San Diego has a versatile asset that could be a double-digit homer and steals guy. Yes, I’m talking about Jake Cronenworth! Ha! You thought I was talking about that Fernando Tatis Jr. guy! He can, too, but I’m talking about Cronenworth! The 27-year-old can play practically all across the infield, and can hold his own roaming the outfield. In a regular role in 2020, he slashed .285/.354/.477 with four home runs and three stolen bases across 54 games. Cronenworth proved in the shortened 2020 campaign that he can be a valuable fantasy asset, but the Padres have added some talent that likely puts Cronenworth on the outside looking in.
In 2020, the left-handed hitting Cronenworth displayed an impressive batted ball profile, highlighted by solid plate discipline and an excellent contact rate. Amongst qualified hitters in 2020, here’s where the San Diego utility guy ranked:
Statistic | Cronenworth | League Rank |
O-Swing% | 22.4% | 14th |
Z-Contact% | 91.9% | 14th |
Contact% | 85.3% | 14th |
SwStr% | 5.8% | 8th |
K% | 15.6% | 26th |
Courtesy of FanGraphs
His Statcast profile was rather impressive in 2020. His average exit velocity and hard hit rate in the 66th and 68th percentile respectively were quality, but some of the other metrics really jump off the page.
Courtesy of Baseball Savant
First, holy expected batting average! The 98th percentile, are you kidding me!? His .321 xBA put him in the 98th percentile, and that’s incredible. Actually, holy expected statistics! Cronenworth’s xSLG put him in the 91st percentile, and his xWOBA placed him in the 94th percentile. All of his expected statistics were quite exceptional in 2020, and actually placed him in rather elite company.
There were just nine players in 2020 who ranked in the 90th percentile or better in each of the following four categories: xwOBA, xBA, xSLG and xOBP.
Player Name | xwOBA | xBA | xSLG | xOBP |
100 | 99 | 100 | 100 | |
100 | 100 | 99 | 100 | |
99 | 96 | 99 | 99 | |
99 | 98 | 98 | 98 | |
96 | 92 | 92 | 97 | |
95 | 93 | 93 | 95 | |
94 | 98 | 91 | 94 | |
97 | 93 | 97 | 93 | |
96 | 90 | 94 | 92 |
Courtesy of Baseball Savant
Furthermore, only Cronenworth and his teammate Fernando Tatis Jr. , ranked in the 90th percentile of all of the aforementioned statistics, and sprint speed (Tatis 98th percentile, Cronenworth 92nd percentile). Cronenworth is an interesting choice for speed, too, because he’s obviously fast, but he only attempted four stolen bases in 2020. However, he posted a 79.5% success rate (35-for-44) at Double- and Triple-A combined. With regular time, he should run more in 2021, and notch a total in the double-digits.
“With regular time.” That’s the issue for 2021 with Cronenworth. The only infield spot that’s really open is the second base spot, and it essentially comes down to Cronenworth, Jurickson Profar and offseason acquisition Ha-seong Kim. The latter was dominant in the KBO, and offers much higher power potential than the other two. Of course, there could be some issues transitioning to America and Major League Baseball. Profar is a versatile chess piece, like Cronenworth, who can play just about anywhere across the infield and outfield.
The hardest part about rostering Croenworth for the 2021 fantasy baseball season is that he doesn’t have a guaranteed spot. He boasts an elite contact profile and hardly strikes out, but he needs volume to accrue his statistics, and that’s far from a guarantee. Fortunately, he hits righties (.316 average in 2020) better than southpaws (.218 average in 2020), so he could see a larger share of a potential platoon, if that’s a route San Diego takes, but it ultimately appears that he’ll need some slow starts or an injury to guarantee consistent time in the talented San Diego lineup.
As mentioned earlier, he boasts a surprisingly good Statcast profile, and offers multi-positional eligibility. Regular playing time is far from a guarantee to begin the year, and his current average draft position of 192.96, per NFBC data, is a bit rich for one of a couple super-utility guys on San Diego’s roster. Fortunately, he is slipping in drafts, so you can likely get him closer to pick 220, which helps your potential return on investment. In a full time role over the course of the 2021 season, I could see him hitting double-digit home runs and swiping at least 10 bags with a decent batting average.
Statistical Credits:
fangraphs.com
baseballsavant.mlb.com
nfc.shgn.com/adp/baseball