FanPost

Prospect Comparisons

I found this minor league statistic site called Minor League Central (It just started this year, so it only includes 2011 stats). What I like about the site is that it includes offensive statistics that I have not been able to find elsewhere, some of which I think are decent measures of a prospect's bat and eye such as Contact%, P/PA, and O-Swing%. It has the same kind of information for pitching prospects (eg. Contact%, P/PA, etc.), which is nice.

So, I was looking up four Blue Jays position prospects that played in New Hampshire this year, just out of interest. I was intrigued by some of the results, and I would like you to take a guess on who these four players are:

Player A: 56.8 Swing%, 14.3 O-Swing%, 57.4 O-Contact%, 80.4 Z-Swing%, 56.4 Z-Contact%, 56.5 Contact%, 64.4 Zone%, 24.7 Miss%, 2.28 P/PA

Player B: 68.1 Swing%, 21.7 O-Swing%, 63.6 O-Contact%, 88.1 Z-Swing%, 63.3 Z-Contact%, 63.3 Contact%, 69.9 Zone%, 25.0 Miss%, 1.94 P/PA

Player C: 64.0 Swing%, 18.8 O-Swing%, 67.6 O-Contact%, 86.7 Z-Swing%, 65.8 Z-Contact%, 66.0 Contact%, 66.6 Zone%, 21.8 Miss%, 2.06 P/PA

Player D: 65.8 Swing%, 16.7 O-Swing%, 54.7 O-Contact%, 88.3 Z-Swing%, 58.9 Z-Contact%, 58.5 Contact%, 68.6 Zone%, 27.3 Miss%, 2.18 P/PA

Since they are players on the same team, it's easier to compare their stats even though some of the numbers look strange (Note: I will explain at the bottom of this FanPost). As well, I will acknowledge that some of this information is implied in their walk and strikeout rates, but I was curious nonetheless. Anyway, back to the numbers!

Looking at the numbers from above, it looks like Player A had the most trouble making contact on pitches (lowest Contact%), but also took a higher amount of pitches per plate appearance as well as swung at pitches outside of the strike zone at a lower rate than anyone else in the group.

Player B was the worst at taking pitches among the group (lowest P/PA), and his numbers suggest he offered at a higher rate of pitches both inside (except for Player D, who had a higher Z-Swing%) and outside of the strike zone (Highest O-Swing%) than anyone else (Highest Swing%).

Players C and B were able to make contact on pitches fairly well compared with Players A and D, though Player C was able to make contact on a lower percentage of pitches than Player B.

Player D swung at pitches outside the strike zone at a lower rate than Players B and C. He also took more pitches and swung at pitches inside the strike zone at a higher rate than Players B and C. Player D, like Player A, had trouble making contact with pitches though Player D was slightly better at it.

If your answers were Anthony Gose for Player A (583 PA), Mike McDade for Player B (521 PA), Moises Sierra for Player C (548 PA), and Travis d'Arnaud for Player D (463 PA), then you are correct!

As I said at the top, the site is in its early stages and some of its pitching trackers are somewhat crude as they mention at the bottom of each page:

*Pitch data is incomplete, especially at levels below AA. Because of the difference in pitch stringers pitch details should not be compared across teams.

So, take some of this information with a grain of salt. However, I would still recommend checking the site out for more information on both position and pitching prospects throughout the minor leagues, especially when comparing prospects that played on the same team. It's fun!

Let me know if I did anything wrong here.

Edit - I noticed the SwStr% looked off. So, I used Miss% instead (Miss% = SMiss/NP, where SMiss = swings and misses, and NP = number of pitches)

Editor's Note: This is a FanPost written by a reader and member of Bluebird Banter. It was not commissioned by the editors and is not necessarily reflective of the opinions of Bluebird Banter or SB Nation.