Yasmany Tomas’ stats define “Meh”

“Meh.” That is the first word that comes to mind regarding Yasmany Tomas during his time with the Diamondbacks.

Since signing a six-year, $68.5 million contract with the Diamondbacks at the end of November 2014, Yasmany Tomas has been at best average, and most of time he has been a below average major league player.

Tomas is a career .271/.310/.412 hitter in 171 games, with a .722 OPS, 15 home runs, and 69 RBI– numbers that certainly back up the average claim, but don’t back up the money that he is making.

Tomas did have a stretch in April where he went 11-for-29 with three home runs, but he is batting just .198/.250/.302 in 24 games since May 12.

This contract signed during the Kevin Towers era might turn out to be one of the worst in franchise history, if Tomas continues on his current pace. Tony La Russa and Dave Stewart might end up deciding to eat his contract.

The 25-year-old native of La Habana, Cuba is making a sizable $7.5 million salary, but he will make $9.5 million next year, and then it jumps all the way up to $13.5 million in 2018, $15.5 million in 2019, and $17 million in 2020. Not what you want to be paying for a so-so player.

If Tomas doesn’t take the next step in his development sooner rather than later, that is $63 million in wasted payroll for the D-backs.

This season, Tomas is actually striking out less and walking more, and he is getting on base more, but he is still swinging at far to many pitches out of the strike zone. His 37.2 percent mark is the 15th-highest O-Swing-percentage in the majors, and he is making less contact overall.

Tomas will hit the occasional home run, and he is hitting .339 off lefties, but he has done the majority of his hitting with nobody on base– where he’s batting .314, and absolutely nothing with men on base (.213) and runners in scoring position (.207). In high-leverage situations he is hitting .205.

He has been relegated by Chip Hale to the eighth spot in the lineup because he swings at so many bad pitches, and last time I checked, eighth place hitters don’t deserve to make $68.5 million.

To make matters worse for the D-backs, Tomas is the worst defensive left-fielder in baseball. In 43 games in left field, Tomas has a .969 fielding percentage, and has nearly as many errors (two) as assists (three). As a team, the D-backs are the fourth-worst fielding squad in the majors.

Tomas belongs in Triple-A now that David Peralta is back. He provides negative value to his team (-0.2 bWAR this season), and at this point is a liability to his team.