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October 09, 2006

Minor League Review, Part 6: Frisco Roughriders Pitchers

About the league and park: Click here. Very short version:Texas League plays similarly to the American League circa 1991-1993, which is to say, friendly to offenses but not quite so friendly as the late 1990s. The park moderately favors hitters.

About the pitchers: As with the California League, young Eric Hurley (2004 supplemental first-rounder) handled the Texas League with aplomb. The walk and strikeout rates are delicious; a slightly lower homer rate in 2007 would be the cherry on top. 2004 top pick Thomas Diamond struck out over one of every four batters he faced… and walked one of every seven. He allowed only a .285 average on balls in play, preferably a result of his dominance rather than luck. If he can pull his walk rate below 4.5 per nine innings, he’ll make the short list for reinforcements for Arlington in 2007.

2003 first-rounder John Danks was more uncomfortably homer-prone (22 in 140 innings between AA and AAA) and allowed a slugging percentage of .480 in AA. Nevertheless, he posted a decent RA of 104. The lefty struck out batters at a higher rate than even Diamond and had none of the control issues. Daniel Haigwood (the return for Fabio Castro) kept the ball in play, permitting only four homers in 62 innings. Unfortunately, the ball was too much in play – he allowed a ghastly .394 OBP. A round of applause for Kea Kometani, a 15th-rounder from 2005 who jumped to AA during the season and offered solid peripherals that belied his ordinary RA.

Players ordered by Run Average.

Player
G
GS
IP
RA
RA+
ERA
ERA+
WHIP
WHIP+
HRrate
HRrate+
BBrate
BBrate+
SOrate
SOrate+
Michael
Bumstead
33
0
54.7
2.14
240
1.81
248
1.08
138
0.0%
inf
9.3%
101
25.9%
145
Eric
Hurley
6
6
37.0
2.19
235
1.95
231
0.86
173
2.8%
81
7.8%
120
22.1%
124
Nick
Masset
8
8
48.0
3.00
171
2.06
218
1.21
123
0.0%
inf
10.2%
92
20.3%
114
Daniel
Haigwood
12
12
62.0
4.21
122
3.63
124
1.77
84
1.4%
166
15.3%
61
19.8%
111
Thomas
Diamond
27
27
129.3
4.52
114
4.24
106
1.41
106
2.5%
92
14.1%
67
26.1%
147
Jeremy
Ward
30
0
49.7
4.71
109
4.35
103
1.35
110
2.4%
97
7.6%
123
21.8%
122
John
Danks
13
13
69.3
4.93
104
4.15
108
1.38
108
3.7%
62
7.4%
126
27.7%
156
Jesse
Chavez
38
0
59.0
5.03
102
4.42
102
1.39
107
2.0%
117
11.1%
84
27.8%
156
Kea
Kometani
17
16
88.3
5.09
101
4.69
96
1.45
103
1.0%
222
8.6%
109
20.1%
113
Danny
Touchet
34
0
65.7
5.21
99
5.07
89
1.46
102
2.1%
111
6.2%
150
15.6%
88
Jesse
Carlson
43
0
58.0
6.05
85
4.66
96
1.43
104
2.8%
84
7.1%
132
17.8%
100
Steven
Rowe
45
3
83.0
6.40
80
5.53
81
1.54
97
3.8%
61
8.9%
106
18.0%
101
Andy
Walker
20
15
93.0
6.48
79
5.81
77
1.51
99
5.1%
45
5.1%
183
12.7%
71
Ryan
Jensen
11
8
50.0
6.66
77
5.94
76
1.50
99
2.7%
85
5.9%
160
16.7%
94
Armando
Galarraga
9
9
41.0
7.46
69
5.49
82
1.68
89
2.6%
89
6.8%
138
19.8%
111
TEAM
TOTALS
140
140
1,238.0
4.91
105
4.30
105
1.42
105
2.3%
102
9.2%
102
20.5%
115
Park-Adjusted League Average
-
-
-
5.14
-
4.50
-
1.49
-
2.40%
-
9.4%
-
17.8%
-

About the stats: See the top of this post for explanations and caveats.

Posted by Lucas at October 9, 2006 11:58 PM