Best Performances of the 2014 Atlantic League
The independent Atlantic League’s season ended about a week ago now, the Lancaster (PA) Barnstormers defeating the Sugar Land (TX) Skeeters 3-0 in a best-of-five series. The Atlantic League is notable probably for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it serves as a perpetual reminder that most ballplayers — who are human beings with self-doubt and expenses — do not ascend seamlessly through affiliated baseball and then onto a major-league roster. Indeed, many of the names in the Atlantic League are familiar ones — and belong to players who’re talented enough to have toiled in something slightly less than obscurity.
With a view to acquainting all of our selves more intimately with this year’s edition of the Atlantic League, what I’ve done is to produce below two leaderboards featuring this year’s top hitters and pitchers — accompanied by notes concerning same. (All data courtesy Pointstreak.)
The clubs in the APBL (and their relevant abbreviations) are as follows: Bridgeport Bluefish (BPT), Camden Riversharks (CMD), Lancaster Barnstormers (LAN), Long Island Ducks (LI), Somerset Patriots (SOM), Southern Maryland Blue Crabs (SMD), Sugar Land Skeeters (SL), and York Revolution (YRK).
SCOUT Leaderboard: Atlantic League Hitters
Here’s the final top-10 SCOUT batting leaderboard for all this year’s Atlantic League 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 xHR%, xBB%, and xK% stand for expected home run, walk, and strikeout rate, respectively.
| # | Player | Team | Pos | PA | HR | BB | K | xHR% | xBB% | xK% | SCOUT+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blake Gailen | LAN | OF | 302 | 18 | 51 | 33 | 6.0% | 16.9% | 10.9% | 188 |
| 2 | Andrew Clark | LAN | 1B | 355 | 14 | 46 | 52 | 3.9% | 13.0% | 14.6% | 145 |
| 3 | Chad Tracy | YRK | IF | 571 | 23 | 63 | 83 | 4.0% | 11.0% | 14.5% | 140 |
| 4 | Daryle Ward | SOM | IF | 224 | 8 | 25 | 27 | 3.6% | 11.2% | 12.1% | 140 |
| 5 | J.R. Towles | BPT | C | 266 | 11 | 30 | 43 | 4.1% | 11.3% | 16.2% | 139 |
| 6 | Ryan Langerhans | SL | OF | 537 | 13 | 91 | 86 | 2.4% | 16.9% | 16.0% | 136 |
| 7 | Brendan Harris | LI | IF | 489 | 8 | 71 | 41 | 1.6% | 14.5% | 8.4% | 134 |
| 8 | Rusty Ryal | SL | IF | 125 | 5 | 15 | 20 | 3.4% | 12.0% | 16.0% | 133 |
| 9 | Travis Scott | SL | C | 486 | 12 | 62 | 57 | 2.5% | 12.8% | 11.7% | 132 |
| 10 | Delwyn Young | SL | IF | 583 | 20 | 40 | 61 | 3.4% | 6.9% | 10.5% | 129 |
SCOUT Leaderboard: Atlantic League Starters
Below is the final SCOUT pitching leaderboard for all Atlantic League pitchers who made at least a third of their appearances as a starter. 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.
| # | Player | Team | G | GS | IP | TBF | K | BB | xK% | xBB% | SCOUT- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Smith | SL | 12 | 8 | 50.1 | 200 | 55 | 10 | 27.5% | 5.0% | 58 |
| 2 | Nick McCully | LAN | 2 | 2 | 12.0 | 49 | 13 | 3 | 23.4% | 7.6% | 77 |
| 3 | Anthony Lerew | YRK | 5 | 5 | 24.0 | 102 | 24 | 9 | 23.5% | 8.6% | 80 |
| 4 | Matt Wright | SL | 26 | 26 | 155.1 | 651 | 137 | 50 | 21.0% | 7.7% | 85 |
| 5 | Erik Arnesen | SOM | 18 | 17 | 112.0 | 458 | 64 | 8 | 14.0% | 1.7% | 88 |
| 6 | Jared Lansford | LI | 25 | 25 | 159.1 | 673 | 123 | 41 | 18.3% | 6.1% | 88 |
| 7 | Shunsuke Watanabe | LAN | 39 | 16 | 120.1 | 490 | 91 | 33 | 18.6% | 6.7% | 89 |
| 8 | Matt Neil | YRK | 3 | 3 | 18.1 | 72 | 13 | 3 | 18.0% | 6.3% | 90 |
| 9 | Bobby Blevins | LI | 27 | 27 | 189.1 | 774 | 119 | 32 | 15.4% | 4.1% | 91 |
| 10 | Gary Moran | SOM | 25 | 24 | 146.0 | 632 | 108 | 37 | 17.1% | 5.9% | 91 |
Notes
• The Chad Tracy listed here isn’t the one who recorded nearly 3,000 plate appearances over parts of nine major-league seasons. The Ryan Langerhans and Daryle Ward and Delwyn Young, however, are the precises ones you think they are.
• This isn’t the first time the 29-year-old Blake Gailen has appeared atop (or near the top of) a leaderboard of this sort. He finished third among all Atlantic League hitters by this methodology in 2012 and was fourth among all ALPB hitters when the author performed a similar exercise in July of 2013. Gailen, who made a brief 2013 appearances in affiliated ball, actually ended the current season in the Mexican League.
Here’s a clip of Gailen homering for Tijuana this summer that isn’t without charm:
• Right-hander Chris Smith, selected by Boston in the fourth round of the 2002 draft, plated for seven years in that organization before moving on to Milwaukee, Seattle, and then a pair of indy leagues. Like Gailen, he also ended his season elsewhere — in this case, with Padres Triple-A affiliate El Paso, with which club he recorded strikeout and walk rates of 23.8% and 9.8%, respectively, in a swing role.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Rusty Ryal! I remember you! (Not really.)
I do. Third baseman/whatever position a manager was drunk enough to put him at, with the Diamondbacks. If I remember, he had a bit of power and wasn’t an awful defender, but he struck out too much to produce much offense.