In 2006, Travis Hafner absolutely mashed. In only 129 games, Pronk dropped 42 bombs, drove in 117, and led the majors with an obscene 1.097 OPS (registering a 179 OPS+). This was the continuation in a three year surge which placed him among the most imposing power hitters in the game. Last year, he took a few steps backwards, but -- eventually -- his numbers weren't awful. Hitting 24 home runs and driving in 100 is quality, and he still scraped out a 118 OPS+. The problem, though, is that fantasy owners were relying on Pronk for elite power numbers in fantasy lineups, and these hardly qualified.
His draft status slipped a bit, but most people still considered last season an outlier and predicted a solid bounce-back for Pronk. He's not old yet -- of course, at 31 he's not exactly young either -- and there isn't really any evidence that can be used to justify such a drastic slip in performance between '07 and '08. Plus, he has my favorite nickname of all-time (Pronk = Project + Donkey -- "donkey" is what you call an atrocious defensive player).
So Hafner as a comeback candidate made sense. Only he's awful right now.
He's gotten so bad that he was given two consecutive off-days by manager Eric Wedge. On Wednesday night he did come in to pinch hit with the bases loaded and promptly hit into a double play (on a ball that made Willie Mays Hayes' first regular season at-bat look like a tape-measure shot).
The numbers on the season are ugly. The 3 home runs aren't horrible, but again, you are looking for an elite power hitter. The non-accumulation categories are the ugly part. He currently sports a .209 AVG, .339 SLG, and .301 OBP. That's right, the guy who usually OPSes around a grand is down to .640. He's progressively gotten worse since week 2, when it looked like he may avoid an extended slow start.
On the bright side, Hafner does have a potentially fantastic supporting cast and -- as I said earlier -- there really isn't any reason that he should have all of a sudden transformed into Aubrey Huff. He's simply not old or worn down enough to be in a decline.
The fact remains that, when including last season, this is quite a lengthy hiatus from stud-dom for the once promising superstar.
Verdict: Cautious buy low. Do not cough up a legitimate stud for him, because this is an awfully long and inexplicable slump from what he was for three years. There's nothing saying he'll be that guy again. Still, there's nothing saying he can't, so go down with the ship if you own him, in hopes Pronk magically reappears.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. eat shit stupid
Posted at 9:30PM on May 10th 2008 by agranon
2. Geez...good thing Ruth or Gehrig weren't around with fantasy baseball. They'd have had to retire from baseball about five different times each when they slumped hard--as they both did--in careers that included a combined 16 multi-40 HR seasons and 20 over 150 RBI seasons (over 150, not 100), and combined lifetime bat ave. of .341. (Ruth's .342, Gehrig 340.) OH and Gehrig (despite the slumps) managed to drive in over 100 rbi 13 years IN A ROW including 165, 174, 175 and 184--still the A.L. record 75 years later) batting AHEAD of Ruth, who drove in over 100, 10 of those years!
And you're ready to throw in the towel on Hafner after a few months???????
Posted at 10:06PM on May 10th 2008 by Neon Don
3. He takes way too many pitches. You can groove the first pitch because he never swings. Put a slider off the plate a little and its 0-2. There is his problem. He is always behind in the count.
Posted at 10:43PM on May 10th 2008 by Matthew Cornell