Dodgers rookie James Outman has taken the league by storm early this season. Through 12 games, Outman is slashing .273/.442/.727 with three home runs, nine RBIs, nine walks and a league-leading nine triples.
He's been one of the Dodgers best hitters, and has earned himself more playing time against both right- and left-handed pitching.
While Outman's regular statistics jump off the page, his advanced numbers may be even more impressive. According to Scott White of CBS Sports, heading into Tuesday's game, Outman's barrel rate was an incredible 30 percent. To show you how insane that is, White made an interesting comparison.
"But nobody sustains a barrel rate of 30 percent, which is what he’s delivered so far. Aaron Judge was a distant first last year at 26.5 percent, and the major-league average is like 7 percent."
Aaron Judge, last year's American League Most Valuable Player who hit an AL-record 62 home runs, had a barrel rate of 26.5 percent. Outman, through 11 games this season, was up at 30 percent. While that obviously won't last over the course of a long season, it does show how impressive he's been to start the year.
Outman is going to go through his ups and downs this season, and will likely go through at least one slump at some point. But he's showing all the tools of being a special player in this league, and somehow who could man that center field spot at Dodger Stadium for a very long time.
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