Offseason Notes, Featuring RECK Leaderboards

It’s three Shawon Dunstons!

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

1. Shame-Filled Introduction
2. Reckless Power (RECK) Leaderboards
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Australian Baseball League

Shame-Filled Introduction
Announcement
It’s with, like, 75% chagrin that I present today’s edition of Offseason Notes — which, it turns out, is mostly a collection of leaderboards and omits entirely any “news” or “current events.”

On Whose Fault That Is
Decidedly not mine.

On Whose Fault That Is, Part II
Probably either my parents’ or society’s.

On What the Name Is of the Game I’m Playing
The Blame Game.

Reckless Power (RECK) Leaderboards
In yesterday’s edition of the Notes, we looked at the players from 2011 who displayed the most reckless power, as calculated by dividing Isolated Power by Isolated Patience — or, stated differently, (SLG – AVG) / (OBP – AVG). Essentially, it’s designed to identify players whose power far outstrips their patience. The results appear to approximate the Richter Scale, such that less than 2.0 is barely felt, 5.0 is moderate, and 9.0-and-up happens less than every 10 years and is totally destructive.

Here are the top-10 most reckless (qualified) player seasons from 2002 to 2011, or what is also known as the FanGraphs Era:

Num	Name	Team	Season	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	RECK
1	Ivan Rodriguez	Tigers	2005	525	.276	.290	.444	12.0
2	Ivan Rodriguez	Tigers	2007	515	.281	.294	.420	10.7
3	Garret Anderson	Angels	2002	678	.306	.332	.539	9.0
4	Bengie Molina	Giants	2009	520	.265	.285	.442	8.9
5	Jorge Cantu	Devil Rays	2005	631	.286	.311	.497	8.4
6	Randall Simon	Tigers	2002	506	.301	.320	.459	8.3
7	Robinson Cano	Yankees	2006	508	.342	.365	.525	8.0
8	Alfonso Soriano	Yankees	2002	741	.300	.332	.547	7.7
9	Marquis Grissom	Giants	2003	618	.300	.322	.468	7.6
10	Adrian Beltre	Rangers	2011	525	.296	.331	.561	7.6

And here are the top-10 most reckless player seasons going back to the dawn of baseball time (or, the beginning of the 20th century, at least):

Num	Name	Team	Season	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	RECK
1	Shawon Dunston	– – –	1997	511	.300	.312	.451	12.6
2	Ivan Rodriguez	Tigers	2005	525	.276	.290	.444	12.0
3	Dante Bichette	Rockies	1995	612	.340	.364	.620	11.7
4	Carlos Baerga	Indians	1994	469	.314	.333	.525	11.1
5	Garret Anderson	Angels	2000	681	.286	.307	.519	11.1
6	Ivan Rodriguez	Tigers	2007	515	.281	.294	.420	10.7
7	Ozzie Guillen	White Sox	1996	528	.263	.273	.367	10.4
8	Kirby Puckett	Twins	1988	691	.356	.375	.545	9.9
9	Ivan Rodriguez	Rangers	1999	630	.332	.356	.558	9.4
10	Deivi Cruz	Tigers	2000	615	.302	.318	.449	9.2

SCOUT Leaderboards: Australian Baseball League
Batting Leaderboard
Here is the (totally sortable) SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Australian Baseball League (ABL). SCOUT represents an attempt to derive something meaningful from small samples and is the average of a player’s standard deviations from the ABL mean in three important (and regressed) stats: walk rate, strikeout rate, and home-run rate. (Click here for more on SCOUT.)

Num	Name	Org	PA	xBB%	xK%	xHR%	BBz	Kz	HRz	SCOUT
1	Brian Burgamy	IND	153	14.2%	11.1%	4.0%	1.17	1.23	0.27	0.89
2	Justin Huber	IND	141	15.7%	12.5%	3.5%	1.53	1.02	0.02	0.86
3	Tim Kennelly	FA	143	10.6%	13.6%	4.8%	0.34	0.85	0.64	0.61
4	Matt Kennelly	ATL	141	11.2%	11.1%	3.5%	0.48	1.23	0.02	0.58
5	David Sutherland	FA	145	10.0%	8.0%	2.8%	0.20	1.72	-0.31	0.54
6	Tyler Collins	DET	139	11.3%	11.4%	2.8%	0.50	1.19	-0.28	0.47
7	Boss Moanaroa	BOS	140	12.3%	13.9%	3.2%	0.72	0.79	-0.13	0.46
8	Kody Hightower	GER	93	10.9%	15.2%	3.7%	0.41	0.59	0.13	0.37
9	Alexander Burg	SF	147	10.9%	19.7%	5.1%	0.41	-0.12	0.78	0.36
10	Allan De San Miguel	FA	143	14.6%	21.6%	3.8%	1.28	-0.41	0.17	0.35

Notes
• Since the last time we looked at the ABL, 30-year-old corner-type Brian Burgamy has unseated 29-year-old corner-type Justin Huber atop the SCOUT leaderboard.
• Matt Kennelly is a catcher who played at Double-A Mississippi in 2011 as a 22-year-old, which is actually on the young side for the level. As with his ABL showing, he’s shown fine plate discipline without much power in minors.
• Boss Moanaroa’s real first name is Crew.

Pitching Leaderboard
For pitchers, SCOUT is the average of a player’s standard deviations from the AFL mean in (regressed) strikeout and walk rate.

Num	Name	Org	G	GS	IP	BF	xK%	xBB%	Kz	BBz	SCOUT
1	Yohei Yanagawa	NPB	7	7	35.2	153	28.2%	10.0%	1.98	-0.41	0.78
2	Mike Mcguire	PHI	10	8	48.0	204	26.5%	9.6%	1.66	-0.31	0.67
3	Cameron Lamb	SF	11		23.1	100	22.5%	8.0%	0.91	0.06	0.48
4	Ryan Searle	CHN	3	3	16.0	70	22.8%	8.5%	0.96	-0.05	0.45
5	Alex Maestri	IND	8	7	50.2	211	21.8%	8.2%	0.78	0.02	0.40
6	Matthew Williams	FA	11		22.0	85	21.0%	7.5%	0.62	0.18	0.40
7	Aidan Francis	IND	8	8	43.1	185	20.0%	6.8%	0.43	0.36	0.40
8	Todd Van Steensel	PHI	8		16.0	70	21.4%	7.9%	0.71	0.08	0.39
9	Steve Kent	ATL	17		26.1	113	21.0%	8.2%	0.62	0.02	0.32
10	Benn Grice	FA	16		22.0	89	19.9%	7.5%	0.41	0.19	0.30

Notes
• Yohei Yanagawa is a (soon-to-be) 26-year-old Japanese right-hander who pitched just 7.0 innings in the NPB this past year. Per Patrick Newman’s NPB Tracker, we discover that Yanagawa throws a fastball at about 86-90 mph, a forkball, and a slider at 75-80 mph. So far, he has both the highest regressed strikeout and regressed walk rates in ABL play.