Fantasy Baseball: 7 Hitters You Should Buy Low
Matt Joyce, OF, Oakland Athletics
Oakland Athletics outfielder Matt Joyce burst onto the scene last year with a 25-homer season in just 544 plate appearances. And even though a few of his numbers make it appear that he's gotten out of the gates slowly, he really hasn't.
While Joyce is hitting just .235 on the season, his plate discipline numbers have completely flipped in this small sample size of a 2018 season, with a walk rate that has jumped from 12.1% to 20.6% and a strikeout rate that has fallen from 20.8% to 14.7%. His .403 on-base percentage says just about all we need to know about his early-season production.
Joyce's ground-ball rate is down, from 37.8% last year to 31.0%, and his hard-hit rate numbers are right in line with last year's. That .431 slugging percentage is due to jump up, as are the homer totals, if he continues to show the patience he's demonstrated early on.