Fantasy Baseball: 10 Hitters Who Could Bounce Back in 2019
Wil Myers, 3B/OF, San Diego Padres
ADP: 111
Depth Charts: 560 PA, 68 R, 22 HR, 68 RBI, 16 SB, .240 AVG
THE BAT: 556 PA, 74 R, 24 HR, 70 RBI, 16 SB, .255 AVG
Wil Myers is yet another player coming off an injury-shortened 2018 season, with multiple stints on the disabled list leaving him with just 83 games and 343 plate appearances a year ago.
But despite missing about half the season, Myers still managed 11 dingers and 13 swiped bags, which would theoretically come to around 22 jacks and 26 steals over a full campaign. That falls in line with what we've come to expect from Myers, coming off a 2017 season with 30 home runs and 20 stolen bases, along with a 28 and 28 effort in 2016.
It's hard to not like the power/speed upside at this year's reduced draft price, and it isn't unreasonable to expect him to flirt with 20-20 production again.
Myers was more of a line-drive hitter in 2018, posting a career-low 28.9% fly-ball rate, but he produced a stellar 46.6% hard-hit rate, which ranked 12th among batters with at least 300 plate appearances. However, his 7.3% barrel rate ranked just 140th among hitters with at least 150 batted-ball events, and he's exceeded that mark just once in the past four seasons. Another 30-homer campaign -- particularly while calling Petco Park home -- probably isn't in the cards, but if he keeps up the hard contact and returns closer to his career fly-ball rate (35.8%), he should have no problem getting back into the 20 again for long balls.
As for the speed, Myers was caught just once in 14 stolen base attempts last season and ranked favorably in Statcast's sprint speed metric (77th percentile). He's gone 77-of-95 for his career -- good for an 81% success rate -- and San Diego isn't afraid to run, ranking ninth in stolen bases in 2018. All of this bodes well for him to continue being active on the basepaths, and the 16 stolen bases both projection systems give him reflect a solid floor.
But Myers is unlikely to offer any help in batting average (.253 career hitter), and barring a surprise free-agent splash, the rebuilding Padres probably won't offer Myers as many runs and RBI opportunities as more potent lineups would.
Still, Depth Charts and THE BAT conservatively peg Myers for 133 and 130 games, respectively, which still gets him to a respectable four-category stat line. Seeing as Myers is still just 28 years old and was healthy for 155 and 157 games in each of the prior two seasons, it isn't unreasonable to think he can stay on the field and exceed those numbers.
