District on Deck » Steve Lombardozzi

Fantasy Preview: Steve Lombardozzi

Andrew Flax — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 13:30:15 +0000

Super utility man Steve Lombardozzi was the Nationals’ primary infield utility man during his rookie year in 2012, hitting .273/.317/.354 in 416 PA, along with five home runs, 19 walks, and 46 strikeouts. He got a lot of playing time when Ryan Zimmerman and Ian Desmond went down with injuries, seeing starts at second and third base. Heading into 2013, Lombardozzi will certainly aim to improve upon his production, but in an optimal world, he receives as little playing time as possible. While he will attempt to improve, spotty playing time could hurt his consistency, and he will find it difficult to make any major strides. The projections roughly support this claim:

October 2, 2012; Washington, D.C., USA; Washington Nationals left fielder Steve Lombardozzi (1) singles in the first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

ZiPS: 584 PA*, .267/.316/.372, 42 RBI, 66 runs scored, 14 SB, 5 HR

MLB.com: 301 PA, .273/.317/.360, 25 RBI, 33 runs scored, 8 SB, 3 HR

CBSSports: 315 PA, .292/.326/.387, 21 RBI, 33 runs scored, 3 SB, 3 HR

ESPN Fantasy: 272 PA, .257/.298/.342, 19 RBI, 30 runs scored, 6 SB, 2 HR

Averages: 368 PA, .272/.314/.365, 27 RBI, 41 runs scored, 8 SB, 3 HR

*ZiPS projects a player’s performance based solely on past seasons, without consideration for playing time. It does not expect Lombardozzi to play a regular role due to an injury to another player, but simply offers the numbers he would put up over a full season.

These projections are fairly scattered, and with some good reason. It can be hard to predict how a player will do in such a small sample size, especially with only one year of Major League experience to base it on. However, they all tell a similar tale. Lombardozzi should have a decent average, mediocre OBP, and poor slugging, with a few runs scored and not much else. He plays defense well at second, but not nearly as well as Danny Espinosa, so his only game action will be for an injury or as a late-inning pinch hitter. His lack of playing time will, as with all bench players, be the main impediment to his having a productive fantasy season, but if Espinosa or Desmond goes down with an injury, he could be an option in deep NL-only leagues, or maybe beyond if he heats up. He’ll continue to provide capable replacement play for the Nats, in the hopefully unlikely event that another infielder is injured.

Predicting The 2013 Nationals, Part Two: The Infielders

Jared Book — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:00:18 +0000

The Washington Nationals arguably have the best power-hitting infield in all of baseball. Between Adam LaRoche, Danny Espinosa, Ryan Zimmerman and Ian Desmond, they can all hit 20 homeruns and have in the past. That, though comes with strike outs which limits the positives they bring.

April 29, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Washington Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty (43) meets with starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez (47) and the infielders during the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Throughout this series, I will be noting players on the 40-man roster and confirmed non-roster invitees. In the infield, that means no major additions or subtractions, save Mark DeRosa.

In the second installment of our “Predicting the Nationals” series, we take a look at the men in the infield (or, at least listed as infielders) using ZiPS (published at Fangraphs) and Bill James’s pre-season predictions (from the Bill James Handbook).

As you can see, the big things is that both systems tend to believe Desmond’s power surge but not completely and while ZiPS is bullish on LaRoche, James sees a much similar season coming from the veteran first baseman. What strikes me, more than with the catchers, is how similar some of the predictions are which makes sense. The longer a player has data, the more similar the projections will be since they are mostly based on history along with a combination of other factors like injuries and age.

A note before we begin: Obviously, playing time is not totally adjusted. This is just to get an idea of what the major prediction systems are offering for the Nationals this season.

Ian Desmond
ZiPS: 611 PA, .269/.312/.432, 18 HR, 70 RBI, 5.4 BB%, 20.6 K%, 3.4 WAR
James: 595 PA, .279/.326/.445, 18 HR, 68 RBI, 6.1 BB%, 19.2 K%

Danny Espinosa
ZiPS: 653 PA, .235/.308/.403, 20 HR, 66 RBI, 7.7 BB%, 27.7 K%, 2.8 WAR
James: 612 PA, .253/.327/.434, 21 HR, 66 RBI, 8.0 BB%, 24.8 K%

Adam LaRoche
ZiPS : 478 PA, .249/.322/.445, 19 HR, 72 RBI, 9.8 BB%, 23.4 K%, 1.9 WAR
James: 592 PA, .256/.334/.471, 26 HR, 87 RBI, 10.3 BB%, 23.5 K%

Steve Lombardozzi
ZiPS : 584 PA .267/.316/.372, 5 HR, 42 RBI, 5.5 BB%, 13.2 K%, 1.7 WAR
James: 358 PA, .293/.339/.399, 4 HR, 28 RBI, 5.9 BB%, 10.9 BB%

Chris Marrero
ZiPS : 476 PA, .253/.311/.372, 9 HR, 50 RBI, 7.1 BB%, 21.6 K%, -0.1 WAR

Anthony Rendon
ZiPS: 358 PA, .242/.327/.412, 9 HR, 46 RBI, 10.3 BB%, 22.1 K%

Chad Tracy
ZiPS: 168 PA, .255/.310/.366, 3 HR, 20 RBI, 7.1 BB%, 16.1 K%, 0.2 WAR

Ryan Zimmerman
ZiPS: 607 PA, .280/.348/.471, 23 HR, 87 RBI, 9.4 BB%, 17.6 K%, 4.3 WAR
James: 659 PA, .287/.359/.486, 25 HR, 93 RBI, 9.7 BB%, 17.5 K%

Will Rhymes (Non-Roster)
ZiPS : 482 PA, .261/.314/.346, 4 HR, 32 RBI, 6.6 BB%, 10.4 K%, 0.3 WAR
James: 230 PA, .270/.333/.355, 2 HR, 18 RBI, 8.3 BB%, 10.4 K%

No Projections for Non-Roster Invites Matt Skole and Zach Walters

2012 Season Review: Steve Lombardozzi

Andrew Flax — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 23:27:27 +0000

After 32 unimpressive plate appearances last season, 24-year-old Steve Lombardozzi came into this season looking to improve, despite a limited role. ZiPS projected him to hit .265/.316/.379 in 655 plate appearances, a prediction that turned out to be quite accurate. In only 416 plate appearances, Lombardozzi hit .273/.317/.354 with three home runs, 27 RBI, and 40 runs scored. Lombardozzi played a fair amount as a pinch hitter, starting only 83 on the 126 games he appeared in. In 20 of those games, he never played an out on defense, appearing only as a pinch hitter. He also played second base in 51 games, left field in 41, third base in 13, and shortstop in one.

After starting only four of his first twelve games, hitting .308 in the process, Lombardozzi started nine consecutive games at third base from April 27th to May 6th as Ryan Zimmerman missed time with a shoulder injury. After 13 more games, including four more starts, Lombardozzi was hitting .310 before he stepped in to the left field starting job on May 27th after Jayson Werth broke his wrist and Roger Bernadina faltered in the starting job. He started the next 14 games, placed in the leadoff spot by Davey Johnson by virtue of his .366 on base percentage. However, he too did not perform in left, hitting .222, and was platooned with Bernadina.

Lombardozzi continued his role as a utility injury replacement after the All-Star break, when Ian Desmond missed a month with an oblique injury. He started 34 consecutive games after the break, almost exclusively at second base as Danny Espinosa moved to shortstop, and hit .297 during that time. He finished the season with a return to his bench role, starting only nine of his final 28 games while hitting .231. He made three pinch-hit appearances in the playoffs, going 1-3.

Season Highlight: Lombardozzi had no walkoffs or end-game heroics, but still had some great games. Against Houston on April 16th, he went 4-5 with two RBIs, both of which came on a tie-breaking double in the sixth inning, giving the Nats a lead they would not relinquish.

Next Season: While it does not appear that Lombardozzi will be jumping into a starting role any time soon, look for him to continue performing as a valuable bench member for years to come.

Previous Reviews:
Xavier Nady
Chien Ming Wang
Mark DeRosa
Henry Rodriguez
Carlos Maldonado
Brad Lidge
Ryan Mattheus
Ryan Perry
Rick Ankiel
Jesus Flores
Sandy Leon
Corey Brown
Christian Garcia
Jhonatan Solano
Mike Morse
Zach Duke
Tom Gorzelanny
Chad Tracy
Mike Gonzalez
John Lannan
Kurt Suzuki
Drew Storen
Wilson Ramos
Tyler Moore