Miguel Tejada has had a tremendous career. In 14 seasons with Oakland, Baltimore, Houston and San Diego he has earned himself 6 All-Star appearances, two Silver Slugger awards (highest batting average) and one MVP award.
Last year, his stat line of .269/.312/.381 with 15 home runs and 71 RBI was a poor reflection of how good he has been in years prior. Now that he is a Giant at the age of 36 (37 in May), we are left wondering if his career is getting toward the end, or if he has a few more decent years left.
Most people remember him from his tremendous years in Oakland where he started his career. In a span of 3 years (2000-2002) he had hit over 30 home runs, 100 RBI and 30 doubles while only missing a total of 2 games.
That stat brings up a good reason why Tejada is the right choice for the Giants Shortstop position this season: he is an iron man. In his long 14-year career he has only missed more than four games a season 3 times. Tejada is rarely kept off the field due to injuries, which for Giants fans is something we can all be happy about.
In the Giants history, The shortstop position has been filled with players who are injured almost too frequently. The past four shortstops, for example, are: Juan Uribe (2 years, 54 games missed), Edgar Renteria (2 years, 124 games missed), Omar Visquel (4 years, 106 games missed) and Deivi Cruz (1.5 years, 84 games missed).
Another positive trend Tejada has made throughout his career is hitting a ridiculous amount of doubles. He is currently 93rd all-time in doubles hit, 13th out of all active players. He has hit over 30 doubles a season ten times, over 40 doubles four times, and his career high is 50. Now that he will be playing at AT&T Park, "Triples Alley" would be a perfect target for him for drive in some runs.
Some statistics, however, are quite concerning. He has lead the league five times in grounding out into double plays, amassing a total of 261 GIDP in his career. To put that into perspective, he is ranked 2nd in that stat category out of all active players, only behind Ivan Rodriguez with 331.
Some other questionable aspects of Tejada's game is his lack of range on defense, his arm, and his speed, all slowed down by his age. Despite these negative reports, the Giants and Tejada both believe that he will become a very productive player this season.
So here ya go, Tejada's 2011 projection:
.275 Batting Average
.335 On-Base %
.410 Slugging %
17 Home runs
68 RBI
15 GIDP
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