Cleveland Indians Roundtable: Bold predictions for 2018

Chris O’Reilly

Bold Prediction: Bradley Zimmer will lead the Indians in runs scored.

If you’ve been following along this winter, you know some of us here at Believeland Ball have pretty high hopes for Zimmer in 2018.

Despite a tough go at the plate late last season, Zimmer has the skill set to break out in his second year. He slashed .285/.339/.450 leading up to the All-Star break before opposing pitchers figured out how to shut him down.

We’re going to choose to believe in his early-season numbers rather than the .196/.275/.318 line he posted after the Midsummer Classic. When a young player goes through a long-term slump, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a bad hitter. It just means that there’s enough evidence on him for opposing teams to formulate an adequate scouting report on how to get him out.

The scouting report on Zimmer last season was pretty simple: He will chase pitches out of the zone, and he hasn’t proven the ability to make contact on them. As a result, he struck out 99 times.

With last year’s experience under his belt and a full offseason to prepare for 2018, Zimmer can respond to the adjustments opposing teams made to him in the second half of his 2017 campaign. We should see his numbers climb back up closer to where they were in the first half.

Furthermore, Zimmer is a pitcher’s nightmare on the base paths. He stole 18 bases on 19 attempts last season, and that’s even with a modest .307 on-base percentage. Once he refines his plate approach and proves to be a tougher out, he will have considerably more chances at thievery.

Zimmer will cut down on the strikeouts, he will get on base more often, and he will improve upon his promising stolen base total from last year, making him a strong candidate to bat near the top of the Indians’ lineup. The big guns in the middle of the order will capitalize on the RBI opportunities he will provide, and he will score more than 100 runs, making him one of the American League’s top breakthrough players in 2018.