Sometimes you look at a player’s stats and rush to see if he is still available in your league. Meet Kyle Manzardo.
- Born: July 18, 2000
- B/T: Left/Right
- 6’1″, 205-lbs
- Drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2021 MLB June Amateur Draft from Washington State University
The Numbers
His raw numbers are listed above courtesy of baseball-reference.com. Let’s aggregate by year then focus on the important numbers for minor leaguers:
Out of college he finished 2021 with 50 plate appearances in Rookie ball, and he just crushed it.
He started 2022 at High-A, and when you see nothing but green you merely bow and move on.
He finished the last month and a few days at Double-A, and only the walk rate dipped out of Excellent territory.
He showed it all last year: video-game OBP, great power (33.5% Hard Hit rate, so it’s real), and such a fantastic batting eye I had to withdraw to my fainting couch:
Monthly Splits
Nothing wrong with his monthly splits until he tires out in September. The power is there, the on-base ability is there, the walks are there. And are you kidding me with that strikeout rate?! The guy is allergic to a K% in the 20s! My kinda bat…
Handedness K% and BB%
A+ (vs RH): 16%K and 18%BB. (vs LH): 21%K and 11%BB.
AA (vs RH): 12%K and 14%BB. (vs LH): 26%K and 3%BB.
He played well against both types of pitchers, but there is a little hint that while he will dominate RHP, he might struggle a bit with lefties. Not enough to platoon him, just be aware that this might turn into a struggle. More likely is he repeats Double-A to start 2023 and shows better against lefties.
The Scouts
- Rotowire: #8 on their Top 400
- Fantrax: #12 on their Top 400
- RotoProspects: #26 on Top 500
Warnings
He’s got no speed. No really, he has no speed. He has one stolen base in his professional career, and it was probably awarded him as part of a Montgomery Biscuit Take-A-Base contest or something.
Conclusion
As I said at the beginning, as soon as I saw these charts (and got off my fainting couch), I checked if Manzardo was a free agent in my dynasty league (he wasn’t — curses!). I humbly suggest you do the same.
We likely won’t see him in the majors until 2024, and with the Rays you never know where they are going to play a guy or when. But this is the sort of bat you want to target: great batting eye combined with solid power.