Mike Leake: 2016 VEB Projections

Editor's Note: Two years ago, Site Manager Ben Humphrey asked readers to provide predictions for Cardinals baseball players. Last year, he renewed that request, and although Ben is in blogger retirement, we at VEB are re-renewing the request to predict how the Cardinals will do.

We will not get to every player on the 40-man roster, but we will get to most. There will not be a defined order for the players, but players most assured of playing time will go first so we can let some of Spring Training play out. We will ask for standard stats. For hitters: Plate Appearances, Home Runs, RBI (gasp!), Runs, Batting Average, On-Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage, and WAR. As trying to figure wOBA on is very difficult, we will use a rough approximation based on OBP and SLG ((1.7*OBP+SLG)/3). For pitchers: Starts, Games, Innings Pitched, K/9, BB/9, ERA, FIP, WAR, and Saves.

Next up is new Cardinals starting pitcher Mike Leake. Mike Leake spent most of his career in the Reds organization before a trade last season put him in a Giants uniform for the stretch run. That trade likely made Leake more enticing to the Cardinals as they were able to sign him to a five-year $80 million contract without giving up a draft pick in next year's Major League Baseball Draft. Leake spent a bit of time on the disabled list with a hamstring strain, but has been very durable throughout his career. Here are his statistics from last year:

Leake is also  a good hitter for a pitcher with a career 45 wRC+, but we are only asking for predictions on the pitching side. His Fangraphs profile which includes Steamer projections can be found here. The Cardinals ZiPS projections are here.

Thank you for participating. It is possible, you might have missed someone. Click below on other players to fill out your predictions.

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