Niko Kavadas

Kavadas has consistently flashed big pop in the minors, and last season he even managed to bat .281 with a .424 OBP to supplement his 17 homers over 335 plate appearances with Boston's Triple-A affiliate. While the power is legitimate, the average was likely a mirage, as it came with a .413 BABIP and 33.4% strikeout rate. The Angels traded for Kavadas in late July and promoted him to the big-league club after just 11 games in their minor-league system. Though he got plenty of opportunities after his callup, Kavadas was generally overwhelmed by big-league pitching, posting a 38.7% K rate while batting a meager .183. Nonetheless, his 91.7 mph average exit velocity and 11.5% barrel rate confirmed his power potential, and Kavadas displayed another of his strengths with a 10.6% walk rate. His skill set is very reminiscent of Adam Dunn, another big, slow, poor-fielding lefty masher who belted 462 career homers while racking up the third-most punchouts and 44th-most walks in MLB history. That would obviously be a nice career arc for Kavadas, but it's also a shoot-for-the-moon scenario, and there's ample reason to wonder how much an MLB club will be willing to stomach Kavadas' defensive liabilities and too-frequent strikeouts. Read Past Outlooks