Jose Bautista offers a good example of why we should worry about small sample size slumps. From May 29th to June 21, a period of 22, Bautista hit one home run. Pitchers were careful with him as he walked 17 times in less than 100 plate appearances, but his ability to get on base was the only thing going for him in that period as he posted a .269/.400/.333 slash line with three extra-base hits. Since then, he’s been on a tear, with four home doubles and five home runs in ten games, while maintaining a high walk rate. That’s good for a .353/.476/.912 slash line.

This is why as a fantasy player you want to endure the slumps, even a three week one. If the player is healthy, you want to have him on your team when he busts out, and it’s difficult to predict when that will happen.