Thursday, June 17, 2010

Better than/Worse than League Average

So I got a little bored during lunch, and decided to run a few numbers. Because it was always my opinion that if you were a better-than-average player, you should probably head up a level. We're almost mid-way through the minor-league season, and there haven't been any significant, developmentally-minded promotions to speak of (*cough cough J.D. Martinez cough cough*). So let's help The Apparatus out by figuring it out for them, beginning with Lexington. (Note - the Lg Avg line is exactly what it looks, and I've brought the K:BB ratio down to x:1). (Further note: 200 PAs was the cutoff for consideration - 3+ PAs/team game) (One more note: Lg Avg OPS is currently .698. Players above .698 are naturally above that line.)

Lexington - hitters










NameAgePAsBA/OBP/SLGK:BB
Martinez22294.367/.429/.5681.83:1
Hinze22266.294/.387/.5002.40:1
Goebbert22277.280/.344/.4202.00:1
Altuve20271.290/.342/.4531.79:1
Lg Avg21.6x.254/.322/.3762.58:1
Hogue24202.295/.348/.3442.00:1
Meyer19247.252/.306/.3053.47:1
Mier19263.201/.297/.2541.56:1


Okay, so this is obviously telling of a few things:
-J.D. Martinez needs to stop playing here, because it's not even fair. His OPS is 299 points above league average.
-Jose Altuve, being about a year and a half younger than league average, is doing really well.
-Jiovanni Mier is not, but he's also about two and a half years younger than the average SAL player. He and Jonathan Meyer are the only 19-year olds on the team.

Lexington - pitchers (Note: cutoff was 40IP. Sure, it's arbitrary, but there had to be a line drawn somewhere) (Further note: Organized compared to League Average WHIP)










NameAgeIPERA/WHIPK:BB
Leon2345.22.17/1.102.48:1
Trinidad2245.12.78/1.213.30:1
Donovan22712.41/1.231.52:1
LgAvg21.8x3.79/1.312.58:1
Bushue19623.63/1.342.73:1
Cisnero2156.24.29/1.361.87:1
Alvino2341.23.24/1.392.85:1
Minaya1962.15.20/1.481.27:1


Some things to regard here:

-In what is pretty obviously a pitcher's league, the Astros have some arms better than the rest of the league. Maybe you looked at Bushue's place in this table and were surprised to find him below LgAvg. Don't fear, he's also almost three years younger than the typical SAL pitcher, and he has a better K:BB ratio and ERA.
-Same with Juan Minaya. His peripheral numbers are worse than league average, but he's also just 19.