leagues influence numbers?

by cool hand Charlie on Jun 13, 2008 9:09 AM EDT Comment 10 comments

I always see people talking about hitting in one place or another meaning more or less. Does everyone pretty much agree which leagues are pitchers leagues and which leagues are hitters leagues? I have seen that the FSL is supposed to be a pitchers league. And the PCL is a pitchers league too, right? I've never seen it done, so would someone care to give me a run down of which leages in the minors really influence hitting or pitching one way or the other? You don't have to tell me about rookie ball. I'm only comcerned with single A and above. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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IIRC

Texas, Pacific Coast, and California Leagues are hitting leagues (and in my estimation, in that order from neutral to more pitching friendly). Florida State League is a pitching league. Not sure about any others. In my opinion though, I only skew Cal League numbers when discussing prospects. That’s the league where I have noticed the greatest number of bad hitters putting up good numbers. It’s gotten to the point that when I am writing down players to watch when doing research, I denote Cal League hitters with a little “(CL)” on my spreadsheet..

"My mom always taught me it's better to laugh at yourself than to laugh at others. She was so wrong. ;)" -Pedrophile

by Boxkutter on Jun 13, 2008 9:18 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

EDIT:

That first line, in the parenthesis, the last part should say “hitting friendly” not “pitching friendly”.

"My mom always taught me it's better to laugh at yourself than to laugh at others. She was so wrong. ;)" -Pedrophile

by Boxkutter on Jun 13, 2008 9:19 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Quick guide

Offense-friendly environments:
California League
Texas League (although not as much as it used to be)
Pacific Coast League (note: this in general, but some stadiums are actually slightly favorable to pitchers)

Pitcher-friendly environments:
Midwest League (although due more to weather conditions than the fields)
Florida State League (tends to mask power development)
Southern League (slightly but often not pronounced enough to matter)

by mrkupe on Jun 13, 2008 11:58 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Specifically

Lancaster and High Desert – Any power numbers accumulated at these venues (or the converse poor pitching numbers) need to be taken with a grain of salt.

"Ninety percent I'll spend on good times, women and Irish Whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."

by strums on Jun 13, 2008 1:08 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

or..

taken with a box of salt. =)

http://rswanzey.blogspot.com

by rswanzey on Jun 14, 2008 1:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

in some order

from hitting to pitching…
Texas
Cal
PCL (some parks are neutral but there are some severe outliers like LV and ‘Querque)
International (probably about neutral?)
Southern
Eastern (whether can make things change alot)
South Atlantic/SALLY
Midwest
Florida State

by nms on Jun 13, 2008 2:26 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Carolina?

Rowdy Hardy Fan Club member.

by doublestix on Jun 13, 2008 5:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

ha

how did I leave that out.. I live near Carolina League teams!

Actually I’d redo the bottom half of the list to make it…
Carolina
Southern
SALLY
Eastern
Midwest
Florida State.

As for the rookie leagues I would say that GCL is pitcher friendly and AZL hitter.
Pioneer hitters and NYPL-pitchers.
Appalachain-hitters but less so and NWL-somewhat for pitchers (but I know the least about this one)

WARNING…
The above is highly unscientific and is just the general impression of a well informed fan

by nms on Jun 14, 2008 4:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Look at R/Gm

The easiest way to tell which way a league leans is to simply look at the average scoring for the league. Now this isn’t foolproof, as hitting vs. pitching talent is not always evenly distributed within a league, but if you look at a couple of seasons, it should mostly balance out.

Current stats for this season:

AAA
5.16 Pacific Coast League
4.45 International League

AA
4.93 Texas League
4.74 Eastern League
4.72 Southern League

A+
4.99 California League
4.58 Carolina League
4.39 Florida State League

A
4.59 South Atlantic League
4.20 Midwest League

by acerimusdux on Jun 15, 2008 2:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs