Daily Notes, Ft. Detroit’s Next Closer, Maybe

by
November 12, 2012

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

1. Two Comments on the Venezuelan Winter League
2. SCOUT Leaderboards: Venezuelan Winter League
3. Video: Bruce Rondon Attempts a Little Murder

Two Comments on the Venezuelan Winter League
Comment No. 1: Regarding Possible Detroit Closer, Bruce Rondon
There have been indications so far this offseason — including from general manager Dave Dombrowski himself — that Detroit will look to replace the closer role recently vacated by free agent Jose Valverde not only with (a) a pitcher already in the organization, generally speaking, but (b) minor-league right-hander Bruce Rondon, specifically. The 21-year-old Rondon — who pitched at High-, Double-, and Triple-A all this season — sits in the high-90s and has hit 100 mph pretty consistently, according to people who would know such things.

Today marks Rondon’s first appearance on the SCOUT pitching leaderboards for the Venezuelan Winter League (below), where he’s posted an 11:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 8.0 innings of relief for Magallanes.

Comment No. 2: Regarding Young, Talented Free Agent Darwin Perez
As noted recently in these pages, middle infielder Darwin Perez was among the 500-plus minor-league players to become free agents this November. Today, Perez — most recently of the Angels organization — appears atop the SCOUT batting leaderboards for the VWL. He’s posted a 19:15 walk-to-strikeout ratio while also hitting three home runs in ca. 76 plate appearances so far.

SCOUT Leaderboards: Venezuelan Winter League
Below are the SCOUT leaderboards for the Venezuelan Winter League, current through Saturday. (Ages as of July 1st, 2012. Players listed with most recent team. Click here for more on what is SCOUT.)

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SCOUT Leaderboard: Venezuelan Winter League Hitters (Overall)
Below is the current SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Venezuelan Winter 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+
Darwin Perez Angels 22 SS 76 2.6% 15.2% 19.1% 122
Carlos Maldonado Nationals 31 C 79 3.9% 11.6% 22.0% 121
Henry Wrigley Rays 25 OF 104 4.1% 7.4% 17.6% 119
C.J. Retherford Dodgers 26 3B 113 3.0% 9.5% 14.5% 119
Evan Gattis Braves 25 C 97 3.1% 7.8% 14.5% 115
Carlos Rivero Nationals 24 3B 111 3.0% 9.6% 16.8% 115
Alex Romero MEX 28 OF 102 1.8% 9.5% 9.2% 114
Gustavo Molina Yankees 30 C 60 3.4% 8.0% 17.0% 114
Justin Henry Tigers 27 OF 94 1.5% 11.9% 11.5% 114
Luis Jimenez Mariners 30 DH 53 2.4% 11.8% 17.2% 113

SCOUT Leaderboard: Venezuelan Winter League Hitters (Prospects)
Here is the SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Venezuelan Winter 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+
Darwin Perez Angels 22 SS 76 2.6% 15.2% 19.1% 122
Henry Wrigley Rays 25 OF 104 4.1% 7.4% 17.6% 119
Evan Gattis Braves 25 C 97 3.1% 7.8% 14.5% 115
Carlos Rivero Nationals 24 3B 111 3.0% 9.6% 16.8% 115
Darin Ruf Phillies 25 1B 103 4.4% 11.0% 28.4% 112
Gorkys Hernandez Marlins 24 CF 92 2.2% 12.0% 16.4% 112
Wilmer Flores Mets 20 SS 88 2.5% 9.7% 16.3% 110
Rossmel Perez Diamondbacks 22 C 27 2.0% 10.5% 15.1% 108
Scott Van Slyke Dodgers 25 1B 92 3.8% 9.0% 24.4% 107
Freddy Galvis Phillies 22 SS 98 2.4% 7.7% 15.7% 104

SCOUT Leaderboard: Venezuelan Winter League Pitchers (Overall)
Below is the current SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Venezuelan Winter 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-
Alex Torres Rays 24 6 6 22.2 99 33.4% 9.2% 58
Seth Etherton N/A 35 5 5 24.1 100 25.2% 7.7% 76
Austin Bibens-Dirkx Nationals 27 4 3 16.0 63 23.0% 8.1% 84
Josh Schmidt Marlins 29 5 5 24.2 103 23.6% 9.3% 85
Jarrett Grube Mariners 30 5 5 21.0 90 23.1% 9.3% 86
Cesar Jimenez Mariners 27 8 0 7.1 28 22.4% 8.7% 87
Enrique Gonzalez NPB 29 10 0 10.0 35 21.6% 8.6% 88
Edgmer Escalona Rockies 25 10 0 9.1 41 22.2% 9.2% 89
Jon Meloan Yankees 27 11 0 12.0 49 21.3% 8.5% 89
Bruce Rondon Tigers 21 8 0 8.0 32 21.3% 9.0% 90

SCOUT Leaderboard: Venezuelan Winter League Pitchers (Starters)
Here is the SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Venezuelan Winter 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-
Alex Torres Rays 24 6 6 22.2 99 33.4% 9.2% 58
Seth Etherton N/A 35 5 5 24.1 100 25.2% 7.7% 76
Austin Bibens-Dirkx Nationals 27 4 3 16.0 63 23.0% 8.1% 84
Josh Schmidt Marlins 29 5 5 24.2 103 23.6% 9.3% 85
Jarrett Grube Mariners 30 5 5 21.0 90 23.1% 9.3% 86
Victor Garate Brewers 27 5 5 20.2 86 21.0% 8.6% 90
Eric Berger Indians 26 4 4 19.1 81 19.5% 8.0% 93
Luis Chirinos IND 22 6 3 23.1 102 19.6% 8.5% 94
Yoanner Negrin MEX 28 6 6 27.2 119 19.0% 8.5% 95
Orangel Arenas Angels 23 2 2 10.2 46 18.4% 8.2% 96

Video: Bruce Rondon Attempts a Little Murder
So far as the author can tell, this is the only extant video of Detroit right-handed prospect Bruce Rondon on the entire internet. Curiously, it stems from an incident that saw mostly light-hitting infielder Will Rhymes taking (perhaps) excessive pleasure in a home run he hit earlier in the relevant game.





 

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

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