3 years agoPittsburgh Pirates shortstop Kevin Newman went 0-for-5 with a strikeout and a run scored in a 4-2 loss to the Diamondbacks on Monday night. It seems that Newman left his bat behind in Spring Training this year, as he is slashing .208/.248/.268 over 87 games after hitting over .600 back in March. The frustrating part is that he's not striking out hardly at all. He's just suffering from weak contact. He currently sports a career-best 7.4 percent strikeout rank, as he ranks in the 100th percentile in strikeout rate and in the 98th percentile in whiff rate (11.7%). With a .242 xBA and .309 xSLG, it suggests that theoretically there is some room for improvement for Newman, however it's not enough to make him fantasy relevant even in deep formats.--Michael Grennell - RotoBaller
Source: MLB.com