More Mid-Season Prospect-Palooza!
Hitter of the Year So Far (a name you know) & Pitcher of the Year So Far (a name you don't)

 

Our mid-season hitter of the year ...

  • Nick Franklin

Enjoy it while you can.

Full article here.

===

Mid-season pitcher of the year ...

  • The man with the $10,000 bonus?

Find out here.

===

Plus the usual daily updates:

  • Friday: Taijuan, Taylor, A-Jax
  • Saturday: Sucre's pistol, Victor's vector

 

Home page here.

 

Comments

1
Cary's picture

Franklin MIGHT be in the top 10, but there are several others that would be a better selection as "Hitter of the year".
Jabari Henry (minus the suspension), Lara, Wilson, Peterson, Kivlehan, Taylor, and Montero come quickly to mind
Name G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG ▾ OPS
Jabari Henry 79 357 301 62 96 22 3 21 71 4 6 48 67 .319 .419 .621 1.040
Jordy Lara 98 427 381 71 131 22 5 19 72 1 3 36 81 .344 .404 .577 .981
D.J. Peterson 86 393 359 63 115 28 1 22 84 7 1 31 78 .320 .377 .588 .964
Jesus Montero 77 332 294 48 92 23 1 14 66 0 0 31 63 .313 .377 .541 .917
Austin Wilson 65 271 235 34 70 14 3 11 52 1 1 24 56 .298 .385 .523 .909
Chris Taylor 72 336 292 62 96 21 7 5 37 14 6 35 71 .329 .400 .500 .900
Patrick Kivlehan 98 425 376 62 113 24 6 16 82 8 3 39 81 .301 .365 .524 .889
Nick Franklin 64 288 241 39 72 14 1 9 42 8 4 41 53 .299 .394 .477 .871

2

Are you talking about OBP*SLG adjusted for position, or RC/27, or which numbers?  When you say "the" numbers you leave me with the impression that your comment provides the correctly selected numbers.
............
You've got a list of 1B's, DH's, and LF's there, alongside Franklin's name.
...........
Jim said, HIS hitter of the year.
............
As we're being so good-naturedly enthusiastic in finding each other's potential errors, the word you were looking for was "jibe."  "Jive" is hipster street slang.  
I would say "Hi" before I jumped into the role of auditor; it's a community of pretty tight cats.  

3
Cary's picture

Wasn't in any way trying to offend. I was just trying to understand the selection. IMO none of the numbers (other than BB?) suggest Franklin is the hitter of the year to this point. I wasn't aware that the position should come into play, but there is also a MIF on the list whose "numbers" compare very favorably with Franklin. Again, very sorry if my response came across as adversarial because it wasn't meant to be.

4

Don't mind my headache today Cary.  :- )   But in the friendliest spirit possible ... Jim's article has the content you're looking for.  He deploys his signature PSA+, as well as a convincing LH/RH/MI argument.  
Jim is taking into consideration position and level, in the sense that Brad Miller is a better hitter than Jabari Henry.  But you could certainly talk about a "Silver Slugger" where a DH, such as Montero, was the org Hitter of the Year (Montero has easily the highest OPS among Rainiers).  If I'm not mistaken, most scouts go Spec's route.
........
Your basic point has traction Cary.  The hitters you listed are interesting, also.  Hope you'll comment often; I didn't mean to be unduly harsh, though I was.  I sort of thought you were trolling and don't have that clear a head today.  My bad.
..........
I wonder how many SSI denizens would prefer D.J. Peterson to Nicky.  Check his stats at A+ and AA.  But (e.g.) Chris Taylor OPS'ed 900 (330/400/500) from SS at Tacoma also.  Churchill's scout friend implies that baseball sees Taylor as a future regular now.

6
Cary's picture

I appreciate the explanation (even though it was quite a bit over my head). I was curious about one thing though. it appears that your major league track age arc virtually eliminates most college players, yet DJ makes the list and Taylor does not with almost identical promotion rates. How is that? I also need to go thru your site more and study up on a lot of those hitting stat
categories as I am not at all familiar with them. I really do appreciate the time you put into this and the in depth analysis, while probably a bit too technical for the average fan, gives a different perspective and food for thought. You aren't Billy Beane's advisor are you? :)

7

Glad to have the dialogue.
I try not to bury people in the technicalites, but sometimes I have to.
Taylor is a mistake.  He was supposed to be in the first spreadsheet since he is in AAA at 23.  So I see why you're confused.  I'll edit in a correction.
The "MLB Track" doesn't "eliminate" guys ... I just give less weight to otherwise-impressive stats.  But the college guys with a real good shot at MLB success aren't affected anyway.  All of the college players on the MLB roster except James Jones were in AAA or better by 23: Zunino, Seager, Miller and Ackley.  Taylor is there at 23, and D.J. will be.  Jones was from a northern climate and low-mid-major school, and was considered more of a pitcher in college, so it took him longer.  Even so, he was at AAA by 24.
The guys moving up more slowly are all longshots to have any real MLB success.  I do give more leeway to Kivlehan (northerner and football), Pizzano (northerner, mid-major), Paolini (northerner, mid-major) and Blash (from a location with very little organized baseball).  I give some, but not as much, to Henry (Florida, but mid-major college) and Wilson (California and major-conference college -- but hampered by the so-called "Stanford approach").  I've been hoping that Wilson will rocket up the ladder, but he hasn't yet.  But he still might.
But when a guy like Jack Marder, from California and a major-conference school, is still in AA at age-24, or before him a guy like Rich Poythress from Georgia, the odds are just very, very small that they'll have any kind of MLB impact even though they can put up some interesting stats.
And, no, I just do this mostly for fun and a little extra income where possible.
Thanks!

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