[ayaghmour2]

Just like in our farm system, things aren't looking to great for the Cannons, who are down 2-0 to the Minutemen. But also like our system, there is a lot of reason for encouragement. They'll head back home to try and get back into the series. Despite a lack of top level talent in the farm, our lowest affiliate win percentage was .550 down in La Crosse, and they were the only of the five to finish with a lower percentage then the big league squad. We had a trio of 80 win teams and two champions, a bit better then the results last season.

AAA Milwaukee Blues (Century League): 85-55, 1st, 9 GA: After coming a game short of a Century League title last season, the Blues were back on top, picking up their first since back-to-back in '38 and '39. The Blues have now won 5 of the last 10 and 7 of the last 14. The Blues did just about everything well, well, other then stealing bases, as they were helped with a nice mix of vets and prospects. Breakout hurler John Little was the star of the team, going 11-6 with a 2.50 ERA (148 ERA+), 1.12 WHIP, 38 walks, and 69 strikeouts in 176.1 innings pitched. The underliers weren't as excited, as his FIP- of 112 is actually pretty poor. He had a lot of help in a very deep staff, as we got great starts from Ken Matson (9-3, 2.93, 109) and Johnny Ruby (13-7, 3.43, 145) while former Wolf and Eagle Bill Anderson (12-6, 18, 3.64, 76) was a force out of the pen. The lineup took a lot of pressure off the staff, as no team scored more runs then the Blues. Longtime Cougar farmhand Cuno Myer was a huge part of that before his well deserved promotion, slashing .329/.386/.482 (142 OPS+) with 24 doubles, 2 triples, 9 homers, and 71 RBIs. The lineup had a lot of depth, with Bunny Hufford (.308, 6, 44, 14) and Huck Hanes (.285, 11, 67) ahead and Chick Browning (.281, 8, 46) behind. Second basemen Jimmie James (.276, 8, 41) and Eddie Curtis (.453, 10, 7) were extremely productive during their times with the Blues and many others filled in well when called on. We saw a ton of shuffling with all our injuries, but whoever was called on managed to produce.

AA Mobile Commodores (Dixie League): 86-54, 1st, 10 GA: Threepeat! The Commodores tied our organization high in wins, losing 14 fewer games then we did. The offense wasn't bad, but the pitching was beyond elite, leading in nearly every pitching category. Of course, the leader of that was the dominance of Jack Huston (25-6, 2.83, 148), but they got huge performances from Bill Tuttle (9-6, 3.52, 66), Harry MacRae (6-1, 3.58, 28), and Ed Fisler (10-10, 3.91, 88). It's easy to see why they pitched so well, as the team got a ton of run support from a lineup with a lot of pop and speed. Bill Rich led the offense, slashing .301/.355/.449 (112 OPS+) with 27 doubles, 18 homers, and 115 RBIs. Don Lee was even better, hitting an elite .313/.438/.502 (148 OPS+) with 16 doubles, 8 triples, 9 homers, 19 steals, and 62 RBIs with an elite 72-to-27 walk-to-strikeout ratio. Jim Dickinson (.285, 3, 67, 11) had his best season at the plate and put up a whopping 24.3 zone rating, Jim Madsen (.273, 11, 88, 7) tallied 47 extra base hits, and Norm Anderson (.308, 1, 21) continued to put the ball in play with regularity despite not turning 21 until the season was about to end. A lot of our good prospects are starting to reach the top, and the Commodores have really reaped the rewards of that. They will lose a few important pieces, but there's enough ready in Lincoln to refill the core.

A Lincoln Legislators (Heartland League): 83-57, 2nd, 16 GB: Despite a really good season for the Legislators, they were never really in the pennant hunt as the Peoria Pastimers (Sailors affiliate) came just a win shy of 100. The Legislators didn't have a lot of top prospects, but the lineup was filled to the brim with power. Former 7th Rounder Dan Collins had a huge season, slashing .287/.410/.465 (125 OPS+) with 24 doubles, 22 homers, and 96 RBIs with 105 walks. He was one of four 15 homer hitters, and we would have five if we held on to Adolph Jacobson (.345, 14, 59) for a little longer. Danny Richardson (.283, 21, 75) cracked 20 and Ed Neal (.238, 18, 64, 28) and Leo Davis (.294, 15, 55, 23) were very productive. Don Lee (.330, 12, 42, 22) was elite when he was a Legislator, as was Norm Anderson (.326, 3, 28), so the Legislators never had an issue knocking runs in. The staff dealt with a lot of churning, with very few pitchers spending their whole season there. That led to 25-year-old reliever Andy Gomez (7-4, 5, 4.48, 125) leading the team in strikeouts, with 20-year-old Joe Swank (10-14, 3.75, 94) the only other arm with more then 60. Stan Flanders (10-4, 3.57, 35) and Harry MacRae (11-3, 3.41, 45) won most of the games they started and 19-year-old Jimmy Maness (3-2, 2.24, 42) was dominant yet unlucky in his 12 starts with Lincoln. In another year this season would have been good enough for a title, although they have recent second place finishes with 88 and 94 wins.

B San Jose Cougars (California-Oregon-Washington League): 71-49, 3rd, 7 GB: Just like Lincoln, San Jose saw a lot of roster shuffling, which was expected with the lower roster counts. The team triple crown was almost given to 24-year-old Ray Jensen (7-3, 10, 1.94, 138), who threw 116 innings in 46 pen appearances. A big reason for the large inning totals from the pen was a lack of top quality starting pitching, as Babe Stinson (10-7, 3.88, 50), George Oddo (4-4, 3.91, 38), Jimmy Ballard (7-5, 3.58, 71), and Russ Cushing (4-8, 3.74, 66) were all a bit below or above average. Jimmy Maness (7-2, 3.35, 57) and Bill Ballantine (5-4, 2.94, 42) were much better, but they spent half their season elsewhere. The pen helped us win a lot of close games, with strong performance from Johnny Romberg (1-2, 3, 1.99, 23) and Tom Irwin (2-1, 7, 1.46, 70) helping Jensen in the late innings. We didn't score nearly enough runs and had very little production from most of the lineup. Dick Hamilton was one of the few success and took home the team triple crown, slashing .261/.374/.407 (126 OPS+) with 14 doubles, 4 triples, 14 homers, 9 steals, and 62 RBIs. He got some support from Alex Horning (.259, 6, 42, 22) and Lew Lord (.278, 7, 46), but I wanted to see a little more from this year's 5th Rounder Johnny Weaver (.228, 5, 33, 3). There aren't too many guys in San Jose right now worthy of promotion, which should help the Cougars crack 80 wins again next year, as they previously had in each season since '38.

C La Crosse Lions (Upper Mississippi Valley Association): 66-54, 2nd, 6 GB: After a 95 win last season, seeing just 66 for the Lions was a huge shock. In fact, they haven't won fewer then 80 games since 1937, and 66 is their lowest total since 1933 when they stumbled to just 46-94. Our lower levels were thinner then normal with all the callups, and while most teams filled their lowest level with 24+ players languishing in free agency before the draft, we had a lot of non-prospects getting more playing time then I'd prefer. Since our draft class had a ton of high schoolers, we saw a lot of teenagers taking a majority of the playing time. Once the season ended, we had most of the draftees playing, with really just Ducky Cole (.329, 15, 75, 12) and Billy Biggar (.243, 14, 69), both drafted last season, spending most of the year in the Lions lineup. Bob Griffen (.333, 10, 47, 10) got off to a hot start to earn a promotion to San Jose once the draftees started to file in. Al Clement was one of the few new draftees to succeed, slashing .254/.403/.519 (122 OPS+) with 17 steals, 13 doubles, and 26 RBIs. Al Hurd (.235, 12, 42) was the only other draftee to be at least average, with struggles from Caleb Humphrey (.190, 9, 29, 14), Bob Rogers (.264, 7, 26), Tom Brownleaf (.201, 7, 25, 6), and Jimmy Hairston (.179, 10, 24). Clement may get the move to San Jose, but I expect the rest of the new Cougars to stay down in La Crosse. The UMVA was a very high scoring environment, so while the numbers don't look great for most of the staff, we had a handful of above average performers. Dick Garcia (5-6, 3.97, 67) had a really nice 132 ERA+ and Bill Holloway's (4-5, 4.28, 94) wasn't much lower. Unfortunately two of our more exciting draftees Tommy Seymour (3-5, 9.22, 44) and Lefty Jones (5-5, 5.50, 72) really struggled, but Weinstock still raves about their sky high potential. We have a lot of high upside, low floor guys who will come back next season, and I think the Lions should have a better shot at a pennant with a lot of these guys getting another go of things.