Posts Tagged “Nick Derba”

Today’s player feature is Nick Derba.

Nick Derba is currently the catcher for class AA Springfield. He’s 23 and a very good catcher defensively. However…he has originated the phrase “Derba Line” for his work in the batting box as he is batting .098 on the year. .100 is the Derba Line if you haven’t guessed.

All in good fun as we obviously wish Nick Derba the best as he is the second best defensive catcher in the system behind Matt Pagnozzi.

Matt Baker has a great write-up about Nick here.

Also, here’s what Ben Badler of BA had to say about yesterday’s topic, Mr. Daryl Jones. (Update: DJ Tools is back on the DL for the same injury Ben references below.)

Ben Badler: Hard to get a real feel for Jones’ abilities yesterday because he’s only played in two other games this month due to injury. A lot of scouts will look at him and see a fourth outfielder, but I think he could be a starting left fielder in a different mold from your typical plus-plus power LF who gives half of it back in the field. The power is going to need to continue to develop, but that’s typically the last thing to come around for a hitter. If he’s a high on-base guy with moderate power and above-average defense, that’s good enough to be a starting left fielder in the big leagues.

Let’s rock 4 games tonight.

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Ben Badler takes a look at catchers in the minors who best controlled the running game. The good news is out of the 55 catchers on his list, 3 Cardinals are in the top twenty in caught stealing percentage.

• Nick Derba caught 34 out of 78 attempts (43.6%) and came in 5th on Badler’s list.
• Luis De La Cruz caught 20 out of 52 (38.5%), coming in 13th.
• Bryan Anderson was much improved from last year, catching 41 out of 109 attempts (37.6%), good for 19th. Last year his CS% was 26.8%. Hopefully that will squelch some of this nonsensical talk that he should be moved to another position.

Badler only looked at players whose names were in one of their handbooks so I figured I may as well could look around and see how well our other catchers controlled the running game. Onward bullet points, ho!

• Arnoldi Cruz:  15-for-55, good for 27.2%.
• Blake Murphy:  20-for-53, 37.7%.
• Paul Vasquez:  31-for-74, 41.9%
• Brandon Yarbrough: 26-for-75, 34.6%
• Kevin Moscatel: 12-for-35, 34.2%.
• Steve Hill: 1-f0r-4, I don’t have is AFL #’s, unfortunately.

Some quick thoughts:

• The reverse-Inge experiment with Cruz is probably still worth exploring, but he has some work to do. That percentage would put him well in the bottom third of Badler’s list.
• Nick Derba fooled us into thinking he could hit, posting a .377 wOBA for the Quad Cities last season. This season at Palm Beach his wOBA .274, but he dominated the running game. Another Jason Motte experiment in line?
• Murphy was my favorite late round pick last season, and here is another reason why. The 42 round pick completely dominated college ball both on offense and defense, then he hit pretty well in Batavia before struggling a bit at the QC. We’ll see what he can do over a full season before I get really interested.
• Paul Vasquez came from the independent leagues to hit for a .394 wOBA in the Quad Cities. He struggled in under 70 plate appearances at Palm Beach. Maybe he’s a hidden gem.