Kole Calhoun patrols the outfield for the Angels. After crushing minor league pitching he's had plenty of success at the big league level. He's yet to display much speed on the base paths, but he showed increased power and scored a ton of runs last season. Can Calhoun move from the level of really good to becoming an all-star performer in 2015?

THE MINORS

2010: Calhoun appeared in 56 games at Rookie Ball after being drafted in the 8th round out of Arizona State University. He hit .292 with a .916 OPS. Kole stole three bases, hit seven homers, drove in 42 and scored 43 times. 

2011: Spent the season at High-A ball. Over the course of 133 games he hit .324 with a .410 OBP and .957 OPS. He blasted 22 homers, drove home 99 runs, scored 94 times and swiped 20 bases for a 20/20 effort.

2012: Appeared in 105 games at Triple-A batting .298 with a .877 OPS. He hit 14 homers, drove in 73, scored 79 times and stole 10 bags.

2013: Saw action in 59 games at Triple-A. He hit a robust .354 with a 1.047 OPS as he socked 12 long balls, drove in 49 and scored 48 times. Also stole 10 bases. 

2014: Had 22 at-bats at Triple-A hitting .500.

TOTALS: .320/.403/.545, 56 homers, 268 RBIS, 271 runs scored, 45 steals over 358 games. 

THE MAJORS

2012: Appeared in 21 games for a cup of coffee in the bigs. He hit just .174 over 23 at-bats. 

2013: Saw action in 58 games hitting much better (.282 with a .808 OPS). Hit eight balls into the seats, drove in 32 runs and scored 29 times.

2014: Only appeared in 127 games, but was extremely productive (a sprained right ankle cost him more than a month of time). Calhoun hit .272 with 17 homers, 58 RBIs and 90 runs scored. Also hit 31 doubles. 

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THE SKILLS

Think of it. In 2015 Kole Calhoun...

Hit more homers than Yasiel Puig (17 to 16).
Had more RBIs than Starling Marte (58 to 56).
Scored more runs than Andrew McCutchen (90 to 89).
Had an OPS that was one point behind Ryan Braun and Hunter Pence (.777 to .776).

That's a pretty darn impressive season, is it not?

What are the skills behind those numbers?

It should be noted that Kole only has 711 at-bats at the big league level, after an impressive minor league run that I touched on above. Not a huge sample size therefore, but spread out over three years at least. Quick thoughts.

(1) His 7.8 percent walk rate is pretty much league average (just a bit low).

(2) His 19.3 percent strikeout rate is pretty much league average.

Shocker his 0.40 BB/K ratio is league average (about two hundredths above last year's mark).

(3) Calhoun, despite a strong line drive rate (more on that in a moment), has pretty much been just a tad better than league average in BABIP with marks of .311 and .313 the past two season (the average big league number is usually .290-.300). 

(4) Calhoun has a 23.7 percent line drive rate. That's a big number given that the league average is in the 19-20 percent range. The mark has also been 22.8 percent in each of this three big league seasons though over his last 302 minor league games that mark was just 19.2 percent. Calhoun has sure squared the ball up exceedingly well as a big leaguer, but that's a high number to expect him to consistently produce.

(5) Calhoun has a 1.29 GB/FB ratio for his career. The reason that number is a tad elevated is that he hits a bit fewer fly balls than the norm (33.4 percent for his career when the league average the last three years is about 35 percent). Pretty much league average with a slight turn away from the fly ball.

(6) Though he hits a few less fly balls he's solid at converting them into home runs. Calhoun had a 14.0 HR/F ratio in '13 and followed that up with a 13.4 percent mark last season. Being that the league average is usually about 9-10 percent, it's clear that Calhoun does a solid job converting those fly balls into big flies (his minor league mark was 17.0 percent.).

(7) Calhoun owns a wOBA of .339. What is wOBA? It's called Weighted On-Base Average and was created by Tom Tango. Basically it is read the same way as OBP with the league average being about .320, a mark over .340 being better than average, over .375 is very impressive, and .400+ is elite level stuff. Though written like OBP, it  measures a batters overall offensive values by taking into account the pluses and minuses of OBP and SLG. For his three year career Calhoun has a mark of .339. Slightly better than average but not an outstanding mark. Pretty much goes in line with the other things being mentioned with the Angel outfielder.

(8) Calhoun's Isolated Power mark was .179 in 2013 and .178 in 2014. ISO speaks to a players ability to generate extra base hits. Among batters with at least 650 plate appearances the past two seasons his .178 mark is 67th in baseball, one point behind Matt Holliday and tied with Victor Martinez. The league average the last two seasons is .139.

(9) Kole's splits show only minor variance. Against lefties he's hit .272 with a .333 OBP and .411 SLG. Against righties those numbers are .271/.327/.456. A bit more power against righties, but close. He has had a bit more success on the road (.284/.345/.464) than at home (.257/.309/.425). Finally, there is a trend to keep an eye on as Calhoun has been a much better before in the first half (.293/.356/.511) than second (.216/.316/.415). Note again, we're talking less than 750 at-bats with Calhoun so all of these splits numbers may not be telling the straight dope because of a small sample size.

PLAYING TIME CONSIDERATIONS

Obviously Calhoun is going to play every day in the outfield for the Angels, and with the shift down in the order of Mike Trout it would appear that Calhoun might be locked into the leadoff role. In 475 career at-bats in that spot he's hit .288 with 21 homers, 65 RBI and 93 runs scored. Yeah, he's taken to the spot. 

CONCLUSION

Calhoun has a strong all-around game. minus much in the way of upside in the steals column. He may not break out in any fantasy category in 2015, but if he were just to maintain his pace of last season and appear in 150 games this season we would be looking at a 20 homer, 65 RBI, 100 run type of effort. He may not be overly skilled but he's talented, will play everyday, will hit atop the lineup and score a bushel of runs with health.

10 team lg: No speed and a decent average knock Kole down a peg, but he's still worthy of being rostered and started in this format without question. Just know you're not drafting the AL MVP or anything of that magnitude. 

12 team lg: Equally as talented as the likes of Melky Cabrera and Alex Gordon, Calhoun has a chance to match the production of both in 2015. He's an option as a third outfielder in this setup, one who has a chance to produce like a low level OF2. 

15 team lg: Calhoun could easily produce like a second outfielder in this setup, so you should be comfortable in drafting him at that level if you wait on taking your second outfielder. If you can draft as your third outfielder your offense is likely going to be impressive if your pieces stay healthy.

AL-only: A prime target for many in this setup. Can make an argument that he's worthy of being your second outfielder without blinking an eye.