MLB.com Rank: 22nd | Baseball America Rank: 14th
It's fair to have reservations around Keston Hiura, due to his potential lack of a position or his nagging elbow injury, but his stick skills certainly help make up for it.
Hiura finished his junior season at UC-Irvine with a .442/.567/.693 slash that would make your eyes pop in a vacuum. But we also have to take into account the conditions mentioned at the top, and compare him to his teammates. So, let's do that. Here are Hiura's 2017 numbers relative to the Anteater hitter who finished second on the team in that respective category. Yes, that means Hiura was at the top of the sheet in every single one of these metrics.
| In 2017 | Average | On-Base | Slugging | Home Runs | Steals | Walks | Total Bases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keston Hiura | 0.442 | 0.567 | 0.693 | 8 | 9 | 50 | 138 |
| Second on Team | 0.320 | 0.395 | 0.448 | 6 | 7 | 22 | 87 |
He had 51 more total bases than anybody else on the team, and half of his total (69) would have been the third-highest mark if you exclude his own. Nice.
This does two things. First, it partially explains how UC-Irvine finished 23-33 on the season despite Hiura's exploits. But it also highlights just how freaking good he was in conditions that didn't seem overly favorable for hitters.
Hiura was forced to play the entire season as the Anteaters' designated hitter due to an elbow injury that he suffered back in April of 2016. As noted in his MLB.com profile, scouts fear Hiura may need Tommy John surgery, which is why his positional outlook is even cloudier. But as long as a team is willing to accept that potential wart, it seems clear they'll be getting a really solid hitter as compensation.