On Wednesday, the White Sox designated OF Dayan Viciedo for assignment. The power hitting right hander had no obvious route to playing time on the team and will now likely be playing for new team in 2015 while the White Sox looking to find a trade partner or if they just release him outright. So what kind of player exactly is Viciedo? Looking at his stats since making his MLB debut in 2010-although he became a full time player in 2012- Viciedo has basically been a replacement level player. He has played poor defense, -19.4 career UZR in the OF, and been an average hitter, 95 career wRC+. His value to his team has always come from his power ability. He has a respectable career ISO of .170 and has hit over 20 hrs in two of the three seasons where he has played over 100 games. Therefore, seeing as he has been a good source of power from the right side of the plate is it worth some team taking a chance on him?
What makes Viciedo so interesting is that among players since 2010 that have a career ISO of above .160 (140 players) only 19 players have a wRC+ of below 100. Viciedo finds himself on this list. Among the players on the list Viciedo finds himself ranked tied with Matt Wieters for fifth in HR/G at .14. So based off his stats it appears that Viciedo has shown an ability to hit homeruns, which teams find extremely valuable. However, it can be argued that leaving U.S. Cellular Field will severely hurt those numbers. Looking at the park factor rankings, provided by Fangraphs, the White Sox’s play in the second best park for HRs for right handed hitters. Yet looking at his career splits he has actually hit 34 HRs on the road as opposed to 32 on at home. Therefore, it stands to argue that his power will translate to most parks in baseball.
Another reason Viciedo is appealing is due to the fact that he hits right handed. This allows him to be looked at as a platoon mate for a lefty. Viciedo would play on the short side of the platoon facing only left handed starters. This is somewhere would Viciedo could truly excel. In his career, Viciedo has a career wRC+ of 124 against lefties and only a wRC+ of 84 against righties. Viciedo could find a home in Milwaukee as a member of a platoon split at first base. Adam Lind is the current starter and he has been terrible in his career against lefties with a career wRC+ of 53. Catcher Jonathan Lucroy is his potential “backup” according to Fangraphs’ projected depth charts. However, Lucroy’s value as a catcher is too much to have him play first for every game versus lefties. Viciedo could be a perfect platoon mate for Lind, making the Brewer’s lineup better on a daily basis. The Brewer’s are just one example of a team who could utilize Viciedo in a platoon role maximizes on his strengths.
Although, there are several reasons to believe that Viciedo is a replacement level Major Leaguer, he could have a lot of value to a team that takes a chance on him. He has a good power from the right side of the plate which should translate to wherever he plays. Also, he has shown the ability to hit lefties extremely well, letting him play in the short side of a platoon. Viciedo likely won’t provide value to a team as a full time starter, but he is truly worth taking a chance on as a bench player with a part time role.
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