Daily Notes, Ft. Bauer’s Three Best Curves So Far

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

1. Very Assorted Notes
2. Rankings of GIFs: Trevor Bauer’s Best Three Curves So Far
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Puerto Rican League

Very Assorted Notes
Spring Training Schedules Available
Organizations — like the Yankees on Tuesday afternoon, for example — have begun releasing their spring-training schedules over the past week-plus. Both the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues begin play around the 22nd or 23rd of February, it appears — a little earlier than usual, owing to World Baseball Classic play scheduled for this spring.

Andruw Jones Signs with Japanese Club
Nikkan Sports recently reported — and Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker even more recently translated into English — that outfielder Andruw Jones has signed with Japanese club, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. The deal, according to Newman, is likely to be worth ca. $3.5 million — although trusting Patrick Newman is a thing one does at his or her own risk. Jones, who will turn 36 in April, has posted a 72.1 career WAR, with only 3.1 of those wins coming after his age-30 season.

Blue Jays Sign Luis Jimenez
Among the players signed by the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday to minor-league deals was left-handed-hitting first-base and DH-type Luis Jimenez, reports Jon Morosi of FOXSports. Jimenez, who made his debut this year with Seattle as a 30-year-old, was among the Venezuelan Winter League’s leading hitters last season and the leading hitter in said league so far this season, according to the infallible and never-incorrect SCOUT+ hitting metric. When asked how Jimenez is different materially than Ricardo Nanita (a sometime Blue Jays farmhand currently among the Dominican Winter League leaders in hitting), Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos pretended his cell phone was ringing and excused himself.

Rankings of GIFs: Trevor Bauer’s Best Three Curves So Far
Right-hander Trevor Bauer was traded from Arizona to Cleveland on Tuesday as part of a three-team deal that sent, among others, Shin-Soo Choo to the Reds and Drew Stubbs to the Indians. Among his repertoire is an excellent curveball. Below are the three best ones he threw this season over his first four major-league starts — where “best” is determined by a combination of (a) result, (b) total movement, (c) strength of opponent, and (d) the author’s infallible aesthetic judgment.

3. Against Mark Ellis, July 8th
This pitch, thrown at 78 mph, had 6 inches of gloveside run and close to 10 inches of “drop.”

2. Against Jair Jurrjens, June 28th
This curve, at 79 mph, has little lateral movement, but 11 inches of drop.

1. Against Wil Venable, July 3rd
This has less overall movement than the other two (ca. 2 inches gloveside, ca. 6 inches drop), but, due to Venable’s overall sense of helplessness — and the fact that he’s a lefty, too — is most pleasing. (The author decrees it.)

Brooks Baseball was helpful in this endeavor.

SCOUT Leaderboards: Puerto Rican Baseball League
Below are the current SCOUT leaderboards for the Puerto Rican League. (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
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+
Johnny Monell	Giants	26	C	68	3.0%	12.0%	16.9%	128
Andy Gonzalez	Brewers	30	SS	87	2.5%	12.2%	19.2%	118
Angel Sanchez	Astros	28	SS	82	1.9%	10.9%	14.5%	116
Carlos Rivera	MEX	34	1B	73	1.9%	10.3%	14.2%	115
Irving Falu	Royals	29	2B	77	1.6%	9.6%	13.7%	110
Ruben Gotay	Braves	29	2B	79	1.2%	12.0%	15.5%	110
Adonis Garcia	Yankees	27	OF	77	2.6%	6.6%	15.7%	109
Luis Matos	MEX	33	OF	63	1.7%	10.3%	16.2%	108
Edgardo Baez	MEX	26	OF	81	2.2%	10.9%	20.6%	108
Brandon Snyder	Rangers	25	1B	12	1.9%	10.1%	17.8%	108

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+
Brandon Snyder	Rangers	25	1B	12	1.9%	10.1%	17.8%	108
Michael Perez	D-backs	19	C	15	2.3%	9.5%	19.5%	106
Jonathan Rodriguez	Cardinals	22	3B	17	1.9%	10.9%	19.9%	106
Enrique Hernandez	Astros	20	2B	89	1.5%	8.6%	14.3%	105
Jeff Dominguez	Marlins	25	3B	69	1.3%	12.0%	18.1%	105
Eddie Rosario	Twins	20	OF	63	2.3%	8.8%	19.5%	105
Benji Gonzalez	Pirates	22	SS	28	1.5%	10.4%	17.2%	105
Angelo Gumbs	Yankees	19	SS	11	1.9%	9.1%	18.0%	105
Roberto Ortiz	Orioles	23	OF	1	2.0%	9.1%	18.5%	104
Kennys Vargas	Twins	21	1B	46	2.1%	10.5%	21.6%	103

SCOUT Leaderboard: Puerto Rican League Pitchers
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-
Jose De La Torre	Red Sox	26	11	0	13.2	53	23.7%	8.5%	84
Kelvin Villa	IND	26	5	4	22.1	89	22.0%	8.3%	88
Rob Bryson	Indians	24	10	0	11.0	43	22.9%	9.2%	88
Joe Colon	Indians	22	5	4	18.0	76	22.2%	8.9%	89
Scott Kazmir	N/A	28	4	4	19.1	84	21.9%	8.6%	89
Shoki Kasahara	NPB	21	5	5	23.0	102	21.8%	8.5%	89
Julio Rodriguez	Phillies	21	6	0	13.0	48	21.6%	8.4%	89
Josh Walter	IND	27	8	1	16.1	69	21.7%	8.8%	90
Giovanni Soto	Indians	21	7	0	10.1	40	21.9%	9.3%	91
Randy Fontanez	Mets	23	6	0	10.1	42	21.0%	8.5%	91

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-
Kelvin Villa	IND	26	5	4	22.1	89	22.0%	8.3%	88
Joe Colon	Indians	22	5	4	18.0	76	22.2%	8.9%	89
Scott Kazmir	N/A	28	4	4	19.1	84	21.9%	8.6%	89
Shoki Kasahara	NPB	21	5	5	23.0	102	21.8%	8.5%	89
Mark Cohoon	Mets	24	5	5	24.1	108	19.7%	7.8%	93
Javier Vazquez	N/A	35	2	2	6.0	27	20.1%	8.6%	94
Shinya Kayama	NPB	22	5	5	27.1	119	20.4%	8.9%	94
Gaby Hernandez	D-backs	26	5	3	17.1	76	20.2%	8.9%	94
Josh Romanski	Yankees	25	4	4	21.2	85	19.9%	8.6%	94
Tyler Herron	IND	25	5	5	29.1	123	18.5%	7.6%	95