Daily Notes, Ft. Notable 40-Man Roster Additions

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

1. Darwin Perez Status Update: Perez Signs with Oakland
2. Five Notable 40-Man Roster Additions
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Venezuelan Winter League

Darwin Perez Status Update: Perez Signs with Oakland
Baseball America’s Matt Eddy, famous for having never told a lie, reports that middle infielder Darwin Perez — recently of the Angels and, even more recently, a person of some interest in these Notes — has signed with the Oakland Athletics.

Notable 40-Man Roster Additions
Last Tuesday represented the deadline for teams to finalize their 40-man rosters ahead of December 6th’s Rule 5 Draft (which takes place on the final day of the Winter Meetings in Nashville). Here are five notable players who were protected — that is, notable for reasons mysterious even to the author himself. (MLB Depth Charts has a complete list of players added to their respective teams’ 40-man rosters.)

Player: Chris Dwyer/John Lamb/Mike Montgomery, LHP, KC
2012 Line: —
Notes: Just a couple years ago, all three from Dwyer and Lamb and Montgomery were considered top-10 prospects in a very deep Kansas City system. As of today, only one of them (Lamb) makes an appearance on Marc Hulet’s top-15 list for the Royals.

Player: Phil Irwin, RHP, PIT
2012 Line: 130.1 IP, 117 K, 24 BB, 8 HR (High-, Double, Triple-A)
Notes: Irwin was dominant (21.0, 28 K, 7 BB, 1 HR) in four Triple-A starts following a late-season promotion to that level — and dominant-plus in an International League playoff performance that saw him post this line: 7.0 IP, 24 TBF, 11 K, 1 BB, 0 HR.

Player: Jared Mitchell, OF, CHA
2012 Line: 549 PA, 11 HR, 78 BB, 179 K, 21/27 SB
Notes: A former 23rd-overall pick in the 2009 draft out of LSU, Mitchell’s development has been affected by injury. He appears to have retained enough athleticism to steal 20-plus bases, but has also shown likely prohibitive contact skills.

Player: Bruce Rondon, RHP, DET
2012 Line: 53.0 IP, 66 K, 26 BB, 3 HR (High-, Double, Triple-A)
Notes: Rondon has been invoked (by general manager Dave Dombrowski, for example) as a possible in-house candidate to assume closer duties in 2013, after the collapse/departure of Jose Valverde. He’s posted a 13:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 11.2 innings in the Venezuelan Winter League.

Player: Michael Ynoa, RHP, OAK
2012 Line: 30.2 IP, 25 K, 25 BB, 3 HR (Rookie and Low-A)
Notes: Ynoa, who recently turned 21, was given a $4.25 million bonus as a 16-year-old in 2008, but has been limited considerably by injuries since then. Recovering from Tommy John surgery, he was reportedly sitting at ca 90 mph in early August, while also exhibiting some decided command issues.

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

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+
Carlos Maldonado	Nationals	31	C	139	4.4%	14.4%	22.0%	135
C.J. Retherford	Dodgers	26	3B	165	3.3%	11.7%	12.7%	131
Luis Valbuena	Cubs	26	2B	122	2.6%	14.7%	14.7%	128
Chris Nowak	IND	29	3B	105	3.3%	12.6%	16.7%	127
Alex Romero	MEX	28	OF	158	1.6%	11.5%	5.7%	125
Darwin Perez	Angels	22	SS	139	2.4%	19.4%	22.7%	125
Evan Gattis	Braves	25	C	141	3.8%	7.8%	15.1%	121
Justin Henry	Tigers	27	OF	106	1.3%	14.5%	10.6%	121
Luis Jimenez	Mariners	30	DH	104	2.4%	13.1%	16.2%	118
Josh Kroeger	Braves	29	OF	99	1.7%	14.8%	15.5%	117

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	139	2.4%	19.4%	22.7%	125
Evan Gattis	Braves	25	C	141	3.8%	7.8%	15.1%	121
Carlos Rivero	Nationals	24	3B	160	3.3%	10.4%	19.4%	115
Henry Wrigley	Rays	25	OF	145	4.1%	7.1%	19.3%	114
Yangervis Solarte	Rangers	24	OF	89	2.1%	10.8%	14.0%	112
Ezequiel Carrera	Indians	25	CF	55	2.0%	11.4%	14.8%	112
Darin Ruf	Phillies	25	1B	137	4.5%	11.5%	29.6%	111
Salvador Perez	Royals	22	C	47	2.8%	9.3%	17.0%	109
Jairo Perez	Twins	24	3B	92	2.4%	8.2%	13.6%	109
Rossmel Perez	Diamondbacks	22	C	27	1.9%	10.8%	14.8%	108

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	9	9	38.0	165	35.2%	9.9%	54
Seth Etherton	N/A	35	6	6	27.1	112	25.0%	7.9%	76
Austin Bibens-Dirkx	Nationals	27	7	5	27.2	111	25.2%	8.1%	76
Jarrett Grube	Mariners	30	7	7	27.2	120	24.9%	9.8%	82
Josh Schmidt	Marlins	29	7	7	35.0	147	23.7%	8.9%	82
Cesar Jimenez	Mariners	27	13		11.2	48	23.2%	9.0%	84
Jon Meloan	Yankees	27	16		16.2	68	22.9%	8.8%	84
Marcos Tabata	N/A	26	14		19.1	75	23.3%	9.4%	85
Danny Farquhar	Mariners	25	15		15.1	62	22.8%	9.3%	86
Enrique Gonzalez	NPB	29	16		16.2	63	21.5%	8.5%	87

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	9	9	38.0	165	35.2%	9.9%	54
Seth Etherton	N/A	35	6	6	27.1	112	25.0%	7.9%	76
Austin Bibens-Dirkx	Nationals	27	7	5	27.2	111	25.2%	8.1%	76
Jarrett Grube	Mariners	30	7	7	27.2	120	24.9%	9.8%	82
Josh Schmidt	Marlins	29	7	7	35.0	147	23.7%	8.9%	82
Eric Berger	Indians	26	6	6	29.2	125	20.9%	8.4%	88
Donovan Hand	Brewers	26	7	7	34.1	148	18.9%	8.2%	93
Renyel Pinto	NPB	29	5	5	25.2	108	20.2%	9.8%	94
Eddie Bonine	N/A	31	2	2	7.0	28	19.5%	9.1%	94
Mike Ballard	Nationals	28	1	1	4.0	15	19.6%	9.3%	94