Last night, Kansas City Royals’ GM Dayton Moore said that Lorenzo Cain will be given every opportunity to win the center field job this spring. With Melky Cabrera shipped out to San Francisco, Cain seems like the logical choice as the Royals’ Opening Day center fielder.

Cain was drafted in the 17th round by the Milwaukee Brewers and came over to the Royals in the Zack Greinke trade last year. In seven minor league seasons, Cain has put up a .295/.368/.430 slash line with 140 SB’s. It’s pretty clear his time is now.

Bill James for one, definitely thinks his time is now. In James’ first installment of 2012 projections, James projects Cain to put up a .284/.337/.416 slash line with 10 HR’s, 6 triples, and 22 SB’s. James also projects a .333 wOBA for Cain. The Royals will take that every day of the week and twice on Sunday. A .333 wOBA would be higher than what Chris Young, Drew Stubbs, and Colby Rasmus (a guy the Royals are rumored to be looking at), put up last year.

Cain sounds more like a linebacker from Florida State in the 80′s than a center fielder for the Royals, but if James’ projection for him is in the ballpark, then Cain will be crushing balls for the Royals instead of quarterbacks.

You can follow The Baseball Index on Twitter @ baseballindex

By The Baseball Index