Daily Notes, Ft. The Top Performances of the AFL

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

1. Final SCOUT Leaderboards: Arizona Fall League
2. Video: St. Louis Prospect Boone Whiting’s Whole Repertoire
3. Audio: Polish People Pronouncing Szczur

Final SCOUT Leaderboards: Arizona Fall League
The Arizona Fall League ended this past weekend. Below are the final SCOUT leaderboards for said League’s 2012 season. (Ages as of July 1st, 2012. Players listed with most recent team. Click here for more on what is SCOUT.)

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

Player	MLB	Age	PA	xHR%	xBB%	xK%	SCOUT+
Nate Roberts	Twins	23	85	2.2%	11.8%	13.3%	125
David Adams	Yankees	25	98	2.2%	12.1%	15.6%	120
Christopher Mcguiness	Rangers	24	108	2.4%	11.1%	16.3%	119
Matt Szczur	Cubs	22	107	1.4%	11.7%	12.4%	117
Kent Matthes	Rockies	25	97	2.8%	10.7%	19.7%	116
Trayce Thompson	White Sox	21	67	2.0%	15.2%	22.4%	114
Logan Watkins	Cubs	22	40	1.8%	12.0%	16.7%	114
Joe Panik	Giants	21	88	1.6%	10.6%	12.9%	114
George Springer	Astros	22	85	2.6%	12.3%	22.0%	113
Josh Prince	Brewers	24	106	1.4%	12.2%	15.2%	113

SCOUT Leaderboard: Arizona Fall League Hitters (Prospects)
Here is the SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Arizona Fall League, but only populated with players who are 22 or under — i.e. something more like “prospect” age relative to the league.

Player	MLB	Age	PA	xHR%	xBB%	xK%	SCOUT+
Matt Szczur	Cubs	22	107	1.4%	11.7%	12.4%	117
Trayce Thompson	White Sox	21	67	2.0%	15.2%	22.4%	114
Logan Watkins	Cubs	22	40	1.8%	12.0%	16.7%	114
Joe Panik	Giants	21	88	1.6%	10.6%	12.9%	114
George Springer	Astros	22	85	2.6%	12.3%	22.0%	113
Jonathan Schoop	Orioles	20	83	1.9%	13.9%	20.9%	112
Didi Gregorius	Reds	22	84	1.6%	8.8%	11.5%	112
Cory Spangenberg	Padres	21	38	1.8%	12.1%	18.3%	111
Matt Skole	Nationals	22	74	2.3%	12.8%	22.1%	111
Jonathan Singleton	Astros	20	110	2.1%	13.0%	21.3%	111

Notes
• Nate Roberts, 23, was a fifth-round pick by Minnesota in 2010 out of High Point University. He’s demonstrated excellent control over the strike zone as a minor leaguer (93:114 BB:K in 788 PA), but (a) probably too little overall offensive production for a corner outfielder, while also (b) generally skewing old relative to his levels.
• Outfielder Matt Szczur (pronounced “Caesar”) was recently ranked eighth among all Cubs prospects by our Marc Hulet. He was also discussed in further depth during a very recent edition of FanGraphs Audio.
• Other Cubs prospect Logan Watkins, 23 at the end of August, made his way to the top of SCOUT batting leaderboard late in the AFL season, mostly on the strength of an 8:3 walk-to-strikeout ratio in his 40 plate appearances. He was not ranked among Chicago’s top-15 prospects by Marc Hulet. What Watkins has done is logged a considerable number of starts at shortstop, second base, and center field over the last couple seasons.

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

Player	MLB	Age	G	GS	IP	TBF	xK%	xBB%	SCOUT-
Robbie Erlin	Padres	21	7	7	23.2	91	28.5%	9.5%	81
Kevin Siegrist	Cardinals	22	6	5	19.0	78	27.6%	9.7%	83
Boone Whiting	Cardinals	22	7	7	25.1	110	27.3%	9.5%	83
Mark Montgomery	Yankees	21	9	0	10.1	41	27.2%	10.2%	85
Kevin Quackenbush	Padres	23	11	0	11.0	41	25.2%	9.8%	89
Kyle Gibson	Twins	24	6	6	23.1	106	24.5%	9.6%	89
Kevin Rhoderick	Cubs	23	9	0	9.1	35	24.7%	9.8%	90
Grant Dayton	Marlins	24	10	0	12.0	51	25.2%	10.4%	90
Ryan Pressly	Red Sox	23	10	0	14.0	61	23.9%	9.1%	90
Carson Smith	Mariners	22	11	0	15.0	57	24.4%	9.7%	90

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

Player	MLB	Age	G	GS	IP	TBF	xK%	xBB%	SCOUT-
Robbie Erlin	Padres	21	7	7	23.2	91	28.5%	9.5%	81
Kevin Siegrist	Cardinals	22	6	5	19.0	78	27.6%	9.7%	83
Boone Whiting	Cardinals	22	7	7	25.1	110	27.3%	9.5%	83
Kyle Gibson	Twins	24	6	6	23.1	106	24.5%	9.6%	89
Chase Anderson	Diamondbacks	24	6	6	23.1	96	24.5%	9.9%	90
T.J. House	Indians	22	6	6	27.0	107	23.1%	9.7%	93
Nicholas Bucci	Brewers	21	6	6	18.0	92	23.1%	10.0%	93
James Paxton	Mariners	23	5	5	12.2	57	23.1%	10.1%	94
Justin Marks	Royals	24	7	7	24.1	102	21.1%	9.1%	96
Seth Blair	Cardinals	23	6	6	20.0	89	22.8%	11.0%	96

Notes
• San Diego left-handed prospect Robbie Erlin, recently 22, is generally the best pitcher wherever he plays. Before dominating in Arizona this fall, he finished atop the SCOUT pitching leaderboard of the Double-A Texas League, despite throwing just ca. 50 innings there. He’s struck out ca. 28% of the minor-league batters he faced since being taken in the third round of the 2009 draft out of a California high school.
• After missing the first three-plus months of 2012, right-handed Cardinals prospect Boone Whiting returned to post a 34:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 35.0 innings across three levels (Rookie, Class A, Double-A) in his age-22 season. Per Brooks Baseball, he sat at just 88 mph with his fastball during the AFL while relying heavily on his changeup (which you can see below) as an outpitch to batters on both sides of the plate.
• It was previously suggested in these pages that reports on left-hander Kevin Siegrist’s fastball velocity have varied considerably over the past couple years — i.e. anywhere from the mid-80s to mid-90s. Here’s the most recent information on that front: according to Baseball America’s Pete Wardell, Siegrist sat at 91-93 mph in an AFL start at the end of October (it seems).

Video: St. Louis Prospect Boone Whiting’s Whole Repertoire
Below is a compilation of a Boone Whiting start from August of 2011. It requires spending more time than the reader might normally with post-grunge/hard rock quartet Saliva; however, it also features the most complete footage of Boone Whiting’s repertoire available.

The changeup appears to be Whiting’s strongest offering here. Notable examples of it occur at the following minute marks: 0:37, 2:20, and 3:09. All are followed by slow-motion replays.

Audio: Polish People Pronouncing Szczur
1. Female from Poland:

2. Female from Poland:

3. Male from Poland:

4. Female from Poland:

Links via concerned reader Well-Beered Englishman.