1. Carlos Gomez – HOU
Once a near lock to go 20-20, the at times boisterous Carlos Gomez‘s words were often backed up by his play on the field. He saw his numbers taper down in 2015 between Milwaukee and Houston. It appears he’s still not used to life in the AL or playing home games at Minute Maid Park.
Gomez’s .516 OPS is being bested right now by guys like Marwin Gonzalez, Carlos Correa‘s backup at shortstop, and Luis Valbuena, a career .227 hitter. Making $9MM in 2016 with no option for 2017, there has to be a sense of urgency to do better for the 30-year-old.
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He’s driven in only two runs in 2016, is yet to go yard and is flirting with the Mendoza line after April, hitting only .213. Gomez has been day-to-day for the last little while with soreness in his ribcage. Outside of that, his BAbip is .309, which is misleading. Gomez’s K% has spiked to 28.9 this season, over six points higher than his career average of 22.6 percent. He’s also not getting the ball up, with a GB:FB ratio of 1.00, off from his lifetime norm of 0.74.