RADIO
Mallex Smith 2020 Outlook: Has The Legs, But Not The Bat
5 years agoMallex Smith put together a disappointing 2019 season with the Mariners after an elbow injury in spring training delayed the start of his campaign. He slashed an ugly .227/.300/.335 as the team’s leadoff hitter, while clubbing six long balls with 70 runs and 37 RBI in 134 games. Smith salvaged his fantasy season by stealing a league-leading 46 bases, but his regression as a hitter raised a cause for concern. He relies on his speed, not hard contact, to reach base by spraying the ball to all fields and keeping it on the ground or on a line. While he maintained a beneficial 51.9% ground-ball rate, his line-drive rate fell over 6% from 2018 while he nearly doubled his pop-up rate to a worrisome 7.0%. Smith also paired his inefficient contact with a career-low 24.9% K% as he struggled to make contact on anything that wasn’t a fastball. With the Mariners lack of immediate big-league talent, the speedster should remain hitting atop the M’s lineup in 2020, giving him plenty of opportunities to keep stealing bases and scoring runs. Smith’s ADP of 154.3 presents a fair price for the stolen base potential, but know he’ll only contribute to two or three of the five main roto categories.
