MLB PLAYER NEWS

Top 50 Fantasy Countdown: No. 48 Gregory Polanco

Lindyssports.com Staff

March 02, 2017 at 4:29 pm.

May 18, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates left fielder Gregory Polanco (25) hits a double against the Atlanta Braves during the first inning at PNC Park. Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

May 18, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates left fielder Gregory Polanco (25) hits a double against the Atlanta Braves during the first inning at PNC Park. Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

GREGORY POLANCO

BATS: L

AGE: 25

TEAM: Pittsburgh

INDICATORS

On-base .323

BABIP .291

Slugging .463

Total Bases 244

OPS .786

vs RHP .261

vs LHP .245

wOBA .331

TWO-YEAR MAJOR LEAGUE STATISTICS

BA     OBP   AB     R         H       2B     3B     HR     RBI      SB

.256   .320   593    83      152     35       6        9         52       27 (2015)

.258   .323   527    79       136    34       4        22       86       17 (2016)

2016: His batting average and OBP still aren’t where we’d like it, but Polanco jumped his pull percentage by 10 percent and a related home run spike came along. It also helped that he swung at more pitches in the strike zone, even if that approach didn’t help his walk rate any. Although Polanco basically played a full season, he battled shoulder and knee problems in the second half, at times helped by PRP injections.

Forecast: We’ll also give Polanco a thumbs up for his work against left-handed pitching — after batting .190 against them two years ago, he had no OPS split at all last year. Pittsburgh was smart to lock him up through his age 31 season; he’s capable of jumping into the superstar class in the next year or two. It’s a nice time to buy in.

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