What can we expect from George Springer?

Astros County has predicted that George Springer will hit a home run in his first at bat; Others are preaching tempered expectations because high profile prospects often struggle in their first go around in the big leagues.

So what can we expect from George Springer? There's a projection system for that.

FanGraphs has four projection systems: Steamer, Oliver, Fans (36) and ZiPS. I'll leave the explanation of the projection systems up to the FanGraphs Library, but the projection systems over all expect Springer to do very well in the majors this year. Three of the four have Springer as producing 3-4.4 WAR. Steamer has him at .7 WAR in only 30 games. Steamer probably needs updating (the call-up happened less than 12 hours ago) and the Fans (36) projection only has him at 103 games. Still, the projection systems on FanGraphs expect Springer to be an above average player at the major league level. Baseball Prospects PECOTA also likes Springer, but not as much as the other systems. Their systems has Springer at a 2.2 WARP.

He's expected to hit 20-25 home runs, score 70-75 runs and steal around 25 bases. His average triple slash line (average/on-base/slugging) among the projection systems is expected to be .242/.329/.455. Springer is expected to hit for a low average, walk at an above average rate, strikeout at an above average rate and bring some more power to an Astros lineup that's already hit 16 home runs this season (tied for 9th in the league).

Notice the strikeout part. If you're upset about Chris Carter's strikeouts, prepare to be upset about Springer and his strikeouts. In fact, Carter struck out less than Springer did in his time in the minors. The strikeouts could be a pretty big issue for Springer, even more so than what we've seen out of Carter so far. The key difference between Carter and Springer as players is that Springer will be playing a much more premium position than Carter in either right or center field and is expected to be above average there.

Be excited for George Springer, but remember he has faults just like any other prospect. He's going to bring power, speed, defense and a lot of excitement to the Astros, but he's also going to strikeout a lot, and may need some time to adjust to big league pitching.