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 shortstop, which is locked down by veteran (yet, so young) Elvis Andrus, who is coming off his worst season as a big-leaguer. Andrus will have to turn that trend around in order to earn his big money and help the Rangers bounce back from an awful 2014.
Andrus: 690 plate appearances, 30 doubles, 4 triples, 3 home runs, 51 RBIs, .271 batting average, .328 on-base percentage, .347 slugging percentage, 32 stolen bases
Andrus had a terrible year last season, and that was even masked some by a strong finish. He had career-low numbers in batting average and on-base percentage and had his second-lowest walk total of his career. He also led the league in caught-stealings with 15.
The Rangers need Andrus to be a table setter and an aggressive pest on the bases, and that's not what he was last season. He was instead of a rally-killer and a bonehead on the bases.
