The goal of an ideal bullpen is to relieve the starting pitcher and effectively shut the opposition down to the point that they stand no chance of coming back. We hear so often the idea that playoff spots are won and lost in the bullpen, and from reading numerous blogs, one might think that 26 of the 30 major league teams have “the worst bullpen in baseball.” In my eyes, the best type of reliever is one who limits his walks, gives up as few home runs as possible, and strikes out as many batters as he can. These are the controllable skills for a pitcher, or, in other words, game outcomes that have nothing to do with the defense. Which bullpen comes closest to this ideal reliever? Well, with the update to the team pages here at Fangraphs, we now have the capability to check.

For starters, which relief corps posted the best strikeout rates? The Cubs (8.68), Yankees (8.66), and Dodgers (8.62) vastly stood out from the rest in this category. The impressive Rays bullpen came in fourth place at 8.03, narrowly ahead of the Reds at 7.97. At the bottom of the league were the Pirates (6.45), Orioles (6.80), Tigers (6.83), Rangers (6.85), and Cardinals (6.87). The Cardinals may have stuck around for a while in the playoff picture, but their season was not as statistically sound as the results would indicate. And I don’t think anyone will argue that the Pirates, Orioles, and Rangers have very poor pitching staffs, or that the Tigers were an all-around disappointment this season.

When we move to walks, we see that the Dodgers (3.22) once again find themselves in the top five, at the number one spot, but their “colleagues” are different. The DBacks come in second at 3.24, followed by the Twins at 3.26, White Sox at 3.31, and Indians at 3.33, meaning that the bullpens that struck out plenty of batters were not too tremendous at limiting walks. At the bottom of the heap we once again find the Orioles, Rangers, Pirates, and Tigers, with the Mariners now mixed in. See any trend emerging?

Moving to K/BB ratio, we get a mixture of the K/9 and BB/9 leaders, as the Dodgers (2.68) lead the Cubs (2.57) and Yankees (2.46), with the White Sox (2.38) and Diamondbacks (2.32) rounding out the top five. Guess who is at the bottom? Yes, the Orioles, Tigers, Pirates, Rangers, and new-found friend the Mariners. The Orioles bullpen had an ugly 1.40 K/BB. The Mariners at least registered a K/9 above 7.0, they just had issues limiting walks.

How about home runs? The Phillies, whose bullpen has been lauded for the entire season, finally break into the top five, finishing first with a 0.69 HR/9. Led by Brad Lidge and his unsustainable 3.9% HR/FB, the Phils narrowly edged the Blue Jays (0.70), the familiar Dodgers (0.73), and the Mariners and Athletics (0.78 each). When we put it all together, in the form of FIP, the ERA equivalent of controllable skills, the Dodgers led by a wide margin over all others at 3.47.

The Yankees, Phillies, and Blue Jays then ranged from 3.82-3.85. Controllable skills are not the only measure of success, but they are very important, and nobody realistically came close to the Dodgers in 2008. The Blue Jays did have a big ERA and FIP differential, as they posted the lowest bullpen WHIP at 1.25 and highest bullpen LOB rate at 79.8%. Their FIP of 3.85 suggests their 2.94 ERA was a bit lower than expected, but elite relievers are known for being able to consistently post high strand rates, low BABIPs, and other luck-based indicators that tend to normalize for starters. Based on these results, it seems the best controllable skills in the NL belong to the Dodgers bullpen, while the Yankees and Blue Jays topped the junior circuit.

For those unaware, David revamped the team pages today to provide some incredibly useful information for readers and researchers. Now, by clicking the link at the top of the page, you can sort the same statistics found on the league leaderboards for individual teams, as well as sort the overall team totals in several different categories. With the dominant bullpens of the Phillies and Rays, on display in Game One of the World Series last night, in mind, I decided to take a look at the pitch repertoires and frequencies for the bullpens of each team to see how they stacked up.

The Phillies bullpen threw an aggregate 52.5% fastballs, the lowest amount of any bullpen. Their relief corps of Brad Lidge, Ryan Madson, JC Romero, Scott Eyre, Clay Condrey, and Chad Durbin, rely moreso on offspeed pitches than all others. On the flipside, the Texas Rangers throw 69.5% fastballs, by far the most. As Dave noted earlier, perhaps a lower percentage of fastballs could help their 5.51 bullpen ERA moving forward.

The Padres bullpen threw the slowest fastball, on average, at 89.9 mph, with the White Sox leading the league at 92.5 mph. The White Sox led very narrowly over the Red Sox and Diamondbacks, both at 92.4 mph, and the Tigers at 92.3 mph. Matt Thornton is the only White Sox reliever in the top ten in the junior circuit, though Bobby Jenks does join him in the top thirty. The Red Sox, however, have Jonathan Papelbon, Manny Delcarmen, Craig Hansen, and David Aardsma in the top thirty.

The Cubs threw sliders most often, at 33.1%, while the Orioles threw 11.6% curveballs, the highest frequency of any team. Moving to changeups, the Cardinals ‘pen threw them just 3.1% of the time, while the Royals threw at a percentage over five times higher, at 16%. And, lastly, the Angels and Royals led in splitter frequency, both chiming in under 5%.

No team threw 10%+ for four different pitchers, with the Rays and Rangers coming closest. The Rays threw 66.4% fastballs, 14.8% sliders, 8.6% curveballs, and 9.1% changeups. The Rangers threw 69.5% fastballs, 11.9% sliders, 7.5% curveballs, and 8.0% changeups. Both teams rely moreso on the fastball than anything else, but they did come closest to throwing four pitches ten percent or more of the time. This is just one of the neat things we are now able to do with the updated team pages.

As David just announced, he’s unveiled some new team pages with all kinds of fantastic data. It’s just a treasure trove of sortable data, leading to the following kinds of revelations – the Texas Rangers, as a pitching staff, threw fastballs 68.9% of the time. This is, by far, the most in the league – the next highest rate is the Mets at 65.8%. The average ML team threw fastballs 60.6% of the time, so the Rangers were just over two standard deviations from the mean.

Can someone in Texas teach these guys to throw a breaking ball or a change-up once in a while? I understand that pitching coaches like to establish the fastball, but at some point, you might want to look around, say “hey, this isn’t working” and try to get them to throw something soft once in a while.

This is essentially basic game theory – it doesn’t matter how good you think your pitching staff’s fastballs are, because if the other team knows that they’re going to see a steady diet of hard stuff, they’re going to just wait for it and swing from the heels when they read fastball coming out of the pitcher’s hand. Even if you throw 95, an expected fastball is going to get turned around a lot more often than not.

Keeping hitters off balance is a huge part of pitching. The Rangers were the most predictable team in baseball in terms of pitch selection, and while it’s not fair to claim that it was the main reason why they gave up more runs than anyone else in baseball, it almost certainly didn’t help.

Note to Jon Daniels – how about finding a pitching coach who believes in balls that bend?

The team pages have just been updated to be a lot more useful in my opinion. Instead of being directed directly to the team that won the last World Series, you will initially be directed to the team stats page which has team totals for everything available on the leaderboards.

No longer do you have to wonder which team has been the best in Clutch batting, or which team’s relievers have the best K/BB ratio.

From the team page you can drill down on any particular team you want and get all the stats available in the leaderboard section, including the ability to filter by month and the last 7, 14, 30 days.

Feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions or if anything is broken.

The Graduate: Geovany Soto | Born: January 1983 | Catcher

It was pretty easy to pick the Cubs’ graduate for 2008, as Geovany Soto was the only rookie who had any significant impact on the team… with apologies to Jeff Samardzija. Soto played solid defence and provided above-average offence for his position, which likely won him the Rookie of the Year award. The stocky catcher slugged 35 doubles and 23 homers, while posting a .219 ISO. Although he struck out 121 times in 494 at-bats, he took a healthy 62 walks. The Cubs have to feel good about the future of the backstop position with Soto leading the way and some other interesting catchers filtered throughout the system… They just might want to pull back a bit on the 136 games he played behind the dish.

The Riser: Mitch Atkins | Born: October 1985 | Right-Handed Pitcher

Mitch Atkins was a quiet seventh round selection out of a North Carolina high school in 2004. But he has made steady progress over the past five seasons and spent half the 2008 season in Triple-A. Atkins caught the eyes of some fans by winning 17 games on the season but he is likely to top out as a fourth starter at the Major League level. In 164.1 combined innings this past season, he allowed 155 hits. At Triple-A, he posted rates of 3.81 BB/9 and 7.29 K/9. He features a low-90s fastball, cutter, curveball and change-up.

The Tumbler: Tyler Colvin | Born: September 1985 | Outfielder

Tyler Colvin was a gutsy selection as the 13th overall pick of the 2006 draft. There weren’t many – if any – other teams that saw him as a potential first round option. Selected one pick right after Colvin, high school outfielder Travis Snider has already made his Major League debut and impressed. Yes, Colvin is athletic, but one major flaw keeps haunting him: His walk rate. Between 2006 and 2007, he walked just 32 times in more than 750 at-bats. He did improve that rate significantly (for him) in 2008 by walking 44 times in 540 at-bats (7.5%). Unfortunately, in his second go in Double-A, Colvin’s batting average took a big hit and dipped to .256 as he struggled to identify off-speed pitches. His slugging percentage has also been on a three-year decline. After playing center field for most of his career, Colvin split 2008 between center and left field.

The ’08 Draft Pick: Andrew Cashner | Born: September 1986 | Right-Handed Pitcher

One of the better college relievers available in the draft, Andrew Cashner had a brutal start to his pro career. He exhibited poor command and control while walking 23 batters in 20 innings over three minor league stops. He also allowed 24 hits and struck out 19 batters. Cashner was not a first-round option before the 2008 season so he really only has one year of above-average pitching and his command was also considered spotty at best. This could end up being a selection that the Cubs will regret… but it is also a very small sample size.

The ’09 Sleeper: Steve Clevenger | Born: April 1986 | Catcher

A converted infielder, Steve Clevenger has improved steadily behind the dish for the Cubs in the past two seasons. He nabbed 20 of 63 base runners attempting to steal against him in 2008 between High-A and Double-A, and also made just four errors. Offensively, Clevenger doesn’t walk a lot, but he doesn’t strike out much either… with 2008 rates of 11.6 BB% and 13.1 K%. He won’t hit a lot of home runs (.101 ISO), but he has the potential to hit .300.

Up Next: The Minnesota Twins

Over the last few years, I’ve written an annual piece for USSMariner detailing “free agent landmines”, the guys who might tempt you into giving them a contract that will almost immediately blow up in your face. Among the players that we’ve identified ahead of time as disasters-in-waiting have been Carlos Silva, Barry Zito, Matt Morris, and Jarrod Washburn, all of whom signed regrettable contracts that looked bad from the get go. Of course, in both 2005 and 2007, the Mariners picked a pitcher off the list of guys I tried to convince them to avoid and gave him huge money, so I’ve been given a front row seat to just how badly these contracts can screw up your franchise.

So, who are the free agent landmines this winter – the guys who may look appealing but are simply not going to be worth the money they’ll command? Here’s the top candidates.

Kyle Lohse, RHP, Cardinals – signed for 4 years, $41 million

Okay, I’m cheating a bit, because the Cardinals already stepped on this mine, getting fooled by his legitimately good 2008 performance into thinking that Lohse might actually repeat his home run prevention, which is just a really bad bet. Rather than learning that pitchers are wildly inconsistent and you can get 200 good innings without making a long term commitment to a mid-rotation starter, the Cardinals took Lohse’s 2008 season as evidence that he had improved his talent level dramatically and that he was worth keeping. Not a good idea.

Orlando Cabrera, SS, White Sox

Cabrera’s one of those interesting guys that is simultaneously overrated and underrated – he’s not as good as his reputation with casual fans and teams who value batting average and clutch reputations, but he’s better than what the statistical community has generally noticed, combining just slightly below average offense with a solid glove at shortstop and staying remarkably healthy.

However, Cabrera turns 34 in a few weeks, and his power has been eroding for three years running. His ISO of .096 in 2007 was the lowest of his career until 2008 came along, where he posted a .089 – these are the only two seasons in his career where he’s posted an ISO under .100. During his heyday with the Expos/Red Sox/Angels, O-Cab had above average power for a middle infielder, and his combination of high average and gap power allowed him to be a fairly productive hitter, even with the low on base rates. Now, with the power eroding, he’s turning into a singles-only hitter, and that makes him a pretty volatile offensive player.

For a contender who needed a one or two year stopgap at shortstop, Cabrera could be a decent fit, but his reputation as a winner and clutch performer, plus the fact that he has the skills that are most often overvalued, will lead to him looking for a 3-4 year deal that will be an absolute killer by the end.

Manny Ramirez, OF, Los Angeles

I know, Manny’s the hero who saved the Dodgers, spending the last two months of the season doing a pretty good Babe Ruth impression. He carried Los Angeles to the playoffs, and showed that his bat is still alive and kicking, that Manny Being Manny can still be quite valuable. That doesn’t change the facts, however, that Manny turns 37 next summer and he’s already such a terrible defender that he deserves to be a full time DH. 2008 was also his best season since 2002, so if you’re re-signing him expecting to get that kind of performance again, you’re going to be disappointed.

The Marcel projections for 2009 have Ramirez being worth about 15 runs above an average hitter, based on a .305/.419/.548 line in 527 PA. Notice the plate appearance total – at Manny’s age, and with his history of knee problems (real or not), you can’t expect him to play a full season. You have to adjust for the fact that he’s occasionally not going to be available, and that hurts his real value. If we put Ramirez’s +15 runs compared to an average hitter into context, that makes him an above average DH, but not a superstar – more of a +3 win player, not that different in real value from guys like Mark Ellis or Orlando Hudson.

Of course, Manny’s got name value and the slugger tag going for him, and those guys always get overpaid. Scott Boras is making noise about a six year contract at something like $20 million per year, but you’d have to believe that Manny was a +4 win player and wouldn’t decline at all in his late-30s/early-40s for that to make any kind of sense. He’s not even a +4 win player right now, and he’s not likely to get better with age. A fair offer for Manny’s value is more like 3 years/$45 million, but he’s going to get way, way more than that, making him one of the biggest landmines out there.

The setup man for the Phillies, otherwise known as “The Bridge to Lidge,” is the 6’6″ righty Ryan Madson. A minor league starting pitching prospect, Madson jumped onto the scene in 2004 and made quite a splash as a rookie reliever. In 52 games and 77 innings, Madson posted a 2.34 ERA and 3.57 FIP, to go along with a 2.89 K/BB and 1.13 WHIP. In 2005, his ERA jumped to 4.14, but his 3.92 FIP suggested he was a bit unlucky. His BABIP rose from .277 to .305 and his strand rate dropped from 82% to 71%. His K/BB ratio improved, however, to 3.16.

In 2006, he had a poor season, with a 5.69 ERA and 4.95 FIP, meaning he was unlucky, but still much worse than his freshman and sophomore campaigns. Madson made 17 starts that season to go along with 33 relief appearances, raising his innings pitched total to 134.1, but his 1.68 WHIP and high rate stats were largely due to an abnormally high .358 BABIP. That regressed in 2007, when he posted a 3.05 ERA in 38 games before missing the end of the year with injuries. His FIP was 4.20, though, primarily due to his reduced strikeout rate and elevated walk rate. Those numbers normalized this season, when he posted an identical 3.05 ERA but a 3.33 FIP.

What’s interesting about Madson is that, since being permanently given the eighth inning role towards the latter part of the season, he has become a flamethrower. For those of you reading this that watched the NLDS, NLCS, or Game 1 of the World Series, and saw Madson throwing 95+ mph, this is not the Ryan Madson that Phillies fans like myself have come to know. Don’t get me wrong, he has been a solid enough reliever in the past, but he normally threw somewhere around 90-93 mph, with a tremendous changeup and the occasional slider. This year, he increased his average fastball velocity to somewhere around 93.5 mph, but that pales in comparison to his current velocity.

Suddenly, Madson is regularly registering 96 mph on the radar gun. Initially, I thought that FOX was just being generous, but the Pitch F/X data says that Madson really is throwing harder. In the eighth inning last night, he averaged around 96 mph on the fastball, even though his average for the season was 92 mph. Regardless of how he is doing it, this “new” Ryan Madson looks better than ever, and he is steadily inching towards that area in which Phillies fans have supreme confidence that he will get the job done. Most of the discussions focusing on the Phillies bullpens deals with Brad Lidge, but Ryan Madson did a heck of a job in the regular season and has been dominant in the playoffs.

On June 16th of this season, the Mariners finally called an end to the Bill Bavasi era that began in 2004. Today, October 22nd, the Mariners begin on the Jack Zduriencik era. This soon to be often misspelled era will hopefully bring about a change in direction for the downtrodden Seattle fans; a group that has seen their baseball team become the first ever to spend over $100 million in payroll and lose 100 games, their basketball team get stolen away from them and their football team stagger to a 1-5 record under the weight of 427 and counting injuries. This city needs new blood, new decisions, a new direction. It needs hope.

Jack Zduriencik was one of the few people retained by Doug Melvin would he took over as Milwaukee’s General Manager in 2002 and for good reason, there are very few people with an eye for talent that rival Jack’s. Just look at the Brewers’ 2008 roster. Their primary starters at first base (Prince Fielder), second base (Rickie Weeks), short stop (J.J. Hardy), left field (Ryan Braun) and right field (Corey Hart) were all Zduriencik’s draft picks. This lineup was assembled despite Zduriencik’s reputation for almost doggedly taking the best player available without regard to current organizational surpluses. Zduriencik also made these drafts without the benefit of any extra picks via compensation and suffering the loss of three second picks during his eight years in Milwaukee because of free agents signed.

A good indication that you’re doing something right as a front office is when your assistants get hired out from you to become GMs elsewhere so kudos to Doug Melvin here. But that principle also applies elsewhere. Two of Zduriencik’s scouts were hired out from under him to become scouting directors: Tom Allison with Arizona and Bobby Heck with Houston. All this and more lead Jack Zduriencik to be named the first non-GM to be awarded Executive of the Year by Baseball America.

Is Zduriencik the man to provide the hope Seattle needs? I think he’s a start. As our own Dave Cameron espoused before the hire, it’s not just about the GM, but the whole organization from top to bottom that needs an upheaval. Zduriencik is a fine choice at the top, but questions remain on if he will be granted the authority to make the needed changes below. Beyond that, will he tap the vast local resources of tech-savvy people to help move Seattle to the top of organizations in advanced analysis? Time will tell, but for the first time in years, there’s a reason to look to the future with a feeling beside soul-crushing despair.

Our look at the free agent class of 2009 ends with a trip to Jeterville, AKA shortstop, a position once filled with some of the best offensive and defensive players in the sport. The players about to hit the market have a similar theme amongst themselves: unusually good or bad seasons in certain regards that are bound to regress moving forward. We have two of the top ten fielders at the position in 2008, as well as a player who is used to topping everyone in fielding at the position. Additionally, there are a few players that should not be playing the demanding position anymore as well as two players with seasons on offense moving in different directions.

The youngest of the group is Cesar Izturis, who, in 135 games with the Cardinals produced a -1.71 WPA/LI on the heels of a .263/.319/.309 line. His OPS has been fairly consistent over the past three seasons meaning he just is not very valuable on offense. His defense, however, earned him the #4 spot at the position this season, at +19 plays above average. At 29 years old, Izturis could realistically sign a two or three year deal somewhere, based on his defense, but his offense could be a very big problem. If there is anything he can take away regarding his offensive production this season it would be that his walk rate was higher than ever before.

The elder statesman of the group is Omar Vizquel, who, at 42 years old, still has “it” in the field. In 92 games, Omar was +9 plays above average defensively, good for eighth at the position. He has a 5.2 mm option on his contract for next season, but can be bought out for $ 300,000. If the Giants choose to move in a younger direction, which I thought was the reason for not bringing Barry Bonds back, and buy Vizquel out, I would hope he hangs up his glove rather than stick around until his only solid skill deteriorates. Offensively, he was worth over two wins less than an average player, so defense is all he has left.

Aside from these two, the remaining seven players range from 30-34 years old. Juan Uribe is 30, and spent most of this season at third base due to Joe Crede’s injuries, but was a +3 and a -7 at shortstop in 2006 and 2007. He also ranged from 16-23 home runs from 2004-07, before hitting just 7 this season. At .247/.296/.386, Uribe had a WPA/LI of -0.66, which, coupled with his declining fielding skills, just does not make him a very attractive commodity. I would expect him to have a job next season, but as more of a platoon player or pinch-hitter/defensive replacement on an NL team.

Rafael Furcal is 31, and is going to get a big payday, even though his ridiculously productive 36 regular season games are a very small sample and largely unsustainable. He hit .357/.439/.573, and was worth almost 1.5 wins above average despite playing in April and then the final week of September. His .217 ISO was the highest it has ever been, but his numbers were built upon a .380 BABIP, which will not repeat. Defensively, the injuries have hurt him recently, but he was the definition of league average this season. In the previous two seasons, however, he registered a +4 and +6. Expect him to land a big 4-yr deal, with the offense declining and the defense impoving.

Adam Everett, 32, is everyone’s favorite saber-darling, since his average or below average offense is more than made up for by his incredible defense. In 2006, the guy was +41 plays above average. That fell to +18 in 2007, before this season’s -1 in Minnesota. He played just 48 games, but it is somewhat clear that his fielding skills are not what they once were. If he cannot get back to that +10 to +15 range, he will not be worth much.

At 33 years old we have Alex Cora and Edgar Renteria, one valued for his defense and leadership and another coming off of an extremely disappointing season. Cora was a -3 in the field and about a half-win less effective offensively than an average hitter. With a .270/.371/.349 line, it is clear that Cora has the ability to hit and get on base, but he does not combine that with any semblance of power. Renteria has seen his ISO fall from .144 to .111 over the last three seasons, a mark not much higher than Cora’s .079. A .270/.317/.382 line might be acceptable if you were Everett and significantly better in the field than anyone else, but Renteria has gone from a +6 to a -1, to a -9 this season. His reputation will land him a job somewhere else, and he couldn’t possibly be worse than this season, but it’s pretty evident that the Braves won that trade.

Lastly, we have David Eckstein, who was also profiled in the second base edition of this series. He cannot field anymore at shortstop, at 12 plays below average, and he really cannot hit much either, as his -0.70 WPA/LI explains. He does not strike out much, and his 8.7 BB% is the highest of his career, but a switch to second base should be mandatory if he wants to stick around. He should not be the starting SS for any team serious about contending. Furcal and Renteria will likely get the hefiest paychecks of this group, but guys like Cora, Izturis, and Everett will still be able to contribute.

The Graduate: Mike Aviles | Born: March 1981 | Shortstop

Mike Aviles is a great story. A former NCAA Division II player of the year, he signed as a college senior for $1,000. At 5’9” he has fought his way through the minor league system and posted solid numbers. Regardless, his ascent was a slow one and lasted six seasons. At the age of 27, Aviles not only made his debut in the Majors, he showed he belonged in the league. That said, there are some areas that need work if he is going to continue to succeed, such as his walk rate (4.1%). If he is going to be a utility player, Aviles is also going to need to improve defensively at second base and third base. His play at shortstop is solid.

The Riser: Alex Caldera | Born: October 1985 | Right-Handed Pitcher

A 2007 13th round selection out of California, Alex Caldera was second in the organization in strikeouts with 120 and allowed 141 hits in 149 innings pitched. He also did an excellent job of keeping the ball in the park with just six home runs allowed (0.32 HR/9). Caldera showed excellent control of his repertoire, which includes a low-90s fastball, with a walk rate of 2.17 BB/9.

The Tumbler: Jeff Bianchi | Born: October 1986 | Shortstop

Jeff Bianchi, a former second round pick out of a Pennsylvania high school, caught people’s attentions by hitting more than .400 in his first two seasons. Unfortunately he did it in only 40 games due to injuries. The last two seasons, though, Bianchi has struggled to hit for average and he has also posted low on-base numbers: 6.4 BB% in 2007, 4.8 BB% in 2008. On the plus side, his slugging percentage rose from .315 in 2007 to .442 in 2008 and his ISO improved from .068 to .187. He may need to begin 2009 back in High-A ball. At the age of 22, he has plenty of time to find his stroke.

The ’08 Draft Pick: Tim Melville | Born: October 1989 | Right-Handed Pitcher

It’s pretty impressive that the Royals were able to nab, arguably, both the best high school hitter (Eric Hosmer) and the best high school pitcher (Tim Melville) in the 2008 draft. Even more impressive is the fact that the Royals got Melville in the fourth round because everyone else thought he was unsignable and headed to college. In the last two seasons, the Royals have done exactly what a struggle organization (with not a lot of money) needs to do – which is develop within and do not cut corners on the draft. Melville has yet to pitch in pro ball, but he features a fastball that can touch the mid-90s, a knuckle-curve with plus potential, and a developing change-up.

The ’09 Sleeper: Jose Bonilla | Born: August 1988 | Catcher

We dip down all the way to Rookie Ball for the Royals’ sleeper. Jose Bonilla received a taste of North American ball in 2007 when he appeared in three games, but he did not see regular playing time until this past season and he made the most of the opportunity. Bonilla hit .357/.405/.625 in 112 at-bats. His walk rate was low (4.3 BB%) but there aren’t many young catchers that can mix hitting for average with power (.268 ISO). He is someone to keep an eye on in 2009.

Up Next: The Chicago Cubs