Patrick Wisdom

At this point in his career, Wisdom has settled in as a fairly predictable player. He's going to hit for power but likely not do much else. In 2023, Wisdom popped 23 home runs in just 97 games, giving him 20 or more long balls in each of the last three seasons. He also batted below .210 for the second straight year, and he's now just a .214 career hitter. Wisdom continued to swing and miss a lot, as he struck out nearly 37% of the time last year, but he walked nearly 10% of the time as well. Add it all up, and the 32-year-old is basically a three-true-outcomes player. The ability to hit the ball over the wall is nice, but there are plenty of corner infielders who do that and more, which makes Wisdom a limited fantasy option. Plus, he could be squeezed out of a regular role in Chicago by the likes of Matt Mervis and Nick Madrigal. Wisdom is worth rostering if he's playing regularly and hot at the plate, though he may not be someone you can count on all season.

Wisdom continued to be a boom-or-bust fantasy option in 2022. A year after turning heads with 28 home runs, he followed it up with 25 long balls. However, Wisdom struggled to make consistent contact, as he batted just .207 and struck out 34.3 percent of the time. In 2021, he struck out more than 40 percent of the time. Going forward, it looks like fantasy managers will simply need to sacrifice batting average for power if they decide to roster Wisdom. He did at least show a slight uptick in stolen bases, as he registered a career-high eight stolen bases on 12 attempts, which was also easily a career best. That's not a huge number, but if he can get to 10 steals or more, it would give a little more depth to his game. Wisdom will turn 32 during the 2023 season, so even if he does run a bit more, he's unlikely to change too much as a player. The power is nice, but there are definitely more complete fantasy options available for the corner outfield spots.

Wisdom fell short of accumulating even 100 major-league plate appearances from 2018-20. The 29-year-old then got a chance to show what he could do last season and what he showed was a propensity to hit home runs and strike out. There were a ton of strikeouts. Like record setting. He is the only hitter with a strikeout rate over 40% since 1887 (min. 300 PA). When he finally makes contact, he has all the traits to generate home runs. He hits the ball in the air (31.4 GB%) and hits the ball hard (92nd percentile maxEV). He pulls the ball into short outfield corners (56.8 Pull%). The formula worked for a while, but the league adjusted to his fast start by staying out of the strike zone and making him chase pitches. The strikeout rate is a major drag on his entire profile; Wisdom will be tough to roster unless he shaves at least 10 percentage points off it.

Wisdom was called up for the first time shortly before his 27th birthday and posted an impressive .260/.362/.520 line in a small sample of 58 plate appearances for the Cardinals. That performance was good for a 141 wRC+, though he'll have to continue hitting for power if he's to maintain a mark anywhere near that level, as he struck out a worrisome 32.8% of the time. He'd never posted a slugging percentage as high as .520 at any minor-league stop, though he did slug .507 while hitting 31 homers in 127 games for Triple-A Memphis in 2017. Traded to Texas in December, Wisdom is now on a team in a hitter-friendly park with less competition for at-bats, so it's not inconceivable that he could have some sleeper value this year.