The MyGuy™ Quest[ion]
“Who is going to have a break out year?”
“Who is being overlooked and will turn things around this year?”
“Who has a great story or seems to have great baseball instincts that makes you want to root for him?”
This is not one of the ubiquitous “Prospect Lists” that identify the players with the best shot to make it in the MLB. This is a snapshot of one year in the life of a ball player. MyGuy™ tells us who is improving at the fastest rate.
Compared to last year …
MLB players are scored on their WAR.
Minor league pitchers are scored on their ERA and WHIP.
Minor league position players are scored on their wRC+.
Based on that among the players we picked …
Most improved MLB pitcher was Samardjzia who moved up his WAR from 2.6 last year to 3.8 this year. In fact, of all the pitchers who threw over 180 innings, his WHIP was third best behind Scherzer and Greinke.
Most improved MLB position player was Buster going up in WAR from 4.0 to 4.3. Among all MLB catchers his closest competition was 42 points behind him in batting average.
Most improved among minor league pitchers were Crick, Snelten and Krook.
Crick finally got MLB time [32 IP] and made the most of it: 3.08 ERA and 1.21 WHIP after a miserable year in 2016 at Richmond. Snelten moved up from San Jose to Sacramento where he pitch 52 innings with a 2.42 ERA and 1.08 WHIP. Krook is lower down but as a fourth round 2016 pick he skipped Augusta and had 91 IP at San Jose with 105 K’s.
Most improved among minor league position players were Aramis Garcia, Ryan Howard and Gustavo Cabrera. Garcia bounced back from an injury filled 2016 at San Jose to 82 PA’s at Richmond batting 282 and an amazing 12 doubles. Howard, a SS and fifth round 2016 pick, skipped Augusta and hit .306 with 9 HR’s in San Jose. The lesser known Cabrera [a Lefty pick] is the youngest winner at age 21 and hit .294 at Salem-Kiezer.
So here are the 2017 MyGuy™ results.
Standings are based on the rank your picks finished. Like golf, the lower the score the better.
A perfect score would be 22.
Feel free to email HaakAway at My SF Giant Guy at Gee Mel dOtt com if you have questions.
2015 Winner: Skweezplay55 with Belt, Maxwell, Crawford, Beede, Carbonnel, Heston, Strickland
2016 Winner: Noce with Heston, Pence, Law, Susac, Beede, Slater, Coonrod, Duggar, Watson, Davis
2017 Winner: Doughnut with Moore, Panik, Arroyo, Crick, Shaw, J. Johnson, Howard, Simpson, Routolo, Heyward
Name … Score … Your Best and Worst picks
Doughnut 88 Crick(1), Howard(2), Shaw(4) … Heyward(24)
Lisak 89 Crick(1), Howard(2), Krook(3) … Beltre(20)
PandaPuffs 92 Krook(3), Shaw(4), Moronta(5) … Okert(30)
DrLefty 97 Cabrera(3), Moronta(5), Gomez(5) … Okert(30)
Moooooooose 102 Krook(3), Shaw(4), Solter(5) … Beede(24)
Bapah 105 Posey(1), Krook(3), Shaw(4) … Okert(30)
Doobiebood 106 Hundley(2), Snelten(2), Routolo(7) … Osich (27)
PerSpeier35 108 Garcia(1), Snelten(2), Shaw(4) … Heyward(24)
AHS 112 Garcia(1), Krook(3), Shaw(4) … Heyward(24)
HaakAway 113 Garcia(1), Gomez(5), Rheault(8) … Agosta(35)
Footy 122 Krook(3), Reynolds(6), Hwang(9) … Coonrod(28)
GiantC 123 Woods(4), Shaw(4), Miller(7) … Okert(30)
Crawnik 125 Shaw(4), Reynolds(6), Stratton(8)… Slania(29)
RobDeer 132 Garcia(1), Shaw(4), Moronta(5) … Okert(30)
Noce 132 Blach(2), Snelten(2), Brusa(8) … Roth(31)
AVERAGE 133
buyselltrade 136 Blach(2), Woods(4), Reynolds(6) … Slania(29)
TF62 145 Krook(3), Shaw(4), Reynolds(6) … Coonrod(28)
Stevek 147 Garcia(1), Woods(4), Gomez(5)… McCasland(33)
CC 150 Parker(2), Simpson(6), Fabian(11) … Lujan(32)
610nm 153 Blach(2), Snelten(2), Adon(10) … Winn(27)
Sarcastic 154 Panik(4), Brusa(8), Hallstead(11) … Lujan(32)
Sgbssfg 158 Smardjz(1), Solter(5), Hwang(9) … McCasland(33)
Matthew 167 Cain(3), Reynolds(6), Adon(10) … Smith(34)
Anti-Las 167 Cain(3), Reynolds(6), Adon(10) … Smith(34)
Skweez 173 Panik(4), Gomez(5), Reynolds(6) … McCasland(33)
I will be sending the “avwh” pin pictured here to Doughnut for his good scouting. For newer folks “avwh” was the handle for Allen Hirsch who posted among us and took great photographs [as the seagull with the crab that is on the pin.] He died suddenly in December of 2015 and is missed as a knowledgeable and kind Giants fan among us.