World Famous Statistical Report on the Caribbean Leagues

by
November 22, 2013

For much the same reason that he published weekly statistical reports on the Arizona Fall League over the past month-plus (such as the very final one from Wednesday), the author is publishing here a combined statistical report for the various Caribbean winter leagues — again, not necessarily because such reports are of great utility for evaluating players, but because they provide a means by which to participate in those leagues which doesn’t also require a substantial investment in transport and lodging.

In this case, what the author has done is to identify the regressed hitting and pitching leaders in the Dominican Winter, Mexican Pacific, Puerto Rican, and Venezuelan Winter Leagues separately. What he’s then done is to combine the hitting and pitching leaders of those leagues into a triumvirate of top-10 lists, which one can find below. Note: all ages are as of July 1, 2013; all organizations, as of the end of regular-season play. Last week’s generally useful report on the Caribbean leagues is available here.

*****

SCOUT Leaderboard: Caribbean Leagues Hitting
Below is the current SCOUT batting leaderboard for all the Caribbean League hitters, combined. 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 Lg ’13 Org ’13 Age Pos PA HR BB K xHR% xBB% xK% SCOUT+
Yamaico Navarro DOM Orioles 25 OF 99 6 18 10 4.2% 16.6% 10.1% 175
Brian Burgamy MEX Mexico 32 3B 153 10 27 32 6.1% 17.6% 20.9% 168
Jesse Gutierrez MEX Mexico 35 1B 139 8 18 19 5.1% 12.9% 13.7% 157
Cory Aldridge VEN Mexico 34 OF 146 9 25 30 5.6% 17.1% 20.5% 156
Alex Cabrera VEN N/A 41 1B 132 9 16 19 5.8% 12.1% 14.4% 156
C.J. Retherford VEN Dodgers 27 3B 146 8 19 18 5.0% 13.0% 12.3% 153
Jurickson Profar DOM Rangers 20 SS 112 1 24 10 1.1% 20.6% 8.9% 153
Russell Branyan MEX N/A 37 1B 57 5 13 9 4.4% 15.6% 15.9% 152
Niuman Romero VEN Orioles 28 3B 150 5 26 16 3.2% 17.3% 10.7% 148
Barbaro Canizares MEX Mexico 33 1B 100 5 10 6 3.8% 9.8% 6.0% 147

SCOUT Leaderboard: Caribbean Leagues Pitching (Overall)
Below is the current SCOUT pitching leaderboard all the Caribbean Leagues, combined. 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 Lg ’13 Org ’13 Age G GS IP TBF K BB xK% xBB% SCOUT-
Ryan Buchter MEX Braves 26 11 0 11.1 44 22 7 37.9% 10.6% 43
Jairo Asencio DOM Orioles 30 14 0 14.0 55 20 2 32.9% 7.1% 52
Spencer Patton MEX Royals 25 13 0 15.2 58 20 4 31.7% 8.1% 54
Armando Rodriguez DOM Mets 25 14 0 16.2 63 22 6 33.5% 9.1% 56
Sergio Perez VEN Mexico 28 5 1 14.2 56 19 1 30.6% 7.1% 58
Rafael Cova VEN N/A 31 17 0 17.0 67 20 4 29.3% 8.2% 64
Marcus Hatley MEX Cubs 25 15 0 14.0 59 18 4 28.5% 8.0% 64
Greg Aquino DOM Indy 35 13 0 9.2 36 14 2 29.8% 8.1% 65
Paolo Espino VEN Indians 26 7 7 29.0 127 35 9 27.6% 7.8% 67
Silvino Bracho VEN D-backs 20 13 0 14.1 54 17 3 28.1% 8.4% 68

SCOUT Leaderboard: Caribbean Leagues Pitching (Starters)
Here’s the pitching leaderboard, confined only to those pitchers who’ve made at least half their appearances in a starting capacity.

Player Lg ’13 Org ’13 Age G GS IP TBF K BB xK% xBB% SCOUT-
Paolo Espino VEN Indians 26 7 7 29.0 127 35 9 27.6% 7.8% 67
Collin McHugh VEN Rockies 26 4 4 19.2 76 20 4 26.5% 7.8% 70
Victor Garate VEN Mexico 28 8 7 28.2 129 34 10 26.4% 8.3% 72
Edgar Osuna MEX Indy 25 7 7 38.2 155 35 7 22.6% 4.9% 73
Chris Narveson DOM Brewers 31 5 5 27.1 110 27 4 24.5% 5.4% 74
Cesar Valdez VEN Mexico 28 4 4 18.0 78 19 4 24.4% 7.6% 75
Kelvin Herrera DOM Royals 23 5 3 9.1 39 14 6 28.8% 10.3% 76
Jonathan Albaladejo PUR Marlins 30 3 2 11.2 54 12 3 21.3% 8.5% 85
Victor Mateo PUR Rays 23 4 2 9.2 40 10 3 22.0% 9.3% 85
Taylor Stanton PUR Indy 25 2 1 5.1 23 7 3 21.8% 10.2% 89

*Denotes an estimated figure.

Notes
• The New York Yankees have signed the Caribbean Leagues’ best hitter, Yamaico Navarro, to a minor-league contract, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported on Thursday. Though he’s played outfield predominantly in the Dominican, Navarro has been utilized much more frequently at shortstop and third base in affiliated baseball. His relatively optimistic Steamer projection (94 wRC+) combined with his likely capacity to play something not unlike league-average defense at third base, suggests that he’s a candidate to become part of that 1% of minor-league free agents who produce something better than 0.5 WAR for a major-league club.

• The Alex Cabrera listed among the Caribbean’s top hitters is the same one who (a) hit 55 home runs for Seibu in 2002 and also (b) retired from baseball following the 2012 NPB season. His career WAR is a full win superior to Yuniesky Betancourt’s in precisely 4,191 fewer major-league plate appearances.

• Russell Branyan since last week’s report: 25 PA, 2 HR, 2 BB, 5 K.

• Video footage containing both (a) Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name” and also (b) one of Branyan’s recent home runs, at the 1:33 mark:

• All internet news regarding the Caribbean Leagues’ best starter, former Cleveland prospect Paolo Espino, is written in Spanish — which, that’s fine, but suggests that he remains a free agent as of Friday. His most recent start for Caribes: 5.0 IP, 4 K, 1 BB, 1 HR, 3 H.





 

Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.

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samuelraphael
10 years ago

No Barbaro no Cry.

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