TEN THINGS I THINK WITH JIGGS MCGEE
1- Let's start this edition of 10 Things I Think off with some credit to the Continental Association as they finally beat the stars of the Fed in an All-Star Game after losing the first 3 contests. The final score was 6-4 in favour of the Continental Stars as Philadelphia Sailors first baseman Dick Walker captured the MVP award primarily on the strength of his 2-run double in the top of the first inning that staked the visitors to an early lead, one which they would not relinquish. Brooklyn Kings Harry Barrell and Al Wheeler also had a pair of hits for the winners while Bobby Barrell of the Philadelphia Keystones and newly acquired Washington Eagle Moxie Pidgeon each had a pair of hits for the Federal Association. Another Barrell boy, Brooklyn's Tom took the win while Federal starter Rabbit Day, who like Pidgeon was recently dealt from the defending champion Gothams and now is a Chicago Chief, took the loss. One thing is for sure, the now 4 year old all-star contest is here to stay after a sold out crowd of 47,590 packed Pioneer Stadium to watch the game- said to be the biggest crowd ever to witness a contest in St Louis.
2- Speaking of Day and Pidgeon, both were part of the massive sell-off the New York Gothams undertook over the weekend. The Gothams, who have won the last two Federal Association pennants and 4 in the last 6 years, decided to pack it in this season as they sat two games under .500 and 11 behind the front-running Pittsburgh Miners. New York had a similar collapse in 1932 when they sank to last place after a pair of pennants. They likely won't drop that far this year but they did guarantee themselves a pretty decent draft pick as well as adding some fine prospects in return for the players they moved away. Word is the dealing may not be done as Mahlon Strong (.346,17,58) is on the block. They did find a taker in Washington for fellow corner outfielder Moxie Pidgeon but moving Strong, at least for the price the Gothams likely will demand for him, seems like a tough proposition. There is not a lot of demand for corner outfielders to begin with because of a large surplus in the league, and Detroit has a poor man's version of Strong available in Henry Jones.
Barring an injury before the deadline most of the contenders seem like they already have pretty good options in place. In the CA the Sailors have Lou Williams (.351,1,33) and Bobby Bond (.366,5,37) in the outfield and the previously mentioned all-star game MVP in Dick Walker (.346,8,58) patrolling first base. I suppose they could make room by shifting Williams to centerfield but I am not sure the Sailors want to pay the price it would cost to add Strong. Brooklyn likely has no room to add Strong to an already crowded outfield so that leaves the Foresters as the only CA contender possibly interested.
3- Cleveland is an interesting possibility now that Max Morris is done pretty much for the rest of the year. Strong could play first base unless Charlie Berry gets shifted there from third. In the Fed I think Pittsburgh and St Louis both might have some interest but you likely have to rule the Chicago Chiefs out because they spent a lot of prospect/draft capital in acquiring Rabbit Day and Pete Layton recently.
So the potential suitors for Mahlon Strong are likely only Cleveland, Pittsburgh and St Louis but if one of them does pull the trigger there is a good chance they will look at the older, but much less expensive Henry Jones (.330,9,39), who is having himself a pretty good season with little support in Detroit.
4- Mark my words. Sal Pestilli will be a star in this league, and if given the chance old Jiggs is predicting right here, right now the kid hits at least .300 in the big leagues next season. He is a rare talent and one FABL scouting director confided in me that with his talents "the light of Pestilli's star could be blinding." Pestilli was just the second two-time winner of the Christian Trophy, presented to college baseball's top player, and if everything breaks right he looks like he can win at least that many Whitney Awards before his career is done.
5- In all the Pestilli talk, don't sleep on high school sensation Walt Messer. A 3-time High School All-American who averaged more homers per season than last year's number one pick Red Johnson plus he hit .586 this season and, despite that being the 5th best single season high school batting average ever recorded, it was the worst total of his career. Messer is the only high school player to hit over .600 in a season and he did it twice. Messer hit 38 homers in 72 career high school games while Red Johnson smacked 21 in 41 games. It will be interesting to compare the careers of the two of them going forward. Johnson, by the way, is struggling a bit at Class B after starting the season with 5 homers and a .367 average in 10 games of C ball but he is young and will come around.
6- What are the odds Pestilli and Messer do not go 1-2? Judging by recent history pretty good as teams, especially those in the top five, have a habit of grabbing pitchers but perhaps they shouldn't, at least not this year with a bunch of great position player prospects sitting just below Pestilli and Messer.
7- Since 1932 a total of 11 pitchers have been selected in the top 4 picks, so 11 out of 16 top four selections have been pitchers. Of those 11, four of them :Rufus Barrell II, Dick Higgins, Curly Jones and Lefty Allen have already suffered a serious injury costing them at least 4 months on the sidelines and a fifth, Al Miller has missed a month with an injury. Curly Jones, a first overall pick just 4 years ago, was recently traded for a late second round selection and two mid-level prospects. His stock has clearly dropped. There are worries Higgins and Barrell may see their future potential greatly decreased because of arm troubles. Yes Lefty Allen seems to have emerged unscathed from his injury and Al Miller appears positioned for a bright future with the Chiefs but what about Jones, Hancock and Barrell. What does the future hold for them? And that brings up the question of whether teams should be gambling a top four pick, and the potential future of their franchises on a pitcher when injuries are so prevalent? If Barrell doesn't fully recover from his injury how much will that set an already struggling franchise like Baltimore back? There is talk again this year about pitchers like Johnnie Jones or Bunny Edwards creeping into the top five of the draft when the mock drafts and scouting reports clearly indicate they don't warrant inclusion if everything was equal. Gambling on an arm at the top of the draft seems an awful lot more risky than taking a position player and this year with guys like Pestilli and Messer it seems taking a pitcher ahead of them is chasing fool's gold, especially when most team's picking that high in the draft are in pretty bad shape.
8- Further to injuries being suffered by young pitchers. I believe the death of the feeder league system should change how FABL teams look at pitching. You used to have 3 seasons of stats in feeder games to look at pitchers and that could help determine just how durable a pitcher might or might not be. With draft class generation that is no longer the case. Have you seen a draft pool player's history ever mention an injury? So never mind the absence of defensive stats, the absence of missing injury information might be the biggest thing FABL GM's have to do without when it comes to no feeders.
9- Can things get any worse in Baltimore for the Cannons? They are well on their way to a third straight last place finish, and distantly last, not just a few games out of fourth. In 1930 and 1931 the Cannons had back to back second place finishes but dropped to 6th place in '32 prompting a massive sell-off including moving the games best pitcher Rabbit Day (perhaps the Gothams might take note of this) and the result was a 65 win season in 1933. In 1934 they were 44 games out with a 54-100 season and last year their 65 win campaign left them 31 games behind front-running Cleveland. Now we are in 1936 and the Cannons are historically bad, with a 24-60 record at the all-star break and on pace for not only the worst season in franchise history (1934 also established a low water mark for the club) but if their winning percentage holds it will be the worst season in Continental Association history. You have to go back to the 1883 Baltimore Bannermen of the old Century League to find a worse season.
Code:
WORST WINNING PERCENTAGES IN CA HISTORY
YEAR TEAM PCT
1936* Baltimore Cannons .286
1903 Montreal Saints .288
1911 Philadelphia Sailors .299
1932 Toronto Wolves .318
*projected
10- Yes injuries have decimated an already weak Cannons roster this year and yes there are supposed to be some outstanding pitching prospects on the way up but truth be told the Cannons minor league system, aside from their AAA club, is also struggling terribly. The Cannons system is ranked number one in the league for prospects with 11 players in the top 100 at the moment but I feel there are some concerns about three of their big four pitchers. The biggest one has already been discussed. Will the shoulder injury suffered by last year's number one overall pick Rufus Barrell II have any long term effects? Rusty Petrick and John Edwards are ranked as the third and fourth best pitching prospects in the league behind only Barrell and Toronto Wolves outstanding rookie Joe Hancock, but I have concerns about the two 20 year old's. They are both with AA Erie, and are each struggling this season. Petrick is 6-11 with a 5.94 era while Edwards is 6-7 with a 5.58 era. They are both young, especially for the AA level and the team is very bad so my fears might be misguided but one look at each of them and you can see how frustrated they both are with the losing atmosphere permeating the Erie clubhouse. Will that have any effect on their long-term development?
The fourth big arm is 23 year old Gus Goulding, the second overall pick in 1934. He was at Erie but was recently moved up to AAA Indianapolis and is pitching well for the Hoosiers, who are the only successful Baltimore farm team this season as they are challenging for the Century League pennant. If all four continue to progress and come close to the great potential seen for them when each was drafted the Cannons will emerge from the other side of this mess in great shape, and as a team to beat. The downside is, at least right now, there seem to be a number of obstacles standing in the way of that happening. In the meantime with the likely second overall pick the Cannons stand to draft a very talented bat this December.