EL Awards:
Batter of the Month:
Toronto RF
Ricardo Orta(31, 3*) .344-8-15 1.238OPS 1.0WAR
2x Silver Slugger
Pitcher of the Month:
Cincinnati RHCL
Andy Myers(30, 3*) 4-0 4SV 0.87 8 K 10.1IP 0.6WAR
Second season as a closer in his whole career.
Rookie of the Month:
Washington SP
Ian Munson(23, 2.5*) 3-1 3.42 21K 4GS 0.2WAR
Former 5th rounder in 2016, noting to special.
WL Awards:
Batter of the Month:
Kansas City 1B
Josh Dempsey(28, 3*) .419-5-11 1.222OPS 1.5WAR
Jip, monster Month
Pitcher of the Month:
San Diego SP
Jerry Sullivan(22, 2.5/4.5*) 3-0 2.79 24K 4GS 29IP 1.0WAR
Former #10 prospect
Rookie of the Month:
Los Angeles SP
Alex Angeles(21, 2/2.5*) 2-1 2.04 16K 17.2IP 0.4WAR
Waiver claim from Portland
We start our 2021 season with a 7-12 month. Not the worst in baseball as the
Marlins are 7-14 and the
Canadians with 6-16, but pretty bad. The division itself is pretty equal above us. The team of the hour however are the
Chicago Rangers at 15-5. They lead the EL in runs scored, almost double than our runs scored, and resigning 3B
Andy Vrable(32, 3.5*) has payed off in the early going as he is batting .303-7-16 1.079OPS 1.1WAR in 19 games.
In the Western League, the
Las Vegas Gamblers are off to the hottest start with 2x All-Star 2B
Sean Thomason(29, 4*) batting a hot .254-6-17 1.074OPS 1.2War clip and once again, offense beats pitching here as they are also first in runs scored.
Pitching:
DL: SP
Dan Hinton(22, 4/5*)
shoulder inflammation 5 days
Our starting pitching is godawful. We got a total of five quality starts in this month out of your guys, and only
Adrian Hilscher got a FIP lower than four, and he only has two starts.
Dan Hinton is due next week, but will get at least two rehab starts in AAA before we give him a go.
AAA check: SP
Juan Miranda(23, 2/3*) 2-1 1.30 18K 27.2IP 0.5WAR
AAA check: SP
John Martinez(23, 2/2.5*) 3-0 3.42 18K 26.1IP 0.6WAR
AAA check: SP
Matt Bernstein(23, 2/2.5*) 2-1 2.22 18K 24.1IP 0.5WAR
We got options here, but we will take our time and give the guys some time.
Our bullpen is overworked. That is the essence of things here.
Leone and
Rasbach are dynamite at the sharp end, and the rest is just eating way to many innings because our starters are bad.
Position Players:
Lets talk offense. We have two ˝ black holes in the # 4 and #5 spot. #5
Alfonso Flores .186-5-11 and platoon player
Brian Oatley .091. In the #4 hole
Vinny Roman with .185-2-10. Lineup construction maybe? Aaron McCreery talked over the lineup and agreed to drop
Flores down in the lineup, and stop the right field platoon for now, giving the AB’s to
Ian Messer. He was not willing to drop
Roman further down tho… ok your call.
For me personally, the biggest disappointment in April was our shortstop in
Jose Robles. Yes, he is a more light hitting shortstop by trait, but hitting .161 is one thing. Having a ZR of -1.3 with two errors and hurting us on defense with his defensive skills is disappointing like ****.
Obviously, the outfield duo of
Vicente Rodriguez and
Karl Ferguson has been carrying this offense big time and have been generating some excitement here…
Prospect Watch:
AAA SS
Julian Hernandez .222-2-4 .610OPS 18G 0.2WAR
AA LHSP
Brett Asselin 0-3 3.18 19K 4GS 22.2IP 0.3WAR
R SP
Matt Porter 1-0 0,44 21K 20.1IP 4GS 0.6WAR
R 1B
Joe Townsend .250-3-5 .790OPS 12G 0.9WAR
broken bone in elbow 7-8 months
R LF
Santiago Rodriguez .222-5-9 .798OPS 17G 1.0WAR
None of our players are completely overmatched in their leagues, and our All-Year Rookie league players make a strong bid to get a job in the short A or even single A team later this season. A
Hernandez callup is not the cards this season in my opinion, no matter how we act at the trade deadline. It’s too early for him, no need to start his service time without realistically getting production out of him.
Joe Townsend’s injury is sad tho… he was our big trade acquisition this winter…