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 in the No. 3 starting pitcher role, which will be the newly acquired Yovani Gallardo, a proven innings-eater who's coming home to pitch in his hometown.
Gallardo: 30 starts, 179 innings, 4.07 ERA, 7.39 K/9 IP, 147 strikeouts, 59 walks, 21 home runs allowed
As we know, Gallardo has made a career of being a reliable innings eater, and it appears he'll do the same based on these projections. If you get 180 innings from your No. 3 starter, you're doing pretty well, and there's a great chance the Fort Worth native could give the Rangers just that.
He's thrown at least 180 innings in each of the last six seasons, including two 200-plus innings seasons in 2011 and 2012 with the Brewers. His 3.51 ERA last season is more than a half-run less than this projection, but you can expect to see some inflation any time a pitcher moves from being an NL pitcher to the American League and has to face designated hitters instead of pitchers.
