While Aaron Judge and Eric Thames have settled back slightly following their other-worldly Aprils, Ryan Zimmerman keeps steaming along at a superhuman pace, leading the majors in several categories, including batting average, hits, RBIs and homers (tied). But while the first two’s sudden emergence is more easily explained, Zimmerman, 32, has caught everyone off-guard (perhaps even himself) after batting a measly .218 last year and appearing to be on the edge of fantasy irrelevance. The odd thing is many of Zim’s peripheral stats, including swing and contact rates, are unchanged from his career norm. The key one that is, however, writes Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post, is the relatively new term of ‘barrels,’ which is described by Statcast as an “optimally hit ball,” with high-end exit velocity and loft off the bat.
Fantasy Fare: Zim a barrel of fantasy fun
