Chronicles of the Lads

MINOR CHANGES
Rob links to this Kevin Goldstein article at BPro that talks about the difference in offense between various leagues. For instance, the Midwest League, which hosts our A Cedar Rapids squad, had an average AVG/OBP/SLG of 261/336/389 last season, whereas the California League (where our High-A Rancho Cucamonga team makes its home) hit 286/357/452.

I'm not a subscriber, so I don't know exactly where Goldstein goes with this, but it's a point worth making, and it's good just to see overall minor league lines like that. We all know intuitively that the Cal League is great for hitters, but seeing that line really emphasizes how much it helps.

The Midwest League line also helps us put into perspective the performances of our players at that level. Sean Rodriguez's 250/371/422 line might not knock your socks off, but that OBP is 10% above average and his SLG is 8% better. A 250/371/422 in the Midwest League is, relative to league, the same as a 274/394/490 in the California League.

Of course, that's not adjusting for the fact that High-A is likely a bit more difficult than standard A, or for ballparks. The former is a thorny issue, but the latter we can address by using Dan Szymborski's park factors he posted at BTF. I've used those park factors to create OPS+ estimates for our minor leaguers at those two levels over the last two years (not including those who played at Rancho in '04 but did not play at any of the other levels presented); I'm making the assumption that the 2004 iterations of these leagues had the same league averages of the 2005 iterations, which is a horrible assumption, but it's unlikely to be way off.

Alphabetically by last name:

Player                          OPS+ at Level:
                   2004 A   2004 A+     2005 A   2005 A+
Matt Abram            53        5           
Blake Balkcom         86                            68
Billy Boyer           58                   55
Matt Brown           102                            91
Jose Caldera                              -55
Alexi Casilla        135                  118 
Michael Collins       65                  143
Quan Cosby            78
Devin Day                                           87
Greg Dini                                  42
Tommy Duenas          74                   70 
Timothy Duff                               16       66
Cody Fuller                                        111
Richard Giannotti                          66
Jose Guzman           34
Michael Hughes                                      -4
Ben Johnson                               108      103
Howie Kendrick       161                           162
Nick Kimpton          90       16
Ryan Leahy            84                            74
Josh LeBlanc                               96
Baltasar Lopez       136                            62
Warner Madrigal       95                   89
Brett Martinez        -1                   -3
Caleb Maher           65
Ransel Melgarejo               99                   29
Kendry Morales                                     135
Felix Nunez          100
Matt Pali            100                            78
Aaron Peel            80                  147      129
Jason Ramos                                29
Clifton Remole                            102       90
Jordan Renz                                         54
Ivan Reyes                                          48
Sean Rodriguez        96                  115
Anderson Rosario                                  -123
Freddy Sandoval                           109
Emmanuel Santana                                    -4
Brooks Shankle                                      93
Hainley Statia                                      47
Jason Sugden                   65                   62
Nate Sutton                                79
Drew Toussaint                            127
Chris Walston                              31
BJ Weed                        65                   26
Bobby Wilson          91                            96
Brandon Wood          96                           158