Cal Mitchell

After being left unprotected in the 2021 Rule 5 Draft, Mitchell announced his presence in 2022 by shelling Triple-A pitching to the tune of a .339/.391/.547 line in 261 plate appearances. That earned him a chance in Pittsburgh, though he was demoted back to Triple-A after early struggles. Given a chance to Redeem himself, Mitchell posted a considerably improved .306 wOBA, 96 wRC+ and 20.1 percent strikeout rate in 144 plate appearances between July 15 and the close of the campaign - passable marks for a 23-year-old. Both his major and minor-league track record suggest that batting average and counting stats are likely to be the primary ways in which Mitchell creates fantasy value. He rarely struck out at much more than a 20 percent clip while rising through the Pirates' minor-league system, but regularly posted ISOs below .200. Looking ahead to 2023, Mitchell appeared to be a frontrunner for a corner outfield spot, but he was unable to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster during spring training and is beginning the campaign in the minors. Bryan Reynolds, Jack Suwinski and Andrew McCutchen are likely to start from left to right in the outfield for Pittsburgh.

If a left-handed hitter slashes .258/.325/.409 in 385 PA against righties and .357/.413/.490 in 110 PA against southpaws in his Low-A debut as a 19-year-old, it means one of three things. He either got lucky in a small sample against same-handed pitchers, got unlucky in a large sample against righties, or has natural reverse platoon splits. The best-case scenario would be that Mitchell was unlucky against righties, but that is also the least likely scenario -- his .347 BABIP for the season was perfectly in line with his line-drive-oriented approach. The 50th overall pick in 2017, Mitchell is a below-average runner who is destined for left field, so he needs to hit a ton. While he is excellent at getting the ball in the air, he struggles to use the whole field (26.1 Oppo%). There are plenty of evaluators who think his ability to lace line drives (28.4 LD%) will lead to a plus hit tool, but there are valid reasons to be skeptical of that at this stage.