Kendrys Morales: 2015 Fantasy Baseball Comeback Player
By Brad Kelly
There is nothing better than a waiver wire addition or late draft flier that is largely overlooked but turns out to be gold. Kendrys Morales served as that player this year, as he reestablished himself as one of the better all-around hitters in the game.
Fantasy owners that have been around while knew that there was a time where Morales was a premium power threat in his days with the Angels. In 2009 he burst onto the scene posting a .306/34 HR/108 RBI line, after a pretty inconspicuous start to his career.
Many owners went into 2010 skeptical if the breakout was legit, but Kendrys Morales reassured them with a good start up until his catastrophic injury. We have all probably seen the play before, but Morales would go on to break his leg celebrating a walk off homer.
This brings us to his eventual comeback. He missed all of 2011 but did return to the Angels in 2012 to post a respectable, .273/22 HR/73 RBI line. Great production for a guy owners had written off after such a severe injury.
In 2013 he would make his way to Mariners and once again posted a solid, .277/23 HR/80 RBI line, which finally had owners excited that Morales was back and a consistent power source.
Unfortunately, his injury would not prove to be his biggest hindrance over his terrible 2014 season, it was his decision to seek out more money. After his two solid seasons, he wanted a big contract going into 2014, the offer never came and Kendrys Morales eventually signed during the second month of the season with the Twins.
Missing spring training may have been the cause, but the power and production were just nonexistent. His .218/8 HR/42 RBI line, was a far cry from what owners had expected and heading in 2015 it was unclear where Morales’ value would be at the draft.
He of course would go on to sign with the Royals, leaving owners at the drafts basically unwilling to take the plunge on him as it was unclear what or even how Morales would fit into the everyday lineup.
Sure enough we were all wrong, and all those owners that snagged him off the waiver wire got a primetime performer that anchored most teams for the entire season. Finding a .290/22 HR/106 RBI/.847 OPS, producer is fantasy gold and there is no doubt that Morales was the difference in a lot of leagues this season.
This can serve as a tell-tale story of veteran players that may drop off in production and bounce back to remind us why we used to value them so high in the first place. Now this isn’t for all veterans who are on the decline of their careers and just never recover, but the way Kendrys Morales played this season, maybe next year taking a veteran flier will be the way to go.