Ruben "Streak" Souffront and the Denver Brewers

[BirdWatcher]

Also called up on September 1st was nearly 20-year old shortstop/thirdbaseman Jamie Ledbetter. Ledbetter had a short stint on the Brewer's earlier in the season during the injury absence of back-up thirdbaseman Hector Uribe. Ledbetter is a superior defensive infielder with good speed and great base-stealing ability who could have a major league role, possibly even as starting thirdbaseman for a time, if his bat improves enough to be at least league average.

[BirdWatcher]

A third player to be brought up at the start of September is 28-year old outfielder Andy Wing. Wing, who was picked up in trade earlier in the season, is basically considered a AAAA player and is not a part of the Brewer's future plans. But given the continued struggles of rightfielder Ruben Souffront, and with Wing's exceptional defensive abilities and his reputation as a real sparkplug on the field and in the clubhouse, it was felt that he could be valuable heading down the stretch of a disappointing and bitter season. Likely Wing will be trade bait in the off-season.

[BirdWatcher]

And finally, the most surprising call-up: 23-year old firstbaseman Cody Otis. Otis is not considered major league caliber by the scouting staff but the past two years has done nothing but tear up the minor leagues, mostly at the AAA level, with his bat. It was felt that he had earned the reward of at least a cup-of-coffee in the bigs. And it could also serve as an audition for a possible trade to another organization in the off-season.

[BirdWatcher]

Brewer's Organizational Report: Minor league promotions
With four players called up from AAA, there was need for a bit of shifting of minor league talent and a few significant promotions were made by the team. Probably the biggest is the elevation of 19-year old firstbaseman/outfielder Bobby Erbakan to the AAA Chester Big Stick. Erbakan is considered the top prospect in the organization (#16 in the WPK) and was extremely unhappy at AA Nashville due largely to the teams abject failure this year (44-89 as of Sept. 5th.) Erbakan is expected to take over as the starter at firstbase for the Brewers in 1968, though there are some dissenters in the front office who feel that Erbakan's skills are wasted in that position. (He is a natural centerfielder.)

[BirdWatcher]

Also promoted to AAA from Nashville was 21-year old centerfielder Juan Magana. Magana is someone thought by most in the organization to have a ceiling of back-up outfielder at best in the WPK, but he is a hard worker with some very fine physical skills who could yet develop into a useful piece at the major league level.

[BirdWatcher]

19-year old outfielder Dave Manning received a promotion from single A Bainbridge to AA Nashville but so far seems to be struggling with the adjustment. There are serious concerns in the organization about Manning's level of effort exerted but he does have some of the best power potential in the organization along with being a very gifted fielder and base-runner.

[BirdWatcher]

Perhaps the minor leaguer who has been the subject of the most discussion among the scouting staff this season is 19-year old Jose Careaga, who recently was promoted to single-A Bainbridge from the short season A-ball club at Jersey City. After an unimpressive 1965 at the Rookie league level, Careaga has emerged a top-contender to be the future thirdbaseman for the Brewers. He has impressed with both his bat and his glove and he projects to be an above-average power hitter once he develops a bit more. Careaga also earns high praise for his intangibles, being considered supremely loyal and a player who exhibits a great work ethic. Since his promotion to Bainbridge he has been even more impressive than ever.
There is still a long journey ahead to the bigs, but at this stage of his career the organization's leaders are hopeful that they are witnessing a star in ascent.

[BirdWatcher]

Week-in-Review: August 29th-September 4th, 1966
The Brewers were in free fall this week and having been eliminated from contention there is some talk around the league that they are content to finish as low as possible for the rights to a high draft pick in the upcoming new player draft. (As things stand right now, the Brewers would have the #6 pick in the draft.) The Brewers suffered 2-game sweeps at the hands of Phoenix and Oklahoma City and then lost 2 of 3 at Baltimore to end the week.

Who's Hoppy? After having struggled at the plate most of the season, fan favorite secondbaseman Tanner Yurek was showing some signs of coming out of his slump at the plate this week. Yurek (.243/.335/.398, 3.1 WAR) was 5 for 12 with 5 runs scored (55), 2 RBI (48), hitting 2 HR's (12), while stealing his 21st base of the year (with only 4 times caught stealing, by far the best on the team in this area.) Antonio Puente (.280/.373/.544, 5.8 WAR) continued his hot ways, particularly with the long ball, as he collected 8 hits in 20 AB's, 3 of them HR's (30), scoring 5 runs (69), driving in 7 more (89). He also picked up his 15th double of the season.

Who's Hungover? Captain and starting catcher Sam Rogers (.244/.295/.346, 1.6 WAR) perhaps showing some wear nearing the end of a long season, went just 2 for 22 at the plate, with 4 strikeouts (61) and 1 walk (29). Starting pitcher Steve Alonso, after having won five straight decisions, took two losses just this week, pitching 14 innings altogether, allowing 10 runs (all earned) on 20 hits, while striking out 8 and walking just 1 batter. He also gave up 3 HR's and now has allowed 22 bombs on the year.

What's Brewing Around the League? Although a red-hot Columbus gained a bit of ground on them, the reigning champion Jacksonville Wolf Pack remain atop the SJL with an 86-54 record. Columbus is now 5 games behind them at 82-60, while Washington holds down third at 75-66 (11 1/2 gb). Los Angeles Spinners remain in first in the MGL with an 88-51 mark. Portland is still second at 80-58 (7 1/2 gb) and Baltimore still holds onto third place at 75-62 (12 gb). Jacksonville's great young hitter, Travis Johnson, finds himself in a bit of a slump and his batting average now falls to .403 as he tries to stay above the magical .400 line coming down the stretch.

The Streak Souffront Saga: Ruben (.227/.256/.318, -1.0 WAR) was 3 for 18 on the week, scoring just one run (23), hitting his 10th double of the season, while striking out 3 more times (61) and getting caught trying to steal a base for the 9th time this season (he has just 10 successful steals.)

Brewer's Power Ranking: #18, a new low mark (#1 COL, #2 L.A., #3 JAC, #4 OKC, #5 S.F.)
Brewer's Record: 62-77, .446, 8th place MGL (26 gb L.A.)

[stevem810]

Careaga needs just a nudge to be top prospect. Nice track, so far.

[BirdWatcher]

Week-in-Review: September 5th-September 11th, 1966
The Brewers go 3-4 on the week, dropping 3 of 4 to San Francisco and then taking 2 of 3 from Detroit- all on the road.

Who's Hoppy? Secondbaseman Tanner Yurek (.254/.349/.421, 3.7 WAR) continues to be hot after a nearly season-long slump, giving the front office hope that much of this season was an aberration and that Yurek will in fact become the all-star caliber player they expect him to. Yurek was 7 for 12 this week with 5 runs scored (60), 5 driven in (53), 2 triples (3), 5 walks (54) and he hit his 13th HR of the season (he hit 20 in 1965.) Captain Sam Rogers (.258/.306/.370, 2.1 WAR) perhaps just needed a little rest, as after having a few days off he came back on fire at the plate, going 10 for 19 with 4 runs scored (41), 4 RBI (45), 3 doubles (14) and hit his 9th HR of the year.

Who's Hungover? Starting pitcher Steve Alonso (14-8, 3.15) continues his slide since his 5 game winning streak ended, working just 3 innings in his one start this week, allowing 7 runs (all earned) on 9 hits , allowing 2 HR's (24), striking out 6 (168) while walking 1 (48). He did not suffer the loss though as the Brewers bats bailed him out with a 10-run top of the 9th and Denver won 13-8. Catcher/firstbaseman Franklin Jimenez (.222/.303/.333, -0.2 WAR), picked up in the Ron Poblano trade earlier in the season, has hit a real cold spell. He was just 2 for 14 on the week with 1 run scored (17), 2 RBI (8), hitting his 8th double, walking once (13) but striking out 4 times (19.)

What's Brewing Around the League? Jacksonville holds a narrow lead over the red-hot Columbus Whalers in the Shoeless Joe League. Jacksonville (90-56) is 3 1/2 games ahead of Columbus (88-61) while leading Pittsburgh and San Antonio (each at 77-69) by 13 games. In the Moonlight Graham League, Los Angeles remains on top at 92-53, Portland is still in second but now 9 games behind at 83-62, and Baltimore still holds onto third place, now 12 1/2 games behind with a 79-65 record. On the Travis Johnson chase for the .400 mark front, young Mr. Johnson has now fallen to .394 and will have to get hot again soon if he hopes to reach the magical number.

The Streak Souffront Saga: A few signs of life from young Ruben (.237/.265/.334, -0.8 WAR) as he collects 8 hits in 22 AB's this week, scoring twice (25), driving in 6 runs (28) including a 5-RBI game in the aforementioned 13-8 victory over Detroit, getting his 11th double and 5th HR, as well as his 11th stolen base. Unfortunately he also was thrown out for the 10th time this week, and struck out 4 times (65) with only 1 base-on-balls (12.)

Brewers' Power Ranking: #16 (#1 COL, #2 L.A., #3 JAC, #4 S.A., #5 S.F.)
Brewers' Record: 65-81, .445, 8th place MGL, 27 1/2 gb L.A.

[BirdWatcher]

So sort of a step-back as I find myself thinking about the trajectory of this team.
In spite of the great decline in the record from the 1965 season to this 1966 season, I remain mostly optimistic about the team's future.
My biggest concern is certainly the pitching staff. At this late stage of the season, the starting staff, while not great, has been mostly pretty decent. Statistically, basically middle of the pack. The bullpen, on the other hand, has been mostly atrocious. With the pleasant exception of the development of flame-thrower Armando Cruz over the course of the season. Bill Roache, who was at least our third best pitcher in 1965, has had a horrendous season and it is showing no signs of improving.
The thing is though, the bullpen is quite young at this point and it is likely that Roache will bounce back next year and a few others might start to see their stats more closely match their perceived skills (ratings). The starting staff, meanwhile, is mostly getting old. The only part of the team where that can really be said.
So, 1967 might see a somewhat better bullpen but a worse starting staff.

As far as position players, though, I have to think there will be more steps forward than backward in 1967. Shortstop Chad Brown and leftfielder Antonio Puente are showing all the signs of having star to superstar potential in this league. Tanner Yurek is starting to look like a solid young star at secondbase and hopefully next season can be more consistently good. Catcher Sam Rogers is in the prime of his career and already a two-time All-Star. He will likely at least equal his 1966 production in 1967. Rookies Erik Shelton and Tom O'Donnell have both acquitted themselves well in supporting roles this season and if even one of them takes a step forward in 1967 that could bode well for the team. A.J. White is getting old, but has had a great season in 1966 at the plate. With his defensive skills at third diminishing, he will likely be used a bit more at firstbase next season (good platoon potential with young left-handed hitter Shelton). Zach Banks will likely share time in centerfield with Pat Rondeau. They are both exceptional defenders, speedy runners, and unproven bats. But Rondeau his decent contact potential and great gap power, so if he is ready he might start pushing Banks for the bulk of the playing time.

And then there is Ruben Souffront. What to make of Ruben? His overall skills set still looks solid. He has exceptional speed, above average hitting ability (with even some possible untapped power potential), and is a solid, if unspectacular, defender in rightfield. But his eye at the plate is really holding him back and he took a big step backwards this year from his rookie season. Lately he's been showing a bit of promise again, but he's going to have to take a big step forward next season if he's to hold off the fairly plentiful outfield prospects in the system.

So, what will really happen? Only time will tell. I remain confident that our scouting director knows what he is doing (he has a very good reputation) and I want to believe that this young team will blossom in the next season or two. Meanwhile, it looks like we will have a nice high draft pick in the coming new player draft. That can't hurt, long-term anyway.

But what to do about that aging pitching rotation? That remains the nagging question. (And the need for at least one or two good lefties in the pen.)

[BirdWatcher]

Week-in-Review: September 12th-September 18th, 1966
The Brewers go 3-3 on the week, although with a better bullpen it could have been a much better week. They win single games (rain postponement make-ups) against Phoenix and Detroit, then split a 2-game series with Oklahoma City. They then drop both ends of a double-header against Los Angeles. But the loss against Oklahoma City was a 4-2 game in Denver's favor until the Diamond Kings scored 3 9th inning runs off reliever Bill Roache. And they were leading 1-0 going into the 8th inning in the second game against L.A., when the normally steady Armando Cruz allowed 2 runs on 3 hits (2 HR's) and the Brewers ended up losing 2-1.

Who's Hoppy? A.J. White (.326/.430/.419, 5.1 WAR) had a fine week, going 8 for 18 with 2 runs scored (66), 3 RBI (49), collecting 3 doubles (23). Versatile utility-man Jose Bravo (.207/.271/.306, 0.5 WAR), who is much more known for his great glove than his bat, had a decent week at the plate. Bravo was 4 for 10 with 2 runs scored (30), 2 RBI (25), hitting his 7th triple of the season. Starter Steve Alonso (15-8, 3.05) had a nice bounce-back game, as he got a CG victory against Oklahoma City, allowing just 1 run on 5 hits in his 9 innings worked, striking out 6 (174) while walking three batters (51) in a 6-1 win for the Brewers.

Who's Hungover? It was a tough week at the plate for the team's star, Antonio Puente (.276/.369/.526, 5.8 WAR), who managed just 2 hits in 13 AB's, scoring 1 run (71), walking twice (70) while striking out 6 times (101.)

What's Brewing Around the League? As the season winds down it is looking more and more like L.A. will get a chance to seek revenge for last season's World Series loss to Jacksonville. The Spinners are approaching the century mark in wins (97-55) and are just one win, or one Portland (86-65) loss, away from clinching the MGL. In the SJL, Jacksonville (94-58) is a solid 5 1/2 games ahead of Columbus (90-65). Jacksonville's magic number is 4.
Speaking of magic numbers and 4's: Jacksonville's Travis Johnson has seen his batting average dip to .390 and his quest for .400 is looking to be in jeopardy.

The Streak Souffront Saga: Ruben (.238/.265/.332, -0.9 WAR) was 3 for 11 on the week, scoring once (26), driving in 2 runs (30), stealing one base (12), while also striking out 3 more times (68.)

Brewers' Power Ranking: #16 (#1 L.A., #2 JAC, #3 POR, #4 COL, #5 PIT)
Brewers' Record: 68-84, .447, 8th place MGL, 29 gb L.A.

[BirdWatcher]

It has been gratifying to see young centerfielder Pat Rondeau thus far not look completely overwhelmed at the major league level. In addition to continuing to provide his sterling defense, he has been better than expected at the plate thus far. He even has two homeruns in his short time in Denver, and given his already evident great gap power some in the organization are wondering if he might not have more over-the-fence potential than previously thought. In addition, he has drawn four walks in his thirty seven plate appearances, which for a youngster getting his first taste of major league pitching and not known for his plate discipline, is not bad at all.

[BirdWatcher]

Week-in-Review: September 19th- September 25th, 1966
Brewers fans hope this week was an indication of better times ahead, as the Brewers took 3 of 4 against the two best teams in the MGL. First they beat the L.A. Spinners 2-1 and 4-2 and then split a 2-game series against Portland, dropping a 6-5 decision and then winning 3-2.

Who's Hoppy? In a start against his former team L.A. (he came to Denver in the trade that sent Mark Compton to L.A.), young righty Abel Pennington worked 8 strong innings, giving up 2 runs (2 solo HR's) on 6 hits while striking out 3 (35) and walking 2 (13) in a no-decision which was won by Denver 4-2. Tanner Yurek (.255/.351/.436, 4.2 WAR) continues his late-season resurgence and was 4 for 12 on the week with 2 runs scored (65), 2 RBI (57), hitting his 22nd double and 16th HR and picking up stolen base number 23 (to only 4 caught stealing.)

Who's Hungover? Young leftfielder Tom O'Donnell (.272/.313/.409, 1.2 WAR), who has performed quite well since being called up from AAA in late May, is scuffling a bit at the plate lately and collected just 2 hits in 12 AB's with 4 strikeouts (36.) Joey Brown (11-8, 3.58) continues his roller-coaster season with another very ineffective start (it's been feast or famine with Brown), as he lasts just 4 2/3rds, allowing 11 hits and 5 runs in the Brewers lone loss of the week.

What's Brewing Around the League? The World Series re-match is a go as Jacksonville clinched the SJL at the end of the week and will once again meet L.A. for the championship. Both Jacksonville and Los Angeles currently sit at 99-58 for the season. Meanwhile, Jacksonville star Travis Johnson had a good week, winning Player-of-the-Week honors and has his batting average up to .395 again as we head into the home stretch of the regular season.

The Streak Souffront Saga: Ruben (.240/.268/.345, -0.6 WAR) isn't seeing a lot of playing time but did have a fine week, going 2 for 6, scoring 2 runs (28), hitting a double (12) and a big pinch-hit, 9th inning solo HR (6) that proved the game-winner in the Brewers Sunday 3-2 victory over Portland. Souffront also picked up stolen base number 13 (to 11 times caught stealing, so still need for improvement there.)

Brewers' Power Ranking: #12 (#1 JAC, #2 COL, #3 L.A., #4 S.F., #5 PIT)
Brewers' Record: 71-85, .455, 8th place MGL, 27 1/2 gb L.A.

[BirdWatcher]

We have now reached that magical stage late in a WPK season where we step into the WPK time machine to find out what current players in the league will have relatives who are also professional baseball players and might someday also rise to the level of the W.P. Kinsella League.
(Cue Doctor Who theme music.....)

We step out of our time machine in the year 2010 to find a young man named Malik Lowe, who just happens to be the grandson of Francis Estrada, who in the year 1966 played leftfield for the Charlotte Sting. Estrada, in 1966, is not yet a father, but two years later he will be the proud papa of a baby girl and 23 years later that daughter will have a son of her own (on September 14th, 1991.) That son will named Malik and when he is 18 years old he will be available in the new player draft for the WPK as a secondbaseman who is known as a speedster. (Unlike Gramps, who wasn't all that fast.) Will Malik be good enough to join his grandfather in the rarefied air of the major leagues? That is a story we will let time unfold.

Getting back into our time machine, we head backwards towards 1966 again but we stop just short, in the Spring of 1967, where we find 18-year old Curtis Horah nervously awaiting the WPK first-year player draft. Curtis is the young cousin of current WPK starting pitcher Dan Simmons. Young Mr. Horah is a centerfielder and is known as a defensive wizard, but only time will tell if he has enough else in his baseball bag of tricks to make the bigs. But, in this case, we won't have to wait too terribly long to find out.

[BirdWatcher]

Not quite sure the numbers merit this honor, but nice to see our former first round draft pick (#16 overall, 1965 new player draft) finally start to get some good results in the minor leagues.
Hope this is just the beginning of success for him.

[BirdWatcher]

Week-in-Review: September 26th- October 2nd, 1966
And the 1966 regular season ends with the Brewers dropping 5 of 6 games. (Which, on the bright side, means they will have the 5th pick in next year's new player draft.) They drop 3 in a row at Charlotte against the lowly 9th place Sting. They then travel to L.A. to face the mighty Spinners for the last 3 games of the season. And as they have much of the season, they play tough against the Spinners. They barely lose game 1, 6-5. They take game 2, with former Spinner Steve Alonso on the mound for the Brewers, 3-1, but then lose the final game of the season 6-3.

Who's Hoppy? Utility/defensive specialist Jose Bravo (.223/.283/.340, 1.0 WAR) finishes the season strong with a 7 for 15 week, including scoring 6 runs (36), driving in one (26), hitting two doubles to get to 12 for the year, picking up his 8th triple and his 2nd HR. Sam Rogers (.265/.317/.374, 2.4 WAR) also finishes strong. The captain goes 7 for 16 in the final week of the season, driving in one run (49), hitting his 3rd triple, walking once (35) while striking out twice (69.) Starting pitcher Steve Alonso (16-8, 2.98) finished the season strong with a win against his old teammates, pitching 7 innings of 6 hit, 1 run ball, striking out 6 more batters (187) while walking none (35) in the lone win of the week for the Brewers. Alonso finishes the season tied for the best K per 9 IP rate at 8.0.

Who's Hungover? Young shortstop Chad Brown (.265/.296/.360, 1.4 WAR), who took some solid steps forward in the 1967 season, finished in a slump (although he did go 2 for 4 in the last game of the season). Brown was 3 for 20 on the week, scoring 2 runs (76), and striking out once (29). He also collects a few more errors and finishes the season with 37, down from 1965's 43, but leaving a lot of room for improvement. On the other hand, in the last month or so of the season Brown made several plays that a shortstop of lesser range would not have gotten to, turning probable hits into outs. The Brewers' scouting staff is still high on Brown's potential. Rookie infielder Jamie Ledbetter (.209/.253/.302, 0.1 WAR) also struggled down the stretch and went just 1 for 12 in the last week, driving in 1 run (7) and striking out 4 times (24.) It is likely that Ledbetter will start the 1967 season at AAA, but there is still hope that he will take over at thirdbase in the next few seasons.

What's Brewing Around the League: The Shoeless Joe League champs, Jacksonville Wolf Pack, finish the season at 101-61, 5 games ahead of their nearest challenger, the Columbus Whalers. Los Angeles wins the Moonlight Graham League with a 103-59 record. The very talented Portland Wild Things go into a tailspin at the end of the season and drop from their nearly season-long perch in second place all the way to fourth. Baltimore finishes in second place at 12 games behind L.A. and the San Francisco Velocity also get hot at the end of the season to finish in third place, 13 games out of first.
Young Jacksonville leftfielder Travis Johnson finishes the season with the highest batting average in both leagues, but falls well short of the .400 mark with a .385 average. Still an impressive season for the youngster.
The aptly named Jamison Bash of the last place Detroit Falcons finishes with 50 HR's, easily leading all of the WPK for 1966.

The Streak Souffront Saga: The October scouting report delivered by Scouting Director Nick Meskill contained some encouragement regarding Ruben Souffront's possible future, but his season ends mostly the way it played out the entire season, with a few bright moments surrounding by a good deal of failure. Ruben (.238/.267/.346, -0.7 WAR) went 3 for 16 to wrap up the season, scoring 1 run (29), driving in 2 (33), hitting his 7th HR of the season, walking once (14), while striking out 4 more times (74) and being caught stealing for the 12th time (he was successful stealing only 13 times.) One area where there does seem to be some good news is that the scouting department is starting to believe that Ruben has more power potential than earlier thought. But 1967 will likely be a pivotal year for Ruben as he will be under some pressure to start to live up to his potential. (At least breaking even or being a bit in the positive in terms of WAR would be nice.)

Brewers' Final 1966 Record: 72-90, .444, 8th place MGL, 31 gb L.A.

[BirdWatcher]

Although things got a bit shaky in the 9th inning, the Los Angeles Spinners hold on at home to capture Game 1 of the World Series as they look to get revenge for last year's World Series loss to these same Jacksonville Wolf Pack.

[BirdWatcher]

It took 13 innings, but in the end Jacksonville got the all-important road victory to even up the series with L.A., 1-1. Jacksonville was leading 3-0 until former Denver Brewer Mark Compton hit a bomb of a 3-run HR in the bottom of the 7th to tie things up. The Wolf Pack would eventually score 2 runs in the top of the 13th and L.A. went down meekly in the bottom of the inning to tie the series.

[BirdWatcher]

One of my favorite WPK players is retiring: King Bedlecom. (Yes, his name is the primary reason he is/was one of my favorites.)