Leslie's List: Top 5 pitchers under 25 - IL and SL Editions

[Thoroughbreds]

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Hi All!

My name is Leslie Bradford and I am here to bring a new and hopefully reoccurring segment to the PEBA. The segment will combined two of my favourite things: The PEBA and making lists!
I feel that I am an unbelievable list maker, people tell me that I can make lists with the best of them so I figured I would put that talent to good use...or at least some sort of use. The name of this segment will be called Leslie's lists - For as good as I am at making list I am terrible at coming up with names for things! The goal of these lists will be twofold ; to highlight some of the players in the PEBA and to get people debating my intelligence.

The first list will be (drum roll please) The top 5 pitchers under 25 in the IL! Hopefully soon to be followed up by (you guessed it) The top 5 pitchers under 25 in the SL. I can just feel everyone's excitement.
The criteria for this first list are 2 things - you have to be under 25 and currently pitching in the PEBA, specifically the IL. How do I come up with this list? I have an extremely complex formula that calculates talent and mashes it together with what they have done so far in the PEBA. So it won't be all based on stats or scout's assessments - it will be a combination. I have taken data from over 200 categories and plugged them all into my self designed program and it spits out rankings.

I thought I would start out with a nice easy category but I was sorely mistaken, there are 10 or 11 pitchers in the IL that could easily make this list. I thought I may upset 1 fan base, but it may end up being half of the IL that will be after me. I understand though, this is the burden I have to deal with having been born with the talent I have at making lists.

You can cut the tension with a knife, so without further delay (drum roll please), here you go!


At #5 it is Jose Hernandez of the London Underground. At 24 years old and 207 days he is not far from being off this list, but my complex system doesn't take this into account. Hernandez can hit 100MPH on the radar gun and he has a nasty assortment of 4 pitches all of which are extremely effective (Fastball, Change-up, Sinker, Splitter). Of these 4 pitches his change-up is probably the best. Over his career he is 27-14 with a 3.17 ERA and a respectable WHIP of 1.13. Pretty amazing for someone who was a scouting discovery!


At #4 we have James McCoy of the Arlington Bureaucrats. McCoy was drafted 31st overall in 2033 by San Juan. Unfortunately for San Juan they traded McCoy away for what turned out to be virtualyl nothing to Arlington. San Juan fans turn the channel every time McCoy highlights are on. McCoy even earned a first place vote in the Golden Arm vote last season...I wonder who cast that ballot?? McCoy is an extreme groundball pitcher who can hit the century mark on the radar gun. He has 2 pitchers - his slider and his change-up that rate among the best in the PEBA. McCoy, like has been hurt this season by playing in front of a really bad defense, who knows what his numbers would be like with some slick fielding behind him.


At #3 it is Ding-Bong Zhu from the Charleston Statesman. Zhu leads a stacked farm system in Charleston and other teams in the IL should be scared at the prospect of facing Zhu, Goto and Kun.
Zhu is only 22 years old and is 6-4 on the season with a 2.88 ERA, he can throw 100 MPH and has an elite fastball, slider and changeup. Goto was a 3nd overall pick in 2034 and has managed to remain at the top of the prospect board for the past 5 years. It would not surprise me at all if he turns out to be the best of this bunch.


At #2 it is Hen-to Tse of the Florida Farstriders. The rich get richer. I know many of you think how can this guy not be number one?? 72-15 with a 2.39 ERA at 24? That is mind boggling - a great career for many. The system had to take into account that he plays on a generational team with an unbelievable defence. Hot take: If I were choosing a team right now, I would take a few guys on this list before him. Don't tell anyone that!
Apart from his out of this world numbers, Tse can throw 100 MPH with pinpoint accuracy. Playing with this organization Tse could set some records in the future.


At #1 it is another case of the rich getting richer. Manny 'El Toro' Gracia has electric stuff, great control, can throw 100 MPH and he hasn't even hit 23 years old yet. All this from a scouting discovery! That scout deserves to have a job for the rest of his life. Gracia won the IL Wonderkid award last season by going 16-9 with a 2.48 ERA and he is on the same pace this year. Barring injury, I see multiple Golden Arm awards in this kids future. In 2035 he was the #87 prospect in the PEBA, in 2036 he was #13 and in 2037 he had moved to #3, so it isn't much of a surprise that he is at the top of the ranks again.


Honourable mention to Juan Rodriguez of the Claymores, Jose Martinez of the Maulers, Kirohira Goto of Florida and to Aaron Goater (and pretty much the entire staff) of Hartford.

All for now!

[Borealis]

Awesome! Great job Sea... uh... Leslie!

[Thoroughbreds]

Hi All!

It is the moment you have all been waiting for - It must feel like Christmas is coming early for you PEBA fans as the next Leslie's List is here. There wasn't much arguing about my last list, presumably because it was 100 percent accurate! I told you I do a bang up job at making lists. There is nobody better! It is time to announce the top 5 pitchers under 25 in the SL! Same rules as apply - Players have to be currently pitching in the PEBA and they must be under 25 years old, a little bit of a spoiler, one of the top 5 just made it under the wire with about 2 weeks to spare before his 25 birthday. But rules are rules and we have to follow them or else it would be chaos.
After much deliberation, James McCoy has been determined ineligible for the SL list because as of this writing he has not pitched in the SL yet (plus it would be boring to have him on both lists)
As always I have taken data from 200+ categories and enter them into my self-made complex list maker computer which spits out extremely accurate responses. For this list it will be a bewildering combination of talent multiplied by what they have looked like so far in the PEBA. So sometimes pitchers with more upside fall below pitchers who have been tearing up the PEBA. Once again there were 5 or 6 guys that could have made this list that didn't.


At #5 we have Fernando Valdez of the Niihama-shi Ghosts. Valdez is one of these guys who may not quite have as much high end potential as others on the list, but his PEBA numbers are staggering. He is a career 45-14 with a 2.60 ERA and a WHIP of 1.06 and he is only 24 years old. He has a Wonderkid award and a championship to his name. Based on those numbers, many will probably think he should be higher on this list. Valdez was another gem who signed a minor league and has gone on to be a star. He was signed out of Panama by Florida, who then traded him to the Ghosts in exchange for relief pitcher Edgardo Trevino.
Valdez is a groundball pitcher who can top 100 mph on the radar gun and not surprisingly his best pitch is a fastball


Coming in at #4 we have Shigochiyo Yamaguchi of the Palm Spring Codgers. This is his second year in the PEBA, but it his first full season. Despite playing on a team ranked 17th in defensive efficiency, Yamaguchi has put up respectable numbers (7-6 with a with a 3.55 era and a 1.14 WHIP). Despite only having a 3 pitch arsenal of a Fastball, Curveball and Changeup all 3 pitches are elite quality. Yamaguchi should rack up a lot of K's in his career - currently he has 110 in 109 innings pitched. Some people will argue that teammate Takashi Yamamoto is actually better - he is 22 years old and ranked as the #8 prospect in the entire PEBA - I can already hear - Leslie you must be crazy for keeping him off this list. But I can't argue with the system! One thing we can all agree on is that Codger's have a great one - two combo for many years to come.


The top 3 are very tight - but at #3 we have David Garcia of the Fargo Dinosaurs. It is amazing that a 23 year old who is 7-3 with a 1.98 ERA is only the third ranked pitcher on the list. Garcia can do it all - He can throw 100 mph with great movement and control - he even features a knuckle curve to help keep batters on their toes. Amazingly Garcia was a 7th round pick by Tempe back in 2034. In a trade that Tempe may regret now, Garcia was sent to Fargo for former Golden arm winner Owen Barse . Before he recently became ineligible for the list, Garcia was most recently ranked #2 on the PEBA's list of top prospects.


Yuma has a couple a great young starters and one of them, Young-pil Pin comes in at #2. Pin was another free agent minor leaguer who has risen to stardom. Despite being always among one of the PEBA's top prospects he has already been traded twice in his young career. I would guess that Yuma will do their best to hang on to him unless they get quite a bounty. Pin broke into the PEBA at age 19 and has already almost 5 full seasons under his belt. Over that time he is 43-38 with a 2.94 era and a 1.17 WHIP - he has already struck out 724 batters in his career. So far this season has been his best to date, with a career low 2.79 era and a Whip under 1. Pin is an extreme groundball pitcher who can throw 100 mph, besides his great fastball, he also has a very good slider and sinker.


Was there ever any doubt? At number#1 we have Jose Ojeda of the Reno Zephyrs. He sneaks in under the wire at the age of 24 and 349 days. 5 seasons in the PEBA and he already has 2 golden arm awards and 3 all-star appearances. My complex list machine started smoking and making a weird noise when I entered Ojeda's data. Not only does Ojeda throw hard and have 4 quality pitches, but he is also considered a leader in the clubhouse and is one of the most intelligent guys on the team. Guess what? he was another scouting discovery who signed a minor league contract and Reno is extremely happy that he signed with their organization. He already has 54 wins and 849 strikeouts - It will be very interesting to follow his career and see where he ends up on the career leaderboards. It is pretty early to say future hall of famer, but with those golden arms already under his belt it is not much of a stretch.

There you have it... Thanks again

[Dinosaurs]

It's nice to see perhaps the next generation of stud pitchers coming up now!