Daily Notes: Live from the Winter Meetings, Day 2

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

1. Notes from the Day 1 at the Winter Meetings
2. Dominican Winter League-Leading Pitcher: Kyler Newby
3. Very Thorough Video: Oakland’s Kyler Newby
4. SCOUT Leaderboards: Dominican Winter League

Notes from Day 1 at the Winter Meetings
It’s been a matter of some debate within my own person how best to use these Notes to report on the Winter Meetings while I’m here in Nashville. Because, allow me to it very make clear, I do not have any sources who are close to any situations — unless, of course, the source is my colleague Jeff Sullivan and the situation is the volume and pitch of my other colleague Dave Cameron’s colossal snoring habit*.

*I think probably habit isn’t the precise word. Habit would seem to connote some agency. Also, though: I don’t know what the actual precise word is and likely no one cares.

It’s also the case that (a) I feel the need to justify CEO and founder of FanGraphs David Appelman’s (perhaps poor) decision to fly me here and accommodate me and (b) I’ve derived a great deal of pleasure from the spectacle of the Meetings thus far — a spectacle about which, were I not at the Winter Meetings but merely reading about the Winter Meetings meetings, I’d be curious.

In conclusion, here are some things a person would have seen at the Winter Meetings yesterday (especially were he, like, right next to me for the entire day — which, why was he right next to me all day like that?):

• Jim Leyland and Bruce Bochy — that is, the managers of this past season’s respective World Series teams — engaged in perfectly amicable conversation.

• Former Marlins manager Jack McKeon, scowling a little bit.

• Former Rays center fielder and current free agent Fernando Perez behaving like a perfect gentleman — holding doors open, throwing his coat on puddles for ladies’ safe passage, etc.

• Brewers GM Doug Melvin’s mustache.

• A scene precisely the same as, and no different than, this one at Jack Daniel’s Restaurant and Bar, located within the Opryland Resort:

Dominican Winter League-Leading Pitcher: Kyler Newby
Kyler Newby is currently very much atop the SCOUT pitching leaderboard for starting pitchers in the Dominican Winter League. “Who’s Kyler Newby?” is a question that a reasonable sort of person might reasonably ask. Here’s one answer to that question: a 27-year-old right-hander who signed a minor-league contract with Oakland in November after pitching within the Baltimore organization. Here’s another one: originally a 50th-round pick out of Mesa (Arizona) Community College in 2004.

Newby was excellent in relief in 2012, mostly for Baltimore’s Double-A Eastern League affiliate Bowie. Here’s his line there: 55.1 IP, 74 K, 21 BB, 1 HR, 1.90 FIP. According to Orioles Nation, Newby throws mostly a fastball (at 87-90 mph) and slider (at 79-81 mph).

Very Thorough Video: Oakland’s Kyler Newby
Here’s a very thorough compilation video of Oakland minor-league right-hander and Dominican League-leader Kyler Newby:

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

SCOUT Leaderboard: Dominican Winter League Hitters
Below is the current SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Dominican 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+
Hector Luna	Phillies	32	3B	151	2.2%	14.9%	12.6%	134
Nelson Perez	Cubs	24	OF	80	2.7%	15.8%	21.6%	124
Oscar Taveras	Cardinals	20	OF	131	2.4%	9.8%	12.4%	120
Felix Pie	Braves	27	OF	143	2.0%	14.2%	16.9%	120
Todd Linden	Giants	32	OF	108	3.5%	13.4%	26.0%	118
Jordany Valdespin	Mets	24	2B	62	2.1%	12.2%	15.8%	117
Ricardo Nanita	Blue Jays	31	OF	106	1.5%	10.5%	10.3%	117
Diory Hernandez	Cubs	28	SS	142	1.3%	11.3%	10.3%	116
Donell Linares	MEX	28	3B	65	2.4%	7.5%	12.8%	113
Moises Sierra	Blue Jays	23	OF	127	2.4%	10.5%	17.6%	112

SCOUT Leaderboard: Dominican Winter League Hitters (Prospects)
Here is the SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Dominican 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+
Nelson Perez	Cubs	24	OF	80	2.7%	15.8%	21.6%	124
Oscar Taveras	Cardinals	20	OF	131	2.4%	9.8%	12.4%	120
Jordany Valdespin	Mets	24	2B	62	2.1%	12.2%	15.8%	117
Moises Sierra	Blue Jays	23	OF	127	2.4%	10.5%	17.6%	112
Jose Ramirez	Indians	19	SS	103	1.2%	12.2%	13.3%	112
Miguel Sano	Twins	19	3B	35	2.3%	11.0%	18.6%	110
Carlos Peguero	Mariners	25	OF	34	2.6%	11.0%	20.7%	110
Jean Segura	Brewers	22	SS	118	1.8%	8.5%	12.1%	110
Wilin Rosario	Rockies	23	C	28	2.3%	10.3%	18.2%	110
Yan Gomes	Blue Jays	24	OF	64	2.8%	9.1%	19.6%	109

SCOUT Leaderboard: Dominican Winter League Pitchers
Below is the current SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Dominican 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-
Kyler Newby	Orioles	27	7	7	31.0	128	27.4%	9.2%	75
Erick Abreu	Astros	28	16	0	23.1	84	26.8%	8.7%	75
Johan Yan	Rangers	27	16	0	11.0	46	25.5%	9.0%	80
Dustin Richardson	IND	28	14	0	11.0	44	23.7%	9.0%	85
Tony Pena Jr.	Red Sox	31	12	0	15.2	58	23.4%	8.9%	85
Fabio Castro	Athletics	27	9	7	31.0	135	22.5%	8.9%	88
Danny Salazar	Indians	22	5	3	14.0	58	22.7%	9.1%	88
Kelvin De La Cruz	Tigers	23	7	1	10.2	47	22.7%	9.3%	88
Samuel Deduno	Twins	28	3	2	9.2	37	22.6%	9.5%	89
Bartolo Colon	Athletics	39	3	3	11.1	45	21.6%	8.8%	90

SCOUT Leaderboard: Dominican 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-
Kyler Newby	Orioles	27	7	7	31.0	128	27.4%	9.2%	75
Fabio Castro	Athletics	27	9	7	31.0	135	22.5%	8.9%	88
Danny Salazar	Indians	22	5	3	14.0	58	22.7%	9.1%	88
Samuel Deduno	Twins	28	3	2	9.2	37	22.6%	9.5%	89
Bartolo Colon	Athletics	39	3	3	11.1	45	21.6%	8.8%	90
Josh Outman	Rockies	27	6	6	25.2	111	22.2%	9.5%	90
Aneury Rodriguez	Astros	24	8	8	32.0	135	21.2%	8.5%	90
Omar Javier	IND	24	8	4	24.0	94	21.6%	9.1%	91
Stolmy Pimentel	Red Sox	22	8	6	23.0	101	21.4%	8.9%	91
Bruce Billings	Athletics	26	6	6	21.0	95	20.8%	9.2%	93