It’s finally arrived – Opening Day! The 16 clubs have wrapped up the exhibition season and set their sights and rosters for Day 1 of the 1951-52 campaign. The general consensus of this year’s Coconut Leagues was that they were pleasantly competitive. No team won more than 19 games or lost fewer than 12 during the 30-game tourney. Whether that’s a harbinger of things to come for the regular season, however, remains to be seen.
But it did feel that the competition was keener than in previous years. That was most evident with a late free agent signing made by a team that’s not usually known for making aggressive player acquisitions: the Pulberry Trolleys.
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Free Agent Signing
September 12:
The Pulberry Trolleys sign 21-year old LHP
Ramón Castro (51/53) from Columbia for $59,000.
Knee-jerk reaction: The Trolleys ultimately prevailed in securing Castro, a solid, young arm. Castro is projected to have good movement and control that should allow him to throw all four of his pitches for strikes. Scouts consider him a future No. 2 starter, but Pulberry has already installed him as their new ace. He is rated as the Trolley’s No. 3 overall prospect and his signing has catapulted Pulberry’s farm system into the No. 1 spot. His work in the Coconut Leagues was limited due to the late signing. In all, he pitched in two games, going 8.0 IP, 1-1, 12 HA, 1 HR, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 5.63 ERA, 1.88 WHIP.
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Eastern League Results
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The Stratford Barons are projected to run away with the East, based mainly on their pitching staff. The Barons have three starters appearing in the Top 10: RHP
Magtanggol Jaojoco (58/63), RHP
Bill Wolf (48/54) and RHP
Ted Smith (44/52). If the prediction holds true, then Stratford will appear to have survived the lost of their two long-time pitching stalwarts: 43-year old Ryan Borden and 41-year old LHP Joel Fearn (47/47). Borden retired at the end of last season and Fearn is nearing the end of his – although he is not ready to call it quits just yet. He enters the 1951-52 season as Stratford’s No. 4 starter and career leader in seven pitching categories, such as wins (243), complete games (312) and strikeouts (1620).
On offense, the ageless
Jake Walker is projected to continue being ageless. Walker enters his 15th season as the United Leagues’ leader in Hits (2383), triples (185) and walks (1281).
One team looking to break out of the second division after three seasons are the Queensland Eagles. If successful, they too will appear to do it on the strength of three starters: RHP
Logan Belsey (66/77), RHP
Stiofan Micklethwait (56/68) and RHP
Pi-ao Quian (54/54). Belsey is also looked to for breaking the season record for strikeouts with 229. The record was set last season by Belsey, with 203.
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Western League Results
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No surprises this year, as the Wolseley Unions and Fort Richmond Generals are projected to dominate the West once again. But there are a couple of other teams that could make a push.
The Hespeler Stars enjoyed a particularly strong spring training and may parlay that into a wild card appearance. Sophomore CF
John McMurray (49/62) and three-season veteran 2B
Vic Lewis (49/50) are predicted to have big seasons and lead the offense, while RHP
Stephen Tindall (52/53) and LHP
Larry Kovnats (50/53) are projected to do the same for the rotation. Tindall looks to build upon last year, his best in four seasons, while Kovnats really needs to cut down on his walk rate if he’s ever going to develop into a true ace.
The Pulberry Trolleys are another team that may be ready to finally challenge for a spot in the first division in the not-too-distant future. Three players are projected to make some noise: CF
Cooper Tyson (61/73), SS
Francis Jones (59/59) and LF
Ellis Dibble (56/59). Tyson is looking to build on his rookie season, where he finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting and quickly established himself as one of the best defensive outfielders in the ULB. Meanwhile, Jones is looking to regain the form that he displayed during his 1949-50 all-star season. The three-year veteran Dibble has quietly improved with each passing season. And that doesn’t include rookie RF
John Oldknow (32/80 – .275/.345/.431, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 5 BB, 11 SO in spring training) and IF/OF
Aiden Thirkettle (35/80 – .338/.394/.523, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 6 BB, 15 SO in spring training). Both showed promise in spring training. Thirkettle will start the season in AAA but may not remain there for very long. Add the acquisition of LHP Ramón Castro mentioned at the outset and things may finally be looking up for the long-suffering club.
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To round out the snapshot of the United Leagues, here are the top players and pitchers and top 20 prospects as updated on Opening Day. Also included are the latest leaderboards for a slew of offensive and pitching categories.
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Leaderboards
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