Every Team's Most Interesting Player: Toronto Blue Jays, Derek Fisher
This is the 29th in a series of articles about the most interesting player for fantasy owners on each team heading into the 2020 season. We are going alphabetically, so today we’re going to talk about Derek Fisher of the Toronto Blue Jays.
It’s probably weird that I’ve chosen Fisher over the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cavan Biggio or Bo Bichette, young players who could be a trio of stars that carry the Jays to future AL East titles. After all, Fisher has a career .191 average across 419 plate appearances in 152 games. That’s nearly a full MLB season of pure futility.
Still, I can’t quit on this guy. He has legit power; Fangraphs has graded his RawPower a 60/60, and he posted an above-average 90.7 mph exit velocity in 2019. Fisher also ranked in the 92nd percentile in Sprint Speed, and stole five bases last year while being caught once. His batting average (.185) was atrocious, but he hit seven home runs and stole five bags in 57 games while getting on base at a sub-.300 clip.
Fisher has been blocked in the Astros because their farm has been loaded with guys like Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, not to mention studs at the MLB level. He’s crushed it in the minors though, posting back-to-back seasons with 16 home runs and 23 steals in High-A and Double-A in 2015 and 2016, then swatting 21 homers and stealing 16 bags in 2017 at Triple-A. His batting average has fluctuated throughout his career, and that’s not an area you can ever count on him being a plus. However, the power and speed are real here, and he should have the opportunity to play every day for Toronto as they rebuild with youth.
The question is, are his flaws so great that they render him the quintessential Quadruple-A player? At the major league level, Fisher has struck out at an alarming rate. He whiffed nearly 50% of the time in 2018, and he cut it in 2019, but only to 34.1%. He did increase his walk rate to 12.6%, which is important if he’s going to continue forward without improving his contact much. You’d like to see that, but he’s never been a high-contact hitter, and the current landscape incentivizes him to swing hard and chase those homers. Another issue is his ground ball rate. Fisher posted a career-low ground ball percentage last season; it was 48.9%. For all his pop, he’s not hitting many fly balls to take advantage of it, and he hasn’t shown much improvement in that department.
More than just about anyone else on this 30-team list of “Most Interesting” players, Fisher is a lottery ticket. It’s very likely that if you draft him, he’ll be off your team quickly for someone who has started off hot. His No. 637 ADP reveals what most people think of his prospects in 2020. But it’s rare to see a player who has such high-end power/speed potential be dismissed this thoroughly at age 26. He’s never going to be a superstar, but Fisher is going to start the season as an everyday outfielder in a hitter’s park. As your last pick, there’s more upside than usual.