Felix Valerio vs. Victor Vargas

[Harold Hutchison]

Here, we will take a peek at two second basemen in the Brewers system at the DSL.

 

One, Felix Valerio, was recently acquired in the Keon Broxton trade. The other, Victor Vargas, was with the Crew's DSL affiliate in 2018. Both are 5'7". Valerio weighs in at 165 pounds, Vargas at 160.

 

Here are their numbers:

Valerio: .319/.409/.433 .843 OPS in 263 ABs, 16 for 22 in stolen bases, 34 BB to 21 K

Vargas: .302/.414/.438 .851 OPS in 96 AB, 16 for 23 in stolen bases, 17 BB to 28 K

 

What we have is some very impressive OBP skills by both players. Vargas, in particular, draws walks - almost one every five ABs. He also strikes out a lot - 28 times in 96 ABs is very high - 29.1 percent. But he also has speed - in 36.5 percent of the ABs, he stole as many bases as Valerio. Both also have flashed very good hit-for-average tools.

 

Valerio does have more power - 17 doubles, 2 triples, and 3 homers to Vargas's 7 doubles and 3 triples. Vargas has a slightly worse glove, but in many ways, these two players are very similar.

 

Keston Hiura may want to look over his shoulder... the Crew could have one or two potential successors in Maryvale this summer!

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Two players that I am guaranteed to confuse with each other as they move up the ladder. Maybe Stearns is trying to find his own version of Altuve? Probably much more likely, though, that they need players to fill out the DSL squads. Odds are these guys won't make much of an impact in the system, but who knows?

[Harold Hutchison]

Two players that I am guaranteed to confuse with each other as they move up the ladder. Maybe Stearns is trying to find his own version of Altuve? Probably much more likely, though, that they need players to fill out the DSL squads. Odds are these guys won't make much of an impact in the system, but who knows?

 

The one thing jumping out at me is both of these players draw walks and have high batting averages.

 

Vargas is not a home run hitter, but he gets the other two true outcomes a lot. He reminds me of another walk-drawing high-average 2B without much power who was a favorite of mine - Jeff Pickler.

 

Valerio has that vibe, albeit with less speed and he seems to be able to hit home runs.

 

I think both are more likely to be with one of the Maryvale squads given their performance.

[JohnBriggs12]

They're 5'7". Drawing walks is going to happen, especially in an era where all the pitchers are elevating their fastballs. Considering their ages, 160 and 165 pounds are pretty sturdy on 5'7" frames. I don't see their heights as a major negative.

[sveumrules]

Something else to consider with DSL walk rates is that the overwhelming majority of pitchers are teenagers & many will never even make it stateside. There is a lot of poor command on display.

 

570 players got at least 100 PAs in the DSL last year, Victor's 14.4% BB rate ranked 102nd (18th percentile) while Felix's 11.2% rate ranked 249th (44th percentile).

[82brewcrew82]

Something else to consider with DSL walk rates is that the overwhelming majority of pitchers are teenagers & many will never even make it stateside. There is a lot of poor command on display.

 

570 players got at least 100 PAs in the DSL last year, Victor's 14.4% BB rate ranked 102nd (18th percentile) while Felix's 11.2% rate ranked 249th (44th percentile).

That is a good point. Just looking at a players B-Ref page tells a very small part of the story for these guys.

[sveumrules]

For comparison there were 448 players who got at least 100 PAs in MLB last year.

 

A 14.4% BB rate would have ranked 22nd (5th percentile) while an 11.2% rate would have come in 72nd (16th percentile).

[AKCheesehead]

For a moment I thought this was pertaining to Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.

[CheezWizHed]

Clancy would've loved me as a senior in HS. My OBP was over 400.

 

Too bad I couldn't hit a lick...

[Harold Hutchison]

Clancy would've loved me as a senior in HS. My OBP was over 400.

 

Too bad I couldn't hit a lick...

 

Both these guys have hit for over .300, and they have speed as well. Valerio has more pop, Vargas more speed.