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October 15, 2006

Minor League Review, Part 8: Oklahoma Redhawks Pitchers

About the league and park: Click here. Short version: The PCL isn’t much different than Major League Baseball. The Redhawks play in an extreme pitcher’s park.

About the pitchers: Redhawk pitchers might not have performed quite as well as you thought, given the park-adjusted RA of 4.36 and ERA of 3.83. Edinson Volquez rode a fantastic strikeout rate and an atrocious walk rate to a nice overall season. Last year, he walked only two per nine innings; this year, 5.4. I take comfort that he actually pitched a little better on the road than at home. On the other hand, his brief MLB tenure has been disastrous. I assume he’s already penciled into Oklahoma’s starting rotation for next April.

In terms of overall statistics, John Danks didn’t offer much beyond a terrific K rate in half a season in AAA, but for a 21-year-old it’s a nice start. Danks has always needed a half-season to learn the league, and he’ll need at least another half-season in AAA to master it. Put another way, I fail to sense any urgency to bring him to Arlington next April, regardless of the shape of the Ranger rotation. Better to see him make fools of AAA hitters for a while.

Interesting that both Volquez and Danks improve their control dramatically after the first inning:

Player Category
Innings
Walks
Walks/Inning
Volquez 1st inning
21.0
23
1.10
Other
99.7
49
0.49
Danks 1st inning
13.0
11
0.85
Other
57.7
23
0.40

Robinson Tejeda was Danks with fewer homers allowed. He actually pitched better in the waning weeks in Texas than in Oklahoma. As with Volquez, shaky control has held him back. He’ll be a Ranger next April barring injury or meltdown. I’m hopeful that John Rheinecker can do what R.A. Dickey never quite could: maintain an MLB career as a swingman. Somehow, he pitched 60 innings at home but only 32 on the road, so his index stats (RA+, etc.) may be a bit overstated. But he also had a road ERA of 1.67, so perhaps not.

Player
G
GS
IP
RA
RA+
ERA
ERA+
WHIP
WHIP+
HRrate
HRrate+
BBrate
BBrate+
SOrate
SOrate+
Scott
Feldman
23
0
27.3
2.96
147
1.98
194
1.06
129
1.8%
105
8.2%
111
21.8%
122
John
Rheinecker
15
15
93.0
3.19
137
2.52
152
1.26
108
1.3%
147
6.2%
145
17.7%
99
John
Wasdin
13
9
63.0
3.29
133
2.00
192
1.10
124
0.8%
240
6.8%
134
24.7%
139
Robinson
Tejeda
15
15
80.0
3.38
129
3.15
122
1.29
106
2.1%
92
12.6%
72
23.7%
132
Jose
Diaz
28
1
35.7
3.53
123
3.28
117
1.40
98
1.3%
148
14.2%
64
29.7%
167
Erasmo
Ramirez
54
0
67.7
3.59
121
3.59
107
1.12
122
1.8%
105
2.6%
354
17.2%
96
Edinson
Volquez
21
21
120.7
3.80
115
3.21
120
1.31
104
1.8%
108
14.2%
64
25.7%
144
Derek
Lee
29
23
143.7
4.57
95
4.26
90
1.45
94
2.4%
80
8.5%
107
14.7%
82
Kevin
Walker
46
5
68.0
4.90
89
4.63
83
1.60
85
1.6%
117
10.5%
87
19.4%
108
Kelvin
Jimenez
26
0
38.0
5.21
84
5.21
74
1.68
81
2.3%
83
13.8%
66
23.1%
129
R.A.
Dickey
22
19
131.7
5.47
80
4.92
78
1.37
100
3.0%
64
8.1%
112
10.8%
60
John
Danks
14
13
70.7
5.48
80
4.33
89
1.43
96
3.6%
53
11.2%
81
23.7%
133
Nick
Masset
24
7
67.3
6.42
68
4.81
80
1.59
86
1.3%
145
9.3%
98
21.5%
121
Ryan
Bukvich
31
0
35.3
6.88
63
6.11
63
1.87
73
4.8%
40
13.2%
69
22.2%
124
Kameron
Loe
13
3
22.7
9.53
46
9.13
42
1.99
69
2.7%
71
11.8%
77
19.0%
106
TEAM
140
140
1,250.7
4.56
96
3.89
99
1.39
98
2.1%
93
9.5%
96
19.7%
111
Park-Adjusted League Average
-
-
-
4.36
-
3.83
-
1.37
-
1.9%
-
9.1%
-
17.9%
-

Posted by Lucas at October 15, 2006 02:22 PM