Daily Notes: SCOUT Leaderboards for Double-A

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

1. SCOUT Leaderboards for Double-A
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

SCOUT Leaderboards for Double-A
A Brief Introduction
Featured in this edition of the Notes are the SCOUT leaderboards for Double-A. Briefly stated, SCOUT represents an attempt to use our knowledge of certain metrics, and at what sample sizes they become reliable, to measure run production/prevention in instances where small samples are all that’s available. Stated less briefly, is the explanation available here.

Other recent editions: Triple-A.

SCOUT Leaderboard: Double-A Hitters (Overall)
Below is the current SCOUT batting leaderboard for all Double-A hitters. SCOUT+ combines regressed home-run, walk, and strikeout rates in a FIP-like equation to produce a result not unlike wRC+, where 100 is league average and above 100 is above average. Note that players are compared not to all Double-A hitters, but to those in their respective league, and then combined afterward for the sake of this leaderboard. Note also that xHR%, xBB%, and xK% stand for expected home run, walk, and strikeout rate, respectively.

Player	Team	League	Age	PA	HR	BB	K	xHR%	xBB%	xK%	SCOUT+
Allan Dykstra	Mets (AA)	Eastern	26	256	12	53	59	4.3%	20.7%	23.0%	157
Xavier Scruggs	Cardinals (AA)	Texas	25	277	19	45	91	6.5%	16.2%	32.9%	149
Christian Marrero	Braves (AA)	Southern	26	286	5	59	41	1.8%	20.6%	14.3%	145
Anthony Rendon	Nationals (AA)	Eastern	23	152	6	30	25	3.0%	17.3%	16.4%	144
Kalian Sams	Padres (AA)	Texas	26	102	10	20	24	4.8%	14.0%	22.3%	143
Josmil Pinto	Twins (AA)	Eastern	24	304	11	44	54	3.6%	14.5%	17.8%	141
Kyle Jensen	Marlins (AA)	Southern	25	291	16	33	73	5.4%	11.3%	25.1%	140
Kiel Roling	Rockies (AA)	Texas	26	266	16	26	60	5.6%	9.8%	22.6%	139
George Springer	Astros (AA)	Texas	23	323	19	42	96	5.9%	13.0%	29.7%	138
Jim Murphy	Phillies (AA)	Eastern	27	299	15	24	55	5.0%	8.0%	18.4%	137

SCOUT Leaderboard: Double-A Hitters (Age 23 and Under)
Here are the top-10 batters from Double-A who might still, because of their age, be considered prospects — again, as determined by the methodology explained above.

Player	Team	League	Age	PA	HR	BB	K	xHR%	xBB%	xK%	SCOUT+
Anthony Rendon	Nationals (AA)	Eastern	23	152	6	30	25	3.0%	17.3%	16.4%	144
George Springer	Astros (AA)	Texas	23	323	19	42	96	5.9%	13.0%	29.7%	138
Taylor Lindsey	Angels (AA)	Texas	21	297	11	25	40	3.7%	8.4%	13.5%	130
Christian Vazquez	Red Sox (AA)	Eastern	22	189	4	27	25	2.1%	14.0%	13.2%	130
Michael Almanzar	Red Sox (AA)	Eastern	22	298	11	26	46	3.7%	8.7%	15.4%	129
Jose Pirela	Yankees (AA)	Eastern	23	285	6	36	34	2.1%	12.6%	11.9%	129
Cesar Puello	Mets (AA)	Eastern	22	237	14	14	48	5.1%	5.9%	20.3%	128
Kyle Parker	Rockies (AA)	Texas	23	261	12	19	44	4.3%	7.3%	16.9%	127
Andrew Susac	Giants (AA)	Eastern	23	245	9	34	54	3.4%	13.9%	22.0%	127
Jarek Cunningham	Pirates (AA)	Eastern	23	271	14	21	60	4.9%	7.7%	22.1%	127

SCOUT Leaderboard: Double-A Pitchers (Overall)
Below is the current SCOUT pitching leaderboard for Double-A. SCOUT- combines regressed strikeout and walk rates in a kwERA-like equation to produce a number not unlike ERA-, where 100 is league average and below 100 is better than average. Note that players are compared not to all Double-A hitters, but to those in their respective league, and then combined afterward for the sake of this leaderboard. Note also that xK% and xBB% stand for expected strikeout and walk rate, respectively.

Player	Team	League	Age	G	GS	IP	TBF	K	BB	xK%	xBB%	SCOUT-
Jack Leathersich	Mets (AA)	Eastern	22	24	0	29.1	124	55	16	40.2%	10.2%	46
Ian Thomas	Braves (AA)	Southern	26	27	1	40.0	162	59	17	36.4%	9.5%	48
Yimi Garcia	Dodgers (AA)	Southern	22	27	0	36.0	135	47	6	33.3%	8.0%	53
Danny Salazar	Indians (AA)	Eastern	23	7	7	33.2	133	51	10	36.3%	9.0%	53
Kevin Quackenbush	Padres (AA)	Texas	24	29	0	31.0	121	46	10	34.5%	8.2%	55
Joel Carreno	Blue Jays (AA)	Eastern	26	22	0	27.1	103	44	8	35.8%	9.1%	55
Zach Rosscup	Cubs (AA)	Southern	25	23	0	28.2	115	44	12	34.0%	9.4%	56
Juan Jaime	Braves (AA)	Southern	25	15	0	22.0	94	39	13	33.4%	9.9%	59
Kevin Siegrist	Cardinals (AA)	Texas	23	13	0	20.0	74	35	7	33.4%	8.4%	59
Kevin Vance	White Sox (AA)	Southern	22	20	0	37.0	155	50	14	32.3%	9.1%	60

SCOUT Leaderboard: Double-A Pitchers (Starters Only)
Here are the top-10 pitchers in Double-A who have made at least half of their appearances as starts — again, as determined by the methodology explained above.

Player	Team	League	Age	G	GS	IP	TBF	K	BB	xK%	xBB%	SCOUT-
Danny Salazar	Indians (AA)	Eastern	23	7	7	33.2	133	51	10	36.3%	9.0%	53
Yordano Ventura	Royals (AA)	Texas	22	11	11	57.2	230	74	20	32.2%	8.4%	63
Jarrett Grube	Angels (AA)	Texas	31	7	7	40.1	165	49	10	29.7%	7.6%	68
Burch Smith	Padres (AA)	Texas	23	6	6	31.1	118	37	6	28.9%	7.5%	71
Jose Ramirez	Yankees (AA)	Eastern	23	9	8	42.1	165	50	15	30.3%	9.3%	72
Rafael Montero	Mets (AA)	Eastern	22	11	11	66.2	261	72	10	27.6%	6.8%	72
Taijuan Walker	Mariners (AA)	Southern	20	14	14	84.0	339	96	30	28.3%	8.9%	73
Neil Ramirez	Rangers (AA)	Texas	24	15	15	81.0	317	97	36	30.6%	10.0%	73
Brandon Workman	Red Sox (AA)	Eastern	24	11	10	65.2	259	74	17	28.6%	8.1%	73
Justin Fitzgerald	Giants (AA)	Eastern	27	6	6	33.0	140	41	8	28.7%	8.5%	74

Briefest Notes
• Originally a first-round pick by San Diego in the 2008 draft out of Wake Forest, first base-type Allan Dykstra has now amassed over 2000 minor-league plate appearances, none of them above Double-A. Traded by the Padres in 2011 for right-hander Eddie Kunz, he’s played the last two-plus seasons in the Mets org.

• Nearly as productive at Double-A this season — and also the same age — as talented Washington infielder Anthony Rendon is Houston center-field prospect George Springer. Springer’s methods are different than Rendon’s, however: where the latter benefits from controlling the strike zone, the former’s offensive success has been largely dependent on home runs. Of note: Springer was promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City over the weekend, according to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart.

• Angels infield prospect Taylor Lindsey is the only player younger than 22 to appear on the Double-A SCOUT batting leaderboard. Just off the leaderboard here, we find a pair of 20-year-olds, as well: celebrated Boston infielder Xander Bogaerts (recently promoted to Triple-A) and less celebrated Cubs second-base prospect Ronald Torreyes, both having recorded a 118 SCOUT+.

• Listed at less than six-feet tall, Mets left-hander Jack Leathersich was taken in the fifth round of the 2011 draft out of baseball house of power UMass-Lowell. Prospect analyst Marc Hulet notes that Leathersich possesses an above-average curveball. He’s recorded a 10:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 5.1 innings at Triple-A Las Vegas following a mid-June promotion.

• As noted yesterday, right-handed Cleveland prospect Danny Salazar has distinguished himself as a leader (per SCOUT, at least) among Triple-A pitchers through just seven starts. Here we find that Salazar had similar success at Double-A earlier this season, recording a 51:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 33.2 innings for Double-A Akron before his promotion.

Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
Los Angeles AL at Detroit | 19:08 ET
C.J. Wilson (94.2 IP, 98 xFIP-, 1.3 WAR) faces Rick Porcello (76.0 IP, 74 xFIP-, 1.3 WAR). The top three pitchers by park-adjusted xFIP (relative to league average) over the last month:

Rank	Name	Team	IP	xFIP-
1	Cliff Lee	Phillies	45.2	54
2	Rick Porcello	Tigers	33.0	57
3	Matt Harvey	Mets	40.0	58

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Detroit Radio.

Today’s Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 5.1.

Note: the following table is entirely sortable.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Trevor Cahill	AZ	5	3	5	2	6	WAS	Gio Gonzalez	19:05
Justin Masterson	CLE	8	7	7	9	4	BAL	Chris Tillman	19:05
Yu Darvish	TEX	10	3	6	4	4	NYA	Hiroki Kuroda	19:05
C.J. Wilson	LAA	4	7	7	7	9	DET	Rick Porcello	19:08
Juan Nicasio	COL	4	9	5	8	4	BOS	Ryan Dempster	19:10
Kevin Correia	MIN	3	3	5	0	10	MIA	Jose Fernandez	19:10
Mark Buehrle	TOR	4	6	5	10	3	TB	Matt Moore	19:10
Kris Medlen	ATL	5	7	6	5	7	KC	Ervin Santana	20:10
Edwin Jackson	CHN	5	5	5	4	5	MIL	Kyle Lohse	20:10
Zack Wheeler*	NYN	10	5	8	1	10	CHA	Chris Sale	20:10
Jake Westbrook	STL	1	3	2	3	1	HOU	Lucas Harrell	20:10
Bronson Arroyo	CIN	3	4	4	6	5	OAK	Tommy Milone	22:05
Kyle Kendrick	PHI	3	1	3	8	1	SD	Jason Marquis	22:10
Jeff Locke	PIT	3	6	3	4	2	SEA	Joe Saunders	22:10
Undecided	SF	6	6	6	3	8	LAN	Stephen Fife	22:10

To learn how Pitcher and Team NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.