I have received a copy of the hitting statistics for the 2014 extended spring training season. That season is now over and the short season teams will start playing soon. The hitting stats list 55 hiiters. However 14 of them are players on rehab assignements or players who are now playing for a full season team. I have excluded those players leaving 41 to consider. Of those 41, 21 have over 100 plate appearances. 32 have over 75 plate appearances. From a numbers perspective these stats represent approx a month worth of stats for a full season player. In extended, players play less and receive extra instruction.
I will start with some stats.
Best batting average:
David Harris .386 Juan Kelly .366 Shane Opitz .360 Jonathan Davis .354 Melvin Garcia .341
Most of these hitters are experienced and will likely be headed to Vancouver this season. The exception is Juan Kelly who is a 19 year old first baseman who played in the DSL last season.
Other batting averages of note:
Jacob Anderson .321 Deiferson Barreto .333 Franklin Barreto .310 Michael De La Cruz .318 Rowdy Tellez .304 Richard Urena .324
Top OPS >900
David Harris 1101 Juan Kelly 968 Jonathan Davis 964 Jacob Anderson 930 Sean Hurley 938 Dan Jansen 917
Others of note (i.e. not all) >800:
Franklin Barreto 848 Michael De La Cruz 857 Roemon Fields 855 Rowdy Tellez 892 Richard Urena 840
More walks than strikeouts. This might not be too meaningful at this level of ball as some pitchers just can't throw strikes. But here they are:
Michael De La Cruz Roemen Fields Dan Jansen Tim Locastro Alexis Maldonado Rowdy Tellez
Lowest K rate:
Dan Jansen 5.7% Jacob Anderson 6.1% Michael De La Cruz 7.6% Deiferson Barreto 8.2% Alexis Maldonado 8.7%
Others of note:
Franklin Barreto 17.9% Rowdy Tellez 10.5% Richard Urena 11.4%
Extended spring training has a mix of players. You have college players who were not good enough for Lansing and who will be heading to Vancouver when that season starts. You have high school draftees in their first full season who are headed for Bluefield if they are good enough. And you have latino players who could be very young and who will fit in Bluefield or in the GCL. The expectations for all these players in extended is different. You expect a college player to hit well, you expect a young latino player in North America for the first time to struggle a bit. Context is important.
And one more caution. There is no guarantee that these performances will carry over to the short season teams. It hasn't been a strong predictor in the past.
Here are some comments on particular players:
Anthony Alford has 43 at-bats and hasn't done much. .209 BA; 641 OPS; 7 steals; zero caught.
I thought Jacob Anderson might play in Lansing this season but he has only 28 at-bats so I assume his off-season surgery delayed him or he developed another injury. His numbers have been good in a small sample.
Deiferson Barreto is reportedly Franklin Barreto's older brother although their birth dates are nine months apart, Deiferson was born in May 1995 making him 19. He has always hit and continues to do so this season, although he has only half as many at-bats as his brother. The difference is power, Deiferson has no extra base hits in extended.
Franklin has hit well, see above, and especially given that his birthday is in February, born 1996. In addition to the numbers above Barreto has 10 steals vs 2 caught.
Michael De La Cruz is a 21 year old late developing catcher who hit very well in the DSL last season and earned a promotion to the GCL. He has shown good hitting and a good eye with 11 walks and 6 K's in 79 PA's.
Roemon Fields was a non drafted free agent out of Kansas signed by the Jays last year. He is listed as an outfielder so he would be expected to hit well.
Yeltsin Gudino is young, signed at 16 last season. He is hitting just .183 with 24 K's and 4 walks in 116 PA's.
Dan Jansen is a catcher drafted out of Wisconsin last season. He has hit very well and shown a good eye at the plate. Jansen is hitting .267 with 19 walks and 11 extra base hits including four home runs.
Rowdy Tellez has done as expected although he has just four home runs. David Harris and Sean Hurley each have six to lead the team.
Richard Urena has played very well for a young player. His 840 OPS is very respectable and in 149 at-bats he has 17 K's and 10 walks.
If you have any questions I can try and answer them. I will be back tomorrow with the pitching stats.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20140610105934214