THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL
1937 SEASON PREVIEW EDITION
APRIL 19, 1937
If the OSA preseason predictions are to be trusted we will be seeing a rematch of the 1936 World Championship Series come this October. The preseason predictions feel the Chicago Chiefs will walk away with the Federal Association title while the Continental will once again be a 3 horse battle between defending champion Brooklyn, Cleveland and the Philadelphia Sailors. I agree the Continental race will be tight but I am surprised the call is so widely in favour of the Chiefs in the Fed. This reporter feels it will be St Louis' time to shine, assuming (and it is a big assumption) that Freddie Jones and the pair of ace Pioneer pitchers can stay healthy. Chicago will be right in the mix as will Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and quite possibly Washington. I would not be surprised if the Federal race goes right down to the wire and the final standings are reminiscent of the 1927 Continental Association battle that saw 4 teams all finish within 2 games of each other at the top and 2 others within 7 games of the lead.
BATES ON THE MOVE AGAIN
On the eve of Opening Day the Detroit Dynamos made a deal for a pitcher who won an Allan Award just three years ago. It came as a bit of a shock that Detroit would be the team to pull the trigger on a trade with the Chicago Cougars to acquire 30 year old Hardin Bates, who was the Federal Association's top hurler in 1934 and a key piece of the New York Gothams 1935 World Championship team.
After posting a 53-24 record over three seasons between 1933-1935, Bates world caved in last year when after a 3-7 start with the New York Gothams he, along with practically everything else in the Gothams clubhouse that wasn't bolted down, was traded away. Bates destination was Chicago, to the Cougars in exchange for pitching prospect Charlie Wheeler and a 7th round pick. Things did not get any better for Bates last season once he was moved west, as the righthander went 3-8 for the Cougars and finished his season with a 6-15 record and a 5.95 era, which was nearly double his 1935 number.
Detroit is gambling 1936 was an anomaly and not the start of a downward trend with Bates and the move makes sense from the Dynamos point of view as the cost was not excessive. Much like what the Cougars paid New York last July, the Dynamos parted with a prospect and a 7th round pick to take a chance on Bates. The prospect in this case was AAA righthander Luis Sandoval, who was plucked out of the independent Lone Star League by the Dynamos a year ago. The 24 year old spent most of last season in AAA Newark but did get a brief test in Detroit for whom he was 1-3 with a 5.26 era in 4 starts. OSA calls Sandoval a potential back of the rotation arm. He will stay in AAA with the Cougars, who announced late last night that the move will allow highly touted pitching prospect Pug Bryan to stick with the club and will make his big league debut as part of the Cougars rotation. Bryan, a 1934 second round pick out of Lincoln College, went 8-3 with a 3.38 era for AAA Milwaukee last season but was limited to just 20 starts due to a pair of injuries.
As for Bates, if he can even approach the form he showed in New York he will immediately become the Dynamos ace and can become a positive role model to young Detroit starters like Ray McCarthy and Jack Goff. The big question remains which Hardin Bates will the Dynamos get? There seemed no reason for his sudden downturn a year ago as he did not suffer any sort of injury but he did struggle a bit in finding the strike zone a year ago as his walks per nine innings were up over the previous seasons. The other big thing that stands out is that 3 of the first 5 years of his major league career he had the lowest BABIP in the entire Federal Association. That number shot up substantially from a league best .261 with the Gothams in 1935 to .323 in half of the the 1936 season in New York and was not much better once he moved on to Chicago. Was it a case of a combination of good infield defense and good luck early in his career that simply ran out for the groundball specialist or has he lost a little something and hitters are simply seeing the ball better?
OSA, the league scouting service paints a much bleaker picture of Bates skillset as we prepare for the 1937 season compared to what they saw after his Allen Award winning 1935 campaign. Here are 3 different reports on Bates through the years.
In his favour is the fact that Bates entire career came about because he beat the odds as he went from an undrafted high school player to the pinnacle of the sport so perhaps this slight by OSA, and 2 teams giving up on him just might fuel a resurgence. Overlooked and perhaps rightly so in the 1925 draft after posting a middling 7-11 career mark for Scranton High School, the Gothams offered him a minor league contract and assigned the then 19 year old to Class B, which was the lowest minor league at the time. He ended up spending most of his rookie pro season in A ball and got beat up pretty badly but was returned to Class B the following season and fared much better. By 1930 he was in AAA and in 1931 as a 24 year old he found himself pitching, and pitching quite well, for a pennant winning Gothams team. The Gothams had a rash of pitching injuries that year and when Lou Ellertson went down at the end of June, Bates got his call. He made his big league debut at home against Philadelphia on July 2, going 8 innings but getting a no decision in what would ultimately be a 5-3 loss to the Keystones. Two starts later he would get his first victory, a complete game 4-hitter in a 3-2 win on the road over Pittsburgh. Bates would remain in New York the rest of the 1931 season and after going 10-6 for the Gothams Bates made two starts in the Series that year, losing both but had a decent showing in each.
He was in the big leagues to stay. His 1932 season was not overly impressive at 9-16 but he had a breakout year in 1933 and then followed that up with his Allen Award winning 1934 campaign. Now he finds himself in Detroit and being counted on to be the veteran arm that helps lead the young Dynamos staff into contention over the next couple of seasons. He is just 30 years old, has been pretty healthy throughout his career so now it is up to him to prove last year was just a fluke.
It is interesting to note that Lou Ellertson - the player who's injury paved the way for Bates to make his big league debut in 1931 - was also just traded this week. The Gothams moved Ellertson to the Pittsburgh Miners in exchange for a fourth round draft pick. Like Bates, Ellerston is 30 years old but he has been beaten up much more, suffering an elbow injury in 1931 that cost him 13 months, a shoulder injury that forced him to miss 3 months in 1935 and was bothered by nagging arm issues for much of last season. Ellertson pitched primarily in relief last season and was 5-7 with a 4.57 era for the Gothams.
CANNONS HOPE PITCHING CAN CARRY THEM TO RESPECTABILITY
The Baltimore Cannons pitching staff was much improved over the second half of last season thanks to the arrival of the first two of their four high end pitching prospects. Gus Goulding, taken second overall in 1934, was the first to arrive and the 23 year old did so with a huge bang....winning all 8 of his starts after being called up and finishing the season with a 2.90 era to go with his perfect 8-0 record down the stretch including a complete game 3-0 shutout of the New York Stars in his big league debut.
Next came John Edwards, who the Cannons selected out of Hartford High School third overall in 1933. Edwards made his big league debut last September at the age of 20. He was not as dominant as Goulding but still posted a very respectable 2-2 record with a 1.80 era in 4 starts with the highlight being a complete game 7-1 win over Brooklyn in his third big league appearance.
Rusty Petrick, a 21 year old that the Cannons picked up from the New York Gothams three years ago in the deal that sent Rabbit Day out of Baltimore, will finally make his Cannons debut this week. The 10th overall pick of the 1933 draft, has long been considered a top prospect - even before he threw a no-hitter in just his third professional start back in 1934 in Class C (where he was a teammate of Edwards for much of the season as the two progressed through 3 levels of minors.) Petrick spent most of last season at AA Erie but did finish the year with a 3-1 record and a 3.19 era in 8 AAA starts. After going 1-1 with a 2.25 era in 4 spring appearances the Cannons have announced that Petrick will join Goulding, Edwards and veteran Pinky Conlan in the Baltimore rotation when their season begins at home against the New York Stars with a doubleheader tomorrow.
Conlan, who went 3-7 with a 5.46 era in 10 starts last season before an elbow injury ended his year in late June, will be the fourth member of the rotation but 34 year old Dutch Leverett, who suffered through a 12-20 season a year ago is waiting in the wings. Either way, the two of them are just keeping the rotation spot warm until Rufus Barrell II is ready.
The fourth member of the Cannons dream rotation was the first overall selection of the 1935 draft and is tabbed as a can't miss prospect. Barrell's rookie pro year lasted just 3 starts, and an unimpressive 0-2 record with a 4.11 era before he suffered a season ending shoulder injury. It remains to be seen where the Cannons will start the now 19 year old phenom. Will it be back in Class C Burlington, where Goulding, Edwards and Petrick all got their pro starts, or will Baltimore decide Barrell is ready for a higher level right off the get go? Either way, the rest of the Continental Association may soon need to fear the Cannons, who have been the doormat of the CA for far too long.
While pitching may no longer be a question mark for the Baltimore Cannons there are still plenty of concerns over how the long struggling club will generate offense? A recent report in the Baltimore News-Post the three big questions on the Cannons offense are as follows:
1- Is Frank Covarrubias ready to be the Cannons every day third baseman?
2- Will Joe Rainbow ever live up to his potential?
3- Can an offense led by Clark Car, Bunny Stapleton and Abel Man generate enough offense to squeak out some wins?
Let's take a look at each of these. First on the topic of Covarrubias. He is 25 years old but the 1934 third round pick out of Piedmont University has a grand total of 48 AAA games under his belt. He hit .290 for Indianapolis in that trial last season, which is much lower than the numbers he posted at each of the previous levels in his stops along the way the past two seasons. OSA presently has Covarrubias as the 6th best third base prospect and #83 overall. Several scouts I talked too love his skillset and few players outwork him but I am not sure if he is ready to step in right away. I am not one to put a lot of faith into spring numbers but his .242 average and 0-for-7 showing in the final week of tune-up action helps reinforce my thinking that Covarrubias might benefit from a half season in AAA before he makes his Baltimore debut.
I have a hunch the Cannons might not find that pot of gold they are hoping for from Joe Rainbow. The 23 year old has come a long ways from being an 18th round draft pick out of high school in 1931 and has spent seemingly forever in the top 50 OSA prospect lists but it seems even OSA is souring on the now 23 year old. Rainbow is perhaps an appropriate description of his throwing motion which is a real liability. The Cannon catcher threw out just 27% of would be base stealers a year ago, which was far and away the worst percentage of any catcher who played at least 40 games last season.
Rainbow's catcher's ERA was nothing to write home about either but at least it was better than his Baltimore catching partner Joe Welch produced. Rainbow is still very young but his batting average, on base percentage and slugging percentage were also among the lowest totals amassed by FABL catchers, although he did have a higher batting average and OBP than fellow Baltimore catcher Joe Welch. Rainbow still might prove to be a solid catcher in the future but I think the odds are against him being an impact player.
Finally let's look at their overall offense. The Cannons had the least productive offense in the Continental Association last season, which coupled with allowing the most runs against in either league makes for a very a long year. The pitching should be improved this season if the young guys can continue to develop. Offensively, the three players mentioned above are all very strong but I am not sure the supporting cast is there. Clark Car burst on to the scene last year and hit .355 in 51 games. He might not match that total but should be a very good lead-off man for years to come. Stapleton missed half the season but still tied for the team homerun lead with 9. He is an average first baseman who enjoyed a career year in 1935 when he hit .352 with 13 homers in 108 games. If he stays healthy he might push the 20 homer mark and bat .300. Solid numbers but not an all-star first baseman. Outfielder Abel Man has had a lot of injuries over the years but did manage to stay healthy most of last season and put up decent numbers (.286,8,77) but, like Stapleton, Man is just an average ballplayer at best.
There are some pretty good prospects on the way, such as Fred Galloway, Al Jennings and Jim Hensley but they are all a couple of years away. Car is a rising star but he needs a much better supporting cast for the Cannons offense to show much improvement this season. The pitching might get them out of the Continental cellar after three straight 8th place finishes, but I can't see them passing more than one, possibly two teams this year. They are headed in the right direction but there is still a ways to go on the journey to contention for the Baltimore Cannons.