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

1. By Popular Demand: Notes on the Can-Am League
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

By Popular Demand: Notes on the Can-Am League
Here are those notes on the Can-Am League which you, the Public, demanded via a purposeful and spirited letter-writing campaign to various media outlets and civic leaders.

First of All, What Is the Can-Am League
The Can-Am League is an independent baseball league which appears to consist presently of five teams: the New Jersey Jackals, Newark Bears (formerly of the Atlantic League, also independent), the Québec Capitales, the Rockland Boulders, and Worcester Tornadoes.

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

1. Yesterday’s Debuts
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Lightly Annotated Video: Garrett Richards’ Last Start
4. Today’s Complete Schedule

Yesterday’s Debuts
The Whim of the author has dictated that a portion of today’s Notes — indeed, this portion of the Notes — will be dedicated to equal parts meeting and greeting of baseball’s newest major leaguers.

Player: Bradley Boxberger, RHP, SD
Line: 23.0 IP, 13.70 K/9, 5.87 BB/9, 0.00 HR/9, 2.24 FIP at Triple-A Tucson
Notes: Boxberger, 24, made his debut on Sunday, posting this line: 1.0 IP, 3 TBF, 1 K, 1 BB, 1 GB on 1 batted-ball, 4.05 xFIP. Notably, the minor-league strikeout rate above doesn’t represent much of a departure from his work in previous seasons: over 176.2 minor-league innings, Boxberger has recorded a 12.1 K/9. According to our Marc Hulet, who ranked Boxberger 13th among San Diego prospects, the right-hander’s best pitch is a “fastball that sits around 93-95 mph with good movement.” Indeed, 10 of the 12 pitches Boxberger threw on Sunday were fastballs, two of which got whiffs. Boxberger was promoted when Andrew Cashner, who’s transitioning to the starting rotation, was optioned to Double-A San Antonio over the weekend.

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Table of Contents
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1. First-Round Draft Signees So Far
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

First-Round Draft Signees So Far
So far as I can tell — and I’ll admit to not having searched with what one might call “utmost vigor” — there’s no readily available and free resource with information both on which first-round draftees have signed so far and for how much. The following table does include that information — along with the corresponding suggested slot value of each pick.

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Table of Contents
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1. Actual News: Daniel Bard and Trevor Bauer at Triple-A
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Actual News: Daniel Bard and Trevor Bauer at Triple-A
Regarding Trevor Bauer
Right-handed Arizona pitching prospect Trevor Bauer made his fifth start for Triple-A Reno on Friday following his mid-May promotion to same. Here’s his line from that start: 7.0 IP, 27 TBF, 11 K, 2 BB, 0 HR. And now here’s his line at Triple-A: 32.0 IP, 11.8 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 0.3 HR/9.

What That Is in Terms of FIP
That brings Bauer’s Triple-A FIP to about 2.30. The PCL league average, according to Minor League Central, is 4.13.

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Table of Contents
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1. Three Basically Earth-Shaking Transactions
2. Featured Game: Washington at Boston, 19:10 ET
3. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
4. Today’s Complete Schedule

Three Basically Earth-Shaking Transactions
Here are three transactions from Thursday that shook the planet Earth — owing to their magnitude, one imagines.

Correa Signed
The Houston Astros signed Puerto Rican high school shortstop Carlos Correa with a $4.8 million bonus on Thursday, just days after taking him first overall in this year’s amateur draft, according to the Associated Press.

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Table of Contents
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1. Expected wRC+ Leaderboards
2. Two Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Expected wRC+ Leaderboards
A Note on Expected wRC+
Last week in these electronic pages, I looked at what I called “Expected wRC+” for batters in May. Expected wRC+ is essentially a version of Bradley Woodrum’s Should Hit formula (itself more or less a FIP for hitters, but with BABIP included) but using regressed (as opposed to raw) home-run, walk, and strikeout rates as the inputs. Also, in this case, BABIP is replaced by expected BABIP (xBABIP), per the formula (adjusted for 2012 league averages) proposed by user slash12 at Beyond the Boxscore in 2009.

The idea here is to estimate something like a player’s true talent over the course of X plate appearances. Indeed, the methodology isn’t flawless: wRC+ is a park-adjusted stat, for example, while the inputs are expressly not park-adjusted. (And, for that reason, Expected wOBA might be a preferable alternative.)

Because today’s slate of games isn’t entirely riveting, I’ve summoned from inside my computer machine the following Expected wRC+ leader- and laggardboards. (Click here to see a spreadsheet for all 385 batters with more than 50 plate appearances.)

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Table of Contents
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1. Featured Game: Tampa Bay at New York AL, 19:05 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: Tampa Bay at New York AL, 19:05 ET
This Same Matchup Last Night
These same teams played in last night’s featured game, too — won by New York, 7-0 (box).

Three Reasonable Comments About That Game
Here are three comments about that game likely to appeal to a FanGraphs reader:

• Andy Pettitte was unusually excellent. Line: 7.1 IP, 25 TBF, 10 K, 2 BB, 9 GB on 13 batted-balls (69.2%), 1.88 xFIP.
• James Shields, who started for Tampa Bay and has been excellent this season (73.0 IP, 69 xFIP-, 1.2 WAR), recorded more walks (four) than strikeouts (two) for the first time since April of 2011 — or so his game log would have one believe
• Tampa Bay outfielder Desmond Jennings (126 PA, .303 BABIP, 114 wRC+, 1.1 WAR) returned from knee injury, his first appearance since May 11th. ZiPS still projects him to finish with a WAR of 3.7.

An Unreasonable Comment About That Game
Here’s a fourth, considerably less reasonable comment about that game:

• That victory represents a turning point in the Yankees’ season.

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

1. Three Links Relevant to the Draft
2. Featured Game: Tampa Bay at New York AL, 19:05 ET
3. Other Notable Games
4. Today’s Complete Schedule

Three Links Relevant to the Draft
Here are three links relevant to the amateur draft, the first round of which (including all supplemental picks) was conducted Monday night.

Text of Marc Hulet’s Draft Chat
Our prospect man Marc Hulet conducted a live chat during last night’s draft. Read it over for the player profiles, if nothing else — like this one for first-overall pick, Puerto Rican high school shortstop Carlos Correa:

Correa was my personal favorite for the first overall pick. A big shortstop, he is very athletic and could stick at the position as long as he doesn’t keep growing. However, he may have the tools to be an above-average third baseman, as well. He has a very impressive approach at the plate with a well-balanced stance and smooth swing with excellent bat speed; he should hit for both power and average.

Baseball America Recap of First Round
Includes a list of 10 best remaining players and this quote from Houston scouting director Bobby Heck regarding the Astros’ pick of the aforementioned Correa:

“He’s a power-hitting shortstop and that’s a pretty good separator,” Heck said. “All of the players we considered had strong profiles as well, but it was tough to walk away from the shortstop with power potential.”

Wikipedia Entry on Conscription in the United States
Not relevant to baseball — but edifying!

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

1. Real News Item: Amateur Draft Starts Today
2. Featured Game: Los Angeles NL at Philadelphia, 19:05 ET
3. Transaction Note: Fernando Martinez Recalled
4. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
5. Today’s Complete Schedule

Real News Item: Amateur Draft Starts Today
The 2012 amateur draft starts today at 7pm ET. Our Marc Hulet recently published notes on same for both the American and National Leagues. Furthermore, a source close to the situation reports that Hulet will be publishing a mock draft at some point on Monday.

Live and free video coverage of the first round appears to be available at MLB.com/live.

Featured Game: Los Angeles NL at Philadelphia, 19:05 ET
A Notable Thing in Terms of This Game
A notable thing in terms of this game is that it represents the return of Philadelphia right-hander Vance Worley (44.0 IP, 82 xFIP-, 0.5 WAR) from the disabled list.

Regarding That DL Stint
The internet reports that Worley was originally placed on the DL in mid-May with elbow inflammation. The internet reports, furthermore, that the discomfort Worley felt was caused by bone chips in his elbow (which will require surgery after the season, but shouldn’t impair him for the time being).

Regarding Bone Chips, What They’re Called in England
Bone crisps, naturally.

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

1. Featured Game: Baltimore at Tampa Bay, 13:40 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: Baltimore at Tampa Bay, 13:40 ET
Regarding Which of These Teams Is in First Place
In terms of which — between the Orioles and the Rays, that is — which of them is currently in first place in the AL East, the answer to that is: “Both of them.”

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