MLB Free Agency: Free Agents that Will Bounce Back in 2017
By Jason Reed
Every MLB off-season there are hidden gems within the free agency market. These hidden gems are players that will surely bounce back next season.
Every MLB off-season, there are always free agents that seem destined for disappointment. These free agents usually fail to put together a quality year the year prior, and diminish their own worth. However, these same players have the potential to change the tide the next season.
Recent history has plenty examples of players bouncing back after disappointing seasons. Mark Trumbo, the league leader in home runs, hit only 13 home runs in 96 games in 2015. Justin Turner, the hottest third baseman on the market, was a .290 hitter with only 8 home runs in five seasons before signing a minor league contract with Los Angeles. Since their signings, Trumbo led the league in home runs and Turner has batted .296 with 50 home runs in three seasons.
It is kind of challenging to predict exactly what players will bounce back. There is no proper way to predict these. Most of the time teams are taking a slight risk by having faith that a player can turn it around. Sometimes these signings work out, other times they serve as nothing more than experiments. Regardless, being able to properly pinpoint what struggling players can bounce back can be difficult. I could either be completely right, or terribly wrong.
So to make this list I had to look at the players past stats, and understand that in different scenery’s these players may thrive. Perhaps these players’ struggles were caused by their location, the ball park they are in, the talent of their division. On the other hand the player could have just had a season or two that was underwhelming, and a change of pace could ignite a new fire underneath them. Whatever the reason may be, which free agents will prove to be bounce back players in 2017?