Top Prospects of the Coastal Plain Lg. by the Numbers

A map of the Coastal Plain League.

Other Lists
Cape Cod League
Northwoods League
New England Collegiate League

With August very much here, the nation’s collegiate summer leagues — many of which have probably hosted at least one future major leaguer — are coming to an end.

Below are the players to have performed most ably in this year’s edition of the Coastal Plain League. Offensive production (represented as the totally made-up SCOUT+, where 100 is league average and above 100 is above average) is essentially a version of wRC+, except using the three main defense-independent inputs (home-run, walk, and strikeout rate), all regressed duly*. Pitching performance (represented by the also entirely made-up SCOUT-, where 100 is league average and below 100 represents above-average run prevention) is calculated using a version of kwERA, with regressed strikeout and walk rates as the relevant inputs.

*By the method outlined here.

The idea here is not to suggest that the following players are/were the actual best prospects from the Coastal Plain League this summer. Outlets like Baseball America and Perfect Game will certainly do a much better job of that. Rather, it’s to (a) represent as accurately and responsibly as possible the best performances of the Coastal Plain League season and to (b) acquaint ourselves with those top performers.

Here are the top hitters from this year’s Coastal Plain League, as determined by the methodology explained above. Positions are those listed by team. Click on a player’s name for more information.

Notes
• The nature of offense in the Coastal Plain League differs from the one present in either the Cape Cod or Northwoods Leagues this year (i.e. the collegiate summer leagues reviewed here already). Cape Cod teams averaged 0.87 home runs per game this season; Northwoods League teams, 0.66. Meanwhile, teams of the Coastal Plain League averaged just 0.34 home runs per game.
• Graham Saiko (Columbia) is not only the only player here listed as a shortstop by his team, but also one of the only players on either leaderboard affiliated with an elite baseball program — in this case South Carolina, to which school he’ll be transferring from Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College, after transferring from Oklahoma State before that.
• Geoff DeGroot (Morehead City) appears to have been a true freshman this past year at UMass-Lowell, making him the only one of those things on either of the lists included here.

Notes
• While listed as a student at UNC-Pembroke, Dale Innes (Gastonia) actually played each of the last two springs with Walters State Community College (Ga.), where he enrolled after leaving Clemson during his freshman year. Innes, according to an internet commenter who has little reason to lie about such a thing, topped 90 mph in high school.
• Stephen Richter makes the leaderboard with just 14.2 innings on the strength of a raw strikeout rate of 47.9%. He appears likely to close for the University of Delware this next college season.
• Chris Thomas (Wilmington), who pitched for four years at Lander University and was the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year, was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks at the beginning of July. Here’s the 22-year-old’s line between Rookie and Low-A ball: 14.2 IP, 18 K, 8 BB, 0 HR.