Fantasy Baseball: 5 Hitters Who Must Bounce Back After a Tough Second Half
Jake Lamb, 3B, Arizona Diamondbacks
New year, same problem for Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Jake Lamb.
While his second-half swoon this season wasn't as drastic as it was in 2016 (and didn't include any injury), it still wasn't pretty. The below table shows exactly how ugly it was for the left-handed slugger.
| 2017 | PA | OPS | ISO | wOBA | wRC+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Half | 367 | .922 | .267 | .380 | 129 |
| Second Half | 268 | .735 | .199 | .316 | 86 |
It wasn't all bad for Lamb, though. Both his strikeout rate (25.1% to 22.4%) and walk rate (13.4% to 14.2%) improved when we look at his season in two halves. His hard-hit rate did drop slightly, but it's not like we can't get behind a 35.4% clip, especially when it's paired with a 41.5% fly-ball rate (which is what he posted in the second half).
We can also draw the conclusion that Lamb didn't get many fortunate bounces in the second half -- his line-drive rate went from 19.6% to 22.0% while his ground-ball rate went from 44.4% to 36.6%, but his BABIP dropped from .332 to .227. His struggles were highlighted in September, a month in which he posted a poor 74 wRC+ but produced a 28.6% line-drive rate and 38.1% hard-hit rate with a .233 BABIP.
None of that masked his trouble in facing left-handed pitching, though. In 156 plate appearances, he mustered a 44 wRC+ with a 34.6% strikeout rate and .251 wOBA when up against southpaws. This is not a new problem for Lamb -- he has a career 47 wRC+ against them with a 54.6% ground-ball rate and 27.6% hard-hit rate -- but with his second consecutive year of 100-plus plate appearances in the split, he's gotten worse instead of better.
