GCL Walk and Strikeout Rates

Written by sean P | 08 September 2010

With the minor league season now over, we’ll start to take a look at the results of the 2010 campaign. To start, I wanted to take a look at BB% and K% for each level because it can give us a rough outline of a player’s strike zone judgment. Strike Zone judgment encompasses a player’s ability to avoid strike outs as well as draw walks (H/T Amazin Avenue).

Thanks to Jeff Sachman who did some work on translating amateur K%, we know that a strikeout rate of 25% in the majors roughly equals a 21% rate in single A ball. Of course we know that players are going to cut down on these rates as they get older and gain more experience- I don’t think anyone would blindly write off a top talent because he struck out a lot as an 18 year old in the Gulf Coast League.

So when looking at these graphs, make sure you take into account the age and experience of each prospect before rushing to judgment on them. The average K% in the GCL among qualified batters was 23%, while the average BB% was 8%.

(click to enlarge)

Obviously you want to have as many guys as possible in the lower right side quadrant- low K%, high BB%. Ramon Flores obviously jumps out at you in a big way- his line as an 18 year old in the GCL was .329/.426/.481. He did make an appearance last year and managed to cut down on his K% considerably from last year....It would be tough to expect anything more from Gary Sanchez this year. A 17 year old making his stateside debut, walking and striking out at league average while posting a .353/.419/.597 batting line is phenomenal.... Cito Culver I think really handled his own for how raw he was entering the year. He certainly wasn't over matched.....Henry Pena had a .434 wOBA and gets on base very well but is 20 years old and strikes out a ton....I was pleasantly surprised by Fu-Lin Kuo, the rookie from Taiwan. He didn't have an great year but I expected him to struggle more...