Surging Hitters to Target Ahead of the All Star Break
A look at some hot hitters and their fantasy baseball impact
Ceddanne Rafaela, Boston Red Sox
The Daily Notes readers have heard this name before! About a month or so ago, Rafaela was popping all over the place in the daily notes for several days. He’s clearly made some big improvements with the bat this year.
His swing rate this year is at 60.8%, slightly down from 61.9% last year. That’s not a significant change. But keep that in mind while I tell you that his chase rate has fallen from 46.4% to 42.2%, a big change. At the same time, he’s made more contact in the zone (75.7% last year, now up to 83.2%). That stuff isn’t new; those changes have been there all year long.
If that wasn’t enough, he’s also hitting the ball way harder this year.
None of those things had really pushed him into fantasy relevancy up until recently. His first 254 PAs:
.253/.299/.395, 6 HR, 48% GB%, 24% Pull% on Barrels, 24% HR/Brl
So he was hitting the ball often and hitting it hard, but the launch angle and the spray chart were not working in his favor. Now, over the last three weeks we have seen Rafaela do this:
.317/.339/.717, 5 HR, 33% GB%, 60% Pull% on Barrels, 40% HR/Brl
He’s lifting it more and pulling it more when he lifts it. Great, great stuff to see. We can’t say for sure how long it will stick around, but he’s been fantastic for three weeks now, and there were plenty of good signs here even prior to these last 21 days.
I’ve got six more names below the paywall!