Mitglieder » A handful of Tigers beat out their projected number

s last season."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Detroit Tigers AnalysisDetroit Tigers Prospect NotebookDetroit Tigers Game ThreadsDetroit Tigers NewsDetroit Tigers PodcastsDetroit Tigers AnalysisHow did Tigers hitters compare to their ZiPS projections in 2018?New Eric Sogard Jersey ,3commentsA handful of Tigers beat out their projected numbers last season.ESTShareTweetShareShareHow did Tigers hitters compare to their ZiPS projections in 2018?Raj Mehta-USA TODAY SportsAs we wait for the beginning of the 2019 MLB season, it makes sense to take a look back at the season past, as rough as it might have been. The Detroit Tigers entered 2018 with low expectations as a whole, but certain individuals were projected to have favorable years. Rather than looking at numbers alone, projections provide valuable context for a player’s end-of-season stats.Many projection systems exist, but ZiPS is one that does a good job at estimating fWAR for the season ahead. While there are always deltas between projection and reality, ZiPS provides a good baseline for what to expect going into the season. Unsurprisingly, the overall projections were not too high on the 2018 Tigers, but a few players stood out in particular.This post takes a look at Tigers batters that notched at least 100 at bats last season and compares how they performed compared to their preseason projections. A subsequent post will do the same for the pitching staff.2018 Tigers Batters ZiPSNameZiPSfWARDeltaNameZiPSfWARDeltaExceeding expectationsFew players entered 2018 with lower expectations than Niko Goodrum. ZiPS projected just .221/.271/.351 and 61 wRC+ for the versatile defender, which would see him spending most of his time on the bench and near the bottom of the batting order. Of course, this is not how the season played out at all for the charismatic Goodrum, as he logged 103 wRC+ and 16 home runs during the year.ZiPS projected a -1.2 fWAR for Goodrum, which was completely justified. After his 1.1 fWAR output in 2018, he should see his 2019 closer to 1.0 fWAR than zero http://www.brewersfanproshop.com/authentic-orlando-arcia-jersey , and definitely nothing in the negatives.Goodrum was easily the biggest over-performer in Detroit last season, but a couple of his peers were pleasant surprises at well. Jose Iglesias (+1.4) and JaCoby Jones (+1.0) were the other big movers, as both plus-defenders were better than expected at the plate.Iglesias entered last season coming off two poor offensive years in a row, with 74 wRC+ in 2016 and 73 wRC+ in 2017. ZiPS bought into this trend, projecting 75 wRC+ in 2018. The crafty shortstop had a surprisingly improved year with the bat, doubling his steal output (15), bumping up his batting average by 14 points (.269), and posting a career-high ISO (.120). He was also helped by his always solid defense (8.2 UZR).Expectations were minimal for Jones, who was projected for just 0.2 fWAR last season. After his limited time with the Tigers in 2016 and 2017, this was probably fair, as the young outfielder struggled mightily at the plate. His 2018 season did provide a marked improvement, even though his batting average sat at .207.A 70 wRC+ is not great, but it does show some promise going forward. Much of his 1.2 fWAR, however Zach Davies Jersey , came from his outstanding defense. At 21 DRS and 12.3 UZR, Jones was one of the best outfielders in 2018. Defense alone cannot carry fWAR, but ZiPS should be a little more positive on Jones for 2019.Falling shortThe Tigers who fell shortest compared to their projections in 2018 were not too surprising. Victor Martinez was not expected to do much, with ZiPS projecting 92 wRC+ and 0.7 fWAR. The aging designated hitter fell woefully short of these figures, mustering just 75 wRC+ and -1.7 fWAR. Everyone knew his time was coming to a close... except maybe for the computers.James McCann and Dawel Lugo entered the season as the fixth- and sixth-highest projected Tigers batters per ZiPS, but neither went on to post a positive fWAR. For McCann, last season was the downturn of his career yo-yo, with his 2015-2018 wRC+ numbers bouncing from 84, 64, 95, and 58. His .220 average was the lowest of his career, and he dropped down to eight homers after consecutive seasons of double-digits.Lugo’s projections were a little surprising for a rookie. He was quite productive in Double-A in 2017, but a jump to the majors is obviously steep. As a result, he did not get anywhere near his modest 85 wRC+ projection. The fan base is cooling on the second baseman http://www.brewersfanproshop.com/authentic-orlando-arcia-jersey , and Lugo will have to do much better than 57 wRC+ and -0.4 fWAR this season to keep his spot in Detroit.While ZiPS may not be the perfect measure of predicting players’ future successes, it can be a solid temperature gauge at the very least. The value in this exercise is less about finding the shortcomings of projection systems and instead recognizing which players surprised us the most. Even though ZiPS has a track record of being fairly accurate, there will always be some outliers. ST. LOUIS (AP) — Miles Mikolas‘ outing against the San Francisco Giants was typical, and typical for him is pretty good.Mikolas won his fourth straight start, Matt Carpenter hit his NL-leading 36th homer and the Cardinals beat the Giants 9-2 to complete a three-game sweep and remain on track for the NL’s second wild card.St. Louis (87-69) has won three straight games and six of seven. The Cardinals remained 1½ games ahead of Colorado (85-70) and two games behind Milwaukee, the wild card leader. St. Louis hosts the Brewers (89-67) in a three-game series starting Monday night.“We feel pretty good,” Mikolas said. “We feel strong. We feel like we’re a team that’s real dangerous and a team that’s going to come out and give a lot of people trouble.”Mikolas (17-4) allowed two runs — one earned — and two hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts and no walks. John Brebbia and Giovanny Gallegos, who made his Cardinals debut, finished a five-hitter.“I had some good sink of my fastball so I tried to use that a lot,” said Mikolas, tied with Washington’s Max Scherzer and Chicago’s Jon Lester for the NL lead in wins. “Just pound the zone. They took some swings early so I was able to get some quick outs.”Mikolas has made 11 starts of at least seven innings and the two hits he gave up were a season low.“He works ahead in the count so that creates doubt,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “He can pretty much throw any pitch he wants at any time in the count. He throws inner half, which sets up the outer half, which disrupts the balance of the hitter and he can change speed which disrupts the timing of the hitter. That combination is what pitching is.”Andrew Suarez (7-12) gave up two runs and six hits in five innings as San Francisco gave him three runs or less of run support during his time in the game for the 21st time this season. The Giants finished 31-50 on the road for a two-year record of 57-105 away from home.San Francisco has lost 10 straight road games against NL Central teams since winning at the Chicago Cubs on May 27.“It’s a tough lineup Boone Logan Jersey ,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of the Cardinals. “They’ve got power, speed, good athletes.”The bottom two in the Cardinals batting order built a 2-0 lead with two-out singles, by Yairo Munoz in the second and Mikolas in the fourth.Harrison Bader bunted in a run to spark a five-run sixth that includes RBI singles by Munoz and Paul DeJong around Jose Martinez’s two-run double. Carpenter hit a two-run homer off Casey Kelly in the eighth.“Everybody contributed,” Carpenter said. “Guys finding a way to score even when we’ve got some guys that aren’t getting it done. It’s the making of a good team.”Brandon Crawford’s two-run homer in the seventh stopped an 0-for-9 skid.“I’ve faced him a few times back in 2012 but other than that I haven’t seen him for years,” Crawford said of Mikolas. “I was just looking for something up that I can put in play and try and just get the bat on and fortunately saw the curve ball enough to put the barrel on it.”TRAINING ROOMCardinals: 2B Kolten Wong missed his second consecutive start after leaving Friday’s game in the seventh inning with cramps in both hamstrings.DEBUTINF Edmundo Sosa was recalled from Triple-A Memphis. Sosa made his debut when he walked as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, and he scored on Carpenter’s home run.UP NEXTGiants: LHP Derek Holland (7-8, 3.57 ERA) starts the first of a three-game series at home against San Diego and RHP Bryan Mitchell (1-4, 6.16 ERA) on Monday night. Holland will make his first start since July 18, which was also against the Padres, where he allowed four runs in five innings.Cardinals: RHP Jack Flaherty (8-8, 3.08 ERA) kicks off a three-game home series Monday night against Milwaukee and RHP Chase Anderson (9-8, 3.93 ERA). Flaherty is 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA in four career starts against the Brewers.