Yoenis Cespedes
Yoenis Cespedes had his career year in 2015, smashing a ridiculous .291/.328/.542. He even hammered in 105 RBIs and 35 home runs. He finished 13th in NL MVP voting and even won an AL Gold Glove. He had his best year in all but one of his major offensive stats in 2015. But, the one stat that really matters is the number of strikeouts he had.
His strikeout totals rise every year. Despite a ridiculous campaign in 2015, they still increased from 128 to 141. When a player has a year like Cespedes in 2015, the strikeout number is not a huge deal. But, Cespedes rose way above his career numbers for this season. He is a career .271/.319/.486 hitter. He is the definition of a hit or miss player. Granted Cespedes will bring loads of power and stealthy speed to any ball club, he will still give you a large amount of strikeouts.
Yoenis can not be expected to perform to such a high caliber level for yet another year, especially after playing all the way through October and even a few days into November. His offseason was shortened dramatically, thus giving other players much more time to bounce back and perform at their peak level. Cespedes will be playing on fatigue at the middle part of the season because he simply will not have enough time to rest his body. Most players get at least an extra month to let their body catch up with them. Being an outfielder makes it even harder because of making plays where you have to put your body on the line and crash into the wall to make a play.
When all is said and done, the majority of Cespedes’ numbers will regress back to his career averages. But, his strikeout rate will certainly climb again, leading to more discussion about whether he should be traded.