Raimel Tapia: Lucky
Tapia’s shown a bit of promise while up in the big leagues, but hitting has been a roller coaster with him. Among Rockies hitters with at least 100 PAs, he ranks in the bottom third with a wOBA of .312. He backs that up with a Hard Hit Percentage of 29.8%, edging out only Hampson and Wolters. You’ll also be shocked to know that Ian Desmond does not lead the Rockies in Ground Ball Percentage since Tapia’s hitting 52.3% of all balls straight into the dirt (also has the lowest Rockies Fly Ball Percentage at 25.6%).
His gap in wOBA and xwOBA isn’t relatively large for a Rockie (23 points) but how he’s gotten there is concerning. His speed helps him beat out those soft grounders he continually hits but, unless he starts hitting more balls into the air, he’ll continue to need some luck on his side to get on base.