[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

Fine...I just have doubts. We will see very soon.

https://insidethecrown.substack.com/...drewbenintendi

Benintendi was the seventh overall pick in 2015 out of Arkansas and spent all of 151 games in the minors before debuting at 22 in August of the next season. He hit well, but retained rookie eligibility so he was the top prospect heading into the next season and had a commendable rookie year before breaking out in 2018, hitting .290/.366/.465 and playing a tough left field very well.

The beginning of his 2019 was rough. He kept fouling balls off his right leg. And the end was tough due to an oblique injury. But it took a brutal September to bring his numbers down that year. He was hitting .283/.357/.459 at the end of August and then proceeded to hit just .141/.243/.219 the last month. Of course, then he played in only 14 games in 2020 and hit .103/.314/.128. Yep, he had just four hits and only one extra base hit. So his last 35 games have been brutal.

It was another injury that plagued his 2020 season, a rib injury that ended his year on August 11, which was obviously just a couple weeks after the season started in the 60-game schedule. So what does this all mean for him going forward?

To me, the biggest thing is that if he’s healthy, there’s very little reason to assume he’s anything but the guy who hit .282/.358/.451 before the oblique injury derailed his 2019 season. Is there a reason to assume he’ll stay healthy? Well no, obviously not, but before the injury, he found himself getting better and better contact every season. His barrel rate was improving as was his hard hit rate and his xSLG was rising every season.