Cleveland Indians: The Renaissance of Jason Kipnis

Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

Conclusion:

2015 was a fantastic year for Jason Kipnis. He completely changed his approach, and, as a result, he hit more doubles and triples than ever before. Even further, his changes towards a contact-oriented strategy, fueled by more opposite-field hits and line drives, increased his batting average to compensate for his decreased home-run-hitting abilities.

Whether or not these changes will transition to 2016 remains to be seen, and early projections from Steamer did not believe in his changes. Released just about a week ago, they predicted a return to league-average performance with a reversal of the aforementioned switches. These projections believe that the changes that Kipnis made were not sustainable, and they think that he will regress towards his average.

While I usually agree with projections, this time I must disagree. I believe in the Renaissance of Jason Kipnis.

Next: 2015 Season Review: Corey Kluber