I have to admit I know next to nothing about him besides the fact he was known as that chubby guy last season, and that I thought his first name was 'Williams" and not "Willians." But when I saw on the current NFBC ADP list that he's being drafted as the #11 fantasy catcher, despite the fact he might actually be the Twins 3rd string backstop, that caught my attention.
Last year, he hit a fantastic .355/.371/.516 in 93 ABs, but what was really amazing is that he struck out only 3 times. Now I'm very intrigued.
Then I checked his minor league numbers, and wow! This guy is a throwback to the 1940s, when not striking out was one of the more important baseball skills. I'm going to increase the font size for added emphasis:
HE'S STRUCK OUT ONLY 81 TIMES IN 2,265 ABs
That's a contact rate of 96.5%. How is that even possible?
He doesn't have a lot of power, although it has increased of late. And he doesn't do much else, but with that contact rate, he should hit for a relatively high average (>.280) despite his heftiness. And he's 27 years old.
So what can we expect from Astudillio in 2019? Why is he being drafted so high, if he's not even a lock to make the Twins? Catchers are a wasteland, but still, this seems pretty risky to me. Thoughts?
Last year, he hit a fantastic .355/.371/.516 in 93 ABs, but what was really amazing is that he struck out only 3 times. Now I'm very intrigued.
Then I checked his minor league numbers, and wow! This guy is a throwback to the 1940s, when not striking out was one of the more important baseball skills. I'm going to increase the font size for added emphasis:
HE'S STRUCK OUT ONLY 81 TIMES IN 2,265 ABs
That's a contact rate of 96.5%. How is that even possible?
He doesn't have a lot of power, although it has increased of late. And he doesn't do much else, but with that contact rate, he should hit for a relatively high average (>.280) despite his heftiness. And he's 27 years old.
So what can we expect from Astudillio in 2019? Why is he being drafted so high, if he's not even a lock to make the Twins? Catchers are a wasteland, but still, this seems pretty risky to me. Thoughts?
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