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ANALYSIS: Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Josh Bell has been a bag of mixed emotions this year. 2018 has not been what fantasy owners had expected, particularly following a 2017 season in which he hit 26 homers with 90 RBI. The outlook is trending up though even with only 11 homers this year. In 70 fewer at-bats, Bell has already hit 31 doubles, compared to 26 in all of 2017. Bell never demonstrated elite power in the minors but the expectations were that it would improve, given his very good hitting ability. In the second half, he has a slash line of .291/.400/.480 and slightly improved his fly ball rate (34%) and greatly raised his hard-hit rate (44%).
Bell will have a full schedule on the road this week against the Cubs and Reds. He will face off against four left-handed pitchers and three righties this week. Bell is a switch-hitter and while he isn’t terrible against left-handed pitchers (.264), he is better against righties (.272).
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