Daily Notes: SCOUT Leaderboards for High-A

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

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

SCOUT Leaderboards for High-A
A Brief Introduction
Featured in this edition of the Notes are the SCOUT leaderboards for High-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 / Double-A.

SCOUT Leaderboard: High-A Hitters (Overall)
Below is the current SCOUT batting leaderboard for all High-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 High-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+
Max Muncy	Athletics (A+)	Cal	22	347	19	53	50	5.5%	15.3%	14.4%	171
Robert Kral	Padres (A+)	Cal	24	247	10	46	33	3.8%	18.6%	13.4%	162
Maikel Franco	Phillies (A+)	FSL	20	288	16	20	39	5.4%	6.9%	13.5%	153
Miguel Sano	Twins (A+)	FSL	20	243	16	29	61	5.6%	11.9%	25.1%	148
Robert Hefflinger	Braves (A+)	Carolina	23	294	20	21	67	6.7%	7.1%	22.8%	147
Dan Paolini	Mariners (A+)	Cal	23	298	10	41	36	3.3%	13.8%	12.1%	145
Nick Delmonico	Orioles (A+)	Carolina	20	183	12	27	41	4.7%	14.3%	22.4%	145
Dustin Lawley	Mets (A+)	FSL	24	301	15	21	51	5.0%	7.0%	16.9%	141
M.P. Cokinos	Astros (A+)	Cal	23	203	6	22	14	2.8%	10.8%	6.9%	140
Preston Tucker	Astros (A+)	Cal	22	328	14	29	44	4.3%	8.8%	13.4%	139

SCOUT Leaderboard: High-A Hitters (Age 22 and Under)
Here are the top-10 batters from High-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+
Max Muncy	Athletics (A+)	Cal	22	347	19	53	50	5.5%	15.3%	14.4%	171
Maikel Franco	Phillies (A+)	FSL	20	288	16	20	39	5.4%	6.9%	13.5%	153
Miguel Sano	Twins (A+)	FSL	20	243	16	29	61	5.6%	11.9%	25.1%	148
Nick Delmonico	Orioles (A+)	Carolina	20	183	12	27	41	4.7%	14.3%	22.4%	145
Preston Tucker	Astros (A+)	Cal	22	328	14	29	44	4.3%	8.8%	13.4%	139
Garin Cecchini	Red Sox (A+)	Carolina	22	262	5	43	34	1.9%	16.4%	13.0%	137
Kennys Vargas	Twins (A+)	FSL	22	294	13	29	59	4.4%	9.9%	20.1%	136
Zachary Borenstein	Angels (A+)	Cal	22	259	16	16	53	5.7%	6.2%	20.5%	134
Nolan Fontana	Astros (A+)	Cal	22	228	5	43	44	2.2%	18.9%	19.3%	133
Stephen Piscotty	Cardinals (A+)	FSL	22	264	9	18	27	3.2%	6.8%	10.2%	133

SCOUT Leaderboard: High-A Pitchers (Overall)
Below is the current SCOUT pitching leaderboard for High-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 High-A pitchers, 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-
Bryce Bandilla	Giants (A+)	Cal	23	32	0	39.0	158	67	20	42.4%	9.9%	48
Tony Davis	Blue Jays (A+)	FSL	25	26	0	31.1	132	48	11	34.3%	8.1%	53
Travis Ballew	Astros (A+)	Cal	22	24	0	25.2	109	46	7	36.5%	8.3%	59
R.J. Alvarez	Angels (A+)	Cal	22	21	2	31.1	131	51	16	36.7%	9.6%	62
James Hoyt	Braves (A+)	Carolina	26	17	3	49.2	213	72	25	33.8%	10.3%	63
Wilson Rivera	Braves (A+)	Carolina	23	23	0	35.2	150	52	24	34.7%	11.2%	63
Zachary Jones	Twins (A+)	FSL	22	21	0	27.1	105	39	16	31.7%	9.4%	65
Spencer Patton	Royals (A+)	Carolina	25	17	2	45.1	174	56	16	32.2%	9.3%	65
Nick Wittgren	Marlins (A+)	FSL	22	27	0	35.0	135	41	6	29.2%	7.2%	66
Randy Fontanez	Mets (A+)	FSL	24	23	0	32.2	151	44	10	29.1%	7.7%	68

SCOUT Leaderboard: High-A Pitchers (Starters Only)
Here are the top-10 pitchers in High-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-
Archie Bradley	Diamondbacks (A+)	Cal	20	5	5	28.2	115	43	10	33.6%	8.8%	68
Austin Bibens-Dirkx	Blue Jays (A+)	FSL	28	8	6	47.1	193	55	13	28.5%	7.6%	69
Matthew Bowman	Mets (A+)	FSL	22	8	8	50.0	196	54	9	27.6%	6.8%	70
Nicholas Kingham	Pirates (A+)	FSL	21	13	13	70.0	283	75	14	26.5%	6.5%	72
Danny Winkler	Rockies (A+)	Cal	23	15	15	90.2	346	106	24	30.6%	7.6%	73
Henry Owens	Red Sox (A+)	Carolina	20	13	13	65.1	267	80	28	30.0%	9.9%	73
Edwin Escobar	Giants (A+)	Cal	21	13	11	56.2	241	73	14	30.3%	7.5%	73
A.J. Cole	Nationals (A+)	Carolina	21	14	14	77.1	324	87	18	26.9%	7.1%	74
Michael O’Brien	Yankees (A+)	FSL	23	6	6	26.2	121	34	8	26.3%	7.8%	77
Angel Cuan	Mets (A+)	FSL	24	10	7	48.1	198	49	6	24.7%	6.3%	77

Briefest Notes
• What sets Oakland first-base prospect Max Muncy apart from other Cal League players with impressive offensive numbers is his command of the strike zone. After recording a walk-to-strikeout ratio above 1.00 last season in the Class-A Midwest League, Muncy is doing the same thing this one for Stockton. He appears to have done the same thing in both his sophomore and junior year at Baylor, as well, before Oakland selected him the fifth round during last June’s draft.

• Philadelphia’s Maikel Franco has received some attention of late for his exploits with High-A Clearwater. Also of note — and perhaps with similar limitations defensively at third base as both Franco and Minnesota’s Miguel Sano — is another advanced 20-year-old, Baltimore’s Nick Delmonico, who’s recorded 12 home runs and a 29:42 walk-to-strikeout ratio in 187 plate appearances. Of note: like Franco during his time at Clearwater, Delmonico might be the beneficiary of a park that inflate home-run totals.

• Mets pitching prospect Matthew Bowman has made consecutive appearances in the author’s Fringe Five column in part because of his (i.e. Bowman’s) excellent ratios, but also because he’s an undersized right-hander with mechanics not unlike Tim Lincecum’s who also attended Princeton.

Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
Pittsburgh at Seattle | 15:40 ET
Jeanmar Gomez (44.0 IP, 115 xFIP-, -0.2 WAR) faces Felix Hernandez (109.2 IP, 64 xFIP-, 3.1). Nick Franklin Status Update: 107 PA, 10.3% BB, 15.0% K, .281/.355/.479 (.303 BABIP), 137 wRC+, 0.8 WAR. Mike Zunino Status Update: 34 PA, 5.9% BB, 26.5% K, .188/.235/.313 (.227 BABIP), 54 wRC+, -0.1 WAR.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Seattle Radio, Maybe.

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 5.7.

Note: the following table is entirely sortable.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
R.A. Dickey	TOR	8	6	8	10	7	TB	R. Hernandez	12:10
Scott Diamond	MIN	3	2	3	0	5	MIA	Tom Koehler	12:40
Homer Bailey	CIN	10	4	7	6	5	OAK	A.J. Griffin	15:35
Jeanmar Gomez	PIT	3	7	6	4	10	SEA	Felix Hernandez	15:40
Roy Oswalt*	COL	9	9	8	8	6	BOS	John Lackey	16:05
Wade Miley	AZ	6	3	7	2	10	WAS	J. Zimmermann	19:05
Scott Kazmir	CLE	6	7	5	9	3	BAL	Jason Hammel	19:05
Justin Grimm	TEX	5	3	5	4	6	NYA	Andy Pettitte	19:05
Tommy Hanson	LAA	1	7	5	7	7	DET	Jose Alvarez*	19:08
Mike Minor	ATL	8	7	5	5	2	KC	Luis Mendoza	20:10
Scott Feldman	CHN	3	5	4	4	5	MIL	Yovani Gallardo	20:10
Shaun Marcum	NYN	5	6	5	1	6	CHA	John Danks	20:10
Lance Lynn	STL	6	3	3	3	0	HOU	Erik Bedard	20:10
Cole Hamels	PHI	8	1	7	8	8	SD	Robbie Erlin*	22:10
Tim Lincecum	SF	6	6	7	2	9	LAN	Clay. Kershaw	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.