Major Minor League Numbers
One of my favorite features here at Fangraphs is the data on minor leage players. With the recently added “items on screen” drop down we can now easily update and maintain our own minor league database. Delving into the statistics I decided to look at the top hitters and pitchers in both the International and Pacific League; both contain AAA affiliates. This is not to suggest these players deserve promotions or that their major league counterparts should be demoted, but rather just a simple scan of who has been producing at a high level in areas many of us tend not to follow.
International League Hitters
Mike Hessman, Det, 1B: .308/.392/.747, 1.138 OPS, 17 HR-30 RBI
Brad Eldred, CHW, 1B: .298/.348/.672, 1.019 OPS, 12 HR-36 RBI
Dewayne Wise, CHW, OF: .351/.396/.613, 1.011 OPS, 7 HR-15 RBI, 12 SB
Jay Bruce, Cin, OF: .352/.391/.613, 1.004 OPS, 7 HR-30 RBI
Darnell McDonald, Min, OF: .336/.392/.600, .992 OPS, 4 HR-26 RBI
International League Pitchers
Dan Giese, NYY: 2.27 FIP, 39.2 IP, 9 BB, 35 K
Charlie Morton, Atl: 2.58 FIP, 48.0 IP, 15 BB, 39 K
David Purcey, Tor: 2.82 FIP, 44.2 IP, 16 BB, 52 K
Matt Maloney, Cin: 2.96 FIP, 41.1 IP, 13 BB, 37 K
Eddie Bonine, Det: 2.97 FIP, 48.1 IP, 6 BB, 29 K, 7-0 W-L
Pacific League Hitters
Nelson Cruz, Tex, OF: .336/.471/.700, 1.171 OPS, 11 HR-32 RBI, 11 SB
Matt Brown, LAA, 3B: .365/.416/.679, 1.095 OPS, 8 HR-28 RBI
Terry Tiffee, LAD, 3B: .430/.474/.620, 1.094 OPS, 3 HR-33 RBI
Russell Branyan, Mil, OF: .54/.434/.638, 1.072 OPS, 8 HR-26 RBI
James D’Antona, Ari, 3B: .421/.430/.627, 1.057 OPS, 4 HR-22 RBI
Pacific League Pitchers
Brian Stokes, NYM: 2.65 FIP, 38.0 IP, 14 BB, 38 K, 5.68 ERA
Mike Burns, CHC: 2.69 FIP, 35.0 IP, 6 BB, 34 K
Carlos Alvarado, LAA: 2.86 FIP, 38.2 IP, 14 BB, 37 K
Ryan Feierabend, Sea: 3.11 FIP, 43.0 IP, 10 BB, 30 K
RA Dickey, Sea: 3.20 FIP, 42.2 IP, 6 BB, 25 K
The most intriguing player here is Jay Bruce, who has been performing at a very high level; you might remember the dismay of many fans in Cincinnati when news broke of Dusty Baker’s decision to send Bruce to the minors in favor of Corey Patterson. Some of the others here, such as Cruz, Hessman, Eldred, and Wise, have seemingly been given the AAAA tag; they may get chances here and there but are likely to maintain tremendous production in the minors and below average production in the majors.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens but I would not be surprised if any of these players is called up to the big club at some point in the near future due to poor production or injuries.
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Dan Giese is a very strange story. He’s a career minor league reliever, and made his first professional start this season, filling in for the injured Alan Horne. Last season, at the age of 30, he made his ML debut with the Giants but was released and signed with the Yankees. Look at this:
Player A: 1.05 ERA, 7.34 K/9, 2.09 BB/9, 0.90 WHIP, .189 opp.AVG
Player B: 1.12 ERA, 7.92 K/9, 1.83 BB/9, 0.85 WHIP, .187 opp.AVG
Player A is Dan Giese as a starter this season, and player B is Bob Gibson during his incredible 1968 season. Obviously you can’t compare the two, since Giese is playing in the Int’l league and Gibson put those numbers up 40 years ago, but the two are very very similar.
Whenever I look at minor league numbers I have to think back to Joe Roa’s crazy season at the beginning of the decade; this helps me take some of them with grains of salt.
Roa was something like 15-0 in AAA but couldn’t cut the mustard at the major league level.
I’d have to imagine Giese would be in the majors if he had the stuff to be in the majors. Who knows, though, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley were kept down for a while.
Oh I know full well that Giese is not that good. As you said, there’s obviously a reason that he’s pitched fewer than 10 innings in the majors. I think he actually used to pitch for a Phillies affiliate (aphiliate, haha).
Haha, oh puns. Speaking of Gibson’s season, the scariest part is he went 22-9. He lost 9 times.
Can you explain further what is meant by the ‘items on screen’ drop-down?
I am loving this one-stop statistical shopping here at Fangraphs, and I routinely check out too many levels of minor league stats looking for hidden gems or what-have-yous, but if there are features I’m not using, or not using properly, I’m open to a heads-up.
What is up with Mike Hessman? Even for a AAAA guy, those numbers are absurd, to date.
Jay, as in when you go to the minor leagues page, instead of just viewing 50 players and then having to hit next to see the subsequent 50, you can utilize the drop down to “Show All” and see everyone on one page.
I love the minor league pages here at Fangraphs, but I have one request: Could you add hit by pitches to the page?