As much as I hate projections, I’m going to give them to you anyway. Who cares what you actually want, right? Just let me throw some darts at some numbers and I’ll be right with you. Seriously, I’d love to try that one of these years. Next year I will be debuting my new dartboard projection system which is practically guaranteed to be no worse than any other expert. I think that’s actually how CBS and ESPN calculate their yearly projections. How bad could they be? Don’t answer that. Instead of stooping to such a level (at least yet) I have married weighted versions of my preseason projections with weighted year-to-date performances to determine rest-of-season projections. Usually I cater to the points league enthusiasts, but today I am flipping the script and going full roto. I realize that Kirk Lazarus warned us to never go full rotard, but I’m just feeling it today. If I go home empty handed, then I go home empty handed.
Here are my rest of season projections for four of the five major roto categories…
Let’s start with home runs. Everyone loves ding dongs. That sounds like the name of a Hostess snack. Personally, I prefer Ring Dings, but that’s just me. Does anyone else have any of the baseball cards that they used to print on the back of those Drake’s Cakes boxes? I think I’m just a Don Mattingly short of the set.
Home Runs
With another 19 home runs, Mark Trumbo will finish the season with 47 home runs to lead the Major Leagues. Kris Bryant will finish second with 43. Todd Frazier will end with 42. Edwin Encarnacion 41. Nelson Cruz, Josh Donaldson, Chris Davis and Nolan Arenado will each reach 40.
Mark Trumbo – 19
Edwin Encarnacion – 18
Chris Davis – 18
Kris Bryant – 18
Nelson Cruz – 17
Giancarlo Stanton – 17
Todd Frazier – 17
Josh Donaldson – 17
Trevor Story – 17
Nolan Arenado – 17
Chris Carter – 16
Adam Duvall – 16
David Ortiz – 16
Anthony Rizzo – 16
RBI
A hitter hasn’t driven in 140 runs since 2009 when both Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder reached 141. Wow, those are two players that currently have little to no fantasy value. With another 60 runs batted in over the course of the remainder of the season, Edwin Encarnacion will finish the year with exactly 140. That will be 15 more than David Ortiz and his 125 RBIs.
Edwin Encarnacion – 60
Nolan Arenado – 53
David Ortiz – 53
Kris Bryant – 50
Josh Donaldson – 50
Mark Trumbo – 49
Anthony Rizzo – 48
Chris Davis – 48
Mike Trout – 47
Albert Pujols – 47
Paul Goldschmidt – 47
Nelson Cruz – 47
Trevor Story – 46
Miguel Cabrera – 46
Daniel Murphy – 46
Runs
Josh Donaldson will finish the 2016 season with the most runs scored with 138. He will be followed by Mookie Betts (131), Kris Bryant (125) and Ian Kinsler (122).
Josh Donaldson – 58
Mookie Betts – 56
Mike Trout – 53
Kris Bryant – 52
Ian Kinsler – 51
Jose Altuve – 50
George Springer – 49
Chris Davis – 48
Manny Machado – 47
Aledmys Diaz – 46
Robinson Cano – 46
Xander Bogaerts – 46
Edwin Encarnacion – 45
Nolan Arenado – 45
Wil Myers – 45
Stolen Bases
Move over Billy Hamilton, Jonathan Villar will be the top base thief in 2016, finishing with 52 swipes. Starling Marte will fall just short of Villar with 50. Finally, in third place will be the preseason favorite, Billy Hamilton, with 43 stolen bases.
Jonathan Villar – 21
Billy Hamilton – 21
Starling Marte – 20
Jose Altuve – 18
Rajai Davis – 16
Eduardo Nunez – 13
Jacoby Ellsbury – 13
Melvin Upton Jr. – 12
Billy Burns – 12
Mookie Betts – 12
Jean Segura – 12
Jarrod Dyson – 12
Mallex Smith – 11
Travis Jankowski – 11
Elvis Andrus – 10
AL MVP – Josh Donaldson, 40 HR, 113 RBI, 138 R, 9 SB
NL MVP – Kris Bryant, 43 HR, 115 RBI, 125 R, 6 SB
If you want to know my projections for a specific player, just ask in the comments section.
