Red Sox: Sandy Leon undervalued in preseason rankings

The biggest red flag that doubters will point to is Leon’s unsustainable .392 BABIP, which was the second highest among MLB hitters with at least 250 plate appearances. Typically players near the top of this list have the speed to beat out a few infield singles, but when a lead-footed catcher like Leon does it, the results scream “fluke.”

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That’s fair, Leon’s BABIP will almost certainly be lower this season, resulting in a drop in batting average. However, his average could plummet 40 points and he’d still have ranked eighth among catchers last season. How much more are people expecting him to fall off? Plus, if we’re going to claim that his batting average was inflated over a three month period by on unreasonably high BABIP then we also have to assume that his below-average .302 BABIP in September/October was partially responsible for his late season fade.

As much as critics want to assume that Leon will fall back to Earth, it’s not as if his breakout is without reason. He worked hard last winter to adjust his swing, standing taller at the plate and becoming more aggressive to prevent pitchers from dictating his at-bats. Nobody could have predicted that would translate into the success Leon had last year, but those that watched his progress could see that he was improving.