2014 VEB Community Projections: Mark Ellis

Things that we should know about Mark Ellis:

• Mark Ellis is really, really good at defense. According to Fangraphs, Ellis has been worth 97.8 runs on defense throughout his career, and he has been able to sustain that late into his career with a 7.0 UZR last year and a 12.6 UZR in 2012
• Ellis is very good lefty-insurance for Kolten Wong. In his career against lefties, Mark Ellis has hit a very solid .276/.348/.429, while hitting a passable .262/.324/.377 against righties.
• He's significantly better against curveballs than other pitches. Over his career, he's been worth +9.3 runs against curveballs (the usual caveats apply when using Pitch Values), +1.6 runs against changeups, -8.6 runs against cutters, -10.5 runs against fastballs, and -16.2 runs against sliders.
• He was nicknamed "Ellis Island" while at the University at Florida, where creativity apparently goes to die.
• Ellis legitimately almost lost his leg in 2012 while trying to turn a double-play with Tyler Greene bearing down.
• Take-out slides are kind of his thing

via msti.files.wordpress.com

Stats via Fangraphs: