Scout.com 2007 Cards Minors Starter of Year

Springfield Cardinals right-hander P.J. Walters has been selected as the St. Louis Cardinals’ top minor league starting pitcher for 2007 by The Birdhouse and Scout.com.

It is time to announce Scout.com’s Starting Pitcher of the Year for the 2007 season from the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league system. This performance-based award is presented to the pitcher having the best overall season on the mound as a starter.

To be considered, pitchers had to meet the following criteria:
- Retained minor league eligibility status (not too much Major League experience)
- Be on an active roster in the Cardinals’ system at season’s end
- More than half of game appearances coming as a starter
- Pitch at least one inning per game played

The 2007 performances of that group were then sliced and diced using both defense-independent statistics such as strikeouts, walks and home runs allowed and more team-oriented ones like Earned Run Average and WHIP. In addition, this year, another category has been added – FIP, or Fielding Independent Pitching – those factors deemed directly under the control of the man on the mound.

Weight was given to both the level at which the pitcher competed and the time period over which the pitcher competed. It should also be noted that none of the members of the Cardinals’ 2007 draft class that started qualified for our post-season awards. In fact, the only starter from short-A on down that qualified was Blake King and that was due only to his innings logged at Quad Cities before his return to Batavia.

Last year, our winner was Memphis starter Blake Hawksworth, who also received similar recognition from the Cardinals organization directly. Anthony Reyes took our honor in 2005.

And our 2007 winner is….

P.J. Walters – Right-Handed Starter –Springfield Cardinals/Palm Beach Cardinals/Swing of the Quad Cities

P.J. Walters’ 2007 season is judged to have been the best overall starting pitching performance in the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league system. The 22-year-old was honored all season long, snaring our Top Starting Pitcher of the Month in both May and August.

The 6-foot-4, 200 pound Alabama native is a great example of the aggressive in-season promotions given to players who show they can handle the challenge. Walters began the season with the Midwest League’s Swing of the Quad Cities, where he earned a Mid-Season All-Star nod. By mid-June, he was off to Palm Beach of the Florida State League and in late July, Walters made the jump to the Double-A Springfield Cardinals of the Texas League.

Walters was incredibly consistent at each of the three levels this season with ERAs of 2.62, 2.67 and 2.37 respectively and opponent batting averages of .229, .225 and .228. The few concerns in his first taste of Double-A were increases in walks and home runs allowed and a decline in strikeouts.

When compared to the rest of the group, Walters’ 2007 performance was both among the highest and most balanced. He led all qualifying starters in ERA and WHIP and was second in dERA and FIP. He was also second in strikeout-to-walk ratio, strikeout rate, walk rate and ground out to fly out ratio. Walters was third in batting average against. In fact, the only one of the ten categories in which he did not rank was raw innings pitched.

The Birdhouse staff congratulates P.J. Walters on his fine 2007 season.

Honorable Mention -
Tyler Herron – Right-Handed Starter – Springfield Cardinals
Herron was Walters’ chief competition for the Starting Pitcher of the Year honors. To be honest, it was a virtual toss up between the two. As the numbers below validate, they were very close statistically. Herron is about 18 months younger than Walters. But the deciding factor was that almost 55% of Walters' innings were at a higher level than were Herron's. Walters also pitched better than Herron in the post-season. On the other hand, Herron may have the longest career runway.

As said, this could have gone either way. Still, congratulations to Tyler Herron on an excellent 2007 season.

Stats section

For those interested in the numbers behind the story, following are the 2007 results posted by the top qualifiers by statistical category by team. It is worth noting that all categories are not treated equally.

Here’s how we apply the data. The top five players in each category plus any other team leaders are logged. We then sort by the number of ranked categories, with the finalists being those ranked most often. Next, we look at the categories themselves, with the most weight given to dERA, FIP, BAA and WHIP. Tie-breakers include age, level and prior professional experience.

Earned Run Average

Rk	Player	ERA	G	GS	IP	ER	Team
1	Walters, P.J.	2.55	30	23	151.2	43	Sp/PB/QC
2	Ottavino, Adam	3.08	27	27	143.1	49	Palm Beach
3	Dickson, Brandon	3.50	31	23	144	56	Quad Cities
4	Norrick, Tyler	3.59	28	28	165.1	66	Palm Beach
5	Herron, Tyler	3.74	30	22	137.1	57	Quad Cities
TL	Keisler, Randy	4.79	25	24	156	83	Memphis
TL	King, Blake	4.96	35	18	110.2	61	Batavia/QC

DIPS Earned Run Average

Rk	Player	G	GS	dERA	dIP	dER	Team
1	Herron, Tyler	30	22	2.64	138.0	40.5	Quad Cities
2	Walters, P.J.	30	23	2.71	154.1	46.5	Sp/PB/QC
3	Daniels, Adam	27	27	3.68	151.2	61.8	Sp/PB
4	Ottavino, Adam	27	27	3.75	144.5	60.2	Palm Beach
5	King, Blake	35	18	3.80	111.4	47.0	Batavia/QC
TL	Smith, Mike	31	25	4.05	166.3	74.8	Memphis

FIP

Rk	Player	FIP	HR	BB	HB	SO	Team
1	Herron, Tyler	2.78	7	26	11	130	Quad Cities
2	Walters, P.J.	2.88	8	33	14	147	Sp/PB/QC
3T	King, Blake	3.81	6	78	3	127	Batavia/QC
3T	Ottavino, Adam	3.81	10	63	8	128	Palm Beach
5	Daniels, Adam	3.84	8	47	15	99	Sp/PB
TL	Smith, Mike	3.97	17	49	3	127	Memphis

WHIP

Rk	Player	ERA	IP	H	BB	WHIP	Team
1	Walters, P.J.	2.55	151.2	130	33	1.07	Sp/PB/QC
2	Herron, Tyler	3.74	137.1	123	26	1.08	Quad Cities
3	Norrick, Tyler	3.59	165.1	134	73	1.25	Palm Beach
4	Dickson, Brandon	3.50	144	148	41	1.31	Quad Cities
5	Ottavino, Adam	3.08	143.1	130	63	1.35	Palm Beach
TL	Smith, Mike	5.19	159.2	182	49	1.45	Memphis
TL	King, Blake	4.96	110.2	92	78	1.54	Batavia/QC

Strike-Outs-to-Walks Ratio

Rk	Player	IP	BB	SO	K/BB	Team
1	Herron, Tyler	137.1	26	130	5.00	Quad Cities
2	Walters, P.J.	151.2	33	147	4.45	Sp/PB/QC
3	Smith, Mike	159.2	49	127	2.59	Memphis
4	Daniels, Adam	144.1	47	99	2.11	Sp/PB
5	Dickson, Brandon	144	41	84	2.05	Quad Cities
TL	Ottavino, Adam	143.1	63	128	2.03	Palm Beach
TL	King, Blake	110.2	78	127	1.63	Batavia/QC

The Flamethrowers

Rk	Player	IP	SO	K/9IP	Team
1	King, Blake - comb	110.2	127	10.3	Batavia/QC
2	Walters, P.J. - comb	151.2	147	8.7	Sp/PB/QC
3	Herron, Tyler	137.1	130	8.5	Quad Cities
4	Ottavino, Adam	143.1	128	8.0	Palm Beach
5	Norrick, Tyler	165.1	134	7.3	Palm Beach
TL	Smith, Mike	159.2	127	7.2	Memphis

The Control Artists

Rk	Player	IP	BB	BB/9IP	Team
1	Herron, Tyler	137.1	26	1.70	Quad Cities
2	Walters, P.J.	151.2	33	1.96	Sp/PB/QC
3	Dickson, Brandon	144	41	2.56	Quad Cities
4	Smith, Mike	159.2	49	2.76	Memphis
5	Daniels, Adam	144.1	47	2.93	Sp/PB
TL	Ottavino, Adam	143.1	63	3.96	Palm Beach
TL	King, Blake	110.2	78	6.34	Batavia/QC

Lowest Batting Average Against

Rk	Player	IP	H	TBF	BAA	Team
1	Norrick, Tyler	165.1	134	696	0.221	Palm Beach
2	King, Blake	110.2	92	491	0.226	Batavia/QC
3	Walters, P.J.	151.2	130	626	0.228	Sp/PB/QC
4	Ottavino, Adam	143.1	130	620	0.239	Palm Beach
5	Herron, Tyler	137.1	123	556	0.240	Quad Cities
TL	Smith, Mike	159.2	182	697	0.288	Memphis

No ‘Flies’ on Me - Best GO/AO Ratio

Rk	Player	IP	GO	AO	SO	GO/AO	Team
1	Dickson, Brandon	144	233	110	84	2.12	Quad Cities
2	Walters, P.J.-comb	151.2	123	67	110	1.84	Sp/PB/QC
3	Haberer, Eric	152	232	138	72	1.68	Springfield