Bryan LaHair: Fantasy All-Star?
Bryan LaHair is an All-Star. At a time where his fantasy value has taken a hit, LaHair has made the NL All-Star team. LaHair got off to a great start, but he’s tailored off in the month of June. And with Anthony Rizzo now up, LaHair has been moved off his original position. His slash line of .284/.364/.526 is solid, but it doesn’t tell the entire story. Even though he’s losing value in fantasy leagues, LaHair still has value.
LaHair may have lost his spot to a Rizzo, but he’s still received consistent playing time. Since Rizzo has been up, LaHair has played outfield for the Chicago Cubs. He’s already played seven games out there, and should continue playing the outfield. If he hasn’t received eligibility in your league yet, he will soon.
And he should be more valuable once he is outfield-eligible. There are a ton of great options at first base in fantasy leagues. Outside of your normal first basemen like Joey Votto, Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder; there are also guys that sporadically play the position, but are eligible there, like Joe Mauer and Buster Posey. Moving to the outfield doesn’t increase LaHair’s value a ton, since it’s also relatively easy to grab effective players there, but it’s a slight upgrade over first base. Plus, his flexibility will give you options when your players have off days or injuries strike.
The other thing killed LaHair’s value is the fact that he’s useless against lefties. And while that seems like somewhat of a death sentence in fantasy leagues, it’s not that big a deal. Matt Joyce is another player who crushes righties, but has struggled against lefties throughout his career. Before Joyce was injured, he was one of the better fantasy outfielders this season. Having extreme splits is a concern, but these types of players can have value if they hit well enough against opposite-handed pitchers.
Thankfully, LaHair fits the bill.
| Bryan LaHair | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Against Lefties | .079 | .186 | .159 | .169 | -8 |
| Against Righties | .329 | .403 | .607 | .414 | 166 |
LaHair’s .329/.403/.607 line against righties is definitely all-star worthy. He absolutely crushes right-handed pitching. He’s even been better than Joyce, who has hit .287/.394/.559 against righties this year. If Joyce was on pace to be a useful fantasy option, LaHair should be able to provide similar value.
LaHair should never be used against a lefty, however. You’re better off picking up a player off the waiver wire than you would be starting LaHair. The Cubs realize that, and will likely sit him when they face left-handed pitchers. Thankfully, there are far fewer left-handed starters than right-handers. So, LaHair should still get pretty consistent playing time. In leagues where rosters can be changed daily, you’ll never have to worry about LaHair going up against a lefty. While his playing time is a bit more of a concern in weekly leagues, a little planning should give you an idea of how many games you’ll get out of LaHair in a given week.
The nice thing about players that show large splits is that they typically aren’t valued highly in fantasy leagues. Owners are leery of players with big weaknesses, and often ignore the value in these types of guys. Because of that, LaHair still has value in fantasy leagues. If you can pair him with another cheap player who has a big split, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to mix-and-match your roster when one of those guys has a less-than-optimal matchup. Even though his situation isn’t perfect, you shouldn’t give up on Bryan LaHair just yet.
tailed off, not tailored.
Nice post, I picked him up last week after an impatient owner dropped him and will be platooning him in my flex OF spot from here on out.
However, I’d like to see his monthly splits against righties and lefties to see if he’s hitting righties right now as well as he was earlier in the season. His numbers still look great against them but without seeing the numbers its tough to tell how his splits have been once the league has had a chance to adjust to him throughout the course of the first half of the season.
Does anybody know righty/lefty splits per month can be found?
His righty splits have tailed off after his massive April as well, as around the middle of May he has basically been a strict platoon player and has maybe like 10 AB’s vs lefties since then.
Make no mistake, LaHair has not been great the past two months… but he also hasn’t been completely horrible (~.750 OPS). Given the Cubs situation, I actually think he will see more playing time against lefties in the coming months, and may benefit from the more consistent playing time. His lefty splits will almost assuredly increase from the ridiculously low .169 wOBA they are showing right now. His BABIP against lefties this year is .125. That figures to come up a bit.
I wouldn’t consider it a given that he’ll get more playing time against lefties this year. With Rizzo in the lineup, who (in very limited sample size) actually can hit lefties, there’s much more flexibility to keep him out.
I understand your point, the cubs should use this time to develop as much as they can for the future, which means giving Lahair as much experience as possible against lefties, but if they haven’t done it yet I don’t see why they’d start now. He’s almost 30, there’s probably good reason to just think he is who he is at this point.
The reason I think LaHair will get more starts vs. lefties in the upcoming months is that I think the Cubs can extract more value from him via trade in the next year or two if he can prove to be a full-time guy rather than being labeled a strict platoon guy. They will be selective about who he starts against, but against weaker lefties I think he gets his cuts in. Additionaly, if LaHair can bust out of his current struggles overall, they will be much more likely to start him regardless of the handedness of the pitcher. It’s of course not a given, but certainly a possibility, as he just made a start again lefty J.A. Happ a couple days ago.
I should also add that LaHair playing in the Cubs outfield is not blocking any of their youngsters from getting their chances. Even in September when Brett Jackson will likely be added to the expanded active roster the only guys he might be “stealing” playing time from are older vets that do not figure into the Cubs future nor do they have significant trade value (Reed Johnson, Jeff Baker, David DeJesus).
Lahair was amazing in April, average in May, and not good in June. There’s nothing to suggest that he’s seeing more lefties as the year goes along, as a matter of fact he’s already been limited against lefties pretty significantly, with only 43 PA in 32 games where he appears against a lefty.
To put that in perspective, his numbers against lefties can’t have more than a 20% impact on his overall numbers for the year. He’s riding a downhill slope from his awesomeness at the beginning of the year. He’s probably better than he was in June, but not nearly as good as he was in April. I’m sure he’s a useful option, but if you’re looking at his year to date totals you’re not getting the whole picture.
Was his L/R split in the minors this extreme? His major league sample set seems rather small to draw the strong conclusion that seems common knowledge at this point… Obviously, the Cubs must know – just wondering though
His career minor league splits show very bad results against lefties, but his 2011 had him hitting them at an .850 OPS or thereabouts over the course of the season… though his 1.150 OPS or whatever against righties over the same sample shows that he definitely hits righties better.
He is obviously worse against lefties than he is against righties, but he’s almost certainly not .169 wOBA bad over a larger sample size.