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As recently as last season, Chase Utley of the Phillies was a top-10 Fantasy second baseman, as he finished the 2014 campaign with 11 homers, 78 RBI and a .270/.339/.407 triple-slash line. At 35, he wasn't near the hitter he used to be, but he was good enough to be worth a spot in your lineup even at an advanced age.
That feels like a long time ago. Utley's ownership is all the way down to 55 percent in CBSSports.com leagues, and Utley ranks just 46th among second basemen this season. He is hitting .138/.214/.241, and looks to be reaching the end of the line in what might be a Hall of Fame career.
Is that really the case, though? That line might be enough for you to write him off, but it is probably worth taking a bit of a closer look before we bury Utley entirely.
One of the biggest signs of decline for an aging left-handed hitter is their ability to hold their own against left-handed pitchers. Even the best left-handed hitters -- like Robinson Cano, profiled earlier -- have pretty extreme platoon splits even at their peaks, but Utley was always someone who could more than hold his own against lefties, holding a career .260/.365/.453 line against them.
Cracks started showing last season for Utley, who hit .233/.327/.682 against LHP, with a 14.4 percent strikeout rate; he hit .286/.344/.775 while striking out in 12.1 percent of his trips to the plate against righties. That trend has continued this season, as Utley is hitting just .088 against lefties, though his strikeout rate is lower and ISO is higher against same-handed pitchers, so it's not all bad.
The biggest issue for Utley, no matter who he is facing, is that he has had sore luck on batted balls. Never a huge BABIP guy, Utley still nonetheless managed a .295 mark last season, right in line with his career. He is at just .135 this season, which goes a long way in explaining the sudden, drastic decline he has seen. It doesn't require going out on a limb to say that isn't sustainable.
However, this isn't all bad juju for Utley; he's also not hitting the ball as well as he did in the past. Even at 35, Utley managed to maintain a 30.4 hard-hit ball rate a year ago, a number that has completely plummeted to 17.2 percent this season. Given the drop in his line drive rate and ISO, the evidence that Utley just isn't making as good contact is too strong to ignore.
And yet, there should still be a useful Fantasy option in there somewhere. His .103 ISO isn't great, but it isn't so far off last season that he can't get there; ditto for his strikeout rate, which has ticked up just a bit. If the BABIP normalizes -- say something in the .290 range again -- we're looking at Utley a lot differently than right now.
Utley is at the age where a decline like this might not be coincidence, but there are still enough positive signs that I won't be writing him off entirely. With the emergence of some younger players who have shot up the rankings, Utley probably won't get back to a top-10 spot among second basemen, but he could also make a good pickup if you want to bet on him bouncing back.
If you have the roster spot to spare, Utley could still be worth holding on to -- there could still be life left in his bat.
