The Denver Brewers of the W.P. Kinsella League

[BirdWatcher]

Note: Sunday, October 1st was an off day for all WPK teams.

The Denver Brewers:



Bryant Cox gets his first taste of the big league life and it appears he likes it. Cox worked 7 2/3rds innings, blanking the normally hard hitting Baltimore Lords on 6 hits, striking out 3 and walking 1. If it wasn't his first big league start and he hadn't already thrown 102 pitches (and that after having recently returned from the IL) he might have been given a chance to get the complete game shutout win. Fortunately, the bullpen did not let him down and he got his first big league win. Josh Schaeffer hit his 19th home run of the season, scored twice, drove in 2 runs, and added to his MGL-best walk total with two bases on balls to get to 107 for the season. Val Guzman drove in a run to become the second MGL player to crack 100 this season (Baltimore's Robert Mustard has 101). Joe McPhillips hit his 27th double of the season and Zacarias Martell went 2 for 4 in the game, scoring one run and driving in another.

The Shoeless Joe League Pennant Race:




Well, I was really hoping that this would come down to the final day of the regular season.
But the El Paso Dawgs had other ideas and the Houston Cavaliers also gave them a hand.
El Paso is the SJL champ for the first time in their history after getting a walk-off win against the reigning champ Columbus. Former Brewer Brad Sherman was the walk-off hero, hitting a solo homerun to lead off the bottom of the 9th as a pinch-hitter against Columbus' talented 22-year old future rotation anchor Bill Thompson.
And somehow Philly managed to get their butts kicked by the 98-loss Houston Cavaliers. And that was that.

Still, I have to say that I am personally thrilled to see the El Paso Dawgs rise from their status of the laughingstock of the league for the first decade of the WPK existence to finally earning their chance for championship glory. They will have to defeat the now 110-win Denver Brewers to claim the ultimate prize, but hey, stranger things have happened. I wouldn't bet against David in this particular battle with Goliath. (Even though my team is Goliath in this analogy.)

[BirdWatcher]

The Denver Brewers:

Tuesday, October 3, 1978:



The Brewers win a slugfest in the penultimate regular season game of the 1978 season with Antonio Acuna (.361/.405/.644) leading the way, going 3 for 6 with 3 runs scored, 3 driven in, hitting his 12th home run of the season.
Brett Taranto (.347/.381/.535) also went 3 for 6 and hit his 33rd double, as did Jose Figueroa (.288/.325/.364), who also scored 3 runs and drove in another. John Weaver got the start and it once again didn't go well. Weaver gave up 7 runs on 8 hits over 4 innings. Weaver did, however, hit a massive solo home run in the 2nd inning, the first of his big league career. Cory Degano (1-0, 6.43) got the win with 2 innings of relief in which he allowed 1 run on 2 hits.
Jon Williams (.239/.309/.477) hit his 5th homer.

Wednesday, October 4, 1978:



And the Brewers get pretty well man-handled by the Baltimore Lords in the final game of the regular season, as veteran left-hander Erik Sloan (10-5, 4.29) gives up 6 runs (5 earned) on 7 hits over 4 innings pitched. Richard Escamilla hit his 2nd home run as a Brewer (in just 12 plate appearances) and finishes his brief first stint with the club with 8 RBI. Joe Willemse (.272/.307/.350) and Willie Olivarez (.450/.450/.700) both went 2 for 4 in the loss, with Olivarez hitting his first big league triple.

Notes from around the WPK:

After clinching the SJL pennant in the first game of the final series of the regular season, El Paso loses the final two games to Columbus while Philadelphia wins their final two against Houston and the final standings see El Paso winning by just 1 game over Philly and 2 over Columbus.

L.A.'s Jesus Hernandez hits a pair of home runs in Tuesday's game to get to 32 on the season and that is where he finishes, with the most home runs of any player in the WPK this season (Bud Lindsay finishes with the most in the SJL at 31).
Brooklyn's Jose Hernandes pitched a great game against Charlotte on Tuesday and finishes with a 15-4 record and a 2.23 ERA. But Denver ace Sadahige Kawasaki takes the ERA crown with a 2.22 ERA.

[BirdWatcher]

Shoeless Joe League:




Moonlight Graham League:

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:



Going into the final day of the 1978 regular season, El Paso center fielder Pete Wiederkehr was leading in the race for the batting average title in the SJL, hitting .331 to San Antonio's terrific rookie John Freeman's .330. But in the final regular season game Wiederkehr went 0 for 3 while Freeman only came in for one pinch-hit appearance for the Keys on that final day, and though he made an out, he had in the end narrowly edged out Wiederkehr for the batting title. Both players finished with .330 averages, when rounded to the third decimal, but Freeman edged Wiederkehr .32969 to .32960. This was the closest batting title race in WPK history thus far.
Freeman is almost surely going to add a Rookie of the Year award to his accolades soon as well. While Wiederkehr is searching for a bigger reward- his first WPK championship ring.

MGL:



For the second straight year the Brewers Brett Taranto wins the MGL batting title, and rather easily. This season he also led the league in at-bats (654), hits (227), triples (15), slugging percentage (.535), OPS (.916) and WAR (7.4). Whether it will all be good enough to claim his first league MVP award is yet to be determined. (In 2,037 career big league plate appearances, Taranto now has a career batting average of .347.)

[BirdWatcher]

So here we are on the cusp of the 14th annual Kinsella Classic Series to determine this year's WPK champions.

Let's take a quick look at the teams in this year's series.

First an overview of the Shoeless Joe League's El Paso Dawgs:




As has been well documented here, the Dawgs were the weakest club in the SJL for the first decade of the league's existence, and while they have been steadily improving for a few years, this marks the first time they will compete in the KCS.
The Dawgs offense was fairly middle of the road in the SJL in 1978- they finished 6th (out of 12) in runs scored, 10th in home runs, 11th in base running, and 4th or 5th in most other categories. On the pitching side of things they were much better, finishing 3rd in runs against, starters ERA, FIP, pitching WAR, and strikeouts. The bullpen was not quite a good, finishing 6th in ERA. They are a tremendous defensive team, though, and their +45.9 ZR was second in the WPK to only Denver. They made the fewest errors in the SJL and had the 2nd best defensive efficiency.

Now the Brewers:




Well, you know the Brewers. They finished with 111 wins this season, topping the previous high of 108, which they had also set back in 1971.
The Brewers finished 1st in most major offensive categories in 1978, other than stolen bases (4th) and home runs (3rd).
As for pitching and defense, the Brewers were 2nd in runs against, starters ERA, FIP, and strikeouts, 1st in pitching WAR, and 5th in bullpen ERA. Defensively, they finished with a WPK best +52.7 ZR and were 1st in defensive efficiency while finishing second in errors. (Though their 97 errors were a bit better than the 104 that El Paso committed in leading the SJL in this category.)

Let's compare teams by position:

Starting pitching:
This is pretty close to a wash, with both teams having talented and deep rotations. A slight edge might go to Denver just based upon their ace (Sadahige Kawasaki) being more dominant than El Paso's ace (Dan Bottom.)

Bullpens:
Not the biggest strength of either club. The late innings are probably in slightly better hands for Denver but let's essentially call this even. Though one factor that might end of being important is that El Paso has just one left-hander in the 'pen (and a left-handed Ace in Bottom), while the Brewers bullpen has 4 left-handers and 3 right-handers for the series (with an all right-handed rotation.)

Catchers:
This is another close category but I think the edge has to go to the Brewers again. El Paso starting catcher Spencer Wilson, a former Brewer, is basically Zacarias Martell lite. And while backup catcher Yasujiro Oshima is theoretically a better hitter than Denver's Kirk Patnode (though their season numbers would differ from this assessment), he is clearly inferior to Patnode defensively, largely just because he has a very poor throwing arm. (He is otherwise defensively quite good.)

First basemen:

Pretty huge advantage to the Brewers. Possible MGL MVP Brett Taranto matched up against 2-way player Vincent Medina, who is a solid hitter and average defender and backup Jason Mason, who is fine all around, but nothing special.

Second basemen:
With Brewers superstar Bobby Erbakan not on the post-season roster due to a back injury, the advantage would have to go to El Paso at this position. They have a budding star in Nathan Littlepage, and former Brewer Jonathan Koch, having recently returned from the IL, backing him up. Not to mention 34-year old veteran Josh Waldron, who can still provide some quality off the bench. Not that rookie Jose Figueroa and veteran back-up/utility infielder Joe Willemse haven't done a fine job in Erbakan's absence, but this one goes to the Dawgs.

Third basemen:

Veteran Trevor Leach has been a star in this game for a long time and is the team captain for the Dawgs. He may not have as potent a bat as he once did but he is still a fine defensive third baseman and the edge has to go, even if not as much as one might expect based upon reputation, to El Paso at this position. As for the Brewer's Jake DiCesare, he has proven to have a fine bat and his defense has been something of a revelation. (Denver also has the luxury of having several other excellent defensive players who can play this position if needed in Figueroa, Willemse, and Nick Ward.)

Shortstops:
This is a position of great defensive strength for both teams but Denver's Rich White also provides some quality at-bats while El Paso's Brennan Anderson is, as an offensive force, well, a really good defensive shortstop. (In other words, all glove, no hit.) So, advantage Denver.

Leftfielders:
El Paso's Curtis Horah is the greatest defensive player of his generation and a pretty decent little hitter too. Val Guzman emerged this year as a really fine all-around player for the Brewers. The edge here would have to go to El Paso, but not by as much as one might expect.

Centerfielders:
The Brewers Joe McPhillips is a former league MVP and a really fine player. Pete Wierderkehr of the Dawgs is the future and that future is already being realized. Slight advantage still to Joe defensively. But overall this is a pretty solid win for El Paso.

Rightfielders:
El Paso might have the best defensive outfield in the game (though admittedly one of the teams that would challenge them for this title is the Brewers), and right fielder Anthony Schaer won a Gold Glove last year and it likely won't be his last. He is maybe the best defensive right fielder in the game with one of the strongest outfield arms. And actually, he's probably a bit better defensively in center field than Wiederkehr. And yet. And yet he finished the season with a -0.1 WAR, while starting 152 games. That's what a slash line of .184/.305/.269 will do for you. Josh Schaeffer is an MVP candidate. Very big advantage: Denver.

Bench:
Let's not forget about Denver's 4th outfielder Antonio Acuna, who can change a game in a hurry with his power bat, great speed, and superb defense. The Brewers also brought back last year's KCS MVP Jon Williams for this series. Geoff Bartholomew provides depth at shortstop and a bat that has been dynamic all season long, at both AAA and with the Brewers. Nick Ward is the defensive infield specialist and has great speed. And Joe Willemse provides depth and clutch hitting.
El Paso has great depth at second base, a fine young 4th outfielder in Nick Thompson, and a few veteran former stars in Josh Waldron and Bobby Hunter.
Advantage Denver, by a decent margin.


On the whole, on paper, one would have to give the edge to the Denver Brewers.
But they don't play the game on paper, so let's play ball and see what happens.

[BirdWatcher]

Inside sources tell us that one of the toughest decisions the Brewers coaching staff had to make about the final post-season roster was whether to keep Erik Bettencourt and have three catchers or to include outfielder Jon Williams, who was the KCS MVP last season but has not played much with the Brewers this season and then not very well. In the end they went with Williams.
In game 1, he showed them why that was a good decision.
In his first three plate appearances, Williams drew bases on balls. The first time, in the 3rd inning, he then moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Sadahige Kawaski, then stole third and came home when the catcher threw the ball into left field. His next time up, leading off the 5th inning, he walked again, again took second on a sac bunt by Kawasaki, and again stole third. (This time the catcher did the wise thing and just held onto the ball.) He then scored on a Rich White sac fly. At that point the score was 2-2 and the Brewers hadn't even managed to collect a single hit yet off El Paso ace Dan Bottom. It was all Jon Williams.

In the end, it took a Rich White walk-off 2-out single in the bottom of the 9th for the Brewers to take game 1 (Kirk Patnode had led off with a single and Nick Ward came in to pinch-run, eventually taking 2nd on a pickoff attempt that went awry, and scoring when White dropped a single into fairly shallow centerfield- a slower runner would almost surely not have made it) but without the heroics of Jon Williams they likely wouldn't have even had that chance.



Sadahige lasted 8 innings, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits. Tim Shore blew the save when he allowed 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk in the 9th to necessitate the walk-off win.
The Brewers only managed 5 hits in this one (though El Paso's uncharacteristic 5 errors helped) with 2 of them off the bat of Kirk Patnode. Jose Figueroa's lone hit was a 6th-inning double.

[stevem810]

5 errors. Wow.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by stevem810

5 errors. Wow.

Right. I'm going to chalk it up to the post-season jitters. This is the first time for this team after all and I'll have to check but I'm not sure that any of their players have KCS experience.
Okay- I looked it up and they do have a small handful of players with post-season experience, most of them as members of the Denver Brewers. So second basemen Jonathan Koch and Brad Sherman both have rings from their time with Denver as does reliever Eric Marino, though it appears that Koch didn't actually play in the KCS in his time as a Brewer.

Relievers Alvaro Hernandez and John Tegel also both have post-season experience. Hernandez in fact has 3 championship rings from his time with Columbus. Tegel was in 2 KCS as a member of the Los Angeles Spinners, in 1973 and 1975, neither of which ended with a championship for his team.

[BirdWatcher]

It was well known heading into the 1978 KCS that the teams respective bullpens could be a their area of greatest weakness, and in game 2 it was the Brewers bullpen that played a crucial role in blowing a narrow late lead, giving the El Paso Dawgs the first post-season win in their history.



Sekien Hamasaki gave up 10 hits over his 6 1/3rd innings but still managed to hold the Dawgs to just 2 runs, and only 1 of them was scored prior to his departure. Young left-handed reliever Rand Pinti was responsible for a pair of runs in the 8th inning and Victor Colon gave up what proved to be the game winner in the top of the 9th. Brett Taranto, Joe McPhillips, and Zacarias Martell each collected a pair of hits in the loss, with Martell hitting a double for one of only 2 extra base hits for the home team (Jake DiCesare tripled in the 9th inning and scored the final run of the game, but it was not enough.)

[BirdWatcher]

With all of the awards for the 1978 season having now been doled out in the minor leagues, a few Brewer minor league players took home some hardware.

From the AA Nashville Red Wings, Eric Hammock was named his league's MVP. Hammock ended the season with not only a promotion to AAA but even a brief stint in a Brewers uniform and is in line to vie with Antonio Acuna for the right field job should Josh Schaeffer leave as a free agent at the end of next season, as is widely expected. Fellow Red Wing outfielder Billy Ferguson (.330/.382/.608, 4.5 WAR) finished third in the voting.




His teammate Oscar Medrano (12-6, 2.61) finished second in the Pitcher of the Year voting behind the Detroit Falcons top prospect (#16 in the WPK) Matt Regan. Another Red Wing, Jesus Rodriguez (8-1, 2.21) finished 4th and yet another, Terry Dubiel (6-2, 3.00) finished 6th.



At the AAA level, Yunus Wiseman captured Pitcher of the Year honors as a member of the Chester Big Stick. Wiseman is often referred to (behind his back, of course) in the Brewers organization as a poor man's Harry Lyerly, and isn't thought to have a big league future. Speaking of Harry, he finished in 3rd place for his performance as a member of the Louisville Mud Hens before he made it back to the WPK later in the saeson. Big Stick starter Bryant Cox (13-8, 2.76) , considered much more of a prospect, finished 5th and Owen Carson (14-7, 4.08), a 33-year old Australian former WPK starter, finished just behind him.




Chester's Willie Olivarez (.342/.379/.493, 4.4 WAR) finished 3rd in the MVP voting and teammates Andre Wilkes (.281/.340/.507, 3.5 WAR) and Erik Bettencourt (.355/.410/.538, 4.3 WAR) finished 6th and 7th respectively.

From the single A Bainbridge Brawlers club, outfielder and top position player prospect Matt Catlett (.322/.375/.495, 4.8 WAR) finished 10th in the MVP voting.

From short-season A Jersey City, pitcher Steve Reid (4-2, 1.76) was 6th in the Pitcher of the Year voting.

And Rookie league Greensboro Bisons pitcher Jon Perez (2-1, 0.82) finished 6th in the Pitcher of the Year voting.

[BirdWatcher]

With the scene shifting to El Paso, the Dawgs get a 4-run 6th inning, an excellent game from their budding superstar center fielder Pete Wiederkehr, and some shutdown relief work from Malcolm Gayles to take a 2-1 series lead.




Steve Green got the start for Denver and was humming along pretty good until that aforementioned 4-run 6th inning, with back-to-back home runs off the bats of Wiederkehr (2-run shot) and Vincent Medina doing most of the damage. Green worked 6 1/3rd, giving up 5 runs on 9 hits. Ben Flynn did a fine job in relief, pitching an inning and two thirds of scoreless, hitless, baseball, striking out 2 and walking none, but the damage had already been done and the Brewers couldn't get anything started against Gayles, who lasted 3 innings, giving up just 1 hit and a walk. Jake DiCesare hit a 4th inning solo home run and Val Guzman doubled in the 1st inning, but the Brewers just couldn't put enough offense together to win this one. Brett Taranto went 2 for 5 and drove in 1 run in the loss.

[BirdWatcher]

And then a spectacular start by Jim Atwell and some timely hitting gets the Brewers back to even in the series.




Atwell went the distance, giving up just 1 run (in the 1st inning) on 3 hits, while striking out 5 and walking 4. Brett Taranto hit a 1st inning solo homer to get things started for the Brewers. Zacarias Martell, having a good series so far, hit a pair of doubles (to give him 3 in the KCS) and scored a run. And Atwell himself went 2 for 2 with a run scored and another driven in. Other Brewers with 2 hits in this one: Joe McPhillips, Jake DiCesare, and Rich White.

The score might have been even higher for the Brewers if it weren't for some terrific defensive play by the Dawgs outfield, particularly the other worldly Curtis Horah, who not only made an amazing catch but also threw out Zacarias Martell trying to score in the 2nd inning.

[BirdWatcher]

The good news for the Denver Brewers is that the series now shifts back to the mile high city for the rest of the way.
The bad news is that they have no room for error, needing to win the final two games in order to retain their crown.




The great Curtis Horah's 2-out 6th inning Grand Slam broke the 2-2 tie in this one and provided the Dawgs with the margin of victory. Not a great moment for Sadahige Kawasaki who was charged with 6 runs on 11 hits over 6 innings pitched. Ben Flynn pitched great once again, but the offense couldn't get anything going against starter Dan Bottom and relievers John Tegel and Malcolm Gayles after the 2nd inning. El Paso team captain Trevor Leach continued his assault on Brewers pitching and former Brewer Spencer Wilson also continues to have a strong series.
Kirk Patnode is hitting .571 in the series having gone 2 for 3 in this one and scoring one of the Brewers two runs. And although he didn't pitch a good game, Kawasaki did get the big 2-out hit, a double, that drove in both of the Brewers runs.

[BirdWatcher]

When a David fells a Goliath, the earth tends to shake with the mighty thud of the fallen giant. And so it was at Centennial Stadium yesterday when the El Paso Dawgs drubbed the reigning WPK champions, the Denver Brewers, and earned the first WPK title in the history of their often beleaguered club.
Let's face it, even Brewers fans had to be pulling for these upstarts just a little. Though they probably would have preferred a well played, tightly contested game 7 loss rather than getting humiliated in game 6.



Sekien Hamasaki gave up 8 runs (though only 4 were earned) on 8 hits in just 2 innings pitched before giving way to veteran left-hander Erik Sloan, who settled things down a bit, giving up just 1 run on 3 hits over his 2 and 2/3rds. The bullpen was quite good after that with only Ben Flynn giving up 1 run in 1 2/3rds innings pitched, and the Brewers offense battled back a bit late in the game to make the final score look a little less lopsided than the game really was. But make no mistake about it, the better team (or at least the team that played much better) won.

Veteran third baseman Trevor Leach had waited a long time, over the course of 8 seasons playing for the Pittsburgh Roadrunners and now in his 4th season as a Dawg, and he was ready when the chance finally came, earning the series MVP honors, and well deserved it was.




As for the Brewers- there were certainly some who had a good series: Brett Taranto (.391/.444/.565), Joe McPhillips (.350/.500/.400), Josh Schaeffer (.375/.545/.563), and even rookie Jose Figueroa, whose 3 for 5 day in this final game of the series boosted his slash line to .350/.350/.400. The two catchers, Zacarias Martell and Kirk Patnode also did quite well. Not so good was Val Guzman (.056/.105/.111) or Jake DiCesare (.190/.190/.429) or Antonio Acuna (.200/.182/.200), or, well, any starting pitcher not named Jim Atwell.

[Andrej72]

Sorry to see that, but maybe next year. :-)

[BirdWatcher]

Contract news, players:

The Brewers head into the offseason with very few roster questions and with all of the players on the 40-man roster signed to contracts for 1979 with one exception.
The team has given no indication of intending to bring back veteran relief pitcher Chris Pollack, who was acquired mid-season in a trade with Brooklyn and who posted an ERA of 7.00 in his 13 appearances with the team.

But the toughest decisions were with regards to four veteran players who were entering the final year of their contracts and for whom the team had options on next season.
In the end the Brewers management decided to exercise the option for next year for their prodigiously talented but oft-injured star second baseman Bobby Erbakan, whose $188,000 salary is a steal for the team even if his season is shortened somewhat by injury and they decided to do the same for veteran right-handed starting pitcher Steve Green, who will make $165,000 in 1979. There was some thought that Green might be bought out after his mediocre 1977 campaign and his horrible start to this past season, but a strong second half persuaded the front office to bring him back for at least one more season.

On the other hand, in perhaps the most agonizing decision management has had to make in years, it was decided to buy out team captain Matt Helm's contract, which will make him a free agent this offseason. They also made the same choice regarding veteran left-handed reliever Jason Gottula. Gottula had missed much of '77 with a torn back muscle, returned to have a strong first half this season but then struggled in the second half. While he remains a talented reliever with a wicked curveball, there are questions about this work habits and baseball smarts and the Brewers wanted to give an opportunity to some younger arms who they are high on, particularly left-hander Rand Pinti and right-hander Walter Hackler.

Contract news, personnel:

The Brewers allowed the contracts of several minor league personnel to expire at the end of the season, including their AA Nashville manager, their single A Bainbridge hitting and pitching coaches, and short-season A-ball (Jersey City) manager. They decided to move Rookie-ball level (Greensboro) pitching coach Jeremy Adams up to A Bainbridge, opening a hole in Greensboro.
Then, unexpectedly, Denver assistant general manager Mike Finger walked away from the game.
They have now filled all of these positions except for the Bainbridge hitting coach slot, as they are waiting a response from candidate Pedro Carrero, who specializes in developing a hitter's plate discipline and is regarded as working well with younger players.
For the assistant G.M. job with the Brewers (a position that most see as largely advisory and not very powerful given the strong G.M. at the helm), they hired 51-year old John Keese, who served as the G.M. in Portland for three years (1965-1967) before being the scouting director for the San Antonio Keys from 1969 up until 1977. Keese is believed to favor the development of prospects and is big on having loyalty to the current players and not doing a lot of wheeling and dealing, all of which fits pretty well into the current management philosophy.



For the AA Nashville manager job the team went with relatively inexperienced 51-year old Lucca Holmes, who is known as a tactician with a very laid-back style and likeable personality.



At short-season A Jersey City, the new manager will be 62-year old Mario Gonzales. Gonzales takes a rather conventional approach tactically, and has the reputation of being a fiery leader, but there are indications that he might be a strong developer of talent even if not always a guy who is going to have a happy contingent of players.



He will be joined by new pitching coach Oscar Fuentes, about whom little is known. Fuentes apparently favors a balanced approach as a coach, working with all types of pitchers equally and enjoying working with youngsters. Whether he will have any success is to be determined.

With pitching coach Jeremy Adams moving up from the Rookie League level to single A Bainbridge, the new pitching coach at Greensboro is 57-year old Joe Diehl, who specializes in working with finesse pitchers.

Brewers prospects in the Arizona Fall League:

The Denver Brewers organization's relationship with the Surprise Saguaros continues as always.
This year the Saguaros roster includes left-handed 22-year old starting pitcher Terry Dubiel, who is expected to pitch at AAA Chester this upcoming season and may even get a late-season audition in Denver.
Catching prospect Joey Mendiola is a long-shot for a backup role in Denver in the next year or two but will get a chance to hone his skills a bit more in the AFL. Mendiola is considered a fine defender but has limited offensive upside.
Jose Figueroa, who was with the big league club much of last season, is getting a little extra work as a member of the Saguaros as well.
Infielder/outfielder, potential super-utility player Russell Fleming, who played this last season at single-A Bainbridge and is approaching his 21st birthday, is primarily playing first base for the Surprise club and hitting in the middle of the order. Fleming isn't a top prospect for a future starting job in the bigs, but with his great defensive versatility, strong work ethic, and a bat that shows some promise, he might earn a role similar to that of Joe Willemse in a few years.

A handful of lesser prospects from the Denver organization are also on the team, including: 22-year old starting pitcher Paul Forrester, 16-year old starting pitcher Javy Montenegro out of Nicaragua, 23-year old relief pitcher Nick Muller, 17-year old catcher Steven Allen (another strong defensive, poor hitting backstop), 22-year old catcher Steve Burch (same), 22-year old second baseman Walt Schrand, 22-year old third baseman Cameron Rodger (good power hitting potential, will need to improve his bat-to-ball skills if he is going to have any future), 19-year old center fielder Noah Ballard (great speed, decent defense, but that's about it), 18-year old right fielder Rick Groth (could hit a few home runs if he accidentally runs into a few balls with his bat), and 18-year old right fielder Jaden Washington (excellent speed, smart guy, could still develop into something useful.)

[BirdWatcher]

It's that time of year again- awards season (one of my favorite times on the WPK calendar)- and let's get things started with the Gold Glove award winners in each league.


SJL:




For the great Curtis Horah, this is his 11th Gold Glove of his career. And hey, let's not mince words, he is the greatest defensive player of his era at any position and his 25.8 ZR was once again the best in baseball.
Rookie second baseman (who would probably be a Gold Glove shortstop if that position on his team wasn't already occupied by Bud Lindsay) John Mussaw was second best in ZR at an impressive 24.3 and he earns his first, likely of many, Gold Glove honor. His teammate Bud Lindsay gets number 3 of his career.
Juan Mendoza is pretty clearly the most gifted defensive third baseman in the game these days and he picks up his 5th GG.
The same could likely be said of catcher Elvis Iniguez at his position and this is his 2nd award but surely not his last.
For Curt Carroll and Anthony Schaer this is also their 2nd GG and it is the first for light-hitting, defensively-gifted veteran center fielder Omar Trujillo and pitcher Scott Bunton.


MGL:




The Denver Brewers led all teams in the WPK in most defensive categories, including Zone Rating with a team mark of +52.7.
And yet, somehow, they were shut out in this year's Gold Glove awards voting.
(The two I thought most likely to get one were shortstop Rich White, who was fairly beaten out by the only real competitor for him at his position in the MGL, and Zacarias Martell, who had the numbers in several categories that could have earned him this award, likely for the only time in his career. Josh Schaeffer in right field also had a chance.)

For Greg Alwardt this is his 5th Gold Glove award, though his first one was as second base much earlier in his career.
Former Brewer great Ryan Rodgers won his 4th Gold Glove at the age of 40, having last won one in 1967, and as a center fielder. Had Rodgers retired a few years ago he would have been a likely, but perhaps not sure, Hall of Famer. This late career push though has him moving well into sure thing HOF territory.
It is also the 4th GG for L.A. second baseman Bryan Perry.
Baltimore center fielder Mike Schimmel wins his 2nd Gold Glove.
For all other MGL GG winners it is their first time.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:




There was absolutely no suspense here as it was a sure thing that Columbus' wonderful young closer, and team captain, Jamar Clay was going to win this. The only real suspense is how close he will get to also winning the Pitcher of the Year award. It is the first Reliever of the Year award for the 25-year old Clay, but almost surely not his last.

MGL:




San Francisco's Joe Hall is only 24 years old (he turns 25 in less than a week) but he has now already captured two Reliever of the Year awards in the MGL. He is a dynamic young multi-inning reliever with a wicked curveball which he pairs with a moving fastball in the low 90's. While he deserves this honor I really though it was going to go to Ben Bakeman and I also expected the Brewers Tim Shore to at least make a showing in the voting.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:




It was the 4th time to win a Silver Slugger award for 4 SJL hitters: catcher Lupe Ramirez, probably the best power hitter at his position in the game, second baseman Xiao-mei Mah, winning his 4th in as many WPK seasons since coming over to the league from Taiwan, shortstop Bud Lindsay, and right fielder Bill Winchester.
All others on the list are there for the first time.

MGL:




And the Brewers finally get on the award board, with first baseman Brett Taranto claiming his 2nd Silver Slugger award.
L.A.'s future Hall of Fame third baseman Jesus Hernandez wins the 5th of his career.
All others in the MGL are first time winners, though some (see Mustard, Robert) almost surely will earn more in the future.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:




There was really no competition here. Freeman was fantastic, all others were mediocre at best.
Let's just look at a comparison by WAR for the season:
Freeman, 5.6
Cline, 1.8
Romero, 0.5
Gallegos, -0.4
Yup, that's how lopsided this one was.

MGL:




Although there were more really good candidates for this award in the MGL, it was still pretty much a given that Mr. Mustard would win it. The real question is, will he also win the league MVP award as a rookie?