Daily Notes, Ft. All the Big Hector Santiago Coverage

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

1. Hector Santiago Coverage, Featuring Hector Santiago
2. Action GIFs: Hector Santiago’s Changeup vs. His Screwball
3. Premature SCOUT Leaderboards: Puerto Rican League

Hector Santiago Coverage, Featuring Hector Santiago
The Puerto Rican League is approximately a week old, and, as the (very premature) leaderboards below reveal, White Sox left-hander Hector Santiago has been quite effective in his first two appearances (both starts), posting a 13:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 11.0 innings.

Despite some difficulties at the beginning — difficulties which got him removed from the closer role rather early on — Santiago’s 2012 season was entirely adequate (70.1 IP, 106 xFIP-). Notably, he made four starts in September and October, with surprisingly proficient results. To wit: 19.1 IP, 26 K, 11 BB, 55.8 GB%, 3.41 xFIP.

Santiago’s screwball has been important to his development. Owing to the similarity of the screwball to the changeup, it’s hard to isolate its precise effectiveness per our pitch-type values. However, the two offerings work nicely in tandem to neutralize the right-handed platoon advantage. Santiago also sits with his fastball, even as a starter, at around 93-95 mph — considerable for a left-hander. His challenge in 2013 will continue to be command: Santiago walked 13.1% of batters faced in 2012, which is too inefficient for a starting role.

Given his lack of economy (if that continues) and his relative effectiveness right-handers (if that continues), Santiago is an interesting candidate for a sort of extended-type relief role.

Action GIFs: Hector Santiago’s Change vs. His Screwball
Despite the similarities in movement between the two, Santiago throws both a changeup and a screwball. According to the left-hander himself, his grip and arm action is also mostly the same. The main difference is a more exaggerated turning of that arm for the screwball — which he throws with less velocity and more depth.

Below are examples from August of the change and then screwball on consecutive pitches to Baltimore’s Adam Jones.

First, here’s the 82 mph change:

And next, here’s the screwball at 74 mph for the strikeout:

Premature SCOUT Leaderboards: Puerto Rican League
Below are the SCOUT leaderboards for the Puerto Rican League, which is only a week old. (Ages as of July 1st, 2012. Players listed with most recent team. Click here for more on what is SCOUT.)

SCOUT Leaderboard: Puerto Rican League Hitters (Overall)
Below is the current SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Puerto Rican League. SCOUT+ is calculated using regressed home-run, walk, and strikeout rates, where 100 is average and above 100 is above average.

Player	Team	Age	Pos	PA	xHR%	xBB%	xK%	SCOUT+
Edgardo Baez	MEX	26	OF	23	2.3%	12.3%	18.8%	111
Andy Gonzalez	Brewers	30	SS	23	2.3%	11.3%	18.1%	109
Daniel Ortiz	Twins	22	OF	16	2.0%	11.2%	17.0%	107
Brandon Snyder	Rangers	25	1B	12	2.0%	11.4%	17.5%	107
Carlos Rivera	MEX	34	1B	19	2.0%	10.5%	16.6%	106
Jorge Padilla	MEX	32	OF	27	1.9%	10.6%	17.0%	105
Luis Matos	MEX	33	OF	15	1.7%	11.8%	17.1%	105
Jesus Feliciano	Rays	33	OF	18	1.7%	11.1%	16.1%	105
Yazy Arbelo	D-backs	24	1B	11	2.0%	10.5%	17.6%	104
Roberto Pena	Astros	20	C	5	2.1%	10.8%	18.3%	104

SCOUT Leaderboard: Puerto Rican League Hitters (Prospects)
Here is the SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Puerto Rican League, but only populated with players who are 25 or under — i.e. something more like “prospect” age relative to the league.

Player	Team	Age	Pos	PA	xHR%	xBB%	xK%	SCOUT+
Daniel Ortiz	Twins	22	OF	16	2.0%	11.2%	17.0%	107
Brandon Snyder	Rangers	25	1B	12	2.0%	11.4%	17.5%	107
Yazy Arbelo	D-backs	24	1B	11	2.0%	10.5%	17.6%	104
Roberto Pena	Astros	20	C	5	2.1%	10.8%	18.3%	104
Juan Centeno	Mets	22	C	9	2.1%	10.1%	17.1%	104
Roberto Ortiz*	Orioles	23	OF	1	2.1%	10.5%	18.1%	104
Reymond Fuentes	Padres	21	OF	16	1.7%	12.7%	19.0%	104
Jaime Ortiz	Marlins	23	1B	6	1.7%	11.2%	17.5%	103
Kennys Vargas	Twins	21	1B	22	2.0%	10.9%	18.9%	102
Luis Mateo	Cardinals	22	2B	18	1.7%	11.1%	17.4%	102

*Roberto Ortiz hit a home run in his only plate appearance (through Tuesday, at least).

SCOUT Leaderboard: Puerto Rican League Pitchers (Overall)
Below is the current SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Puerto Rican League SCOUT- is calculated using regressed strikeout and walk rates where 100 is average and below 100 is above average.

Player	Team	Age	G	GS	IP	TBF	xK%	xBB%	SCOUT-
Hector Santiago	White Sox	24	2	2	11.0	46	21.2%	10.2%	91
Jose De La Torre	Red Sox	26	3	0	4.2	14	21.2%	10.2%	91
Kelvin Villa	IND	26	1	1	5.0	19	21.2%	10.3%	92
Josh Walter	IND	27	3	0	5.0	22	20.1%	10.8%	96
Julio Rodriguez	Phillies	21	2	0	3.2	12	19.4%	10.3%	96
Miguel A. Martinez	IND	29	3	0	6.1	23	19.3%	10.2%	96
Daniel Stange	Padres	26	3	0	3.2	11	19.5%	10.5%	96
Anthony Ranaudo	Red Sox	22	2	2	4.2	20	19.1%	10.3%	97
Jeremy Kehrt	Red Sox	26	1	1	3.2	14	19.2%	10.4%	97
Sergio Espinosa	IND	26	2	0	2.1	8	19.1%	10.5%	97

SCOUT Leaderboard: Puerto Rican League Pitchers (Starters)
Here is the SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Puerto Rican League, but only populated with pitchers who’ve made at least half of their appearances as starts.

Player	Team	Age	G	GS	IP	TBF	xK%	xBB%	SCOUT-
Hector Santiago	White Sox	24	2	2	11.0	46	21.2%	10.2%	91
Kelvin Villa	IND	26	1	1	5.0	19	21.2%	10.3%	92
Anthony Ranaudo	Red Sox	22	2	2	4.2	20	19.1%	10.3%	97
Jeremy Kehrt	Red Sox	26	1	1	3.2	14	19.2%	10.4%	97
Zack Segovia	Tigers	29	2	2	9.0	39	18.8%	10.3%	98
Jason Lowey	N/A	27	1	1	4.0	17	18.8%	10.4%	98
Mark Cohoon	Mets	24	1	1	4.1	19	18.5%	10.1%	98
Jarret Martin	Dodgers	22	1	1	1.2	8	19.2%	10.9%	98
Deinys Suarez	IND	28	2	2	6.2	28	18.8%	10.9%	99
Luis Atilano	Reds	27	1	1	3.0	11	18.1%	10.3%	99

Credit to Brooks Baseball for PITCHf/x data.