Washington Nationals right fielder Adam Eaton is scorching hot to start the month of August, and it might be going under the radar.
Former District on Deck Site Expert Blake Finney tweeted out a stat yesterday that I thought was so absurd that I had to fact check it to validate it.
I was looking for something completely different, but entering today, your #Nationals fWAR leader in August is.....Adam Eaton?
— Blake Finney (@FinneyBlake) August 18, 2019
Sure enough, Adam Eaton is at the top of the Washington Nationals fWAR (wins above replacement calculated by Fangraphs.com) since the beginning of August. Here is the top of the list:
- Eaton: 0.9 fWAR
- Juan Soto: 0.8 fWAR
- Trea Turner; Anthony Rendon: 0.6 fWAR
- Victor Robles; Anibal Sanchez: 0.5 fWAR
Eaton’s nine-tenths of a win accrued in August accounts for 40% of his total fWAR (2.2) in 2019.
Since the start of the month, Eaton is slashing .358/.452/.679 over 64 plate appearances. He’s hit three home runs and two triples while dropping his strikeout rate down to 12.5%.
It’s clear that Eaton’s newfound power is what’s driving his success. He has an isolated power (ISO) mark of .321 since the start of the month. (ISO is calculated by subtracting batting average from slugging percentage).
There are only 23 other players with a higher ISO in August than Eaton. That is extremely impressive given that Eaton has a well below average ISO for the entire season (.141, with the MLB average hovering around .210).
Ironically, Soto leads the MLB in this split with a .473 ISO.
With this stretch of great play, Eaton is slowly climbing back up to the level of production he displayed in his first two seasons with the Nats.
Limited to only 118 games from 2017-2018 due to a torn ACL injury, Eaton slashed .300/.394/.422 with a 123 wRC+. A 123 wRC+ means Eaton was 23% more productive than a league-average MLB hitter.
This season, Eaton has a 110 wRC+, which is still good, but not nearly at the level he was over the last two years.
Eaton is starting to heat up at just the right time. If Eaton keeps hitting, it will allow manager Dave Martinez to keep a regular lineup with Victor Robles toward the bottom of the lineup and Gerardo Parra on the bench for a high leverage pinch-hitting situation.