Albert Almora was raking coming into yesterday’s game, and he is still raking now that the game – and the horrors that lie within – is long over.
After a couple hits to start his day, Almora came up in the 7th inning and went oppo:
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Almora’s line is now up to .323/.366/.445, good for a 119(!) wRC+. That’s the 27th best wRC+ in the National League, sandwiched between guys like Buster Posey and Matt Carpenter and Javy Baez and Andrew McCutchen, and tied with Bryce Harper. Dude.
You combine that with his stellar center field defense, and we are right now looking at the “dream scenario” version of Almora. That’s not to say it’s guaranteed to last, or that he won’t have additional adjustments to make. But if he were this guy over his time with the Cubs, he’d be a true star and impact player. Want.
Your statistical caveat here is that Almora’s .378 BABIP (which supports his huge batting average, which, in turn, props up his OBP and SLG) is probably a bit higher than is deserved or sustainable. Almora’s line-drive, alley-to-alley approach will probably always lend itself to a naturally higher-than-average BABIP, but for a guy to be up in the .378 range, you’d expect him to have super elite speed (nope), or super elite hard contact (Almora’s hard and soft contact rates are both considerably worse than league average). Comedown in the future – this season and/or beyond – should be expected, and Almora will have to keep improving his power, contact, and walk rate to sustain that excellent overall offensive production.
As for how often he’s playing, keep in mind: Almora is increasingly getting starts against righties (2/3 of all starts in center field and climbing), is just 24, and is being managed on a roster with 10 positional “starters” on it. There is a balance between playing time, development, and maximizing the output of all the players on the roster. I am not in the camp that thinks Joe Maddon is screwing this up, and I freaking love Almora.
Things are proceeding very, very well for Almora. Let’s just continue to enjoy the ride.