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2016 - Season Notes
April 2nd - Atlanta’s Gabriel Mendez smashed three homeruns against Washington, he was responsible for driving in all five Atlanta runs in a 5-2 opening day victory.
April 14th - Miami pitcher David Rocha was superb in pitching the fifth NABL no-hitter (the second by a Miami pitcher), he struck out 15 allowing just one walk while shutting down Tampa Bay. Three days later Ryan Rayne of San Jose matched the feat downing Memphis for the sixth no-hitter in league history.
April 25th - Cleveland shortstop Javier Rodriguez was beaned by a pitch from Philadelphia pitcher Dominque Boutin, sparking a bench clearing brawl. When the dust settled Rodriguez was helped from the field with a fractured cheekbone and concussion. Boutin (minus two teeth) along with teammate Alaeddin Cobanoglu and Cleveland Third Baseman Alberto Ortiz were all ejected and subsequently suspended for 12 games for their part in the unsavoury incident. The injury cost Rodriguez the rest of the season, as he continued to suffer from double vision and concussion symptoms well into September.
May 17th - Cleveland 1B Xin Koo became the second player in NABL history to hit four doubles in a game, his efforts were not enough though as his Corsairs fell 8-5 to Tampa Bay.
June 12th - Las Vegas closer Stephen Davis had his save streak ended at 72 when he gave up a 2-run double to Jeff Goff of Minneapolis. He had not blown a save since August 8th 2014, almost two years previously. Four days later Detroit’s Min-Jae Choi had his own streak ended at 63 his last blown save had been in September 2014.
July 10th - Indianapolis 1B Maximo Nunez set the NABL record for RBI’s in a game with eight, going 3-for-4 and hitting a Grand Slam helping the Racers to victory over New York.
July 23rd - with the team in a tailspin, Tampa Bay traded away offseason signing Bernardo Reyes, the shortstop was less than six months into a seven-year contract but found himself packaged to Sanfrancisco for middle infielder Chris McDermott and top first base prospect Vincente Gonzalez.
July 26th – New Orleans star Andrew Parker led his team to victory over New York, collecting three hits (a double and a pair of homeruns) while drawing three walks and driving in seven.
July 27th - Denver’s top young pitcher Ray Ware (their 2014 first round pick), was injured in a game against Minneapolis, his season was over when he was diagnosed with a torn Elbow Flexor Tendon and as a result would miss the next 11 months.
August 19th - Houston first baseman Albert Massey went 6-for-6, hitting 4 singles a double and a homerun with 3RBI’s in a losing effort against the Phoenix Eagles.
August 24th - Hirotada Yama****a of Minneapolis collected 8 RBI’s against Los Angeles becoming the second player in NABL history to reach 8 RBI in a single game.
September 9th - Ray Rowland smashed four doubles for New York helping them to down Philadelphia 8-3.
September 11th - Denver’s Flavio Mendez became the third player on the season to hit eight RBI’s in a game, going 3-for-5 with two homeruns, one of them a Grand Slam in helping Denver destroy Sanfrancisco 16-3.
September 26th - Cleveland Pitcher Juan Sanchez pitched five innings in yet another defeat, he ended the season 6-22 with a 7.36 ERA and became the NABL record holder for the most losses in a season.
October 1st - the managerial experiments in Cleveland and San Jose ended with the firing of both skippers after a single season in charge.
The season itself started well enough for Cleveland, after the first month of play they sat with a winning record at 14-12. But the wheels soon came off as the team once more imploded, finishing with their second consecutive 100 loss campaign. Inevitably Dennis Thompson was relieved of his duties the minute the season ended, with many saying he was out of his depth at the major league level. Jerry Collins and Cleveland were once again going to be looking for a manager during the off season.
In San Jose it was a similar story, Allen McGuire’s abrasive style soon upset many of the young players and when he sanctioned the trade of popular veteran catcher John Martin, he lost the locker room for good. The young team, bereft of leadership and riven by internal strife, slumped to a record of 55-107 including three separate double-digit losing streaks. At the end of the season McGuire was handed his walking papers and San Jose, like Cleveland, was back in the market for a new manager.
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