K.C. Star: Don’t fret over Royals prospect Moustakas

Does Mike Moustakas do little for your Royal enthusiasm? Bradford takes a look.

There is something to always keep in mind when following baseball through statistics: Always consider the numbers within the context in which they were created. This platitude is particularly important when judging the numbers of minor-league players, who play in wildly divergent environments and against variable levels of competition.

When looking at Moustakas, first consider that Burlington is a pitcher’s park in a pitcher’s league, though the Bees’ home isn’t a bad park for home-run hitters. As a whole, Midwest League batters are hitting .247, and the league ERA is 3.56. All of the towns in the league are in cold-weather regions, which probably suppressed offense during the first month. This would have been particularly difficult for Moustakas, who hails from sunny southern California.

Age is probably the most important factor when evaluating prospects. Moustakas, 19, is the only position player on the Bees under 20. There are 20 or so batters in the league that young, and 10 of them have posted a better OPS (on-base plus slugging). Not great. Not terrible.

...Look, I’m not trying to convince you that .223 is a good batting average in any environment. It’s not. But don’t let yourself get too worked up because of five weeks of a performance that, when judged in context, is nothing to really be alarmed about.