5 years agoHouston Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel had his best overall year in 2019 by a wide margin. He hit 31 home runs and tallied 104 RBI and 85 runs, all topping previous career-bests of 18 home runs, 85 RBI and 70 runs. He hit all those new career-best marks while still maintaining the assets that had previously made him a solid fantasy contributor: batting average and low strikeouts. Gurriel has ranked amongst the top three percent of the league in strikeout rate each of the past three years. He's a career .293 hitter and maintained a .298 average last year. Gurriel's 2019 power increases were certainly unprecedented before last year. His 1.9% barrel rate in 2018 ranked amongst the bottom five percent of the league, yet he doubled that mark to reach a 3.8% barrel rate in 2019. He also increased his launch angle from 11.5 in 2018 to 14.5 in 2019 and increased his airborne exit velocity from 89.7 in 2018 to 91.4 in 2019. Gurriel will almost certainly give you a steady boost in batting average throughout the year, but his 2019 power numbers are risky to chase given his lack of consistent power production before last year. He hits amongst a potent Astros lineup, so run and RBI opportunities should be aplenty, but it's more reasonable to expect something in between his production of 2018 (13 home runs, 85 RBI, 70 runs in 136 games) and his production last year. He has an ADP of about 114 right now, which is a bit high. Take him if he falls to the 130s.--Andrew Ericksen - RotoBaller