Daily Notes, With Just Talking About Oscar Taveras

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

1. In Appreciation of Oscar Taveras, Briefly
2. Video: Oscar Taveras Doing Whatever He Wants
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Dominican Winter League

In Appreciation of Oscar Taveras, Briefly
It is not the case that the SCOUT batting and pitching leaderboards for the Dominican Winter League (below) ought to be regarded as entirely prophetic so far the respective futures of the players on those leaderboards are concerned. That said, they (i.e. those same leaderboards we’re talking about) do have some value insofar — and perhaps for other reasons — but insofar as they might help organize or reify our thoughts on certain players whose names appear within them.

In today’s edition of the Dominican leaderboards, precocious offensive force and St. Louis outfield prospect Oscar Taveras has made his way to fourth place among all batters — and is now tied for first among all batters who’re 25 or younger. The distinction isn’t particularly surprising: Taveras was one of the very best hitters in the Double-A Texas League this summer as just a 20-year-old, posting a 42:56 strikeout-to-walk ratio while hitting 23 home runs in 531 plate appearances. Furthermore, Marc Hulet’s recent Cardinals top-15 prospect list suggests that it probably wouldn’t be unreasonable to see Taveras’s name atop other types of leaderboards in the not very distant future.

Video: Oscar Taveras Doing Whatever He Wants
Here’s video of St. Louis prospect Oscar Taveras just doing whatever he wants. In this case, “whatever he wants” appears to be “hitting three home runs in 2012.”

From May 12th:

And from August 6th:

And also from August 29th:

SCOUT Leaderboards: Dominican Winter 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 (Overall)
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	126	2.4%	12.6%	13.7%	126
Jordany Valdespin	Mets	24	2B	57	2.2%	11.9%	15.2%	118
Nelson Perez	Cubs	24	OF	64	2.4%	14.1%	20.3%	118
Oscar Taveras	Cardinals	20	OF	112	2.5%	9.3%	13.5%	118
Diory Hernandez	Cubs	28	SS	123	1.4%	12.2%	12.1%	117
Rhyne Hughes	Orioles	28	1B	90	2.3%	14.3%	21.7%	114
Leonys Martin	Rangers	24	OF	136	2.3%	10.6%	17.1%	113
Donell Linares	MEX	28	3B	43	2.2%	8.6%	13.7%	113
Jose Ramirez	Indians	19	SS	87	1.3%	12.5%	14.0%	112
Todd Linden	Giants	32	OF	103	3.2%	12.7%	26.7%	110

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+
Jordany Valdespin	Mets	24	2B	57	2.2%	11.9%	15.2%	118
Nelson Perez	Cubs	24	OF	64	2.4%	14.1%	20.3%	118
Oscar Taveras	Cardinals	20	OF	112	2.5%	9.3%	13.5%	118
Leonys Martin	Rangers	24	OF	136	2.3%	10.6%	17.1%	113
Jose Ramirez	Indians	19	SS	87	1.3%	12.5%	14.0%	112
Carlos Peguero	Mariners	25	OF	34	2.6%	11.1%	20.8%	110
Miguel Sano	Twins	19	3B	29	2.3%	10.8%	18.8%	110
Moises Sierra	Blue Jays	23	OF	104	2.2%	10.2%	17.2%	110
Jean Segura	Brewers	22	SS	111	1.8%	8.8%	13.0%	109
Marcell Ozuna	Marlins	21	OF	120	3.8%	8.4%	24.5%	108

SCOUT Leaderboard: Dominican Winter League Pitchers (Overall)
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	5	5	23.0	89	26.3%	8.8%	77
Erick Abreu	Astros	28	13		18.1	68	25.5%	9.0%	80
Johan Yan	Rangers	27	13		9.1	37	24.0%	9.2%	85
Kelvin De La Cruz	Tigers	23	6	1	10.0	43	23.3%	9.5%	87
Dustin Richardson	IND	28	11		9.0	35	23.0%	9.2%	88
Danny Salazar	Indians	22	5	3	14.0	58	22.8%	9.2%	88
Fabio Castro	Athletics	27	8	6	26.1	113	21.9%	8.8%	89
Tony Pena Jr.	Red Sox	31	10		13.1	48	22.0%	9.0%	90
Bartolo Colon	Athletics	39	3	3	11.1	45	21.7%	8.9%	90
Josh Outman	Rockies	23	6	6	25.2	111	22.2%	9.6%	90

SCOUT Leaderboard: Dominican Winter League Pitchers (Starters)
Here is the SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Dominican 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	5	5	23.0	89	26.3%	8.8%	77
Danny Salazar	Indians	22	5	3	14.0	58	22.8%	9.2%	88
Fabio Castro	Athletics	27	8	6	26.1	113	21.9%	8.8%	89
Bartolo Colon	Athletics	39	3	3	11.1	45	21.7%	8.9%	90
Josh Outman	Rockies	23	6	6	25.2	111	22.2%	9.6%	90
Stolmy Pimentel	Red Sox	22	7	5	20.0	90	21.5%	9.2%	92
Aneury Rodriguez	Astros	24	7	7	29.0	122	20.8%	8.8%	92
Bruce Billings	Athletics	26	6	6	21.0	95	20.8%	9.3%	94
Raul Valdes	Phillies	34	4	4	11.0	46	20.9%	9.4%	94
Randall Delgado	Braves	22	4	3	15.2	67	20.4%	9.4%	95