my SB Nation colleague jeff sackmann over at Brew Crew Ball has created a phenomenal new resource: the Minor League Splits Database. thanks to jeff's hard work you can get tons of never-before-available data for every player in the minors: lefty/righty splits, home/road splits, groundball/flyball ratios, some situational stats (ie, avg with runners in scoring position). i went over there and played with it for a while, making inquiries about certain cardinal farmhands. for example:
- q: is the uncharacteristic power stroke shown by reid gorecki an illusion created by springfield's hitter-friendly ballpark? answer: no; his splits show that he's homering more often on the road (once per 9 at-bats) than at home (once per 12 at-bats).
- q: does sidearm specialist mark worrell have a significant split vs left/right hitters? a: not so far in 2006: lefties are hitting just .188 against the right-hander, while rh hitters are batting .222.
- q: what does colby rasmus need to work on? a: hitting southpaws, for one thing. the lefty-swinging rasmus has
a 1.021 ops against right-handers this season, but just a .488 ops vs lhp.
- q: what do chris duncan's splits show? a: per the very limited data available, he's not hitting left-handers but continues to show promise vs righties. he has whiffed in 45 pct of his at-bats vs southpaws and hasn't drawn a single walk; against right-handers he's hitting .303 / .403 / .515.
- q: what do anthony reyes' splits show? a: he's too good to be in the minors.
danup has some wide-ranging observations about the cardinal farm system over at his site today, and diaspora thinks that reyes is coming up to The Show, at least for another cuppa. cardnilly has a reader's thoughts about darryl kile; highly recommended. the cardinals have won every series in their new ballpark, and 9 of 12 overall this season. and so it goes . . . . .