3 years agoCalling Mike Trout great is boring at this point, and his stellar 2021 season should do nothing to change that: .333/.466/.624 with eight homers and a pair of steals in just 146 PAs. However, his detractors may find something to hold against the 30-year-old for the first time in his career. A right calf strain cost Trout roughly three-quarters of the season, though reports indicate that Trout could've come back if the Angels were still in the race and he was expected to have a healthy offseason. A big jump in SwStr% (6.4 in 2020, 10.2 last year) and K% (23.2 to 28.1) may cause more concern, especially since a .456 BABIP masked the impact of those strikeouts on his batting average. Still, Trout also improved his contact quality by adding a tick and a half to his average airborne exit velocity (from 96.1 to 97.8 mph) and boosting his rate of Brls/BBE from 15% to 18.4%. The net result was a .300 xBA, .571 xSLG, and a .423 xwOBA that ranked fourth in MLB among players with at least 50 batted ball events. It seems likely that Trout adjusted his approach to do more damage, and it's working. Locked into the heart of a lineup that also includes defending AL MVP Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon, Trout is an easy first-round talent that often finds himself going in the second with a 15.44 ADP. That's absurd and gives fantasy managers substantial profit potential.--Rick Lucks - RotoBaller