First things first, I will be unable to post for this weekend because I strained my oblique. My doctor says that the MRI shows no structural damage, but that I should take it easy on posting, anyway.

Okay, I've been holding out on Bill Hall for a good while now. Part of me still doesn't know his roster role, which makes a projection tough for several reasons. First, if he's in a true platoon, he's probably not going to see 400 PA (given his handedness), which affects the way I look at things. Secondly, if he's in a true platoon, his performance is going to look different. If Bil Hall faces nothing but left-handers for 400 PA, I would not be surprised if he recovered with a .250/.325/.450 season. Third, I simply wanted to see what happened in Spring Training. Not that it matters, but when I get cold feet about a projection, I get cold. In that case, small samples not only fail to spook me, but they look downright pleasant and welcoming. (But if a small sample size ever invites you in, don't drink the tap water. Bad mistake).

Truth is, I don't see much changing with Hall, unless he changes his walk rate. I wrote at length about this earlier, outlining what I believe to be the impact of his approach on his production. I do not think Hall is a home run hitter, given his patience and discipline. When he indicates that his discipline is sound -- which suggests to me that if he is not swinging at bad pitches, he should be swinging at good ones -- then  I believe he can do some damage. But otherwise, I'm not sure.

 But there are a few things that can change -- it seems to me that regardless of approach, Hall's batting luck was a little low last year, so a little correction is due. The other issue is the number of balls Hall puts in play. If he begins changing his approach to hit for contact more, I believe we can see a Hall emerge with decent hitting stats, fewer home runs, good doubles, and more singles (of course).

For now, I'm going to look for a slight increase in balls in play, as well as a slight increase in balls in play dropping for hits; walks remain about the same, and because of that, so does everything else. 

Bill Hall: 500 PA, 305 BIP, 92 BIPH; .610 BIP%, .300 BABIP; 456 AB, 108 H, 35 2B, 1 3B, 16 HR, 135 K/40 BB, 4 HBP; 2 SB, 4 CS; 193 TB; .237/.304/.423