Jarrod Saltalamacchia 2011 Projection
| AB | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | HR | R | RBI | SB |
| 261 | .254 | .333 | .376 | .709 | 9 | 24 | 45 | 0 |
As far as the projections go, this was one of the tougher ones. Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s performances have been all over the place, causing extremely inconsistent numbers across all levels. Last season, Salty even pulled a bit of a Rube Baker.
Salty has a minor league OBP of .366, but he had sporadic plate appearances at the higher levels. With the Rangers in 2009, salty drew a walk in 7.1 percent of his at-bats, but struck out over 34 percent of the time, keeping his AVG and OBP down. The reason for a bit of optimism in his OBP for 2011 is that he is now in an organization that will encourage and work on that part of his game.
As far as the rest of his offensive game, well, he has a lot to prove. Salty’s major league career strikeout rate is about 31 percent, which won’t lead to success if it holds up. Based on his overall major league numbers, Salty profiles as an all-or-nothing type of hitter. He has posted 20.8 percent career line drive rate, but a very low career 72.6 percent contact rate to go along with the high strikeout rate. He also has a career AB/HR rate of about 35, which would translate to roughly 14 home runs over 500 at-bats. 14 home runs would actually be slightly better than average for a catcher.
The bottom line is that any projection on Saltalamacchia is probably fairly volatile. His numbers are so inconsistent, yet his raw talent is so good. Maybe the Sox can work wonders with him and bring out some of that raw talent. However, unless he somehow finds a way to turn his career around, counting on Saltalamacchia as an everyday catcher is a risky move.
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