Also, I wanted to put out some essential reading in terms of scouting/evaluating prospects/minor league baseball. I'm still catching up on this, so a lot of this will be updated, but at the same time, I felt a lot of these pieces helped me understand what scouting and the minor league ball a little bit more.
Sabermetrics Glossaries/Information
- Baseball Prospectus: Great one stop glossary for a ton of sabermetrics terms. I like baseball prospectus and feel they're one of the originals, so this is a nice resource.
- Fangraphs Libary: Great resource on all things, from pitching, to offensive statistics, to defensive statistics. Probably one of the best resources out there for anyone looking to understand even the most dense and detailed of terms.
- Roto Times Pitching and Hitting Glossaries: Ray Flowers of Roto Times has a nice writeup here on a bunch of terms. Kind of simple in comparison to Prospectus and Fangraphs, but is nice for someone who wants a brief rundown and doesn't want to get to swamped with terms.
- Hardball Times Glossary of Terms: Love THT and love their glossary. I think they do a great job with their descriptions here, and I would recommend their site to anyone looking for interesting research and analysis.
Prospect/Scouting Reading
- Baseball Beginnings Scouting 101: Awesome little writeup that tells what grades and ratings mean from a scouts perspective. Definitely gives you a better idea of what scouts look for in players and how they project them to develop.
- Project Prospect Philosophy: I like this because I think Adam Foster captures what I'm trying to do here on this blog (just with Giants prospects). He kind of views prospects from a blogger/amateur scout/baseball fan end and I think this little write up gives a little glimpse of what you should expect from his writings. Hopefully, I can capture what he does a little bit here on this blog.
- Scouting Book Methodology and Resource Link: Awesome site for just all things general on prospects. It can be a little overwhelming for fans just looking for a team's prospects, but for people searching for general prospect rankings, reports and such, this is probably one of the best resources out there. Also check out their prospect matrix to see which guys are hot and which ones are falling.
- John Sickels' "Minor League Ball" Blog: I use this blog frequently because John Sickels is one of the best minor league prospect analysts out there. I also like how he frequently looks back on prospects to see how they've developed since graduating to the Majors. The blog's a great resource, though I have yet to buy his book (though I am contemplating it...just need more cash).
- Jeff Sackmann's Minor League Splits Database: Probably for the more ambitious, but this is a great resource for anyone looking for more advanced information on players and their previous seasons in the minors. You get splits, play by plays for everyone from the Arizona Rookie League to the PCL. You have to download the information and sort it out through excel, but if you have the time and effort to do so, it's totally worth it.
- Diamondscape Scouting and MLB Bonus Baby: Great resources for anyone looking for information going into the draft. The draft can be a very comprehensive and extensive thing (think the NFL Draft times 100), so these two resources give a little primer to fans looking to get a better idea of how the draft works, where guys are going to go, and how much upside the prospects have. Definitely great places for amateur baseball analysis as well.
So, those are some of the essential links and reading for those looking to get a better idea of what this site is going to be all about. If you have any further suggestions or questions about the links, comment below or send me an email at objesguy44@gmail.com.
Hope you enjoy!
