Out of the Shadows: The Eclipse League

[luckymann]

Oooooweeee do I like the look of this group. It is perhaps the EL's most balanced, with as few apparent weaknesses as obvious superstars, and a rotation that is up there with the best. It will need to be, however, because the one glaring shortcoming the newly-minted Dodgers have is a dearth of quality relievers. Were I running the club I would be trading off some of my offensive flab for two or three solid BP arms, because as it stands they are at risk of losing a heck of a lot of games that they were leading after 6 or 7. Still, I see them as the main danger to the Black Yankees' title defence in the FC American and capable of making a deep playoff run if they can get past them.

2nd in the FC American.

[luckymann]

Despite a late fadeout that consigned them to another finish in the lower region of the standings, we at least saw the first signs of life last year from the previously moribund Liberty Stars. The flipside of this move down the ladder was, of course, a vastly-improved Draft pick - 3rd overall, in fact. With the Libs being another club whose pitching needed all sorts of reinforcement, their deployment of that pick beggars belief. Sometimes, I guess, management simply falls into the trap of overthinking things.

Carlos Delgado is a fantastic player, and his ability to play both 1B and LF as well as his preferred position behind the plate only adds to his appeal. But Philly already has one of the league's premier catchers in Bob Watson, a very solid 1B in Kelvin Moore, and plenty of more than decent outfield options. So this - there's no other way to put it - was a stupid move on their part and an utterly wasted opportunity to improve their ball club in a far more immediately utilitarian way.

They did pick up a couple decent mound prospects in starter Marcellino Lopez and future Closer Kelvin Herrera, but both are some way off and right now this staff of theirs will have a whole bunch of trouble keeping them in games, thus precluding them from any sort of meaningful competitiveness for the foreseeable future.

4th in the WC American.

[luckymann]

You really have to feel for the Crawfs. They have worked hard to improve over the EL's first three seasons with their 86-76 last year their best record so far, but yet as we enter the 1971 campaign they likely feel further from success than at any other point.

They have once again been pretty smart with their Drafting despite not being among the earliest picks, filling a void at SS with Villar and at 3B with Camargo - two fairly solid if somewhat unspectacular players who should give them decent service with both bat and glove - as well as with future Closer Henry Rodriguez, and have a host of excellent prospects in the wings. And their playing group has plenty of guns such as Oms, Whitaker and Coggins, not to mention the incomparable yet still to show his best Martin Dihigo and a solid pitching staff.

All of which should reassure the Pittsburgh organisation that they are headed in the right direction. That said, I suspect they are in for one of those seasons that makes club management tremble at the knees and question their strategy a thousand times over on countless sleepless nights spent tossing and turning.

Last in the FC American.

[luckymann]

Honestly, I could have picked the Giants anywhere in this group and still not felt confident I had it right. Their problem is the exact opposite of the one KC faces - scoring enough runs to give their fairly woeful pitching some hope of winning.

As fantastic a talent Yasmani Grandel is, with them being so obviously in need of some quality arms his selection is baffling, especially given the presence of both Hank Conger and Edwards Guzman - neither of whom can be considered superstar material, but both of whom are more than serviceable at backstop. To then follow that up by taking outfielder "Soup" Reeves is beyond the pale. They had the 10th overall, with which they could really have nabbed a couple of guns. They will get some mileage from "Sug" Cornelius, but he is no ace, and if Otis Starks ever sees EL action, his ceiling is way lower than they need.

So, having said that, why such a lofty prediction from yours truly? I guess mainly because I think the three I've picked to finish below them are all works in progress rather than finished products. Should any of them outpace their expected rate of progress, it will be at the Giants' expense, standings-wise. The other factor is the quality of their offence. If the staff can at least keep them in games then guys like Judge, Scott - and yes, Grandal - will almost certainly belt them to victory plenty of times.

If they want to win another title to show that the first was no fluke - as is commonly believed - then they best get on with it, because before long they'll have been overtaken by the pack behind them and, being the smallest franchise in the league, trying to catch them again is going to become harder and harder.

2nd in the FC National.

[luckymann]

All is set for another riveting EL season. Here are the main deals and trades that took place over the offseason:

• OF Ruppert Jones (East): 8 years / $1.788m (extension)
• OF Richard Hidalgo (ABCs): 5 years / $1.164m (extension)
• P Dolf Luque (Buckeyes): 6 years / $1.11m (extension)
• P Juan Marichal (Monrachs): 5 years / $964k (extension)
• C Willson Contreras (Black Barons): 4 years / $952k (extension)
• OF Lourdes Gurriel jr (Monarchs): 5 years / $910k (extension)
• 2B Luis Arraez (Royal Giants): 4 years / $882k (extension)
• OF Rich Coggins (Crawfords): 4 years / $870k
• OF Bernie Williams (Lincoln Giants): 4 years / $848k
• OF Rod Allen (East): 4 years / $788k (extension)
• P Devern Hansack (East): 4 years / $694k (extension)
• 2B Lou Whitaker (Crawfords): 5 years / $693k (extension)
• C Miguel Montero (East): 4 years / $560k (extension)
• P Robert Person (Grays): 4 years / $558k (extension)
• P Rogelio Armenteros (Liberty Stars): 5 years / $544k (extension)
• P Frank Barnes (East): 4 years / $505k (extension)

• OF Bill North traded from ABCs to Dodgers for C Choo Choo Coleman and 2B Fred Hutchinson
• SS Damian Jackson traded from Buckeyes to Motown Stars for 3B Orlando Miller
• P Hisanori Takahashi and OF Dee Williams traded from American Giants to Royal Giants for OF Ender Inciarte
• P Marshall Bridges traded from Royal Giants to Grays for P Albert Davis and 3B Chuffie Alexander
• OF Ed Armbrister from the Giants to American Giants for P Carlos Frias and P Carlos Royer
• C Ron Washington traded from Black Barons to Elite Giants for 3B Eddy Diaz
• 3B Eddie Pye, C Perry Hall and SS Frank Warfield traded from Buckeyes to Monarchs for P Bob McClure

Here's how the pundits see things playing out this season:

The top-ranked position players and pitchers:

Last but not least, the 20 best EL prospects:

[luckymann]

Friday 2nd April, 1971 (Opening Day) – St. Louis Giants @ Memphis Red Sox

7.05pm ET, Russwood Park, Memphis TN

Juiced up or not, love him or hate him, one thing cannot be denied - Barry Bonds was one of the greatest to ever play this game. By WAR, the 4th greatest, in fact, behind only Ruth, Walter Johnson and Cy Young.

One would expect he will have a similar impact - if not indeed a greater one given the reduced number of participants - on the Eclipse League. And so I couldn't resist the chance to witness where it all began.

Here is how Barry has imported, remembering this is a DEV ONLY environment. He went a fairly tame 256/396/410 in Spring Training, driving in just the one run.




Can't wait to see how this plays out.

His MeSox open their 1971 campaign hosting FC National rivals St. Louis. Fellow rookie Ricky Nolasco - taken by Memphis with their 2nd Round pick - makes his EL debut for the home side, up against Jae-weong Seo, whose EL career began stunningly in its inaugural 1968 season with a Stovey Medal win, and looks like this in its entirety to this point:




Both sides go into this season with high hopes, and would obviously love to start things off the right way here.

Here's how the two lineups will look:




Let's get things underway. (Unfortunately I didn't check beforehand and hadn't set up the camera angles correctly, so no screenshots I'm afraid!) 30000 in attendance and the air is thick with anticipation.

A 1-2-3 1st by Seo means Barry leads off the 2nd with still no score, and his first at-bat in the EL becomes no AB at all as he walks on 5 pitches. He swipes second with one out for his fist career SB and moves to third on a single by Eddie Rosario, but is stranded there as the game remains scoreless after 2.

Still no score with the pitchers in control when Barry comes up again, with two down and none on in the 4th. He nubs a 2-1 fastball past the mound and beats it out for an infield hit, but Khris Davis can only ground out to short to end the frame.

The game finally gets its first run in the 5th when Ozzie Virgil jr goes deep to the opposite field with some help from a strong cross-breeze to put the home side ahead 1-0.

The visitors answer immediately as Orlando Arcia leads off the 6th with a double over Barry's head and eventually scores on a single by Michael Taylor.

Still 1-1, Barry leads off the 7th and makes his first career out with a groundout to first, poetic if nothing else. The inning does produce a reward for the Red Sox, however, when Virgil jr comes through again, singling Davis home with two out to make it 2-1.

The hosts get something going again in the next as Yonder Alonso leads off with a walk and pinch-hitter Vince Coleman uses his speedy wheels to beat out an infield hit. The rally looks to be killed off when Alfredo Griffin GIDPs, and Seo gets out of the jam by inducing Billy Sample to fly out to CF.

Nolasco looks the real deal and seems to have plenty left in the tank, but Red Sox skipper Dakota LaRoy sticks with the gameplan and brings in Closer Rafael Soriano to try and nail down the win. He strikes out Taylor swinging but then gives up a juicy gopher ball to Willie Kirkland and we are knotted at 2. A Griffin error amps up the pressure even further, and after Judge whiffs for the third time, rookie catcher Yasmani Grandal kills the mood in the room with a booming 2-run bomb to put the Giants up 4-2 and ruin any hopes of my fairytale ending that would have seen Barry belt a walkoff jack in the bottom 9th, all the while providing one for himself.

He does manage a standup double with one out to give the MeSox faithful some hope, and moves to third on a Davis groundout. But Mychal Givens, on in relief of Seo, gets Rosario to ground out to second to lock down a gutsy win for the Giants.

A fantastic start to the season, although obviously not the result the Red Sox were after. Barry's line ends up at 2-3 with a walk and a double, as well as that stolen base - not a bad way to kick off your career.

EDIT: In game two of this series, Barry walks four times, and in the third game he belts his first EL homer and walks 3 more times. He goes on to win the first Player of the Week Award for the season, hitting 391 with 3 HR and 6 RBI. It has begun.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

Doing this in your 16th career game will get you some attention.

[luckymann]

A bit of a roadblock to navigate for Jimsey Roussell, given how stocked the Black Yankees are at his two positions, catcher and CF. Then again, those slots are hard to fill, which holds him in good stead moving forward, at that franchise or another. This is especially so if he continues posting performances like this one.




Sadly, I can't share much information about Jimsey, who played just two seasons for three teams - Birmingham, Nashville and Memphis - between 1929 and 1930. Seamheads, which lists his full name as Edward Lorenzo Roussell and his birthplace as New Orleans, has him down for a 291/327/395 slash with 3 HR and 62 RBI, so he was obviously a fair player. Jim Riley's book doesn't even contain a listing for him, nor does SABR Bio and BBRef's is empty. So the reasons for the brevity of his career will, along with the rest of the data for him, remain a mystery unless I can hunt something down. Which I shall endeavour to do.

[luckymann]

A nice even start across the board to the 1971 Eclipse League season, with a couple teams already putting the lie to my pre-season predictions. The Buckeyes, mainly thanks to a 9-game win streak in mid-month, are on top of the WC National, while the Elite Giants have also begun well. Newark has the EL's best record to this point, going 17-8 to lead the FC American by four games. There is, however, a long way to go.

The AAA Transit League is even tighter, with no team having a lead of more than one. We'll check in a bit further down the track to see how that has played out.






Here are each league's award winners for April:

ECLIPSE LEAGUE

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Rich Coggins (Crawfords) 340 / 8 HR / 22 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Ricky Nolasco (Red Sox) 3-0 / 1.70 / 47 K / 58.1 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Ricky Nolasco.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Ruppert Jones (East) 409 / 7 HR / 15 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Charles Hudson (Motown Stars) 4-1 / 1.62 / 34 K / 61 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Charles Hudson.

TRANSIT LEAGUE (AAA)

• CAC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Jimsey Roussell (Stars) 369 / 9 HR / 24 RBI.
• CAC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Jesse Jefferson (Stars) 5-0 / 2.40 / 46 K / 45 IP.
• FRC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Freddy Galvis (Black Sox) 372 / 3 HR / 25 RBI.
• FRC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Pablo Armenteros (Black Sox) 6-0 / 2.58 / 15 K / 52.1 IP.

News and leaders:

[luckymann]

In 1969 it was ShoTime, last year it was Ozzie Albies, and this year's rookie sensation may well be Fernando Tatis jr of the Monarchs.

One week doesn't make a summer, but boy oy boy what a week it was all the same.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

Edsall Walker - AKA The Catskill Wildman - continues to prove the perfect SP2 foil for CC Sabathia, with a career 58-44 record and an ERA of just over 3, which is 122 as ERA+. He's still under team control for next year, and one would hope the BYs lock CC, him and SP3 Patricio Scantlebury down to long contracts before that runs out.

This sublime game is just another reason why I see him as a key member of their club going forward.

[luckymann]

Hank Thompson is certainly relishing being back in action after his injury layoff. Post a short rehab stint he has dominated since returning to the parent club Black Yankees, and this week has been one right out of the box for him. The BYs already look much stronger for his having rejoined them.

[luckymann]

A while has passed since we shone the spotlight on John D'Acquisto, who despite a relatively modest 47-44 career record has been giving the underperforming ABCs reliable service all the way through, as his 105 ERA+, 81 FIP- and almost 18 WAR attest.

Indy has started much more promisingly this season at 20-15, and John has also begun well at 5-1 / 1.68 after this peach against the Black Yankees.

[luckymann]

If anything, it seems that ShoTime is actually getting better. Or at least more consistent and well-rounded. 6-2 / 2.62 on the mound, 280/393/538 with 6 HR and 23 RBI at the plate, 3.7 combined WAR to this point. His Buckeyes are certainly looking much more robust this year, with the Bell addition having really sparked the lineup. He's on track for 118 runs this year and they are currently 2nd in the WC as a team in this category.

Anyway, ShoTime showed off in this one, giving 8 strong innings and going deep twice with 5 RBI.

[luckymann]

After a couple of seasons plagued by the longball, Masahiro Tanaka seems to have remembered how to keep the ball in the park, more than halving his HR9 rate to 0.5. It is certainly showing in his other metrics, as this gem moves him to 8-3 / 2.14 - giving him an ERA+ of 173, 68 points better than in 1970.

[luckymann]

Sunday 23rd May, 1971 – Philadelphia Liberty Stars @ Hilldale Athletic Club

7.05pm ET, Hilldale Park, Darby PA

Some fascinating races are already forming in the 1971 EL season. None more than in the WC American, where the surprising Liberty Stars are sitting atop the standings. The A's, after a slow start are slowly but surely finding their groove and have now moved into second place. So I thought this a great opportunity to see both clubs in action.

String Bean Williams

No guesses for the origin of Andrew Williams' moniker - at 6 feet tall and just 165lb, "String Bean" seems pretty appropriate. SB, as we'll call him here for brevity, enjoyed a long and fairly success NeL career in the early 20th century, fashioning a 71-67 record for a variety of teams - although not the Athletics - with an ERA of 3.68 (103 ERA+) and, by SH estimates, 12.7 WAR. 1917 was his most successful year, in which he went 12-8 / 2.61 for the ABCs and Royal Giants, but according to Jim Riley the end of the Deadball Era was also the demise of his effectiveness.

In the EL, Hilldale selected him with their 3rd Round pick (51st overall) in the most recent Draft, and he has struggled a bit so far in his rookie year. Still, at just 23 and with plenty of experience to glean, he looks set for a nice run here.




Tonight he finds himself up against a tough competitor in Rogelio Armenteros. If that name seems vaguely familiar then you might be an Astros fan, because it is with the Bin Bashers that he spent his only year in the bigs, back in 2019, going 1-1 / 4.00 in his brief stay.

He's been far more successful and permanent in the EL, which he joined via the Inaugural Draft when the LibStars picked him way down in the 8th Round (153rd overall). He has certainly repaid their faith on the mound, and enters this game with a career 53-55 record (pretty good given the club's record so far) and roughly league average ERA. His win total has increased each year, with him locking down 19 in 1970, and he has started this season well: 6-3 / 3.09.



This is the last in a 3-game series, with the clubs having split the two prior, and with them sitting just a couple games apart there is sure to be plenty of feeling out there tonight, even if it is only May.

The two lineups will look like this:




All is in readiness - BATTER UP!!


After SB sends them down in order, this huge A's lineup wastes no time getting to work. Chino Smith leads off with a single and Oddibe McDowell follows with another one. With one out, Pops Stargell doubles Smith in to give the hosts an early lead.

It doesn't last a half-inning as Elrod Hendricks crushes one out with one on in the next to make it 2-1 Philly.

The A's get a rally going in the home 4th, and Pop Lloyd knocks in the tying run with a single, with Armenteros lucky not to fall behind as Hilldale leaves them full. He barely escapes another jam in the 5th and is really laboring.




Both hurlers are showing plenty of grit, and it is still knotted at 2 entering the late innings, but the visitors get their nose in front in the 8th on back-to-back two-out doubles to Kelvin Moore and Bobby Bonilla.

That run is still holding up entering the bottom 9th, with Philly Closer Simon Castro summoned to try and lock it down. A one-out walk to rookie LD Livingston puts the tying run aboard, but he regathers and the LibStars take a hard-fought 3-2 win.

You can see why they are where they are, this Liberty Stars unit. Light on absolute talent they might be, but they are displaying all the heart in the world. We'll check back in with them later in the season, I'm sure. Meanwhile, the A's were far from disgraced and I've no doubt they'll be there or thereabouts come the pointy end of the season.

[luckymann]

Things remain extraordinarily close at the end of May. In fact, only one team in the entire EL - the 18-34 Lincoln Giants - are 10 or more games out of first place, while just 3 1/2 games separate the first-placed Red Sox from the last-placed Cuban Stars West in the FC National.

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Hank Thompson (Black Yankees) 297 / 13 HR / 28 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Jesse Houston (Royal Giants) 4-2 / 2.29 / 17 K / 59 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Jesse Houston.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Eric Chavez (Athletics) 429 / 6 HR / 22 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Masahiro Tanaka (Grays) 6-1 / 1.50 / 39 K / 60 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Kelvin Moore (Liberty Stars) 348 / 4 HR / 22 RBI.

Things are somewhat more clearly defined in the TL, with the 37-15 Keystones looking fantastic, while the Clowns have snuck out to a 5-game lead in the FRC National.

• CAC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Franchy Cordero (Stars) 393 / 6 HR / 28 RBI.
• CAC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Ranger Suarez (Keystones) 6-0 / 2.21 / 27 K / 57 IP.
• FRC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Derek Lee (Bears) 419 / 9 HR / 36 RBI.
• FRC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Anthony Banda (Black Senators) 6-1 / 2.97 / 64 K / 63.2 IP.

Here are the overall Top 20s by WAR:





And just for the NeLers:





News and leaders:

[luckymann]

Improvement with every season so far for Bake, always a good sign and precisely what you want from a 1st Rounder. The Lib Stars are really give it a go this season, helped by performances like this one.