Giants: Will these three young players regress or improve in 2020?

San Francisco Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski

It feels strange calling Mike Yastrzemski a young player considering he turned 29 in August, but nonetheless, his rookie campaign was one to remember.

Yaz toiled in the minor leagues for years before he finally got his chance in the bigs in 2019, and he took full advantage of it.

After getting called up in late May, he hit .272/.334/.518 with 21 home runs and 55 RBI in 2017 games. He was a welcome addition to an offense that sputtered along for most of the first two months. Now the question is if he can build upon his performance from last year or if he will regress.

Baseball-Reference.com projects him hitting .264/.329/.489 with 19 home runs and 53 RBI next season, indicating a slight regression.

It makes sense that they would not expect him to match his 2019 numbers. Opposing teams now have more film on him and know where he struggles and what part of the zone he prefers. They will adjust to them, and he will need to adjust in turn.

That said, I think that Yaz could very well improve upon his 2020 numbers if he uses that chip on his shoulder from endlessly being compared to his grandfather to propel him forward.

There is something about an athlete with something to prove that seems to bring out the best in them, i.e. Tom Brady. I think Yaz hits closer to .300 than .250 with another 20-homer season to boot.