Mets fans are eager to see Fernando Martinez turn tools into production, so I wanted to dig a little deeper into the shape of his production in the last few years.

Martinez Production Breakdown

Year
Level
G
TPA
AVG
OBP
SLG
2B
3B
HR
BB
SO
XBH%
BB%
SO%
ISO
HR%

2006
A
45
211
.333
.389
.505
14
2
5
15
36
9.95
7.11
17.06
.172
2.37

 
A+
30
130
.193
.254
.387
4
2
5
6
24
8.46
4.62
18.46
.194
3.85

2007
AA
60
259
.271
.336
.377
22
1
4
20
51
10.42
7.72
19.69
.106
1.54

2008
AA
86
386
.287
.340
.432
19
4
8
27
73
8.03
6.99
18.91
.145
2.07

2008
DWL
27
106
.323
.377
.552
4
3
4
8
20
10.38
7.55
18.87
.229
3.77

1. What strikes me first is Martinez’s consistency.  His XBH % and SO% have all vacillated within relatively tight ranges.
2. Martinez’s brief [...]

The Mets should sign Kerry Wood to be their bullpen ace in 2009.
Late last week, the Chicago Cubs foolish traded for Kevin Gregg and then announced that the team would not bring back Kerry Wood, sending Wood out to the open market. Wood had accepted a hometown discount in 2008 to remain a [...]

Note the three different ways that Bobby Parnell, Tobi Stoner and Jason Vargas have succeeded in the AFL.

AFL Pitchers in Context

Player
IP
TBF
BB
SO
ERA
BB%
K%
Opp AVG

AFL Average
1527
7050
651
1404
5.73
9.23
19.91
.294

Eddie Kunz
11.1
62
7
9
11.12
11.29
14.52
.377

Bobby Parnell
12
52
8
14
3.00
15.38
26.92
.256

Tobi Stoner
16
66
6
12
2.81
9.09
18.18
.212

Jason Vargas
20.2
81
4
11
2.61
4.94
13.58
.197

Parnell: high K rate, high walk rate, slighter fewer hits than average
Stoner: average walk rate, average k rate, very low opp BA
Vargas: low k rate, low walk rate, very [...]

Daniel Murphy and Josh Thole are having an excellent time in the Arizona desert.  Scaled to the offensive level of the AFL, their numbers, as represented by OPS come back to earth a little, but they are still very good.

AFL Hitters vs. League Average

Player
AB
AVG
OBP
SLG
OPS
OPS +

AFL
5972
.294
.371
.466
.837
-

Daniel Murphy
58
.414
.507
.638
1.145
137

Josh Thole
51
.373
.429
.510
.939
112

And now we compare the Mets pitching in HWB to their league brethren.

HWB Pitchers Vs. League Average

Player
IP
TBF
BB
SO
ERA
BB%
K%
Opp AVG
ERA +

HWB
1124.0
4991
533
1089
4.58
10.7
21.8
.251
-

Junior Guerra
15.2
87
13
9
8.62
14.9
10.3
.371
53

Roy Merritt
20.0
85
10
22
3.60
15.3
25.9
.221
127

Scott Shaw
28.1
108
7
33
1.91
12.0
30.6
.105
240

Josh Stinson
21.0
93
13
13
4.29
14.0
14.0
.224
107

Josh Stinson has a below average walk and strikeout rate, but a slightly better than average ERA.
Scott Shaw’s walk rate is a touch below average, but his strikeout rate is one [...]

Because it was so much fun to compare the hitters in the Dominican Winter League to their overall league environment, I thought I’d run through the exercise (and spreadsheets) for each of the important winter leagues.  Here’s Hawaii Winter Baseball.

HWB Hitters Vs. League Average

Player
AB
AVG
OBP
SLG
OPS
OPS +

HWB Average
4302
.251
.339
.374
.713
-

Jordan Abruzzo
63
.222
.279
.254
.533
75

Ruben Tejada
78
.244
.262
.308
.570
80

Greg Veloz
84
.214
.290
.238
.528
74

I wanted to put the big time numbers Fernando Martinez is putting up in the DWL into context.  The following chart compares the performance of Met farmhands in the Domican Winter League to the League as a whole.  The first line is the league average across the major rate categories while the subsequent rows are [...]

Over at Metsblog, Matt Cerrone posted the following juicy snippet from his interview with GM Omar Minaya about Daniel Murphy.
“Well, first of all, we are very excited.  We rarely see a young player having that kind of plate discipline…
“I am comfortable that he is going to play the outfield if we need him to play [...]

I wanted to post a follow up to my wrap-up on St. Lucie catchers, Josh Thole in particular. So, one of the features that I haven’t written enough about is that 2008 was Thole’s first season working primarily as a catcher.

The games at DH is merely derived by subtracting Thole’s games at catcher [...]

Hawaii Winter Baseball released its official 2008 rosters. The Mets will send (age in parentheses): RHP Stephen Clyne (24), LHP Roy Merritt (23), RHP Josh Stinson (20), C Francisco Pena (18), SS Ruben Tejada (19), and 2B Greg Veloz (20) to Oahu to play for the Honolulu Sharks.
No Reese Havens.
HWB [...]