SCHOOL YARD REPORT
- 3-30
Veteran catcher, AJ Pierzynski started the season hot and has continued to do so leading the team with a .333 batting average. His 9 RBI are second only to JD Martinez' team leading 12. Martinez also leads the team with 4 HR's. Robinson Cano has been solid batting .314 with 3 HR's and 7 RBI. Rookie Eddie Rosario is batting .300 with 2D, 2T & 2HR. Eduardo Escobar is only batting .206 but he has 3D & 3HR with 8 RBI and his play at short stop has been spotless. Rookies James McCann and Adonis Garcia have not been able to get going batting .154 and .231 respectfully. Veteran CJ Cron has been ice cold batting .103.
The starting pitching has not fared well with only Andrew Cashner with an ERA under 5. Cashner is at 4.00. With Nick Martinez at 5.12, Alex Colome 5.40, Trevor Bauer 5.63 and Rookie Jerad Eickoff 6.16, Manager Stengel has decided to give Roenis Elias a place in the rotation. Elias (2-0 0.85ERA) won his first start a 2-1 win over Klee's.
Team Notes: Team record LHP 4-2. One run games 3-4. Runs 86 Opp.Runs 88. HR 22 HRA 26. Robinson Cano past Albert Pujols (772) for 5th ALL-TIME. Cano needs 3 more RBI to pass Pujols (818) for 3rd ALL-TIME. Mark Melancon with his 7 saves this season has tied Duane Ward and O.Dotel at 81 for 3rd ALL-TIME.
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JARHEAD SCUTTLEBUTT- 4-1
After a dismal 0-4 opening series vs The Barons, the Jarheads regained their footing to go 10-6 for the rest of the first block.
Mike Trout is off to a fast start, blasting 9 HRs and driving in 24 runs over the first 20 games. Pau Goldschmidt is hitting just .264 on a .321 card and has fanned 33 times....on a pace for 260 Ks for the season. OUCH!
Jarhead ERA stands at 5.05 thanks mainly to Porcello 1-1, 10.00, Richard 0-2, 11.88 and Weaver 0-1, 6.84. Weaver has allowed 6 HR in just 25 IP.
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SCHOOL YARD NOTES- 4-14
In our third ftf series of the year we played the Jarheads at home. USJ won games 1 and 4 while we took games 2 and 3. Next we the 89ERS were on the road to play the Barons of Wall Street. We took game one but the Barons came right back and won game 2. It took a late rally for us to win game 3, now if we could just finally win a game 4. The team did winning 11-1 to finally push us over the .500 mark at 14-12.<p? Our next series was home with Maine. We won game 1 and 2 to give us our longest winning streak in two years, 4 games. We lost game 3 but came back to win another game 4. At 18-14 Casey and the team feels pretty darn good.
Offensively the team has 64 doubles and 31 homers in the 32 games. The OBP is low at .311. We are scoring 4.38 runs a game and giving up 4.13. Most of the games have been close ones. AJ Pollock had a 9 game hitting street to raise his average from .282 to .331. JD Martinez after 3 series was batting .326 but after going 6 for 42 against Klees, Taxachusetts and USJ his average dropped to .238. He did bounce back against WS and MY to raise his average to .252. JD leads the team in R(21), HR(5) and RBI(20).
The starting pitching has been getting better. The starters have lowered their ERA to 4.57, Roenis Elias at 3.38 followed by Alex Colome at 3.94. The pen at 6-2-9 has an ERA of 2.59. Melancon at 1-0-9 1.89 has been backed by Keone Kela 1-0-1 0.69.
We still have New England, Burlington and Connecticut to play in Block II. We'll see how we stand after those 12 games.
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YORKTOWN ADMIRALS - AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP- 4-18
....click here to see the 4/15 AL Roundup
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SCHOOL YARD REPORT- 4-30
After a 12-12 start the team got hot going 12-4 to land in second place. During this stretch the team averaged 8.4 runs a game. The offense was lead by AJ Pierzynksi batting .411 with 7 RBI. AJ Pollock had a 9 game hitting streak and hit .382 with 11R, 4D, 2HR and 12 RBI. JD Martinez hit .354 with 3D, 3T, 2HR and 11RBI. Robinson Cano has a 7 game active hitting streak. He hit .300 with 8R, 3D and 12 RBI.
The starting pitching was lead by Jarad Eickhoff at 2-0, 2.08 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 13 innings pitched. Trevor Bauer also went 2-0, with a 2.25 ERA with 21 strikeouts in 16 innings pitched. The bullpen also chipped in going 3-0-4.
Manager Stengel and GM Rickey have some decisions to make on the roster for Block 3, the first inter-league games. Rookie Jarad Eickhoff who is on a pitch count will be sent to Triple A, West Broad Street School until the final block when he will be called up to make one final start. Also, during this 12-4 run, Mgr. Stengel did over use the bullpen so George Kontos, Keone Kola and Brad Brach will be sent down for a rest. They are scheduled to return in Block 4 when the team will face our National League rivals.
Also getting sent out will be Johnny Giavotella. After a hot start Giavotella is hitting only .167 over his last 90 at bats. He'll work with right handed batting coach Elston Howard while he's at West Broad School to see if he can be put on track.
School Principal, Mr. Dixon called Chris Heston, Jarred Cosart and Jake Petricka to his office to let them know that they will be getting the call to the big team for Block 3. Also reporting to Mr. Dixon's office was Jorge Soler, Ryan Flaherty and Daniel Castro. Two of the three or possibly all three may be getting the call to the big show. The final decision will come after the 89ERS face New England on May 4th. "We'll see what we see at the time we see it", said Casey.
All-Time Team News: Robinson Cano past Alfonso Soriano for 4th All-Time with 6003 at bats. Cano singled in game 2 versus Burlington for his 1800th hit. He also collected his 400th BB. His next game will be his 1600th game.
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DEVIL DOODLES- 5-1
The Connecticut Blue Devils have opened their 30th season in the FBN in pathetic fashion going 14-26 in the first quarter of the season. Management had expected some improvement over last year when CT tied their worst record ever at 68-94, but so far things have regressed. Last season at this time, the team had 17 wins.
The offense continues to be a major problem scoring just 3.6 runs/game. If you take out two games against Wall Street when CT scored 12 runs each – the offense is barely over 3 runs/gm. The Blue Devils have been shut out an incredible 10 times in their first 40 games. The most ridiculous series was against Norwich. CT scored in just 1 inning of the entire 36 innings played getting 2 runs in the 9th inning of Game 3. They were shut out for the other 35 innings of the series. The defending Champion Navigators are very good but I don’t think anybody’s pitching is that good . . . . . . yikes!
The pitching has been generally respectable with a 4.60 team ERA. C.J. Wilson leads the team with a 5-2 record 4.10 ERA. Jimmy Nelson has shown signs that he can be a dependable starter down the road with a 3.66 ERA in 8 starts (2-3) and rookie Joe Ross, expected to be a future starter, has been solid in the pen going 2-0 3.42. Aaron Harang on the other hand, looks to be pretty much done going 0-3 6.11.
On to the American League to see if the offense can turn things around a bit . . . .
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CHIEF NOTES- 5-24
Albert Pujols passed Jose Canseco on the FBN All-Time HR list to climb into the top ten. He now has 542 HRs. In his sights are Mike Piazza 552, Jim Thome 553 and Sammy Sosa 558.
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BATON ROUGE NOTES- 5-27
The Silver Bullets were lucky enough in 2015 to get many of our players to converge their good seasons into one year. Picking up Collin McHugh as our first round pick was a huge plus. Trading Justin Morneau and our 2016 #1 pick for Tanner Roark and Andrew Miller was another huge positive for that season. Our #1 picks greatly improved that team. How have the other recent Bullet #1 picks turned out? SOM World occasionally reviews the development of the top picks in the draft from the past several years. They typically find that the top 10 picks or so have about a 50% rate of being a relevant player several years after making it to the bigs. The bottom half of the first round has about a 30% rate of developing into a significant player. Here are the Baton Rouge first round picks over the past 10 years.
| First Round | Pick | # | |
| 2016 | Traded | ||
| 2015 | McHugh | 14 | active |
| 2014 | Profar | 5 | hurt all of 2014 and 2015 |
| 2013 | Darvish | 2 | hurt all of 2015 |
| 2012 | Mesoraco | 21 | hurt all of 2015 and 2016 |
| 2011 | traded | ||
| 2010 | Hanson | 4 | cut in 2015 |
| 2009 | Volstad | 7 | cut in 2014 |
| Joyce | 20 | cut in 2016 | |
| 2008 | Maybin | 14 | traded in 2011 |
| 2007 | R.Martin | 6 | active |
| Zumaya | 19 | cut in 2013 |
The Bullets have had 5 top 10 picks over that time period. Two of those high picks – Volstad and Hanson - were cut after 4-5 years. Darvish has turned out very well until the yearlong injury (hopeful of a full recovery). Profar has lost the last two years to injuries. His development remains to be seen (but we are hopeful). Russell Martin has been our catcher since 2007 – great result. Two gone, one still active, two too soon to tell.
We have had 5 bottom half first round picks. Three are gone – cut or traded (Maybin is still active in the league). Mesoraco has been hurt for the past two years but did have one good season (hopeful here too). McHugh has had one good and one so-so season – too soon to tell. One player still active, two gone, two too soon to tell.
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DEVIL DOODLES- 5-30
After falling 12 games below .500 at the end of Block 2 (16-28), the Connecticut Blue Devils picked up their play a bit vs. the AL going 10-5 in Block 3 to improve to 26-33. Nothing earth-shattering but at least it was in a positive direction. Highlights included sweeping 2 games from AL leading Hotlanta and taking 2 of 3 from Milford. Then recently, Connecticut opened play back in the NL with a trip to the dreaded “Blue Dwarf” against the Chiefs and surprisingly came away winning 3 of 4 games including a complete game 6-1 victory by Colby Lewis in the finale. With a little momentum, the Blue Devils are now 29-34 and within reasonable contention for a Wild Card spot.
The offense has gotten better and more consistent in recent series. After being shut out 10 times in the first 44 games, CT hasn’t been shut out since. Although no player is having a tremendous season, 8 of the 9 regular starters are batting between .240 and .295. Mitch Moreland has provided some punch with 11 HR’s and 33 RBI. There has been balance throughout the lineup (if not great production) with 8 players scoring 21 runs or more.
The pitching continues to be respectable but nothing special with a 4.44 team ERA/1.31 WHIP. C.J. Wilson leads the team with a 6-3 record 3.66 ERA. Jake Mcgee and Drew Storen have combined for 15 saves closing games and a 2.83 ERA. Rookie Joe Ross has pitched well in relief (3-0 3.66) and management is considering giving him some starts down the road with veteran Aaron Harang (1-3 5.92) and lefty Alex Wood (2-2 9.00) struggling.
The next two blocks of NL play will certainly determine the direction for the remainder of the season for CT – continue battling for a Wild Card OR look to the future . . .
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LEAGUE MEMBER ACCOMPLISHMENT- 6-15
Some Ohio high schools ... obviously have very low standards in this day and age, hiring old dudes with wild, unkempt hair to coach some teams ... must be desperate...
Congratulations and good luck Merk.
....click here to see a newspaper article about Jeff Merklin
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CALIFORNIA DREAMING- 6-20
Dreamers have completed the 1st half of the season with a record of 49-34. Dreamers management is happy with the performance of most players (with the notable exception of Koji 6-losses Uehara). We will need to get some players some time off as we are trending high in usage of some players but are in relatively good shape for the last half of the season.
Dreamers hitting .285 as a team, with Kipnis and Votto (.356 and .327, respectively) leading the way. Not much power which will likely be the downfall in the playoffs.
Dreamers need to enjoy this year as next year doesn't look so good.
Dream on...
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DEVIL DOODLES- 6-23
Connecticut treaded water in the first block of NL play going 12-12 remaining 7 games below .500 at 38-45. The block started strong as the Blue Devils went 6-2 vs. Hazardville & Taxachusetts and finished the block 6-6 vs. Maine, Burlington & New England. But the downfall was a dreadful series in between vs. the Klubbers who swept 4 games from CT. Two games saw the normally solid CT bullpen blow late inning leads. With the next 20 games vs. NL opponents, this stretch will most likely decide for management whether to continue battling for a Wild Card spot or consider trading off some players.
The offense continues to be spread out with no player having a great year but most contributing something. Mitch Moreland leads the team in HR’s(12) and RBI(39). Nori Aoki leads in runs scored (38) and Jose Reyes leads in BA at .283 although Chris Young is batting .314 in platoon duty.
C.J. Wilson continues to lead the pitching staff with an 8-3 record 3.16 ERA but he is the only starter with a winning record. Alex Wood has been pitching well lately pitching two complete games in a row but is still 4-4 5.04 ERA for the season. Rookie Joe Ross, after pitching well in relief, will be given 4 or 5 starts in the next block to see if he can carry that success over to the rotation as veteran Aaron Harang (1-3 5.92) continues to be benched.
Statistical Note – Jose Reyes headed into the season as the career AB leader for CT with 6,036 and is currently second in career hits for the franchise with 1,680 hits. He has career leader Tony Gwynn in his sights at 1,768. With a big second half (needing 88 hits), Reyes could surpass Gwynn this season as the career hits leader. If he doesn’t, the question will be – will Reyes be back next year to break the record with the team as his off-field issues cause concern . . .
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DEVIL DOODLES- 7-15
Connecticut recently completed one of their bi-annual Strat Day marathons playing 12 face to face games in one day vs. Allyn Street, US Jarheads and Wall Street. After starting the day winning the first two games on the road vs. the 89ers behind strong pitching from CJ Wilson and rookie Joe Ross and then leading game three 4-2 in the 7th inning, things turned sour pretty quickly. The 89ers rallied with 2 outs to take the lead in game 3 and held on for the 5-4 win. After that loss, the Blue Devils proceeded to lose the next 7 straight games as well including a 4 game sweep by the Jarheads. The Jarheads scored 8 runs in the first inning of Game 1 and never looked back. The Blue Devils lost the first two games of the final series of the day vs. the Barons before finally winning game 3 with a 10-0 shutout behind Colby Lewis. It was a brutal day for Connecticut going 3-9 and now looking at closing out the block vs. the powerhouse Norwich team.
Rookie Joe Ross, who pitched solid out of the bullpen to start the season going 3-0 3.66, was moved into the starting rotation for the current block. In his first start vs. Allyn Street, Ross pitched 7 strong innings to win his 4th game. But then it got ugly . . . in his 2nd start vs. the Jarheads, Ross gave up 8 runs in the first inning including a 3 run HR from Edwin Encarnacion. He then gave up 3 run HR’s to Mike Trout and Neal Walker in the next couple innings eventually being taken out after 4 innings giving up 14 hits and 14 runs. Ross followed that disaster up in his next start vs. Wall Street giving up 6 runs in the first inning. In the two games, he gave up 14 runs on 13 hits in those 2 innings. Ross saw his ERA jump 2 runs/game now sitting at 5.65. What was particularly frustrating was that he gave up 4 HR’s to right handed batters off a card that has only 8 on base chances vs. RHB and a 1-6HR, flyout chance. Not easy being a rookie . . .
One positive statistical note . . rookie backup IFer Jefry Marte has shown considerable pop in his bat hitting 7 HR’s in 76 AB’s – that’s halfway to team leader Mitch Moreland who has 14 HR’s in 327 AB’s.
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YORKTOWN NEWS- 7-29
Maybe the Cincinnati Bengals should fire Mr. “Never Won A Playoff Game” Marv Lewis and hire THIS dude... ....click here to see an article about Merk
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CHIEF NOTES- 8-3
No Love For Cutch.
How in the world could we leave Andrew McCutchen off the FBN All-Star team? Did we forget that he's in the NL now? The Strat TPC has compiled an Average Pick Sheet based on 28 sanctioned tournament drafts throughout the U.S. this year. McCutchen is the 6th overall player/pitcher picked on that list. Based on this APS, below is a list of the FBN NL All-Star team based soley on this year's cards, regardless of FBN performance. It shows that, in general, the best SOM cards are the best FBN performers.
DH - Ortiz
C - Posey*
1B - Goldschmidt**
2B - Gordon*
3B - Donaldson*
SS - Bogaerts
OF - Trout*, McCutchen, Pollock*
SP - Arrieta*, Kershaw*, Gray, Harvey**
RP - Davis*, Familia**, Ziegler*, Strop
*voted to FBN NL 1st team
**voted to FBN NL 2nd team
Here are the stats of those with the best card at his position but who didn't make the NL All-Star team. The MLB stats are in parenthesis. Ortiz .789 (.913) OPS, Bogaerts .653 (.776) OPS, McCutchen .926 (.889) OPS, Gray 1.18 (1.08)WHIP, Strop 1.01 (1.00)WHIP.
McCutchen is actually outperforming his MLB numbers. Let's compare his defense and .926 FBN OPS with the other OFers on the All-Star Team:
Trout* cf 1e0(-1), 1.111
Choo** rf 3e6(-1), 1.031
Inciarte* rf 1e8(-3), .965
McCUTCHEN cf 1e0(0), .926
Bautista** rf 3e4(-1), .923
Granderson** rf 2e6(+2), .906
Pollock* cf 1e3(-1), .814
In this group, two OFers, Inciarte and Granderson are platoon players. If I were managing the NL All-Stars this year, or a fan paying for a ticket, I'd want McCutchen in my lineup more than anyone on that list except for Mike Trout.
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MILFORD MOVING ON UP- 8-16
Here is a note from Glen about his job change. Rob, do you think we need to add some sort of insider trading rules like the Security Exchange Commission uses? Glen may now possess too much insider information for our league.
Merk, I'm leaving ESPN this upcoming Friday. Was a great 3+ year experience. Nevertheless, l'll be able to arrange a tour whenever you desire (leaving quite a few friends/contacts behind).
Below is the entrance to the new office. An opportunity I could not refuse. MLB Advanced Media in NYC (they made it difficult to say no). Therefore, next time visiting the northeast, plan on touring both ESPN & MLB. During the interview (5+ hours), they brought me into the room where the umps overturn calls, among other cool areas. Great technology platform, and flippin' baseball. One of the perks is a ballpark pass for me and a guest to any park/game.
Oh yeah, A partner of MLBAM is the NHL (the leverage MLB's video streaming platform)...stay tuned on that.
....click here to see the elevator entrance to Major League Baseball Advanced Media
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DEVIL DOODLES- 9-1
Connecticut recently completed its second Strat Day marathon within a month or so visiting Allyn Street, Wall Street and the Jarheads in one day - face to face action. After the first marathon which ended in a 3-9 record and essentially wiped out any playoff contention chance, the Blue Devils played much better this time around going 7-5 with splits vs. the Jarheads & Barons and taking 3 from the 89ers. What a difference a month makes. Last time, CT scored just 49 runs with 9 HR’s in the 12 games. This time – 68 runs scored and 16 HR’s in the 12 games. If only we could have played this way earlier...
The Blue Devils finally got some double digit wins by the pitching staff as Colby Lewis won a couple games and moved to 11-9 and C.J. Wilson went to 10-5. But they are both cancelled out by Jimmy Nelson’s 3-10 record.
Connecticut doesn’t have much to offer contending teams for the last block – we have:
Chris Young – strong numbers vs. LHP and solid defense
Jake McGee – good closer numbers - has 5 IP left for the last block and gives 3 IP per series in the playoffs . . . but if you need a good closer – he could help.
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SCHOOL YARD NEWS- 9-14
Cano needs one game for his 1700th, three RBI to tie Soriano for 2nd at 893 behind Fred McGriff's 1520, and three hits for 1900.
Mark Melancon now has 114 saves and is second All-Time for Allyn Street behind Billy Wagner at 173.
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DEVIL DOODLES- 10-9
The Connecticut Blue Devils wrapped up their 30th season in the FBN with a disappointing 68-94 record – the same record as the previous season. Management had expected to see some improvement and statistically, they did. The Blue Devils scored 45 more runs and allowed 30 less runs than 2015. Team BA improved from .249 last year to .265 this season and HR’s increased from just 94 last year to 139 this year. Doubles also jumped from 264 to 307. Only negative was Team ERA which increased from 4.37 to 4.58. The biggest problem for CT was the close games. The team was only 22-30 in one run games and 7-9 in extra innings. They also were shut out 16 times. But despite the poor record, the Blue Devils continued their record of never having a 100 loss season in 30 years and this was only the 5th losing season in franchise history.
There were no outstanding individual seasons to note. Mitch Moreland was the most productive leading the team with 20 HR’s and 79 RBI along with 32 doubles. Gerardo Parra was solid all around batting .278 with 40 doubles, 18 HR’s and 66 runs scored. Rougned Odor showed promise for the future flashing some power with 19 HR’s at 2B. This season’s 1st rd draft pick Stephen Piscotty was somewhat disappointing in limited duty. Batting .268 wasn’t too bad but overall production was not impressive with just 11 doubles, 4 HR’s and 28 RBI. He is still viewed as a future cornerstone for the franchise.
For the pitchers, C.J. Wilson was the only starter with a winning record going 10-7 4.26 but he ended the season with an injury that will keep him out for next season. Rookie Joe Ross showed flashes of promise. He was excellent out of the bullpen but got pummeled in 4 starts finishing the season at 5-3 5.58. He is still looked at as a future starter.
For next season, the offense should continue to improve with 4 players over 20+ HR’s and many with double digit HR’s. (of course the whole league will have more power). But pitching is a big concern as 8 pitchers were on the DL for extended stays and 2 more pitchers were out all season so management will be forced to scrape up innings either in trade or the draft.
Good Luck to all the playoff teams! Have Fun!
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CHIEF NEWS- 10-17
Bud submitted a great news article about manufacturing baseballs. See the attached. ....click here to see a baseball manufacturing story
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CHIEF NEWS- 11-5
Your 2016 Final Power Rankings
Power Ranking formula is based 50% on run differential, 30% actual road record, and 20% actual home record. Most notable is the Jarheads making the World Series with only 39 road wins (52 home wins).
      2016           POWER
1     Norwich         112
2     Milford          106
3     Nashville       104.4
4     California       103.5
5     Arsenal           101
6     Hotlanta           96
7       US                 89
8     Hazardville      86.4
9     Allyn St           85.8
10    Klees               85.1
11    Baton Rouge    84.9
12    Burlington       83
13    New England   81
14    Illinois             79
15    Louisville        72.4
16    Lake Wobegon 71.8
17    Wall St             68.1
18    Taxachusetts    67.9
19    Connecticut     67.2
20    Maine              65
21    Yorktown        63
22    Urpaign          62
23    Johns Creek    60
24    Hart St            33
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