Daily Notes, Featuring the Univ. of Florida, It Appears

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

1. SCOUT Leaderboards for Both the Low-A Leagues
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

SCOUT Leaderboards for Both the Low-A Leagues
Regarding What This Is, First of All
What follows are the SCOUT Leaderboards for both the Low-A Leagues (the New York-Penn and Northwest ones, that is) combined.

Regarding a “SCOUT Leaderboard,” What That Is
SCOUT is metric designed to assess performance in those instances — like in a minor league, for example — where small samples are ubiquitous. A high SCOUT+ is good for a hitter; a low SCOUT- is good for a pitcher.

More on SCOUT, How It’s Calculated
SCOUT uses regressed, defense-independent inputs to calculate FIP-like stats for both pitchers and hitters. Click here to learn more about it.

Regarding SCOUT, One of Its Benefits
A benefit of SCOUT is, because both SCOUT+ and SCOUT- are presented relative to league, it allows one to compare the relative performances of players across multiple leagues — like in what follows, for example.

Regarding These Numbers
All the following numbers are final for 2012.

Top Batters of the Low-A Leagues (Overall)
Here are the top-10 batters of the Low-A Leagues, as determined by the methodology explained above.

Player Team League Age PA xHR% xBB% xK% SCOUT+
Preston Tucker Astros NY-Penn 21 187 3.1% 9.6% 8.6% 150
Michael Zunino Mariners Northwest 21 133 4.1% 12.1% 19.6% 143
Kevin Plawecki Mets NY-Penn 21 252 2.5% 9.9% 9.5% 142
Daniel Vogelbach Cubs Northwest 19 168 3.9% 13.0% 20.2% 142
Maxx Tissenbaum Padres Northwest 20 208 1.4% 13.0% 6.7% 139
David Chester Red Sox NY-Penn 23 188 3.4% 11.5% 19.7% 138
Taylor Dugas Yankees NY-Penn 22 276 0.4% 18.5% 12.7% 137
Andrew Aplin Astros NY-Penn 21 196 1.7% 12.2% 11.2% 136
Matthew Snyder Yankees NY-Penn 22 219 1.3% 11.9% 8.7% 135
Viosergy Rosa Marlins NY-Penn 22 247 1.2% 18.6% 18.2% 135

Top Batters of the Low-A Leagues (Aged 20 and Under)
Here are the top-10 batters of the Low-A Leagues who were young relative to the level — again, as determined by the methodology explained above.

Player Team League Age PA xHR% xBB% xK% SCOUT+
Daniel Vogelbach Cubs Northwest 19 168 3.9% 13.0% 20.2% 142
Maxx Tissenbaum Padres Northwest 20 208 1.4% 13.0% 6.7% 139
Barrett Barnes Pirates NY-Penn 20 153 2.2% 10.5% 13.7% 132
Marcus Littlewood Mariners Northwest 20 259 3.2% 17.0% 27.8% 130
Kellen Sweeney Blue Jays Northwest 20 288 1.7% 12.2% 16.3% 121
Exicardo Cayones Yankees NY-Penn 20 200 0.7% 16.5% 20.0% 120
Estarlin Martinez Nationals NY-Penn 20 288 1.7% 9.0% 14.9% 119
Phillip Evans Mets NY-Penn 19 329 1.5% 9.4% 14.6% 119
Brandon Nimmo Mets NY-Penn 19 321 1.9% 14.3% 24.3% 118
Patrick Wisdom Cardinals NY-Penn 20 279 2.1% 11.1% 20.8% 118

Top Pitchers of the Low-A Leagues (Overall)
Here are the top-10 pitchers of the Low-A Leagues, as determined by the methodology explained above.

Player Team League Age IP TBF xK% xBB% SCOUT-
Lee Stoppelman Cardinals NY-Penn 22 34.1 137 34.4% 7.6% 49
Omar Duran Athletics NY-Penn 22 20.1 87 36.3% 10.8% 53
Alec Asher Rangers Northwest 20 35.0 145 34.0% 8.8% 55
Tucker Healy Athletics NY-Penn 22 29.1 127 33.0% 8.9% 57
Brandon Creath Cardinals NY-Penn 23 32.2 138 32.9% 8.9% 58
Luis Mateo Mets NY-Penn 22 73.1 288 29.5% 5.7% 58
Sander Beck Orioles NY-Penn 21 44.1 182 32.4% 9.5% 62
Kevin Brady Phillies NY-Penn 21 39.0 166 29.5% 6.8% 62
Carl Edwards Rangers Northwest 20 47.0 185 32.4% 9.6% 63
Rainy Lara Mets NY-Penn 21 68.0 267 28.8% 6.5% 64

Top Pitchers of the Low-A Leagues (Starters Only)
Here are the top-10 pitchers in the Low-A Leagues who made at least half of their appearances as starts — again, as determined by the methodology explained above.

Player Team League Age IP TBF xK% xBB% SCOUT-
Luis Mateo Mets NY-Penn 22 73.1 288 29.5% 5.7% 58
Kevin Brady Phillies NY-Penn 21 39.0 166 29.5% 6.8% 62
Carl Edwards Rangers Northwest 20 47.0 185 32.4% 9.6% 63
Rainy Lara Mets NY-Penn 21 68.0 267 28.8% 6.5% 64
Javier Avendano Blue Jays Northwest 21 78.0 302 30.1% 8.7% 67
Mike Augliera Red Sox NY-Penn 22 38.2 157 27.4% 6.6% 69
Juan Guzman Orioles NY-Penn 21 38.0 155 27.7% 8.1% 73
Jeffrey Ames Rays NY-Penn 21 64.1 261 26.8% 8.1% 76
Vincent Velasquez Astros NY-Penn 20 45.2 190 26.8% 8.6% 78
Hansel Robles Mets NY-Penn 21 72.2 272 24.3% 6.1% 78

Three Notable Performances
• Like Nolan Fontana, who finished near the top of the Class-A SCOUT batting leaderboard, outfielder Preston Tucker was both (a) part of the University of Florida’s very strong 2012 team and (b) drafted by the Houston Astros. He finished with the second-best walk-to-strikeout ratio on the Gators and continued demonstrating that sort of patience in professional baseball, posting an 18:16 figure in 187 plate appearances.
Michael Zunino was another member, along with Fontana and Tucker, of that University of Florida team — and, at third overall, the first college player selected in the 2012 draft. Zunino’s minor-league season extended beyond Low-A, as well: after hitting extraordinarily well in the Northwest League, the catcher proceeded to post a 8.8% strikeout rate, 12.3% walk rate, and 166 wRC+ in 57 plate appearances with the Double-A Jackson Generals.
• Middle infielder Maxx Tissenbaum’s control over the strike zone at Eugene in the Northwest League was apparent in college. Before being selected by Toronto in the 11th round of this most recent draft, Tissenbaum posted a team-best 23:9 walk-to-strikeout ratio at College World Series participants Stony Brook University.

Other SCOUT Leaderboards
International League (Triple-A)
Pacific Coast League (Triple-A)
Eastern League (Double-A)
Southern League (Double-A)
Texas League (Double-A)
California, Carolina, and Florida State Leagues Combined (High-A)
Midwest and Sally Leagues Combined (Class-A)
Appalachian, Arizona, Gulf Coast, and Pioneer Leagues Combined (Rookie)

Today’s Notable Games
Milwaukee at Pittsburgh | 19:05 ET ***MLB.TV Free Game***
This game represents the first major-league start for Pirates right-hander Kyle McPherson, who’s already posted rather excellent numbers (11.2 IP, 23.4% K, 4.3% BB, 51.6 % GB) in seven major-league relief appearances after putting together the best regressed line among all starting pitchers in the Double-A Eastern League. With the Brewers’ 6-0 win over the Pirates on Tuesday (box), the former passed the latter in the NL Wild Card standings.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Milwaukee Radio.

Oakland at Detroit | 19:05 ET
For as excellent as Justin Verlander (217.1 IP, 81 xFIP-, 6.0 WAR) has been this season, Oakland left-hander Brett Anderson (32.2 IP, 67 xFIP-, 1.1 WAR) has been better — on a per-batter basis, at least — in his five starts since returning from Tommy John surgery. The pair face each other tonight in a game effing fraught with Playoff Implications™.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Oakland or Detroit Radio.

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 4.7.

Note: the following Game Scores include the poorly conceived playoff-odds adjustment discussed in a recent edition of Daily Notes. Also note: the following table is entirely sortable.

Away   SP Tm. Gm. Tm. SP   Home Time
Hend. Alvarez TOR 4 5 5 7 10 NYA Andy Pettitte 13:05
Aaron Harang LAN 1 1 3 7 8 WAS J. Zimmermann 16:05
Josh Beckett LAN 5 1 3 7 3 WAS John Lannan* TBD
Marco Estrada MIL 8 9 9 4 13 PIT Kyle McPherson* 19:05
Liam Hendriks MIN 3 4 2 2 6 CLE Zach McAllister 19:05
Brett Anderson OAK 10 6 8 4 9 DET Justin Verlander 19:05
Ricky Romero TOR 2 5 2 7 5 NYA David Phelps 19:05
Kris Medlen ATL 10 6 6 4 7 MIA Josh Johnson 19:10
D. Matsuzaka BOS 3 5 5 5 10 TB Chris Archer* 19:10
Cole Hamels PHI 9 5 6 2 10 NYN Matt Harvey 19:10
Mike Leake CIN 7 4 4 1 6 CHN Chris Rusin* 20:05
Chris Sale CHA 10 5 5 8 4 KC Bruce Chen 20:10
Lucas Harrell HOU 5 3 5 9 7 STL Lance Lynn 20:15
Edinson Volquez SD 5 7 4 6 6 AZ Trevor Cahill 21:40
Derek Holland TEX 6 7 5 8 4 LAA C.J. Wilson 22:05
Joe Saunders BAL 3 2 4 4 9 SEA Felix Hernandez 22:10
Tyler Chatwood COL 3 6 3 4 6 SF Matt Cain 22:15

To learn more about Pitcher and Team NERD scores click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.





Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.

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Well-Beered Englishman
11 years ago

Maxx Tissenbaum, Hansel Robles, and Exicardo Cayones are hereby nominated for the inevitable NotGraphs Minor League Player Name-Off.

Mugatu
11 years ago

That Hansel. So Hot Right Now.