Adeiny Hechavarria

The Marlins flipped Hechavarria to the Rays in late June, after he missed a significant portion of the first three months with an oblique injury. After the trade, he showed more power than usual, swatting seven homers over his final 281 plate appearances, and finishing a season with a slugging percentage above .400 for the first time in five full big-league seasons. The pop came at the expense of a higher strikeout rate, as Hechavarria whiffed 20.6 percent of the time after the move to the Rays, and his .289 OBP for the season remained right in line with his career .291 mark. Most of his value comes from his ability as an excellent defender at shortstop, which will continue to lead him to a high volume of plate appearances. As an everyday player, he's useful for AL-only formats despite the lack of a double-digit steals season since 2013, but his value to the Rays and to fantasy owners comes from the boost he'll provide to the pitchers in Tampa Bay.

Hechavarria took a step backwards in 2016, hitting .236/.283/.311 in 508 at-bats as the Marlins everyday shortstop. He hit just three home runs and stole only one base to go along with 52 runs and 38 RBI. While Hechavarria has never had any power, he used to run at least a little and swiped 11 bags for the Marlins in 2013. His calling cards in the past have been contact hitting and defense, and unfortunately for fantasy owners, defense doesn't count. He hit .281 as an everyday player in 2015 and it is certainly possible his batting average could rebound in 2017, but there's no reason to invest in most fantasy formats given the lack of speed and power. The Marlins are rumored to be shopping him this offseason, though it's hard to imagine they'd get much in return after his miserable 2016. His glove should keep him in an everyday role for now, but Miami will be seriously looking to upgrade that position going forward.

Hechavarria has one of the worst power tools in the major leagues, but it looks like he is starting to make the most of his contact heavy game in Miami. The Cuban slashed .281/.315/.374 in 130 games and set career highs in all three categories. He also set a career high with five home runs after hitting four home runs in 294 games in 2013 and 2014 combined. Hechavarria has yet to post an ISO above .100 with Miami; among hitters with 1,500 plate appearances over the past three seasons, only Ben Revere, Alcides Escobar and Elvis Andrus have a lower ISO than Hechavarria's .081. Unlike those three, Hechavarria isn't stealing bases – he has just 25 steals over the past three seasons, and his single-season high is 11. Without the steals, his empty average doesn't do much for fantasy owners, particularly in a mediocre Marlins lineup.

A whiz with the glove, Hechavarria continues to provide the Marlins with steady defense at shortstop behind their young and talented rotation. His offensive contributions are limited, however, and Hechavarria’s .276/.308/.356 line over 536 at-bats in 2014 is likely the best you can hope for from the slight shortstop. He offers little power, serving up just 21 extra-base hits in 148 games, and is ineffective on the basepaths, getting caught five times in 12 chances last season. Hechavarria boasts a strong 83.8% contact rate, so he’s capable of chipping in a reasonable batting average when benefited by a high BABIP (.327 in 2014), but a lack of punch continually limits his impact at the dish. Turning 26 in April, Hechavarria will need to continue to trim his strikeout rate, find a way to draw walks more frequently, and improve his efficiency on the basepaths to offer much offensive appeal.

The slick-fielding shortstop put together some sporadic outbursts of offensive juice in his first full season in the majors, but is clearly more of an asset on the defensive side of the game. Hechavarria offers very little at the dish, slashing at a poor .227/.267/.298 rate last year with little power to speak of. He attempted 21 steals last season -- a healthy total -- but converted just 52 percent of those chances while being gunned down 10 times. At his best when simply putting the bat on the ball, Hechavarria's value will be heavily driven by his BABIP and his ability to utilize his modest speed efficiently on the basepaths.

Considered an elite defender at shortstop, Hechavarria put up an impressive batting line in Triple-A (.312/.363/.424) with help from the hitter-friendly PCL. When he was called up to the Blue Jays in August, his glove showed promise but it became obvious his bat needed work. Hechavarria was traded to Miami in the offseason and he'll likely win the starting shortstop job with his defensive upside, but he'll need to improve upon his sub-.300 OBP over his first 126 at-bats to stay in the lineup.

Hechavarria struggled to start the season at Double-A New Hampshire (.235/.275/.347) but got promoted anyway and responded with a solid end to the season at Triple-A Las Vegas (.389/.431/.537 in 25 games). He still needs to work on controlling the strike zone but that's not entirely unexpected from the 22-year-old Cuban. There were whispers that he could be available in a trade this winter, but for now he's ticketed to start the season at Triple-A Las Vegas. It's too soon to write him off as a disappointment, and his defense almost ensures an opportunity for everyday duty at the big league level at some point down the road even if his bat doesn't develop.

The highly-touted Cuban signed a four-year, $10 million deal with the Jays last season and was thrust into the pitcher-friendly Florida State League. He struggled greatly, hitting just .193 with 25 strikeouts in 41 games. The Jays gambled with a promotion to Double-A, and Hechavarria responded by hitting .273/.305/.360 with six steals in 61 games. He still needs to work on controlling the strike zone, but it was a nice bounceback out of the 21-year-old. He's still awfully raw and figures to spend most of his time smoothing out the edges at Double-A this season.

Cuban defector who was the starting shortstop for the Cuban Junior team in 2007 World Junior Championship. Seen as one of the top younger prospects to defect from Cuba and will try to sign with a MLB club in 2010.