Comments on: Quick, Who is Leading the AL in OPS?

By: Jack's Son

Jack's Son — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:41:42 +0000

Not impressed with his swing at all. Good power though.

I bet he doesn’t finish with an OPS above .850 (I’d predict lower but with such a HR surge to start it would be hard to fall below .800), which will still be good.

By: cptspandex

cptspandex — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:44:01 +0000

This is a good point and one that I was going to bring up. I would go so far as to say that we can throw ZiPS out the window entirely on guys like Zobrist. He’s clearly having a breakout season that nobody — even the most optimistic prognosticators — could have foreseen.

Truth be told, nobody really knows what to expect from him for the rest of the season. This could be a true breakout or just an extended hot streak.

By: cptspandex

cptspandex — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:33:38 +0000

What am I talking about, “today”? I meant this year. Looks like I even the critics aren’t infallible!

By: cptspandex

cptspandex — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:30:59 +0000

I think it’s important to point out that Zobrist turned 28 today. That places him squarely in his prime as a Major League Ballplayer. While age is a relative term, I don’t know if he qualifies as a great “young” player.

I just wanted to mention this for all you fantasy baseball keeper types, like myself. He has a bright future, but he’s more of a late bloomer and less of a Justin Upton young stud type.

But that’s really a minor quibble. Overall, a great article!

By: JohnF

JohnF — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:57:07 +0000

Also, the other thing about ZiPS projections, as many often point out, is that it doesn’t account greatly for a breakout season since it relies a bit on past performance and Zobrist has never been an everyday player before.

By: kris

kris — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:08:02 +0000

You guys are blowing this way out of proportion. I was simply saying that you were a tall, muscular, southern boy that hates Toronto.

By: Jason B

Jason B — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:39:55 +0000

Nah, Kris did a fair job with it. *Snicker*

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:04:56 +0000

Wow

By: Dave Allen

Dave Allen — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:53:51 +0000

Oh no, is my defense really that bad.

By: kris

kris — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:37:34 +0000

I prefer to look at true-outcomes in baseball and corresponding articles. Who cares how the article got the point across, as long as it did. I’ll consider this the Adam Dunn of baseball analysis: It’s not pretty, but it gets the job done.