Marcell Ozuna of the Miami Marlins may have had an underwhelming season in 2015, but all signs point to him bouncing back next season to his 2014 form.
At this time last year, he was one of the most desirable, young center fielders in the game. With a current ADP of 286, Ozuna should definitely be given a serious look late in fantasy drafts due to his massive upside.
Editor's note: Be sure to check out our 2016 fantasy baseball rankings dashboard, which is already loaded up with lots of great articles. Aside from staff rankings and ADP analysis across all positions, we also dig into MLB prospect rankings, and dynasty/keeper rankings as well.
Last Season and 2016 Outlook
Following a very impressive 2014 where he slashed .269/.317/.455 with 23 HR at the very young age of 23, Ozuna went into 2015 looking to solidify his status as one of baseball’s up and coming superstars. Unfortunately, after a slow start to the season, Ozuna was demoted to Triple-A New Orleans in early July and recalled from the minors on August 15th. Overall, the young Dominican slashed a disappointing .259/.308/.383 this past year. When taking a closer look at his production following his recall, there is plenty of evidence suggesting he will improve this coming season.
From August 15th, Ozuna impressed in a big way as he slashed .278/.320/.469 (in 172 plate appearances), which is an even better output than what he achieved during his breakout 2014 in terms of OPS. Furthermore, he accumulated a sparkling 113 OPS+ during that time, (indicating he was 13% better than league average) virtually equaling his 114 OPS+ for the entirety of 2014.
Ozuna’s peripheral statistics also improved in a major way following his recall. First, his line drive percentage greatly increased from 19.1% in the first half of the season to 24.6% in the second half, which actually exceeded his line drive percentage from his breakout 2014 season. Second, his HR/FB ratio doubled following his recall in the second half from 6.5% to 13%, which meant that with better contact came more power. Both these statistics serve as very good signs that whatever changes he made in the minors seemed to have worked.
Conclusion
If Ozuna can maintain the mechanical adjustments he made during his tenure in Triple-A last season, there is every reason to believe he will not only can match his production from 2014, but exceed it. It is also important to remember the Marlins will be moving in their fences for the first time at their very spacious Marlins Stadium, which should help bolster his 2016 offensive output.
Look for the up-and-coming 25-year-old talent to take some serious strides towards putting it all together this coming season.
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