2016 LGT Prediction Contest: Lonnie Chisenhall

This post is part of a series allowing the LGT community to weigh in with their predictions for projected starters and key bench players for the 2016 season. As usual, there will be two separate contests, one for hitters and one for pitchers. Following last year's scoring model, the 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 3rd, 2015.

Lonnie Chisenhall

Lonnie's career has been inconsistent at best and disappointing at worst. But he found value defensively last year, that that helps for our purposes here. But will confidence in the field translate to production at the plate? Probably not, but here's hoping!

Courtesy of FanGraphs

Matt Schlichting's Prediction

I've written a bit about the Lonster already. How should we go about predicting the statistics of a player who may or may not play everyday? Let's assume that the glove is real, and that Lonnie is one of the best defensive right fielders in baseball. I see him winning a significant number of plate appearances based on that alone. He might even reach his career high of 533. I'm rooting for him to hit .400 through August, but I realistically see him floating somewhere around .250. As for power, I see a little bit of an uptick, mostly due to a few more Chisendongs.

Interestingly, none of the projections believe the exemplary defense from the end of last season was anything more than a fever dream. Screw 'em. The Chisenglove lives.

I'm rooting for him. I hope he wins a silver slugger and a gold glove out there. As much fun as it is to imagine the possibilities, both incredible and awful, I think we'll see a season much closer to the center of the predictive bell curve. The year will be filled with the peaks and troughs we're used to seeing from Chisenhall.

Also, I've typed so many variations of his last name at this point that the real one doesn't look right anymore.

PA: 512
HR: 16
SB: 3
AVG: .259
OBP: .314
SLG: .430

Bonus Prediction: The Rocket Launcher Lab becomes an unofficial mascot for the Indians, thanks to woodsmeister's comment and the Australian Army.

Your Turn

You can just totally make up random numbers but if you'd rather a more statistically accurate approach, 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: