Dan Szymborski’s ZiPS projections are a good measure of what to expect from players in the upcoming baseball season. We'll take a look at the Rangers' projections on a position-by-position basis. Szymborski can be found on Twitter at @DSzymborski.
Today we'll look at the projections for the Rangers' first basemen, who is slated to be either Mitch Moreland or Ian Kinsler, if Kinsler changes positions. Mike Olt could also be in the mix.
Moreland: .264 batting average, .321 on-base percentage, .435 slugging percentage, 25 doubles, 17 home runs, 64 RBIs
Moreland has been groomed to be this club's first baseman for a couple of years now but has yet to just go out and snatch it from everyone else. It's not so much that Moreland has been bad, he just hasn't been great and stood out as the Rangers gave up on guys like Chris Davis for Moreland before Davis went to Baltimore and put up a nice 2012 season.
Kinsler: .266 batting average, .346 on-base percentage, .443 slugging percentage, 32 doubles, four triples, 20 home runs, 70 RBIs and 20 stolen bases.
You'd like to see that batting average creep back up after a dismal 2012, but even back in 2011 his average was .255 but his on-base was high and he produced everywhere else. Last year, he produced nowhere offensively. The on-base percentage here is back to what you like to see from Kinsler, who is set to have a rebound season in 2013.
