As the World Series is underway to close out the MLB season, it’s good to look back at the play for the season. Who were the best in the minor leagues in 2016?
This is the in-depth effort of Benjamin Chase as he pours over thousands and thousands of innings of MiLB.tv coverage, reviewing as many minor leaguers that he can get his eyes on. Today’s post will feature the best pitching performances in 2016 in the minor leagues.
Ben scoured the minors, reviewing the stats, taking into consideration the league context and park context as well, not just raw numbers. Some preference will be given to guys who performed at advanced minor leagues if the numbers are close in general.
For hitters, a player needed to have 300 plate appearances total in the minor leagues to be considered for this list. Performance at the major league level was not taken into consideration at all. By no means is this intended as a comprehensive list of all excellent performers at each position, but just a list of the guys that I considered for the top spot.
Before we head into the list, a disclaimer – this is not a list of the best prospects, so if a guy who is a top 10 rated player on national lists didn’t have the stats that someone else did, he won’t be here. Numbers are the only thing that matter to getting on the list. The only time outside factors mattered was in selecting the final representative at each position, when factors like ballpark, league, age, and other factors were considered.
This list will have five starters and four relievers highlighted, but plenty of “honorable mentions” as well!
Starting Pitchers
Brock Stewart, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers, A+/AA/AAA, 24 years old
Stats: 121 innings, 1.79 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 19/129 BB/K ratio
Coming into the season, there wasn’t a whole lot of expectation for Stewart. He was originally a sixth round selection in 2014 as a “senior sign” selection from Illinois State University, so many felt that Stewart would be roster filler.
Stewart returned to high-A Rancho Cucamonga to start 2016, and after posting a 5.43 ERA in 2015 at the level, Stewart came out and dominated in two starts before being quickly promoted to AA, where he didn’t seem phased at all.
After posting a 0.82 ERA and 1.37 ERA in the Cal League and Texas League, both hitters’ leagues, a promotion to Oklahoma City in the Pacific Coast League looked like a possible issue, but Stewart just kept roasting, posting a 2.49 ERA in nine PCL starts.
He did shuffle a bit in the major leagues in seven appearances, five of them starts, but Stewart did have a tremendous minor league season, being recently selected as the pitcher of the year through MiLB.com.
Stewart will likely start at AAA to start 2017, and his control will be the key to his success. He walked just 4.1 percent of hitters in the minor leagues, but in the major leagues, part of his struggles was a 9.5 percent walk rate, over double that minor league rate. That forced Stewart into grooving some pitches to get strikes, and those pitches got pounded by big league hitters.
Next: Pirate Ace