6 years agoNew York Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu had an interesting 2018 with the Colorado Rockies. LeMahieu had demonstrated over the previous two years that he could hit somewhere around 10 home runs, and was coming off three years hitting for an average over .300. However, in 2018 he hit a career-high 15 home runs but traded off those gains with a drop in average down to .276. Previously, LeMahieu's highest home run total was 11 in 2016, and in many ways, his 2018 profile looked similar. The one interesting note is that his FB% jumped up to 29.5%, almost 7% above his career average. That jump, while retaining a similar HR/FB ratio as 2016, helps explain how he managed to hit four more home runs in 2018. The FB% increase also indicates why we saw his average drop off, as fly balls do not often tend to result in base hits. The question is which version of himself will LeMahieu be in 2019? We will find out this year if the shift to hitting more fly balls was a conscious decision or simply a one-year aberration, and that could indicate how the rest of his career might shape up. From a fantasy point of view, my hope is that we see the high average once again in 2019, as in the current climate an average over .300 is more valuable than a few extra home runs. In terms of the other numbers, hitting in a stacked Yankees lineup should mean that the runs and RBI take care of themselves somewhat. Given his current ADP outside the top-200, LeMahieu looks like an interesting late-round option who could provide fantasy owners with a nice average boost, at a point in the draft where good average can be hard to find.--Ben Rolfe