Looking at Our Hitters: 2008 Durham Bulls (AAA)

The next team in our look at batters-by-level from last year is the Durham Bulls. First, here are the definitions of the stats used from the StatCorner Glossary:

PA: Plate Appearances. This is how much they hit.

wOBA: "wOBA or weighted on base average is a statistic developed by and used with the permission of Tom Tango. In a nutshell, wOBA uses linear weights on certain batting events to come up with a metric that is more statistically sound than OPS and is scaled onto an OBP scale. According to Tango "An average hitter is around 0.340 or so, a great hitter is 0.400 or higher, and a poor hitter would be under 0.300." This is how well they hit.

bRAA: "Stands for batting runs above average. It is computed by taking the hitter's RV/PA (Run value per PA above average = (wOBA for player - wOBA for league) / 1.15.) and multiplying by the number of plate appearances he has had that season." This is how much 'value' they added (or cost) their team based on the quality and quantity of their hitting.

Durham Bulls (AAA)

Batter	Age	Level	PA	wOBA	bRAA
Johnson, Dan	29.3	AAA	484	.427	38.4
Richard, Chris	34.5	AAA	539	.395	27.7
Ruggiano, Justin	26.7	AAA	287	.399	15.8
Zobrist, Ben	27.5	AAA	88	.453	8.9
Weber, Jon	30.9	AAA	439	.352	6.2
Perez, Fernando	25.6	AAA	578	.347	5.4
Jaso, John	25.3	AAA	118	.370	3.5
Nowak, Chris	25.8	AAA	61	.360	1.3
Johnson, Elliot	24.8	AAA	427	.339	1.1
Guzman, Joel	24.0	AAA	463	.327	-3.4
Brignac, Reid	22.9	AAA	386	.315	-7.0
Gimenez, Hector	26.2	AAA	156	.276	-8.0
Haynes, Nathan	29.3	AAA	296	.289	-11.8

Comments: Dan Johnson simply dominated AAA pitching last year and has been sold to the Yokohama BayStars of Japan’s Central League (Jonathan Papelbon fist pumps). Richard, who became a minor league free agent after the season, has re-signed with the Rays and should be at 1B for the Bulls next year. Ruggiano continued to hit AAA pitching but doesn't seem destined for the big leagues with the Rays, for whatever reason. Zobrist was surprisingly productive with the bat at both AAA and MLB last year and will once again provide middle infield insurance. Weber is a minor league free agent.

Perez (7th round 2004) and Jaso (12th round 2003) each could make the Rays out of spring training or return to AAA. Nowak continues to hit minor league pitching and should be Durham's regular 3B in '09. Elliot Johnson provides insurance at 2B and probably spends the majority of next year with the Bulls. Guzman became a minor league free agent after the season and has signed with the Washington Nationals. Brignac (2nd round 2004) has the glove and is still young, but he needs a solid offensive year after two disappointing seasons. Expect him to repeat AAA in '09. Gimenez is a minor league free agent.

Notes: Age is as of today. Hitters are listed by level, so some appear in other posts. I only included those who had many plate appearances or are high profile (top prospect, ex-prospect, in the news lately). StatCorner only covers down to full-season A ball, so no Hudson Valley, Princeton, DSL or VSL players are included in these summaries.