Brandon Drury

You know that meme with Spiderman pointing at Spiderman? Imagine it with 2022 Drury and 2023 Drury and that's his 2024 outlook. There were two differences as Drury scored fewer runs last season and he lost third base eligibility. Otherwise, he essentially replicated the previous season. His wRC+ was a bit lower since it's relative to the league and offense went up last year. Getting granular, Drury fanned a little more last season, but his exit velocity and hard hit rate both ticked up, but everything was within normal variance. For the past two seasons, Drury has been a regular, jumping between positions. At some point, he'll transition to more of a super-utility guy and lose playing time, but he's signed with the Angels for another season, and it's unlikely they'll bring in enough players to force Drury into reserve capacity. A lack of speed makes Drury more of a mixed league fill in, but he's proven his power is real, and having corner and middle infield eligibility is useful.

Previously known as "the guy who blocked Vladimir Guerrero for a while in 2019," Drury turned himself into a trade chip for the Reds with a career first half. In the end, Drury slashed .274/.335/.520 with 20 homers in 92 games with Cincinnati. He was moved to San Diego where the numbers predictably slipped along with his HR/FB. Drury is a journeyman utility player now on the wrong side of 30, but the Angels still brought him aboard for two years and $17 million. Drury has legitimate pop and is eligible at three positions entering 2023 (1B, 2B, 3B), and it's unclear where he'll see most of his time in 2023 given the Halos' crowded infield. He is a tough sell as a starter in mixed fantasy leagues given his track record of mediocrity, though if you need flexibility off the bench, Drury makes some sense.

The launch angle revolution only works if you have the raw power to drive flyballs out of the yard. Be it by design or not, Drury's flyball rate has climbed since 2017. Meanwhile, his power and BABIP have plummeted as he's met the ball with far less authority. Last season, things really cratered as Drury posted an anemic .358 OPS featuring a .184 OBP as his highest decimal. The Blue Jays designated Drury for assignment, and after clearing waivers, he was assigned to their alternate training facility before Toronto ultimately cut bait in the offseason. He joined the Mets on a minor-league deal in January of 2021. Drury will turn 29 years old in August, so the window is closing for him to establish himself.

Considering Drury's anemic .218/.262/.380 slash line, it's a wonder he played in 120 games with 447 plate appearances. Being able to fill in at a lot of positions helped, as did the Blue Jays suffering several injuries all around the diamond. That said, with the emergence of several young hitters in the Toronto infield and outfield, Drury will need to pick up the pace if he wants to see the field as much this season. Unfortunately, the indicators aren't in Drury's favor. His plate skills are eroding; he fanned a career-high 25.6% of the time while walking at a meager 5.6% clip. Plus, his average exit velocity is well below average. Usually, it's a good thing when you're one injury away from regular playing time at several positions. For Drury, it's a detriment as his scant counting stats aren't sufficient to overcome the punishment on your batting average.

Last year was a lost season for Drury at the most inopportune time. Drury revealed early in the season he had struggled with migraines throughout his time in Arizona and that issue plagued him again early in 2018 and cost him his job with the Yankees. He went to Triple-A and raked to a .294/.403/.447 line while there and was eventually traded to Toronto in the J.A. Happ deal. The good news is that he remains in a friendly run environment and should have a spot on the diamond to pick up where he left off in 2017. He has fared better against lefties throughout his career, and has multi-positional abilities even though he is only third-base eligible on draft day. He is a decent flier in single-league formats given his power potential, and should be an easy guy to grab very late in drafts due to his horrendous 2018 season at the big-league level.

Instead of taking a step forward at the plate as many hoped he would, Drury took a step back in his age-24 season. His wRC+ and wOBA both fell 10 points from his 2016 sample, and the batted-ball data suggests he was fortunate to finish where he did (.310 xwOBA). Drury continued to drive the ball into the ground roughly 50 percent of the time, and more than 10 percent of his flyballs stayed in the infield. Improved defense was his saving grace, but Drury still couldn't avoid falling into a part-time role by the end of the season. His plate skills are a little shaky (5.8 percent walk rate, 21.5 percent strikeout rate), and his backslide against left-handed pitching was particularly concerning. While he'll play in a favorable hitting environment following the trade to New York and the second-base position has thinned out, the lack of track record and uncertainty of playing time make Drury a volatile asset.

Drury put together a solid 2016 season playing all over the field for the Diamondbacks. He played 89 games in the outfield, but also made 29 appearances at third, 16 appearances at second and even made one appearance at first base. While not an Opening Day starter at any of these positions, Drury was still able to log 461 at-bats, and he slugged 16 home runs to go along with 53 RBI. One of the reasons Drury found himself in the lineup so often was his improvement against right-handed pitching. In 2015, he hit just .152 against righties (albeit in just 33 at-bats). Last year, he bumped that number up to .283 while continuing to mash against lefties (.304 average in 2015, .280 last season). Drury will compete for a regular role at second base, but he will get plenty of at-bats whether or not he has a set position to begin the year.

Acquired from Atlanta in 2013 as part of the Justin Upton trade, Drury made his MLB debut in 2015 after a strong few years in the minors. Drury’s cup of coffee in the big leagues consisted of 20 games, in which he registered 59 plate appearances, hitting .214 with two home runs and eight RBI. A career .285 hitter in the minors, Drury could improve at the plate as he adjusts to big league pitching. Drury only hit five home runs in 567 plate appearances last year at Double-A and Triple-A, though he did belt 23 in 2014 playing at the High-A and Double-A levels. Speed doesn’t figure to be a big part of his game going forward — he's yet to steal more than four bases in any of his professional seasons. His defensive flexibility (he played at second, third and shortstop last year with Arizona) should help him get enough starts to be useful in deeper formats, and his advanced hit tool makes him worth following in shallower leagues as well.

A throw-in from the trade that sent Justin Upton to the Braves in 2013, Drury has hit at every stop since joining the Diamondbacks. The 22-year-old third baseman hit .302, .300, and .294 at Low-A, High-A, and Double-A, respectively, over the past two seasons, and has managed to keep his strikeout rate below 20.0% at each stop. Last season, Drury hit 23 home runs in 594 plate appearances between High-A and Double-A, but he is unlikely to ever be an above-average power threat in the major leagues, relative to his position. It's unclear when the Diamondbacks might give him consideration to compete for their third-base job following the signing of Cuban free agent Yasmany Tomas this winter. If Drury can continue to flash a plus hit tool in a return stop to Double-A and a likely promotion to Triple-A during the 2015 season, he may begin to force the issue in 2016.