Ruben "Streak" Souffront and the Denver Brewers

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers bats certainly seem to be coming to life now as they take the first two of three from Brooklyn, 7-2 and 7-1.
The team also continues to get much better performance from starting pitcher Bobby Arends then we have any right to expect. Thus far Arends seems to be a real over-achiever. We can only hope that he has been under-estimated by the scouts and can continue to pitch at the level he has so far.

[BirdWatcher]

And on the heels a nice stretch by the Brewers, the first place Portland Wild Things make a point of showing Denver that they aren't quite ready to play with the big boys yet.

[stevem810]

Originally Posted by BirdWatcher

We haven't talked much about Ruben Souffront lately. Which I suppose might be some kind of clue.
After having started the season pretty well, Ruben has really struggled at the plate, and at times also in the field, these past few months.
He is still among the team leaders in HR's with 6, and he has stolen 20 bases while only being caught 5 times.
But his strikeouts to walk ratio continues to get worse and he just isn't putting the bat on the ball often enough.
At this point the plan likely for the rest of the season is for Rondeau to take over in rightfield on days where a right-handed starting pitcher is on the mound against the Brewers. Souffront will continue to start against lefties and get the occasional start against a righty as well as being available off the bench for pinch-hitting and pinch-running duties. Hopefully Ruben won't consider this too much of a demotion and a little breather might rejuvenate him.

This season has been a step back statistically, but, at 23 he'll likely ramp it up and start putting up the numbers.

Ryan Rodgers, what a profile.

[BirdWatcher]

I hope so. In the game I just finished, which was the last game of August, he did hit a mammoth HR, his 7th of the season, and went 2 for 4. So some signs of life. He also now has 24 stolen bases with just 7 times caught stealing. So not all bad news.

And granted, offense was down this season league wide. Still, compared to other young Brewers players like Rondeau and Erbakan, Souffront's numbers have been quite disappointing. Though Antonio Puente's (he hit HR #10 in this same game) have been even worse in some ways. It feels like he is consistently striking out with runners in scoring position and it drives me crazy!

[BirdWatcher]

Great August for the Brewers top minor league positional prospect, Joe McPhillips.
He's a long way from the majors still, but hopefully this is a just a sign of things to come.

[BirdWatcher]

Heading into the first full week of September the Brewers remain very much in striking distance of first place in the MGL, in spite of a couple of tough losses against the lowly Aces at Brooklyn Grounds.

And with 75 wins in hand and 23 games left it is likely that the team can achieve its owner mandated goal of finishing with a winning record.

With roster expansion, the club welcomes back Andrew Kennedy, Miguel Campos, Oscar Vargas back up from AAA Chester. They also see Tanner Yurek return from his extended hamstring injury and a short rehab stint at Chester.
In addition, Dave Harder, one of the team's most talented relief pitching prospects, also came up from AAA, much to the pleasure of the owner who has been insisting that the team needed a local player to add to fan appeal. (Harder is Denver-born and bred.)
Perhaps most surprisingly, the team reached down to AA Nashville to bring 1965 first-round draft pick Jaden Francis up to the big league club for the first time. Francis has had uneven, and often disappointing, minor league numbers, but the scouting staff believes that he has made major strides in development during this 1968 season. And he acquitted himself pretty well in his first appearance with the Brewers, performing mop-up duties in a brutal loss to Brooklyn, working 3 1/3rd innings.
Likely Francis will spend most of 1969 at AAA Chester, but there is a good chance that he will also be first in line to fill-in any injury-created gaps in the Brewers bullpen.

[BirdWatcher]

A few quick words about outfielder Andrew Kennedy, including some musings about the oddities of scouting.
First of all, it was disappointing to see that Kennedy, who previously had shown such great leadership skills (including during his stint on the Brewers earlier this season), has apparently lost some of his leadership luster. He should still be a solid clubhouse influence, but not nearly so impactful as before.
It also seems that the scouting staff has lowered their expectations of Kennedy's ultimate potential as a major league player. But here is what is odd: given his very fine contact and gap power potential and the belief that he will develop a very strong ability to avoid striking out frequently, the scouting staff projects him as potential .330 hitter. That's pretty rarefied air. And in the next breath they proclaim him an above average defensive leftfielder. And all of that adds up to a utility role?
I guess Kennedy can take this as motivation to prove that he is starter material.
(At the very least, I see him as a valuable guy to have on the bench as a plus bat.)

[BirdWatcher]

I have to confess, this guy fascinates me.
We drafted him basically just because of his power arm and potential for a superior fastball.
Because of his high stamina our scouting staff projects him as a starter, and indeed that is the role he has been playing at the minor league level. And with some decent success.
But while he has two already very well developed pitches, there are those in the organization who caution that he is unlikely to develop anything other than a very poor change-up as a third.
It is also expected that his well below-par movement will lead to him giving up a lot of homeruns.

And yet.
And yet, I can't help but wonder what it looks like if his control develops to the average range that is expected, and if he maxes out his potential stuff. Which is already superior even by major league standards. What if this guy is in the bullpen in the future, striking out batter after batter? As long as he doesn't walk an inordinate amount of batters, would the occasional solo HR be that high a price to pay?
He could be fun to watch.

[BirdWatcher]

We like what we are seeing so far from our most recent first round draft pick, Kansas City born and raised former St. Louis College hurler Steve Green.
In his 14 starts thus far at Jersey City (short season A-ball), Green has been getting better and better. In his most recent 3 starts he has pitched a total of 28 innings (hmm, pretty high pitch counts, too- hope our manager down there isn't taxing the kid too much), allowing a total of 3 runs on 18 hits.
Still a fairly long road ahead, but after 4 years at the collegiate level, and a little over 22 years of age, he might be on the fast-track to the WPK and the Brewers starting staff.
Fingers crossed that things continue to go in the right direction and he stays healthy.

[BirdWatcher]

As we head into the final month of the season, here is a little look at the teams numbers for the season thus far.
Just imagine what the season would look like without that May record? June and July were pretty good, though not as spectacular as April and August. But if May was only a bit closer to .500- wouldn't even have needed to be a winning month- the Brewers are a first place club.

Clearly we prefer home cooking. Much better home record.
And we have preferred to face left-handed starters. Which, given the poor performances this year by our best left-handed hitters and the relative strength of our right-handed bats, is not a surprise. And we've been very good in one-run games. But looking at our pitching rankings in the league that shouldn't surprise either. We are 1st in runs allowed, hits allowed, and strikeouts, and second in opponents batting average. We have been stingy allowing HR's (although Steve Alonso elevates that number a bit with his propensity for giving up the long ball) and middle-of-the-road in bases on balls allowed. Our defensive efficiency ranking is a bit misleading, as we have great defensive range at most positions, though we do remain a bit error prone.

While our offensive rankings are all pretty poor (with the notable, and usual, exception of stolen bases, which we routinely lead the league in) many of these represent improvements over the rankings even a month ago.

[BirdWatcher]

Blow-out win this morning (10-1) against the Baltimore Lords pushes the Brewers record (I'm pretty sure- not in front of game) to 77-66.
With 19 games left in the season, if the Brewers finish the season exactly at the pace they are on thus far (.538 winning percentage) that would mean a final record of 87-75. Which would tie the best record in team history thus far (1965, season 1 of this baseball universe.)

Which would be fine and pretty much in line with my hopes/expectations for this season.
The team owner's ask for this season was a winning record. Not assured of that yet, but that should be very achievable at this point. The owner wants a championship by 1970. Always an impossible thing to guarantee, that. But if present trends hold I think it isn't unreasonable to hope the team can contend for the MGL title in 1970. (And, really, we are still in contention this year, though it's very unlikely we make a strong enough late push to take the league crown.) And beyond that, well, who knows.

Two great games in a row for Pat Rondeau (rhyme unintentional), as he pretty much single-handedly keeps the Brewers in a 4-3 loss to Phoenix (don't recall all the details right now, but I do know that he drove in all 3 Brewers runs) and then he was a key part of today's victory, as he tripled and hit his (IIRC) first HR of the 1968 season (a 3-run shot). I believe he also picked up his 19th stolen base of the season.

Thinking ahead to 1969, it is clear to me that one of the challenges will be getting enough playing time for 4 talented outfielders. The good news is that Rondeau is very proficient at all 3 OF positions. So he will certainly be giving breathers on a weekly basis to the 3 starters and depending upon how things go with Souffront in RF, Rondeau could be the starter or co-starter there. (Probably his strongest spot too, as he has a better arm than Ruben.)

A good problem to have, admittedly. Though this somewhat assumes that Antonio Puente and Ruben Souffront bounce back next year. Puente, who had been showing some signs of life, is scuffling at the plate again. Ruben has been a little better lately, though not playing nearly as often. He has provided some very timely pinch-running stolen bases.

[BirdWatcher]

A three game sweep on the road against the Baltimore Lords moves the Brewers ahead of the Lords in the standings, into 4th place and now just 3 1/2 games behind the league leaders, Portland.
Ruben Souffront's bat seemed to wake up during this series as he hit the big 2-run 7th inning double that gave the Brewers the margin of victory in a 5-3 win in game 2 of the series (he was 2 for 4 in the game) and he then went 3 for 5, hitting his 6th triple of the season, in the 6-0 game 3 victory. In sweeping the Lords, the Brewers outscored them 21-4.

Meanwhile, down at AA Nashville, centerfielder Jordan Gallardo had a great week at the plate to take Player-of-the-Week honors. Gallardo is not considered a premium prospect, but he is a hard worker, a very bright man, and an all-around good egg. With his great defensive skills and very good speed, he is a favorite of many in the Brewers organization to at least provide great value off the bench at some point in the not too distant future. He is a real favorite of management.

[BirdWatcher]

In the midst of a difficult season for veteran lefty Alex Burley, September has thus far been a bright spot. With his second straight complete game win in the month, this one a 3-hit shutout, Burley is one of many factors in the Brewers push for contention.

[BirdWatcher]

As we enter the home stretch of the 1968 WPK season, things are getting very interesting in the MGL and for our Denver Brewers.
Recent great success for the Detroit Falcons has lifted them back into second place in the MGL, a mere 2 games behind the Portland Wild Things. And the Brewers are right behind them at 2 1/2 games off the pace. Phoenix and Baltimore, at 3 out, are also in the thick of it.
The SJL, on the other hand, is down to 3 teams and the 2-time WPK Champs, Jacksonville, is virtually, if not mathematically, out of the running at 10 1/2 games behind Columbus. On the other hand, reigning champions Washington, have been on fire and are now within 4 games of 1st place.

As for the Brewers and their very real chance to win the MGL: it is mostly a very favorable schedule for the Brewers coming down the stretch. Eleven of their fourteen remaining games are at home. They will be playing 3 more against last place Charlotte, 6 more against 6th place San Francisco, who are just 2 games over .500, 3 more against the slumping Baltimore Lords, and 2 against 1st place Portland.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers win game 1 of 3 versus San Francisco but Portland and Detroit also are victorious and Denver remains 2 1/2 games behind in 3rd place.
Another nice game for Ruben Souffront as he goes 2 for 4, picks up his 6th double of the year and steals two bases to get up to 27 for the season (with 8 CS).

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers hold on for a narrow victory in game 2 against San Francisco, but once again Portland and Detroit win (by large margins this time) and the Brewers don't gain any ground in the MGL.
Brewers get a big game from Arturo Baca, who went 3 for 3, scored 1 run, and stole 2 bases (14 SB, 3 CS).

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers complete a 3-game sweep of San Francisco behind the fine pitching of lefthanded starter Daniel Torres.
Having won 5 in a row the Brewers are now in 2nd place, 1 1/2 games behind the Portland Wild Things.
At this stage of things it is projected that the Brewers have a 16.3% chance of winning the MGL, behind both Portland (57.3%) and third place Detroit (18.4%).

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers drop game 1 of the 3-game series against the Baltimore Lords at Brewers Field, but shut-out the Lords in game 2.
The Brewers drop into a tie for second place with Detroit, just 1 game behind Portland, who have dropped 2 straight.

[BirdWatcher]

For the second time in 3 games the Brewers lose to the Lords in extra innings.

[BirdWatcher]

But then another great performance by Daniel Torres, this time backed-up by a robust offensive attack, gets the Brewers back on the winning path.
Arturo Baca provides a big offensive boost, going 2 for 4, including hitting his 4th HR of the season. Also, recently promoted catcher Kevin Curtis (starting catcher Brett Wood is currently sidelined with a bruised wrist (day-to-day)), picked up his first 2 major league hits and they were big ones: an RBI double in the 3rd inning and a 2-run HR in the 5th.