Daily Notes: Best Performances of the 2013 Cape Cod League
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of the Daily Notes.
1. Best Performances of the Cape Cod League
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
Best Performances of the Cape Cod League
Introduction
The 2013 iteration of the Cape Cod League — the collegiate, wood-bat summer league responsible for approximately a third of the most recent draft’s first-round picks (and a similar percentage of the first ten rounds’ picks) — concluded last Thursday. This most recent Tuesday, the author found that last year’s top Cape League batters have posted a collective 125 wRC+ in their first exposure to professional ball; the top pitchers, a collective 2.93 FIP.
Below are the final SCOUT leaderboards for this year’s top Cape League hitters and pitchers — and notes concerning same. (All data courtesy Pointstreak.)
SCOUT Leaderboard: Cape League Hitters
Here’s the final SCOUT batting leaderboard for all Cape League hitters. SCOUT+ combines regressed home-run, walk, and strikeout rates in a FIP-like equation to produce a result not unlike wRC+, where 100 is league average and above 100 is above average. Note that xHR%, xBB%, and xK% stand for expected home run, walk, and strikeout rate, respectively.
| Player | Team | Pos | PA | HR | BB | K | xHR% | xBB% | xK% | SCOUT+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Ford | COT | 1B | 103 | 5 | 16 | 13 | 2.3% | 12.0% | 14.8% | 137 |
| Max Pentecost | BOU | C | 151 | 6 | 16 | 22 | 2.5% | 10.0% | 14.6% | 133 |
| Dylan Davis | FAL | OF | 121 | 6 | 12 | 16 | 2.6% | 9.2% | 14.4% | 132 |
| Casey Gillaspie | FAL | 1B | 189 | 8 | 22 | 39 | 3.0% | 11.5% | 20.6% | 132 |
| Derek Fisher | HAR | OF | 150 | 0 | 25 | 19 | 0.5% | 14.6% | 12.7% | 127 |
| Jimmy Pickens | CHA | OF | 142 | 7 | 13 | 27 | 2.9% | 8.9% | 19.0% | 125 |
| Rhys Hoskins | FAL | RF | 198 | 7 | 13 | 31 | 2.7% | 6.6% | 15.7% | 123 |
| J.D. Davis | CHA | P/DH | 129 | 3 | 18 | 25 | 1.6% | 11.9% | 19.4% | 118 |
| Jeff Schalk | HYA | 1B | 99 | 4 | 11 | 18 | 2.0% | 9.7% | 18.6% | 118 |
| Landon Lassiter | CHA | IF | 99 | 0 | 23 | 20 | 0.7% | 15.7% | 19.9% | 117 |
SCOUT Leaderboard: Cape League Starters
Below is the final SCOUT pitching leaderboard for all Cape League pitchers who made at least half their appearances as a starter. SCOUT- combines regressed strikeout and walk rates in a kwERA-like equation to produce a number not unlike ERA-, where 100 is league average and below 100 is better than average. Note that xK% and xBB% stand for expected strikeout and walk rate, respectively.
| Player | Team | G | GS | IP | TBF | K | BB | xK% | xBB% | SCOUT- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Freeland | HYA | 9 | 6 | 40.0 | 163 | 48 | 4 | 29.4% | 6.6% | 61 |
| Jeffrey Hoffman | HYA | 4 | 4 | 24.1 | 97 | 33 | 5 | 28.9% | 7.7% | 67 |
| James Kaprielian | YD | 5 | 3 | 20.0 | 77 | 28 | 4 | 28.2% | 7.9% | 70 |
| Ben Smith | COT | 7 | 7 | 28.2 | 121 | 35 | 11 | 27.2% | 8.5% | 75 |
| Alex Haines | COT | 7 | 5 | 19.1 | 83 | 26 | 8 | 26.0% | 8.5% | 79 |
| Justin Kamplain | BRE | 8 | 6 | 38.0 | 160 | 41 | 18 | 25.6% | 9.1% | 83 |
| Sean Newcomb | WAR | 6 | 3 | 22.1 | 102 | 28 | 13 | 24.9% | 9.1% | 85 |
| Dillon Peters | HAR | 5 | 4 | 22.0 | 79 | 21 | 3 | 23.3% | 7.6% | 86 |
| John Means | FAL | 7 | 7 | 40.2 | 154 | 35 | 8 | 22.8% | 7.4% | 86 |
| Nick Howard | HAR | 5 | 5 | 24.2 | 106 | 25 | 4 | 22.5% | 7.4% | 87 |
Notes
• Almost simultaneous to the midseason examination of the Cape Cod League in July, Cotuit (and Princeton) first baseman/pitcher Mike Ford was signed to a minor-league deal by the New York Yankees. In 83 plate appearances with Low-A Staten Island, Ford (presently in his age-20 season) has recorded walk and strikeout rates of 18.1% and 19.3%, respectively, and also three home runs, while playing predominantly first base.
• Among players likely capable of playing on the more challenging side of the defensive spectrum, Chatham’s Landon Lassiter produced the most impressive regressed and defense-independent offensive line, recording a 23:20 walk-to-strikeout ratio in 99 plate appearances. The infielder exhibited a similar skill set as a sophomore with a very competitive UNC club this past season, posting a 58:44 walk-to-strikeout ratio in ca. 330 plate appearances. Another rising junior, middle infielder Cole Peragine (of Yarmouth-Dennis and Stony Brook), finished just off the top-10 batting list.
• Six-foot-four left-hander Kyle Freeland finished atop the Cape League pitching leaderboard, recording a 48:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 40.0 innings. A junior this past season at the University of Evansville, Freeland sat at 90-93 mph with his fastball during the Cape League all-star game, according to Keith Law, who referred to Freeland as the “best prospect of the day.”
Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
Arizona at Cincinnati | 12:35 ET
Trevor Cahill (101.2 IP, 104 xFIP-, 0.4 WAR) faces Mat Latos (161. IP, 89 xFIP-, 3.8 WAR).
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Arizona Radio or Television, Maybe?
Today’s Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 5.1.
Note: the following table is entirely sortable.
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trevor Cahill | AZ | 5 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 8 | CIN | Mat Latos | 12:35 |
| Clayton Kershaw | LAN | 10 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 6 | MIA | Henderson Alvarez | 12:40 |
| J.A. Happ | TOR | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 5 | NYA | Andy Pettitte | 13:05 |
| Andrew Albers | MIN | 3 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 7 | DET | Justin Verlander | 13:08 |
| Stephen Strasburg | WAS | 10 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 3 | CHN | Travis Wood | 14:20 |
| Chad Bettis* | COL | 6 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | PHI | Kyle Kendrick | 19:05 |
| Jose Quintana | CHA | 5 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 4 | KC | James Shields | 20:10 |
| Paul Maholm | ATL | 5 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 4 | STL | Joe Kelly | 20:15 |
| Jeff Locke | PIT | 3 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | SF | Matt Cain | 22:15 |
To learn how Pitcher and Team NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.
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