Brandon Drury, Toronto Blue Jays
While the current infield alignment can be shifted at any moment, Brandon Drury is in a tough spot for Toronto. Roster Resource currently has him pegged to play third base, which is the position top prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. also plays. While Vlad Jr.’s glove may keep him at designated hitter more than he’d like, his eventual promotion will surely impact the playing time for a number of Toronto’s infielders.
The 2018 season didn’t go at all how Drury was hoping it would. After the New York Yankees acquired him, he was anticipated to at the very least, keep some spots on the field warm for Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres. Severe migraines landed him on the injured list about a week into the season, and when he was ready to come back a month later, the Yankees actually left him in Triple-A.
Drury eventually got traded to the Blue Jays, but his fresh start only lasted a couple weeks before fracturing his hand. His season in the big leagues ended with just 86 plate appearances to go along with an uninspiring .169/.256/.260 triple slash and 44 wRC+.
This is far too few plate appearances to draw real conclusions from, but it’s not hard to see where he needs to improve. While his ground-ball rate continued decreasing (42.1%), he’ll need to amp up his 26.3% hard-hit rate to take full advantage.
Just making more contact in general would be helpful, too. After posting an 82.1% contact rate as a rookie in 2015, that number has dropped each year, currently bottoming out at least season’s 71.4% clip.
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