Ok so he projects all of the players on all of the teams, but who cares about those other 29 teams? In case you forgot, Bill James hilariously projected Matt Wieters to be the greatest hitter in history before his major league debut, and last year projected such gems as Nolan Reimold hitting 29 home runs and Josh Bell batting .288/.370/.455. He does tend to be optimistic (especially for young players), but I always enjoy looking at what he predicts anyway. So let's jump in. I've included James' 2010 predictions for each player for fun.
Matt Wieters - Matt just hasn't been able to live up to the otherworldly expectations Bill James has given him so far (he envisioned a rookie season for Wieters in which he hit .305/.402/.519). It's kind of sad seeing his good but not insanely good projection for 2011.
G | AB | 2B | HR | BB | BA/OBP/SLG | |
2010 Projection | 148 | 547 | 29 | 20 | 61 | .311/.381/.484 |
2010 Stats | 130 | 446 | 22 | 11 | 47 | .249/.319/.377 |
2011 Projection | 130 | 482 | 25 | 16 | 54 | .288/.361/.448 |
Luke Scott - Not a bad projection on Luke last season, and his 2011 numbers look pretty realistic.
G | AB | 2B | HR | BB | BA/OBP/SLG | |
2010 Projection | 142 | 463 |
29 |
24 | 56 |
.259/.342/.486 |
2010 Stats | 131 | 447 |
29 |
27 |
59 |
.284/.368/.535 |
2011 Projection | 142 | 493 |
31 |
27 |
62 |
.266/.351/.501 |
Brian Roberts - Poor Brian and his 59 games in 2010. Here's to a healthier 2011.
G | AB | 2B | HR | BB | BA/OBP/SLG | |
2010 Projection | 159 | 630 | 47 | 12 | 78 | .281/.361/.422 |
2010 Stats | 59 | 230 | 14 | 4 | 26 | .278/.354/.391 |
2011 Projection | 130 | 513 | 37 | 9 | 62 | .279/.359/.411 |
Nick Markakis - Other than his power drop, James had Nick just about right on the money last year. He projects a modest HR increase and I hope he's right.
G | AB | 2B | HR | BB | BA/OBP/SLG | |
2010 Projection | 161 |
630 |
47 |
21 |
72 |
.300/.374/.481 |
2010 Stats | 160 |
629 |
45 |
12 |
73 | .297/.370/.436 |
2011 Projection | 161 |
629 |
47 |
17 |
74 |
.300/.377/.463 |
Adam Jones - Adam's 2011 projection is nearly identical to his 2010 projection, and neither are much out of line with Adam's 2010 numbers other than the lower walk total. Twenty-three walks. That's just disgusting.
G | AB | 2B | HR | BB | BA/OBP/SLG | |
2010 Projection | 154 |
571 |
29 |
22 |
40 |
.284/.336/.468 |
2010 Stats | 149 |
581 |
25 |
19 |
23 |
.284/.325/.442 |
2011 Projection | 146 |
560 |
27 |
21 |
32 |
.288/.335/.466 |
Felix Pie - I just adore Felix Pie as a human. But I have no idea what to think of him as a baseball player.
G | AB | 2B | HR | BB | BA/OBP/SLG | |
2010 Projection | 143 |
345 |
18 |
11 |
27 |
.272/.325/.443 |
2010 Stats | 82 |
288 |
15 |
5 |
13 |
.274/.305/.413 |
2011 Projection | 94 |
249 |
13 |
6 |
17 |
.281/.330/.430 |
Nolan Reimold - As I mentioned above, James saw big things for Reimold in 2010 that didn't exactly pan out. He hasn't written him off yet, though, giving him a very positive 2011 projection. If Nolan can come back with that line in 2011 I'll be quite pleased.
G | AB | 2B | HR | BB | BA/OBP/SLG | |
2010 Projection | 152 |
538 |
34 |
29 |
68 |
.292/.352/.524 |
2010 Stats | 39 |
116 |
5 |
3 |
12 |
.207/.282/.328 |
2011 Projection | 144 |
526 |
28 |
22 |
66 |
.270/.352/.452 |
That's pretty much it for hitters, seeing as how the Orioles don't have a first baseman, shortstop, or third baseman lined up for 2011. They should get on that.
All stats taken from FanGraphs