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2023 Season Notes
Yet another spring training injury for Andrew Parker, this time a knee sprain, disrupted his preparations for the upcoming season, the injury would force him to the DL for the first couple of weeks of action. San Jose received some disappointing injury news of their own, when it was announced that starting 1B Miguel Roman had suffered a significant knee injury, ruling the twenty-five-year-old out for the entire season.
April 6th - Chicago SS Kevin Nelson hit for the CYCLE, going 4-for-5 driving in 5 runs while helping the Zephyrs tame Detroit 8-2.
April 8th – OKC 1B Carlos Vazquez, off to a slow start with his new team, suffered a side strain in batting practice ruling him out for the next two weeks.
April 9th - Tampa Bay’s top offseason acquisition, pitcher Manuel Luis Quinones was injured in only his second start for his new club, the injury was diagnosed a few days later as a torn elbow flexor tendon and would shelve him for 8 months, denting the Hurricanes playoff hopes.
April 11th – Indianapolis CF Rob Hodges collected five hits including four doubles in the Racers extra inning victory over Tampa Bay.
April 13th - San Diego ace Pedro Escobar became only the third player to toss a PERFECT GAME joining Thomas Zimmerman and Dave Cahill in the exclusive club.
April 14th - LA’s pitching rotation took a major hit when off-season pickup Jose Marino went down with an elbow ligament injury that kept him out until September.
April 20th - in a game against Austin, LA’s Junior Hernandez drew five walks, joining Marshall Ayersome and Kevin Jones as only the third player to accomplish the feat.
April 28th - the Ziggy Velasco pick got even worse for Detroit when he was picked at the top of NFL draft and promptly chose to play football instead of baseball, meaning the Giants had wasted two top five draft picks in four years.
April 29th - the 2023 draft class took another hit when Kansas City’s first round pick, outfielder Alejandro Canseco suffered a devastating knee injury forcing him to retire, ending his career before it had even begun.
May 4th - Washington’s Alphonso Vargas collected his 300th save against Cleveland, it was third time lucky for Vargas as he had blown his previous two attempts to reach the milestone.
May 9th - Tampa Bay star Juan Santos became the second player to reach 1000 RBI joining his great rival Gabriel Mendez.
May 15th – OKC 1B Carlos Vazquez suffered an oblique strain, sending him to the DL for the next seven weeks. The injury came at a most inopportune time for Vazquez as he was just beginning to find his feet in Oklahoma City.
June 12th - Denver’s Anthony Barrett set the NABL single game strikeout record with 16, the Minneapolis batters had no answer to Barrett’s dominance only coming to life once he left the game having thrown 115 pitches through seven innings. Denver held on to win 5-4 after the bullpen almost blew the game.
June 14th - in a blockbuster deal that sent shockwaves through the NABL, Kansas City dealt two-time outstanding hitter Dixon Bodean to Houston for five prospects, 3B Michael Byrd, CF Alan Lutolz, LF Jorge Chavez, SP Angel Sanchez and the main prize, top 20 prospect SS Anibal Portillo. The deal was a sign that Houston was all-in for winning the World Series in 2023 as Bodean was due to be a free agent after the season, and unless the Stars could persuade him to sign an extension, he would be a costly six-month rental.
July 15th - Washington traded another high-priced veteran, sending LF Steve Burgess to New York for rising star 1B Jason Wilson.
July 17th - Austin 2B Ronald McKinney slammed three homeruns going 5-for-7 and collecting 5 RBI’s helping his Kings overcome San Jose 9-6.
July 19th – New York pulled off another trade with a division rival, this time sending CF Stu Joyce along with 2B prospect Javier Ortiz to Boston for SP David Gonzalez
July 23rd - in a somewhat strange trade, Kansas City sent newly acquired SS Anibal Portillo, the centrepiece of the Dixon Bodean deal, and 3B Ralph Covenay to Sanfrancisco for veteran LF Brady Avery.
August 1st - San Jose and San Diego played out the longest game in NABL history, in a game that lasted 19 innings and five hours and four minutes, San Jose finally won 4-3 on a walk-off homer by Spike Williamson.
August 5th - Sanfrancisco LF Paul Bailey became the second player on the season to hit for the CYCLE when he accomplished the feat against Dallas.
August 8th - three days later Las Vegas 1B Santiago Ybarra became the third player to hit for the CYCLE during the season, going 4-for-5 with 5-RBI’s in a 7-4 victory over Sanfrancisco.
August 9th – Washington’s thirty-seven-year-old pitcher Zander Pace (11-7, 2.08 ERA) suffered a torn labrum ending his season early.
August 18th - Denver ace Anthony Barrett became the first player to reach 2500 strikeouts, the same day Atlanta’s Vince Little collected his 2000th strikeout.
August 20th - Houston backup 1B Dave Martin slugged 3 homeruns collecting 4-RBI’s in a 7-5 defeat against Sanfrancisco.
September 8th - with his Generals team disappointingly off the pace in the Atlantic division race, Washington manager Keith Bennett was fired. Cris Estrada was appointed interim manager until the end of the season (Washington went 11-8 under his stewardship strengthening his case to be offered the job permanently)
September 15th - Houston slugging RF Angel Valdez launched 3 homeruns including a Grand Slam, helping the Stars see off Austin 11-6.
September 21st - Las Vegas rookie pitcher Will Spencer struck out 15 opponents but still took the loss in a 2-1 defeat to Seattle.
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