Future Redbirds

The City: As of 2006, the city of Jupiter had a population of 50,028. While the team is named the Palm Beach Cardinals, it’s named after the county versus the city that they play in. There’s not much really I can say about Jupiter, basically it seems like a place for snow birds to go and boil in their own “Del Boca Vista” or whatever retirement community they choose. Burt Reynolds, Celine Dion, Tiger Woods and Dom Deluise have or have had homes there. That’s um…quite a cast. Jupiter is the Roman god of justice, having Celine Dion and Burt Reynolds in the same town seems just to me.

The ballpark: Roger Dean Stadium, fits a capacity of 7,200. It’s the only stadium in baseball to host 2 minor league teams, the Jupiter Hammerheads and of course the Cardinals. Both the Marlins and Cards share the facility during Spring Training. The Cards finished 8th out of 12th in attendance with a total of 77,805 tickets purchased this season. It plays as a pretty severe pitcher’s park, with a park factor of 0.91. It’s particularly tough on power hitters, with a HR factor of 0.86.

The Team: Miscellaneous stats comin’ your way-

• First Half Record: 36-34, Finished 2nd in East Division.
• Second Half: 35-35, Finished 2nd in East Division.
• Overall: 71-69, Finished 2nd in East Division.
• Scored 616 runs, Allowed 616 runs. Pythagorean W-L: 70-70.
• Runs per game 4.4, 8th of 12th in the league.
• Runs allowed per game 4.4, 6th in the league.
• Team ISO: .117, -.004 league average.
• Team OBP .320, -.005 league avg.
• Team FIP: 3.67, -.001 league avg.
• Defense Efficiency Ratio: .663, +.013 league avg.
• Average player age: 22.5

The hitters:

• Highest batting average: Allen Craig .312, 3rd overall in the league.
• OBP: Dan Nelson .378, tied for 7th.
• SLG: Craig .530. 3rd in league.
• xBH%: Craig 36%.
• Runs Created: Craig-82, 3rd in league overall.
• Runs Created per game: Craig, 7.06
• HR: Craig 21, 3rd in league.
• ISO: Craig, .218. 5th in league.
• Nancy Limpwrist (lowest ISOP): Isaias Garcia .046.
• Steals: James Rapoport 21.
• Best eye: Dan Nelson, .82 BB/K ratio.
• Scrappy pest: Isa Garcia fanned in only 10.7% of his PA’s.
• Hackmaster: Brandon Yarbrough 19.7% PA’s that resulted in K’s.
• HR/Air: Allen Craig 12.1%, 3rd in league.
• LD%: Nelson 22% 2nd in league. HM: Craig with 21%.
• wOBA: Craig .376.
• BB%: Nelson 15.1%.
• OPS versus LHP: Craig 1.031.
• OPS versus RHP: Hamilton .927.

Starting Pitchers:

• Innings eater: Tyler Norrick 165.1 IP, 1st in league.
• ERA: Adam Ottavino 3.08, 3rd in league.
• FIP for SP: Ottavino 3.93. Surprise runner up-Trey Hearne 3.94, -2.01 difference from his ERA.
• K%: Ottavino 20.6%, 8th in league. Norrick-19.3%, 9th.
• BB%: Lowest-Trey Hearne 6.8%. Highest-Norrick 10.5% 6th, Ott 10.2% 7th.
• K/BB: Hearne 2.15.
• WHIP: Norrick 1.25, 7th in league for qualifying starting pitchers.
• BABIP: Lowest-Norrick 2.63, Highest-Hearne .370.
• GB%: Ottavino 50%.
• HR/Air: Ottavino 5%.
• LOB%: Highest-Ottavino 74%. Lowest-Hearne w/58%. That’s good for worst LOB% in the league. Kip Wells-esque.
• Wins-Ottavino 12, 2nd in league.
• Losses-Hearne 11, tied for 3rd most in the league.

Then there’s that Luke Gregerson guy. His stat page is a thing of beauty. He struck out 27.5% of the batters he faced while walking 8%, good for a 3.44 K/BB rate. 62% of the balls put in play against him were grounders. What’s most astonishing is that in 96 professional innings, he has yet to allow a HR. His 29 saves were good for 3rd in the league. His main set up man was Jon Mikrut. Mikrut put up a respectable 3.64 FIP, but the fact that 70% of his BIP were balls hit in the air, so I doubt he has a big league career ahead of him.

• Awards (as of now):

Mid season All Stars-Luke Gregerson, Adam Ottavino, Tyler Norrick and Allen Craig and Mark Hamilton. Allen Craig was the FSL All Star Game MVP.

Post season All Stars-Luke Gregerson, Adam Ottavino and Allen Craig.

Most interesting prospects, in my own estimation: Luke Gregerson has to be one of the more interesting, especially considering this was his first full season dedicated to just pitching, and he came from a D-III school. Ottavino put up solid numbers if you like wins or ERA, but his situation independent numbers left a little to be desired. You could argue Mitchell Boggs put up better #’s in the FSL last year. I would’ve liked to have seen a little better from the 2006 1st round pick. The lefty Norrick’s stat line and was pretty close to Ottavino in several important categories like K rate and walk rate.

Allen Craig showed great power considering his league and park, he will definitely get his own “prospect profile” some time soon. For all the negative I’ve heard about his glove, his range factor is 2.29, which is the same RF a league average NL 3B, for what it’s worth. Eddie Degerman, Brandon Buckman, and Brad Furnish also are prospects of note that were promoted from A- to PB that are worth mentioning as well, and I’ll get more into them another time. Jon Jay , Mark McCormick and Shane Robinson are names of note as well, but all spent more time on the DL then on the field. And is Trey Hearne just that hittable, or just that unlucky? He still showed good command but the sky high BABIP and dog low LOB% makes me think he’s a good candidate for a rebound.

Sources:

Firstinning.com, Baseball-Reference.com (yes, they now have minor league data!), MILB.com, Dan Szymborski’s 2007 Minor League Park Factors, Fangraphs, and Minor League Splits.