6 years agoThe San Diego Padres had to be disappointed with the production they got from first baseman Eric Hosmer in 2018 after signing him to the richest contract in franchise history at eight years and $144 million. The left-handed hitter slashed only .253/.322/.398 with 18 home runs, 69 RBI, 72 runs scored and seven stolen bases in 157 games. That came after back-to-back seasons of 25 home runs in his final two years in Kansas City. Hosmer wasn't expected to be as good in the pitching-friendly confines of Petco Park, especially since he's always been more of a line-drive hitter. To compound things, Hosmer had a career-high 60.4 percent ground-ball rate and career-low 19.7 percent fly-ball rate last season. Typically one of the harder players to strike out in previous seasons, Hosmer also made less overall contact (career-low 74.7 percent) and struck out a career-high 21.0 percent of the time. Those are all disturbing trends for a player that already didn't stack up against the elite power-hitting first basemen in the game. He doesn't have speed to fall back on either, as he hasn't swiped double-digit bases since 2013. At a position with way more power upside available, Hosmer isn't attractive unless he's a corner infield candidate for your roster in deep mixed leagues. RotoBaller has him ranked as the 18th fantasy first baseman, behind the fading Miguel Cabrera.--Keith Hernandez - RotoBaller