Birmingham Barons: 2022 final stats

The Birmingham Barons finished 64-77, dead-last in both their division and league for the year. And the club was consistently bad: 31-38 in the first half, 30-39 in the second, 10 games out of first in both halves, 20 games out for the full season. That was good for a tie for 25th of 30 teams in all of Double-A. The Barons had a run differential of -52 on the season.

Here’s a glimpse at the final numbers, including additional notes:

Hitting

• Project Birmingham screws with the normal skew of players in Double-A this year, but of 29 total batters, the team averaged 24.6 years of age, ranging from 19 (Wilfred Veras and Wes Kath) to 33 (rehabbing Yasmani Grandal).
• Yoelqui Céspedes was the Barons iron man this season, seeing action in a team-high 119 games. That’s 15 more than José Rodríguez, Craig Dedelow (both with 104), or anyone else.
• Céspedes also had more plate appearances (512), at-bats (458), doubles (29), and total bases (200) than any other Baron. He was caught stealing a team-high 12 times, but against 33 steals that’s still a 73.3% success rate. With the new rules on the basepaths, you’d like to see more efficiency from him there. The speedster was also hit with a mind-boggling 23 pitches to lead Birmingham.
• Rodríguez led Birmingham with 75 runs, 123 hits, six triples, and had his power-speed game going with a team-high 40 steals. Though caught 10 times, that’s still a strong 80% success rate in thefts.
• Dedelow topped all Barons with 22 home runs and tied with Rodríguez for RBIs honors, at 68. The Indiana Hoosier also was the closest thing Bham had to a three-outcomes player, leading the team with 54 walks and an outright-blinding 173 Ks.
• At .331, Lenyn Sosa led Birmingham in batting average.
• Tyler Neslony topped all Barons with a .404 on-base percentage and .578 slugging percentage, which naturally meant he also was at the head of a competitive class with a .982 OPS.
• Raudy Read grounded into a team-high 14 double plays.
• Winston-Salem had just five sacrifice bunts all season, led by D.J. Burt’s two. Read and Sosa tied for the club lead with six sacrifice flies.
• The Dash drew just seven intentional walks in 2022, with Oscar Colás taking two of them to lead the club.

Pitching

• Unlike all the other affiliates so far, pitchers and hitters were basically the same age in Birmingham, with the 43 pitchers on the roster averaging 24.7 years of age and ranging from 19 to 29. As in Winston-Salem, the only teenager in Birmingham this season was Cristian Mena.
• Scott Blewett led Birmingham with seven wins, 22 starts, 111 innings, 122 hits and 16 wild pitches. He and Emilio Vargas led the team with three balks.
• Jason Bilous and Sean Burke took losses honors with seven apiece. Bilous issued more walks (55) than any Baron, but also led the way with 104 Ks.
• The best 20-plus innings ERA in Birmingham came from Davis Martin, at 3.00.
• It was a close battle, but before Taylor Broadway was dealt to Boston as the player to be named later in the Jake Diekman deal (yep, not only have to pay Diekman next year, too, but lost Reese McGuire and Broadway to boot), he led Birmingham with 37 appearances. Among players still in the White Sox system, Yoelvín Silven led the way, with 36.
• Broadway finished more games than any other Baron (18), but among players in the system currently, the finish winner is Edgar Navarro (16).
• Eight Barons had saves in 2022, led by Theo Denlinger with five.
• Kaleb Roper led the Barons by allowing 77 runs, 72 earned and 16 homers.
• Birmingham pitchers hit 78 batters all year, which really seems like a lot. Of the 26 pitchers who hit at least one, Garrett Davila led the way with eight.
• Félix Paulino hasn’t shown up here yet, but had a strong season, leading the Barons with a 1.068 WHIP.