Wednesday Web Waffles

• I will be moving the next couple of days, so activity will likely be low as I don’t yet have internet in my new apartment. I will, however, have a roof that doesn’t leak and a landlord who isn’t a complete dick. Progress.

Minor Transactions

Daryl Maday and Waldis Joaquin, two prospects who I’ve been keeping an eye on, have been promoted– Daryl to Connecticut and Waldis to San Jose.  You can see a short write up of Waldis in today’s Prospect Watch.  Daryl works in the low 90s with a good breaking ball.  His pro career has been marked by good control and groundball tendencies.  He profiles as a back of the rotation starter or reliever.

Prospect Watch 7/28/07

Fresno defeated Albuquerque 7-3.

1B Travis Ishikawa: 0 for 4, BB, 2 K (264/323/603)

2B Travis Denker: 1 for 3, BB (292/406/461, 89 AB)

My favorite bat in the Denker/Velez/Downs/Frandsen mix.

LF Brian Horwitz: 0 for 1, 3 BB (297/379/448)

Brian can hit, but doesn’t have the power, so in order for him to be a major league regular, he needs to get on base. A lot. I’m thinking an OBP above 380 in the majors. Otherwise he’s a bench player.

Prospect Watch 7/27/08

Fresno defeated Albuquerque 8-7.

1B Travis Ishikawa: 2 for 4, 2 HR (274/328/624, 8 HR)

Travis’ eight home runs at Fresno match his eight home runs at Connecticut. He has managed to accomplish this feat in Fresno in exactly half as many at-bats.

Draft Signing

According to Baseball America, the Giants signed 9th round draft pick LHP Ryan Verdugo from LSU. Ryan’s repertoire includes a fastball with good movement that ranges from the low 80s to the low 90s, touching 92. He also offers a average change-up and 12-6 curveball. Scouts have also praised his ability to “compete.” (Gamer Alert! Gamer Alert!) Ryan’s the kind of pitcher who you can expect to do well against younger competition and struggle in AA. He needs to develop a plus plus pitch or refine his command in order to succeed at the major league level. You can find BA’s scouting report of Ryan Verdugo here and PG Crosschecker’s here.

Project Prospect Midseason Top 50

Project Prospect has posted its Midseason Top 50 Prospect list, and it features Madison Bumgarner at #14, Tim Alderson at #20, and Angel Villalona at #46. Three prospects in a top 50 list is certainly a welcome sign after years of farm system mediocrity. I’ve always been very high on Bumgarner, but I think Alderson is an over-rank here. I like Angel at #46. If Buster Posey had signed, he would most assuredly be in the top 50, my guess in mid to low 20s. How do you like the list? How do you think it compares to Rotoworld’s Top 150?

Quick Notes

• The Hardball Times has a mechanical analysis of Giants draftee Conor Gillaspie. Alex Eisenberg, the writer of the article, praises Conor’s swing, but would prefer him to play second base. You and me both Alex.
• And somewhat related, Andy Baggerly counsels patience and says that “it’s a 99 percent certainty that all four [top draft picks] will agree to terms before the Aug. 15 deadline.” His message sounds familiar.

Fooling Around with Milly Part 2: Sliding into Home

Hitting statistics at Connecticut should be viewed with some skepticism. For the early months of the season– usually April and May, although sometimes also June, cold temperatures and strong winds inhibit flyballs, often limiting extra basehits. Partial season MLE’s in Connecticut are particularly untrustworthy, as late promotions like Sandoval and Rohlinger play in more clement weather in comparison to their teammates whose numbers have suffered because of the early season park factors. But with those caveats said, here are the adjusted statistics via the MLE converter from MinorLeagueSplits:

Fooling Around with Milly Part 1:Rounding First Base

MLE’s (or Major League Equivalencies) are interesting because they translate the statistical performances of players from the minors and give for an estimation of how the player could have done had he been in the majors league. A more thorough explanation is here.

Using Minorleaguesplits’ batting calculator, I’ve input the MLE’s of select batters in the upper minors. Please note that these numbers are not meant to be predictive, or at least not any more predictive than minor league stats are meant to be. Rather the numbers are meant to quantify the context (ballpark, league difficulty, etc) so that the results are more meaningful. Here are the translated numbers for Fresno batters:

Wednesday Web Wroundup

• Rotoworld has put out its top 150 midseason prospect list. Bumgarner is at #21, Alderson at #33, Villalona at #41, Sosa at #66, and Schierholtz at #126. Buster Posey would have ranked at #32 should he have signed.