2015 Player Projection: Chris Iannetta

Chris Iannetta had one of the best years of his career in 2014 and he didn’t even need the Coors Field altitude to do it. Can he repeat his OBP dominance now that he is the undisputed primary catcher for the Angels?

What happened in 2014?
Chris Iannetta started the season off is a pretty rigid platoon with Hank Conger, as expected. What wasn’t expected is that the platoon would be done away with by the end of the year. Actually, that’s not true. Some expect Conger to overtake Iannetta as the top catcher, but it ended up being the other way around.

Some of that had to do with Hank’s bat disappearing, but a lot more of it had to do with Iannetta’s bat taking off. It was his second-best season according to wRC+. You could even call it his best season if you don’t trust how well the stats adjust for the park effects of Coors Field earlier in Iannetta’s career.

He still wasn’t all that good defensively, as he remains a terrible framer. However, he had a lot more success controlling the running game after a brutal 2013. Turns out it helps when you have pitchers that hold runners on and don’t take three years to get to the plate.

[table id=76 /] *The MWAH projections are simply my best guess based off my own personal opinion and research (my wOBA calculation is approximate because my math skills are only “meh”)

What do the projections think he will do in 2015?
All the projections pretty much looked at Iannetta’s .329 BABIP last year and said “NOPE.” They are in general agreement about most everything else, though CAIRO is slightly more optimistic about his power output. Otherwise, it is another year of a bunch of walks and a bunch of strikeouts.

Does the Monkey agree or disagree?
I’m ever so slightly more pessimistic about Iannetta in part because of the BABIP spike, but also because I think Iannetta is going to get overworked and overexposed now that Hank Conger is gone. Iannetta has never played more than 115 games in a season, but I expect him to blow past that this year. He also has been benefiting from having a left-handed counterpart to split time with and thus save him from logging too many at-bats against right-handed pitching. That’s gone now and it will take a toll on his average and his power production.

THREE OPEN QUESTIONS FOR CHRIS IANNETTA IN 2015
1) Is he really going to play 100 to 115 games?
That’s what Scioscia is saying, or at least that is how many games he is saying Iannetta will catch. But once he discovers that Drew Butera makes Jeff Mathis look like Mike Napoli, offensively, I really wonder if he will stick with that plan. He’s already hinted that he might use Iannetta at DH some, so he clearly wants to keep his bat in the lineup. But will Scioscia really run the risk of wearing Iannetta down, kind of like he did last season when he played 24 games in the month of August and then posted a .507 OPS in September.

2) Will Scioscia continue to bury Iannetta in the bottom third of the order?
I remain in the camp of people who believes that no matter how well a catcher hits, Scioscia will bat him no higher than seventh simply because that player is a catcher. Sosh clearly is no dummy when it comes to the benefit of a high OBP at the top of the lineup as he has openly toyed with the idea of batting Matt Joyce second this year because Joyce posted a .349 OBP last year. Iannetta had a .373 OBP last year and do you know how many times Scioscia has publicly expressed interest in batting Iannetta at the top of the order? NOT ONE GOD DAMN TIME.

I’m not saying it is necessarily even an optimal lineup permutation, but neither is having Iannetta’s on-base skills buried at the bottom of the order where he’ll be setting the table for Josh Rutledge to not drive him in this year. I’m just saying that maybe Scioscia might want to think outside the box a little bit more, that’s all.

3) How does Chris Iannetta get a free pass from Scioscia on his defense?
I honestly have no idea. He controls the running game OK. He is a little below average at blocking pitches. He’s just plain bad at framing. Yet he never ends up in Scioscia’s doghouse like so many others before him. The best I can figure, Iannetta must call games well, at least in the eyes of Scioscia. I can’t say I’ve ever heard any pitcher or coach comment on way or the other. It remains an unsolved mystery.

The Final Word (and PIC)
“Walk”

Just keep walking, Chris. More power would be nice and all, but getting on base is the one excellent skill he has and he shouldn’t sell that out to pump up his average, crank a few more dingers or cut back on his strikeouts. It’s all about that walk.