2008 Scouting Report

Burlington Bees

This page will next be revised in early July.

Unless otherwise indicated, all team statistics are through June 30 and all player statistics are through May 31.

Season Summary

• Second Half (through June 30): 8-4, .667 (first place tie, 1.0 ahead)
• First Half (final): 30-39, .435 (8th place, 12.0 behind)
• Pitching: 3.39, 38-43, 22 saves, 6 holds, 1 complete game, 654 strikeouts
• Hitting: .240, 312 runs, 55 HR, 102 steals (63% success)
• April: 11-14 (.440)
• May: 11-19 (.367)
• June: 16-10 (.640)

• Position Players used: 19
• Pitchers used: 16
• Pitchers per game: 2.62

Leading Players

• Best Player on the Team: Starting Pitcher Alex Caldera

• Best Starting Pitcher: Alex Caldera (2.52, 3-3, 59 strikeouts)
• Bullpen Stopper: Anthony Bradley (1.48, 1-3, 3 saves, no holds, 18 strikeouts)
• Strikeout Pitchers: Juan Abreu, Daniel Gutierrez
• Control Pitchers: Chris Chavez, Zach Peterson, Alex Caldera, Eduardo Paulino, Matt Mitchell

• Best Hitter: Kyle Martin (.282, 1 HR, 3 RBI) or Clint Robinson (.234, 6 HR, 11 RBI)
• Home Run Leader: Mike Moustakas (7)
• High Batting Average: Adrian Ortiz (.303)
• High On Base Percentage: none
• High Slugging Percentage: Clint Robinson (.510)
• Notable Baserunners: Adrian Ortiz, Jason Taylor, Jamar Walton
• Notable Batting Eye: none

May Profile

There's more than one way to build a league-average team. Burlington offers us a squad with excellent pitching, but generally weak hitting. They play pretty good defense.

Corner infielders Clint Robinson and Jason Taylor are very good--and very similar--hitters; they bring power and decent batting eyes to the plate. Taylor adds serious speed to the equation. Outfielder Aaron Ortiz is a free-swinging speedster. There are a couple more decent hitters in the Bees lineup, but the last four slots are a disaster area.

Starter Edward Cegarra looks enormously talented; with even light offensive support he'd have four wins. Manager Brian Rupp's used a lot of starters; none of them have been embarrassing, and Alexander Caldera, Joe Augustine, and Daniel Gutierriez have been real assets. Anthony Bradley's been by far the best of the guys working predominantly from the bullpen, most of whom are decent pitchers.

Pre-Season Profile

The Royals have sent enough talent to Burlington to make things interesting. 1B Clint Robinson might be an outstanding talent, and there are a lot of guys who can hit in this dugout. Zach Peterson, Ben Swaggerty, and Matt Mitchell stand out among the pitchers.

Manager

Brian Rupp's teams have generally been quite aggressive on the basepaths, and more successful than not. He's otherwise a conventional manager.

First Round Draft Selections

• Mike Moustakas (2007, 2nd player selected)

Team Age Information

• Average Team Age: 21.9
• Pitchers: 22.0
• Hitters: 21.8

• Oldest Player on the Team: Ben Swaggerty (8/8/1982)
• Youngest Player on the Team: Matt Mitchell (3/31/1989)

The average player in the Midwest League this season is 21.9 years old. This information is based on opening day rosters as published on MILB.com and will not be updated.

Where they played last season

This summary is based on the team's opening day roster and will not be revised to reflect roster changes.

This Burlington, Iowa, team's more like last summer's Burlington, North Carolina, team than any other, though it has a substantial position-player contingent from Idaho Falls.

Team           League             W/L     Place    Hitters Pitchers
                                         (Teams)
Wilmington     Carolina (A+)     75/62    3(8)       1        0
Burlington     Midwest (A)       61/77   13(14)      1        2
Burlington     Appalachian (R+)  38/30   13(16)      5        6
Idaho Falls    Pioneer (R)       46/30    3(8)       7        2
Royals         Arizona (R)       38/30    3(9)       0        2

Four of the 2008 Bees played for two teams last season and are counted twice in this table. Three others apparently did not play last summer, though all three were Royals farmhands in 2006. One of these players appeared briefly at the Triple-A level in 2007.