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 at right field, where it looks to be a one-man show held down by Nelson Cruz.
Cruz: .264 batting average, .320 on-base percentage, .476 slugging percentage, 34 doubles, 24 home runs, 82 RBIs, 10 stolen bases.
Cruz, as we know, is one of the streakier players in baseball. These numbers are probably about spot-on if Cruz stays healthy. You'd like to see a higher batting average but for Cruz it now seems that 2010 was an outlier for Cruz in the average department, when he hit .318. The power numbers have stayed consistent for Cruz, though, as he's pretty much been a lock to hit 23-28 home runs and 80-90 RBIs.
Of course, this whole thing could be thrown off its axis if the Rangers end up dealing for Justin Upton, which apparently is still in the cards.
