It’s not every day that you find as gifted of an athlete as Kevin Pillar. Between the blazing speed and the sensational grabs, the 2015 Defensive Player of the Year for CF and Gold Glove finalist is beginning to make a name for himself in Toronto.

There was a lot of uncertainty surrounding Pillar’s playing time in the beginning of last season given that the Blue Jays brought in Michael Saunders to claim the starting role. After Saunders went down with a torn meniscus before the season even started, Pillar found himself with a lot more responsibility.

Pillar is not a guy who is going to knock your socks off with his offensive numbers by any means. In 159 games, his first full Major League season, he hit .278 with 12 home runs and 56 RBI. He is, however, a guy who is going to provide value on the base paths; he had 25 stolen bases in 2015 and is well known as one of the speedier players on the Blue Jays.

When he gets on base, which he does quite often with a .314 OBP, Pillar has the attention of the entire infield. Even though he is slated in the middle of the lineup, he often finds a way to get all the way around the bases as the Blue Jays have threats from top to bottom. This bodes well for Pillar’s R total, which was 76 in 2015. Toronto has not decided whom they will assign as their leadoff hitter but with the departure of Ben Revere to the Washington Nationals, Pillar is an excellent candidate to get things started for the Jays. Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, and Troy Tulowitzki would follow Pillar, and he would benefit greatly with a move to the leadoff spot. So would fantasy owners.

A great snapshot of Pillar’s game that we can look at to really understand how consistent he is in terms of contact is his Z-Contact%. This measures the percentage of time a batter makes contact on balls thrown inside the strike zone. Pillar’s Z-Contact% is an astounding 91.1%, meaning that his bat will make contact with virtually any type of pitch thrown inside the strike zone roughly nine out of ten times. Coupled with his Swing% of 50.8%, the percentage of pitches he swings on, we see that Pillar swings his bat meaningfully and usually yields great results. With this great plate discipline, it is confusing as to how he only hit .278.

2016 Fantasy Outlook

We need to keep an eye on Pillar’s positioning in the lineup to get an accurate idea of what he can do for our fantasy teams. If the Blue Jays were to keep things the way they were last season, Pillar would follow Baustista and Encarnacion and would precede Ryan Goins and Chris Colabello; an enviable position to say the least.

A quick word on Colabello, a primary factor in Pillar’s overall value if he stays put in the lineup. Colabello hit .321 in 2015 with 15 home runs on the season. An OPS of .886 and a towering .411 ISO highlighted Colabello’s contributions as a significant power threat towards the bottom of the lineup and separate from the core of stars. Even if Pillar does not migrate to the top of the order, his ability to get on base will help him score runs in bunches with a bat like Colabello behind him.

Another good season should put Pillar completely on the map. Fantasy owners would benefit greatly from a boost in average and RBI total. Although he is not a household name yet, he should not be forgotten about come draft day. OF is one of if not the deepest position in fantasy baseball, so we can expect a lot of names to come off the board before Pillar. However, don’t be afraid to take the leap and grab Pillar as an OF3 or maybe even a utility role.

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