2009 Palm Beach Pitching Stats
Posted on September 28th, 2009 by erik in Season Wraps, tags: Adam Reifer, Blake King, David Kopp, Richard Castillo, Scott GorgenHooray. We’re moving along to more meaningful stats. Well, sort of. As I mentioned before, Roger Dean is a hitter’s graveyard. Therefore, it makes pitchers look a little better than they actually are. Moving from Palm Beach to Springfield can be one of the toughest transitions for any pitcher; it separates the men from the boys.
Before we dive in, here’s the league averages: The pitcher’s average age is 23. League average ERA is 3.56 (!). Hits per nine is 8.6, HR/9 is .5, BB/9 3.2, K/9 – 7.3, SO/BB 2.31, WHIP is 1.3.
| Age | ERA | IP | H | R | SO | HBP | BF | H/9 | HR/9 | BB/9 | SO/9 | SO/BB ▾ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eduardo Sanchez | 20 | 1.44 | 25.0 | 12 | 4 | 26 | 3 | 93 | 4.3 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 9.4 | 5.20 |
| Brian Broderick | 22 | 4.61 | 109.1 | 136 | 62 | 64 | 6 | 473 | 11.2 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 5.3 | 3.76 |
| Chuckie Fick | 23 | 4.92 | 56.2 | 67 | 33 | 26 | 2 | 239 | 10.6 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 4.1 | 3.25 |
| Arquimedes Nieto | 20 | 4.28 | 33.2 | 32 | 20 | 27 | 3 | 146 | 8.6 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 7.2 | 3.00 |
| Casey Mulligan | 21 | 1.61 | 28.0 | 20 | 9 | 34 | 1 | 114 | 6.4 | 0.3 | 3.9 | 10.9 | 2.83 |
| George Brown | 23 | 4.26 | 63.1 | 63 | 32 | 47 | 7 | 273 | 9.0 | 0.3 | 2.7 | 6.7 | 2.47 |
| Samuel Freeman | 22 | 1.64 | 33.0 | 18 | 7 | 30 | 0 | 133 | 4.9 | 0.0 | 3.5 | 8.2 | 2.31 |
| Scott Gorgen | 22 | 2.92 | 74.0 | 50 | 28 | 73 | 3 | 302 | 6.1 | 0.9 | 3.9 | 8.9 | 2.28 |
| David Kopp | 23 | 3.12 | 69.1 | 67 | 25 | 58 | 3 | 289 | 8.7 | 0.4 | 3.4 | 7.5 | 2.23 |
| Adam Reifer | 23 | 4.47 | 48.1 | 51 | 28 | 50 | 6 | 226 | 9.5 | 0.4 | 4.5 | 9.3 | 2.08 |
| Nicholas Additon | 21 | 3.06 | 79.1 | 69 | 40 | 66 | 5 | 347 | 7.8 | 0.1 | 4.2 | 7.5 | 1.78 |
| Kristhiam Linares | 23 | 4.62 | 25.1 | 21 | 14 | 26 | 2 | 113 | 7.5 | 0.4 | 5.3 | 9.2 | 1.73 |
| Yonathan Gonzalez | 21 | 3.79 | 19.0 | 26 | 19 | 10 | 3 | 97 | 12.3 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 4.7 | 1.67 |
| Blake King | 22 | 2.84 | 76.0 | 41 | 29 | 96 | 2 | 322 | 4.9 | 0.0 | 6.9 | 11.4 | 1.66 |
| Thomas Eager | 23 | 5.25 | 70.1 | 66 | 51 | 75 | 6 | 316 | 8.4 | 0.3 | 5.9 | 9.6 | 1.63 |
| Richard Castillo | 19 | 3.87 | 148.2 | 155 | 77 | 105 | 8 | 661 | 9.4 | 0.2 | 4.0 | 6.4 | 1.59 |
| Thomas Furnish | 24 | 3.55 | 33.0 | 34 | 13 | 22 | 2 | 145 | 9.3 | 0.5 | 4.4 | 6.0 | 1.38 |
| Jason Buursma | 23 | 4.62 | 37.0 | 52 | 22 | 20 | 3 | 179 | 12.6 | 0.2 | 3.6 | 4.9 | 1.33 |
| Jorge Rondon | 20 | 7.71 | 16.1 | 24 | 17 | 11 | 0 | 82 | 13.2 | 0.6 | 5.5 | 6.1 | 1.10 |
| Mark Diapoules | 21 | 5.72 | 39.1 | 41 | 33 | 30 | 4 | 191 | 9.4 | 0.7 | 6.4 | 6.9 | 1.07 |
| Shaun Garceau | 21 | 6.23 | 30.1 | 30 | 22 | 16 | 4 | 141 | 8.9 | 0.6 | 5.6 | 4.7 | 0.84 |
| 28 Players | 21.8 | 3.92 | 1194.2 | 1152 | 622 | 988 | 75 | 5221 | 8.7 | 0.4 | 3.9 | 7.4 | 1.93 |
Gorgen, Kopp and Castillo probably would rate as the best starting pitching prospects on this team. I wouldn’t say any of their performances really stood out this past season.
Blake King put the K in King, but was still way too wild. My personal man-cruch Adam Reifer proved to be more hittable than I thought he would be this past season, but he settled down a bit as the season went on.
Other than Sanchez, who pitched more innings in Springfield, I wouldn’t give any of these prospects better than a C, C+ grade.

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Castillo does look like one of the better prospects on this team based on his stats, and of course he is a 19 year old in A+ ball.
What strikes me is how young the staff is. An average age of 23 for the league and Palm Beach had only one pitcher older than that. We might eventually see quite a few of these guys reach the majors in some capacity.
I would give sam freeman more than a C+. He can throw pretty hard and good enough control to make it up to AAA by the second half of the 2110 season.
21st round picks that portend to be LOOGYs in the future don’t merit better than C grades.
Anyone no the status of Garceua? He was suspended but is expected back next year? Was it oerformance enhancing drugs or something else?
If it was PEDs with Garceau, there would have been an announcement. He was bad in another way.
Additon seems like the best starting pitcher. He rose to AA and pitched fine. Nieto could be good too.
Kopp has health problems. Gorgen is height challenged and got slammed at AA.
Riefer needs to improve his control.
Additon was much better than Gorgen in AA (and younger too, of course), while Castillo showed the ability to throw 30 innings per month without breaking down, and permitted just 4 HRs in nearly 150 innings–terrific even by Palm Beach standards.
I’d give both those guys a B-, or maybe even a B.
Not every relief pitcher who throws left-handed is a LOOGY, Erik, any more than every right-handed one is a ROOGY. The question is, does Freeman have enough stuff to get right-handed hitters out too? His usage pattern suggests that the answer may be yes, although the verdict is still out. Pending an answer, would it identify me as a computer jock to suggest that your C+ rating might be replaced by a C++?…
Does everyone look at these stats with “Tunnel or Restricted Vision”? Blake King is never mentioned except to say that he is way too wild. As near as I can figure Blake lead nearly every category on this chart and lead the team in wins for 2009. Blake was also voted by the coaches to have the best slider in the cardinal minor league organization, yet he is overlooked for the all star team or being mentioned in these blogs. I don’t get it.
I agree about Blake King. All he does is go out there and strike people out…his control will get better as he is developing new pitches