To the extent that all human endeavor is futile, the author’s attempt this past Tuesday to identify a small collection of amateur prospects likely to develop into better professionals than their draft slots might otherwise suggest — this endeavor was also futile. Perhaps even moreso, actually, owing to how — with the exception of having once had kind words, apparently, for the minor-league version of Chris Heston — the author’s credentials in this (and every) field are minimal.

Regardless of its worth (or lack thereof) I did produce a document featuring certain collegiates who possess profiles similar to players in the past (Matt Carpenter, Ben Zobrist) who’ve parlayed a combination of above-average baseball skills and below-average physical tools into successful careers. Nine of the ten players included in that post were selected by major-league clubs this week in the draft, and what follows represents a record of which teams signed which of those prospects in which rounds — with a view, I suppose, towards beginning to monitor their progress through affiliated baseball.

Eric Cheray, C/2B, Missouri St. (Sr) (Profile)
Club: N/A   Round: N/A

Profile in Brief
Senior hitter with excellent plate discipline, perhaps less excellent infield defense. Selected in the 17th round by Oakland last year; undrafted, curiously, this one.

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The Indians drafted an ambidextrous pitcher earlier today, taking Ryan Perez out of Judson (Illinois) University in the 12th round. According to Cleveland scouting director Brad Grant, the 21-year-old Perez is a different kind of switch-pitcher than Oakland’s Pat Venditte.

Unlike Venditte, Perez doesn’t switch hands each time a new, different-sided batter steps into the box. On multiple occasions, Indians scouts watched Perez throw the first five innings of a game left-handed, and the next two right-handed. As for whether the team plans to have him begin switching for a platoon advantage, a la Venditte, Grant said “We’ll get him in the system and try to figure it out.” Plans are for Perez to begin his professional career with short-season Mahoning Valley.

According to Grant, his scouting staff turned in reports on Perez as both a left-handed and right-handed pitcher. The club feels he’s “a little further advanced (left-handed), but he has talent from both sides.” Perez “throws just as hard from both sides and is up to 90 mph,” and “has got a breaking ball with both hands.” His arm slot, which is the same from each side, isn’t as low as Venditte’s, but rather “more of a three-quarters slot.”

Perez’s primary difference from Venditte is the manner in which he switches, and from a durability point of view, it may be advantageous. As Grant put it, the most-unique of Cleveland’s 2015 draft picks has “the flexibility to throw in back to back to back games, because he could go left-handed one game, right-handed the next, then go back to left-handed the next day.”

With the first couple rounds of the MLB draft now complete, the top drafted talent will soon be merged with previous top-prospect rankings to create new lists. Well, I will jump the gun and give a snapshot of where these players could end up being ranked by looking at past draft and prospect-list information.

For the prospect information, I will use Baseball America’s top-100 prospect list, published annually each spring. The reason I will use it instead of other sources is that the information goes back to 1990, which gives me 26 match drafts and prospect rankings to examine. To start with, here are the overall metrics on players just drafted will end up on Baseball America’s rankings:
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In 2003, the Yankees drafted Tyler Clippard in the ninth round out of a Port Richey, Florida high school. The righty signed, and began his professional career that summer in the Gulf Coast League, 40 miles from his hometown. Inking a contract was largely about location.

“My decision out of the draft was to play collegiate baseball in Tampa or play professional baseball in Tampa,” said Clippard. “I obviously didn’t know which team I’d go to, but it being the Yankees had a lot to do with me saying, ‘OK, let’s start my pro career, because I’m going to be close to home.’ Had I been drafted by anybody else, I probably would have played college ball (at the University of South Florida).”

Clippard knew New York was a possibility – “It was them and a couple of other teams” – so he wasn’t surprised when the Yankees selected him 274th overall. As for when he expected to hear his name called, that was a complete mystery. “I could have been drafted anywhere from the third round to not at all,” Clippard told me. “Going in, I had no idea. But like I said, because of where I’d be playing, I decided to sign.”

Clippard subsequently spent the 2005 season with the club’s Florida State League affiliate, which is also located in Tampa. In 2007, he was dealt to Washington, where he played until being dealt to Oakland prior to the start of the current campaign.

Sometimes you don’t get a ton of time with a guy, and sometimes his translator expresses frustration at your first question, because sometimes he’s heard it way too often. So sometimes, you get to talk to a guy like Jung-ho Kang, and sometimes you get five questions answered, quickly.

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In recent weeks, Dave Cameron and Jeff Sullivan have written about why the Minnesota Twins are unlikely to be the first-place Minnesota Twins much longer. Paul Molitor’s team is 31-21 (pending the outcome of today’s game), but for reasons outlined in the articles, a descent in the standings – possibly a steep one – is imminent.

Unless it isn’t. What if they continue to outperform their expectations and their peripherals? What if the Twins are this year’s Orioles?

There are similarities. Baltimore has made an art form out of winning close games and confounding skeptics, and that’s what Minnesota has been doing. Neither team is star-laden or in possession of an ace. Each has a manager whose attention to detail is borderline obsessive.

I brought up the Orioles comp to Molitor before today’s game, expecting him to pooh-pooh it. Instead, he lent credence to the idea that his team is somewhat akin to last season’s surprise AL East champs. Read the rest of this entry »

My debut post at FanGraphs took a look at Twitter engagement metrics for every major-league team’s official Twitter account during the off-season. I promised a follow-up analysis to see if anything changed, and a lot did. The Cubs moved past the Mariners as the most engaging team on Twitter, and the Pirates produced the most media tweets in May.

Full details of the analysis can be found in the original post, but to summarize, we are looking at what teams use the most media and what teams are engaging with their fanbases the most over the month of May. Numbers are no substitute for quality engagement or customer service, but these metrics do shed light on how MLB teams are using their official Twitter accounts.

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First, Jeff Sullivan on Arquimedes Caminero:

If you just look at the .gifs quickly, they look similar. They are similar — nothing here was overhauled. But, in 2015, Caminero has a higher leg lift, and as his leg comes up, he’s more vertical, eliminating last year’s slight hunch. It also appears he’s reduced his drop on his back leg, and as he comes around, he remains more straight-up. Finally, at release, a year ago, Caminero had some tilt toward the first-base side, with his left knee at an awkward angle. This year, there’s less tilt, and less of that angle, with Caminero’s body aiming him toward the catcher, which channels his energy. His arm, hip, and legs are working together, improving his mechanical efficiency. In this way, a simplified delivery can also squeeze more speed out of all the connective bits.

Then, his GIFS.

Finally, Arquimedes Caminero, in response to my reading Jeff Sullivan’s paragraph to him.

“Slowing down to speed it up. Lifting the leg higher, that’s one of the points why my delivery is slower. Staying under control. Everything is combined. Stay taller to get slower. It was very simple. I had that velocity before in Triple-A, but when I came up to the big leagues last year I wasn’t so confident in my fastball, and I was trying throw more strikes than throw for speed. This year, I am just very confident and I’m letting it go. Now I throw the splitter as much as the cutter, they’re not very different, but one is slower and lower and goes to the arm side and the cutter is up here. 89-92 for both. Nothing soft.”

Nothing soft, indeed.

We’ve done the starters, now it’s time for the relievers!

Well, OK, first, let’s tally the starters. As of 8:30 pm ET or so Monday night, this was the top 10 in each league. First, the American League:

1. Felix Hernandez – 2,020 votes, 18%
2. Corey Kluber – 1,605, 14%
3. Dallas Keuchel – 1,526, 14%
4. Sonny Gray – 1,369, 12%
5. Chris Archer – 1,254, 11%
6. Chris Sale – 838, 7%
7. Michael Pineda – 813, 7%
8. David Price – 541, 5%
9. Jake Odorizzi – 262, 2%
10. Garrett Richards – 105, 1%

And the National League:

1. Max Scherzer – 1,676, 16%
2. Clayton Kershaw – 1,117, 10%
3. Matt Harvey – 1,073, 10%
4. Shelby Miller – 1,031, 10%
5. Zack Greinke – 966, 9%
6. Gerrit Cole – 965, 9%
7. Madison Bumgarner – 840, 8%
8. Michael Wacha – 492, 5%
9. Jake Arrieta – 401, 4%
10. A.J. Burnett – 345, 3%

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s do the relievers. As a reminder, just vote for three. Another reminder — I can’t stop you from voting for more than three people, so you’re on the honor system.

Guys left out: Luke Gregerson, Brad Brach, Neftali Feliz, Ryan Madson and Zach Duke. Sorry, I guess? Again, I used only qualified relievers.

And the NL:

Apologies to: Luis Avilan, Michael Blazek, Matt Belisle, Andrew Chafin, Juan Nicasio, Santiago Casilla, Jared Hughes, Mark Melancon and J.J. Hoover. I guess.

Rock the vote!

In our continuing effort to help improve the understanding of the stats we use at FanGraphs, I created a diagram that shows the different inputs for seven of the most popular composite batting stats: AVG, BABIP, OBP, ISO, SLG, OPS, and wOBA. The intent of this diagram is to visually show how the various batting stats are related to each other, and what factors into each stat. For a more thorough description of what the stat measures and its correct interpretation please visit our library. Fortunately, this diagram isn’t as complicated as the diagram for WAR.

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