[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 2-5
Seasonal Record: 45-54 (4th, 17 GB)
Stars of the Week
John Kincaid : 28 AB, 15 H, 0 HR, 3 RBI, .536 AVG, 1.138 OPS
Doc Love : 26 AB, 9 H, 2 HR, 5 RBI, .346 AVG, .999 OPS
Bert Wilson : 22 AB, 7 H, 0 HR, 4 RBI, .318 AVG, .693 OPS

Weekly Schedule
7-22: Loss vs Kings (7-2)
7-23: Win vs Kings (6-7)
7-24: Win vs Kings (3-5)
7-25: Loss vs Kings (4-0)
7-26: Loss vs Foresters (14-4)
7-27: Loss vs Foresters (9-3)
7-28: Loss vs Foresters (7-4)

Summary
Splitting with the Kings was unexpected, but getting shutout 4-0 was not! Joe Shaffner was brilliant, a 4-hit, 4 walk, 1 strikeout shutout as they managed to leave Chicago with a split. It was the only two losses for the Kings on the week, as when we got swept by the Foresters, they took the first two versus Montreal. At 61-36, they hold a 2.5 game lead over Cleveland. Cleveland humiliated us, especially with the 14-4 thrashing to start the series.

Looking Ahead
Off to start the week, but we'll be in Philadelphia for a three game set to end July and then start August. The Sailors are the only other CA team that might finish above .500, sitting 51-47 but double digit games out of first. Herb Flynn and Doc Newell continue their breakout years while William Jones is on pace for yet another above average year. Their park suppresses offense, but one of the more interesting feeder players, Curt Dickerson, is developing into a vital part of their offense. He's hitting .297/.380/.439 (119 OPS+) with 7 homers and 65 RBI's. The seven is a career best, with six in both of the last two seasons. Between him, Dick Walker, and Jack Cleaves, they have a nice foundation for their offense. I've floated the idea of a John Kincaid trade to them to replace Mack Deal, so hopefully something gets done there, Since the series is in Philly, I have zero faith in us since we can't keep runs off the board. And if we can't out slug a team, well...

The road trip continues after, as we have to deal with those pesky Foresters who just made us look silly in our own home stadium. The Foresters have seen Lee Drouillard catch fire and he's dropped his ERA down to 3.41 (132 ERA+) and WHIP to 1.24. He's also walked just 25 and struck out 51 in 148 innings. A long time reliever, Drouillard has really done well in the rotation this season after Cleveland decided to give him the chance to start. I actually considered doing this a few seasons ago, but was not able to get a deal done. T.R. Goins, Max Morris, Dan Fowler, and Leon Drake have all launched double digit homers, the latter three with 15 or more a piece. They've also seen Don Ward's resurgence, a former Gotham who spend a year with an Independent league team before being acquired by the Foresters. He's hitting .362/.398/.485 (129 OPS+) with 2 homers and 34 RBI's.

Of course, the deadline is also next sim, so that means I only have three more days to do my favorite thing: trade! I think the only pieces I'd move would be Love or Kincaid, but depending on how the weekend goes I may try and get creative again. I want to free up roster spots, but with the new 5-week Russ Combs injury, now a trade isn't really needed. Leo Mitchell's minor league career has been almost perfect: 135 Class C games in '32, 139 Class A games in '33, and 140 AA games in '34. Now, he's got 87 AAA games and on pace for 138 which would fit in perfectly. But, you know what would be even more perfect? Never having to watch Joe Masters play first base again! Time for the Leo Mitchell era!

Should have done this last sim (for Langton), but check out these old posts I made on both new Cougars when they were added:


3rd Round, 46th Overall: LF Rich Langton (Detroit City College Knights): His junior year was the worst of his three seasons, but the 21-year-old Rich Langton still hit .340/.376/.547 (127 OPS+) with 8 homers, 7 steals, and 48 RBI's. He finished his college career with a very impressive .348/.396/.585 (151 OPS+) batting line with 27 homers, 18 steals, and 135 RBI's in what translates to roughly a full FABL season. His 20/20 potential and positive ratings out in left are almost like an improved version of Vince York. Unlike York, Langton just hits from the right side, but my scout is a big fan of his. He projects him to be a .360 hitter with a ton of upside at the plate, in the field, and on the base path. I like Langton even more then Ed Reyes, who was our first rounder last year and ranks 75th in the FABL. Langton has all the talent needed to be a longtime major league starter.

2nd Round, 28th Overall: 1B Leo Mitchell
There were a pair of center fielders I really wanted with this pick, but Paddy Smith went 24th to the Chiefs and then Hal Roberts went to the Stars the pick before mine. I really didn't no who to take with this, but I had a very sound strategy. "If you can't get Harry Barrell, why not get all his friends!"

It's been a very weird draft for me, grabbing back to back corner players with my first two picks. Teammate of Barrell and our 1st Rounder Ed Reyes, Leo Mitchell is a slugging lefty, something we don't have much of in our system. His best season was as a sophomore, where he hit .378/.432/.669 (205 OPS+) with 11 homers and 51 RBI's in 190 trips to the plate. And in 552 career high school plate appearances he hit an extremely impressive .359/.400/.566 (174 OPS+) with 18 homers and 111 RBI's. The power hasn't been there his entire career, just one homer as a sophomore, but he's really started to add pop to his bat. He's not very big, just about 160 pounds, but as he gets older he has time to add more weight.

I'm not thrilled with this pick, but Mitchell is an extremely gifted hitter. There isn't a direct path for him to the majors, with Ashbaugh entrenched as the starter, a dependable backup in Phil Vaughan, and our 7th best prospect Jim Hatfield is a first basemen. I'm a big fan of taking whoever the best available is, and Mitchell was the best available for the pick. He's committed to Central Ohio, the school Freddie Jones went to, but I think I'll be able to convince him to sign with us instead.

Leo Mitchell, I hereby apologize to you. Sure, Paddy Smith is the Chiefs starting center fielder, but he was in A ball all last season and got the call straight from their Opening Day. And Hal Roberts? Well, he's down in Class B. But I had the audacity to say that my rationale was: "I really didn't no who to take with this, but I had a very sound strategy. "If you can't get Harry Barrell, why not get all his friends!""' And I even went as far to say "I'm not thrilled with this pick"

I guess fresh after winning a championship, getting a first basemen in my favorite round probably stun a little. Now, I kind of look like a genius. There was a lot of talent in the 1931 draft, the top five picks are all legit stars: Barrell, Freddie Jones, Bernie Johnson, George Cleaves, and Bill May. 7th overall pick Marion Boismenu is about 10 prospect ranks below Mitchell, and the other three hitters all rank in the top 100. 8th Overall Pick Joe Hunt may be the only miss, as Dixie Lee is one of the top pitching prospects and even though he's struggled, Jim Taylor debuted this year. The last two pitchers, Ben Watkins and Don Flipinski, have not done much, but a really strong first round.

After? Well... I could've missed something, but Chuck Matthews (9th Round) 9 games with the Dynamos this season is basically the most successful non-first round pitcher. And while there are a handful of interesting hitters, the only other top top prospect I could find was my lucky 18th Rounder Joe Rainbow and Montreal's 23rd Rounder Bob Martin, but that's just because he has the same name as the Chiefs star first basemen. Of course, these guys are still young, but the early returns on Mitchell have been really impressive. The 22-year-old does pretty much everything right, and I can't wait to write his name in these reports for the next couple years.

Batters
It wasn't a great debut week for Rich Langton who was 4-for-28 with a double, steal, walk, and RBI. Now 24, I'm hoping he'll start out the week with a big showing on his birthday. Our stars Doc Love and John Kincaid did have big weeks, with Love going 9-for-26 with 2 doubles, 2 homers, and 5 RBI's while Kincaid was 15-for-28 with three runs scored and driven in. Kincaid is also riding a 23-game hit streak, but he's two games behind Al Wheeler and one behind Rip Curry, although Curry is in his now too. Ollie Page and Jake Moore had decent weeks, but most of the offense really struggled.

Pitchers
Way to go Art Black! Start one was pretty solid for him, beating the Kings in the 5-3 win. He went 8 with 7 hits, 3 runs, 6 walks, and 5 strikeouts. Yes, the walks are very concerning, but I already knew that. Yes, giving up 2 home runs is also concerning. But, with so little to be happy about, this is definitely the headline of the week! That and George Johnson's three games against the Kings. He went 13.2 innings (1 start, 2 pen appearances) with 9 hits, 4 runs, 7 walks, and 9 strikeouts. It's still just 36 innings on the season, but he's got a 3.75 ERA (125 ERA+), 1.50 WHIP, 11 walks, and 17 strikeouts. I also think Tommy Wilcox is done for good, so I will probably do a lot of crying once he returns to the mound and looks like Wayne Robinson instead of Tommy Wilcox. Pete Walker got hurt, so I'm down another arm. I'm going back to a six man rotation, bringing Hank Spencer back up from AAA. His 15 starts have been as flawless as his 8 Cougar appearances were flawed; 8-1 with a 2.35 ERA (217 ERA+), 0.98 WHIP, 12 walks, and 51 strikeouts. If everything goes well, Spencer will not return to AAA and will establish himself as a long term member of the rotation. My vision for 1936 is Wilocx-Fritz-Rankin-Lyons-Spencer. I think that could win a lot of games. And I certainly don't think it will break the ERA record we are going to set this season.

Minor League Report
CF Carlos Montes (AA Mobile Commodores): My scout keeps telling me he's ready for the majors, but I just can't see it. He's just 19, won't be 20 until the day after Christmas, but in two weeks with the Commodores he hasn't really looked 19 at all. He's hitting .396/.484/.547 (168 OPS+) with a steal and 12 RBI's. No homers yet, but that's probably because of the seven he hit in 36 A ball games. Add on the fact that's he's tallied a +6.7 zone rating in 400 innings and maybe I should have a 19 year old starting in center field? I'm very slow with promoting prospects, but him and Henry Cox are both 19 and both raking. Both me and Marv agree that Montes has the highest upside of our center fielders, despite what the prognosticators might think, and against my better judgement, he might be manning center in Chicago in the very near future.