Daily Notes, Ft. Bauer’s Three Best Curves So Far

Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

1. Very Assorted Notes
2. Rankings of GIFs: Trevor Bauer’s Best Three Curves So Far
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Puerto Rican League

Very Assorted Notes
Spring Training Schedules Available
Organizations — like the Yankees on Tuesday afternoon, for example — have begun releasing their spring-training schedules over the past week-plus. Both the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues begin play around the 22nd or 23rd of February, it appears — a little earlier than usual, owing to World Baseball Classic play scheduled for this spring.

Andruw Jones Signs with Japanese Club
Nikkan Sports recently reported — and Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker even more recently translated into English — that outfielder Andruw Jones has signed with Japanese club, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. The deal, according to Newman, is likely to be worth ca. $3.5 million — although trusting Patrick Newman is a thing one does at his or her own risk. Jones, who will turn 36 in April, has posted a 72.1 career WAR, with only 3.1 of those wins coming after his age-30 season.

Blue Jays Sign Luis Jimenez
Among the players signed by the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday to minor-league deals was left-handed-hitting first-base and DH-type Luis Jimenez, reports Jon Morosi of FOXSports. Jimenez, who made his debut this year with Seattle as a 30-year-old, was among the Venezuelan Winter League’s leading hitters last season and the leading hitter in said league so far this season, according to the infallible and never-incorrect SCOUT+ hitting metric. When asked how Jimenez is different materially than Ricardo Nanita (a sometime Blue Jays farmhand currently among the Dominican Winter League leaders in hitting), Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos pretended his cell phone was ringing and excused himself.

Rankings of GIFs: Trevor Bauer’s Best Three Curves So Far
Right-hander Trevor Bauer was traded from Arizona to Cleveland on Tuesday as part of a three-team deal that sent, among others, Shin-Soo Choo to the Reds and Drew Stubbs to the Indians. Among his repertoire is an excellent curveball. Below are the three best ones he threw this season over his first four major-league starts — where “best” is determined by a combination of (a) result, (b) total movement, (c) strength of opponent, and (d) the author’s infallible aesthetic judgment.

3. Against Mark Ellis, July 8th
This pitch, thrown at 78 mph, had 6 inches of gloveside run and close to 10 inches of “drop.”

2. Against Jair Jurrjens, June 28th
This curve, at 79 mph, has little lateral movement, but 11 inches of drop.

1. Against Wil Venable, July 3rd
This has less overall movement than the other two (ca. 2 inches gloveside, ca. 6 inches drop), but, due to Venable’s overall sense of helplessness — and the fact that he’s a lefty, too — is most pleasing. (The author decrees it.)

Brooks Baseball was helpful in this endeavor.

SCOUT Leaderboards: Puerto Rican Baseball League
Below are the current SCOUT leaderboards for the Puerto Rican League. (Ages as of July 1st, 2012. Players listed with most recent team. Click here for more on what is SCOUT.)

SCOUT Leaderboard: Puerto Rican League Hitters
Below is the current SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Puerto Rican League. SCOUT+ is calculated using regressed home-run, walk, and strikeout rates, where 100 is average and above 100 is above average.

Player Team Age Pos PA xHR% xBB% xK% SCOUT+
Johnny Monell Giants 26 C 68 3.0% 12.0% 16.9% 128
Andy Gonzalez Brewers 30 SS 87 2.5% 12.2% 19.2% 118
Angel Sanchez Astros 28 SS 82 1.9% 10.9% 14.5% 116
Carlos Rivera MEX 34 1B 73 1.9% 10.3% 14.2% 115
Irving Falu Royals 29 2B 77 1.6% 9.6% 13.7% 110
Ruben Gotay Braves 29 2B 79 1.2% 12.0% 15.5% 110
Adonis Garcia Yankees 27 OF 77 2.6% 6.6% 15.7% 109
Luis Matos MEX 33 OF 63 1.7% 10.3% 16.2% 108
Edgardo Baez MEX 26 OF 81 2.2% 10.9% 20.6% 108
Brandon Snyder Rangers 25 1B 12 1.9% 10.1% 17.8% 108

SCOUT Leaderboard: Puerto Rican League Hitters (Prospects)
Here is the SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Puerto Rican League, but only populated with players who are 25 or under — i.e. something more like “prospect” age relative to the league.

Player Team Age Pos PA xHR% xBB% xK% SCOUT+
Brandon Snyder Rangers 25 1B 12 1.9% 10.1% 17.8% 108
Michael Perez D-backs 19 C 15 2.3% 9.5% 19.5% 106
Jonathan Rodriguez Cardinals 22 3B 17 1.9% 10.9% 19.9% 106
Enrique Hernandez Astros 20 2B 89 1.5% 8.6% 14.3% 105
Jeff Dominguez Marlins 25 3B 69 1.3% 12.0% 18.1% 105
Eddie Rosario Twins 20 OF 63 2.3% 8.8% 19.5% 105
Benji Gonzalez Pirates 22 SS 28 1.5% 10.4% 17.2% 105
Angelo Gumbs Yankees 19 SS 11 1.9% 9.1% 18.0% 105
Roberto Ortiz Orioles 23 OF 1 2.0% 9.1% 18.5% 104
Kennys Vargas Twins 21 1B 46 2.1% 10.5% 21.6% 103

SCOUT Leaderboard: Puerto Rican League Pitchers
Below is the current SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Puerto Rican League. SCOUT- is calculated using regressed strikeout and walk rates where 100 is average and below 100 is above average.

Player Team Age G GS IP TBF xK% xBB% SCOUT-
Jose De La Torre Red Sox 26 11 0 13.2 53 23.7% 8.5% 84
Kelvin Villa IND 26 5 4 22.1 89 22.0% 8.3% 88
Rob Bryson Indians 24 10 0 11.0 43 22.9% 9.2% 88
Joe Colon Indians 22 5 4 18.0 76 22.2% 8.9% 89
Scott Kazmir N/A 28 4 4 19.1 84 21.9% 8.6% 89
Shoki Kasahara NPB 21 5 5 23.0 102 21.8% 8.5% 89
Julio Rodriguez Phillies 21 6 0 13.0 48 21.6% 8.4% 89
Josh Walter IND 27 8 1 16.1 69 21.7% 8.8% 90
Giovanni Soto Indians 21 7 0 10.1 40 21.9% 9.3% 91
Randy Fontanez Mets 23 6 0 10.1 42 21.0% 8.5% 91

SCOUT Leaderboard: Puerto Rican League Pitchers (Starters)
Here is the SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Puerto Rican League, but only populated with pitchers who’ve made at least half of their appearances as starts.

Player Team Age G GS IP TBF xK% xBB% SCOUT-
Kelvin Villa IND 26 5 4 22.1 89 22.0% 8.3% 88
Joe Colon Indians 22 5 4 18.0 76 22.2% 8.9% 89
Scott Kazmir N/A 28 4 4 19.1 84 21.9% 8.6% 89
Shoki Kasahara NPB 21 5 5 23.0 102 21.8% 8.5% 89
Mark Cohoon Mets 24 5 5 24.1 108 19.7% 7.8% 93
Javier Vazquez N/A 35 2 2 6.0 27 20.1% 8.6% 94
Shinya Kayama NPB 22 5 5 27.1 119 20.4% 8.9% 94
Gaby Hernandez D-backs 26 5 3 17.1 76 20.2% 8.9% 94
Josh Romanski Yankees 25 4 4 21.2 85 19.9% 8.6% 94
Tyler Herron IND 25 5 5 29.1 123 18.5% 7.6% 95





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

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jaylandsman
11 years ago

I keep watching that curveball to Ellis and can’t believe this guy was just traded.