Hitters Advanced Metrics Leaders for Brls/PA % - Fantasy Baseball Studs and Duds (Week 4)

Hello, RotoBallers! As another week of baseball wraps up, I will recap which hitters had the most impactful plate appearances in the past few days. Using Statcast's Barrels per Plate Appearance stat, or Brls/PA %, we can narrow our view to the hitters who are the most locked in to begin the season.

Statcast's Brls/PA % works by dividing the total number of barrels by the number of plate appearances within the given period. The higher the Brls/PA %, the more often the hitter makes ideal contact with the baseball. We will also examine other stats, but the Brls/PA % will be the main focus of this piece.

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Brls/PA % Leaders

Notable Players

Juan Soto leads the way with the highest average exit velocity on the Top-25 leaderboard this week. The southpaw has one of the most valuable bats in baseball right now, and his Statcast page backs up what we've seen on the field so far.

Soto ranks in the 99th percentile for xwOBA, average exit velocity, barrel rate, hard-hit rate, chase rate, and walk rate. Across the board, the Yankees slugger is doing everything right. It's hard to imagine anyone having a better Statcast page, especially with 69 BBE recorded. Soto is proving that he's worth every penny the Yankees offered him.

Ryan O'Hearn is doing a good job proving his place in the Baltimore Orioles high-powered offense. The Orioles first baseman is batting .268 with four homes and 11 runs scored, but his advanced metrics show he should be doing even better. Last season, O'Hearn finished the year with a .289 batting average while sporting a .260 xBA and 22.3% strikeout rate. O'Hearn demonstrated his power with a 91.9 mph average exit velocity in 2023. The slugger has kept that power and improved elsewhere.

O'Hearn has a 93.4 mph average exit velocity in 2024 while slashing his strikeout rate down to 10.5%. This season, the towering first baseman is also in the 100th percentile for xwOBA, xBA, and xSLG through 61 plate appearances. The advanced metrics show O'Hearn has been one of the best hitters this season based on his quality of contact, earning a .380 xBA and .806 xSLG. O'Hearn is still not universally rostered and now may be the only time you can get him before his actual stats catch up to his advanced metrics.

Angels superstar and three-time AL MVP award winner Mike Trout has found himself on the leaderboard for the first time this season. The 32-year-old is having a resurgent season despite what his lower-than-usual batting average might suggest. Trout is batting .244 this season, which would be his lowest mark since his rookie season if that were to hold, but he also has the second-most home runs in the majors.

8 HOMERS FOR MIKE TROUT THIS SEASON 🤯 pic.twitter.com/SKtfBmiMGX

— DraftKings (@DraftKings) April 17, 2024

Trout has also stolen five bases so far this season to go along with the power. The Angels star had only stolen five bases in the past three seasons combined. If this combination of power and speed continues, Trout could be one of the biggest draft-day steals this season. Trout's .284 xBA suggests better days are ahead regarding batting average, but fantasy managers should be very excited about his production.

Riley Adams finds himself at number 11 on our Top-25 leaderboard this week. The Washington Nationals catcher is batting .293 with a .863 OPS, and two home runs through 46 plate appearances. Adams is making ideal contact often this season, as shown by his 97th-percentile barrel rate. Despite his hot start, the Nationals catcher has shown significant holes in his game. Adams has a 28.6% strikeout rate, 30.7% whiff rate, and 33.8% chase rate.

The 27-year-old has been an aggressive hitter to begin the season, but that aggression may come back to bite him if his eye at the plate does not improve. Adams recorded strikeout rates of over 28% each of the past three seasons, which can lead to prolonged cold stretches. In 2023, the Nationals catcher hit .273 in 158 plate appearances. In 2022, Adams hit .176 in 155 plate appearances. Adams' approach at the dish lends itself to more volatility, which makes him a difficult player to trust in fantasy.

The last hitter I want to highlight is Nolan Arenado. The Cardinals third baseman has not been bad to begin the year, batting .291 through his first 95 plate appearances, but the advanced metrics tell a more discouraging story. The 33-year-old has the lowest barrel rate of his career this season by a wide margin. Arenado has 74 batted balls this year, and only one of those batted balls produced a barrel.

Arenado also has career-lows in average exit velocity, max exit velocity, xSLG, xwOBA, hard-hit rate, and walk rate this season. It is still very early in the year, and things could change in a hurry, but the signs do not look great for the veteran hitter. Arenado managers should consider moving him while his value is still buoyed by name value and a decent batting average.

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