Oakland Athletics Season Predictions: A Guide To 2016

2016 Predictions: The Offense, Continued

Most Strikeouts:

Andrew: Marcus Semien
Mark: Billy Butler
Melson: Marcus Semien
Katrina: Marcus Semien
Rich: Marcus Semien
Rylan: Khris Davis
Samantha: Marcus Semien

This was another pick that came close to unanimous status. Semien struck out 132 times in 556 at-bats – well over 20 percent of the time. MLB.com has predicted 115 strikeouts in 525 at-bats this season, and it’s hard to imagine him outperforming that expectation. As Andrew pointed out, he led the team in games played and plate appearances

Davis is an equally swing-and-miss hitter, with 122 K’s in 392 at-bats, so he’s a probable suspect as well. He had the same number of punch outs in 2014, despite having more than 100 extra at-bats, so he’s a little harder to predict that Semien.

Finally, Billy Butler is a bit of a wild card. He struck out 101 times in over 500 plate appearances last season, but he’s never topped 111 in any season.

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Highest On-Base Percentage:

Andrew: Stephen Vogt
Mark: Jed Lowrie
Melson: Josh Reddick
Katrina: Stephen Vogt
Rich: Billy Burns
Rylan: Yonder Alonso
Samantha: Danny Valencia

The offensive category that created the most chaos among staffers was on-base percentage. Out of qualified batters last season, Vogt was less than ten points ahead of Burns and Reddick. Vogt’s .341 OBP also was less than twenty points higher than the fourth-place Billy Butler. Lowrie would have ranked sixth, had he been an Athletic, and Alonso’s .361 OBP was far above anyone else’s.

As Andrew pointed out, “right-handed pitchers throw cautiously” to Vogt, so he stands a good chance of repeating. Mark also added this about Jed Lowrie: “He can hit. He is just a liability at shortstop.”

Valencia had a .356 OBP in 205 appearances, so it will be interesting to see if he can maintain that level as an everyday player this year.

Next: 2016 Predictions: The Pitching