Cleveland Indians: Bradley Zimmer season preview

The Cleveland Indians have few certainties in the outfield. But Bradley Zimmer is expected to be the starting centerfielder for the Tribe in 2018.

Our season preview series has moved from the infield to the outfield now as we take a look at Bradley Zimmer’s upcoming season. The former top prospect made his debut last season and tried to state his case to take over the starting job.

2017 saw Zimmer get just about 300 at bats, and in those at bats, he finished with a .241/.307/.385 slash line with 15 doubles, eight homers, 39 RBIs, 18 stolen bases, and 99 strikeouts. Striking out nearly a third of the time is certainly not ideal for the young outfielder, but hopefully with experience comes an improved result.

Zimmer stands to get even more at bats this season, and should he get the 500 at bats that regular starters normally get, we should see plenty of improvement from the 25 year old.

He’s a stout defender, with four defensive runs saved in his lone year in the outfield with a 1.000 fielding percentage in just under 700 innings. Now that he should have his starting spot locked down, he’s going to get a lot more opportunities to make plays and impact this team.

He’s got speed, and getting on base regularly will help him become everything that the Cleveland Indians hope he will be. So what can we expect from Zimmer in his sophomore season?

Projections

The Baseball Reference projections clearly don’t have much of a track record to go off of since this is only going to be his second season in the big leagues. Nevertheless, they predict a mild improvement for him.

2018 Projections: .250/.320/.415, 17 doubles, 11 homers, 44 RBIs, 14 stolen bases, 96 Ks

These seem to be very conservative estimates. They don’t believe Zimmer will see any substantial increase in at bats this season, which I don’t really agree with. I don’t think the tandem of Rajai Davis and Tyler Naquin are going to take too many at bats away from him. Also, only 14 stolen bases? He was the Tribe’s leader in that category in 2017 and although the team doesn’t run that much, with his speed he should be able to get more than that.

Zimmer will be hitting near the bottom of the order, but he should still be in a good spot to get plenty of opportunities to knock runs in and steal bases.

Predictions

I believe Zimmer should see way more at bats than those projections have. If he’s able to get 100-150 more ABs than his projections, then the rest of his stats would increase, don’t you think? These are my guesses as to Zimmer’s 2018 production.

2018 Predictions: .260/.339/.458, 23 doubles, 16 homers, 60 RBIs, 25 stolen bases, 120 Ks

I think with the increased opportunities to hit, he’s going to settle in and get closer to his ceiling this season. His averages are all going to improve, as well as some of his power numbers. While he has potential for 20 homers a season, I don’t think he gets there quite yet, but he doubles his home run output from last season.

He’ll also get more opportunities for stolen bases and will be the team leader in that category once again this season. Throughout the minors he was known for his selective approach and drawing walks and limiting strikeouts. He didn’t show that in his first season, striking out nearly 30% of the time. There will be an adjustment period for him and he’ll strike out a bit this season but it should be at a lower percentage than what it was last year.

The Cleveland Indians are excited about his future and the fans should be as well. He’s still a long ways away from reaching his ceiling but I think he will make some big strides towards reaching it this season. The development of the young players like Zimmer is crucial for the long term success of the franchise.

Next: Edwin Encarnacion season preview

Zimmer is currently the Cleveland Indians only outfield option that doesn’t have any major health questions surrounding him and is locked down for the next several years. Lonnie Chisenhall and Michael Brantley both have injury concerns and are free agents after this season.