So I just decided I'm going to do it! Here's the recap! Even if Bob Ross (and maybe others...) is still pitching in the minors! All the real meat is done, and I'm not going to care if his A ball stats are slightly different then I reported. The hiatus is giving me a lot of time to write about other stuff, but none of that is as fun as the Cougars. They just always drag me back!
Let's just hope I can finish before the games get back! I like when sequenced reports are all back-to-back, but real life always finds away to get in the way! In both good and bad ways of course! Though I don't think anything can keep me away from my Cougs. Even some of the sorry suckers that came from this batch! I don't really have an ETA on when the next part will be, nor how many parts there will be, but I do plan to get everything taken care of before we start simming again.
1st Round, 10th Overall: C James Demastus
School: Nashville HS Hawks
Career (B): .219/.269/.349, 332 G, 1,227 PA, 41 2B, 3 3B, 33 HR, 146 RBI, 58 WRC+, -5.0 WAR
Career (C): .275/.332/.490, 265 G, 1,044 PA, 46 2B, 3B, 51 HR, 188 RBI, 115 WRC+, 1.7 WAR
Case and point!
Even at the time, I knew this was a risky pick, and the guy I wanted, and eventually acquired a while later, Jim Beard, was off the board way before our pick. Considering Rip Curry, one of the guys I was considering, is still playing for the Minutemen, this was a huge swing and a miss. Just like a Demastus at bat!
An all-or-nothing type hitter, Demastus had huge power, but he had a -8 WRC+ as a Junior and struck out in 43.6% of his at bats as a sophomore. The thing is, the power was enticing, and after hitting .361/.414/.558 (175 OPS+) as senior, I fully bought in to the offensive potential. The 1930 draft as a whole was on the weaker side, only five hitters and three pitchers have tallied more then 10 FABL WAR, so as big of a miss as this was, it's not like there was too much we actually missed on.
Demastus never really got going, splitting his first season between La Crosse and San Jose, with 109 of his 142 appearances coming from the lower level. He hit just .234/.275/.393 (92 OPS+), and since he was an awful defender, he was worth -1.9 WAR. He struck out in almost 30% of his plate appearances, though the damage was minimized by 16 doubles and 14 homers. He hit 17 more homers with the Lions the following season, in what ended up being his second best stint. The 20-year-old hit .244/.309/.496 (117 OPS+), adding 12 doubles and 40 RBIs in 275 trips to the plate. He struggled mightily when brough back to San Jose, and then endured to awful full season with the Baby Cougars. By 1935, he was back in La Crosse, and the then 23-year-old hit an outstanding .347/.410/.597 (148 OPS+) against clearly inferior competition, though he had no luck in short A ball (45 G) and AA (6 G) stints. He made four appearances off the bench in 1936, and then was cut the following January. Left unsigned for the year, at just 27, the former first rounder decided to hang up the cleats.
Exactly what you want in your first rounder!
2nd Round, 22nd Overall: RHP Mel Leonard
School: Dallas HS Rangers
Career (FABL): 1-2, 19 G, 44.2 IP, 2.42 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 25 BB, 12 K, 173 ERA+, 0.1 WAR
Career (AA): 51-42, 6 SV, 134 G, 713.2 IP, 4.68 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 308 BB, 215 K, 97 ERA+, 9.8 WAR
Career (A): 63-60, 161 G, 1,106.1 IP, 3.76 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 560 BB, 542 K, 110 ERA+, 15.6 WAR
Our first of two second rounders, Mel Leonard had an uninspiring high school career, but he was the #1 ranked prep arm and my scout at the time expected him to be a middle of the rotation arm. OSA supported that claim, as he was named the #60 prospect in the league, and he spent time around there and even in to the top 50 as he worked his way up the ladder. Featuring a nice slider and curve, Leonard did a great job keeping the ball on the ground, and he showed good strikeout potential.
Starting his career in La Crosse, Leonard had a nice 15 start sample, going 6-6 with a 2.61 ERA (144 ERA+) and 1.16 WHIP, walking 40 with 96 strikeouts. Then 19, he got a promotion to San Jose, where he held his own and finished his 13 starts 5-6. He had a nice 3.70 ERA (112 ERA+) and 1.34 WHIP, striking out 88 with 43 walks. The strikeouts continued the following season, with 110 in 118.1 innings in a dominant stretch with San Jose. He was 10-4 with a tiny 2.36 ERA, promoted after 18 starts. He hit a wall in Lincoln, but Leonard was a high upside arm who was ranked as the 44th best prospect at the start of the 1932 offseason.
Fresh off 1932 season that we don't talk too much about, we made a major trade with the Gothams after coming up short to the Stars. It cost our #1 and #3 ranked prospects, but we
sent Leonard and Joe Johnson to New York for Bobby Sprague, who spent two seasons in Chicago. He was huge in 1933 as we returned to the playoffs, worth 5.4 WAR in 153 games after hitting .300/.359/.394 (119 OPS+) with 23 doubles, 7 triples, 5 homers, 61 RBIs, and 13 steals.
Unfortunately for Leonard, his career kind of stalled, as while he was still a highly ranked prospect, he spent a lot of time in AA, where he pitched poorly, was demoted to the pen, and eventually
traded back to us in the Tom Taylor deal that also brought in Orlin Yates and Milt Fritz. He was looking decent in Mobile before a stellar four start sample with the Blues. The second time Cougar farmhand went 2-1, allowing just 8 earned runs in 25.2 innings. That ended up the end of part two, as he was sent to the Pioneers for George K. Brooks in the offseason.
St. Louis is where Leonard got his first taste of FABL action, but it took him a while before he got there. His first affiliated season with them came in AA Dayton, where he labored in 239 innings. FIP (4.30; 99) was far more kind to his season, but his 5.31 ERA (81 ERA+) was well below average, and he walked 103 hitters with just 71 strikeouts, finishing 14-15 in 33 starts. He rebounded the next season, going 10-5 with a 3.81 ERA (127 ERA+) and 1.16 WHIP in 18 starts. This earned him a promotion to AAA Oakland, though here he was used strictly out of the pen. He was used frequently, appearing in 33 games and throwing 62 innings despite a 6.68 ERA (62 ERA+), 2.16 WHIP, and 59 walks. Yes, he was walking almost a batter an inning! It was that bad!
For some, that might have been enough to call it a career, and even after a demotion back to AA, a 26-year-old Mel Leonard was still fully committed to making a big league roster. As unthinkable as that might have been at the end of the season, Leonard fought his way up, luckily spending more of his time in Dayton (22 G, 31.2 IP) instead of Oakland (4 G, 7.1 IP), though he did make a quick stop there before his long awaited debut. The young righty appeared in five games, allowing just 12 hits, 4 walks, and a single earned run in 13 innings. That was enough to earn him a full season in the pen, and the 27-year-old threw 31.2 innings for a fourth place Pioneers team. Despite 21 walks, he maintained a 3.13 ERA (133 ERA+), as he allowed just one homer and struck out nine while finishing with a 1-2 record. That record remains unchanged, as Leonard never got another chance, banished to Oakland where he was beat down quite bad (59 ERA+, 43 IP, 31 BB).
He was cut at the start of the offseason, but quickly caught on with the Denver Plainsmen. He pitched four full seasons in their rotation, starting 27 or more games each season and finishing 37-38 with 403 strikeouts. He was a bit inconsistent, impressing in 1941 and 1943 before subpar seasons in 1942 and 1944. After the '44 season, he enlisted in the war effort, though since it was the final year of the conflict he returned to make two more starts. Leonard didn't pitch the following season, spending the 1946 on the reserve roster, and he took that as the sign to hang in up. Including high school, Leonard ended up with 2,506.2 career innings, with the most remarkable part the lack of damage to his arm. Sure, he was never the best pitcher out there, but he always gave his team innings and he was counted on to take the ball every five days. It's a shame he never lived up to his lofty potential, as even one year in I thought
he could make up for swinging and missing on Demastus, and considering Bobby Sprague helped bring a pennant and paved the wave for 1934 1st Rounder Carlos Montes to take over the center field job.
2nd Round, 26th Overall: SS Charlie Reed
School: Berkeley Bears
1937 (BOS): .258/.366/.315, 152 G, 625 PA, 10 2B, 4 3B, 4 HR, 67 RBI, 19 SB, 89 WRC+, 2.3 WAR
1947 (DAL): .258/.371/.366, 95 G, 400 PA, 12 2B, 3 3B, 6 HR, 52 RBI, 4 SB, 119 WRC+, 1.4 WAR
Career (FABL/GWL): .251/.348/.328, 857 G, 2,346 PA, 55 2B, 20 HR, 237 RBI, 38 SB, 93 WRC+, 2.5 WAR
Career (BOS): .258/.355/.332, 557 G, 1,279 PA, 28 2B, 10 3B, 11 HR, 138 RBI, 28 SB, 3.4 WAR
Career (DAL): .241/.340/.323, 300 G, 1,067 PA, 27 2B, 10 3B, 9 HR, 99 RBI, 10 SB, 93 WRC+, -0.9 WAR
Career (AAA): .259/.385/.331, 240 G, 1,108 PA, 33 2B, 4 3B, 8 HR, 85 RBI, 84 SB, 100 WRC+, 5.3 WAR
A FABL veteran of exactly 2,000 at bats, Charlie Reed's career started here, where we took him 26th Overall in the 1930 Draft. Known more for his time with the Boston Minutemen, including when he was a member of the 1941 Minutemen squad that beat us with four one run games. He was a disciplined hitter who always gave good at bats, even if the overall talent didn't jump out at you.
Before all that, he spent a little over two seasons in our system, with his best time coming in 1932 with the Legislators. Reed hit .292/.343/.431 (121 OPS+) with 11 doubles, 2 triples, 5 homers, 21 RBIs, and 6 steals in 60 games. He was traded the next year, as I went to acquire a talented
defensive outfielder in Ed Calvert, who was basically the equivalent of a rental. Reed then took his reps in the Minutemen farm system, and at 24 he started to show some promise of being a big league starter. Reed appeared in 114 games, all in AAA, hitting .261/.398/.330 (100 OPS+). OPS+ might say that line was league average, but the components were anything but, as he produced a 112 WRC+ and swiped 55 bags. He also had an absurd 90-to-19 walk-to-strikeout ratio, discipline he never quite showed until that season.
That impressed the Minutemen brass, winning the starting shortstop job for the 1937 season. The switch hitter appeared in 152 games as a 25-year-old, batting .258/.366/.315 (83 OPS+) with 10 doubles, 4 triples, 4 homers, 67 RBIs, and 19 walks. The discipline continued to be a strength, as even against Federal Association pitchers he walked (87) more then he struck out (56). Unfortunately he just couldn't get enough base hits, and the Minutemen had a 21-year-old All-Star in-the-making Lloyd McClendon waiting to replace him. McClendon rightfully seized the job in 1938, and put up 145 or more games in six of the next seven seasons. Reed didn't last that long, but he made 85 or more appearances in each of the next three seasons. Unfortunately he wasn't any good at stealing bases (6-for-14), which took away a huge aspect of his game.
After winning the WCS with Boston in 1941, Reed seemed to have a resurgence in 1942 where he hit .254/.350/.377 (111 OPS+) with 6 doubles, a triple, 3 homers, and 17 RBIs in 164 trips to the plate. That winter the Army came calling, and even though he didn't realize it then, that was the end of his FABL career. When he returned after the war ended, there wasn't any room for him in Boston, and he spent eight season as a free agent before we grabbed him on a minor league deal. I was hoping he had something left, but Reed hit just .189/.259/.245 (40 OPS+) in his 60 PA sample, and he did not make it to the next Opening Day.
He spent two months on the free agent list this time, though he managed to make the GWL Dallas Centurions roster. Reed played 95 games from June on, hitting a solid .258/.371/.366 (121 OPS+) with 12 doubles, 3 triples, 6 homers, 52 RBIs, and 4 steals. As you'd expect, more walks (59) then strikeouts (32), and he spent most of his time at his familiar shortstop. His signing sparked the Centurions, and Reed helped lead them to a second place finish, even if they fell short of the Bigsby Cup. Reed was back for the 1936 season, though at 36 he had some struggles. Reed hit just .236/.323/.304 (87 OPS+) and started 151 of his 153 appearances. His defense at short was dreadful (-32, .884) and likely contributed to the teams drop in the standings. He was then used strictly off the bench in 1949, though even if all former FABL GWL players weren't force into retirement, he was probably best served for it anyways. Between the two major leagues, he ended up with 857 games, which is a lot better then you can say about some of these other guys.
Old Draft Writeups
1st Round
2nd Round
3rd Round-5th Round
6th Round-10th Round
11th Round-15th Round
16th Round-25th Round