Daily Notes: Top Performers of the Venezuelan Winter League

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

1. Top Performers of the Venezuelan Winter League
2. Unhelpful Video: Alex Torres Recording a Strikeout Once
3. Final (!) SCOUT Leaderboards: Venezuelan Winter League

Top Performers of the Venezuelan Winter League
The playoffs for the Venezuelan Winter League (VWL) have begun — and, as such, the regular-season stats for the players in said League are final.

Here are the top performers of the VWL, per SCOUT (a metric explained below, but which, briefly stated, uses regressed inputs to help make sense of small samples).

Best Hitter (Overall): Luis Jimenez
One of the best hitters in last year’s edition of the VWL, DH-type Luis Jimenez finishes this year with the league’s best regressed offensive line, as well. A bit on the giant side so far as humans are concerned, Jimenez received his first major-league plate appearances in 2012, his age-30 season, posting this line in seven games: 18 PA, .059/.111/.059 (.077 BABIP), 1 BB, 4 K, -0.3 WAR. While finishing just ninth in the VWL by total home runs (nine), Jimenez’s plate-discipline numbers (39:29 BB:K) set him apart. A part of the Mariners organization in 2011-12, Jimenez signed with Toronto at the beginning of December.

Best Hitter (Prospects): Evan Gattis
Two questions are continuously being asked of Atlanta prospect Evan Gattis. First is this: “How meaningful have Gattis’s minor-league numbers actually been considering his age (older) relative to level?” Second is this other one: “What position would Gattis play at the major-league level?” Owing to the presence of Brian McCann, the answer to the latter question necessarily begins with, “Probably not catcher.” Regarding the first question, there are indications that Gattis, who has followed a non-traditional development path, ought to be evaluated differently from other players precisely his age.

Best Pitcher (Overall): Alex Torres
Were he in any one of ca. 25 (or more, maybe) other organizations, there’s a strong chance that left-hander Alex Torres would have thrown more than just eight major-league innings so far. Tampa Bay, meanwhile — despite dealing both James Shields and Wade Davis this offseason — still features a strong starting rotation. Torres posted the VWL’s highest regressed strikeout rate, at 32.5% — the only figure above 30% in the league. Walk rates certainly remain a concern for him, however — especially so far as starting is concerned.

Best Pitcher (Starters): Alex Torres, Again
As the league’s best overall pitcher, Torres is naturally its best starter, as well. So let’s consider his runners-up in both categories, instead. The first of those is right-hander Enrique Gonzalez, who posted a 34:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 27.2 relief innings for Magallanes. A veteran of four major-league organizations, Gonzalez pitched in Japan for Seibu this past season — although not particularly excellently, it seems. Against all odds, Austin Bibens-Dirkx is not the name of a great Dutch and/or alien leader, but rather the name of a right-handed pitcher from Salem, Oregon. Taken by Seattle out of the University of Portland in the 16th round of the 2006 draft, Bibens-Dirkx has played most recently for Colorado, but appears currently to be a free agent.

Unhelpful Video: Alex Torres Recording a Strikeout Once
Here’s video from September of Tampa Bay prospect Alex Torres recording a strikeout — on what appears to be a slider, it seems:

Final SCOUT Leaderboards: Venezuelan Winter League
Below are the final SCOUT leaderboards for the Venezuelan Winter League. (Ages as of July 1st, 2012. Players listed on team with which he ended 2012 season. Click here for more on what is SCOUT.)

SCOUT Leaderboard: Venezuelan Winter League Hitters
Below is the final 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+
Luis Jimenez	Mariners	30	DH	209	3.7%	18.7%	13.9%	153
Evan Gattis	Braves	25	DH	211	6.0%	7.6%	14.2%	147
Carlos Maldonado	Nationals	31	C	207	4.7%	14.0%	21.7%	135
Luis Valbuena	Cubs	26	2B	217	2.6%	15.7%	15.2%	128
Chris Nowak	IND	29	3B	140	3.1%	13.3%	15.8%	127
C.J. Retherford	Dodgers	26	3B	263	2.9%	11.4%	12.9%	124
Jose Lopez	White Sox	28	3B	188	2.5%	12.6%	12.2%	124
Carlos Rivero	Nationals	24	3B	232	3.8%	11.6%	19.0%	124
Salvador Perez	Royals	22	DH	141	3.8%	7.3%	12.4%	123
Justin Henry	Tigers	27	RF	106	1.4%	14.4%	10.4%	120

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+
Evan Gattis	Braves	25	DH	211	6.0%	7.6%	14.2%	147
Carlos Rivero	Nationals	24	3B	232	3.8%	11.6%	19.0%	124
Salvador Perez	Royals	22	DH	141	3.8%	7.3%	12.4%	123
Darwin Perez	Angels	22	SS	179	2.2%	19.5%	24.6%	116
Ezequiel Carrera	Indians	25	LF	129	1.9%	11.8%	13.1%	113
Darin Ruf	Phillies	25	LF	137	4.5%	11.5%	29.5%	110
Dave Sappelt	Cubs	25	CF	124	2.9%	7.6%	14.3%	110
Rossmel Perez	Diamondbacks	22	C	28	2.0%	11.1%	14.0%	109
Pablo Sandoval	Giants	25	3B	39	2.2%	9.6%	13.4%	109
Yangervis Solarte	Rangers	24	OF	195	1.4%	9.7%	9.2%	108

SCOUT Leaderboard: Venezuelan Winter League Pitchers
Below is the final 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	14	14	60.1	264	32.5%	9.6%	60
Enrique Gonzalez	NPB	29	27	0	27.2	108	27.3%	8.0%	69
Deolis Guerra	Twins	23	20	0	26.0	107	25.4%	8.2%	75
Danny Farquhar	Mariners	25	21	0	24.0	98	25.7%	8.5%	75
Austin Bibens-Dirkx	Rockies	27	12	10	53.2	226	25.3%	8.1%	75
Seth Etherton	N/A	35	7	7	30.0	127	24.5%	7.5%	75
Anthony Ortega	N/A	26	29	0	31.1	135	25.0%	9.0%	78
Jarrett Grube	Mariners	30	7	7	27.2	120	24.7%	9.6%	80
Ryan Reid	Rays	27	21	0	22.0	94	23.5%	8.8%	81
Josh Schmidt	Marlins	29	11	11	59.2	249	22.9%	8.8%	83

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	14	14	60.1	264	32.5%	9.6%	60
Austin Bibens-Dirkx	Rockies	27	12	10	53.2	226	25.3%	8.1%	75
Seth Etherton	N/A	35	7	7	30.0	127	24.5%	7.5%	75
Jarrett Grube	Mariners	30	7	7	27.2	120	24.7%	9.6%	80
Josh Schmidt	Marlins	29	11	11	59.2	249	22.9%	8.8%	83
Paolo Espino	Indians	25	7	7	30.2	132	20.0%	8.0%	88
Eric Berger	Indians	26	9	9	45.0	191	19.9%	7.9%	88
Sergio Perez	Astros	27	14	14	72.0	302	19.5%	7.9%	89
Donovan Hand	Brewers	26	7	7	34.1	148	18.9%	8.1%	91
Thad Weber	Tigers	27	5	5	23.1	106	18.8%	8.4%	92