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Jurickson Profar 2019 Outlook: Temper Expectations For Rising Stud In Oakland
6 years agoOakland Athletics second baseman Jurickson Profar is coming off of a breakout that felt like it was a decade in the making, but we now look towards his age-26 season with reason for optimism. In 594 plate appearances, Profar slugged 20 homers and stole 10 bases, making him one of the 29 hitters to go at least 20/10 in 2018, despite having a 27.6 ft/sec sprint speed that ranked 178th out of 403 hitters with 50 baserunning opportunities. His hit tool has always been there but held back by a variety of injuries, but his going 10-of-10 on the basepaths without elite speed shows promise moving forward. Now, for some pessimism. Profar goes from playing in Arlington, a top-five hitting park for both left- and right-handed bats, over to Oakland, which ranked 52nd for RHB and 55th for LHB. If he can hold onto hitting second in the A’s order then hopefully the additional PAs help balance out the lesser park. All this explains our site’s rank of 158th against an ADP of 117, as we’d advise not to buy in hard at cost in 2019.
