English Baseball League

[JackOnAMacYT]

Welp, i've created yet another fictional league.

I now introduce you to... the English Baseball League!

[JackOnAMacYT]

Notes before we begin:
- This save begins in the 2025 season
- I will be managing the Derby Rams (after the next post, I will be doing an overview of our roster)
- I will post the results for every Derby game here. I may also include other games that were interesting/important to the league's overall results.

[JackOnAMacYT]

English Baseball League rules:
- There is only one minor league at the Triple-A level
- DH is enabled
- Expansion teams, if there are any, will draft first
- Spring Training is disabled
- Top two teams from each division make it into the playoffs

There's other rule changes, but these are the major ones.

[JackOnAMacYT]

Note that this overview is as of the 26th of February, 2025. I will most likely end up signing some players before Opening Day on the 1st of April.

Catcher: Robert Adamson - 80/80, 26 years old, English
By far our best player, and the one true superstar among this squad. His ability to get contact with the ball is exceptional. Only issue is that he doesn't hit for power much.

First Base: Oscar Smith - 61/61, 27 years old, English
The other great player of this roster. Great contact, and unlike Adamson has decent power.

Second Base: Alan Moore - 42/42, 26 years old, English
One of the weaker players on this squad for sure. His best skill is probably his defense. Even then he's merely good, not great in the slightest. Balanced to the point of frustration.

Shortstop: Josh Sleight - 46/46, 27 years old, English
Another player with not much to note. His batting his decent. His defense is actually quite weak for a shortstop. Definitely a player we don't gain much by keeping.

Third Base: Dean Furse - 39/39, 24 years old, English
Probably our worst batter. His contact is pretty bad, and his power is only slightly better. His defense doesn't really make up for it either. I'll definitely try to get a better player here at some point.

Right Field: Steve Lowry - 43/43, 27 years old, English
Good gap power and a good outfield arm. Doesn't have good speed on the bases though, and his power certainly leaves a lot to be desired

Center Field: Adam Beal - 42/42, 25 years old, English
This man has amazing speed, and will be a major pain for opposing catchers to deal with. Also has good defense and decent contact. Again, his major issue seems to be power, although that is clearly not exclusive to him looking at this roster.

Left Fielder: Arran Ferguson - 49/49, 34 years old, English
Basically the antithesis of every other player on this roster. Great eye and very good power. Only issue is that he lacks the defensive skills and is a slow baserunner.

Designated Hitter: Joel Rodger - 45/45, 21 years old, English
For being our DH, he doesn't seem to have much in terms of batting acumen. Decent speed and contact are all I can really note here.

Pictured below: C Robert Adamson, 1B Oscar Smith, and LF Arran Ferguson

[JackOnAMacYT]

Now let's look at the pitching side of things.

Starting Pitcher #1: Arthur Lewin - 54/54, 26 years old, English
Great movement and good control. His stuff rating isn't too great, but it's not awful.

Starting Pitcher #2: Kieron Alexander - 47/47, 21 years old, English
Alexander has a great cutter, and a very good fastball which he could develop to be even better. Also has great control over his pitches. The major issue he has is his lack of pitching movement.

Starting Pitcher #3: Donegan Kavanagh - 46/46, 32 years old, English
A little bit too well-balanced of a pitcher. Outside of his stamina, he doesn't seem to have any noticeable strengths.

Starting Pitcher #4: Albert Honeyford - 43/43, 30 years old, English
Great stuff rating yet seems to have awful control and only serviceable movement. That being said, he has great ability with all of his pitches, particularly his changeup and cutter.

Starting Pitcher #5: Quincy Wilson - 42/42, 32 years old, English
Well-rounded player with nothing to really note. Has a good slider and changeup I guess.

Closer: Billy Byrne - 44/50, 24 years old, English
Good movement and stuff, fine enough control. Also has a very nice changeup which could get even better as time goes on.

Reliever #1: Justin Carr - 42/42, 31 years old, English
Excellent curveball and fastball. Good stuff as well. However, his pitch movement could definitely be better.

Reliever #2: Oliver Williams - 41/41, 25 years old, English
Good pitch movement and good control, however his stuff is pretty bad and so are his pitches.

Reliever #3: Quincy Warrington - 41/41, 24 years old, English
Very poor knowledge of his pitches. The only saving grace is his decent enough movement and control ratings. Either way, he isn't too good at all.

Reliever #4: Ashley Bunn - 43/43, 29 years old, English
Decent at basically everything. Jack of all trades, master of none.

Pictured below: SP Arthur Lewin, SP Kieron Alexander, and CL Billy Byrne

[JackOnAMacYT]

Entering this season, here are the major weaknesses of this team:

Third Base - Furse is very clearly our biggest weakness on the batting side of things, and we should hope to get somebody else there soon enough.

Relievers - We don't really have any truly good relievers, which will end up being quite bad if we plan on competing for playoff spots in our future.

Power Bats - We desperately need a clear power-oriented batter as at the moment we are very much a contact heavy team

[JackOnAMacYT]

I've offered contracts to three players heading into the season:

3B Rio Brain - 48/48, 20 years old, English
Very good power bat that should hopefully give us a spark at third base. His defensive ratings could be better admittedly, but I still believe he'll be better than our current third baseman

RP Callough Thompson - 49/49, 22 years old, English
Well balanced player who also happens to have an exceptional cutter. Should be a good addition to our bullpen if he signs with us.

SP Robbie O'Keefe - 49/49, 24 years old, English
Great pitches (particularly his changeup) and very good ratings all around.

Pictured below: 3B Rio Brain, RP Callough Thompson, and SP Robbie O'Keefe

[JackOnAMacYT]

O'Keefe has signed for Derby for a one year, 500 thousand dollar contract.

[JackOnAMacYT]

RP Callough Thompson signs for Derby on a 2.76 million dollar contract over two seasons.

[JackOnAMacYT]

3B Rio Brain agrees to a 1 year, 950 thousand dollar contract with the Rams.

[JackOnAMacYT]

Unsurprisingly, we aren't expected to be anywhere close to competing for the playoffs. In spite of our offseason moves, the Rams are expected to finish 65-85. That would be second to last in the North Division according to the pundits.