Sometimes we just aren’t ourselves. We have a bad break here, an unlucky streak there, we feel like nothing is going our way, so we get into a funk. I had one stretch like this while I was in college. It seemed like everything in the entire universe was working against me. It seemed like I was a minute late to every class, I studied the wrong material a couple times, I missed a letter grade in multiple classes by a fraction of a point, my car broke down, and I broke my cell phone. Hell, my fantasy team sucked too. I got into a funk.
Now, I know that some of these things are partly (if not mostly) my fault, and if I had been more responsible, things might have turned out differently. That is what I am getting at. I realized that I couldn’t predict the unlucky breaks or bounces, but if I stuck to my guns and started acting like I always had instead of being an irresponsible prick, then everything would work out. And it did. The next semester was one of the best I had in college.
What I’m ranting about here is that it’s possible to bounce back after a rough stretch and get back to being you and doing what you do best. In this series, I’m going to go position-by-position and talk about players who had sub-par 2014s who I think will bounce back in 2015. I am absolutely not trying to say that these guys are irresponsible pricks like I was during my rough patch, just that I think their respective 2014s were aberrations, and they still have some good baseball left in them.
First: Catchers. First Basemen
Next: Second Basemen Poised to Bounce Back in 2015
Jason Kipnis, Cleveland Indians
2014 stats (129 games): .240 BA, 6 HR, 41 RBI, 61 R, 22 SB
The point of this series is to look at players that you should invest in for 2015 fantasy purposes whose poor 2014 performances could possibly drive their fantasy draft stock way down below their norms. Jason Kipnis is a great example of such a player. Kipper enjoyed top 5 seasons at second base in 2012 and 2013 and was rewarded with a nice, fat 6-year, $52.5 million contract before the 2014 season. He then proceeded to put up the worst season of his major league career, thanks mostly to injuries and a complete ineptitude at hitting lefties.
In his two previous seasons of 2012 and 2013, Kipnis split .215/.280 and .308/.270 versus lefties and righties. The improvement from 2012 to 2013 at hitting lefties suggested to many that he had simply “figured it out”, but a regression to .208/.256 in 2014 raised more than a few eyebrows and questions about whether his 2013 (where he crushed lefties) was an outlier.
There are a lot of unanswered questions about Kipnis after this season. Was the decline due to injuries? Was he “Trying to do too much with the new contract” as he said (in so many words)? Was he slowed down by adding bulk before the season? It is hard to tell, but what we do know is that Cleveland knows that something was wrong, as they have prescribed him a new offseason regimen designed to make him lighter and more flexible, to which he has reportedly been receptive.
The bottom line is Kipnis is too talented to be as bad as he was in 2014. With the emergence of the likes of José Altuve, Brian Dozier, Dee Gordon, and Kolten Wong, a career year from Neil Walker, and the usual studs like Robinson Canó and Ian Kinsler, Kipnis’ 2015 price in fantasy drafts and auctions could be way down from 2014. It would be a price I would be happily willing to pay.
2015 Projection: .265 BA, 14 HR, 65 RBI, 72 R, 25 SB
Jedd Gyorko, San Diego Padres
2014 Stats (111 games): .210 BA, 10 HR, 51 RBI, 37 R, 3 SB
Gyorko burst onto the scene in 2013 as a rookie who smashed 23 home runs playing half of his games in the cavernous Petco Park. Similar to Kipnis, he was rewarded with a nice contract before 2014 and promptly sucked. Some regression was expected, but no one thought he would be as downright atrocious as he was in the first two months of the season (a .161 average).
He missed about two months in the middle of the season due to plantar fasciitis and improved significantly upon his return (.260 average). This may provide some insight to the cause of his early season struggles, as plantar fasciitis is usually an injury that is brought on by continuous stress on the foot, which means that he probably wasn’t 100% for the first two months.
Gyorko’s 2014 did have other positives, other than his hot streak after returning from the DL, in the form of improved plate discipline. He cut back on strikeouts and chased fewer pitches outside of the strike zone. So, despite the rough patch and the overall numbers, 2014 was a year of progress in the development of the young second baseman. His offensive ceiling can only go so high while playing in Petco, but he should at least be the San Diego’s main source of power along with Yasmani Grandal Matt Kemp. His draft stock will be down due to the same reasons as Kipnis- a poor 2014 performance and a relatively strong class of 2B cohorts- but he is a pretty solid bounce back candidate. Of course, I could be biased in favor of fellow West Virginia natives and WVU Mountaineers.
2015 Projection: .240 BA, 18 HR, 65 RBI, 55 R, 3 SB
Also watch out for:
Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox (He’s played through injuries the past couple of years, which could explain the decline. Maybe this offseason will allow him to get healthy.)
Jurickson Profar, Texas Rangers (Injuries have impeded the rise of the one-time top five prospect, and the emergence of Rougned Odor could limit his playing time even more, but he is still an extremely talented player.)
Is your season over or just want to try a daily league? Join me at Fantasy Draft. Sign up and play today using this link https://www.fantasydraft.com/play/pshroyer
LIKE us on Facebook!!
Thank you for reading. Follow me on Twitter – @deshroyer_LWOS. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld – and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest in sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – SEPTEMBER 25: Jedd Gyorko #9 of the San Diego Padres goes into a slide on his backhand side to take a hit away from Yusmeiro Petit #52 of the San Francisco Giants in the bottom of the fourth inning at AT&T Park on September 25, 2014 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
