Winter League Update, 1/4/2011
by Kyle Lobner on Jan 4, 2011 12:00 PM CST
in Minor League Coverage
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PrintIt's been almost a month since we've checked in on these guys: my apologies for letting this get so long overdue. The regular season has wrapped up in all four of these leagues, so this look will focus on final stats for all players involved.
Mexico:
Luis Cruz
Final line: 178 PAs over 45 games, .325/.364/.633, 15 2B, 12 HR, 12 BB, 15 K
Cruz has hit 72 home runs in ten minor league seasons, or roughly one every 59 plate appearances. Yet somehow he went deep once every 14.8 plate appearances in Mexico this winter, leading Culiacan in round trippers. It's hard to tell what to make of his power surge: The sample size is small, but if he could flash anything like this kind of power in spring training he'd be an interesting asset.
The power is still the silver lining on this cloud, though: Even while leading his team in home runs and hitting .325, Cruz still very rarely draws walks and will likely struggle to get on base again in 2011.
Follow the jump for the rest!
Dominican Republic:
Erick Almonte
Final line: 184 PAs over 48 games, .285/.382/.386, 7 2B, 3 HR, 26 BB, 29 K
If you could just infuse Almonte's plate discipline into Luis Cruz, you'd really have something. His .382 OBP this winter is right in line with the .377 he posted in Nashville this season. A lack of defensive versatility (he's pretty much limited to first base at this point) is all that's preventing Almonte from being a potentially interesting major leaguer.
Carlos Gomez
Final line: 74 plate appearances over 19 games, .269/.364/.388, 4 2B, 2 3B, 7 BB, 20 K
Gomez never returned to Escogido after leaving the team in November.
Roque Mercedes:
Final line: Seven relief appearances, 6.2 IP, 5.40 ERA, 4 ER, 9 H, 3 BB, 6 K
Mercedes pitched sparingly for Escogido this winter, with seven appearances spread out over almost two full months.
Zack Segovia
Final line: 18 relief appearances, 23 IP, 2.35 ERA, 6 ER, 18 H, 10 BB, 15 K
Segovia picked up two wins and nine saves in his appearances, including five saves in his last ten games.
Puerto Rico:
Martin Maldonado
Final line: 73 plate appearances over 25 games, .243/.293/.343, 4 2B, 1 HR, 3 BB, 19 K
This is actually a nice improvement for Maldonado, who was hitting .200/.263/.200 when we checked in last. He still likely doesn't have the bat to ever stick in the majors, but he's solid enough defensively to be worth keeping around for emergency situations.
Sergio Miranda
Final line: 170 plate appearances over 40 games, .353/.407/.429, 6 2B, 3 3B, 14 BB, 11 K, 5 of 8 SB
Luis Cruz is easily the Brewers' biggest winter league surprise, but Miranda is a close second. His .353/.407/.429 line dwarfs the .291/.351/.366 line he's put up while failing to advance past low A in four minor league seasons. Miranda won't turn 24 until March and will likely get a shot to play every day in Huntsville this season.
Wil Nieves
Final line: 46 plate appearances over 13 games, .279/.340/.302, 1 2B, 3 BB, 7 K, 2 of 2 SB
Nieves was one of eight catchers on San Juan's roster, which is probably at least part of the reason he didn't play much.
Hiram Burgos
Final line: Eight appearances, two starts, 17.2 IP, 3.06 ERA, 6 ER, 12 H, 8 BB, 16 K
Burgos had a rough start on November 27 (four earned runs in three innings), and only made one more appearance after that. He could start the 2011 season in Brevard County, but it's also possible he'll repeat Wisconsin.
Darren Byrd
Final line: Seven appearances, six starts, 32.2 IP, 4.68 ERA, 17 ER, 38 H, 11 BB, 18 K
Byrd had one disaster start in December (seven earned runs on 11 baserunners in 5.1 IP) and wasn't used again. He had a 3.29 ERA before that outing, but still wasn't getting many strikeouts and allowing a fair number of hits. He only made 13 appearances in Brevard County this season, so it's possible he'll go back there to start 2011.
Efrain Nieves
Final line: 12 appearances, ten starts, 49 IP, 4.41 ERA, 24 ER, 49 H, 22 BB, 26 K
Nieves' 49 IP and 26 strikeouts were the most by a Brewer pitcher this winter. He got the start in each of his five appearances for San Juan in December. He's struggled in each of the last two seasons for Wisconsin (5.64 combined ERA), but he only turned 21 in November so there's still time for him to figure it out.
Venezuela:
Brendan Katin
Final line: 68 plate appearances over 19 games, .233/.333/.417, 2 2B, 3 HR, 8 BB, 24 K
After appearing briefly in Mexico, Katin moved to Magallanes in Venezuela and continued to play sparingly. He's got massive power but a long swing to go with it.
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GOGO
Gomez never returned to Escogido after leaving the team in November.
Once you are hitting above .260 you really dont need any more practice.
BCB: Pointless Exercises in Devils Advocacy
by Jeo on Jan 4, 2011 12:35 PM CST reply actions 6 recs
"Gomez never returned to Escogido."
Sounds like the epilogue to a Western.
Ryan Braun: He loves it. -- Four pitchers in history with 8.5+ WAR and <250 IP seasons: Greg Maddux (age 29), Pedro Martinez (age 28), Roger Clemens (age 27), Zack Greinke (age 25).
by SRB on Jan 4, 2011 4:21 PM CST up reply actions
Carlos Gomez riding off into the sunset is the ending many of us have been hoping for for some time now.
Now that's great tasting chicken!
by Kyle Lobner on Jan 4, 2011 5:32 PM CST up reply actions 3 recs
If Cruz had shown this kind of power in the minors
His OBP wouldn’t be a major concern.
Now that's great tasting chicken!
There's always one explanation for a dramatic increase in power after 10 seasons of baseball
and it’s readily available in Mexico for someone that doesn’t really appear to have anything to lose.
Minecraft is like digital Legos. I like digital things and I like Legos. I am now addicted to Minecraft.
I've been reading a baseball physics book I got for Christmas
If he could get even 10% more power, think bench pressing 225 lbs to benching 250 lbs, that would move every warning track shot over the fence. I don’t have experience with steroids, but the human body is a pretty amazing thing and I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me a guy could generate 10% more power between Nashville and the Mexican leagues, especially if he wasn’t careful about it.
Then again, he might have changed his stance to generate a little more power, got new contact lenses, started getting a better angle off the bat when he squares up and knocks them over 4 foot high fences only 315 ft from home plate.
Minecraft is like digital Legos. I like digital things and I like Legos. I am now addicted to Minecraft.
Out of interest
What’s the book and is it any good? Sounds kinda interesting…
Ready and able to turn any discussion into one about Russell Oles Branyan...
I'm only about 30 pages in
The Physics of Baseball by Robert Adair
So far it’s pretty fun.
You can tell it’s written by an academic with the 27 million caveats he put at the beginning about how it’s an examination of the game from a physics perspective with all the warts that comes with a simplified model of reality. Don’t go teach someone how to pitch with this book, but it’s a fun read about his theories on why a curve ball curves (dependent on the velocity of the pitch as well as the rpm) and how a corked bat doesn’t do a darn thing except make the bat lighter.
Oh and the terminal velocity of a baseball is 95 mph. When Axford throws a fastball over 95 mph, he’s proving he’s stronger than the earth’s gravitational pull. Cool.
Minecraft is like digital Legos. I like digital things and I like Legos. I am now addicted to Minecraft.
a corked bat doesn’t do a darn thing except make the bat lighter.
That’s the point. If it’s lighter you can swing it harder.
Now that's great tasting chicken!
counterpoint
which achieves what exactly? it has the same amount of momentum at that higher speed as a heavier bat at slower speed, which is transferred to the ball.
The difference may be with the impulse it allows you to deliver – higher speed means you can “keep up” with the ball for longer, delivering additional force to the ball.
My 2 cents
I don’t necessarily believe additional force could be delivered to the ball, but that with the ability to swing a faster bat there would be an increased window of time in which the batter can react to a pitch. Essentially by swinger a lighter bat you could hypothetically compensate for slower reaction time to a pitch or increased velocity of a pitch.
BCB, the preferred above replacement level sarcasm supplier.
by MadJimiBrewha on Jan 4, 2011 10:34 PM CST up reply actions
True,
but using a lighter bat does the same thing. No one is corking 30 oz. bats.
by Braunstalker on Jan 4, 2011 11:08 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
That's pretty much what Adair says
The properties of a corked bat can be reproduced by legal means. The simplest of which is just choking up on the bat. The cork actually even absorbs a minute fraction of the energy of the bat striking the ball, because the ball is in contact with the bat for so short a time. The cork can’t return the energy it absorbed before the ball has already left the bat. He claims you lose about 3 feet on a 400 foot hit by corking a bat given you removed 2 oz of wood. Since one can swing the bat faster than “normal” by perfectly legal means, the advantage of corking a bat is all in the head of the batter.
Minecraft is like digital Legos. I like digital things and I like Legos. I am now addicted to Minecraft.
by ecocd on Jan 4, 2011 11:43 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
It's been proven that bat speed is a large factor in the distance a ball is hit.
I’m not very knowledgeable about physics or anything, but I know I’ve seen the studies done showing that.
If the two bats have the same mass,
yes this is always the case.
If two bats have the same velocity, the one with the higher mass will make the ball go farther.
Corked bats:
(Hypothesis) We can’t assume that corking a bat only changes the mass of the bat. It also changes it’s dynamic characteristics. Because a bat is not a perfectly rigid object, it vibrates when a ball is struck.
Corking a bat, would dampen the vibration (I am pretty sure), making the “sweet spot” larger.
by BrewCrewBrian on Jan 5, 2011 7:33 AM CST up reply actions
I've been curious about that book and have wanted to get it.
Does one need to know a good amount of physics/mathematics in order to understand it? Or is it pretty simplified throughout?
It depends on how much you really want to understand
I only had a high school physics course and a lifetime curiosity in science and I can follow most of the concepts. It’s not a light read, but if one has a basic understanding of physics concepts, mathematics and cares enough to pay close attention, they would find it intriguing.
If you really want to understand every paragraph of the book, then you’ll need a strong background in physics and mathematics. I skip over the technical notes and I still feel like I’m learning a lot.
Minecraft is like digital Legos. I like digital things and I like Legos. I am now addicted to Minecraft.
Simplest answer?
Mexican league pitching isn’t as good as MLB pitching.
Pujols is the Barack Obama of baseball.
I would argue that "steroids" is just as simple an answer
If less likely. Looking at the stats for the league, there are guys with a lot more power in the league that aren’t even affiliated with major league baseball so that certainly lends more credence to the “poor pitching” explanation.
Minecraft is like digital Legos. I like digital things and I like Legos. I am now addicted to Minecraft.
There's still this conception
That there’s a ‘magic juice’ steroid that a player takes and suddenly starts hitting twice as many home runs. The steroid allows a player to lift more regularly and build muscle mass quicker, so if they spend an offseason taking a banned supplement and lifting regularly, and then are able to use that new muscle to hit more home runs, they will be more productive at baseball. It’s not like a guy pops a pill and then goes out and is 4/4 with 2 homers. I generally think it’s ridiculous to speculate that a player is doing something illegal when there is no proof whatsoever.
E: George 4 (5, throw, throw, throw, throw).
by Jordan M on Jan 5, 2011 3:14 PM CST up reply actions 3 recs
Tequila?
BCB, the preferred above replacement level sarcasm supplier.
by MadJimiBrewha on Jan 4, 2011 2:08 PM CST up reply actions
Mexican Coca-Cola. duh.
Ryan Braun: He loves it. -- Four pitchers in history with 8.5+ WAR and <250 IP seasons: Greg Maddux (age 29), Pedro Martinez (age 28), Roger Clemens (age 27), Zack Greinke (age 25).
by SRB on Jan 4, 2011 4:20 PM CST up reply actions
re: Luis Cruz juicing
If he is doing it, maintains this power in the Majors and doesn’t get caught, we basically get a cheaper Betancourt with a good glove.
If he is doing it and does get caught, the only thing we have to lose is Luis Cruz.
Worth the try?
"I agree but dont agree"
by juggernaut400 on Jan 4, 2011 2:19 PM CST up reply actions 2 recs
It has to be going on right now, doesn't it?
There are too many professional baseball players in the minors not to have a handful juicing as a last resort so it has to be happening somewhere. It would be foolish to assume the Brewers farm system is immune.
Minecraft is like digital Legos. I like digital things and I like Legos. I am now addicted to Minecraft.
I'd like to think our farm system is completely clean
Purely because I can accept the system being appalling, but for them to be as bad as they are despite being juiced to the eyeballs…
Ready and able to turn any discussion into one about Russell Oles Branyan...
Cruz would be the type of player one would expect to juice.
Fringe type guy who has toiled in the minors for a long long time. Except the fringe type guy part.
Give him an offspeed pitch down and in. He will swing and miss.
Are we still speculating steroids for every player who has an increase in power?
Especially in an inferior league?
E: George 4 (5, throw, throw, throw, throw).
by Jordan M on Jan 4, 2011 8:26 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
I would reverse the question
Are you saying it’s not a possibility? I don’t think it’s likely, no, because there are many other plausible explanations that don’t involve steroids. I think it’s just sticking your head in the sand if you don’t at least acknowledge it as a possibility.
Minecraft is like digital Legos. I like digital things and I like Legos. I am now addicted to Minecraft.
Then why not assume it for every player?
Why not assume that it’s possible every player has been involved in a murder?
Let’s assume every player may have raped at least 3 women, and sent dong shots to at least 4.
The reason you don’t speculate steroids without any proof is because it tarnishes the public perception of a player for no real reason, other than he’s being successful.
http://www.mlbsoup.com
by tcyoung on Jan 5, 2011 8:11 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Assumption of innocence
It’s a personal preference, I guess. I have my bias and I shouldn’t have projected it onto everyone. I don’t think I’m alone, but I don’t speak for everyone.
One has to wonder if/when football will finally have its steroids coming out party.
Minecraft is like digital Legos. I like digital things and I like Legos. I am now addicted to Minecraft.
Football has had it's "steroids coming out party" in the 80s.
There have been several high profile players busted for ’roids in very recent history, including one in which a Super Bowl team (the ’04 Carolina Panthers) had a direct connection to a doctor busted for distributing HGH and the “Cream and Clear”.
The reaction by the general public has consistently been “meh.” I know I don’t speak for everyone, but the reaction to baseball players who use has also been pretty much universally “I don’t care” among the people I spend time with.
It seems to be the media and a few people who consider records to be “sacred” that get all bent out of shape over the steriods. And at least in the media’s case, it seems to be born out of guilt that they didn’t properly do their jobs during the “steroids era”.
"Ah, that's repulsive, that's repugnant, that's recorrigible, that's retragnicent. These aren't even words. These aren't even wo...what am I saying, I don't even know. I can't go on, I can't go on anymore, make it stop." ~ Puppet Michael Floyd
I care in the sense that they shouldn't be doing it
I want them to get caught and suspended, but I’m not going to stop watching the game because of it.
As far as the NFL goes, there have been numerous reports that players think it’s use is pretty rampant these days. Anywhere from 10% to 40% of players on a team in various articles over the years. I think they’d be due for another big crash if the NFL could find a way to catch them.
Minecraft is like digital Legos. I like digital things and I like Legos. I am now addicted to Minecraft.
I don't think so
The NFLs testing policy is considered one of the best. Combine that with the way the NFL has mastered the art of spin, I think the story would be framed more around “How do we make it so the testers can keep up with the people that are constantly designing new and better PEDs” instead of “Why doesn’t the NFL do more to stop this”
"Ah, that's repulsive, that's repugnant, that's recorrigible, that's retragnicent. These aren't even words. These aren't even wo...what am I saying, I don't even know. I can't go on, I can't go on anymore, make it stop." ~ Puppet Michael Floyd
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NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cincinnati
|
25 | 20 | .555 | 0 | Lost 1 |
|
St. Louis
|
25 | 21 | .543 | 0.5 | Lost 2 |
|
Houston
|
22 | 23 | .488 | 3 | Won 4 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
21 | 24 | .466 | 4 | Won 1 |
|
Milwaukee
|
19 | 26 | .422 | 6 | Won 2 |
|
Chicago
|
15 | 30 | .333 | 10 | Lost 10 |
(updated 5.26.2012 at 6:00 PM CDT)
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