4 years agoComing off a 17 home run, 28 stolen base campaign in 2019, outfielder Victor Robles failed to live up to expectations in 2020. Robles posted just a .220/.293/.315 line to go with only three HR and four stolen bases over 189 plate appearances. His inability to get on base, fueled by a huge drop in his zone contact rate (down to 78.8% from 85.7% in 2019), high strikeout rate, and a 4.8% walk rate (in the bottom 9% in all of MLB) certainly played a part in his low SB totals. Robles also saw a huge decline in sprint speed in 2020, dropping from an elite 29.3 ft/sec in 2019 (95th percentile) to 28 ft/sec (79th percentile), adding to the SB woes. As far as power metrics, Robles bottomed out in overall exit velocity, overall barrel rate, and overall hard-hit rate, landing in the bottom 1-to-5% in all of MLB in those categories. Additionally, his 2020 exit velocity on FB/LD of 85.7 mph was a drastic drop from his 88.6 mph figure in 2019, further supporting the low HR output. Given his pedigree and his young age of 23, managers willing to throw out 2020 based on the small sample size could gamble and expend a middle-to-late round draft pick on him (ADP of 159). That said, his decrease in sprint speed, together with poor power and contact metrics, don't infer an imminent rebound to 2019 totals. This suggests that his current ADP may even be high. If managers can get Robles beyond the 200th pick in drafts, it may be worth a gamble to see if 2020 was, in fact, an outlier. Otherwise, managers should let someone else roll the dice here.--Nick Ritrivi - RotoBaller