Daily Notes: Ft. Foreign Leaderboards, Exclusively

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

1. On Foreign Leaderboards, One of Their Virtues
2. SCOUT Leaderboards: Mexican Pacific League
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Australian Baseball League

On Foreign Leaderboards, One of Their Virtues
When the author was younger than he is now — but not so young as he was before that — he made a practice of watching Italian soccer games on his home television. The primary objective was to watch the Beautiful Game played in the anxious and too-deliberate Italian style. A secondary one, however, was to participate in a sort of sporting-type of tourism — which, I’ll explain.

Because the midfield camera shots at Catania (in Sicily) and Siena (the one with the famous horse race), for example — because they afforded the subscriber to GolTV a view not merely of the relevant pitch, but also of the city beyond that, the spectator was allowed to feel as though he was not merely watching a soccer game but participating in the life of whatever city the game was taking place.

For some readers, this will sound like a poor surrogate for the Real Thing — with the very delicious Mediterranean cuisine and very animated Mediterranean people — but for those who, for example, are living off a TA’s stipend, it isn’t the worst substitute. One is, at least, given a view of an old and important city — and from a perspective that is something more like authentic than any of the ones featured on a typical postcard.

Poring over the leaderboards of a foreign baseball league, I’ll submit, provides a similar pleasure for the reader-spectator as watching those Italian soccer games. There is, of course, no actual view to be appreciated in the way that there is for a televised sporting event; however, the view is only part of the experience. The foreign leaderboard — such as those supplied below for the Mexican Pacific and then Australian Leagues — allows one, for a minute, to turn his attention elsewhere, to acquaint himself with some unfamiliar names, and to consider under what conditions and among what other sorts of spectators the games of that league might be played. There’s a sort of romanticism inherent in such an activity. And a pleasure.

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

SCOUT Leaderboard: Mexican Pacific League Hitters
Below is the current SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Mexican Pacific 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+
Barbaro Canizares	MEX	32	1B	266	5.3%	15.0%	12.8%	157
Jesse Gutierrez	IND	34	1B	268	6.6%	7.1%	12.7%	149
Chris Colabello	Twins	28	1B	228	6.4%	10.1%	20.6%	139
Jason Botts	MEX	31	OF	255	6.1%	11.4%	22.0%	137
Cory Aldridge	MEX	33	OF	262	6.7%	16.0%	32.8%	137
Sandy Madera	N/A	31	1B	195	5.4%	10.7%	17.9%	134
Saul Soto	MEX	33	C	241	4.2%	17.0%	22.8%	130
Marlon Byrd	N/A	34	CF	243	5.9%	10.7%	23.5%	129
Japhet Amador	MEX	25	1B	256	5.4%	12.1%	23.0%	129
Jorge Cantu	Angels	30	1B	202	5.3%	13.4%	24.3%	129

SCOUT Leaderboard: Mexican Pacific League Pitchers
Below is the current SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Mexican Pacific 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-
Mike Benacka	IND	29	29	0	35.0	141	37.7%	10.3%	49
Adrian C. Ramirez	MEX	24	37	0	35.2	149	28.8%	8.6%	68
Esmailin Caridad	Cubs	28	35	1	39.0	165	27.3%	8.5%	72
Oscar Villarreal	Orioles	30	29	0	35.0	144	26.7%	8.6%	74
Rafael Diaz	MEX	41	20	5	39.2	173	26.1%	8.7%	76
Edwin Salas	MEX	20	12	5	38.1	148	24.2%	8.0%	79
Oscar Verdugo	MEX	22	35	0	40.2	169	24.9%	9.1%	81
Mario Mendoza	MEX	33	37	0	32.1	129	24.5%	9.1%	82
Esteban Haro	MEX	26	24	0	30.2	128	24.0%	8.7%	82
Hassan Pena	Nationals	27	29	0	27.2	119	24.4%	9.3%	82

SCOUT Leaderboard: Mexican Pacific League Pitchers (Starters)
Here is the SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Mexican Pacific 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-
Marco Duarte	Red Sox	25	14	13	67.1	301	22.6%	9.3%	87
Nick Additon	Cardinals	24	10	10	53.0	229	21.4%	9.2%	90
Javier Martinez	MEX	29	13	13	75.1	326	20.8%	9.6%	93
Irwin Delgado	MEX	23	13	12	57.0	251	21.5%	10.5%	94
Anthony Ferrara	Cardinals	22	4	3	14.2	65	20.8%	9.8%	94
Rolando Valdez	MEX	26	13	13	65.1	295	18.3%	7.9%	95
Dennys Reyes	N/A	35	10	10	48.2	225	20.9%	10.6%	95
Jose Pina	N/A	26	1	1	6.0	25	19.5%	9.2%	96
Edgar Gonzalez	Astros	29	9	9	46.1	202	18.3%	8.2%	96
James Avery	Tigers	28	8	8	45.0	190	18.4%	8.4%	96

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

SCOUT Leaderboard: Australian Baseball League Hitters
Below is the current SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Australian Baseball 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+
Ji-Man Choi	Mariners	21	1B	87	2.9%	11.7%	16.4%	129
Carlo Testa	Royals	25	OF	115	2.1%	13.9%	17.4%	123
Adam Buschini	IND	25	2B	87	2.9%	9.2%	15.8%	122
Angus Roeger	N/A	22	OF	95	3.6%	12.3%	24.7%	121
Mitch Dening	IND	23	RF	109	2.5%	8.7%	12.8%	121
Chris Snelling	N/A	30	OF	59	1.8%	13.9%	16.9%	121
Nathan Melendres	Mariners	22	OF	67	2.7%	9.6%	16.4%	120
Josh Roberts	N/A	25	OF	110	2.5%	9.1%	14.7%	119
Kody Hightower	N/A	26	SS	95	1.9%	10.8%	14.0%	118
Trent D’Antonio	N/A	26	C	73	2.4%	10.8%	17.0%	118

SCOUT Leaderboard: Australian Baseball League Pitchers
Below is the current SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Australian Baseball 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-
Chris Smith	IND	23	7	7	40.2	158	31.7%	7.7%	59
Chris Oxspring	N/A	35	8	8	53.2	220	29.1%	7.2%	65
Anthony Claggett	IND	27	7	7	41.2	173	24.3%	7.6%	82
Matthew Williams	N/A	25	13	0	15.0	60	25.2%	8.6%	82
Virgil Vasquez	IND	30	7	7	49.1	196	23.4%	8.0%	86
Dustin Loggins	IND	21	11	0	12.0	49	24.6%	9.3%	86
Brian Grening	IND	27	7	7	46.1	187	21.9%	7.0%	87
Todd Van Steensel	N/A	21	9	0	11.0	50	24.5%	9.6%	88
Sean Toler	IND	25	12	0	14.1	62	23.5%	8.7%	88
Chuck Lofgren	IND	26	7	6	37.2	156	23.1%	8.5%	88

SCOUT Leaderboard: Australian Baseball League Pitchers (Starters)
Here is the SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Australian Baseball 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-
Chris Smith	IND	23	7	7	40.2	158	31.7%	7.7%	59
Chris Oxspring	N/A	35	8	8	53.2	220	29.1%	7.2%	65
Anthony Claggett	IND	27	7	7	41.2	173	24.3%	7.6%	82
Virgil Vasquez	IND	30	7	7	49.1	196	23.4%	8.0%	86
Brian Grening	IND	27	7	7	46.1	187	21.9%	7.0%	87
Chuck Lofgren	IND	26	7	6	37.2	156	23.1%	8.5%	88
Hirotaka Koishi	NPB	25	7	7	35.1	158	24.0%	10.4%	91
Tim Atherton	Twins	22	5	4	21.0	82	20.9%	8.4%	95
Kevin Reese	IND	27	7	7	33.2	159	20.8%	8.4%	95
James Schult	IND	22	3	3	12.2	57	21.6%	9.7%	97