RADIO
Mikie Mahtook's 2017 Success Not A Promise For Productive 2018
7 years agoDetroit Tigers outfielder Mikie Mahtook had a surprisingly productive season in 2017, posting career highs in home runs, runs scored, and RBI through 109 games. Mahtook is slated to be the starting left fielder for Detroit in 2018, and if that remains unchanged he should amass more plate appearances than ever before. His overall totals will rise just from the sheer number of plate apperances he figures to get, but despite those promising signs from last season, Mahtook's ceiling is still relatively limited. Last year's positive output came despite a career high 46.3% ground ball rate and a pedestrian 6.1% walk rate. And while he posted a nice 38% hard contact rate, Mahtook managed to squeeze out infield hits 14.4% of the time, which certainly contributed to his .324 BABIP. Mahtook was a nice surprise last year, and he brings a lot of energy to the Tiger dugout, but an outfielder without much power or speed just doesn't translate to much fantasy value outside of the very deepest of leagues.
