CLE
Leody Taveras, OF
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Scouting report
I foolishly ascribed meaning to Taveras' 2020 statline and moved him into the back of the 50 FV tier ahead of the Top 100's publication. Then he flopped really hard to start 2021. His speed and center field defense are both excellent, which creates a floor of sorts, but scout opinions regarding how much Taveras will hit have varied. Though young for every level he's been at, Taveras hasn't performed on paper since his AZL campaign. Most pointed to this as sufficient evidence of his mediocrity, while others thought he looked bored and would flip a switch in the big leagues. I think Leody has above-average feel for contact as a left-handed hitter and that his right-handed swing is almost unusable, but his decent-looking 2020 splits reflect the opposite of that, a signal that it was a small sample mirage, a signal I ignored during the offseason. He has some table-setting qualities and has produced at about a 95 wRC+ clip throughout his pro career, which is on par with Harrison Bader and Jackie Bradley Jr., who have a power-over-hit version of this sort of defense-driven profile. And so I have a fourth outfielder grade on Taveras.