Austin Slater

Slater filled his usual platoon against southpaw role, but improved numbers against righthanders fueled a career-high number of plate appearances, albeit in fewer games than 2021 since Slater incurred a couple of shirt IL stints. His power dropped, commensurate with the hitting environment, but the rest of Slater's underlying metrics carried over from the prior season. With Mitch Haniger signed as a free agent, Slater is again destined for short side of the platoon work, spelling Joc Pederson and sometimes Mike Yastrzemski along with some time at designated hitter. Slater's ability to collect double-digit steals in a part-time capacity has some mixed league appeal, but more on a fill in basis when it is clear he'll be on the field frequently during that transaction period.

Slater helped propel the Giants to the playoff by filling the short side a platoon in the outfield. His double-digit home runs and stolen bases make it seems like he could benefit from more playing time. The deal is that an extreme platoon split will limit his upside. In his career (843 PA), he's struggled against righties (.633 OPS, .853 OPS against lefties). Those struggles didn't end in 2021 with a .894 OPS vs. LHP and just a .497 vs. RHP. Nothing in his profile points to his struggles against lefties going away. His fantasy value comes down to the league type. If the league allows daily moves, he can be started when there is a lefty on the mound, and benched the rest of the time. In a weekly league, he's waiver wire fodder, appealing primarily in those one or two weeks when the Giants are facing five or more lefties. Don't get sucked into doubling his 2021 season.

Groin and elbow issues limited Slater to just 31 games last season, but he was impressive when available, hitting .282/.408/.506 with five homers and eight steals. That's quite a big change from what the 28-year-old showed in his first three partial seasons, when he posted a .254/.335/.368 line in 176 contests, looking firmly like a fourth outfielder. His improvements may have come in a small sample, but they were backed up by strong peripherals, with his .305 xBA and .542 xSLG suggesting he may have even underachieved. His 14.1% barrel rate, 15.4 BB% and 21.2 K% were all career bests. A return to previous form wouldn't be a huge surprise given how brief his breakout was, but if he keeps making considerably more contact that he had in the past while hitting the ball harder than ever, he'll remain a capable everyday starter at minimum and a potential draft-day bargain.

Slater split time between the minor leagues -- where he hit .308 in 240 at-bats -- and the majors last season. With the Giants, he posted a .238 average and a modest five home runs in 192 plate appearances. Nonetheless, Slater showed some signs of being a capable big-league hitter. Most notably, his 11.5 BB% was well above league average, and his 45.0% hard-hit rate was a sizable jump over his previous two stints in the majors. Of course, hitting the ball hard is only relevant if a player is able to put the ball in play, and that has been a struggle for Slater throughout his time with San Francisco. He posted a 30.7 K% for the second consecutive season in 2019, dampening much of the progress he made at the plate. Slater's defensive versatility is an asset, but given his penchant for striking out and less-than-stellar production through 176 career big-league games, a roster spot for 2020 is not guaranteed.

Slater's sophomore season was largely a forgettable one, as he managed a mediocre.251/.333/.307 line in 74 big-league appearances. His strikeout rate jumped nearly eight percentage points to 30.7%, while his slugging percentage fell by 95 points. It took a .377 BABIP to get him up to his unimpressive batting line, which doesn't bode well for a player who is limited to first base and the outfield corners, defensively. Those who want to hold out optimism for the 26-year-old's future can point to his .319/.391/.513 line over parts of three seasons with Triple-A Sacramento, but he just hasn't been able to maintain anything close to that level of performance against big-league pitching. The rebuilding Giants should have plenty of playing time for players like Slater, so he'll likely be given another chance to prove himself at some point.

Slater didn't make a ton of noise in his 34-game debut, but he was perfectly adequate at the dish. After getting the callup on June 2, he hit .282 with a league-average 100 wRC+ in 127 plate appearances. A torn adductor muscle in his right hip cost Slater most of the second half. He returned late in September, but only made five appearances before landing back on the shelf with a sports hernia, which required surgery. Slater's control of the strike zone is a little shaky (22.8 percent strikeout rate last year, 6.3 percent walk rate), and his home park mitigates what power he has, but he's just 25 and should at least be afforded chances against lefties to begin 2018. He can play all three outfield positions and can even man the infield in a pinch. As a reserve in NL-only, Slater makes some sense, but he will need to show more and work himself in to a bigger role before he pops up on the mixed-league radar.