Brendan Donovan

Brendan Donovan

27-Year-Old Second Baseman2B
St. Louis Cardinals
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Donovan worked last offseason on tweaking his setup at the plate, standing more upright while attempting to pull the ball in the air more often. It seemed to mostly work, as he upped his flyball rate from 23.6 percent to 30.3 percent and his pull rate from 35.5 percent to 41.3 percent. The result was Donovan more than doubling his home run total, but unfortunately he played only 95 games before needing season-ending flexor tendon surgery. The new, more aggressive approach meant fewer walks for Donovan, but because he remained elite at making contact and also hit the ball harder, he boasted an xBA in the 91st percentile. Donovan is expected to recover from elbow surgery in time for Opening Day and seems like a good bet to hit either first or second in the Cardinals' lineup. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#278
ADP
$Signed a one-year contract with the Cardinals in March of 2024.
Homers in nightcap
2BSt. Louis Cardinals
July 21, 2024
Donovan went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI in a 9-5 win over Atlanta in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader.
ANALYSIS
Donovan was held hitless in the matinee, just the fourth time in 15 games in July that's happened. He bounced back in the nightcap, hitting a solo shot in the fifth inning and adding a two-run single in the ninth. The 27-year-old is batting .328 in July, and he's up to .275 for the year with a .757 OPS, nine homers, 48 RBI, 44 runs scored, 22 doubles, one triple and three stolen bases over 93 games.
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Batting Stats
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2024
2023
2022
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2023 MLB Game Log
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2022 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
41
4
14
10
3
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
7
1
8
4
3
1
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+19%
OPS vs RHP
2024
 
 
+15%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
+46%
OPS vs RHP
2022
 
 
+4%
OPS vs RHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .666 259 28 0 18 1 .259 .349 .317
Since 2022vs Right .790 1002 128 25 109 9 .282 .370 .420
2024vs Left .663 119 12 0 9 0 .259 .311 .352
2024vs Right .764 303 32 9 39 3 .269 .343 .421
2023vs Left .570 63 5 0 1 0 .236 .333 .236
2023vs Right .831 308 43 11 33 5 .294 .371 .460
2022vs Left .749 77 11 0 8 1 .279 .421 .328
2022vs Right .777 391 53 5 37 1 .282 .389 .388
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Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+18%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+10%
OPS at Home
2023
 
 
+7%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+36%
OPS at Home
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .830 620 92 15 71 5 .295 .382 .448
Since 2022Away .702 641 64 10 56 5 .260 .349 .353
2024Home .771 200 22 5 24 3 .276 .340 .431
2024Away .703 222 22 4 24 0 .258 .329 .374
2023Home .813 191 27 7 22 2 .275 .358 .455
2023Away .760 180 21 4 12 3 .294 .372 .388
2022Home .896 229 43 3 25 0 .330 .439 .457
2022Away .657 239 21 2 20 2 .236 .351 .305
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Stat Review
How does Brendan Donovan compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.56
 
BB Rate
7.1%
 
K Rate
12.8%
 
BABIP
.288
 
ISO
.135
 
AVG
.266
 
OBP
.334
 
SLG
.401
 
OPS
.735
 
wOBA
.326
 
Exit Velocity
88.8 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
30.5%
 
Barrels/PA
4.0%
 
Expected BA
.275
 
Expected SLG
.423
 
Sprint Speed
23.4 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
42.8%
 
Line Drive %
21.2%
 
Fly Ball %
36.0%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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2023 Fantasy Outlook
Donovan made his big-league debut for the Cardinals in late April and had a solid rookie campaign with a .281/.394/.379 slash line in 126 games. He hit only five home runs with 45 RBI and 64 runs, and the lack of power is consistent from his time in the minors, where he topped out at 12 long balls in a single season. He showed impressive plate discipline, especially for a rookie, and had a 13.3 percent walk rate and 15 percent strikeout rate. Unless the Cardinals add a shortstop in free agency, Tommy Edman should work there in 2023, which should keep the keystone open for Donovan, who won a Gold Glove as a utility player last year. The young infielder played in at least seven games at six different positions, and his versatility should help him retain a regular spot in the lineup, especially if he can replicate his average and on-base figures.
More Fantasy News
Three hits, steal in loss
2BSt. Louis Cardinals
July 14, 2024
Donovan went 3-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored in Sunday's 8-3 loss to the Cubs.
ANALYSIS
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On base four times in win
2BSt. Louis Cardinals
July 2, 2024
Donovan went 3-for-4 with a walk, one RBI and one run scored in Tuesday's 7-4 win over the Pirates.
ANALYSIS
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Nabs second steal
2BSt. Louis Cardinals
June 26, 2024
Donovan went 2-for-4 with one RBI and one stolen base in a 4-1 win over Atlanta in Game 2 of Wednesday's doubleheader.
ANALYSIS
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Racks up three hits in win
2BSt. Louis Cardinals
June 25, 2024
Donovan went 3-for-4 with one RBI in Monday's 4-3 win over Atlanta.
ANALYSIS
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Homers again in win
2BSt. Louis Cardinals
June 22, 2024
Donovan went 2-for-4 with a solo home run in a 9-4 win over the Giants on Saturday.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Yankees could pursue
2BSt. Louis Cardinals
November 9, 2023
The Yankees "see the Cardinals as a fit for trade talks involving Alec Burleson or Donovan," Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
ANALYSIS
Donovan is working his way back from flexor tendon surgery but is expected to be ready in time for the start of spring training. The 26-year-old super utility player has batted .283/.381/.398 across 839 plate appearances at the major-league level. He would fill the Yankees' desire to add a left-handed bat and is capable of playing all over the field.
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