Sabermetrics continue to slice and dice baseball performance at every angle. Carson Castulli had an interesting post on FanGraphs over the weekend analyzing hitting and pitching performances of Double-A players across the nation. Castulli created SCOUT (using knowledge of select metrics and relatively small sample sizes) to measure batting effectiveness. A SCOUT + rating combines a batters regressed homerun, walk, and strikeout rates in a similar equation of FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) to come up with a result where 100 was the league average. Also, any score over 100 was considered above average.

Players were compared only with players in their own Double-A league to determine a score. The scores of all players in every Double-A league were then merged to determine the leader board. Here’s a legend to figure out what the abbreviations mean:

• XHR%: expected home run rate
• XBB%: expected walk rate
• XK%: expected strikeout rate

The interesting thing for Met fans is that Binghamton Mets players topped the leader board for both hitters and pitchers. When all the numbers were crunched, Allan Dykstra and Jack Leathersich were the top performers in using Castulli’s calculations.

Allan Dykstra was a highly touted Division I NCAA college baseball star at Wake Forest University. He shared the ACC home run lead and finished in the ACC top ten for walks, slugging percentage, on-base-percentage and total bases.

A 23^rd overall pick in the 2008 draft, Dykstra was selected by the San Diego Padres and signed a $1.15 million contract with the Padres. After not living up to expectations, San Diego traded Dykstra to the Mets for Eddie Kunz in March of 2011.

Dykstra’s entire time as a Met has been spent in Binghamton. Last season, a broken wrist slowed the big first baseman’s progress, but he is off to a torrid start in the first half of the 2013 season. The left-handed hitter is patient with gap power who works long pitch counts.

Player	League	PA	HR	BB	K	XHR%	XBB%	XK%	SCOUT+
Allan Dykstra	Eastern	256	12	53	59	4.3%	20.7%	23%	157
Xavier Scruggs	Texas	277	19	45	91	6.5%	16.2%	32.9%	149
Christian Marrero	Southern	286	5	59	41	1.8%	20.6%	14.3%	145
Anthony Rendon	Eastern	156	6	30	25	3%	17.3%	16.4%	144
Kalian Sams	Texas	102	10	20	24	4.8%	14%	22.3%	143

 

A separate leader board for hitters 23-years-old and younger was also posted. Cesar Puello of the Binghamton Mets cracked the top-ten of that board at #7. He made the list despite his base-on-balls percentage to strikeout percentage was tilted heavily toward the strikeout side. Puello’s 15 home runs counter the imbalance giving him a SCOUT+ rating of 128.

Castulli’s SCOUT ratings for pitchers factored regressed strikeout and walk rates into an ERA like rating. With his pitching ratings, the lower your score the more effective your standing. Once again, Castulli made individual calculations comparing a pitcher’s statistics only with other pitchers in the Double-A league where they pitched. Then, he merged his rating from every Double-A league to create the leader board.

Once again, a Binghamton Met was at the top; or in this case, a former B-Met. The pitcher was Jack Leathersich, the left-handed strikeout machine who pitched in Binghamton before being called up to Las Vegas in mid June. Leathersich attended the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he set school records in both strikeouts and strikeouts per nine innings during his senior year.

The southpaw has dominated batters at every stop of his minor league career.  A 2011 fifth round pick, Leathersich has had command issues that perhaps have delayed his introduction to Citi Field.

Player	League	Team	XK%	XBB%	SCOUT+
Jack Leathersich	Eastern	Mets	40.2%	10.2%	46
Ian Thomas	Southern	Braves	36.4%	9.5%	48
Yimi Garcia	Southern	Dodgers	33.3%	8%	53
Danny Salazar	Eastern	Indians	36.3%	9%	53
Kevin Quackenbush	Texas	Padres	34.5%	8.2%	55

 

A separate leader board used the same criteria to compare just starting pitchers. Danny Salazar topped that list. Rafael Montero, who pitched in Binghamton through early June, was ranked sixth. Montero had the lowest (best) walk percentage (6.8%) of any starter in the Top Ten but his strikeout percentage (27.6%) trailed every other pitcher in the top-ten on the leader board.

So, even when looking at advanced metrics, the Mets have have a handful of their Double-A players scattered throughout the leader boards, which can only mean the future is bright. Let’s hope these players continue to perform well as they move through the New York pipeline.

(Photo Credit: Gordon Donovan)