Fantasy Baseball: 5 Hitters Who Must Bounce Back After a Tough Second Half

Ryon Healy, 1B, Oakland Athletics

After a solid rookie campaign that saw him post a 132 wRC+ and .219 ISO in 283 plate appearances during the 2016 season, Oakland Athletics infielder Ryon Healy did more of the same prior to the 2017 midsummer classic.

He slugged 19 home runs and 19 doubles in 344 first-half plate appearances, which helped produce a 112 wRC+, .804 OPS, and .232 ISO. That positive momentum didn't keep going in the second half, though.

Healy did cut down his strikeout rate after the break, going from 26.7% to 19.2%, but his walk rate stayed the same (3.8%) while his power disappeared. His slugging percentage dropped over 100 percentage points (.502 to .386), leading to a significant decrease in wRC+ (84), OPS (.688), and ISO (.112). And sure, a 25-homer campaign in his first full year in the big leagues is great, but it's certainly concerning that he hit just 6 jacks in his final 261 plate appearances.

Here's the kicker, though -- a lot of Healy's statistics stayed the same from the first half to the second half, which includes his batting average (.269 to .273), on-base percentage (.302 to .303), and BABIP (.318 to .320). So where did the dingers go?

It looks like his power evaporated because he wasn't hitting enough fly balls. After posting a 16.6% line-drive rate and 41.3% fly-ball rate in the first half, those numbers changed drastically to 22.0% and 34.5%, respectively, in the second half. Fewer fly balls isn't a good thing for a power hitter, but his drop in hard-hit rate didn't help much, either (37.7% in the first half, 29.5% in the second half).