Mike Schaplowsky and the USBL, a promotion/relegation dynasty- 2nd try

[baseballfanmas]

Since my first try at this got screwed up thanks to a possible bug that Lukas is looking into, I've decided to restart from scratch, with a few workarounds, such as no contract extensions unless someone is set to become a free agent the following season, things like that.

I am using the USBL quickstart for this, but I've modified some rules and options. There are 4 divisions, the USBL Major Division, 1st Division, 2nd Division, 3rd Division. 24 teams in each league. 138 game schedule with each team playing the other 23 teams 6 times, 3 at home, and 3 away. Top 3 teams from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Divisions get promoted, bottom 3 teams from the Major, 1st, and 2nd divisions get promoted.

Universal rules and options for all 4 divisions, some of which have been changed.

Active Roster Size- 25
Reserve Roster Size- 15
Roster Expansion Date- August 1st
Expanded Roster Size- 30
Spring Training- 5 weeks long
Spring Training Roster Size- 40
International Complex Size- 15
Trading is enabled, all forms of trading, including draft picks, players on DL more than 7 days, recently drafted players.
Trading Deadline- July 4th.
Amateur Draft Date- November 5th
5 rounds (I'm not sure if the draft pool will be separate for each division or combined for the entire league. If anybody knows, please let me know).

Financials are different for all 4 divisions, so I won't cover those. Also, all ratings are on the 20-80 scale.

Now, the team I'll be taking over, as I said earlier, is in the USBL 2nd Division. They are the Wichita Wranglers. (Wichita was an actual team in the 2nd Division already, but I changed the nickname from Eagles to Wranglers). I will be acting as GM and Manager both. The roster and staff have not changed much, except for some ratings changes, but I'll cover that later.

I'm going to move slowly with this, especially for the next few days, as I'll have a lot of school finals and work going on, but I'll post both the initial opening day roster and the reserve roster along with screenshots, probably sometime next week as I won't be able to get back to this anytime this week. I just wanted to get it set up. Hope you all enjoy!

[baseballfanmas]

One change I've decided to make, for better or for worse, is to eliminate the amateur draft. The league should now be set up to automatically create free agents

[baseballfanmas]

As I mentioned before, I have been hired as the GM/Manager of the Wichita Wranglers. The 2017 opening day roster is set, and I'm going to break it down by position with a little thought on each player.

Starting Pitchers

Marvin Lowe - 25 years old, 52 overall/56 potential

- Marvin is going to be our opening day starter. He's got 4 solid pitches and can hit 95 on the radar gun. He doesn't have a lot of stamina though, so he's probably a 5, 6 inning guy at best.

Tyler Anderson - 26 years old, 55/57

- This guy could have just as easily been our opening day starter, and quite frankly probably should be, but I let my assistant GM set things up to get me started. Tyler has a dynamite fastball, hitting 99 on the radar gun, and has excellent stamina.

Mike Shelton - 24 years old, 38/41

- After our first 2 starters, things drop off quite a bit. Mike is a good mid-rotation starter, but he'll never be the top guy in a rotation. He's got 3 pitches, and quite frankly, none are better than the other. He should do enough to give us a quality 5 innings most times out though.

Jake Karolyi - 28 years old, 35/38

- Jake has one thing going for him: he uses 5 different pitches, and while none are exceptional, he's very good at keeping hitters off balance. Problem is, his breaking stuff doesn't have a lot of movement, so it won't take long for hitters to figure it out.

Mike Celmer - 24 years old, 20/23

- Mike is going to get a chance as our 5th starter, but he might be better served in a long relief role. What's going to get him by is his excellent control. He can really spot his pitches, and he has room to improve. Unfortunately, his stuff and movement in his pitches are both pretty lacking to go more than 1 time through the batting order.

Overall Analysis:

I admit I haven't looked at any of the other teams' starting rotations, but I feel like ours is good enough to at least give us a chance to compete for a promotion. Obviously I'd like to find more quality at the bottom of our rotation, but it's just not available right now. Celmer is the only one I'm really worried about though. He might not last long in the rotation.

[baseballfanmas]

Bullpen

Mike Nease - 23 years old, 54/57

- If not for the fact that we needed a strong anchor in the bullpen, Mike would be a starter. He is our 2nd best pitcher overall, with great stuff and great movement. He'll be closing out games for now, but if I can find a way to get a couple even semi-quality arms for the pen, expect him to become a starter.

Nick Canterbury - 26 years old, 33/39

- Nick has great stuff as well, and he has the stamina to be a starter. The knock on him that has his rating down so much is that he only has 2 pitches. They are both great pitches, but a starter really needs 3 pitches. If I move Nease to the rotation, Nick will probably become the new closer.

Allan Lester - 26 years old, 34/35

- Allan has a solid change-up, and has pretty good control too. But that's about all he has. If you can figure out his change-up, you're gonna have success. Still, he's our 3rd best option and will probably see a lot of innings.

David Kastner - 23 years old, 23/29

- David has some room to improve, but his ceiling isn't that high. He's got an average fastball, average curveball, average everything. Still, at least for the USBL 2nd division, he could be a much needed weapon out of the pen.

Tony Smith - 24 years old, 29/34

- Tony also has some remove to improve, and his ceiling is higher than David's. He has 4 pitches in his arsenal, pretty good for a bullpen guy, and he is actually projected to be even better than advertised. I'm excited to watch his development.

Dave Davis - 26 years old, 20/20

- I totally disagree with the rating on Dave. He is much better than a 20 rating. (I have scouting accuracy as normal for those wondering). He only has 2 pitches but he has a 65 rating in both. And 65 stuff. So how is he a 20 rating? I think he's going to be key for us.

Billy Shetler - 24 years old, 20/20

- Billy is another guy that I think is better than advertised. Again, this comes with a scout that is just fair to average in scouting talent. While not as good as some of our pitchers, he relies on a 95-97 mile per hour fastball with a pretty good forkball. His control is shaky at best though. If we can get him to throw strikes and hit spots, he has the potential to be good.

Overall Analysis:

If you look at the ratings alone, you would probably automatically think that our bullpen is a lower half of the division type bullpen. But as I mentioned, this is the opinion of an average at best scouting director. Not taking anything away from him (and if I really wanted to cheat, I could either just use the OSA ratings or have accuracy set to 100%, but I don't want to do that), but I think he's off on a few of our relievers. I think this bullpen will be top 5 in the division.

[baseballfanmas]

Catchers

Adan Vergara - 31 years old, 60/60

- Adan was one of three big pickups for us to bolster the lineup. He will pretty much be the every day catcher, and is expected to play a lot. Not only that, but he's well respected and a leader, and fans will come to the ballpark to see him.

Tony Whiteway - 27 years old, 21/21

- Tony had a good spring, so he got the call to be the replacement when Adan needs a break. He's not nearly as strong with the bat though, and he appears to be a little lazy.

Overall Analysis

We've got Adan, and then a whole host of backups, including a couple in the reserves. Basically, it's Adan's team, from the catching standpoint. If he gets hurt, we're screwed.

[baseballfanmas]

Infielders

Nick Hollstein - 25 years old, 74/74

- Simply put, Nick is our infield leader, and probably the leader of the entire team. He's got a great eye at the plate, has both great gap and home run power, and plays a solid first base. The biggest thing with him is that he's most certainly going to want to get paid next season, and I'm afraid we may lose him as he'll probably be looking to go to a Major or 1st Division squad, that is if we don't get promoted. Oh yea, he'll be starting pretty much every game at first base, so we'll hope and pray he doesn't get injured.

Aydan Pitts - 33 years old, 55/55.

- Aydan was the second of our 3 huge signings in the preseason. He'll be our starter at third base, and has great gap and home run power. If there is one knock on him, it's his defense. He's solid, but not spectacular, and if we need to sacrifice his bat for a better glove late in the game, we will.

Nick Thompson - 23 years old, 22/50.

- Nick has so much room to grow it's not even funny. He's got great home run power, and a sensational arm, which is something that all third basemen need. He can throw out the speediest of runners on a play at first, and he handles the hot corner well. He's definitely going to get his share of late game chances defensively, and I'm going to find a way to get him a few starts. He's a potential DH candidate.

John Beckham - 25 years old, 22/22

- John will be our starting DH against left handed pitchers, so he might not play a whole lot. He's also the back-up third baseman and also has a dynamite arm. He's pretty good at avoiding the strikeout, and he has good gap power. He might get his share of pinch hit opportunities as well.

Bobby Dissmore - 28 years old, 21/22

- Bobby will be our every day shortstop pretty much, and can also play second base if needed. He has great range in the infield, and also a great arm. He's not so great with the bat though, he has decent contact and gap power, but nothing to brag about.

Tim Sullivan - 29 years old, 21/21

- Tim will be our back-up first baseman, but he really doesn't bring much to the table. He's got decent power, but doesn't give much effort. Don't expect him to play much, but he could come off the bench to pinch hit against southpaws.

Bobby Thomas - 27 years old, 21/22

- Bobby will be our every day second baseman, and he's in for his defense. He has great range, doesn't make many errors, and turns the double play well. Unfortunately, he can't hit a lick and will be one of the first players to ride the pine if we need a pinch hitter late.

Overall Analysis:

We are golden on the infield corners with Hollstein and Pitts, and Thompson as a backup. All 3 can provide the offense and the defense. However, our middle infield is severely lacking, and I'll be looking to shore that up in the offseason.

[baseballfanmas]

Outfielders

Jonathan Jennings - 24 years old, 34/51

- Jonathan will be our starting left fielder, and he brings the speed! A legit threat to steal every time he's on. He can play all 3 outfield positions well, although left field is his best. Great arm, great range, not so good with the bat. Again, we'd be sacrificing defense to get a pinch hitter for him if we need a run late.

Ted Welsh - 28 years old, 21/21

- Ted will be our starting right fielder, and he is another guy that can swipe a bag at will if he gets on. He's average with the bat, but had a great spring, batting .300. He'll really help us out if he can contribute that kind of average in the season.

Tom Fisher - 24 years old, 21/22

- Tom will see some time in left field, and although he isn't great in the field, he does handle the bat pretty well. He's a clubhouse leader though with a good attitude, and that alone should keep on the main roster for a while.

Ron Jeffries - 25 years old, 21/22

- Ron will be our every day center fielder, but he can also play left or right just as easily. He'll be in the line-up a lot because of his glove, and he has pretty solid speed as well. He, like most of our position players, is not going to wow anybody with the bat.

Overall Analysis:

The one thing this outfield has is speed. It's also good that we have multiple players that can play all 3 outfield positions, and play them well. Unfortunately, not a lot of offensive fire power, as Jennings looks like the only one that has major potential. However, our 3rd big pickup in the offseason will be our outfield anchor. Unfortunately, he's on the DL right now, and when he gets back, one of our 7 infielders is going to the reserves.

[baseballfanmas]

That's all I've got time for now, I need to get some screenshots up, as well as do a very quick review of our reserve roster, plus we have a couple players on the DL. I'll try to work on that tomorrow.

[baseballfanmas]

Let's take a quick look at the reserve roster, which currently has 13 players:

RP Matt Bashore - 29 years old, 20/20
RP Ross Bacali - 29 years old, 20/20
RP Jared Rademacher - 21 years old, 20/20
RP Ken West - 26 years old, 20/20
RP Nick Woolsey - 28 years old, 20/20
C Micah Lavine - 26 years old, 21/21
C Jeremy Wolf - 22 years old, 21/64
2B B.J. Finch - 29 years old, 21/21
2B T.J. Taylor - 25 years old, 21/21
SS Ryan Nowicki - 27 years old, 21/21
LF Russ Banbury - 26 years old, 21/21
CF Rory Gallagher - 27 years old, 21/21
RF Cody Mehaffie - 23 years old, 21/22

Overall Analysis:

Not much to talk about here, these guys are on the reserve list for a reason. Although, in some cases, we could probably call any of them to the main roster and they could do just as well as some players. Interesting dilemma with our reserve catchers. Lavine is actually receiving a major league contract, and is not happy at all to be in the reserves. His problem is that he's unmotivated, which is a shame because he has the potential to be good. Wolf, on the other hand, is going to be a star before it's all said and done. He would actually be good cover in a few years, especially if Adan Vergara gets hurt. I hate to have him sit the bench though, he needs to be playing. I feel like both of these guys could be good trade bait.

[baseballfanmas]

We have 2 players on the disabled list currently, both outfielders:

CF Jose Martinez- 30 years old, 40/40.
RF Ollie Wheaton- 23 years old, 21/22.

Martinez has seen both his overall and potential ratings drop a little bit, but he is our 3rd and final pickup from the preseason. He's got the tools to anchor the outfield when he comes back, but right now he's sidelined for 5 weeks with a fractured finger. Wheaton has some potential, and he's day to day with a strained oblique.

[baseballfanmas]

I'm going to be experimenting with a new weekly format, more like a newspaper or magazine article. I'll still touch upon all the games for the week, but my initial part which had record, position, power ranking, game by game results, etc will be changed. I'm also going to list a who's hot and who's not for the week, as well as have bi-weekly interviews.


I'd really like to make this interactive, so if you guys have questions for GM/coach Schaplowsky, the owner, any of the players, anything, send em my way. Anything goes. I just want to try something new and make this a funner read. I'll also be creating polls so often on things around the league, team transactions, etc. Stay tuned, I hope to have a post up tonight, and hopefully I'll have a few questions to answer.

[baseballfanmas]

Wichita Wranglers Report- 2017 Season, Week 1 Review

Wranglers under .500 after opening week of USBL2 season

It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times for the Wichita Wranglers this week. Hey, seems to me part of that was a quote for a very famous, best selling book. Hmm. Anyways, Wichita ended the week 3-4, giving them a 3-4 record on the season, 15th place in the USBL2, 4 games out of 1st place, and 3 games out of promotion contention. They ended the week with a power ranking of 75.1, good for 14th in USBL2.

The Wranglers opened the season in Tulsa, as the bullpen faltered, with Allan Lester and Tony Smith giving up 3 runs combined in the 8th inning as the Wranglers lost their season opener 4-3. Game 2 in Tulsa had much the same result, as John Beckham had a hot bat, going 2-4 with 3 RBIS, but it wasn't enough as the Wranglers fell short, 5-3. The Wranglers would try to salvage a win in game 3 of the series, but controversy ensued. Tyler Anderson gave up 4 runs, but only 2 of them earned, although he did walk 5 and throw 2 wild pitches. Now to the controversy, as with the Wranglers down 4-3 and a runner on first in the top of the 9th, heavy rains came, forcing a long postponement. After much deliberation, umpires decided to call the game, giving the Wranglers a 4-3 loss before they had a chance to complete their at-bat in the 9th.

With that sour taste in their mouths, the Wranglers headed home to host the Burlington Hunters in a 3 game series. Game 1 needed 10 innings, but a Bobby Dissmore walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th gave the Wranglers their first win of the season, and the first win of their existence, 3-2. Game 2 of the series also went the Wranglers way, as they scored 2 in the 5th and 2 in the 6th to snatch a 5-4 victory. They would go for the sweep in game 3, and an incredible pitching performance from Marvin Lowe would put them in position. Lowe went 8 1/3 innings and gave up just 3 hits, and Mike Nease came on to get the last 2 outs. Nick Hollstein went 3 for 4 and drove in the only run of the game as the Wranglers won a 1-0 pitching duel.

Back to .500 on the season, the Wranglers ended the week with the start of a 3 game series, travelling to take on the Baton Rouge Bears. Game 1 of the series would end the week, and once again the bullpen faltered. Dave Davis and Tony Smith combined to give up 3 runs in the 8th inning, costing the Wranglers in a 5-4 loss.

Who's Hot, Who's Not

Hot Weeks

LF Jonathan Jennings -- Jonathan had a solid week, batting .280 with 2 HR and 4 RBI, and he also stole 3 bases.

3B John Beckham -- Don't spend so much time looking at the .258 average for the week, John leads the team by a wide margin with 9 RBIs, meaning when he had runners in scoring position, he got them in.

SP Marvin Lowe -- A great week for Marvin, who didn't give up a run in 2 starts. 14 1/3 innings of work, but unfortunately because of the lack of run support, he didn't get a win to show for it.

CL Mike Nease -- Mike was sensational in his closing role, not allowing a run in 3 1/3 IP, and notching 2 wins and 1 save.

Cold Weeks

1B Nick Hollstein -- A week to forget for Nick, who many think should be the best player on the team. He batted just .208 with 12 stikeouts.

C Adan Vergara -- Adan is 1 of 2 free agent signings that struggled this week, as he batted just .190 with 9 strikeouts.

3B Ayden Pitts -- Ayden was the pits this week, batting just .105, and getting just 2 base hits. He did walk 5 times, but it's not good when 2 of the 3 free agent pick-ups both have bad weeks.

RPs Tony Smith, Dave Davis, Allan Lester -- These 3 get lumped together because they are the main reason the bullpen ERA was 23rd out of 24th this week. Tony had an 8.10 ERA with 2 losses, Dave had a 9.00 ERA, and Allan had a 10.80 ERA. Although to be fair to Allan, that damage was done in his first appearance, and he didn't allow a baserunner in his last 2 appearances.

Around the League

Awards

USBL2 Player of the Week: Chris Baarstad (Tulsa)- .452, 3 HR, 12 RBI, 5 runs scored.

[baseballfanmas]

I'm taking comments on the new, updated format. What do you guys think? I personally like it and I think it looks great, but then again I'm biased. I'd love to hear opinions.

[baseballfanmas]

Wichita Wranglers Report- 2017 Week 2 (April 10-16 Review

Wranglers only lose 1 game this week, but see 3 pitchers injured

Record wise, it was a much better week for the Wichita Wranglers, who went 5-1 this week and now have an overall record of 8-5. This puts them in 6th place in USBL2, 3 games out of both first place and 2 games out of promotion contention, The downside to the week is the injuries of 3 starting pitchers, but fortunately, none of them will require a long DL stint. More on that later. (I have decided not to focus so much on the power ranking, owner mood, and fan interest every week, instead touching on those occasionally during bi-weekly coaches shows and such).

The Wranglers started the week with 2 more games in Baton Rouge. Game 2 of the 3 game series was dominated by the Wranglers. Starting pitcher Tyler Anderson was the first of 3 injuries for Wichita this week, as he left the game in the 3rd inning due to a mild strain in his oblique. David Kastner picked up the slack out of the pen, going 4 1/3 innings and allowing just 2 hits and 1 run. Meanwhile, Ted Welsh was 2-4 with a homer and 3 RBIs as the Wranglers rolled to a 7-2 win. The 3rd and final game of the series, and the tiebreaking game, so to speak, saw Bobby Thomas and Ayden Pitts each have 2 RBIs as Wichita got a 5-3 win.

From there, the Wranglers went back home to host the Boise Bombers in a 3 game series. Game 1 saw Mike Celmer go 7 innings of 6 hit, 2 run ball, and Allan Lester and Mike Nease pitched the 8th and 9th respectively. Nick Hollstein had 2 RBIs and Adan Vergara hit his first homer of the season as the Wranglers won 4-2. Game 2 of the series saw the 2nd of the starting pitcher injuries, as Marvin Lowe didn't make it out of the 1st inning, leaving with a strained forearm and he is day to day for the next couple weeks. The bullpen did an admirable job, however Mike Nease gave up 2 runs in 1 2/3 innings of work, blowing a save. The Wranglers would rally in the bottom of the 9th, getting the game tying run on an Ayden Pitts RBI single. It wasn't enough though, as the Wranglers fell 4-3 in 11 innings. Game 3 and the series deciding game saw our final injury of the week, as Mike Shelton left after 3 innings with a herniated disc in his back, an injury that might cost him a couple starts and a stint on the 10 day DL. The worst part: he was throwing a no-hitter when he got injured. The bullpen combo of David Kastner, Nick Canterbury, Allan Lester, and Dave Davis was absolutely brilliant, allowing just 1 hit in the last 6 innings. Davis got the save in a 2-0 Wranglers win!

After a day off, Wichita headed up to face the El Paso Diablos. The week ended with game 1 of the 3 game series, which was a masterful pitchers duel. Tyler Anderson went 8 innings of 4 hit ball, striking out 10, and Mike Nease pitched a perfect 9th for his 4th save of the season as the Wranglers squeaked out a 2-1 win with RBIs by Nick Hollstein and Adan Vergara.

Our first GM/coaches show with Mike Schaplowsky will be the next post, and Mike will talk about the injuries to Lowe and Shelton and how he will handle them, among other things.

Who's Hot, Who's Not

Hot Week

3B Ayden Pitts- After a slow start last week, Ayden absolutely tore it up this week. All he did was bat .476 going 10 for 22 with 2 HR and 6 RBI. Surprisingly, that wasn't good enough for the USBL2 Player of the Week award.

The entire pitching staff- Rarely will you see an entire staff hot in the same week, but that's what you had here. The staff ERA for the week was a whopping 1.93! Half of the staff had an ERA of 1.00 or less. Only 2 players had an ERA of higher than 3.00. Even those players had a couple quality innings so I'm not going to single them out. How good was it overall? After last week, the bullpen ERA was 23rd out of 24 USBL2 teams. After this week, the bullpen ERA is 11th of 24 teams. You can beat GM/Coach Schaplowsky will want to discuss that!

I think I'm going to definitely change this up, as I could easily put every player on either the hot or cold list for the week, so I think I'm just going to mention hot or cold streaks if the game mentions it. In this case, Ayden Pitts was the only one, but I had to give credit to that pitching staff!

Around the League

Awards

USBL2 Player of the Week: LF Javy Banuelos (Salt Lake City)- .435, 4 HR, 11 RBI.

[baseballfanmas]

I will be doing the first episode of the bi-weekly GM/Head Coach Mike Schaplowsky show tomorrow. I would love some questions from you guys, but if not, don't worry, I've got plenty of questions to keep it entertaining. Hope you all are enjoying.

[baseballfanmas]

Sorry for the lack of updates, we did a complete remodel and paint job in the basement, and my computer got unplugged for a while as we painted and moved things around. I'm back now, and I've decided not to do an interview every 2 weeks of the season, but rather just once a month. That'll give you guys a chance to not only come up with questions, but also vote on polls and stuff like that.

[baseballfanmas]

Wichita Wranglers Report- 2017 Week 3 (April 17-23) Review

Wranglers battle through injuries, stay hot

Despite some nagging injuries to some key players, the Wichita Wranglers didn't let that slow them down, finishing off a 5-2 week to improve to 13-7, putting them in 4th place in the USBL2, 2 games out of first place, and in a 3 way tie for third place and promotion contention. The Wranglers pitched their 2 injured starters sparingly throughout the week, giving them their starts, but being very careful with pitch count.

To start the week, Wichita finished off a 3 game series in El Paso. Game 2 saw the Wranglers get 3 runs in the 8th inning and an RBI from 4 different players as they came from behind for a 4-3 victory. Game 3 of the series saw the Wranglers complete the sweep with a 5-3 victory, getting 5 innings of shutout ball from the bullpen as one of the Wranglers' injured starters, Mike Celmer, got the start but only went 4 innings. Bobby Thomas, the 9 hole hitter, was 3-4 with 2 RBIs.

The Wranglers stayed on the road to take on the Fresno Flames in their next 3 game series, and game 1 saw the Wranglers jump out to a 4-0 lead. Wichita walked 7 times in the ball game, and Ayden Pitts had 4 of those 7 walks. Mike Nease got his 6th save of the season asthe Wranglers won 7-4. Game 2 of the series was a pitching duel, as the Wranglers outhit the flames 6-5 but left 4 men on base in the first 3 innings, wasting a great effort by the pitching staff, getting shut out in a 2-0 loss. The rubber match of the series was close for a while, but the Wranglers exploded for 7 runs in the 8th inning, sending 12 men to the plate and getting a 3 run homer from Ted Welsh as they rolled to a 9-1 victory.

No days off this week, as the Wranglers had a quick turnaround, returning home to host the Buffalo Bisons. The end of the week saw the first 2 games of the 3 game series. In game 1, that turnaround was too much to overcome, as Mike Celmer again got his scheduled start but only went 4 innings and gave up 4 runs, and a rare bad relief outing from Allan Lester, who gave up 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning. A 4-4 day from Ayden Pitts wasn't enough as Wichita fell 9-5. Game 2 of the series, and the week ending game, saw the Wranglers get on base early and often, getting 15 hits in this one. John Beckham had 3 hits and 3 RBIs, including a 3 run homer in the 7th inning, and Bobby Thomas and Adan Vergara also had 3 hits. Ron Jeffries added 2 RBIs, and all that led to an easy 8-2 victory to finish the week.

Hot or Cold Streaks

The game has 2 of our hitters listed as being on a hot streak, so let's take a look:

On a Hot Streak

3B Ayden Pitts- Ayden was hot last week, and he stayed hot this week, batting .421 with 3 homers and 3 RBIs.

2B Bobby Thomas- We called Bobby's name several times this week, as he was right behing Ayden in batting average, hitting .417 and getting 4 doubles, a homer and 2 RBIs.

Team Injuries and Transactions

Although none of the injuries are too serious, GM/Head Coach Mike Schaplowsky has decided to put SP Marvin Lowe on the 10 day DL. This is a retroactive move, and Lowe has 8 days left on the DL, so he will miss at least 1, maybe 2 starts. Schaplowsky made the move when he found out from the team trained that Lowe's arm was dead at the moment, and decided to give him some rest. [

B]David Kastner[/B], who currently has a 0.59 ERA in 15+ innings of work, will start in place of Lowe until Lowe's arm returns. To fill Lowe's spot on the 25 man roster, Schaplowsky called up RP Ross Becali. It was pretty much a crapshoot, but Becali had the best ERA in spring training of the 5 pitchers in the reserves, so Schaplowsky said he will maintain a spot on the roster, for now.

Around the League

Accomplishments

On April 21st, Mark Grist of the Syracuse Studs threw a no-hitter in a 5-0 win against the Boise Bombers. Grist struck out 6 in the game, and the only thing that kept it from being a perfect game was the fact that Grist hit 3 batters. Oops! This is the first no-hitter of the season and the entire existence of the USBL2.

Awards

USBL2 Player of the Week: RF Steve Ferry (Trenton Black Sox) -- .414, 4 HR, 10 RBI.