Joe Scotland couldn’t hit, but boy could Old Forty-Five chase ’em down in CF. And a great nickname, to boot.
We’ve elected to follow essentially his historical usage pattern, where he never really was more than a 5th OFer, filling in late in games and with the occasional start. We maintained this even in 1910 and 1911, where we had to add years. It makes a bit of an odd career–never more than 300 PAs in a season, but a career that spans about a dozen years. Most players with this usage pattern are catchers, but others are in there in MLB history, so it doesn’t make Scotland a unicorn by any means.
Scotland’s best offensive season–by far–was his rookie year in 1907. He would never again hit .300, would only approach an OBP of .350 in his final season, and only once approach his .340 SLG of that year. These projections have him hitting under .225 7 times (and barely over it a handful of others) and an OPS over .600 in only 6 seasons. Just not a very good hitter, despite a decent walk rate. His walk rate increased as he aged, as did his whiff rate.
He did have some speed, so would be useful when he did reach base, and was truly useful with the bat only in 1914 (where we also have him receiving his largest amount of playing time).
His value on defense was significant, however. He played mostly in CF, showing great range and a decent arm both there and in his occasional forays into LF and RF.
So, a decent end-of-roster piece, but not a lot more than that.
Defense is weird, right? If you decrease its importance or reduce Scotland’s effectiveness there, Scotland is probably out of the league around 1913. But I could see him also earning a bit more playing time than this projections shows. So these projections feel like a decent compromise.
| Name | Joe Scotland (Old Forty-Five) |
| ID / Status | scotl01joe / Draft |
| Pos | CF |
| DOB / i9s Career | 03/08/1882 / 1907 - 1919 |
| Birthplace | Montgomery, AL (USA) |
| Height / Weight | 5'11" / 175 |
| B / T | / |
Batting Projections
| Year | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SO | SB | CS | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| 1907 | 282 | 87 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 19 | 11 | 5 | 0.309 | 0.346 | 0.340 | 0.686 |
| 1908 | 211 | 47 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 23 | 25 | 4 | 3 | 0.223 | 0.299 | 0.294 | 0.593 |
| 1909 | 125 | 25 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 0.200 | 0.265 | 0.248 | 0.513 |
| 1910 | 140 | 32 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 0.229 | 0.303 | 0.307 | 0.610 |
| 1911 | 252 | 59 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 22 | 9 | 4 | 0.234 | 0.303 | 0.306 | 0.609 |
| 1912 | 167 | 36 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 0.216 | 0.276 | 0.305 | 0.582 |
| 1913 | 132 | 23 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 0.174 | 0.221 | 0.280 | 0.502 |
| 1914 | 229 | 53 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 25 | 27 | 20 | 3 | 0.231 | 0.307 | 0.341 | 0.648 |
| 1915 | 150 | 23 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 0.153 | 0.201 | 0.227 | 0.428 |
| 1916 | 122 | 24 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 0.197 | 0.279 | 0.262 | 0.542 |
| 1917 | 123 | 26 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 0.211 | 0.302 | 0.236 | 0.538 |
| 1918 | 134 | 33 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 0.246 | 0.318 | 0.313 | 0.631 |
| 1919 | 78 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0.244 | 0.344 | 0.282 | 0.626 |