December 29, 2020

After his out-of-nowhere breakout in 2019, the pressure was on New York Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela to prove it wasn't a fluke. He lived up to it, as he put together a very nice 2020 season. While he didn't display as strong a power profile as he did in 2019, he did still manage a solid .192 ISO and his Statast batted-ball profile is quite encouraging and not far off from his 2019 breakout season. His average exit velocity (91.4 mph) and expected batting average (.315) both topped his 2019 marks, while his barrel and hard-hit rates were in line with his 2019 season. Urshela also maintained his reputation for putting the ball in play, with his strikeout rate dropping way down to 14.4%, one of the lowest marks in baseball. Urshela also made strides in what was his biggest area of weakness: plate discipline. His walk rate skyrocketed to 10.3%, double what it was in 2019. This was due to Urshela being a bit more selective at the plate. His swing rate dropped 8% to 48.2% swing rate. That drop in swing rate is mainly due to his chase rate dropping 12.5% to 27.6%. Urshela already had an encouraging batted-ball profile, but with an extra boost in plate discipline, he should be a player to believe in going forward and is likely still a bargain with an ADP in the 150s.--mwallach