SB Nation - Julio DePaula

Minor League Highlights 6/21 - 6/23 (INPO)

FreeZorilla — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:56:57 -0000

More photos » by Steve Nesius - AP

6 months ago: Kansas City Royals catcher Miguel Olivo, left, and Tampa Bay Rays' Matt Joyce watch his two-run homer off Kansas City reliever Roman Colon during the eighth inning inning of a baseball game Tuesday, June 2, 2009, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Joyce had four RBIs in Tampa Bay's 6-2 win. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

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1. The Durham Bulls bats came alive the past 3 days. SS Reid Brignac went 4-10 with a 2B and a BB. Reid's splits sit at .291/.356/.436 vs. .250/.299/.412 a year ago. A big improvement this season has been BB:K as he has gone from .27 to .78. His K% has been reduced from 26.4% to 13.4% while his walks have jumped to a more respectable 9.5%.

2. 27 year old OF Rashad Eldridge continues to play well for Durham since being promoted from AA. In the past 3 games he has gone 3-8 with 2 BB. The minor league vet is having arguably his best season hitting .301/.370/.361. Eldridge had a shot at AAA back in 2006 with the Mets and the Rangers but only OPSed .612 and .583. Prior to this season he put up back to back years in AA of .780+ with the Twins and the Rays.

3. OF Matt Joyce has been mired in a slump since being recalled to Durham going 7 for his last 49 with 9 walks. His OPS in that span has been .541. For the season vs LHP he is putting up .229/.260/.333. He's going to need to improve on those numbers to become the everyday right fielder for the Rays. In the past 3 games he has gone 1-13 with 2 BB, but his lone hit was a big home run yesterday. His seasonal slash at AAA is .268/.367/.453.

4. 25 yr old C John Jaso has woken up in June after a dreadful May where he OPSed .431. He has gone 3 for his last 11 with 2 BB and a HR. His season slash sits at .238/.349/.390. Jaso's plate discipline is excellent, especially when compared to Navi. He is walking at a rate of 13.7% while only striking out 12.8% for a BB/K of 1.24. For those keeping score at home Navi has walked 1.9% and struck out 14.9% for a ratio of .13.

5. OF Justin Ruggiano continues to play well going 3-8 with a 2B and a HR making this list for the 2nd consecutive time. THe 27 year old is now slashing .247/.341/.416.

6. 1B Rhyne Hughes continues his torrid hitting since being promoted from Montgomery. In the past 3 Hughes has gone 5-13 with a BB, a 2B, and 2 HRs. In 58 AAA ABs, Hughes has now posted .323/.354/.613.

7. Scott Kazmir had what appears to have been a one night only in Durham going 6 innings while striking out 5 and walking none. He surrendered 5 hits and 0 runs with his velocity consistently in the 90s. Kazmir was sadit o have thrown about 70% strikes.

8. Wade Davis made another excellent start going 6 innings, striking out 6 and walking 2. He allowed 6 hits and 2 runs, 1 earned. In 31 June innings his K/9 is 11.32 vs a BB/9 of 2.32. His seasonal FIP is 3.68 with a June FIP of 2.99.

9. Four Durham pitchers performed well this week out of the bullpen: Jason Cromer, Dale Thayer, Joe Bateman, and Julio DePaula. Each allowed no earned runs in a minimum of 2 innings pitched. The table below will update you on their seasons to date:

	K/9	BB/9	ERA	FIP
Jason Cromer	4.78	3.38	0.84	4.07
Dale Thayer	5.87	2.93	1.47	3.3
Joe Bateman	9.25	5.92	4.81	3.73
Julio DePaula	6.75	4.14	4.14	4.63

10. It was a quiet few days with the lumber for the AA biscuits, but there were a few pitching gems. Jeremy Hellickson made his return in a big way picking up right where he left off. Hellickson went 4 strong striking out 6 and walking none while surrendering 4 hits and 0 runs. Hellickson has been lights out all season with a K/9 of 10.9 and a BB/9 of 2.08. His FIP is at 2.25 with an ERA of 1.85. The right hander turned 22 in April.

11. 25 year old left hander Brandon Mann made his best start of the season for Montgomery going 6 shutout innings while striking out 6 and walking none. For the season his FIP sits at 3.85 with a K/9 of 5.07 and a BB/9 of 3.73.

12. 24 year old right hander Ryan Reid struck out the side in his one inning of work. Control has plagued him since joining AA last season. This season his K/9 and BB/9 both sit at 6.33. His K/9 has slipped this year from 10.3 to 6.33, so hopefully this inning was a sign of things to come for Reid.

13. Jesse Darcy made his best start of the season for the Charlotte Stone Crabs pitching a 7 inning complete game shutout. Darcy struck out 2, walked one, and allowed 5 hits. Darcy picked up his second win of the season in 13 starts. His FIP sits at 5.25 with a K/9 of just 3.68.

14. 24 year old right hander Tommy Rafferty has pitched 8.1 innings of relief for the Stone Crabs since his mid-season promotion. Rafferty has struck out 9 and walked 4 in his 8.1 innings posting a FIP of 2.51 while allowing 2 earned runs.

15. Cody Cipriano has had a cooler bat going 1-8 over the past 3 games. Why is he on this list? 4 walks over that span elevating his BB% to 11.8%. This is good because in A-and A ball Cody walked 14.1% and 13.9% of the time. Looks like his eye may be catching up to A+ pitching.

16. 22 year old middle infielder Omar Luna had been struggling mightily since joining the Stone Crabs in 2009. In the past 3 he has managed to go 4-6 with a BB. His slash sits at .197/.217/.413. Luna has never walked above 5% in his career.

17. 22 year old left fielder Ryan Royster has struggled in his second year with the Stone Crabs. He did manage to go 4-7 over the past games raising his slash to .220/.273/.295. His OPS has declined from .691 last year to .568 this year at the same level. He seems to be struggling in his splits OPSing .516 vs righties while his OPS vs lefties is .771.

18. 21 year old shortstop Shawn O'Malley has gone 4-8 with a stolen base over the past 3. The speedster is slashing .265/.364/.322 while swiping 25 bags in 32 attempts. He is having arguably his finest season in 4 years with the Rays organization in his first season at the A+ level.

19. The South Atlantic League held their annual all-star game. The Hot Rods were represented by Tim Beckham and Chris Andujar. It was a rough night for Andujar giving up 3 hits, a walk, and 4 runs in his sole inning pitched. Becks star shone bright as he went 3-5 with a 3B and 2 strikeouts. He also committed an error.

Stats courtesy of MILB.com/Fangraphs/minorleaguesplits

Not all sites update daily so minor inconsistencies may appear

Will do a week in review for short season highlights during the weekend.

A Deeper Look at the Tampa Bay Rays Bullpen: Post-Isringhausen Edition

R.J. Anderson — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:45:04 -0000

We've talked a lot about preventing bullpen regression next season on an individual and staff-wide basis. Naturally, Andrew Friedman and staff have put those concerns to rest with a number of reliever additions, all baring some usefulness. It might be time to bury any concerns we had about the pen regressing to hell.

Left-handed specialist

Last year the Rays signed Trever Miller and claimed Kurt Birkins off waivers as their LOOGY additions. Miller did a decent enough job when called upon, and Birkins has an abbreviated run for the Rays early in the season, although most of his time would be spent in Durham. Both are now out of the organization, with Miller signing in St. Louis and Birkins going to Colorado on a minor league deal. In their places are Brian Shouse and Randy Choate. The only similarities the pairs feature are contract types and dexterity. It's not stretch to say the Rays have improved in talent while spending less money.

Below you will see a chart with labels such as "L3YFIP", don't be confused, that simply means the last three seasons of the players career have been weighted (on a 5-3-2 scale) and the number is a representation of that statistic. I've included FIP, tRA, and pLI, but it's important to note that pitchers have next to no control over their pLI. The inclusion is simply to show how previous teams have used them, not necessarily how the Rays will use them.

Name	Shouse	Miller
L3YFIP	3.87	3.95
L3YtRA	4.44	4.47
L3YpLI	1.11	0.87
Salary	1.55	1.6

First up, the major league lefty specialist:

Shouse appears to be a better pitcher despite being used in tougher situations. In equal innings the differences are quite marginal, however we should factor in Shouse's usage in Milwaukee as questionable, given Ned Yost's poor bullpen management. Miller will be guaranteed a third of Shouse in 2009 and yet might earn 2 mil based on appearances, but Shouse is actually making less than Miller did in 2008 and less than Miller's option called for.

Now we move on to Choate and Birkins.

Name	Choate	Birkins
L3YFIP	3.54	4.61
L3YtRA	3.54	4.74

With a lack of consistent major league spots, the above numbers are a mixture of major league and minor league performances, I'm not aware of a readily available pLI measure for minor leaguers otherwise I would list it. Regardless, Choate shows a clear advantage of Birkins. Add in a funky throwing motion and the run advantage is all the sweeter.

Groundballer

Name	Cormier	Bradford
L3YFIP	4.26	3.61
L3YtRA	4.85	3.68
L3YpLI	0.78	1.46
Salary	0.65	3.5

Necessitated by injury, Cormier's numbers look poor thanks to being a failed starter. The Rays added a number of additional groundball minor league relievers, here they are:

Name	Childers	Day	Rodriguez	DePaula
L3YFIP	3.49	3.18	3.93	4.52
L3YtRA	3.59	4.69	3.57	4.3

Late innings

A wild Isringhausen appears!

Name	Izzy	Percival	Balfour	Howell	Wheeler	Nelson
L3YFIP	4.7	4.7	3	3.34	4.09	3.79
L3YtRA	5.3	4.35	2.7	4.1	4.19	4.2
L3YpLI	1.94	1.4	0.89	1.15	1.66	1.14
Salary	~2	4.55	1	0.4	3.2	1.3

Summary

The bullpen will most likely look like this:

Percival/Isringhausen

Wheeler

Howell

Balfour

Nelson

Shouse

Cormier

That's at a cost of ~13 million. Which isn't too bad, although that's without Bradford's 3+ mil and Izzy's potential salary. Next year the cost should drop which is good, considering most relievers are either really good or really replaceable. The Rays have a stable of arms capable of filling in given injury or other incapacity. They also have one excellent reliever in Grant Balfour and a handful of decent types.

I'm impressed.

*For players missing a year (Nelson, Percival, ect.) I assumed a league average performance.

Rays Sign Randy Choate and Julio DePaula

R.J. Anderson — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:41:41 -0000

Per the Heater, LHP Randy Choate and RHP Julio DePaula to minor league deals.

Choate is 33 and throws sidearm. The Brewers gave him a major league deal last season and Choate spent 2008 primarily in Triple-A, striking out 7.15 per nine and walking 4.62. His career numbers (in 165 innings) are pretty close to that, and his career FIP is 3.87. Choate's career OPS versus lefties is .680, slightly better than the .745 mark given up against righties, but do note his usually outstanding groundball rates which suggest he's a nice fit for the Rays infield. Choate throws an upper-80's fastball and mid-70's slider.

via mlb.mlb.com

DePaula is less encouraging. I would peg him to fill a spot in the Durham rotation based on his starting adventures in his previous two minor league seasons. DePaula spent 2008 with the Edmonton Cracker-Cats (an independent league team), his arsenal consists heavily of an upper-80's fastball, high-70's curve, and low-80's change. Given DePaula's strikeout and walk rates, he doesn't translate too well to the majors.

Wrong DePaula. Julio is a reliever who finally reached the majors last year. His fastball sits in the low 90's and complements it with a change and slider. DePaula has gotten a decent number of swinging strikes and groundballs over the years, and unlike the other J. DePaula, could be decent in the majors.