The SAL’s April Hitter of the Month, Jacob Reimer, is rostered in 3% of Fantrax leagues. Here are his first 82 batted ball events of 2025, a run that earned a .330/.416/.615 slash with 5 HR, 24 RBI, 3 SB. Reimer did this with a batting average of balls in play of .397.
A broadcast claimed Reimer went through a major overhaul this offseason. (You’ll hear the booth talk about this.) Did he, though? Real swing changes are as common as a Rockies win, mostly dynasty baseball lore and tall tales. Right? A look at the batted ball profile is interesting. This early-season sample has Reimer hitting 12% fewer groundballs and 7.2% fewer IFFBs, and he’s going opposite field less than he ever has. They say groundball and flyball rates tend to stabilize around 80 BBEs.
Hunting the archives for a good open-faced look at 2024 Reimer came up empty. There is one of 2025 Reimer in the following video. Here’s Reimer’s bat work thus far in 2025:
That was not the most luck-filled, outrageously high BABIP mash-up I’ve ever seen. Reimer is making a lot of good contact there. Sure, some mishits fell and some questionable scoring decisions helped him out, but Reimer’s line drive approach is sending more balls in the air than on the ground. Does it sustain? We shall see. But how much does it matter?
Let’s say a hitter makes a change and flips 10% of his batted balls from groundballs to flyballs. In a sample-size of 82, that would be flipping 8 BBEs. Let’s be a smidge generous and say those groundballs would have led to two hits, as GB BABIP is around .230. Most likely singles. Our new flyballs will probably result in one hit, given FB BABIP of .170some. But that hit’s SLG and HR potential outweighs the created run potential vs two singles. Those smarter than I, holler if I’m wrong, but it’s basically trading two singles for a home run, no? I digress.
Reimer may have truly taken a developmental leap. I’ve been fooled by others’ uptick in home run production and better-looking batted ball profiles before. Reimer can hit the ball hard; this has always been the case, but now the shapes are more conducive to home runs. Injuries have slowed him down in the past. Considering he’s the age of a young college bat in this year’s draft, maybe we just hit the reset button on our dynasty evaluation? If we did, and only knew this version, would this 3%er hold the same dynasty value as a first-rounder in this upcoming MLB draft?