Author Archive

The Best Minor-League Basestealers of 2013, Probably

When Increase Mather declared from under his pilgrim hat that “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop,” what he almost certainly had in mind is the sort of posts an internet baseball writer might produce in the lean months immediately following the conclusion of the season.

Indeed, Mather’s concerns have been realized today, for what follows is little more than a pair of leaderboards which attempt to answer (very roughly) the question, “Who was the best minor-league basestealer of 2013?”

For the purposes of this post, the “best” basestealer of 2013 is not merely the one who recorded the highest stolen-base total. Instead, what the author has done is to apply the linear-weight run values of a stolen base and caught stealing to the relevant totals of every minor-league player.

Such a methodology is not without its flaws, of course. For one thing, because the run environments of each minor league are likely to differ from the present major-league one, the precise value of a caught stealing is likely to differ, as well. Furthermore, one oughtn’t ignore the fact that the minor leagues exist predominantly for the development of future major-leaguers. It’s quite possible, therefore, that minor-league players might attempt stolen bases — for developmental purposes — in situations that wouldn’t otherwise call for such a risk.

For these reasons — and for others which the author is too simple to recognize — what follows represents, as mentioned, merely a rough attempt at identifying the best minor-league basestealer of 2013.

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FanGraphs Audio: Glaringly Promotional with Dave Studeman

Episode 400
Dave Studeman is manager of The Hardball Times and the actual, real inventor of xFIP. He’s also the guest on this edition of FanGraphs Audio, during which he promotes the newly released Hardball Times Annual entirely sans compunction.

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 26 min play time.)

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Generally Useful Statistical Report on the Caribbean Leagues

For much the same reason that he has published weekly statistical reports on the Arizona Fall League over the past month (such as this latest one from Wednesday), the author is publishing here a combined statistical report for the various Caribbean winter leagues — again, not necessarily because such reports are of great utility for evaluating players, but because they provide a means by which to participate in those leagues which doesn’t also require a substantial investment in transport and lodging.

In this case, what the author has done is to identify the regressed hitting and pitching leaders in the Dominican Winter, Mexican Pacific, Puerto Rican, and Venezuelan Winter Leagues separately*. What he’s then done is to combine the hitting and pitching leaders of those leagues into a pair of top-10 lists, which one can find below. Note: all ages are as of July 1, 2013; all organizations, as of the end of regular-season play. Last week’s generally useful report on the Caribbean leagues is available here.

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Steamer Projects: Miami Marlins Prospects

The polite and Canadian and polite Marc Hulet has published today his 2014 organizational prospect list for the Miami Marlins.

It goes without saying that, in composing such a list, Hulet has considered the overall future value those prospects might be expected to provide either to the Marlins or whatever other organizations to which they might someday belong.

What this brief post concerns isn’t overall future value, at all, but rather such value as the prospects from Hulet’s list might provide were they to play, more or less, a full major-league season in 2014.

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FanGraphs Audio: At Some Length, With David Temple

Episode 399
David Temple is a contributor both to NotGraphs and (more recently) to the FanGraphs main page, and is proprietor of the very well-produced internet podcast Stealing Home. He’s also the guest on this edition of FanGraphs Audio.

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 1 hr 04 min play time.)

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Penultimate Statistical Report for the Arizona Fall League

The author has published a weekly statistical report for the Arizona Fall League each week since its brief season commenced back in October — not necessarily because such a thing is of great utility to prospect analysis, but more because, for those of us not currently present in the Greater Phoenix area, it’s one of the few ways to participate in that very compelling league.

What follows is the the penultimate edition of this site’s weekly statistical report for the AFL, which league concludes with this Saturday’s championship game.

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Steamer Projects: Chicago White Sox Prospects

The relentlessly Canadian Marc Hulet published earlier today his first organizational prospect list of the 2013-14 offseason — in this case, for the Chicago White Sox.

It goes without saying that, in composing such a list, that Hulet has considered the overall value those prospects might be expected to provide either to the White Sox or whatever other organizations to which they might someday belong.

What this brief post concerns isn’t overall value, at all, but rather such value as the prospects from Hulet’s list might provide were they to play, more or less, a full major-league season in 2014.

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FanGraphs Audio: Dave Cameron Analyzes All Present Intrigue

Episode 398
Dave Cameron is both (a) the managing editor of FanGraphs and (b) the guest on this particular edition of FanGraphs Audio — during which edition he analyzes all manner of offseason intrigue and suspense and intrigue.

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 36 min play time.)

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A Statistical Report on All the Caribbean Leagues

For much the same reason that he has published weekly statistical reports on the Arizona Fall League over the past month (such as this latest one from Wednesday), the author is publishing here a combined statistical report for the various Caribbean winter leagues — again, not necessarily because such reports are of great utility for evaluating players, but because they provide a means by which to participate in those leagues which doesn’t also require a substantial investment in transport and lodging.

In this case, what the author has done is to identify the regressed hitting and pitching leaders in the Dominican Winter, Mexican Pacific, Puerto Rican, and Venezuelan Winter Leagues separately*. What he’s then done is to combine the hitting and pitching leaders of those leagues into a pair of top-10 lists, which one can find below. Note: all ages are as of July 1, 2013; all organizations, as of the end of regular-season play. Last week’s report on the Caribbean leagues is available here.

*The Puerto Rican League having just commenced play this past week.

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FanGraphs Audio: David Laurila, Who Was at the World Series

Episode 397
David Laurila, curator of FanGraphs’ Q&A Series, was present at all six games of the recently concluded World Series. He’s also the guest on this edition of FanGraphs Audio.

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 40 min play time.)

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