Offseason Notes for October 20th

Offseason Notes Mission Statement
Mission Statement
It’s the mission of the author, in writing Offseason Notes, to identify and digest and present in as compact and readable a form as possible the news most relevant to the learned, and very dedicated, baseball fan.

What That Means in Practice
In practice, what that means is keeping readers abreast of events in baseball’s various fall and winter leagues (including, most notably, the Arizona Fall League); of the internet’s various prospect lists, as they’re released; of minor transactions (which, it should be said, are minor to everybody except the person to whom they’re happening); and other marginalia.

Regarding the Spirit in Which the Notes Are Composed
The notes are composed in a spirit of great enthusiasm and goodwill to all men — or, at least all the men that don’t use Axe body spray.

Regarding the Use of the Word Abreast Up Above
Effing hilarious.

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

1. Offseason Notes Mission Statement
2. SCOUT Batting Leaderboard: Arizona Fall League
3. SCOUT Pitching Leaderboard: Arizona Fall League
4. Prospecting: John Sickels on Kansas City and Milwaukee

SCOUT Batting Leaderboard
The Leaderboard
Here is the SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Arizona Fall League. (Click here for more on SCOUT.)

Notes
See below for notes on Wil Myers.

SCOUT Pitching Leaderboard
The Leaderboard
Same verse, very similar to the first.

Notes
No comment. This leaderboard has rendered the author speechless.

Prospecting: John Sickels on Kansas City and Milwaukee
Two, Two, Two Prospect Lists in One
Prospect maven John Sickels has published his preliminary top-20 lists for the Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers. Below are some notable rankings. Comments are mine, and should, in no way, be used to sully the reputation of John Sickels.

Notable Kansas City Prospects
Here’s a pair of notable Royal prospects.

2. Wil Myers, OF, Grade A-: Myers’ numbers (416 PA, .254/.353/.393, .312 BABIP) weren’t particularly excellent this year at Double-A Northwest Arkansas, although he played the entire season as a 20-year-old, which is quite young for the league. His walk rates have been rather high given his youth — and have continued into Arizona Fall League play — but that represents a double-edged sword. For, while patience is generally a positive, the ghostly spectre of Ben Grieve still haunts the dreams of the too-patient prospect.

18. Clint Robinson, 1B, Grade C+: Did you know that Kila Ka’aihue walked in 21.2% of his Triple-A plate appearances in 2010, while only striking out in 16.6% of them — this, the season after posting similarly excellent rates (18.4% BB, 15.3% K) at Triple-A the season before and Double-A (21.3% BB, 10.9%) the season before that. To answer the question you’re asking: No, that doesn’t have anything to do with Robinson, per se, but it’s definitely what just happened.

Notable Milwaukee Prospects
Here’s a pair of notable Brewer prospects.

5. Taylor Green, 3B, Grade B-: Per ZiPS MLEs, Green had one of the most productive offensive lines in the minors this season, slashing a major-league equivalent .285/.348/.464 in 487 Triple-A plate appearances. Despite the fact that he didn’t begin the season at the top of many/any prospect lists, Green has some pedigree: he was, for example, the Brewers’ Minor League Player of the Year in 2007. Unfortunately, he was plagued by wrist problems for some time after that, hurting his production. He’s always walked and struck out at similar rates, including this season, when he posted 11.3% BB, 14.8% K.

8. Michael Fiers, RHP, Grade B-: I actually saw Fiers at Brewer spring training in March of 2010 and was impressed by him then — especially the sharp movement on whatever his breaking ball is. At the time, he’d put up excellent numbers in the minors, but was always old for his levels. He spent the latter half of 2011 in Triple-A, however, and did the same thing he’d always done. To wit: 12 G, 10 GS, 64.2 IP, 9.60 K/9, 3.06 BB/9, 0.56 HR/9, 3.03 FIP.