Diamondbacks Bullpen

[MWS]

I posted a link to a article that has the league averages for hitting and pitching at all minor league levels last year. It contains league averages of 11 hitting and 11 pitching categories and how important it is to compare a prospect to the league in which he pitches in since the conditions from one league to the next in the same level vary.

http://www.rotojunkie.com/index.php?art/id:409

Some things to take from this article:

A. Notice how tough the NY-P league is on hitters.
B. The Texas league is a hitter's league along the same lines of the Cali league
C. The FSL isn't really a pitcher's league anymore and seems pretty neutral due to the new larger stadiums.
D. Teams need to be more patient with hitters in the Southern League.

[levski]

excellent link. thanks!

check out the transition that az's pitchers and hitter had to go through:

pitchers league (midwest)
hitters league (california)
pitchers league (southern)
hitters league (pacific)

[stu]

. The FSL isn't really a pitcher's league anymore and seems pretty neutral due to the new larger stadiums.

Thanks for the information. Very interesting and certainly a major factor to take into account (which Brynes may have done in getting Young--Young's k's were a concern, but it was a high k league- and Williams overlooked) I'm not sure how larger stadiums make a park move a park from pitchers to neutral. My recollection of the FSL (and I haven't been to a number of them for years) was that the parks were mainly major league ST facilites so they were deep in the outfield to allow running and to get a gauge of power. That plus being at sea level near the ocean restricted power

However, the lights were usually not that good since the ML teams did not play that many night games. I assume the new parks have better lights and that may be why it has become more neutral.

I have heard about the Norfolk park that it is so pitchers friendly that it is not unusual for a good prospect to do better at Shea than in Norfolk. I think this was the case with Wright and Reyes.

[B. O. N. D.]

Very cool!

Now I have to put all my favorite prospects through some reality checks.
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Oops in the 2 hole!

[levski]

looking at the average ERA in the southern league, you realize the Dbacks sold high on Steven Jackson and Ross Ohlendorf. they had good ERA there, despite pedestrian peripheral stats. both of them were due for a pretty rude welcome to the PCL in 2007, and their ERA would've looked much uglier. in other words, their prospect status would've taken a major hit...

as Branch Rickey said, it's always better to trade a player a year early than a year late...

otoh, Mark Reynolds's transition to the southern league from lancaster is all the more impressive.

[MWS]

I always thought the FSL was favorable to pitchers because the majority of the games are at night with some of the fields being built with the same measurements of there major league counterpark. I know a HR in Legends Field would be a HR at Yankees stadium.

[B. O. N. D.]

Inspired by levski's post above, I wanted to use this new found info (for me) to evaluate Micah Owings.

SOU

Owings/League format, better of the two in bold:

ERA 2.91/3.46

K9 8.35/8.1

BB9 2.06/3.4

HR9 0.48/0.7

BAA .246/.249

WHIP 1.12/1.31

PCL

ERA 3.70/4.35

K9 6.26/6.8

BB9 3.49/3.5

HR9 0.41/0.80

BAA .291/.270

WHIP 1.48/1.43

It seems like another season in AAA might be a good idea for evaluation purposes? Just to see if he can raise that K/9, lower the BB/9 and BAA with more experience? He seems fairly average for each league but just doesn't give up runs or HR, though he's getting hit.

What else should I be looking at?
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Oops in the 2 hole!

[MWS]

I think all teams in the PCL follow the Marlins lead. They have the formula of developing pitchers imo. Start your potential MLB ready starters back in AA no matter how well they performed in ST. Not even if they are ready for AAA. Promote them straight to the majors from AA only when players in the lower levels are ready to fill there spot.

Anibal Sanchez did not pitch one inning last year in the PCL and didn't embarass himself at the major league level. Taylor Tankersley was ready for AAA coming out of ST last year but was sent to Carolina for 27 innings before being called up to the Marlins. Josh Johnson did not see the PCL. When Ricky Nolasco was in the Cubs organization, they sent him to Iowa and he left with a 9.30 ERA in 40.2 IP while giving up 64 hits. He never saw the PCL again.

[David B]

Part of that is that the Marlins not only have their triple A team in a hitter's league, their franchise is in Albuquerque, the second worst pitchers park in the PCL (after Colorado Springs).

And the Marlins have been doing this with pitchers for quite a while. Dontrelle Willis also was called up directly from double A. So was Josh Beckett.

The interesting thing is, the Marlins do this with hitters too. Miguel Cabrera, Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla (as a rule 5, he had to stay on the major league roster)--not one of them saw a day of triple A time. And Jeremy Hermida only played one game (3 ABs) with Albuquerque as a 19 year old at the end of the 2003 season. He was only there because the team was shorthanded after September call ups.

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