Daniel Palka

After being outrighted by the Twins last offseason, Palka was scooped up by the White Sox and went on to tie the Yankees' Miguel Andujar for the most home runs among American League rookies. He logged 157 fewer plate appearances than Andujar. Palka slugged a ridiculous .657 in July and reached eight homers in two different months of the campaign. However, Palka is not without his warts. His power comes with quite a bit of swing and miss (34.1 K%), and he hit just .200/.277/.293 against same-handed pitching. He was rather pull-happy, posting a 45.5% pull rate. Further, Palka is not a good defender, so he won't have as much wiggle room to work through cold stretches at the plate. As a cheap source of power, Palka makes some sense, but his skill set is not particularly unique or valuable in today's game. Operate with the understanding that Palka could be off your roster by May.

Palka split 2016 between Double-A and Triple-A, showcasing impressive power potential at both stops. Prior to earning a promotion, he slashed .270/.348/.547 at Double-A while adding 21 home runs and driving in 42 runs. He continued to display power following his promotion to Triple-A. Palka hit 13 home runs in 223 plate appearances, giving him a total of 66 over the past two seasons. However, while his home run totals were a sign of encouragement, his strikeout numbers have been a cause of for concern. Palka posted a 38.6 K% at Rochester, by far the highest of his career and up nearly 10 percent from the number he produced in Double-A. However, if he can maintain his solid BB%, there is still reason to believe he can eventually provide value as a high-power, high-strikeout major league hitter. He will likely begin 2017 back at Triple-A but will have a chance at being called up to the big leagues if he performs well.

Palka raked at High-A Visalia last year, posting 29 home runs and 90 RBI in 129 games (576 plate appearances) while hitting a robust .280 with a .532 slugging percentage. Palka also swiped 24 bases in 31 attempts, and if he can continue to display this kind of power and speed, the 2013 third-round pick could make fantasy owners forget about the fact that he was slightly old for his level as a 23-year-old last year. He was traded from Arizona to Minnesota in the offseason, but he’s not close enough to the majors for that to affect his outlook. He sold out a little for power at High-A, posting a 28.5 percent K rate last year, up from 24.8 percent in 2014. Where Palka plays in the field will also be something worth watching. He primarily played in the outfield last year, but did start 37 games at first base—- his primary position in college at Georgia Tech.