Daily Notes for March 22nd
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. Select Televised Games
2. SCOUT Leaderboards: Spring Training Batters
3. Crowdsourcing Radio Broadcasters: Ballot Totals by Team
Select Televised Games
Some notable games available on MLB.TV.
Chicago NL at Texas | 16:05 ET
Prospective Cubs first baseman Bryan LaHair has a 0:14 BB:K in 37 at-bats this spring. What will he do today?!? It’s a mystery. Like a John le Carré novel. Which is to say, a lesser John le Carré novel.
Kansas City at Los Angeles AL | 16:05 ET
This is the daily free game on MLB.TV. Danny Duffy, 23, starts for the Royals (against Jered Weaver). Duffy posted just a 112 xFIP- last season and 0.6 WAR in 105.1 innings, but is a left-hander who sits at 93 mph as a starter. Lorenzo Cain, the Royals’ likely center fielder this season, has looked good, and is ranked 19th out of 193 batters with a 108 SCOUT+ (see below for more on what that means).
New York AL at Boston | 19:05 ET
Yankees right-hander David Phelps, who was originally scheduled to pitch in relief a couple days ago, gets the start for New York today instead. It’s possible, if not probable, that he could be a decent major-leaguer, despite the lack of real pedigree. In any case, he throws at around 92 mph and has generally only walked about 5% of batters faced in the minors.
SCOUT Leaderboards: Spring Training Batters
Batting Leaderboard
SCOUT is a metric designed to assess performance in those instances — like with baseball’s various fall and winter leagues, for example, or spring training — where smalls samples are the rule. Presented on the same scale as wRC+, SCOUT+ uses regressed home-run rate, walk rate, and strikeout rate as its inputs. Because it uses metrics that become reliable rather quickly, SCOUT+ represents a more stable alternative to batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, etc. (Click here for more on SCOUT+.)
| Name | Org | PA* | HR% | BB% | K% | xHR% | xBB% | xK% | SCOUT+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delmon Young | DET | 38 | 13.2% | 5.3% | 13.2% | 4.0% | 6.7% | 16.6% | 117 |
| Dan Uggla | ATL | 43 | 9.3% | 14.0% | 18.6% | 3.6% | 8.6% | 18.0% | 115 |
| Mat Gamel | MIL | 34 | 8.8% | 11.8% | 8.8% | 3.4% | 7.9% | 15.7% | 114 |
| Howie Kendrick | LAA | 32 | 9.4% | 6.3% | 3.1% | 3.4% | 7.0% | 14.6% | 114 |
| Daniel Descalso | STL | 40 | 2.5% | 25.0% | 10.0% | 2.7% | 10.7% | 15.7% | 114 |
| Albert Pujols | LAA | 34 | 8.8% | 11.8% | 11.8% | 3.4% | 7.9% | 16.4% | 113 |
| Paul Goldschmidt | ARI | 44 | 4.5% | 22.7% | 18.2% | 3.0% | 10.5% | 17.9% | 113 |
| J.P. Arencibia | TOR | 31 | 12.9% | 3.2% | 16.1% | 3.7% | 6.5% | 17.4% | 111 |
| Eric Hosmer | KC | 46 | 4.3% | 15.2% | 13.0% | 2.9% | 9.0% | 16.3% | 111 |
| Eric Sogard | OAK | 46 | 4.3% | 10.9% | 8.7% | 2.9% | 8.0% | 15.0% | 111 |
And here’s the laggardboard:
| Name | Org | PA* | HR% | BB% | K% | xHR% | xBB% | xK% | SCOUT+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bryan LaHair | CHC | 37 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 37.8% | 2.4% | 5.8% | 22.7% | 84 |
| Jai Miller | BAL | 35 | 2.9% | 2.9% | 48.6% | 2.7% | 6.3% | 24.9% | 85 |
| Brandon Wood | COL | 31 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 38.7% | 2.4% | 6.0% | 22.1% | 86 |
| Johnny Giavotella | KC | 36 | 0.0% | 2.8% | 27.8% | 2.4% | 6.3% | 20.1% | 90 |
| Dayan Viciedo | CWS | 32 | 0.0% | 6.3% | 34.4% | 2.4% | 7.0% | 21.3% | 90 |
| Freddie Freeman | ATL | 47 | 0.0% | 2.1% | 21.3% | 2.3% | 5.9% | 18.8% | 90 |
| Ian Desmond | WSH | 43 | 0.0% | 4.7% | 25.6% | 2.3% | 6.6% | 20.0% | 90 |
| Jon Jay | STL | 38 | 0.0% | 7.9% | 31.6% | 2.3% | 7.2% | 21.2% | 90 |
| Danny Espinosa | WSH | 39 | 0.0% | 7.7% | 30.8% | 2.3% | 7.2% | 21.1% | 91 |
| Chris Heisey | CIN | 36 | 0.0% | 11.1% | 36.1% | 2.4% | 7.8% | 22.1% | 91 |
Notes
• The sample from which these leaderboards were taken includes the 193 spring batters with at least 30 at-bats as of Wednesday afternoon.
• After placing second on last week’s batting leaderboards, Mat Gamel appears here, again — this time in third. He’s posted a 1:1 BB:K in ca. 12 plate appearances since then.
• Eric Sogard also appears on the leaderboard for a second consecutive week. He’s competing with Josh Donaldson for the Oakland third-base slot. In ca. 55 plate appearances, Donaldson has 94 SCOUT+, placing him 172nd out of 193 qualified batters.
• The Washington Nationals starting middle infield from 2011 — Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa — is having some trouble thus far. Meanwhile, Nats middle-infield prospect Steve Lombardozzi is 58th overall, with a 104 SCOUT+ in ca. 38 plate appearances.
Crowdsourcing Radio Broadcasters: Ballot Totals by Team
Recently, we released the results of our television broadcaster rankings — itself the product of reader crowdsourcing that started in late November. Now, FanGraphs is asking readers to rate the radio broadcast teams for all 30 major-league clubs (Click here for more on this project.)
So far, we’ve done seven teams. Here they are in order of votes received. (Click on a team name to go to the relevant ballot — especially if you’re from San Diego.)
| Num | Team | Ballots |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco | 605 |
| 2 | Toronto | 205 |
| 3 | Washington | 85 |
| 4 | Seattle | 60 |
| 5 | Texas | 31 |
| 6 | Tampa Bay | 22 |
| 7 | San Diego | 10 |
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Really want to add Sogard in my deep league… will they actually make him the starter or will he just platoon w/ Donaldson?
More than likely, Sogard has beat out Rosales for the utility infielder spot. That said, if he continues to hit and Donaldson doesn’t, I imagine the A’s will give him a shot – and why not? what’s to lose?
Just my opinion as an A’s fan. If you can stash him on the bench, maybe go get him now, though personally, I think Donaldson is the better hitter.