Ramon Cabrera Wins Florida State League Batting Title

by Charlie Wilmoth on Sep 5, 2011 11:25 AM EDT

Ramon Cabrera has won the Florida State League batting title, and the Bradenton Marauders are headed to the playoffs. The linked article is a preview of their series from the perspective of their opponent, the St. Lucie Mets.

Cabrera's .343 average was 21 points higher than the next-closest player, teammate Eleyvs Gonzalez. Another Marauder, Adalberto Santos, came in fourth in the league with a .314 average. Bradenton, as a team, put up much better hitting numbers than any other.

The degree to which the home park in Bradenton helps Marauders hitters isn't yet clear to me, but there's something going on there - several Marauders posted pretty big home-road splits. But it's worth noting that the Marauders' raw pitching stats were about average for the league, which essentially means that they had a really good team all-around, despite not really having a lot of older players. Their pitching staff isn't exactly young, but their hitters are.

I'm still not big on Cabrera as a prospect, but he's doing everything he can to establish himself - he's still only 21, he walked more often than he struck out this year, and he posted a .410 on-base percentage. And he's a switch-hitting catcher.

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Good for Ramon Cabrera and good for the organization.

His dad in Japan must be proud.

パトリック

by patthatt on Sep 5, 2011 11:43 AM EDT reply actions

I would think it’s pretty normal for a team to have several players with pretty big home-road splits. Players typically perform better at home than they do on the road, after all, then throw in some random variation and it’s almost inevitable.

by maguro on Sep 5, 2011 11:57 AM EDT reply actions

I’ll rephrase. The only player of the dozen or so I checked who didn’t hit better at home was Calvin Anderson, and many players had home-road splits that were enormous. In addition, McKechnie has a reputation as a hitter’s park.

by Charlie Wilmoth on Sep 5, 2011 12:00 PM EDT up reply actions

As of the 2010 season

Bradenton has a 3-year weighted park factor of 1.05. It’s a hitter’s park. BCB is not. It has a 3-year weighted park factor of .95. Assuming they’re promoted, we’ll know more about Cabrera, Gonzalez, Santos and Grossman after the 2012 season.

s.zielinski

by steve_z on Sep 5, 2011 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Thanks, Steve – where did you get that?

by Charlie Wilmoth on Sep 5, 2011 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions

I think he got it from Primer. See my comment below about the 3-yr weighted avg.

You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.

by WTM on Sep 5, 2011 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Cabrera and Gonzalez both hit better at home, but also hit well on the road. So their success wasn’t only the product of McKechnie Field. Cabrera hit .331 on the road and Gonzalez batted .310. Moreover, Gonzalez had more extra-base hits away from McKechnie.

by bolton on Sep 5, 2011 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions

I got it from Primer

As Wilber suggests..

s.zielinski

by steve_z on Sep 5, 2011 12:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Assuming it’s based on the Primer data, I think that 3-yr weighted avg. is just normalized in some way. There was only one year of data for McKechnie when they did that avg. and it was more hitter-oriented than the “3-yr” avg.

Still, when you see a breakdown for McKechnie, it’s a very extreme HR park for LH hitters and neutral, or just slightly above neutral, for hitters, at least according to this site. I can’t vouch for the site, but it seems consistent with the Primer park factors for 2010.

I wrote about this here. Basically, I think McKechnie has an impact, but when you take into account the actual park factors and the extreme pitcher-friendliness of the FSL as a whole, I’m skeptical whether McKechnie exaggerates Marauder hitting all that much in relation to actual talent. It DOES clearly inflate it relative to the rest of the FSL by a good bit.

You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.

by WTM on Sep 5, 2011 12:27 PM EDT up reply actions

That should be “neutral, or just slightly above neutral, for hitters in all other ways . . . .”

You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.

by WTM on Sep 5, 2011 12:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Wait a minute....you mean the Pirates spring training numbers are probably also inflated because McKechnie is a hitter's park?

by impliedi on Sep 5, 2011 1:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Man, more reason to put no stock into spring training numbers....

by impliedi on Sep 5, 2011 1:02 PM EDT up reply actions

I know there is a Craig Monroe joke somewhere in here

by Mr. E on Sep 5, 2011 3:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Haven't looked at it systematically

But at least anecdotally it seems a number of guys throughout the system have closed strongly. I think next year is key to see if system experiences several break-outs. Seems like several guys may be positioned. That plus addition of Cole and Bell might kick system as a whole to next level.

by Horace Clarke on Sep 5, 2011 12:00 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

check out the the K per 9 numbers of some of our pitchers

some have mentioned that our young pitching talent is struggling to strike guys out, but when you compare the ZVRs, the McPhersons, the Taillons to other organizations, you can see that we actually miss alot of bats.

i was surprised to see lots of pitchers with K rates in the 6 and 7’s on other organizations.
below is a list of starting pitchers who averaged 7 or more K’s per 9 in the minor this season:

Lincoln
Locke
McPherson
Irwin
Lorin
Taillon
ZVR
Fuesser
Allie

I did not include anyone who is not in the long term plans for the team. also, there were at least a dozen relief pitchers who had good K rates as well.

by white angus on Sep 6, 2011 8:48 AM EDT up reply actions

even more impressive

when you take into consideration the young kids are throwing primarily fastballs and working on command.

by insane_sanity on Sep 6, 2011 8:57 AM EDT up reply actions

i think what fools alot of fans when it comes to our K numbers is the lack of innings pitched all over our farm system

McPherson pitched by far the most innings of actual pitchers whom are prospects with 161. by comparison, Taillon pitched a mere 92.

other IP numbers in our system:

cain——————-106
wilson—————124
locke -————153
irwin——————-140
pribanic————-153
baker——————148
lorin———————117
cumpton————133
ZVR———————-125
Fuesser————-108
waldron—————126
dodson——————93

the thing about these numbers that strikes me is that not any of these pitchers missed a turn in their rotations. for the most part, all have been healthy. this means that our pitchers have had serious limits put on their pitch counts or the teams have been ordered to “piggyback” many of their pitchers.

oddest stat thus far: total number of CGs thrown in the Pirates minor leagues 2011: 3
(lorin, pribanic, mcpherson)

by white angus on Sep 6, 2011 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Who first identified

Cabrera as our potential “catcher-after-next?” (i.e., the catcher of the far future, after Sanchez?). Well, it was probably the Pirate’s Prospects guys, but I tapped him in this chart.

What does that mean?!

by Trogluddite on Sep 5, 2011 1:00 PM EDT reply actions

Well

only downside I see is that Sanchez repeats at AA to start the year, which means Cabrera gets held up as I don’t see them splitting time at AA. Good season though all around down at Bradenton

Thats what she said! - Michael Gary Scott

by C Shint on Sep 5, 2011 1:08 PM EDT reply actions

so whats a guy gotta do to get some hype?

by Danatural08 on Sep 5, 2011 8:08 PM EDT reply actions

play for a different organization?

by white angus on Sep 6, 2011 8:50 AM EDT up reply actions

How's Cabrera

at the catching side of his game?

by BlindSquirrel on Sep 5, 2011 8:13 PM EDT reply actions

Not a good arm. Not much leverage when you’re 5’7". Otherwise he seems pretty good.

You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.

by WTM on Sep 6, 2011 12:31 AM EDT up reply actions

the FORT called, says that hes glad hes 5-8ish.

by white angus on Sep 6, 2011 8:50 AM EDT up reply actions

the FORT called, says that hes glad hes 5-8ish.

Listed at 5’10".

There’s no guarantee that McKenry’s listed measurements aren’t exaggerated. Of course, there’s no guarantee that Cabrera’s aren’t, either…

by Vlad on Sep 6, 2011 3:22 PM EDT up reply actions

There are some historical catchers who were 5’7" or less. Yogi Berra, for example, was listed at 5’7". There aren’t any currently in the majors who are that short, though. Ivan Rodriguez is about as short as modern catchers get, and he’s listed at 5’9".

by Vlad on Sep 6, 2011 3:26 PM EDT up reply actions