Cleveland Indians predictions contest 2015 - Jose Ramirez

This post is part of a series allowing the LGT community to weigh in with their predictions for the 2015 season. Bragging rights are at stake! There will be two separate contests, one for hitters and one for pitchers. Last year's contest was scored against the field, however, this year's points system will work relative to the stats - the closer to final number in each category, the more points you can earn, despite what other participants predict. You need not submit predictions for every single player in order to win, but doing so will increase your chances to win.

For position players, you'll be asked to predict each player's plate appearances (PA), home runs (HR), stolen bases (SB), batting average (AVG), on-base percentage (OBP), and slugging percentage (SLG).

Comments for each post will remain active until the night of Sunday, April 5th, 2015.

Click here for previous entries in this series.

Jose Ramirez

He may not have seen a full season at SS and he may not have been as talented with the bat as his predecessor, but what he did show, paired with his defense, was enough to warrant installing him at short to start the season. You can read more about his 2014 in these LGT articles.

Courtesy of FanGraphs

The Predictions

I've included Ramirez's minor league stats here for reference as well, since his MLB action is limited. ZiPS is predicting a better showing than Steamer in basically every category, including playing time. Steamer has him losing ABs, I can only imagine because of Francisco Lindor. What we see here, if true, is nothing that can stop Lindor, short of Andrelton Simmons level defense. And even then, it might not be enough.

What I Think

I think this might be one area where I'm going to disagree with the projections the most. I see a big year from Ramirez and I think he forces tough, but good, decisions from the Tribe brass on their middle infielders of the future  and of today. His walk rate is down while adjusting last year, further than his minor league norm, and I expect that to come back up. His BABIP was also much more elevated in the minors and, given that he's got speed and will see most of his ABs from the left side of the plate, I think we're going to see that number rise and bring the average with it.

PA: 570
HR: 4
SB: 28
AVG: .272
OBP: .318
SLG: .375

Your Turn

Feel free to make numbers up if you'd like but, if you'd rather be more scientifically accurate, you can use these calculators to help you get there:

• Batting Average
• On-Base Percentage
• Slugging

To submit your entry, simply copy and paste the text below into a new comment and fill in your predictions!

PA:
HR:
SB:
AVG:
OBP:
SLG: