2020 Player reviews: If only Roman Quinn could get on more

The Numbers

In 41 games (116 PAs), Quinn hit .213/.261/.315 with three doubles, one triple and two home runs. He also stole 12 bases without being caught and was worth 0.0 bWAR.

The Background

Quinn was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2nd round of the 2011 MLB June Amateur Draft from Port St. Joe HS (Port St. Joe, FL). Now 27 years old, this was his fourth season in the Majors, a checkered time in the big leagues that has been beset by numerous injuries.

So far Quinn has missed time due to a torn quadriceps, a torn Achilles tendon, a strained elbow, a torn ligament in his middle finger, a concussion and a broken toe throughout his nine seasons in the minor leagues and the majors. Last year was the first season Quinn was relatively healthy and, unfortunately, the returns weren’t awesome. However, manager Joe Girardi was one who was intrigued by the switch hitter’s abilities as he started 30 games for the Phils last year, whereas former first round pick Adam Haseley started just 23.

The Good

Quinn is one of the fastest players in baseball and has stolen 20 consecutive bases over the course of the last two seasons without being caught.

He’s the closest thing we’ve seen to former Cincinnati Reds “star” Billy Hamilton. When Quinn gets on base and decides to steal, the catcher isn’t going to throw him out. Over the last two seasons, he’s been automatic. In addition, Quinn is no Ben Revere and does have more pop at the plate than one would expect from a player of his size.

The Bad

Unfortunately, pretty much everything else.

When Quinn gets on base, he can make things happen. Unfortunately, Quinn has posted an on-base percentage under .300 in each of the past two seasons (.298 and .261), and has been among the worst offensive players in the big leagues in those two seasons (OPS+ of 72 in 2019 and 54 last year).

Among players who accumulated at least 100 plate appearances last season, Quinn’s strikeout rate of was 21st highest out of 310 players. That’s way too high for a ground ball hitter/speed guy. Heck, that’s even too much for most power hitters.

That would all be more palatable if he was a better defender and, to be sure, Quinn can make the spectacular play.

But poor instincts hold him back. He was worth -2 defensive runs saved in center field last year and posted a dWAR of -0.1 each of the last two seasons.

The Future

The ZiPS projections are out for 2020 and they are not optimistic than Quinn is suddenly going to discover the starting center fielder/effective leadoff hitter that we all hoped was lying within a healthy Roman Quinn someday.

They project a .233/.303/.381 slash line, an OPS+ of 79 and an fWAR of 0.1 in 234 plate appearances.

You can see why the Phillies are reportedly interested in Jackie Bradley Jr., huh?