#18 Kendry Flores, RHP. BD: 11/24/1991. 6"2", 175 lbs. B-R, T-R.
Rookie AZL: 5-4, 3.60, 55 IP, 13 BB, 56 K's, GO/AO= 1.27.
I had Kendry Flores on my Dominican Dandies list last year after a fine 17 yo campaign in the DSL: 7-2, 2.18, 66 IP, 24 BB, 57 K, GO/AO- 1.85. He handled the advancement to the states with aplomb improving on his K/9 and BB/9 in the process. His last 10 games were especially sparkling: 5-2, 1.47, 43 IP, 6 BB, 41 K's. The first thing I look at in the stat lines of a young pitching prospect is K/9, but the second is BB/9. While Kendry's K/9 is certainly adequate, it's the great control for a kid so young that really jumps out at you.
There's not a lot of information out there on Kendry's stuff, but he reportedly had a fastball in the low-mid 90's with a pretty good changeup and a slurvy breaking ball.
If go to azgiants.com, Kendry's picture is on the page that comes up. The sites author, Joe Pun has several pics of him, but you have to wade through a ton of pictures to find him.
Assignment options include going to Augusta as a 19 yo or staying back in extended ST and moving up to Salem-Keizer. I would tend to favor Augusta where the competition is actually more age appropriate than in the NWL.
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Great info, DrB.
ReplyDeleteI would recommend looking at K/BB ratio as well in evaluating how good a pitcher is. Study by Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster books (and BaseballHQ.com) show that pitchers with high K/BB show a greater ability to get a better ERA. When coupled with an above average K/9, they are better yet.
I would also note that a study by THT showed that pitchers who appeared to walk too much in terms of BB/9 absolutely mitigated that if they were able to maintain a good K/BB via a high K/9, so a high BB/9, as in Jonathan Sanchez's case. In fact, in comparing high K/9-high BB/9 vs. low K/9-low BB/9, the author found that the ERA for the high were better than that for the low.
Flores sounds like another in the line of pitchers the Giants have been focusing on in recent years who have high K/BB (above 2.0 is good, above 2.4 is very good, above 3.0 is elite)
Good points, OGC. I could be wrong, but I think K/BB is generally accepted as a measure of command. Baseball America ran an article last year stating that fastball command is the single best predictor of future success for a pitching prospect. Now I don't recall them saying how they measure fastball command, but if K/BB is an indicator, then Kendry Flores, Mike Kickham and Seth Rosin all have bright futures.
ReplyDeleteI might add here that Madison Bumgarner is a guy who had exceptional FB command at an early age. Dick Tidrow made some comments that what convinced him and Brian Sabean to draft Bumgarner was his ability to command the FB on both sides of the plate. It would appear that the Giants are implementing BA's theory as an organizational philosophy.
Actually, Baseball Forecaster has been writing about this for a long time now, at least 10 years, I believe.
ReplyDeleteOGC,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, I'll have to check it out.