreams of a home run surge now or anytime in the future.

It was a tale of two halves for Rosario, as he slashed .259/.306/.367 in the first half and .309/.339/.457 in the second half. The end result was a good one, as Rosario wound up being a contributor in four of the five rotisserie categories, and is trending up heading into 2022. The biggest issue at this point is the extreme weakness of the Guardians' lineup, which is projected to be one of the worst in baseball. That's going to significantly cut into Rosario's counting stats and depress his value. But the options to help your batting average and generally contribute everywhere are few and far between, so Rosario should be no worse than a high-end bench player for your team.