I second that any kind of feedback or suggestion is more than welcome, and that it’s definitely exciting to learn and connect with many baseball readers and the readers of the site.

For the AFL statistics, McDade appeared in 22 games, so, while small, it’s still a decent sample size at least. In regards to the sabermetric stats, it’s exactly as Mat said: extremely hard to find for Minor Leaguers, and sometimes confusing to readers.

That being said though, definitely keep getting involved with comments and thanks for the support.

Is it Spring Training yet?!

The answers to your questions above are as follows:

1- I absolutely do believe Mike was trying to do more than he could on that squad and absolutely do believe that he’ll be able to cut those numbers down when he reaches AA. Now, I’m not saying that he’ll strike out fewer than 100 times. What I am saying is that with more support, he may be able to strike out around 20% of the time, which is more than tolerable when you play outstanding D and can hit 30+ HRs. (he struck out 24% of the time in LoA -in 2009 – as opposed to 27% of the time in HiA – in 2010)

2 – I would never put too much weight on AFL stats for a variety of reasons that could go on forever, BUT, when you have a guy that struck out as McDade did in 2010 turn things around to the point of almost having a walk for every SO, it makes you go hmmm. Add to that the fact that competition in the AFL was much higher than what he faced in HiA, and it’s a double hmmm.

3 – The answer to this question is twofold. First, when it comes to minor league players, some of those Sabermetric stats are almost impossible to get. Second, the few times I have used in-depth sabermetrics I lost the majority of JJ readers and received a lot of emails asking me what all of this jargon meant! So, instead of putting in a ton of work analyzing complicated sabermetric stats and explaining them in the process, I decided to forgo them most of the time unless something was absolutely necessary to make an argument or needed to be pointed out.

Having said that, please let us know which ones you do like, and perhaps we can make all attempts to include them in future posts. We’re always open to adding to JJ’s content, so long as it’s what the readers want!

Thanks again for the comment, and I hope it makes sense!

Also; the sample size at fall ball is tiny, i wouldn’t use that as a legitimate point in your article, though it is nice to see.

Another thing, and i hope i’m not ragging here, but have you guys ever considered looking into sabrmetrics? it seems that they could really help with some of your statistical analysis. Again, love this list, keep up the good work.

As to where he fits on the list – who cares. We’ve so much talent we have to find a place on the list for all of them – Jenkins COULD EASILY have a 10 year career as a mid-rotation stud, McDude would have a ten year career as a middle of the order, gold glove 1st baseman – time will tell for both. Lets just LOVE the list and the talent that makes these arguments happen!

Lawrie likes challenges but I agree that he’ll likely start at AA. It seems like he will get moved to 3B/OF sooner than later. I expect him to get promoted to AAA some time during the season.

It would be epic if Lawrie tore up in spring training and made the team as a 2nd/3rd baseman. He certainly has the confidence, some may even say he is a little cocky but I like it.

But it’s just a list, guys go up and down all the time.

Next year will be a big year for McDade. If he can put up a great/breakout season with something like .300/.350/.500 then I would expect him to start getting noticed more and perhaps even become our future 1st baseman (seems like it’s Lind ATM).

MLB level, we have the well-publicized debuts of Lind and Encarnacion to watch and see how they do sharing time and adjusting to the position. David Cooper will likely get the nod at Triple-A Vegas, and it will be interesting to see if he carries over his hot finish to the 2010 season and whether or not he can actually show some value or not.

McDade should be the most exciting to keep tabs on, just because he could be in store for a monster year at Double-A, and could easily threaten to pass Cooper on the depth chart. As a former catcher and first baseman myself, I always have a soft spot for guys like McDade.

Lance Durham could get the starting nod in Lansing after posting a .839 OPS with Auburn this year, though he could share playing time with incumbent Balbino Fuenmayor.