Baseball prospects are a massive gamble.
But sometimes you find a guy who completely shifts your team’s trajectory.
Enter the San Francisco Giants’ young lefty.
The hype around him has been building for a while, and if you are trying to build a dynasty or just figure out if his cardboard is worth buying, you need to look past the surface stats.
Table of Contents
- The Kyle Harrison Fantasy Baseball Outlook
- Breaking Down the Pitching Mechanics
- Kyle Harrison Rookie Card Value: Buy or Pass?
- What to Expect Moving Forward
The Kyle Harrison Fantasy Baseball Outlook
So, should you draft him? From what I’ve seen, the Kyle Harrison fantasy baseball outlook is incredibly bright, but it requires some patience.
Minor league numbers are one thing, but facing big league lineups three times through the order is a totally different animal.
Most people overlook this part of his game, but his strikeout rate is what carries his value.
He got a lot of swing and misses in the minors, and that translates well to fantasy. Now think about that for a second.
You are betting on the stuff.
If you are playing in a dynasty format, grabbing him as a future ace is probably your best option right now .
I was looking at some ADP data the other day, and honestly, people might be sleeping on him just a bit because of the team he plays on.
Breaking Down the Pitching Mechanics
Let’s talk about how he actually throws the ball. Here’s the interesting part.
The Kyle Harrison pitching mechanics are fascinating.
He is not the biggest guy on the mound, but he creates incredible extension towards home plate.
This makes his fastball play up.
It looks way faster than the radar gun shows.
But their is a little bit of effort in his delivery.
He uses a high leg kick and really relies on his lower half to generate torque.
When his mechanics are in sync, the fastball has explosive riding life up in the zone.
And the slider? It’s a genuine wipeout pitch against left-handed hitters.
In real situations, maintaining that consistency over a 160-inning season is the biggest hurdle he faces .
We have seen plenty of young arms lose their release point halfway through the summer.
If you want to compare his delivery to other guys in the system, you might want to check out our breakdown of other .
Kyle Harrison Rookie Card Value: Buy or Pass?
Shifting gears to the hobby side of things. But there’s a catch.
Sports card investing is tricky.
The Kyle Harrison rookie card value has seen some wild swings. But there’s a catch.
When he first got called up, prices spiked like crazy.
Now that the dust has settled a bit, the market is actually offering a decent buy-in window .
If you are looking to invest, I highly recommend checking out graded options on eBay or Fanatics.
Ungraded cards are fine, but for long-term value, you really want that 9 or 10 grade.
The Bowman Chrome autos are the holy grail here. Here’s the interesting part.
But don’t overpay for base refractors.
Focus on the colored parallels if you have the budget .
What to Expect Moving Forward
So where does he go from here? The Giants need him to be a workhorse.
They have been developing him carefully, managing his innings, but the training wheels are coming off.
Expect him to take a massive step forward as he gets more comfortable attacking the strike zone at the major league level .
He needs to refine his changeup to neutralize right-handed hitters over a full season.
But the foundation is absolutely there.
I think we are looking at a guy who could easily strike out 200 batters in a season very soon .
Keep an eye on his spring training velocity.
That will tell you everything you need to know about his readiness for opening day.
Image source: pexels.com
Image source credit: pexels.com