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ayaghmour2 · 03-02-2021, 08:44 PM

Weekly Record: 4-2
Seasonal Record: 51-60 (6th, 20 GB)
Stars of the Week
Ollie Page : 20 AB, 10 H, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .500 AVG, 1.195 OPS
Rich Langton : 24 AB, 11 H, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .458 AVG, 1.000 OPS
Doc Love : 23 AB, 9 H, 0 HR, 5 RBI, .391 AVG, .851 OPS

Weekly Schedule
8-6: Loss vs Sailors (6-4)
8-7: Win vs Sailors (4-5): 10 innings
8-8: Win vs Sailors (4-6)
8-9: Win vs Wolves (0-6)
8-10: Loss vs Wolves (18-4)
8-11: Win vs Wolves (4-5)

Summary
Pretty great week! Sure, losing 18-4 is pretty bad and other then the shutout, each game was decided by two runs, but any sort of win is better then no win. We do tend to play well at home, so it makes sense that when we took two out of three in both series, it makes sense that it was at home. Big week for former Cougar Lou Kelly, returning to his May form with the Miners. He went 15-for-30 with 5 homers and 12 RBI's as he took home yet another Player of the Week. Just in his Pittsburgh time, he's hitting .333/.409/.708 (194 OPS+) with 7 homers, 3 steals, and 19 RBI's.

Looking Ahead
We get a pair of off days before a road trip to New York. It starts with four in Brooklyn, the first team to reach 70 wins this season, who do still have a 3.5 game lead over the Foresters. They are without Tom Barrell, but picked up Al Carroll from the Minutemen at the deadline. His first start with the Kings was a shutout, and for the season he is 10-9 with a 3.15 ERA (145 ERA+), 1.29 WHIP, 42 walks, and 47 strikeouts. The lefty just turned 33 on the 8th, and Brooklyn really solidified their top four. Al Wheeler is also the first hitter the 30 homers, 25 with the Kings. He's on a 42 homer, 158 RBI pace and seems to be the runaway favorite for MVP. The Brooklyn offense is one of the best, with just Fred Barrell (88 OPS+) the worst hitter in their lineup.

Our opponent after that sits on the opposite side, the 47-65 and last place New York Stars. One of the four is this week, but we will likely see former Cougar Dick Leudtke. The Stars have a one game lead over the Cannons in the Rufus Barrell race. The Stars have a really strong offense, but the only team with a worse staff then theirs, is well, ours. To make matters worse, Lou Martino, who was 5-8 with a 3.89 ERA (117 ERA+), 1.46 WHIP, 35 walks, and 46 strikeouts may have made his last start of the season already. He suffered an elbow strain on the 25th, and may not recover in time to make another.

Batters
He did it again! Just for fun, I batted Joe Masters leadoff again on the 7th, and while he didn't start the game with a homer, he homered in both the third and seventh! It wasn't even the biggest homer of the game, that would have been the one in the 5th inning; Leo Mitchell's first career homer! He hasn't had the greatest start yet, but in this one he was 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored. It was a solo shot off Doc Newell, but Mitchell also scored the winning run in the 10th. I had a little fun with the positioning in this one: Bert Wilson needed a day off, so I put Masters in the lineup. He played first, and I let Mitchell play center. He made all five routine plays, but missed an even, unlikely, and remote.

Someone who has done better is Rich Langton, who had a second strong week. He went 11-for-24 with 2 steals, 2 RBI's, and 4 runs scored. He's still looking for his first homer, but after a tough debut week, he's almost up to a league average split: .329/.370/.408 (94 OPS+). He's been passable so far in right, definitely better then Kelly was defensively. Fellow rookie Ollie Page had a good week too, 10-for-20 with 3 doubles and 5 runs scored. Like Langton, his line is close to league average, .302/.379/.411 (97 OPS+) and he's added a homer and 19 RBI's.

Mike Taylor kept up his little run, going 8-for-21 with a homer and 3 RBI's. The season has been awful for Taylor, as the 29-year-old is hitting just .264/.325/.350 (69 OPS+) with 6 homers and 44 RBI's. Despite his best efforts last season, Taylor has never had a sub 100 OPS+, but he's not going to reach it this year. This is also could be his first season where he failed to hit double digit homers. In fact, in his first 54 games with the Cougars he managed 10 and he's almost doubled the games this year. Still, I have faith in his abilities and I know brighter pastures are ahead.

Bert Wilson has started to slide, with his August batting line just .242/.286/.333. He's moved into the starting center field role, but with his struggles I'm going to start giving Mike Smith more at bats. This guy always hits, but never starts too much. Still, he owns a .362/.413/.522 (132 OPS+) line this year and a career .328/.378/.486 (122 OPS+) batting line. So why don't I give him more time? Well, he's never been better then the other outfielders on the team and now he finally has an opportunity. He hasn't played much center in the big leagues, but that was his natural position in the minors.

Pitchers
Last week Hank Spencer, this week Art Black! The 26-year-old was brilliant against the Wolves, tossing a 6-hit, 4 walk, 5-strikeout shutout for his second win of the season. After three rough starts last season, Black is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA (156 ERA+), 1.58 WHIP, 18 walks, and 10 strikeouts. Interesting enough, that's more walks then last season (more innings this year), and while the 1.58 WHIP isn't pretty, it's a lot better then 2.17 and that's basically average this season. As you might expect, the four starts in the wins were all really good and the two in the losses were really poor. Wayne Robinson pitched the worst, 9 runs (5 earned) in 3.2 innings with 10 hits, 5 walks, and 2 strikeouts. George Johnson had a solid outing in the finale with the Wolves, a complete game win with 12 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts. Johnson is pitching like the pitcher I thought he could be, working to a 4.04 ERA (116 ERA+), 1.54 WHIP, 16 walks, and 29 strikeouts in 55.2 innings.

Minor League Report
3B Hank Stratton (A Lincoln Legislators): Currently are top rated option at third base in the farm, 20-year-old Hank Stratton had a big week. He was 15-for-32 with a pair of homers and eight driven in. The 1932 5th Rounder has spent his whole season in A ball, hitting a league average .324/.348/.485 (100 OPS+) with 6 homers and 85 RBI's in 426 trips to the plate. He'll be 21 towards the end of the month, but I am really happy with the progress he's made so far. The only thing I don't like his the walks, just 10 on the year, and worst showing of his career. Still, that's something that improves with age and Stratton has jumped up to 72 on the current prospect rankings.

Amateur Report
SP Joe Sargent (Everett): He's not eligible for this years draft, but I think Joe Sargent could be an interesting guy to watch next season. As a junior, he was 11-2 with a 1.50 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 41 walks, and 170 strikeouts. That's a lot of strikeouts, especially because his fastball still sits at the 80-83 MPH range. The six foot lefty is bound to eventually get some sort of velocity boost and I think it could be huge for him. He has a really good curveball, and any sort of velocity he can add to his fastball is going to make it that much better.

03-02-2021, 08:44 PM	#373
ayaghmour2 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 3,010	Week 17: August 5th-August 11th Weekly Record: 4-2 Seasonal Record: 51-60 (6th, 20 GB) Stars of the Week Ollie Page : 20 AB, 10 H, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .500 AVG, 1.195 OPS Rich Langton : 24 AB, 11 H, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .458 AVG, 1.000 OPS Doc Love : 23 AB, 9 H, 0 HR, 5 RBI, .391 AVG, .851 OPS Weekly Schedule 8-6: Loss vs Sailors (6-4) 8-7: Win vs Sailors (4-5): 10 innings 8-8: Win vs Sailors (4-6) 8-9: Win vs Wolves (0-6) 8-10: Loss vs Wolves (18-4) 8-11: Win vs Wolves (4-5) Summary Pretty great week! Sure, losing 18-4 is pretty bad and other then the shutout, each game was decided by two runs, but any sort of win is better then no win. We do tend to play well at home, so it makes sense that when we took two out of three in both series, it makes sense that it was at home. Big week for former Cougar Lou Kelly, returning to his May form with the Miners. He went 15-for-30 with 5 homers and 12 RBI's as he took home yet another Player of the Week. Just in his Pittsburgh time, he's hitting .333/.409/.708 (194 OPS+) with 7 homers, 3 steals, and 19 RBI's. Looking Ahead We get a pair of off days before a road trip to New York. It starts with four in Brooklyn, the first team to reach 70 wins this season, who do still have a 3.5 game lead over the Foresters. They are without Tom Barrell, but picked up Al Carroll from the Minutemen at the deadline. His first start with the Kings was a shutout, and for the season he is 10-9 with a 3.15 ERA (145 ERA+), 1.29 WHIP, 42 walks, and 47 strikeouts. The lefty just turned 33 on the 8th, and Brooklyn really solidified their top four. Al Wheeler is also the first hitter the 30 homers, 25 with the Kings. He's on a 42 homer, 158 RBI pace and seems to be the runaway favorite for MVP. The Brooklyn offense is one of the best, with just Fred Barrell (88 OPS+) the worst hitter in their lineup. Our opponent after that sits on the opposite side, the 47-65 and last place New York Stars. One of the four is this week, but we will likely see former Cougar Dick Leudtke. The Stars have a one game lead over the Cannons in the Rufus Barrell race. The Stars have a really strong offense, but the only team with a worse staff then theirs, is well, ours. To make matters worse, Lou Martino, who was 5-8 with a 3.89 ERA (117 ERA+), 1.46 WHIP, 35 walks, and 46 strikeouts may have made his last start of the season already. He suffered an elbow strain on the 25th, and may not recover in time to make another. Batters He did it again! Just for fun, I batted Joe Masters leadoff again on the 7th, and while he didn't start the game with a homer, he homered in both the third and seventh! It wasn't even the biggest homer of the game, that would have been the one in the 5th inning; Leo Mitchell's first career homer! He hasn't had the greatest start yet, but in this one he was 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored. It was a solo shot off Doc Newell, but Mitchell also scored the winning run in the 10th. I had a little fun with the positioning in this one: Bert Wilson needed a day off, so I put Masters in the lineup. He played first, and I let Mitchell play center. He made all five routine plays, but missed an even, unlikely, and remote. Someone who has done better is Rich Langton, who had a second strong week. He went 11-for-24 with 2 steals, 2 RBI's, and 4 runs scored. He's still looking for his first homer, but after a tough debut week, he's almost up to a league average split: .329/.370/.408 (94 OPS+). He's been passable so far in right, definitely better then Kelly was defensively. Fellow rookie Ollie Page had a good week too, 10-for-20 with 3 doubles and 5 runs scored. Like Langton, his line is close to league average, .302/.379/.411 (97 OPS+) and he's added a homer and 19 RBI's. Mike Taylor kept up his little run, going 8-for-21 with a homer and 3 RBI's. The season has been awful for Taylor, as the 29-year-old is hitting just .264/.325/.350 (69 OPS+) with 6 homers and 44 RBI's. Despite his best efforts last season, Taylor has never had a sub 100 OPS+, but he's not going to reach it this year. This is also could be his first season where he failed to hit double digit homers. In fact, in his first 54 games with the Cougars he managed 10 and he's almost doubled the games this year. Still, I have faith in his abilities and I know brighter pastures are ahead. Bert Wilson has started to slide, with his August batting line just .242/.286/.333. He's moved into the starting center field role, but with his struggles I'm going to start giving Mike Smith more at bats. This guy always hits, but never starts too much. Still, he owns a .362/.413/.522 (132 OPS+) line this year and a career .328/.378/.486 (122 OPS+) batting line. So why don't I give him more time? Well, he's never been better then the other outfielders on the team and now he finally has an opportunity. He hasn't played much center in the big leagues, but that was his natural position in the minors. Pitchers Last week Hank Spencer, this week Art Black! The 26-year-old was brilliant against the Wolves, tossing a 6-hit, 4 walk, 5-strikeout shutout for his second win of the season. After three rough starts last season, Black is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA (156 ERA+), 1.58 WHIP, 18 walks, and 10 strikeouts. Interesting enough, that's more walks then last season (more innings this year), and while the 1.58 WHIP isn't pretty, it's a lot better then 2.17 and that's basically average this season. As you might expect, the four starts in the wins were all really good and the two in the losses were really poor. Wayne Robinson pitched the worst, 9 runs (5 earned) in 3.2 innings with 10 hits, 5 walks, and 2 strikeouts. George Johnson had a solid outing in the finale with the Wolves, a complete game win with 12 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts. Johnson is pitching like the pitcher I thought he could be, working to a 4.04 ERA (116 ERA+), 1.54 WHIP, 16 walks, and 29 strikeouts in 55.2 innings. Minor League Report 3B Hank Stratton (A Lincoln Legislators): Currently are top rated option at third base in the farm, 20-year-old Hank Stratton had a big week. He was 15-for-32 with a pair of homers and eight driven in. The 1932 5th Rounder has spent his whole season in A ball, hitting a league average .324/.348/.485 (100 OPS+) with 6 homers and 85 RBI's in 426 trips to the plate. He'll be 21 towards the end of the month, but I am really happy with the progress he's made so far. The only thing I don't like his the walks, just 10 on the year, and worst showing of his career. Still, that's something that improves with age and Stratton has jumped up to 72 on the current prospect rankings. Amateur Report SP Joe Sargent (Everett): He's not eligible for this years draft, but I think Joe Sargent could be an interesting guy to watch next season. As a junior, he was 11-2 with a 1.50 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 41 walks, and 170 strikeouts. That's a lot of strikeouts, especially because his fastball still sits at the 80-83 MPH range. The six foot lefty is bound to eventually get some sort of velocity boost and I think it could be huge for him. He has a really good curveball, and any sort of velocity he can add to his fastball is going to make it that much better.