Isiah Kiner-Falefa

28-Year-Old ShortstopSS

New York Yankees

2023 Stats

AVG

.244

RBI

Rest-of-Season Projections

AVG

RBI

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2023 Fantasy Outlook

Kiner-Falefa went from the Rangers to the Twins to the Yankees last winter, and his first season in New York went more or less as expected. He provided a strong glove at shortstop and had a .261/.314/.327 slash line with four home runs and 22 steals in 142 games. His already limited power took a step back with a .066 ISO as he had just 24 extra-base hits. Kiner-Falefa has reached double-digit steals in back-to-back seasons and has a solid .267 average during that stretch, but his 5.2 percent walk rate and minimal power severely limit his potential. His 86.2-mph exit velocity and measly 1.2 percent barrel rate were among the worst in the league for qualified hitters. The light-hitting shortstop remained with the Yankees on a one-year, $6 million deal to avoid arbitration, but he seems unlikely to be the everyday starter again in 2023 with Oswald Peraza and Oswaldo Cabrera pushing for playing time. Kiner-Falefa's fantasy utility is mostly limited to steals, so his limited value will plummet even further if he's not consistently in the lineup. Read Past Outlooks

RANKSFrom Preseason

#519

ADP

Overall

League Majors

Bats R

Throws R

40 Man Yes

Height 5'11"

Weight 190

DOB 3/23/1995

Born Honolulu, HI

College None

Drafted 4th Rd 2013 TEX

Sitting in second straight

SSNew York Yankees

August 23, 2023

Kiner-Falefa is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Nationals.

ANALYSIS
Kiner-Falefa had been receiving fairly steady playing time at third base over the past two weeks, but he looks like he'll fade into more of a utility role moving forward after the Yankees called up infield prospect Oswald Peraza from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday. Peraza will draw a second straight start at third base Wednesday while Kiner-Falefa remains on the bench.

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Batting Stats

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2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

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2022 MLB Game Log

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2021 MLB Game Log

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2020 MLB Game Log

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2018 MLB Game Log

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Batting Order Slot Breakdown

vs Right-Handed Pitchers

vs RHP

vs Left-Handed Pitchers

vs LHP

Left/Right Batting Splits

Since 2021

+8%

OPS vs RHP

2023

+4%

OPS vs RHP

2022

+9%

OPS vs LHP

2021

+23%

OPS vs RHP

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2021vs Left	.620	427	48	3	30	6	.241	.308	.312
Since 2021vs Right	.670	1132	131	15	106	49	.269	.314	.356
2023vs Left	.634	89	13	1	7	4	.230	.337	.297
2023vs Right	.658	262	26	5	28	9	.248	.299	.360
2022vs Left	.683	124	15	0	11	1	.264	.352	.330
2022vs Right	.629	407	51	4	37	21	.260	.303	.326
2021vs Left	.578	214	20	2	12	1	.233	.271	.307
2021vs Right	.712	463	54	6	41	19	.289	.331	.381
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Home/Away Batting Splits

Since 2021

+2%

OPS on Road

2023

+2%

OPS on Road

2022

+2%

OPS on Road

2021

+1%

OPS on Road

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2021Home	.651	748	85	11	65	24	.255	.300	.352
Since 2021Away	.661	811	94	7	71	31	.268	.323	.338
2023Home	.645	157	19	3	12	6	.238	.288	.357
2023Away	.660	194	20	3	23	7	.249	.325	.335
2022Home	.636	261	32	2	27	9	.260	.301	.335
2022Away	.647	270	34	2	21	13	.261	.327	.320
2021Home	.666	330	34	6	26	9	.259	.304	.362
2021Away	.673	347	40	2	27	11	.282	.320	.353
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Stat Review

How does Isiah Kiner-Falefa 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

0.42

BB Rate

8.0%

K Rate

18.8%

BABIP

.287

ISO

.101

AVG

.244

OBP

.309

SLG

.345

OPS

.654

wOBA

.293

Exit Velocity

88.6 mph

Hard Hit Rate

27.2%

Barrels/PA

2.3%

Expected BA

.249

Expected SLG

.341

Sprint Speed

24.5 ft/sec

Ground Ball %

49.4%

Line Drive %

24.5%

Fly Ball %

26.1%

Advanced Batting Stats

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Additional Stats

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Defensive Stats

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Batted Ball Stats

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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers

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Past Fantasy Outlooks

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

Kiner-Falefa had value coming into the 2021 season with dual-eligibility and a high spot in the Texas lineup. Following a couple blockbuster pre-lockout signings, the Rangers opted to deal him to Minnesota along with a pitching prospect in exchange for Mitch Garver. The next day he was traded in a blockbuster deal to the Yankees. New York is likely to enter the season with Kiner-Falefa as the starting shortstop, largely due to his strong defense. With a career .316 OBP, he seems likely to hit at or near the bottom of the lineup, and he will need to hold his own on offense in order to keep the starting job all season. If can hold the job, Kiner-Falefa could be a source of double-digit steals with the nominal counting stats of a bottom-third of a lineup hitter.

Where did that come from? Kiner-Falefa finished 2019 as a backup catcher with bad offensive numbers, but came into 2020 as the starting third baseman, then was surprisingly good at the plate, even better in the field and earned a Gold Glove for his performance. He made some changes to his swing mechanics and closed some holes that were in his swing in 2019, allowing him to hit for a higher average to reach base more frequently. While on base, he stole a career high eight bases, although he was caught five times. The change in swing mechanics did not translate into any more over-the-fence power, but the new home ballpark was tough on everyone in 2020. Kiner-Falefa has lost his catcher eligibility, but he is now eligible at both positions on the left side of the infield, and that flexibility is the top selling point because another statistical level is not apparent as much as a potential step backward is.

A catcher-eligible player who plays elsewhere is usually highly sought after in fantasy baseball, but the player has to be able to hit for it to matter. Kiner-Falefa retains C-eligibility heading into 2020, but unfortunately, it seems we can safely conclude that Kiner-Falefa cannot hit. His K-rate shot up more than six percentage points, from 15.7% to 22.1%, while his wOBA dipped more than 30 points. He only barreled up two balls all year -- by Statcast's definition of a "barrel" -- and on account of that, Statcast says he overachieved to a significant extent with a .238 BA. Kiner-Falefa logged 22 starts at third base over the final two months of 2019, but he was pretty much unusable, even in deep two-catcher leagues. While the Rangers seem to like Kiner-Falefa's intangibles, he's a utility man at best and will likely see a downgrade in park factors in 2020 with the move to Globe Life Field.

Kiner-Falefa got the call to Texas as an injury replacement in mid-April and surprisingly stuck around for the remainder of the season. His approach survived the transition to the major leagues, as the 23-year-old took walks at close to an average clip while putting bat to ball with good consistency (15.7% strikeout rate). Unfortunately, he didn't drive the ball with much authority when he made contact -- 29.3% hard-hit rate, .096 ISO. He hit the ball into the ground a lot (51.2%) and that combined with only modest speed resulted in 14 GDPs in 396 plate appearances. After Elvis Andrus returned from injury, the Rangers chose to transition Kiner-Falefa to a catching role rather than send him back to the minors, which was surprising given his limited experience behind the plate in the minors. It spoke to how highly the team thinks of Kiner-Falefa. That said, he's not a starting-caliber player in real life, and is an unexciting second catcher in 15-team leagues.

Injuries have opened the door for Kiner-Falefa, a fourth-round pick out of Mid Pacific Institute High School in 2013. He is expected to play regularly at second base while Rougned Odor is out with a hamstring injury, but Kiner-Falefa has not displayed mixed-league-worthy skills in the minor leagues. The 23-year-old's batting eye is respectable -- he had a 7.2 percent walk rate and 12.6 percent strikeout rate in 570 plate appearances at the Double-A level in 2017 -- but there is a total absence of power with Kiner-Falefa. His career-high ISO on the farm is .101, a number buoyed by the favorable conditions in Frisco (the most hitter-friendly park in the Texas League). He had just a .368 SLG on the road that year and his ISO has not exceeded .064 at any other stop. Further, while Kiner-Falefa ran some last season, totaling 17 stolen bases, he hasn't been efficient as a base stealer in the minors (51-for-77) and he will likely be stuck at the bottom of the order when he's playing for Texas.

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