Andrew Benintendi

In his first season with the Royals, Benintendi was fine, with his best trait being a .276 average. The batting average along with some home runs and stolen bases placed him in the "I guess" camp. Managers weren't excited about rostering or starting him, and that trend continues into 2022 draft season, understandably. Some underlying traits should have fantasy managers worried. In his prime, he was stealing over 20 bases a season, but last year he was just 8-for-17 on the bases and just 1-for-4 in the second half. His walk rate was a career-low 6.7%. He keeps pulling the ball more and more and teams are shifting him from around 60% in 2018 and 2019 to 83% last season. At least his Gold Glove will keep him in the field, so he'll continue to contribute some counting stats. There is just so little that could go right and so much that could go wrong that he doesn't seem like a player to count on.

Over a longer season, Benintendi may have been able to salvage some amount of respectability from his stat line, but there's still nothing good that can be said about his campaign. He appeared in just 14 games before being shut down with a rib injury, but he showed incredibly little in that tiny sample, hitting a miserable .103/.314/.128. Ordinarily, thinking much at all about just 14 games in which a player may have been battling an injury would be unwise, but those struggles fit disturbingly well into the overall arc of his career. 2019 had been his worse year to date, as his 13 homers, 10 steals and .266 average that year all represented full-season lows. Benintendi is entering his age-26 season, and he was quite highly touted as a prospect, but he has had just one year (2018) as a significantly above-average hitter. There's still upside here, but another year of mediocrity wouldn't be a surprise.

Players are supposed to take steps forward in their third full season, but Benny Biceps did not get that memo. Instead, he compiled his way to a league-average season, posting full-season lows nearly across the board. It should be noted that his overall offensive production was exactly league average despite it being a decline from his efforts in 2017 and 2018. As for causes, his strikeout rate jumped seven percentage points as pitchers were able to get him to swing and miss through pitches at a higher rate than in previous seasons, and many of those misses came within the strike zone. Pitchers would get ahead of him early with first-pitch strikes, and get him in protection mode which forced more guessing and strike zone expansion to protect the edges. He was particularly awful against offspeed stuff. The league has adjusted to him; now it is Benintendi's turn to adjust to stop the statistical backslide.

What do you call a player who is above average across the board but doesn't excel in any one area? His teammates call him Beni. Benintendi fell four homers short of his second straight 20-20 season but increased his doubles by 15 along with powering six triples, resulting in a 41-point jump in SLG along with a 20-point ISO increase. Keying this surge was an improved handling of southpaws (.694 OPS as compared to a .622 mark the previous season). Batting second for most of the season, Benintendi eclipsed the century mark in runs for the first time in his young career. If there's a concern, it comes from Statcast as his exit velocity and barrel rate are pedestrian. However, a solid 82% contact rate keeps his batting average floor high while allowing him to take advantage of Fenway Park. Benintendi may still develop more power and continue to improve against LHP. Chasing that is a risk, but settling for a repeat of 2018 is reasonable.

Normally, a 20-20 inaugural season puts you in contention for Rookie of the Year honors, but when someone else shatters the first-year home run record, you fall short. Such is the case for Benintendi, one of only nine hitters to accomplish the aforementioned feat. Benintendi's impressive season occurred in spite of a weak showing versus southpaws. The lefty-swinging outfielder sported a meek .622 OPS in 112 at bats when saddled with the platoon disadvantage. That said, it's encouraging Benintendi's struggles weren't making contact, but hitting too many medium-speed grounders with a lefty on the hill. This should be correctable with an adjustment, baking in some upside to Benintendi's already impressive skill set versus righties. Also promising is the youngster walked at a greater clip against lefties. A power-speed combo doesn't come cheap, but considering Benintendi is likely to get better, while hitting in a productive spot in a lineup destined to improve from 2017, he's worth a high draft pick or an extra buck or two at the auction table.

Benintendi had a whirlwind year, from being drafted in the summer of 2015 to reaching the majors in the summer of 2016. The 22-year-old started the 2016 season at High-A Salem where he needed just 34 games before getting a bump up to Double-A Portland. He was challenged in the Eastern League, but eventually adjusted and raked to the tune of a .323/.389/.586 line over his final 50 games. That was just enough to convince the Red Sox to call him up to Boston to provide production out of left field, a new position for him. There were some shaky defensive moments out there, but he made all he plays. At the plate, 14 of his 31 hits went for extra bases and he got on base at a good clip, but struggled in a small sample against left-handed pitching (28 at-bats). There's still some work to do, but he has a good approach and, as the primary left fielder, will get plenty of chances to develop his bat.

Benintendi blossomed in his sophomore season at the University of Arkansas in 2015, leading the SEC in batting average (.380), home runs (20), on-base percentage (.489), slugging (.715) and walks (47) while becoming the first college baseball player to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in a season since 2009. Production like that is worthy of hardware and Benintendi received it, capturing the Golden Spikes award as the top amateur baseball player in the nation as well as the SEC Player of the Year. Then it got better. As a sophomore eligible draftee, he was drafted seventh-overall by the Red Sox and continued to dominate pitchers. Benintendi adjusted to wooden bats quite well, posting a .972 OPS with 11 homers while maintaining a good approach, walking 35 times compared to 24 strikeouts, in 54 games for short-season Lowell and Low-A Greenville. Talent evaluators believe he’s one of the closest 2015 draftees to the big leagues.