Daily Notes, With SCOUT Leaders of the Intl. League

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

1. SCOUT Leaderboards: Triple-A International League
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

SCOUT Leaderboards: Triple-A International League
Regarding What Is SCOUT, First of All
SCOUT is a (likely absurd, admittedly unnecessary) metric designed by the author to assess performance in those instances — like in a minor league, for example — where small samples are ubiquitous.

The Offensive Version of SCOUT, How It’s Calculated
The offensive version of SCOUT — represented as SCOUT+, where 100 is league average and above 100 is above average — is essentially a version of wRC+, except using the three main defense-independent metrics (home-run, walk, and strikeout rates), all regressed duly*, as the inputs.

*By the method outlined here.

The Pitching Version of SCOUT, How It’s Calculated
The pitching version of SCOUT — represented as SCOUT-, where 100 is league average and below 100 represents above-average run prevention — is calculated using a version of kwERA, with regressed strikeout and walk rates as the relevant inputs.

Regarding SCOUT, One of Its Benefits
A benefit of SCOUT is it allows one to compare the relative performances of players with markedly different sample sizes — to compare, for example, the performance of Detroit minor leaguer Adam Wilk (who posted a 21.5% K and 4.7% BB in 149.2 IP) to Pittsburgh’s Phil Irwin (31.5% K and 7.9% BB in 21.0 IP).

Regarding the International League, Its Regular Season
The International League’s regular season ended on September 3rd, it appears. As such, all following numbers are final for 2012.

Top Batters of the International League
Here are the top-10 batters of the Triple-A International League, as determined by the methodology explained above.

Player Team Age PA xHR% xBB% xK% SCOUT+
Chris Parmelee Twins (AAA) 24 282 5.8% 18.1% 18.4% 174
Dan Johnson White Sox (AAA) 32 587 4.8% 16.0% 16.0% 161
Brad Eldred Tigers (AAA) 31 265 8.2% 9.1% 27.5% 158
Russell Branyan Yankees (AAA) 36 137 4.8% 15.8% 22.3% 148
Steve Pearce Yankees (AAA) 29 227 4.2% 12.8% 14.5% 147
Jack Cust Yankees (AAA) 33 425 4.7% 19.1% 29.9% 141
Corky Miller Reds (AAA) 36 313 2.2% 18.2% 14.7% 140
Corban Joseph Yankees (AAA) 23 386 3.4% 13.7% 14.8% 140
John Lindsey Tigers (AAA) 35 271 5.2% 10.7% 21.8% 138
Mauro Gomez Red Sox (AAA) 27 426 5.6% 8.2% 20.7% 138

Top Pitchers of the International League (Overall)
Here are the top-10 pitchers of the Triple-A International League, as determined by the methodology explained above.

Player Team Age IP TBF xK% xBB% SCOUT-
J.J. Hoover Reds (AAA) 24 37.0 138 38.2% 8.9% 43
Anthony Slama Twins (AAA) 28 36.1 152 36.8% 9.7% 50
Brandon Gomes Rays (AAA) 27 55.1 222 32.9% 7.9% 56
Ryota Igarashi Yankees (AAA) 33 36.2 160 34.4% 9.6% 57
Raul Valdes Phillies (AAA) 34 30.0 114 32.0% 7.4% 58
Miguel Gonzalez Orioles (AAA) 28 44.2 165 32.1% 8.1% 59
Brian Omogrosso White Sox (AAA) 28 47.1 196 30.1% 7.9% 65
Junichi Tazawa Red Sox (AAA) 26 42.1 179 31.3% 9.1% 65
Scott Barnes Indians (AAA) 24 52.0 220 30.5% 9.5% 69
B.J. Rosenberg Phillies (AAA) 26 54.0 221 28.5% 8.2% 71

Top Pitchers of the International League (Starters Only)
Here are the top-10 pitchers in the Triple-A International League who made at least half of their appearances as starts — again, as determined by the methodology explained above.

Player Team Age IP TBF xK% xBB% SCOUT-
Phil Irwin Pirates (AAA) 25 21.0 89 26.5% 8.7% 79
Adam Wilk Tigers (AAA) 24 149.2 595 21.5% 4.7% 81
Terry Doyle White Sox (AAA) 26 76.1 293 24.2% 7.4% 82
Randall Delgado Braves (AAA) 22 44.1 195 26.2% 9.6% 82
Samuel Deduno Twins (AAA) 28 42.0 174 26.4% 10.1% 83
Drew Smyly Tigers (AAA) 23 17.2 83 25.3% 9.0% 83
Chris Tillman Orioles (AAA) 24 89.1 378 24.3% 8.2% 84
Chris Seddon Indians (AAA) 28 123.0 494 21.9% 5.8% 84
Todd Redmond – – – 27 148.2 624 21.8% 6.3% 85
Dylan Axelrod White Sox (AAA) 26 97.0 391 23.5% 8.2% 86

Three Notable Performances
• Yankees prospect Corban Joseph is maybe not an actual second baseman — and maybe not any other kind of baseman, either — but his offensive approach is rather mature. Joseph posted a 13.7% walk rate and 14.8% strikeout rate in 386 plate appearances at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after posting even better marks (14.7% BB, 12.7% K) at Double-A. At 23, he’s the youngest player on the offensive leaderboard.
• After striking out about 40% of the 138 batters he faced at Triple-A Louisville, Cincinnati’s J.J. Hoover has had some success in his first season as a major leaguer, posting a 102 xFIP- in 23.0 relief innings. What success he’s had appears to’ve come from his fastball, which features a swinging-strike rate (13.7%) roughly twice the league average for that pitch.
• Pittsburgh right-hander Phil Irwin, 25, was absent (so far as the author can tell) from every notable preseason prospect list; however, that he appears atop the SCOUT pitching leaderboard with just four starts’ worth of data is a distinction. “Irwin’s fastball,” writes John Sickels at Minor League Ball, “isn’t especially fast, in the upper-80s, sometimes low-90. He mixes in a slider, slow curve, and changeup. Although none of his pitches are spectacular, he keeps the ball down, changes speeds, and hates walks with a passion.” Irwin has walked only 4.3% of batters faced in 413.2 minor-league innings.

Other SCOUT Leaderboards
Pacific Coast League (Triple-A)
Eastern League (Double-A)
Southern League (Double-A)
Texas League (Double-A)
California, Carolina, and Florida State Leagues Combined (High-A)
Midwest and Sally Leagues Combined (Class-A)
New York-Penn and Northwest Leagues Combined (Low-A)
Appalachian, Arizona, Gulf Coast, and Pioneer Leagues Combined (Rookie)

Today’s Notable Games
Washington at New York NL | 19:10 ET
Mets right-hander Collin McHugh makes his third major-league start. His first two show considerable promise. To wit: 11.0 IP, 26.2% K, 2.4% BB, 39.3% GB, 2.81 SIERA, 76 xFIP-, 0.3 WAR.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: New York NL Television.

Detroit at Chicago AL | 20:10 ET ***MLB.TV Free Game***
After they both lost on Sunday (scoreboard), the Tigers and White Sox are separated by just two games in the AL Central. This, however, is likely not the most promising pitching matchup of the series.

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 3.7.

Note: the following Game Scores include the poorly conceived playoff-odds adjustment discussed in a recent edition of Daily Notes. Also note: the following table is entirely sortable.

Away   SP Tm. Gm. Tm. SP   Home Time
Wade LeBlanc MIA 2 4 1 5 3 PHI Kyle Kendrick 19:05
Wandy Rodriguez PIT 4 4 4 4 8 CIN Mat Latos 19:10
Gio Gonzalez WAS 9 7 6 2 9 NYN Collin McHugh* 19:10
Chris Volstad CHN 3 1 0 4 0 HOU Dallas Keuchel 20:05
Mike Minor ATL 4 7 5 9 9 MIL Wily Peralta* 20:10
Justin Masterson CLE 5 2 1 5 1 MIN Samuel Deduno 20:10
Rick Porcello DET 7 4 6 4 5 CHA Jose Quintana 20:10
Ryan Vogelsong SF 3 3 2 7 3 COL Alex White 20:40
Jarrod Parker OAK 6 6 6 8 5 LAA Dan Haren 22:05
Jaime Garcia STL 9 9 6 7 3 SD Eric Stults 22:05

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





Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.

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Eminor3rdmember
11 years ago

I imagine that guys like Dan Johnson, Russell Branyan, etc. feel much like I felt while mashing JV High School pitching as a junior in HS. And that is entirely unfulfilled and embarrassed about my age.

robert mitchell
11 years ago
Reply to  Eminor3rd

Forget about Branyan’s lights out#’s trying to get back to the show at 36,12dingers,40 rib-eyes.310,slugging over.600 slugging in 33 games before his back went out on him again.WHAT’S to be embarrassed when he is ranked 14th all time in h.r.frequency as a big leaguer with a tater every 14.8 at bats.194 homers in under 3,000 major league at bats.Behind him, Ster-Rod homer every 14.9 at bats,Kingman,Mantel and Teddy ballgame[Williams] 1 every 15 ab’s.Muscle averages 30 h.r’s,71 ribs every 449 ab’s as a part timer.Nothing to be embarrassed about.