Hitters Advanced Metrics Leaders for Barrel% - Fantasy Baseball Studs and Duds (Week 25)

Hello, RotoBallers, and welcome to our hitter's advanced metrics leaders article for Week 25 of the 2024 fantasy baseball season! Today, we will be taking a look at players like Giancarlo Stanton, Taylor Ward, Kyle Schwarber, and more. As another week of baseball wraps up, I will recap which hitters had the most impactful plate appearances in the past few days.

For the first 11 weeks of the season, we discussed Statcast's Barrels per Plate Appearance stat, or Brls/PA%, but now we can transition. The weekly leaderboard for Brls/PA% has primarily stabilized, so now we can shift our focus towards Barrel Percentage in the last seven days.

Statcast's Barrel Percentage stat, or Barrel%, works by dividing the total number of barrels by the number of batted ball events within the given period. The higher the Barrel%, the more often the hitter makes ideal contact with the baseball. By narrowing our range, we can zero in on the players who have made the best and worst contact within the past week. We will also examine other stats, but the Barrel% will be the main focus of this piece. Take advantage of the rest of our Statcast analysis for fantasy baseball, including weekly Statcast Pitcher Studs and Duds.

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Barrel% Leaders

Notable Players

This week's leaderboard king is New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton is still at the top for the third straight week, so let's see what he did this week.

The Yankees star hit six barrels this week in 16 batted balls, good for a 37.5% Barrel rate in his last 29 plate appearances. The 34-year-old slashed .154/.241/.462 with two home runs, two runs scored, and two RBI.

Despite having the same Barrel% from last week, Stanton's results differed significantly this week. Stanton hit under .200 but still delivered on the long ball. This is a typical level of production for him, but the home runs will always be there.

The Yankees slugger always hits the ball hard and generates home runs, but the rest of his production fluctuates weekly and month to month.

Taking the second spot on this week's leaderboard is Los Angeles Angels outfielder Taylor Ward. Ward finished the week with a 35.3% Barrel%, up from his 20.8% Barrel% last week, so let's see what his Statcast profile looks like.

The 30-year-old slashed .346/.433/.885 with four home runs, eight runs scored, and five RBI in the past week. Ward also recorded a 30.0% strikeout over his last 30 plate appearances.

It's nice to see the Ward bouncing back from a bit of a lull, as the veteran hitter had a slow month of August. Ward is a streaky type of hitter, so hopefully, this good stretch can last for the rest of the season.

It's time to talk about Philadelphia Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber. The 31-year-old is among the best power hitters in the league, so let's see what his Statcast profile looks like.

The first thing that stands out when looking at Schwarber's profile is that the red categories are bright red, meaning that Schwarber is not just good in those categories; he is one of the best-qualified hitters in the league in those categories.

Schwarber is among the best hitters this season in xwOBA, xSLG, average exit velocity, Barrel%, Hard-Hit%, bat speed, Chase%, and walk rate.

Over the past week, Schwarber has hit .419/.457/1.000 with five home runs, nine runs scored, and 11 RBI. While that high batting average is uncharacteristic and unsustainable, that level of power production is what we expect.

Schwarber should continue to be one of the best home-run hitters in the league for the rest of the season and his MLB career.

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio had an exciting week at the dish. He finished the week at 23rd on the leaderboard, so we should closely examine his profile.

In the past seven days, Chourio has 18 batted balls that he turned into three barrels, which is suitable for a 16.7% barrel rate for the week. Chourio also had an average exit velocity of 88.2 mph this week and a max exit velocity of 107.8 mph.

Chourio slashed .200/.375/.560 with two home runs, three runs scored, and six RBI over the last 32 plate appearances. Despite his down week, Chourio does sport a .284 xBA, in the 91st percentile for qualified hitters this season.

The young Brewers hitter should see his batting average rise over the next few weeks. Chourio could find himself being a relevant fantasy option for years to come.

The last hitter I want to highlight is Connor Norby. The Miami Marlins top prospect is not yet a qualified hitter, but we can still look at his Statcast profile.

Over the past week, Norby slashed .360/.360/.760 with three home runs, four runs scored, and eight RBI. Norby also had a 0% walk rate and a 40.0% strikeout rate over his past 25 plate appearances.

The 24-year-old impacted the ball well over the past week, but his high strikeout rate and low xBA suggest he still has some adjusting to do in the league.

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