6 years agoWashington Nationals outfielder Victor Robles is an exciting young player who Nationals fans hope will take the place of Bryce Harper. In a short spell in the big leagues, Robles has a .277/.337/.506 slash line over 93 plate appearances in 2017 and 2018. In 2018, in just 66 plate appearances in 21 games, Robles had seven extra-base hits and stole three bases in five attempts. This does nothing to slow his hype from the minors, where he had 19 stolen bases and 13 extra-base hits in 52 games, and shows that he has the potential to be a breakout star in 2019. One of the top prospects in baseball, Robles has already stolen 129 bases in the minors and had an .875 OPS in 114 games in 2017. While he has not shown much in terms of home runs, he had 37 doubles and eight triples in the minors in 2017 and looks like a player that will easily top 50 extra base hits in the majors. His patience at the plate is something that needed development coming into 2018, but then he walked 26 times and struck out just 32 times in 226 plate appearances in the minors. When looking at his batted ball data, his 24.4% line drive rate in his short spell in the majors is a great sign, as Robles consistently posted rates in the teens in the minors. A 26.7% ground-ball rate is good, but it also may not hurt Robles to hit balls on the ground as well, using his elite speed to earn base hits. As of now, it looks like Robles will man center field for the Nationals to open the season and his speed will be useful either at the top or bottom of the lineup. The most important thing to look at in regards to Robles is his plate discipline and if his progress made in Triple-A last season translates to the majors. If that is the case, there is a good shot that Robles steals 30 or more bases on top of his solid XBH and runs scored tallies. Look at him as a fringe top-100 player and as an OF2.--Chris Zolli