Sherman Barton

Everyone needs a fourth outfielder!

Sherman Barton’s career flips entirely on usage projections. We initially had him as, essentially, a fifth OFer who barely saw 100 ABs in any season. Closer examination shows Barton as having more value than that, edging into a part-time starter and regular reserve OFer for most of his career. Once you do that, some of the variance in his career settles down, although he still has some massive peaks and valleys (see the 300+ points of OPS gap between 1901 and 1904).

The more he plays, the lower his peak would be–he doesn’t post an .800 OPS in 1901 as a full time player, I don’t think. But he’s also far better than the valley of 1904. The years he was given more of a chance–1905-1907 especially–he played well enough to be highly useful.

Bucky had some power, which helped offset his inability to draw a walk in most years (his eye for the strike zone did improve as he aged). He struck out a lot, at rates that would be among the league leaders if he played full time.

He had a strong arm, but overall wasn’t very good defensively, lacking enough speed to really play CF effectively (he also didn’t steal many bases).

Everything about Barton hinges on where he falls in terms of usage: he would be bad regular, a valuable reserve, and among the better AAA players, depending on how that falls out. Future revisions would change along this axis, but his shape here is solid.

NameSherman Barton (Bucky)
ID / Statusbarto01she / Draft
PosCF
DOB / i9s Career02/02/1875 / 1897 - 1911
BirthplaceNormal, IL (USA)
Height / Weight /
B / TR / R

 

Batting Projections

YearABH2B3BHRBBSOSBCSBAOBPSLGOPS
1941692993171941.172.205.278.483
189761112014821.180.231.262.493
1898280656102318113.232.290.261.551
18993759513601949135.253.289.320.609
190014532701141452.221.289.290.579
19011454763271172.324.355.448.803
190221647811112182.218.256.278.534
1903265701142173194.264.309.358.667
19053319215313150135.278.340.350.690
190641610019423455195.240.298.320.618
19072767514011835134.272.316.333.649
1908250531201163693.212.259.272.531
190916738611152462.228.291.293.584
191011629400123132.250.320.284.604
1911751221042011.160.203.213.416
TOTALS3,287795134271423242212342.242.292.312.604

 

Pitching Projections