Fantasy Baseball: 5 Hitters Who Must Build Off a Strong Second Half

C.J. Cron, 1B, Los Angeles Angels

Los Angeles Angels first baseman C.J. Cron's 2016 performance (114 wRC+, .337 wOBA, and .189 ISO in 445 plate appearances) earned him the right to start off 2017 by getting penciled into the lineup nearly every day.

How well did that go? Let's just say that it wasn't pretty since he was back in Triple-A before the calendar flipped to June. And it was hard to blame the Angels for doing that since the first baseman struggled to a .232/.281/.305 triple slash -- good for a 60 wRC+ -- through his first 90 plate appearances.

He was back in the big leagues soon after, but things didn't get much better. Cron limped into the All-Star break with a .568 OPS, 54 wRC+, and a .090 ISO. The midsummer breather helped him turn his season around, though. Over his final 240 plate appearances, Cron slashed .267/.326/.512, which helped produce a 123 wRC+ and .244 ISO.

Despite the slow start, he ended up hitting 16 home runs for the year, and while that number is identical to what he did in 2015 and 2016, it only took him 373 plate appearances to do it this season.

So, what changed? Cron made significant improvements in his batted-ball profile, including a decrease in ground balls (34.4% to 31.4%) and increases in fly balls (41.9% to 46.4%), pull rate (41.9% to 50.3%), and hard-hit rate (31.2% to 38.6%).