Yoan Moncada Ready To Break Out?
6 years agoChicago White Sox infielder Yoan Moncada, who was baseball's No. 1 prospect in 2016, hit .234/.321/.403 in 2017 and 2018 at the major league level with an average 99 OPS+. He also led baseball with 217 strikeouts last year. But he won't turn 24 until late May and hit .301/.369/.398 last September. He hit .358/.489/.642 in spring training and is slashing .319/.360/.617 in the first 11 games of the season. Of Moncada's 217 strikeouts in 2018, 85 of them were looking. He managed to hit .400 before a count got to two strikes, but he also hit just .110 when he had two strikes on him. Moncada has made a conscious effort to be more aggressive; he's swinging more inside the strike zone so far and is more aggressive on two-strike pitches on the edge. He has struck out 13 times so far this year, but not one of them has been looking. Moncada's 50 percent hard-hit rate to begin the season is currently tied with Javier Baez, J.D. Martinez and Miguel Cabrera. For those that were hoping for a breakout for Moncada in 2019, we might be seeing the start of it.
Source: MLB.com - Mike Petriello
Source: MLB.com - Mike Petriello