This part will focus on the AA minor league. As always this model compiles data from all AA class players which include 30 MLB affiliates from Southern League, Texas League, and Eastern league as described here. All AA class players are thrown into one soup bowls and ranked together, batters and pitcher, exactly how it’s done for MLB and any other league.
Players can only be compared to players of the same class. This means stats from AAA league cannot be combined with stats from AA or A league or MLB league.
This model takes two minor league snapshots, one at halftime (now) and one after season is over for historical purposes. This report will cover the Cubs and White Sox because — just because ….
Tennessee_Smokies Team Status
BAT |
PITCH |
Rs |
Ra |
W |
L |
UR |
LR |
TeamID |
6.3 |
-40.2 |
336 |
378 |
38 |
43 |
-4.3 |
-3.9 |
Tennessee_Smokies_sl_aa_CHN |
|
This is an old form team status record showing the run differential used to calculate BAT and PITCH. It shows PITCH is very under water, BAT slightly above water, and slightly below Unearned Runs above average (UR).
Top Tennessee_Smokies Players
Rank |
WAA |
Name_TeamID |
Pos |
WinPct |
Age |
+032+ |
2.31 |
Tyson_Miller_CHN |
PITCH |
0.618 |
23 |
|
+054+ |
1.95 |
Robel_Garcia_CHN |
BAT |
0.907 |
26 |
|
+064+ |
1.89 |
Craig_Brooks_CHN |
PITCH |
0.790 |
26 |
|
+132+ |
1.26 |
Wyatt_Short_CHN |
PITCH |
0.665 |
24 |
|
XXXXX |
0.99 |
Connor_Myers_CHN |
BAT |
0.586 |
25 |
|
XXXXX |
0.84 |
Roberto_Caro_CHN |
BAT |
0.555 |
25 |
|
XXXXX |
0.84 |
Vimael_Machin_CHN |
BAT |
0.561 |
25 |
|
XXXXX |
0.69 |
Jesse_Hodges_CHN |
BAT |
0.599 |
25 |
|
XXXXX |
0.67 |
P.J._Higgins_CHN |
BAT |
0.546 |
26 |
|
XXXXX |
0.61 |
Jared_Young_CHN |
BAT |
0.540 |
23 |
|
WinPct and Age are necessary for minor league reports to show context to the WAA value. Players move around and sometimes there are players who spend most their career in minor leagues who never could make it in MLB. The Age column helps determine those players.
This model never sorts on rates unlike what occurs in much of Sabermetrics.. You can’t say a car traveling 65 mph traveled farther than the car traveling 55 mph because you’re missing an important component to the equation — time. Baseball stats are frequently used by sports announcers and others to deceive by cherry picking favorable time intervals using rates ( hello OPS/OPS+ ) to justify some narrative. But I digress …. The WinPct rate is included in these minor league tables for informational purposes only.
Can’t comment on any of these players except Robel Garcia who just got called up to the MLB Cubs and hit a couple of home runs already. His 0.907 rate is quite exceptional. He’ll show up on our radar the rest of the season and hopefully for a long time in the future.
Birmingham_Barons Team Status
BAT |
PITCH |
Rs |
Ra |
W |
L |
UR |
LR |
TeamID |
-13.7 |
-31.0 |
314 |
367 |
35 |
46 |
-2.3 |
-5.9 |
Birmingham_Barons_sl_aa_CHA |
|
White Sox’ AA team also having a bad year. Both BAT and PITCH under water. LR is lucky runs, runs scored without anyone receiving an RBI, like from a balk or wild pitch. They’re called lucky because it takes no skill from the team that benefits from such tomfoolery but those runs still count when determining who wins a game.
Unlike UR, there is absolutely nothing a team can do to improve Lucky Runs which is why they’re now left out of the MLB team status record. They’re included in the long form because it’s symmetrical with UR. LR is part of the BAT books, UR is part of the PITCH books. All books must balance in this data model; every run must be accounted for.
Top Birmingham_Barons Players
Rank |
WAA |
Name_TeamID |
Pos |
WinPct |
Age |
+059+ |
1.93 |
Gavin_Sheets_CHA |
BAT |
0.619 |
23 |
|
+090+ |
1.57 |
Luis_Robert_CHA |
BAT |
0.633 |
21 |
|
+091+ |
1.55 |
Kyle_Kubat_CHA |
PITCH |
0.644 |
26 |
|
+106+ |
1.45 |
Danny_Dopico_CHA |
PITCH |
0.673 |
25 |
|
XXXXX |
1.05 |
Hunter_Schryver_CHA |
PITCH |
0.611 |
24 |
|
XXXXX |
0.86 |
Matt_Foster_CHA |
PITCH |
NA |
24 |
|
XXXXX |
0.84 |
Nick_Madrigal_CHA |
BAT |
0.677 |
22 |
|
XXXXX |
0.69 |
Bernardo_Flores_Jr._CHA |
PITCH |
0.562 |
23 |
|
XXXXX |
0.59 |
Tanner_Banks_CHA |
PITCH |
0.540 |
27 |
|
XXXXX |
0.40 |
Matt_Tomshaw_CHA |
PITCH |
0.551 |
30 |
|
Can’t comment on any of these players because don’t know who they are. The rankings and WinPct are commentary enough. Notice that there are a lot of pitchers in Barons’ top ten which doesn’t jive with the very below average PITCH in their team status. BAT and PITCH are derived from run differential which is a seasonal stat. Minor league teams are in much more flux than MLB teams and the above shows top ten, not the complete set of players who played this season. High negative value comes off the books when a player leaves a team and new guys to a league start out at WAA=0.
Top 25 AA Players
Rank |
WAA |
Name_TeamID |
Pos |
WinPct |
Age |
+001+ |
3.97 |
Ibandel_Isabel_CIN |
BAT |
0.797 |
24 |
|
+002+ |
3.91 |
Edward_Olivares_SDN |
BAT |
0.732 |
23 |
|
+003+ |
3.84 |
Mitch_Nay_CIN |
BAT |
0.834 |
25 |
|
+004+ |
3.72 |
Gabriel_Cancel_KCA |
BAT |
0.747 |
22 |
|
+005+ |
3.67 |
Anthony_Kay_NYN |
PITCH |
0.749 |
24 |
|
+006+ |
3.34 |
Jake_Fraley_SEA |
BAT |
0.748 |
24 |
|
+007+ |
3.32 |
Dylan_Carlson_SLN |
BAT |
0.694 |
20 |
|
+008+ |
3.32 |
Abraham_Toro_HOU |
BAT |
0.698 |
22 |
|
+009+ |
3.17 |
Cody_Thomas_LAN |
BAT |
0.704 |
24 |
|
+010+ |
3.15 |
Casey_Mize_DET |
PITCH |
0.773 |
22 |
|
+011+ |
3.13 |
Hunter_Owen_PIT |
BAT |
0.726 |
25 |
|
+012+ |
3.11 |
Tucker_Davidson_ATL |
PITCH |
0.682 |
23 |
|
+013+ |
3.09 |
Dairon_Blanco_OAK |
BAT |
0.705 |
26 |
|
+014+ |
2.98 |
Rico_Garcia_COL |
PITCH |
0.697 |
25 |
|
+015+ |
2.96 |
Griffin_Jax_MIN |
PITCH |
0.706 |
24 |
|
+016+ |
2.86 |
Trey_Supak_MIL |
PITCH |
0.633 |
23 |
|
+017+ |
2.83 |
Beau_Sulser_PIT |
PITCH |
0.748 |
25 |
|
+018+ |
2.77 |
Alex_Wells_BAL |
PITCH |
0.667 |
22 |
|
+019+ |
2.73 |
Cody_Poteet_MIA |
PITCH |
0.646 |
24 |
|
+020+ |
2.69 |
Sam_McWilliams_TBA |
PITCH |
0.650 |
23 |
|
+021+ |
2.67 |
Darick_Hall_PHI |
BAT |
0.664 |
23 |
|
+022+ |
2.62 |
Alexander_Guillen_COL |
PITCH |
0.764 |
23 |
|
+023+ |
2.58 |
Heath_Holder_COL |
PITCH |
0.737 |
26 |
|
+024+ |
2.56 |
Pedro_Vasquez_PIT |
PITCH |
0.655 |
23 |
|
+025+ |
2.46 |
Matt_Manning_DET |
PITCH |
0.628 |
21 |
|
These are the top 25 in AA class baseball which encompasse Southern, Texas, and Eastern leagues. This model does not project prospect value. The above only shows the number of wins they brought their respective teams this season. The above top 25 dominated AA class baseball this season.
Note: In the off WordPress site it will be possible to click on any player above to see his entire career across all 4 leagues covered here; A+ , AA, AAA, and MLB.
All Star break now and there’s one more minor league, A+ , to cover. Simulation reboot still a work in progress. That will unfold second half of this season until the playoffs.
The Playoff Horse Race does not look that much different than Part 4 of that series so no need to publish another one of those for a couple of weeks. A baseball season is a marathon and most teams move either up, down, or sideways at a glacial pace.
That is all for not. Until then ….