Yandy Diaz

31-Year-Old Third Baseman3B

Tampa Bay Rays

2023 Stats

AVG

.327

RBI

Rest-of-Season Projections

AVG

RBI

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2023 Fantasy Outlook

Would you believe Diaz fell just two runs shy of leading the Rays in runs scored last season? He finished one behind Arozarena despite nearly 100 fewer plate appearances because Kevin Cash rewarded Yandy's on-base skills by hitting him very high in the lineup when he was able to play. Diaz was one of just five players (min 500 PA) with more walks than strikeouts on the season and finished 90th percentile or better in 9 of the 12 offensive measures on StatCast. He sprays the ball to all fields and the plate and is just as likely to hit the ball the other way as he is to loft a mistake in over the fence. The groundball tendencies are never going away, but he hits the ball so hard that it sometimes works in his favor so that the ball skips through or the bouncing ball buys his lumbering body enough time to get down the line safely. His ability to hit for a high average is extremely dependent on his BABIP; if it slips below .300, his average falls precipitously. He is two years removed from free agency with the Rays, which likely means he is trade bait at some point in 2023 given their track record of moving assets on a similar timeline. Overall, he remains an above-average offensive talent but a change in scenery could move him from the top of the lineup to the bottom third of a deeper offensive lineup. Read Past Outlooks

RANKSFrom Preseason

#279

ADP

Overall

Dynasty

League Majors

Bats R

Throws R

40 Man Yes

Height 6'2"

Weight 215

DOB 8/8/1991

Born Sagua la Grande, Cuba

College None

Drafted 2013 CLE

Three hits in return

3BTampa Bay Rays

May 27, 2023

Diaz went 3-for-4 with a walk, a solo home run, two doubles, an additional run scored and an additional RBI in Friday's 9-3 victory over the Dodgers.

ANALYSIS
Diaz returned to the top of the lineup Friday after missing a few days while tending to a personal matter, and he picked up right where he left off. Across 17 games in May, Diaz is slashing .355/.459/.710 with five home runs, 13 RBI and 14 runs scored, and on the season, he boasts an impressive .333/.435/.635 slash line, which would all be career highs. The 31-year-old is also just two homers away from tying his career high of 14, which he set in 2019.

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Batting Stats

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2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2023 MLB Game Log

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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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2019 MLB Game Log

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2018 MLB Game Log

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Minor League 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

+6%

OPS vs LHP

2023

+9%

OPS vs RHP

2022

+12%

OPS vs LHP

2021

+18%

OPS vs LHP

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2021vs Left	.856	402	50	13	54	0	.291	.376	.480
Since 2021vs Right	.805	893	120	21	97	4	.280	.390	.416
2023vs Left	.970	39	5	4	13	0	.242	.333	.636
2023vs Right	1.058	157	32	8	17	0	.348	.452	.606
2022vs Left	.892	145	21	3	16	0	.310	.400	.492
2022vs Right	.800	413	50	6	41	3	.291	.402	.398
2021vs Left	.812	218	24	6	25	0	.288	.367	.445
2021vs Right	.690	323	38	7	39	1	.234	.344	.347
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Home/Away Batting Splits

Since 2021

+4%

OPS on Road

2023

+11%

OPS on Road

2022

+23%

OPS on Road

2021

+13%

OPS at Home

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2021Home	.806	642	82	16	71	2	.274	.388	.418
Since 2021Away	.836	653	88	18	80	2	.293	.383	.453
2023Home	1.000	119	21	7	17	0	.324	.412	.588
2023Away	1.105	77	16	5	13	0	.333	.455	.651
2022Home	.734	259	32	4	21	2	.252	.378	.355
2022Away	.900	299	39	5	36	1	.332	.421	.479
2021Home	.786	264	29	5	33	0	.273	.386	.400
2021Away	.697	277	33	8	31	1	.241	.321	.376
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Stat Review

How does Yandy Diaz 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

0.93

BB Rate

13.3%

K Rate

14.3%

BABIP

.333

ISO

.285

AVG

.327

OBP

.429

SLG

.612

OPS

1.041

wOBA

.447

Exit Velocity

95.5 mph

Hard Hit Rate

43.5%

Barrels/PA

8.0%

Expected BA

.313

Expected SLG

.541

Sprint Speed

21.8 ft/sec

Ground Ball %

44.9%

Line Drive %

20.3%

Fly Ball %

34.8%

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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Past Fantasy Outlooks

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

Diaz has been a perpetual conundrum for analysts. How can someone with such massive biceps and a thick chest not drive the ball more consistently? Diaz continued to perplex everyone with a .253/.386/.291 slash line into early June and did not hit his first homer until June 6 at Texas. Diaz then went on to hit .258/.330/.449 the rest of the way with 13 homers while scoring 41 times and driving in 46. He has very disciplined at-bats (95th percentile chase rate), accepts his walks (90th percentile) and can hit the ball hard to all fields. He finally started to show more launch angle as the summer went on, but not enough to state there is more power on the horizon. His contact abilities are useful in a lineup that has plenty of swing-and-miss in it, but he does not exactly have the power profile you want from a fantasy cornerman. He does retain dual eligibility again this season (1B, 3B), which is a nice bonus.

To paraphrase the 2004 film Mean Girls, "stop trying to make Yandy Diaz and launch angle happen. It's not going to happen." We are nearly 800 plate appearances into Diaz's career, and he has a career 2 degree average launch angle. His 2020 season was interrupted by a hamstring strain which cost him all September, but he had a -8 degree launch angle on 97 batted balls. A typical Diaz batted ball is something on or close to the ground to the opposite field, yet defenses were reticent to put three infielders to the right of second base. He put the ball where they would not go, and hit .307 and then drew walks to reach a .428 OBP on the year. Diaz can be productive even without the power, but beware of the strain the absence of power puts on your other roster spots in fantasy, and also that he's without a true everyday role on a Rays team with a lot of moving parts.

Diaz finally unlocked some power with Tampa Bay after homering just once in 299 plate appearances over two seasons in Cleveland. Though his launch angle only moved from 4.4 to 5.7 degrees, that was enough for Diaz to raise his flyball rate more than five points above his career mark, allowing him to easily outdo his prior slugging numbers. Diaz didn't see his plate skills diminish due to the new approach, as he maintained strong strikeout (17.6%) and walk (10.2%) rates and ranked in the 82nd percentile of all players in hard-hit percentage. While he met expectations from a skills standpoint, durability was a concern for Diaz, who spent time on the shelf with hand, hamstring and foot injuries. If healthy, Diaz should open 2020 in a regular role at the hot corner, though the Rays' wealth of options could push him into short-side platoon duty if he falls into a prolonged slump at any point.

The knock on Diaz coming into 2018 was the total absence of in-game power. He did little to quash that narrative, totaling a mere four homers in 546 plate appearances between Triple-A and the majors, but at least he started to make some adjustments. Diaz shaved nearly six percentage points from his groundball rate at the big-league level (from 59% to 53.5%) while adding more than four percentage points to his flyball rate. His average launch angle was still among the lowest in baseball, but 4.4 degrees is a big improvement over 0, and with that, he was able to tap into some gap power. Over-the-fence power may never come even with further refinement, but Diaz has strong plate skills (15.8 K%, 9.2 BB% last season) and with regular playing time, he could be a nice source of batting average. The question is whether that playing time will come. Following an offseason trade to the Rays, it seems likely.

The 26-year-old is a physical specimen with impressive muscle mass on a 6-foot-2 frame. If he ever joins the launch-angle revolution, watch out. He drove the ball into the ground 59 percent of the time with the big-league club last season and had the lowest Average Launch Angle among 387 hitters with at least 100 at-bats. Diaz hit the ball fairly hard (32.8 percent hard contact rate), but without the other piece of the puzzle, the power numbers were non-existent (.064 ISO). He displayed a good approach at the plate, walking 21 times in 179 plate appearances (11.7 percent), as well as decent contact ability (19.6 percent strikeout rate). Those skills along with Jason Kipnis' struggles staying healthy last year give Diaz plenty of appeal in AL-only formats, but he will need to show that he can hit for some power against big-league pitching before he can be justified as a mixed-league starter.

A cannon-armed third baseman signed out of Cuba in 2013, Diaz has raked his way through each level of the Indians' minor league system over the past three seasons. After posting a 144 wRC+ and walking more than he struck out (1.50 BB/K) at Double-A Akron, Diaz was promoted to Triple-A Columbus during the 2016 season. Though his walk rate slipped a bit, his bat stayed hot. In 416 plate appearances, the 25-year-old slashed .325/.399/.461 and posted a robust 11.3 walk rate to go along with his 16.8 percent strikeout rate. Having shown that he's a threat at the plate, Diaz has also been identified as one of the top defensive third basemen in the minor leagues. It shouldn't be too long before he makes his MLB debut with the Indians and he is a player worth keeping an eye in deeper leagues and dynasty formats.

More Fantasy News

Back in lineup Friday

3BTampa Bay Rays

May 26, 2023

Diaz (personal) is back in the lineup for Friday's contest against the Dodgers, Kristie Ackert of the Tampa Bay Times reports.