Generally Useful Statistical Report on the Caribbean Leagues

For much the same reason that he has published weekly statistical reports on the Arizona Fall League over the past month (such as this latest one from Wednesday), the author is publishing here a combined statistical report for the various Caribbean winter leagues — again, not necessarily because such reports are of great utility for evaluating players, but because they provide a means by which to participate in those leagues which doesn’t also require a substantial investment in transport and lodging.

In this case, what the author has done is to identify the regressed hitting and pitching leaders in the Dominican Winter, Mexican Pacific, Puerto Rican, and Venezuelan Winter Leagues separately*. What he’s then done is to combine the hitting and pitching leaders of those leagues into a pair of top-10 lists, which one can find below. Note: all ages are as of July 1, 2013; all organizations, as of the end of regular-season play. Last week’s generally useful report on the Caribbean leagues is available here.

SCOUT Leaderboard: Caribbean Leagues Hitting
Below is the current SCOUT batting leaderboard for all the Caribbean League hitters, combined. 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 xHR%, xBB%, and xK% stand for expected home run, walk, and strikeout rate, respectively.

SCOUT Leaderboard: Caribbean Leagues Pitching
Below is the current SCOUT pitching leaderboard all the Caribbean Leagues, combined. 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 xK% and xBB% stand for expected strikeout and walk rate, respectively.

*Denotes an estimated figure.

Notes
• Minor-league free-agent Yamaico Navarro retains his place atop the Caribbean leagues batting leaderboard this week. His line since last Friday’s edition of this same report: 22 PA, 1 HR, 5 BB, 2 K. He continues to play left field almost exclusively for Licey, with his normal positions, shortstop and third base, occupied by Jurickson Profar (who appears here, as well) and Juan Francisco, respectively.

• The very powerful Russell Branyan hasn’t played affiliated baseball since July of 2012, shortly after which date he was released by the New York Yankees. In just ca. 32 plate appearances with Aguilas, however, he’s recorded one of the winter leagues’ best defense-independent offensive lines, walking about a third of the time while also hitting three home runs.

• As reader Mikhel noted last week, first baseman Barbaro Canizares has been signed to play in Japan — for the SoftBank Hawks, specifically. This, and not for some less savory reason, is why Canizares has recorded zero plate appearances since last week.

Both Paolo Espino and Juan Oramas have appeared among the pitching leaders here continually since the author began producing these almost entirely unnecessary statistical reports two or three weeks ago. The former (Espino) recently became a minor-league free agent, having played the entirety of his affiliated career to date with Cleveland. The latter is a left-handed prospect in the San Diego.

• The right-handed Silvino Bracho is the youngest pitcher to appear here by three years, about. He was recently denoted as the 86th-best prospect in the Arizona system alone. Not a rousing endorsement, that. Still, a report in Spanish indicates that he throws a fastball that sits at about 92 mph and also both a curve and changeup.