2. OF Yoenis Cespedes – Detroit Tigers
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Tigers fans must be licking their chops imagining a healthy 1-2-3-4-5 punch in the batting order of Ian Kinsler, Victor Martinez, Miguel Cabrera, Yoenis Cespedes and J.D. Martinez.
Cespedes moves from being arguably the best bat in the Oakland Athletics’ lineup over the last two and a half seasons to quite possibly the fourth best hitter in Detroit’s lineup. With the protection he will be granted in 2015, big things are on his horizon. Add to that the motivation of playing in a contract season and El Talento is bound to impress this year.
Cespedes has more MLB service time than any of the other players on this list. He’s played in 85 percent of his squads games since entering the league, so durability should not be an issue. Three straight seasons with at least 20 home runs and 80 RBI, his batting average could even experience a spike in 2015 due to the lineup protection he has and thus the propensity for him to get more favorable pitches thrown his way.
The 29-year old’s Steamer projection looks like this: .267-73-23-85-7. His WAR projects to be a cool 3.0.