Musings Marcels for 2018 for batters are now available. You can copy or download the data for your fantasy needs. The Marcel the Monkey Forecasting System (or Marcels for short) was invented by Tom Tango, and here is his explanation.

I like to look at the leader boards as predicted by the Marcels to see if anything surprising comes up. For batting average, Jose Altuve leads the majors with a .328 mark, but in the NL, DJ LeMahieu takes the title at .312. The NL race is very tight, with five players between .307 and .312, with second place in the AL goes to Mike Trout at .305.

For OBP, Joey Votto leads the majors at .429, with Mike Trout coming in second and first in the AL at .422. Paul Goldschmidt and Bryce Harper are the only other players predicted to top .400. Trout pops to the top of the list for slugging percentage at .577, with Nolan Arenado leading the NL at .569. Aaron Judge projects to be second in the AL at .567.

The hit leaders project to be Jose Altuve at 178 and Charlie Blackmon at 173. Doubles go to Jose Ramirez in the AL with 42 and Daniel Murphy in the NL with 39. Mookie Betts comes in second in the AL, also with 39. Blackmon leads the majors with eight triples, while Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner, and Dee Gordon all come in with seven.

The home run leader board puts Giancarlo Stanton at the top with 42, with Khris Davis and Aaron Judge tied for second at 36. If Stanton stays in the National League, those are your league leaders. The next closest NL hitters would be Arenado at 34 home runs.

Votto rules the walk world with 105, Aaron Judge leading the AL with 88.

Here are slash lines for some of the top free agent hitters:

• Lorenzo Cain: .290/.350/.438
• Eric Hosmer: .293/.359/.467
• Carlos Santana: .251/.356/.444
• Mike Moustakas: .271/.325/.488
• Eduardo Nunez: .291/.332/.440
• Zack Cozart: .269/.340/.470
• J.D. Martinez: .291/.358/.564

Enjoy your research!