Projection Review: Hitters II
Part two of the hitting projections review looks at the shortstops and outfielders. Part one can be found here. I have my preseason top 10 shortstops and top 30 outfielders below, with some others of varying degrees of interest. Expect the starting pitcher projections review next week.
Shortstops
1. Hanley Ramirez - Red Sox
Projection: .291/.358/.503, 23 HR, 83 R, 91 RBI, 11 SB in 519 AB
2015 stats: .249/.291/.426, 19 HR, 59 R, 53 RBI, 6 SB in 401 AB
The first year NL-to-AL switch always makes me nervous, which is why Ramirez’s OPS projection was down 55 points from the 2014 projection, even as he was moving to a better offensive environment in Fenway. Of course, it was more than just the league switch in play here, but I do believe Hanley will be a lot better in year two if he gets the chance.
2. Troy Tulowitzki - Rockies/Blue Jays
Projection: .298/.379/.519, 25 HR, 87 R, 85 RBI, 2 SB in 480 AB
2015 stats: .280/.337/.440, 17 HR, 77 R, 70 RBI, 1 SB in 486 AB
3. Jose Reyes - Blue Jays/Rockies
Projection: .281/.334/.404, 11 HR, 89 R, 51 RBI, 25 SB in 570 AB
2015 stats: .274/.310/.378, 7 HR, 57 R, 53 RBI, 24 SB in 481 AB
Ideally, another trade is on the way for Reyes. It’s going to be a tough call ranking him next year if he’s still in Colorado. If he’s happy and healthy, he’d be a possibility to hit .310-.320 and score a bunch of runs with half of his games coming in Coors. Still, he probably won’t be happy and he’s a weaker bet to stay healthy with each passing year.
4. Ian Desmond - Nationals
Projection: .257/.311/.428, 21 HR, 71 R, 82 RBI, 20 SB in 580 AB
2015 stats: .233/.290/.384, 19 HR, 69 R, 62 RBI, 13 SB in 583 AB
Desmond hit .262/.331/.446 with 12 homers in the second half. It didn’t quite salvage his season, but it’ll be good enough to ensure that he receives some fairly big offers as a free agent.
5. Starlin Castro - Cubs
Projection: .281/.330/.428, 16 HR, 77 R, 72 RBI, 7 SB in 584 AB
2015 stats: .265/.296/.375, 11 HR, 52 R, 69 RBI, 5 SB in 547 AB
6. Elvis Andrus - Rangers
Projection: .277/.340/.364, 5 HR, 76 R, 54 RBI, 30 SB in 585 AB
2015 stats: .259/.309/.357, 7 HR, 69 R, 62 RBI, 25 SB in 596 AB
.277/.320/.398 with 16 steals in 74 games after the All-Star break looks a whole lot better. Too bad it all came undone for Andrus in Game 5 of the ALDS. One wonders if there will be a push to trade him this winter, even though it would mean eating quite a bit of money.
7. Ben Zobrist - Athletics/Royals
Projection: .266/.359/.412, 14 HR, 84 R, 65 RBI, 9 SB in 553 AB
2015 stats: .276/.359/.450, 13 HR, 76 R, 56 RBI, 3 SB in 467 AB
8. Danny Santana - Twins
Projection: .263/.304/.386, 8 HR, 80 R, 53 RBI, 27 SB in 593 AB
2015 stats: .215/.241/.291, 0 HR, 30 R, 21 RBI, 8 SB in 261 AB
I didn’t think Santana would be all that productive, but it looked like he had a realistic chance of spending most of the season hitting leadoff for a quality offense. He turned out to be such a disaster that he won’t even be able to count on making the Twins as a utilityman next spring.
9. Alexei Ramirez - White Sox
Projection: .270/.303/.390, 12 HR, 67 R, 65 RBI, 18 SB in 589 AB
2015 stats: .249/.285/.357, 10 HR, 54 R, 62 RBI, 17 SB in 583 AB
10. Alcides Escobar - Royals
Projection: .269/.305/.356, 5 HR, 74 R, 52 RBI, 28 SB in 609 AB
2015 stats: .257/.293/.320, 3 HR, 76 R, 47 RBI, 17 SB in 612 AB
Others
11. Xander Bogaerts - Red Sox
Projection: .270/.341/.429, 16 HR, 72 R, 70 RBI, 4 SB in 529 AB
2015 stats: .320/.355/.421, 7 HR, 84 R, 81 RBI, 10 SB in 613 AB
I was off by 50 points of average, yet only six points of OPS. The home run power is coming, though.
12. Erick Aybar - Angels
Projection: .279/.320/.389, 8 HR, 67 R, 59 RBI, 15 SB in 555 AB
2015 stats: .270/.301/.338, 3 HR, 74 R, 44 RBI, 15 SB in 597 AB
13. Jimmy Rollins - Dodgers
Projection: .237/.309/.362. 13 HR, 78 R, 56 RBI, 23 SB in 556 AB
2015 stats: .224/.285/.358, 13 HR, 71 R, 41 RBI, 12 SB in 517 AB
After bottoming out at .204/.259/.322 on July 20, Rollins hit .261/.329/.430 in 188 at-bats the rest of the way. Still, his defense has slipped enough that he might have a difficult time landing a starting job at short this winter.
14. Jean Segura - Brewers
Projection: .270/.319/.364, 7 HR, 61 R, 49 RBI, 25 SB in 533 AB
2015 stats: .257/.281/.336, 6 HR, 57 R, 50 RBI, 25 SB in 560 AB
16. Brad Miller - Mariners
Projection: .262/.330/.433, 16 HR, 64 R, 60 RBI, 8 SB in 473 AB
2015 stats: .258/.329/.402, 11 HR, 44 R, 46 RBI, 13 SB in 438 AB
Ketel Marte figures to be Seattle’s shortstop next year. My hope is that the Mariners give Miller a starting job in the outfield and just leave him alone, but I’m not counting on it.
18. Jhonny Peralta - Cardinals
Projection: .265/.326/.406, 14 HR, 62 R, 66 RBI, 2 SB in 540 AB
2015 stats: .275/.334/.411, 17 HR, 64 R, 71 RBI, 1 SB in 579 AB
19. Asdrubal Cabrera - Rays
Projection: .252/.312/.388, 13 HR, 68 R, 64 RBI, 8 SB in 551 AB
2015 stats: .265/.315/.430, 15 HR, 66 R, 58 RBI, 6 SB in 505 AB
22. Wilmer Flores - Mets
Projection: .261/.304/.403, 14 HR, 57 R, 61 RBI, 2 SB in 514 AB
2015 stats: .263/.295/.408, 16 HR, 55 R, 59 RBI, 0 SB in 483 AB
26. Jung-Ho Kang - Pirates
Projection: .235/.316/.398, 12 HR, 41 R, 44 RBI, 3 SB in 332 AB
2015 stats: .287/.355/.461, 15 HR, 60 R, 58 RBI, 5 SB in 421 AB
I didn’t see Kang hitting for average with his leg kick, but he turned into a really nice surprise as the year went along. Let’s just hope he comes back as the same player after his major leg injury.
28. Didi Gregorius - Yankees
Projection: .241/.310/.365, 10 HR, 53 R, 46 RBI, 5 SB in 419 AB
2015 stats: .265/.318/.370, 9 HR, 57 R, 56 RBI, 5 SB in 525 AB
29. Brandon Crawford - Giants
Projection: .238/.306/.358, 9 HR, 53 R, 52 RBI, 4 SB in 492 AB
2015 stats: .256/.321/.462, 21 HR, 65 R, 84 RBI, 6 SB in 507 AB
Crawford homered on 16.2% of his flyballs this year, the 30th best mark in the majors. That’s higher than Todd Frazier, Kris Bryant, Evan Gattis, Lucas Duda, Jay Bruce or Miguel Cabrera. I have no idea how it happened, and I can’t imagine he’ll do it again (he homered on about 6% of his flyballs in his first four seasons).
32. Yunel Escobar - Nationals
Projection: .260/.339/.345, 5 HR, 47 R, 42 RBI, 2 SB in 438 AB
2015 stats: .314/.375/.415, 9 HR, 75 R, 56 RBI, 2 SB in 535 AB
37. Francisco Lindor - Indians
Projection: .253/.304/.356, 5 HR, 35 R, 29 RBI, 9 SB in 292 AB
2015 stats: .313/.353/.482, 12 HR, 50 R, 51 RBI, 12 SB in 390 AB
50. Addison Russell - Cubs
Projection: .239/.294/.385, 3 HR, 12 R, 12 RBI, 2 SB in 109 AB
2015 stats: .242/.307/.389, 13 HR, 60 R, 54 RBI, 4 SB in 475 AB
51. Carlos Correa - Astros
Projection: .247/.302/.381, 2 HR, 11 R, 10 RBI, 3 SB in 97 AB
2015 stats: .279/.345/.512, 22 HR, 52 R, 68 RBI, 14 SB in 387 AB
Tulo might get the better OPS projection -- I’m not sure yet -- but Correa will be my No. 1 shortstop next year. Lindor will probably be in the top five, too, and Russell should round out the top 10.
Outfielders
1. Mike Trout - Angels
Projection: .306/.406/.568, 33 HR, 115 R, 105 RBI, 20 SB in 563 AB
2015 stats: .299/.402/.590, 41 HR, 104 R, 90 RBI, 11 SB in 575 AB
Trout will be No. 1 on the board again next year, but it’s imperative that the Angels get him some more help. It’s their fault he finished with 18 fewer runs scored and 33 fewer RBI than Josh Donaldson.
2. Giancarlo Stanton - Marlins
Projection: .283/.399/.571, 40 HR, 94 R, 120 RBI, 7 SB in 548 AB
2015 stats: .265/.346/.606, 27 HR, 47 R, 67 RBI, 4 SB in 279 AB
3. Andrew McCutchen - Pirates
Projection: .301/.395/.502, 23 HR, 92 R, 89 RBI, 18 SB in 554 AB
2015 stats: .292/.401/.488, 23 HR, 91 R, 96 RBI, 11 SB in 566 AB
4. Carlos Gomez - Brewers/Astros
Projection: .268/.326/.458, 24 HR, 98 R, 75 RBI, 32 SB in 598 AB
2015 stats: .255/.314/.409, 12 HR, 61 R, 56 RBI, 17 SB in 435 AB
5. Yoenis Cespedes - Tigers/Mets
Projection: .278/.326/.525, 32 HR, 91 R, 96 RBI, 9 SB in 554 AB
2015 stats: .291/.328/.542, 35 HR, 101 R, 105 RBI, 7 SB in 633 AB
Since I thought there was a good chance he’d hit second for the Tigers (as Torii Hunter did in 2014), I actually had Cespedes third ahead of McCutchen and Gomez in my first draft of the rankings. Then came the bad news that Ausmus was going to bat him sixth. Nice call, Brad.
6. Jose Bautista - Blue Jays
Projection: .264/.365/.504, 34 HR, 93 R, 105 RBI, 5 SB in 526 AB
2015 stats: .250/.377/.536, 40 HR, 108 R, 114 RBI, 8 SB in 543 AB
7. Yasiel Puig - Dodgers
Projection: .290/.372/.494, 23 HR, 97 R, 83 RBI, 15 SB in 544 AB
2015 stats: .255/.322/.436, 11 HR, 30 R, 38 RBI, 3 SB in 282 AB
All Puig really needs to do is get healthy and stay that way. I’m not sure we can count on that happening, though. I don’t think he’ll be in the top 10 here next year.
8. Adam Jones - Orioles
Projection: .275/.312/.465, 28 HR, 89 R, 102 RBI, 9 SB in 622 AB
2015 stats: .269/.308/.474, 27 HR, 74 R, 82 RBI, 3 SB in 546 AB
9. Bryce Harper - Nationals
Projection: .285/.358/.513, 27 HR, 84 R, 96 RBI, 12 SB in 526 AB
2015 stats: .330/.460/.649, 42 HR, 118 R, 99 RBI, 6 SB in 521 AB
Harper had my fourth-highest OPS projection among outfielders (though lower that each of the previous two years), but I was concerned about the injury likelihood and gave him the third smallest total of plate appearances among my top 25 outfielders (only Carlos Gonzalez and Corey Dickerson were lower). The near match of the at-bat projection is deceptive because of Harper’s huge number of walks (I projected him for 594 PA and he came in at 654).
10. Jacoby Ellsbury - Yankees
Projection: .278/.334/.426, 17 HR, 91 R, 68 RBI, 36 SB in 571 AB
2015 stats: .257/.318/.345, 7 HR, 66 R, 33 RBI, 21 SB in 452 AB
11. Michael Brantley - Indians
Projection: .306/.368/.457, 16 HR, 84 R, 86 RBI, 18 SB in 578 AB
2015 stats: .310/.379/.480, 15 HR, 68 R, 84 RBI, 15 SB in 529 AB
68 runs scored? 68?
12. Carlos Gonzalez - Rockies
Projection: .286/.349/.503, 25 HR, 85 R, 89 RBI, 18 SB in 507 AB
2015 stats: .271/.325/.540, 40 HR, 87 R, 97 RBI, 2 SB in 554 AB
Gonzalez scoring just 87 runs in a season in which he hit 40 homers is almost as bad. His two triples, 25 doubles, 83 singles and 46 walks amounted to just 47 runs scored, which seems rather weird given Nolan Arenado’s presence behind him.
13. Ryan Braun - Brewers
Projection: .287/.357/.492, 25 HR, 83 R, 91 RBI, 13 SB in 547 AB
2015 stats: .285/.356/.498, 25 HR, 87 R, 84 RBI, 24 SB in 506 AB
14. Mookie Betts - Red Sox
Projection: .290/.358/.429, 12 HR, 97 R, 61 RBI, 31 SB in 580 AB
2015 stats: .291/.341/.479, 18 HR, 92 R, 77 RBI, 21 SB in 597 AB
15. George Springer - Astros
Projection: .240/.348/.467, 30 HR, 84 R, 96 RBI, 16 SB in 537 AB
2015 stats: .276/.367/.459, 16 HR, 59 R, 41 RBI, 16 SB in 388 AB
Springer will be in the top 10 next year, that’s for sure. I just wonder if he’ll aim for 30 steals; he certainly has the speed to get there.
16. Mark Trumbo - Diamondbacks/Mariners
Projection: .254/.312/.489, 33 HR, 77 R, 105 RBI, 5 SB in 558 AB
2015 stats: .262/.310/.449, 22 HR, 62 R, 64 RBI, 0 SB in 508 AB
Trumbo was hitting .259/.299/.506 with nine homers in 174 at-bats before being traded to Seattle and going into a big slump. He pulled out of it in the second half, and he could be a reasonable fantasy outfielder in 2016 even with Safeco cutting into his upside. It’ll help that he won’t cost nearly as much on draft day.
17. Billy Hamilton - Reds
Projection: .265/.316/.356, 5 HR, 82 R, 41 RBI, 63 SB in 592 AB
2015 stats: .226/.274/.289, 4 HR, 56 R, 28 RBI, 57 SB in 412 AB
The good news is that Hamilton’s defense and baserunning are so exceptional that he’s a decent regular even while posting a .274 OBP. The Reds have to stick with him, but we’ll have to wait and see whether they pencil him back into the leadoff spot or not.
18. Jay Bruce - Reds
Projection: .248/.322/.485, 32 HR, 80 R, 98 RBI, 7 SB in 544 AB
2015 stats: .226/.294/.434, 26 HR, 72 R, 87 RBI, 9 SB in 580 AB
Bruce’s bad knee excused his tough 2014. I’m not sure what the problem was last year. He overcame a slow start and was hitting .257/.341/.486 through the end of July. He then came in at .178/.219/.357 the rest of the way, making him one of the NL’s worst players over the final two months.
19. Corey Dickerson - Rockies
Projection: .294/.346/.500, 21 HR, 80 R, 81 RBI, 7 SB in 528 AB
2015 stats: .304/.333/.536, 10 HR, 30 R, 31 RBI, 0 SB in 224 AB
20. Starling Marte - Pirates
Projection: .278/.337/.443, 16 HR, 72 R, 71 RBI, 28 SB in 557 AB
2015 stats: .287/.337/.444, 19 HR, 84 R, 81 RBI, 30 SB in 579 AB
21. Justin Upton - Diamondbacks
Projection: .261/.344/.459, 26 HR, 86 R, 75 RBI, 12 SB in 567 AB
2015 stats: .251/.336/.454, 26 HR, 85 R, 81 RBI, 19 SB in 542 AB
A nice projection, but I wouldn’t have guessed that he’d hit .277 with 15 homers at Petco and .225 with 11 homers elsewhere.
22. Kole Calhoun - Angels
Projection: .276/.336/.439, 18 HR, 99 R, 68 RBI, 9 SB in 595 AB
2015 stats: .256/.308/.422, 26 HR, 78 R, 83 RBI, 4 SB in 630 AB
23. Avisail Garcia - White Sox
Projection: .269/.309/.436, 22 HR, 75 R, 90 RBI, 11 SB in 599 AB
2015 stats: .257/.309/.365, 13 HR, 66 R, 59 RBI, 7 SB in 553 AB
I thought Garcia would hit for some power, but he still has so much to learn if he’s ever going to get anything out of his tools. I mean, there’s just nothing here to be encouraged about right now. If anything, he was lucky to hit 13 homers, considering that he finished the season with just 17 doubles in 601 plate appearances.
24. Christian Yelich - Marlins
Projection: .282/.354/.420, 13 HR, 85 R, 69 RBI, 19 SB in 600 AB
2015 stats: .300/.366/.416, 7 HR, 63 R, 44 RBI, 16 SB in 476 AB
Blame the back woes for the lack of power. Especially with the Marlins apparently bringing in the fences, Yelich is a big-time breakout candidate.
25. J.D. Martinez - Tigers
Projection: .257/.305/.467, 27 HR, 79 R, 94 RBI, 5 SB in 583 AB
2015 stats: .282/.344/.535, 38 HR, 93 R, 102 RBI, 3 SB in 596 AB
26. Jorge Soler - Cubs
Projection: .266/.329/.466, 25 HR, 76 R, 92 RBI, 6 SB in 541 AB
2015 stats: .262/.324/.399, 10 HR, 39 R, 47 RBI, 3 SB in 366 AB
I’ll project him for 25 homers again next year.
27. Nelson Cruz - Mariners
Projection: .252/.314/.457, 30 HR, 78 R, 95 RBI, 3 SB in 571 AB
2015 stats: .302/.369/.566, 44 HR, 90 R, 93 RBI, 3 SB in 590 AB
28. Gregory Polanco - Pirates
Projection: .265/.334/.418, 17 HR, 84 R, 63 RBI, 25 SB in 558 AB
2015 stats: .256/.320/.381, 9 HR, 83 R, 52 RBI, 27 SB in 593 AB
29. Hunter Pence - Giants
Projection: .270/.334/.432, 17 HR, 71 R, 78 RBI, 11 SB in 525 AB
2015 stats: .275/.327/.478, 9 HR, 30 R, 40 RBI, 4 SB in 207 AB
30. Oswaldo Arcia - Twins
Projection: .264/.324/.484, 27 HR, 74 R, 91 RBI, 3 SB in 537 AB
2015 stats: .276/.338/.379, 2 HR, 6 R, 8 RBI, 0 SB in 58 AB
Arcia hit 34 homers in 723 at-bats between his age 22 and 23 seasons, yet the Twins have decided to give up on him. It’ll come back to bite them.
Others
31. Jason Heyward - Cardinals
Projection: .275/.351/.441, 18 HR, 88 R, 64 RBI, 13 SB in 549 AB
2015 stats: .293/.359/.439, 13 HR, 79 R 60 RBI, 23 SB in 547 AB
34. Curtis Granderson - Mets
Projection: .236/.326/.425, 26 HR, 89 R, 74 RBI, 11 SB in 563 AB
2015 stats: .259/.364/.457, 26 HR, 98 R, 70 RBI, 11 SB in 580 AB
35. A.J. Pollock - Diamondbacks
Projection: .275/.332/.433, 13 HR, 80 R, 58 RBI, 21 SB in 559 AB
2015 stats: .315/.367/.498, 20 HR, 111 R, 76 RBI, 39 SB in 609 AB
Not bad for a guy who was sitting at least once a week early on so that the Diamondbacks could find playing time for Ender Inciarte and Yasmany Tomas.
39. Lorenzo Cain - Royals
Projection: .283/.330/.400, 8 HR, 73 R, 60 RBI, 23 SB in 565 AB
2015 stats: .307/.361/.477, 16 HR, 101 R, 72 RBI, 28 SB in 551 AB
Besides going from five to 16 homers, Cain reduced his strikeout rate by 25 percent and upped his walk rate by 25 percent from 2014. That’s a whole lot of improvement.
40. Shin-Soo Choo - Rangers
Projection: .265/.365/.427, 17 HR, 77 R, 73 RBI, 10 SB in 520 AB
2015 stats: .276/.375/.463, 22 HR, 94 R, 82 RBI, 4 SB in 555 AB
41. Matt Kemp - Padres
Projection: .267/.335/.458, 21 HR, 67 R, 76 RBI, 9 SB in 502 AB
2015 stats: .265/.312/.443, 23 HR, 80 R, 100 RBI, 12 SB in 596 AB
Kemp had a worse OPS than projected, yet for fantasy purposes, he was quite a bit more valuable than I expected. The big factor there is that he hit .218/.263/.368 with the bases empty and .322/.368/.533 with men on, explaining the big RBI total. He also stayed healthier than I expected and swiped a few more bases (he was 8-for-13 in 150 games in 2014).
48. Brett Gardner - Yankees
Projection: .256/.337/.390, 12 HR, 78 R, 59 RBI, 20 SB in 539 AB
2015 stats: .259/.343/.399, 16 HR, 94 R, 66 RBI, 20 SB in 571 AB
49. Charlie Blackmon - Rockies
Projection: .278/.329/.421, 11 HR, 73 R, 51 RBI, 18 SB in 468 AB
2015 stats: .287/.347/.450, 17 HR, 93 R, 58 RBI, 43 SB in 614 AB
53. Khris Davis - Brewers
Projection: .241/.306/.448, 25 HR, 66 R, 80 RBI, 6 SB in 511 AB
2015 stats: .247/.323/.505, 27 HR, 54 R, 66 RBI, 6 SB in 392 AB
55. Joc Pederson - Dodgers
Projection: .238/.340/.431, 20 HR, 61 R, 67 RBI, 20 SB in 445 AB
2015 stats: .210/.346/.417, 26 HR, 67 R, 54 RBI, 4 SB in 480 AB
56. Rusney Castillo - Red Sox
Projection: .263/.320/.431, 14 HR, 59 R, 61 RBI, 19 SB in 441 AB
2015 stats: .253/.288/.359, 5 HR, 35 R, 29 RBI, 4 SB in 273 AB
Castillo hit .391/.426/.635 with three homers in 64 at-bats from Aug. 1-24. Other than that, his first full season in the U.S. was really disappointing. It’s going to be hard for the Red Sox to pencil in both Castillo and Jackie Bradley Jr. as regulars if they want to contend next year. Having them compete for one job might be a better idea.
58. Carlos Beltran - Yankees
Projection: .242/.319/.445, 21 HR, 60 R, 68 RBI, 3 SB in 425 AB
2015 stats: .276/.337/.471, 19 HR, 57 R, 67 RBI, 0 SB in 478 AB
61. Nick Markakis - Braves
Projection: .281/.346/.376, 8 HR, 73 R, 55 RBI, 3 SB in 580 AB
2015 stats: .296/.370/.376, 3 HR, 73 R, 53 RBI, 2 SB in 612 AB
Brandon Phillips and Manny Machado both had games with two homers and two steals this season. However, no one has ever had three homers and two steals in a game.
64. Colby Rasmus - Astros
Projection: .237/.304/.436, 22 HR, 63 R, 66 RBI, 3 SB in 468 AB
2015 stats: .238/.314/.475, 25 HR, 67 R, 61 RBI, 2 SB in 432 AB
83. Dexter Fowler - Cubs
Projection: .255/.354/.368, 7 HR, 66 R, 35 RBI, 10 SB in 451 AB
2015 stats: .250/.346/.411, 17 HR, 102 R, 46 RBI, 20 SB in 596 AB
So that’s what could happen if Fowler could ever stay completely healthy. His 690 plate appearances topped his previous career high by 127.
84. Jake Marisnick - Astros
Projection: .237/.282/.359, 9 HR, 48 R, 44 RBI, 20 SB in 434 AB
2015 stats: .236/.281/.383, 9 HR, 46 R, 36 RBI, 24 SB in 339 AB
86. Yasmany Tomas - Diamondbacks
Projection: .249/.289/.429, 15 HR, 43 R, 51 RBI, 3 SB in 357 AB
2015 stats: .273/.305/.401, 9 HR, 40 R, 48 RBI, 5 SB in 406 AB
It’s hard to hit homers when you don’t hit flyballs, and Tomas had the 15th lowest flyball rate of the 211 players with 400 plate appearances this season. The raw strength is there for him to take a big step forward as a power hitter, but it’s going to take some tweaks. I’m not very optimistic about him for 2016.
88. Andre Ethier - Dodgers
Projection: .260/.337/.409, 11 HR, 47 R, 50 RBI, 2 SB in 384 AB
2015 stats: .294/.366/.486, 14 HR, 54 R, 53 RBI, 2 SB in 395 AB
92. David Peralta - Diamondbacks
Projection: .268/.313/.417, 9 HR, 42 R, 47 RBI, 5 SB in 369 AB
2015 stats: .312/.371/.522, 17 HR, 61 R, 78 RBI, 9 SB in 462 AB
Quietly one of the NL’s best hitters and also not the big defensive liability he appeared to be when he first came up.
102. Jarrod Dyson - Royals
Projection: .258/.324/.339, 2 HR, 30 R, 18 RBI, 26 SB in 221 AB
2015 stats: .250/.311/.380, 2 HR, 31 R, 18 RBI, 26 SB in 200 AB
Ned Yost played Paulo Orlando over Dyson so frequently just so he could preserve this nearly perfect projection.
111. Gerardo Parra - Brewers/Orioles
Projection: .271/.326/.404, 6 HR, 30 R, 28 RBI, 4 SB in 240 AB\
2015 stats: .291/.328/.452, 14 HR, 83 R, 51 RBI, 14 SB in 547 AB
From .328/.369/.517 with Milwaukee to .237/.268/.357 in Baltimore.
171. Delino DeShields Jr. - Rangers
Projection: .196/.288/.283, 1 HR, 17 R, 6 RBI, 11 SB in 92 AB
2015 stats: .261/.344/.374, 2 HR, 83 R, 37 RBI, 25 SB in 425 AB
I didn’t think DeShields could play. At all. So that was wrong.
