Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of the Daily Notes.

1. SCOUT Leaderboards for the International League, Already
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Game Odds, Translated into Winning Percentages

SCOUT Leaderboards for the International League, Already
On Monday, in the Notes, we considered the earliest statistical returns from the majors, according to SCOUT. What follows is a very similar thing to that, except for the Triple-A International League.

“What actually is SCOUT?” a reasonable person might ask — to which question the author has provided a (hopefully) reasonable answer here. In brief, however, it’s this: an attempt to use our knowledge of certain metrics, and at what sample sizes they become reliable, to measure run production/prevention in instances where small samples are all that’s available.

Below are those same leaderboards, as I say, for the Triple-A International League.

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We’ve spent the past few weeks taking a look at combined rankings for each organization, going division-by-division. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to find, but my goal was to take a look at the two main overall aspects of a prospect – his talent/reasonable ceiling and his risk of getting there – and see how farm systems graded out. The traditional 1, 2, 3 ranking system is fine because we’re ultimately looking at an educated subjective process, but a simple list doesn’t show the audience where the real gaps lie and where there’s negligible difference. My hope was to begin to approach a way to see these differences, and while there is certainly room for improvement, I believe it has led to some interesting results.
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Wade Miley is one of those pitchers who just gets outs. The Arizona Diamondbacks lefthander doesn’t wow or dazzle, but that isn’t what matters. What does is results, and he got plenty of those last year in his rookie season. The 26-year-old left-hander won 16 games with a 3.33 ERA and 3.15 FIP.

How did he do it? Not with overpowering stuff. His primary pitch — which he threw over 70 percent of the time — was a fastball that averaged 91.1 mph. He struck out just 6.66 batters per nine innings. What he did is pound the strike zone and keep the ball in the yard. His walk rate was a sterling 1.71 and home run rate a Lilliputian 0.65.

Can he replicate those results this season? Only time will tell, but he’s off to a good start. In his first outing he allowed one run over six innings and got the win against the Brewers. He makes his second start this afternoon against the Pirates.

Miley talked about the secrets to his success, including his better-than-you-think-it-is stuff, during spring training.

——

David Laurila: How do you get guys out?

Wade Miley: I trust my defense. There are seven guys behind me, and my catcher, so I go right after hitters. I challenge them with my best stuff and hope for the best.

I think that’s a pretty standard way to go about it. It’s what a lot of pitchers do — they attack hitters. They throw strikes and try not to give away free passes. When hitters put the ball in play, there are a bunch of guys out there to help you. You rely on your teammates.

DL: How good is your stuff?

WM: You tell me. I don’t really have an answer to that.

DL: Coming up through the system, you were overshadowed by pitchers who were said to have better stuff. Read the rest of this entry »

Ben and Sam answer listener emails about batter-pitcher matchups, curious outfield alignments, where to put a player who can’t play defense, and what baseball would be like without innings.

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Episode 322
Managing editor Dave Cameron is the guest on this edition of FanGraphs Audio, which is, incidentally, the first ever to have been shortened due to weather.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio after the jump. (Approximately 22 min play time.)

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Yesterday, we talked about the red flags created by Jered Weaver’s performances over the last few months. Today brings news that Jered Weaver will be placed on the disabled list. For the Angels, this will likely be construed as a big blow. It is probably not that big of a deal in the long run.

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There’s nothing terribly surprising about the headline. The Marlins finished in last place in the National League East last season. They traded all of the marquee players over the winter, save for superstar Giancarlo Stanton, who is under team control until after the 2016 season. The team threatened to sue season-ticket holders who refused to pay their ticket invoice in a dispute over whether their view was obstructed. And a week before the season started, the Marlins had teamed with Groupon to offer two-for-the-price-of-one tickets for opening night against the Braves. Then the Marlins started the season on the road with a 1-5 record.

Still, when my colleague Jeff Sullivan snapped this photo just as the opening night was getting underway at Marlins Park, I was, well, surprised.

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Not long ago, Roberto Hernandez was considered to be an up-and-coming starter for the Cleveland Indians. He was also known as Fausto Carmona. But regardless of what it said across his back, his 3.06 ERA (3.94 FIP), 1.21 WHIP, and his 64% ground ball rate produced 19 wins for the Indians in 2007, and his value was almost four wins above replacement level. He even garnered votes for the American League Cy Young award, finishing fourth overall.

Hernandez battled injuries and serious control problems the following two seasons, put together a solid 2010 campaign, then the wheels kind of fell off. And the axle broke.

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