Thomas Crapper did not invent the flush toilet, but he did much to popularize it, according to Wikipedia. Crapper owned the first toilet showroom and due to his name being on a large number of toilets, U.S. servicemen would see it and say, “I need to go to the Crapper.” Hopefully, this adds a bit of context when I say Jean Segura spent 2014 in the crapper. The legacy of Crapper doesn’t end there. Up until Crapper’s time, the inventor and biggest proponent of the flush toilet was John Harington. He was also a popular writer and provocateur who spoke often about the toilet, beating it into people’s brains to call it “The John.” With that in mind, we can also say the Brewers shortstop for 2014 was “In the John” Segura. In 2013, Segura’s 2nd half fell off, and it led people to think his 2014 would be putrid. Those people were proven to be correct. I still don’t buy it. Yes, I don’t buy Segura is bad even after he had a terrible 2014, which was hinted at by a terrible 2nd half in 2013. Yes, I am excited about Segura even though he has a good three months to his entire career. I’m throwing last year out. He had a sub-par April, was moved down the order, and never bounced back. Things really went pear-shaped for him in June and July (.196 and .179). We don’t know his state of mind while his child was sick and then after losing the child. This had to affect him in some way. Perhaps he wanted to be back with his wife and ailing child, maybe he couldn’t concentrate. I have no idea; no one does but Segura. If we’re to throw out his June and July, then he hit .276 on the year. So, just like everyone wants to throw out his huge 1st half in 2013, can’t we also throw out those two months? Go ahead and answer under your breath, I can still hear you. Anyway, what can we expect of Jean Segura for 2015 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
He’s only 24 years old and he’s already had a season where he was ranked number one as the best shortstop in fantasy (2013; as if you need me to tell you). Think about this for a moment. If any other player was 24 years old and had a season where he was the best at his position, would he be as underrated as Segura? Hayzeus Cristo, no. Joe Mauer is not this underrated and his best season came five years ago and he’s 31 years old now. Is it that inconceivable (said like Vizzini) to think Segura could again hit 10 homers and steal 40 bases while hitting .275? This has me near-ulcer crazy. Why is Segura not a 10 homer guy? Was someone else hitting his homers the year he did it? I’m not saying he’s a 20-homer hitter (though some scouts have said he is capable of that). I’m saying ten homers. He hit ten homers the one year he played a full minor league season at a level. He was on pace for it in Double-A until he was called up. Then he hit 12 homers in 2013. Ten homers is not a stretch for him. Then if he hits in the .275 range, he’ll be moved back up the order. I’ve already said how he could’ve hit .276 last year without his two bad months. In 2013, he hit .294. He had the 27th best K-rate in the majors last year (while hitting .246), only striking out 12.6% of the time. For players with that low of a strikeout rate, he had the 2nd lowest batting average. The only one that beat him was Andrelton Simmons at .244. If you don’t strike out, you’re hitting the ball into play. If you have speed like Segura, you should hit better than .250. Oh, and speaking of speed, he has 40+ steal speed. I seriously have no idea why you wouldn’t want to draft Segura where he’s likely to end up going this year. I’m perplexed, y’all! For 2015, I’ll give him the projections of 69/10/50/.272/35 with a chance for a lot more upside.
