Diamondbacks: Tomas Looks for Breakout Season
Yasmany Tomas was the Arizona Diamondbacks most prized acquisition in the 2014 offseason, and it was expected that he would be the team’s everyday third baseman. As he nears the start of his second season with the Diamondbacks, he will have the chance to play everyday and succeed at the major league level.
The plan to boast one of the rising Cuban stars, similar to Yoenis Cespedes and Aroldis Chapman, quickly steered off at the beginning of last season, and Yasmany Tomas was optioned to Triple-A Reno in April of 2015. It was not the kind of start that the Arizona Diamondbacks had in mind when they gave him a comfortable $68.5 million deal for six years.
Regardless of the fact that he started the season in the minor leagues, he was off and running when he made his Major League debut on April 15. Tomas’ first month of big league baseball included him putting up a superb .333 batting average.
Heading into the All-Star break, Tomas was hitting a cool .313, but when game 162 rolled around on October 4, Tomas finished batting .273. His dreadful stretch from August to September consisted of him hitting .201, and knocking in just eight runs. Over the two months, the Diamondbacks would end up going 27-30.
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The power display scouts drooled over seemed to be nonexistent in 2015. He only belted nine homers, and his first came on May 16 against the Philadelphia Phillies, nearly a month after he was called up.
His .401 slugging percentage was the lowest it has been in his career since 2009, as he finished .04 points less than the 2015 league average. But, with Chase Field known as a hitter-friendly ballpark, Tomas’ home run count in 2016 will increase, and fans will soon grow used to his sweet and simple home run swing.
Tomas’ statistics were promising in the first few months of the 2015, and as his workload is set to increase in the upcoming season courtesy of offseason trades, his numbers will only improve.
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At just 25 years old, Tomas has the opportunity to join a fierce group of Cuban stars to have already made their way onto the Major League Baseball scene. Fans should enjoy Tomas and what he brings to the table for years to come, as a breakout year in his sophomore season seems inevitable.