RADIO
Kole Calhoun 2020 Outlook: Trying To Replicate Career Year
5 years agoKole Calhoun entered the 2020 offseason as a free agent for the first time and signed a two-year contract with the Diamondbacks. He is coming off a career year in the power department where he hit a career-high 33 home runs. Outside of a poor .232 batting average, he excelled in the other stat categories with 92 runs and 74 RBI. Now, he heads to Arizona trying to replicate his 2019 campaign. There is cause for concern as he only has one other season of 26 home runs; Calhoun usually hits 18 or 19 homers. Some may credit the power increase to an increase in barrels 11.2% and a 42.6% hard-hit rate. Calhoun’s ISO of .236 and xwOBAcon of .418 were also career bests. These increases were great, but Calhoun’s HR/FB also increased 8.1%, to 22.9%, while his fly-ball rate only increased by 1.7%. This may point to a major benefit from the bouncy ball. There are a lot of questions regarding Calhoun’s ability to duplicate his 2019 production. The ATC projections see Calhoun as a mid-20s home-run bat and still a solid contributor in runs and RBI, but not equal to the outstanding 2019 season. He is projected to hit sixth in the DBacks order and there is always the chance he will platoon with Tim Locastro. Calhoun currently has an ADP of 314.7 and is only viable in really deep leagues that require five outfielders.
