BRIAN ROBERTS
My line: 600 AB, .305/.380/.435, 44 2B, 13 HR, 29/8 SB/CS, 71/84 BB/K
The community line (my projection included):
AB AVG OBP SLG 2B HR SB/CS BB/K
596 .297 .372 .423 44 10 28/10 75/78
Brian is the end of the community projection line unless something happens in the next month and a half or so. There's no point in trying to project David Newhan, and guys like LaTroy Hawkins are such a crapshoot that it would be futile.
Baseball Think Factory's ZiPS projection has Roberts with the following line:
AB AVG OBP SLG 2B HR SB/CS BB/K
627 .295 .372 .432 46 10 28/13 78/83
As a group, we almost scarily echo that projection, and I think it's pretty fair. Roberts was never a big-time prospect, didn't look like he was going to be anything more than a serviceable player, and then, boom, a huge April and everyone knows who he is, he ends the season with good numbers, and it makes you think.
Maybe it's optimistic, I don't know. He did tail off in the second half, going back to what he was before, more or less. But I frankly see no reason that Roberts can't be one of the best second basemen in baseball for years to come. He's probably not going to become Craig Biggio or Robbie Alomar or anything, but then Biggio and Alomar are two of the best ever, so why am I even making the comparison? Why do I do anything?
Roberts should be good is my point. I like his odds at meeting the projection.