It looks like Jake Bauers cleared the rookie wall in September, with the first-year Tampa Bay Rays slugger punching a .204 ISO in 68 plate appearances while whittling down his strikeout rate to 23.5% after the hair-raising 33.7% showing in August.
Though a 13.5% swinging strike rate this month has Bauers still looking a bit over-eager, the 22-year-old has managed an impressive 16.2% walks, 39% hard contact, and just 7.3% hard contact. There could be some runway here to a strong final act for a promising rookie season.
Bauers carries .205 season-long ISO against righties into plus matchups with Lance Lynn and Sean Reid-Foley. With a modest FanDuel salary around $3,000, he might even make for a decent contrarian play against blowup-prone Yankees starters Masahiro Tanaka and Luis Severino. After all, Tampa Bay has quietly been MLB's third most productive lineup against right handers in the second half (115 wRC+).