The hype train appears to be grinding to a halt for Chicago White Sox infielder Yoan Moncada, who has opened the season by whiffing his way to a .184 batting average on the back of an eye-popping 42.1% strikeout rate.
Yet the pitches that Moncada has gotten a hold of have been hit with some authority, as evidenced by his robust 52% hard-contact rate. Could there be small sample hijinx in play, what with so few of Moncada's at bats actually involving measurable contact? Sure. But it bears mentioning that the young infielder is hitting 80% of his balls to either the pull side or center, showing some degree of bat speed and plate skill despite his desperate strikeout issues.
As Moncada's price hovers in the low $3,000s on FanDuel, he seems like a worthy dart throw against righties (he's fashioned a career .346 on-base percentage and .189 isolated power against them in his brief MLB career), so he might be a name to watch against the likes of Daniel Mengden and Andrew Triggs this week.