Defense

I'm back, and things should get back to normal around here starting with tomorrow's games. In the meantime, I'll do an entry talking about Cal League defense. These aren't end all, be all numbers though. Errors or fielding percentage aren't a great indicator of defensive ability; defensive stats are just a part of the picture. I'm still skeptical about some of the new defensive statistics, but since that information isn't available for the low minors anyway, that's a debate for another time and place. This is just some food for thought on an off day.

. Team E F% Unearned runs CS% . Bakersfield 53 0.967 28 51% . High Desert 51 0.97 35 13% . Inland Empire 40 0.977 31 30% . Lake Elsinore 52 0.971 31 24% . Lancaster 42 0.975 37 20% . Modesto 51 0.97 33 33% . Rancho Cucamonga 36 0.98 18 38% . San Jose 46 0.974 25 35% . Stockton 61 0.965 30 31% . Visalia 55 0.969 32 27%

According to these numbers, Rancho Cucamonga plays the best defense in the league. They don't make many errors and have an above average CS% (league average in that is 31%). There's really no correlation between errors and unearned runs which makes sense because of a number of factors, including talent of pitching staff, number of strikeouts which leads to fewer chances in the field among others. The average fielding percentage for the league is .972.

. Name Team Games Passed Balls SB CS CS% . Felix BAK 30 6 10 20 67% . Gradoville BAK 3 2 0 1 100% . Hogan BAK 13 1 18 8 31% . Coleman HD 25 1 22 6 21% . Scott HD 25 2 17 3 15% . Delmonico IE 28 12 44 17 28% . Wallach IE 20 2 25 13 34% . Collins LE 28 4 33 7 18% . Lara LE 16 1 15 7 32% . Solis LE 3 0 0 1 100% . Comadena LAN 9 0 10 2 17% . Curtis LAN 4 0 8 1 11% . Hernandez LAN 34 10 41 12 23% . Pacheco MOD 30 7 22 11 33% . Seabury MOD 20 3 15 7 32% . Brooks RC 30 8 29 14 33% . Lopez RC 9 2 13 5 28% . Sumi RC 9 0 2 6 75% . Lowenstein SJ 13 2 14 7 33%

. Monell SJ 29 3 19 12 39% . Weeks SJ 8 2 3 0 0% . Ortiz STO 20 4 20 13 39% . Paramore STO 26 3 27 8 23% . Davis VIS 7 2 14 4 22% . Ford VIS 9 2 10 2 17% . Herrnberger VIS 1 0 3 1 25% . Perez VIS 30 11 40 18 31%

Before a couple weeks ago, I honestly didn't know CS% was available throughout the season in the minors leagues, so it interested me when I saw that Baseball-Reference had it. Like the stats posted above, it's hard to read too much into the CS% because a lot of that has to do with pitchers too. One thing that stands out to me is how many stolen base attempts have come against Inland Empire and Visalia. Matt Wallach is the 66ers backup catcher, and teams are still attempting a lot of steals against him even though he catches them at an above average rate. I think that would indicate the 66ers pitchers don't do a great job holding on runners. On the other hand, it seems like Visalia's catchers just have a tough time throwing runners out.

I'll also briefly talk about the catchers that are on my prospect tracker:

Tony Delmonico, IE: His OPS is about league average which is nice for a catcher, but these numbers indicate he might not be able to stay behind the plate. Teams steal base after base against him, and he leads the league in passed balls. Inland Empire does lead the league in wild pitches, so maybe it's just difficult to handle the pitchers.

Jordan Pacheco, MOD: Pacheco might be the best catcher prospect in the league at the moment, all things considered. He's a bit old for the league and needs to be tested at a higher level, but right now he's hitting well and playing average defense. The CS% is above average but nothing special, and teams are trying a lot of steals against him.

Ryan Ortiz, STO: Like I mentioned recently, I can't figure out why Ortiz doesn't get regular at bats. He's hitting very well, and according to these numbers, his defense isn't bad either. Teams are attempting a lot of steals with him behind the plate, but he throws them out better than just about anyone in the league. If Pacheco isn't the best C prospect in the Cal League, Ortiz is.

Rossmel Perez, VIS: Perez has been a little below at and behind the plate so far. His CS% has been right at the league average and like Delmonico, has a few too many passed balls. The Rawhide have tried a few other guys behind the plate and runners are stealing a lot on them too, but Perez is probably still their best option at catcher.