The extended spring training season ended yesterday. Newly drafted players show up for a mini-camp starting this weekend and by the middle of next week the minor league short-season teams will be selected. The Vancouver Canadians start their season in eight days time. The short season rosters will change a lot in the early stages as newly signed players show up, get assessed, get into game shape and are assigned to a team.
I have received a copy of the statistics from extended spring training and here are some highlights.
There were 54 hitters listed on the stat sheet with most regulars having between 90 and 110 at-bats. 54 is a lot of players to have in camp and 100 is not a lot of at-bats so take these stats with a grain of salt. However they might indicate who will be assigned to which short-season team. I decided that 50 at-bats would be my cut-off for discussion here.
The top 5 hitters, as measured by OPS:
1. Santiago Nessy 1164
2. Balbino Fuenmayor 1042
3. Eric Arce 1009
4. Seth Connor 955
5. Matt Newman 923
Top 6 Prospects (by my definition) as measured by OPS:
1. Nessy 1164
2. John Smith, who I assume is Dwight Smith Jr. 887
3. Jacob Anderson 784
4. Gabriel Cenas 740
5. Jesus Gonzalez 703
6. Christian Lopes 702
Matt Dean, Dickie Thon, Dawel Lugo, Wilmer Becerra were all in the 500's. Derrick Loveless hit an even 600.
Last year I received a copy of the extended spring stats in early June, and the leader among prospects was Chris Hawkins at 700. Remember this is a new environment for these kids and they might be working with the coaches on their swings to clean them up.
Most Homeruns:
1. Nessy 8
2. Anderson 4
Many players tied with 3
Most Triples:
1. Smith 4
2. Arcila/Fermin/Newman 3
Strikeouts by prospect over 30% or below 20% (most players will be in a range between 20% and 30%)
1. Lopes 9% (5k/57ab)
2. Smith 13%
3. Seth Connor 15%
4. Nessy 19%
4. Dalton Pompey 19%
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1. Jesus Gonzalez 47% (27k/58ab)
2. Dean 36%
The "you can't walk off the island" award:
1. Gonzalez: 1 walk, 27 K's
2. Lopes; no walks, 5 K's
3. Lugo: 3/18
4. Becerra: 3/16
5. Nessy: 4/14
The Good Eye award:
1. Connor: 16 walks/10 K's
2. Smith: 14 walks/16 K's
3. Pompey: 15/22
4. Loveless: 18/28
The Speed award (Steals)
1. Pompey 18 (caught 2)
2. Loveless 13 (caught 3)
3. Smith 12 (caught 3)
Errors:
1. Thon 18
2. Gustavo Pierre 9
3. Cenas 7
The Bottom Line
It is important not to read too much into these numbers. They are a small sample size. It is in an instruction setting so players might be working on aspects of their game. The ages of the players vary from 16, 17 to 22, 23.
With that caveat, the best hitters of extened among the younger prospects are Santiago Nessy, Dwith Smith, and Jacob Anderson. It will be interesting to see if they are assigned to Bluefield or Vancouver. Nessy might have a shot at Vancouver but I would guess the others will head to Bluefield. Remember Vancouver plays in a college age league whose standard is not far off that of Lansing. Bluefield is more of a younger players league. Last year most of the younger prospects were sent to Bluefield.
The performance of several of the hitters such as Matt Dean, Christian Lopes and Dickie Thon is not great. For Thon this is his second year at extended. They may stay in Florida for the GCL season rather than head to Bluefield. Gabriel Cenas, Dawel Lugo and Wuilmer Becerra are still young and adapting to North America so they get a mulligan from me for this season.
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I will have a look at the pitching stats tomorrow sometime.
