All Things Valley League

Valley League Record Book: Total Bases

Here's a look at the top hitters since 2004 in the total bases category:

Total Bases
1	Jon Love	Front Royal	2004	125
	Tyler Kuhn	Luray	2006	125
3	Steve McQuail	Front Royal	2009	119
4	Jonathan Griffin	Luray	2010	117
5	Collin Cowgill	Covington	2005	116
6	Jared Simon	Front Royal	2009	112
7	Cory Spangenberg	Winchester	2010	107
8	Jeremy Terni	Winchester	2004	105
	Tyler Townsend	Winchester	2008	105
10	Ryan Durrence	Covington	2009	102
	James Roche	Front Royal	2010	102

There's Jon Love again! Four players from Front Royal, three from Winchester, and two each from Covington and Luray. Kuhn, McQuail, Cowgill, Simon, and Townsend are all in the minors right now. Love didn't make it, Terni did for a while, and Griffin, Spangenberg, Durrence, and Roche still have a shot at pro ball.

Kuhn was MVP in 2006, Townsend was in 2008, and Spangenberg was in 2010. A strong list! (By the way, I tried to look this up, and failed- who won the MVP in '09? I should know this, right?)

Valley League Record Book: RBIs

In our next look at the best in the Valley since 2004, here is the top ten in RBIs:

RBIs
1	Jeremy Terni	Winchester	2004	54
	Kurt Davidson	Waynesboro	2007	54
3	Jon Love	Front Royal	2004	48
4	Blake McDade	Staunton	2009	47
5	Jamie McOwen	Luray	2006	44
	Jonathan Griffin	Luray	2010	44
7	Evan Webb	Waynesboro	2008	43
8	Blake McDade	Staunton	2008	42
	Steve McQuail	Front Royal	2009	42
10	Jason Kipnis	Covington	2007	41
	DJ Hicks	Luray	2009	41
	Cody Gaskill	Winchester	2010	41

Two from 2004, none from 2005, one from 2006, two from 2007, two from 2008, three from 2009, and two from 2010. Three from Luray, and two each from Winchester, Waynesboro, Front Royal, and Staunton (same player!), and one from Covington.

For the first time, we have one player making the list twice: Blake McDade, from Staunton! He drove in 42 runs in 2008, and followed it up with 47 in 2009. (Blake is now playing pro ball in the Colorado Rockies system, and drove in 40 runs in 58 games in his first pro experience.)

 

Valley League Record Book: Home Runs

Here it is- where all the glory is located. Here are the top home run hitters in the Valley League since 2004:

Home Runs
1	Jon Love	Front Royal	2004	16
	Steve McQuail	Front Royal	2009	16
3	Collin Cowgill	Covington	2005	14
4	Marcus Nidiffer	Covington	2008	13
	Ryan Durrence	Covington	2009	13
	Shaun Cooper	Harrisonburg	2010	13
	Jonathan Griffin	Luray	2010	13
8	Jeremy Terni	Winchester	2004	12
	Tyler Townsend	Winchester	2008	12
10	Ryan Schimpf	Luray	2008	11
	Jared Simon	Front Royal	2009	11

Three from Front Royal and Covington, two each from Winchester and Luray, and one from Harrisonburg. Love is no surprise, due to his monster 2004 season. McQuail, Cowgill, Nidiffer, Townsend, Schimpf, and Simon are all in pro ball right now. Terni played pro ball for a time, and Durrence, Griffin and Cooper all still have a shot. Looks like a pretty solid group.

Just for fun: Park Index for Home Runs in 2009 (100 plays neutral):

Front Royal: 154.3

Luray: 276.6

Winchester: 210.5

Covington: 111.3

Harrisonburg played at Long Field on JMU's campus.

Valley League Record Book: Triples

Continuing on the theme of the Valley League record book from the years 2004-2010, here are the players with the most triples in a single season:

Triples
1	Tyler Kuhn	Luray	2006	5
	Grant Escue	Woodstock	2007	5
	Cody Hudson	Waynesboro	2010	5
4	Steve Head	Harrisonburg	2005	4
	Collin Cowgill	Covington	2005	4
	Bo Davis	Covington	2005	4
	Lucas DeLong	Harrisonburg	2005	4
	Pat Irvine	Waynesboro	2007	4
	Adalberto Santos	Woodstock	2008	4
	Ben Hammer	Winchester	2009	4
	Dave Fallon	Winchester	2009	4
	Mike Garza	Woodstock	2010	4
	Grant Fillipitch	Waynesboro	2010	4

Not much to say about this one- no one has hit more than five triples in a season since at least 2004!

Valley League Record Book: Doubles

Now looking at two-baggers! (Again, the list is from 2004-2010.) Check this out:

Doubles
1	Matt Holland	Front Royal	2010	19
2	James Roche	Front Royal	2010	18
3	Jamie McOwen	Luray	2006	17
	Steve Sabins	Winchester	2010	17
5	Daniel Murphy	Luray	2005	16
	Jared Simon	Front Royal	2009	16
	AJ Wirnsberger	Luray	2009	16
8	Jon Skorupski	Front Royal	2004	15
	Ryan Taylor	Covington	2005	15
	Nick Stanley	New Market	2007	15
	Chris Haynes	Haymarket	2008	15
	Grant Buckner	Waynesboro	2008	15
	Kenny Mickens	New Market	2009	15
	JJ Muse	Covington	2009	15
	Jonathan Griffin	Luray	2010	15
	Cory Spangenberg	Winchester	2010	15

Three of the top four from 2010! Matt Holland set the record with 19, and James Roche came in second with 18, and Steve Sabins ripped 17 of his own. (James McOwen, playing in the Seattle Mariners' system, hit 17 back in 2006.) Add in Jonathan Griffin and Cory Spangenberg at the bottom of the list, and five players of the sixteen are from this summer. Four are from 2009, two from 2008, one from 2007, one from 2006, two from 2005, and one from 2004.

Interestingly, Front Royal and Luray each placed four players on the list, while Winchester, Covington, and New Market placed two, and Haymarket and Waynesboro placed one. 

Valley League Record Book: Hits

Continuing the look at the Valley League record book for the past seven years, here are the hitters with the most hits since 2004:

Hits
1	Tyler Kuhn	Luray	2006	81
	Cory Spangenberg	Winchester	2010	81
3	Andrew Turocy	Waynesboro	2010	71
4	Greg Hopkins	Haymarket	2009	69
5	Bruce Sprowl	Winchester	2004	68
	Daniel Murphy	Luray	2005	68
7	Mike Garza	Woodstock	2010	66
	Kurt Davidson	Waynesboro	2007	66
9	Jon Love	Front Royal	2004	64
10	Jared Simon	Front Royal	2009	63
	Jonathan Griffin	Luray	2010	63

Four players from the just-ended 2010 season made the list: Turocy, Spangenberg, Garza, and Griffin. Two from 2009, none from 2008, one from 2007, 2006, and 2005, and two from 2004.

Kuhn, Hopkins, Murphy, and Simon are all currently in professional baseball. Davidson, Sprowl, and Love did not, and the four from 2010 stll have a chance, obviously.

Valley League Record Book: Runs

Moving into some counting stats. Remember, these numbers are the best from 2004-2010:

Runs

1	Jon Love	Front Royal	2004	46
	Bruce Sprowl	Winchester	2004	46
	Jason Kipnis	Covington	2007	46
	Cory Spangenberg	Winchester	2010	46
5	Chris Aninos	Waynesboro	2007	45
	Spencer Wiggins	Haymarket	2007	45
	Lammar Guy	Covington	2009	45
8	Daniel Murphy	Luray	2005	44
9	Tyler Kuhn	Luray	2006	42
10	Ryan Taylor	Covington	2005	41
	Pat Robey	Winchester	2007	41
	Pat Irvine	Waynesboro	2007	41
	Steve McQuail	Front Royal	2009	41
	James Roche	Front Royal	2010	41

Because of ties, we have 14 players on the list. Three each from Front Royal, Winchester, and Covington; two each from Waynesboro and Luray; one from Haymarket. Two from 2010, two from 2009, none from 2008, five from 2007, one from 2006, and two each from 2005 and 2004.

Update on 2006 Draft Class

Each offseason, I will take a look at each draft class, starting with 2006, the first year I started keeping track.

First of all, if you would like to download my "register" (it's an excel file), click this: Download 2010 Statistics Players from 2006 Draft.

The numbers:

55 players drafted (22 hitters, 33 pitchers). Twenty-one players are still active. Nine played only in 2006; eleven were released or retired after 2007; eight after 2008, and six after 2009.

Six players have played in the major leagues from this class: John Raynor (New Market 04), Dan Murphy (Luray 05), Scott Cousins (Harrisonburg 05), Brian Bocock (Luray 04), Chris Perez (Staunton 04), and Tobi Stoner (Front Royal 05).

Best 2010 Seasons:

Chris Perez: 2-2, 1.71, 23 saves, 1.08 WHIP, 61 strikeouts in 63 innings for the Cleveland Indians (that's the major league level!)

Scott Cousins: 285/336/461 in 410 at-bats at triple-A New Orleans, with 20 doubles, 5 triples, and 14 home runs. And he made his major league debut!

David Carpenter (Covington 04): 6-4, 2.51, with 20 saves, and a 1.18 WHIP for two A-ball teams. David was drafted as a catcher, but was moved to the mound in 2008.

Rowdy Hardy (Staunton 04): 4-3, 3.44, with 3 saves and a 1.31 WHIP in 81 innings for double-A Northwest Arkansas. Rowdy was moved to relief in 2010.

Brandon Dickson (New Market 06): 11-8, 3.23, with a 1.40 WHIP in 167 innings for triple-A Memphis. This was in the Pacific Coast League, a notorious hitter's league.

A couple rankings:

Career Home Runs

1. Scott Cousins: 55

2. Adam Calderone (Woodstock 04): 50

3. Dan Murphy: 42 (28 in the minors, 14 in the majors)

4. John Raynor: 38

5. Jeff Kindel (Covington 03): 37

Career Stolen Bases

1. John Raynor: 145

2. Matt Camp (Covington 03): 118

3. Brian Bocock: 79 (4 in the majors)

4. Scott Cousins: 73

5. Quinn Stewart (Staunton 04): 36

Career Wins

1. Mike Ballard (Staunton 04): 41

1. Brandon Dickson: 41

3. Rowdy Hardy: 37

4. Tobi Stoner: 33

5. Nathan Nery (Luray 04): 27

Career Strikeouts

1. Tobi Stoner: 456 (5 in the majors)

2. Mike Ballard: 436

3. Brandon Dickson: 435

4. Tyler Norrick (Harrisonburg 04): 368

5. Rowdy Hardy: 355

If you want to see everyone, click on the file above and have at it!

BA's #3 Prospect: Cory Spangenberg, Winchester

The third-ranked prospect according to Baseball America is the 2010 Valley League MVP: Winchester's Cory Spangenberg. Cory, who is transferring from VMI to Indian River State, a junior college in Florida, led the league in batting average, hits, and runs, and came in second in total bases and stolen bases.

Here is his writeup:

3. Cory Spangenberg, ss, Winchester (So., Indian River State, Fla., JC)

[Cory] shows an advanced feel for hitting with wood, using a short, compact swing to consistently drive pitches to the gaps, although he remains vulnerable to inside fastballs. At shortstop, he exhibits soft hands and sure actions. However, he lacks the arm strength to play on the left side of the infield, which will force him over to second base at the next level... after earning Big South freshman of the year honors last season, Spangenberg will transfer to Indian River State JC this spring. (To see the entire writeup, see baseballamerica.com!)

Valley League Record Book: Slugging Percentage

The last of the rate stats! Today we'll look at slugging percentage. Again, these are the top ten performances since 2004. Take a look:

Slugging Percentage
1	Tyler Townsend	Winchester	2008	0.739
2	Jon Love	Front Royal	2004	0.731
3	Steve McQuail	Front Royal	2009	0.669
4	Collin Cowgill	Covington	2005	0.659
5	Marcus Nidiffer	Covington	2008	0.649
6	Jeremy Terni	Winchester	2004	0.648
7	Luke Greinke	Winchester	2007	0.642
8	Jon Skorupski	Front Royal	2004	0.633
9	Jonathan Griffin	Luray	2010	0.619
10	Shaun Cooper	Harrisonburg	2010	0.600
	Mike Martinez	Covington	2010	0.600

Tyler Townsend with his awesome, MVP 2008 leads the way, with the as-yet-faceless Jon Love, again, coming in second. Three each from Winchester, Covington and Front Royal, and one from both Harrisonburg and Luray.

Townsend, McQuail, Cowgill, and Nidiffer are currently playing organized ball, Skorupski and Greinke have played organized ball, and Terni played one year in Independent ball. Love did not, and Griffin, Cooper, and Martinez still have a shot down the road.