Ruben "Streak" Souffront and the Denver Brewers

[BirdWatcher]

Among the players called up to the Brewers on September 1st are catcher Kevin Curtis, outfielder/firstbaseman Andrew Kennedy, and relief pitcher Jaden Francis.
All three have had WPK time with the Brewers in the past 2 seasons but have yet to stick at the big league level.
Curtis is thought likely to be given the chance to platoon with Joey Townsend next season at the catcher position unless and until a suitable starter can be identified. (The veteran Matt Webb will likely be allowed to walk away as a free agent at the end of this season.) Curtis is unlikely to ever hit for a decent average at the WPK level, but he is very good defensively (though with just an average arm), will likely be able to draw a decent number of bases on balls, and when he does make contact, as rare as that might be, can drive the ball into the gaps for extra bases.
Kennedy has been lately getting some playing time at AAA Chester at firstbase and this should increase his chances to make the team in 1970 as both an outfield (leftfield mostly) and firstbase backup. While neither a spectacular fielder or runner, Kennedy is expected to be a well-above average, if not tremendous, hitter at the WPK level as he matures. His lefthanded bat would complement the righty Erbakan well at the firstbase position and he provides potentially great pinch-hitting skills when not starting. And unlike a few other lefties in the lineup- Antonio Puente and Tanner Yurek- Kennedy shows indications of hitting same-handed pitchers almost as well as he does right-handers. Also not insignificant to Brewers management is the high regard teammates have for Kennedy, who is emerging as a true leader in the organization.

Francis remains a pitcher the organization has high hopes for, in spite of his spotty minor league track record and recent struggles at AAA. He has solid raw skills, a fantastic curveball to go along with what should develop into an above average fastball, good HR suppressing skills and already great stuff. Where Francis continues to struggle is with his control. It is still projected that he will develop at least slightly above average control and if and when that time comes he could be a very solid member of the bullpen, likely in a set-up role. But if there is one area where the Brewers have ample depth, both currently at the WPK level but also at all levels of the minors, it is relief pitchers. So Francis will have to start producing soon or he may find himself on the outside looking in.

[BirdWatcher]

The recently struggling Brewers get a much needed double-header sweep of the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings.
In the first game, Harry Lyerly once again pitched a gem as he improves to 6-2 (3.34) on the season. While Lyerly did not rack up his customary high strikeout total (4), he also did not allow any HR's, and scattered 6 hits (all singles) and 3 walks over 7 1/3 IP, allowing just 1 run in the 4-1 victory.

Abel Pennington was even more impressive in the night-cap, working 7 innings of 4-hit ball, striking out 5 and walking 2. Unfortunately, he was deprived of the deserved decision as the bullpen blew a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 8th and the game went into extra frames. The Brewers erupted though for 5 runs in the top of the 10th and then barely hung on to win when they gave 3 runs back in the bottom of the inning. Josh McEwen, who has been so solid all year, came on to get the final two outs, and although he first gave up a hit which scored the Diamond Kings final tally, he struck out the last 2 batters to preserve the victory and get his 4th save of the season (to go with 5 wins, 1 loss, and a fine 2.21 ERA.)

With the 2 victories the Brewers are 5 games ahead of 2nd place Phoenix and back to 11 games ahead of 3rd place Oklahoma City.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers finish the week with a 6-game winning streak in hand and while Phoenix has also been playing well of late the Brewers do manage to extend their lead a bit, to 5 1/2 games.
The Brewers take 3 straight from San Francisco in Denver. Game 1 takes extra innings to resolve as the Brewers win 3-2 on a walk-off pinch-hit HR by James Jackson. Diego Ramirez had one of his better outings of the season as he worked 8 innings, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits, striking out 7 and walking 3. (He did not get a decision in this one, of course, but he is now 6-4 with a 3.20 ERA.)

Then, after seeing the offense struggle to score runs for the past week or so, the team broke out of the hitting doldrums with 7-3 and 7-2 victories in the next 2 games. In game 2, James Jackson homered again, his 3rd of the season, and Ruben Souffront hit his 11th in the 3rd inning. Steve Alonso (12-7, 3.34) went the distance for the win. Bobby Erbakan (.280/.314/.396), who at age 22 has been a streaky hitter this season, is hot again and went 3 for 4 in the game with a pair of doubles (28) and his 6th triple of the season.
In the final game of the series, Ruben Souffront once again homered. No, scratch that. Ruben TWICE again homered in the third game. Ruben (.293/.330/.458) now has 13 HR's on the year and has driven in a team-high 89 runs. He also hit his 12th double of the season in the game (to go along with 12 triples and 34 stolen bases.)

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers get a double-header split with Portland in the first 2 of a 4 game series in Denver.
Game 1 saw Pat Rondeau go 5 for 6 in the lead-off slot in a pitcher's duel. The game was tied 1-1 at the end of the regulation 9 and after the team's traded runs in the 10th, again tied at 2-2. But then in the 12th a Frank Hernandez 2-run HR put the visiting Wild Things up 4-2 for good.
It nearly took extras again in game 2 as the Brewers relinquished leads of 3-1 and 4-3 and needed heroics in the bottom of the 9th in order to win. Those heroics came, appropriately enough, off the bat of one of the most valuable Brewers this year, thirdbaseman Jared Stephenson. With 2 outs already recorded, Stephenson stepped to the plate, and after working the count full, smashed a Nick Veloz pitch into the leftfield stands to give the Brewers the win.
And with the Phoenix Speed Devils being shut-out by Brooklyn lefty Chris Pollack, the Brewers stretch their MGL lead to 6 games. (At this point, with roughly 20 games left in the schedule, Oklahoma City is now 12 1/2 games back and L.A. 13 1/2. So it is essentially a 2 team race.)

[BirdWatcher]

The team really let the kid down today. Well, two of the kids really.
First, Harry Lyerly was pitching a masterpiece. But the Brewers gave him zero run support. And then, when he left in the 8th inning, having allowed no runs on 6 hits, while striking out 9 and walking just 2, the bullpen allowed both the runners he left on the bases (2 singles) to score.
The other kid is 22-year old firstbaseman Bobby Erbakan, who at least did his part to try to help the team offense by going 4 for 4 including hitting double number 30 and triple number 7 on the season.

With the loss and a Phoenix win the lead falls to 5 games again.
The kids deserved better.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers drop 3 of 4 to visiting Portland but fortunately the Phoenix Speed Devils haven't been on fire recently either and the Brewers maintain a 5 game lead in the MGL.
With 18 games left for Denver (and 20 for Phoenix) the odds-makers have the Brewers as prohibitive favorites to take the pennant. It helps that the Brewers have 6 games left against last place Charlotte, who have already lost 93 games. We also play 6 against the 6th place Baltimore Lords (70-71), 4 against the 4th place L.A. Spinners (75-69), and 2 against the 3rd place Oklahoma City Diamond Kings (74-67.) Ten of the final eighteen Brewers games will be in front of the hometown crowds. Though Phoenix also plays two more home games then road games down the stretch.

The second graphic here really illustrates the essence of what differentiates these two teams. Phoenix is the best run scoring team in all of the WPK, the best HR hitting team (this in spite of playing their home games in the MGL ballpark least conducive to long-ball hitting), and 3rd in the WPK in team batting average. In other words, they are the most potent offense in the WPK. Denver, on the other hand, is the best in the WPK at keeping the other team from scoring, with the best defense, and best starting pitcher ERA.
Now, it should be noted that the Brewers are not a bad offensive team, other than their inability to hit the long-ball. They are 4th in runs scoring in the MGL, 2nd in batting average and OBP, and first in stolen bases. On the other, Phoenix, for all of their offensive firepower, gives up a lot of runs. They are 9th in the MGL in runs allowed, 8th in starting pitcher and bullpen ERA, and 9th in defensive efficiency.
So, assuming the Brewers pitching and defense can continue to shine and the offense can provide just enough run support to get wins, there is reason to be optimistic that they can hold off the Speed Devils to take their first MGL pennant.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers sweep the last place Charlotte Sting in three games at Brewers Field.
In game one they get a great start from youngster Adam Getchell (7-4, 3.97 on the season but 1-0, 2.76 in a Brewers uniform), and they need it as they only score 1 run in the 1-0 victory.
A solid start by Steve Alonso (13-7, 3.31) and some timely hitting by Chad Brown earns the Brewers a 4-2 win in the second game.
The offense came alive a bit in the last game of the series as they win 7-2. Another good start, this time by Will Smart (9-10, 3.69), and ample run support for an easier victory. Smart himself was 2 for 2 at the plate and has a slash line of .340/.367/.362 for the season.
Phoenix has also won 3 straight and stay 5 games behind the Brewers in second place.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers lose both games of the 2-game series versus L.A., each by a single run.
In game 2, Harry Lyerly once again pitches a masterpiece and deserved a better outcome. Lyerly made one real mistake in the game, a fat fastball that Chad Jones hit deep into the rightfield stands for a 2-run HR in the 1st inning, and other than that Lyerly was fantastic. He not only allowed just 4 hits and 2 walks but he set a new team record with 14 strikeouts. He left with the game tied at 2 apiece, but reliever David Brown allowed an opposite field HR off the bat of former Brewer Mark Compton to lead off the 9th inning and the Brewers lost 3-2.
(I thought long and hard about whether to pull Lyerly or leave him on the mound to pitch the 9th. Given that Lyerly is a righthanded pitcher and Mark Compton is a lefty with great power, I was concerned that Lyerly would allow the HR off the bat of Compton. So I brought in the lefty David Brown, who has great movement and shouldn't allow a lot of HR's (although, in fact, he has allowed 9 this season in 75 1/3rd innings pitched.) So, of course, Brown gives up the HR. Should have just taken my chances with Lyerly.)

Phoenix closes the Denver lead to 4 1/2 games.

[BirdWatcher]

In the WPK lexicon, under the term professional hitter, you will find a photo of Mike Brack. But all good things must come to an end, and at age 42, Brack has decided it is time for him to hang up the spikes. Speculation is that the highly intelligent student of hitting is unlikely to remain out of the game for long and would make, at the very least, an excellent hitting coach.

Meanwhile, the Brewers take game 1 of a 3-game series in Charlotte and extend their lead in the division to 5 1/2 games once again.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers are doing what you need to do if you expect to win a pennant: dominating the worst teams. They once again get a 3-game sweep of the Sting, this time at Charlotte.
The Brewers got a 4-1 victory in the first game in spite of losing starting pitcher Diego Ramirez to an elbow ailment (inflammation) in the 4th inning. Four relievers held the Sting scoreless from there, with Adam Getchell (2-0, 2.55) getting credit for the victory.
The offense got hot in game 2, led by Chad Brown (.290/.324/.380) who went 4 for 5 and hit his 20th double. Brown also stole 2 bases and is up to 31 on the season (with just 8 times caught stealing.) The Brewers won 8-3. Staff ace Daniel Torres improved to 13-4 (2.57).
Steve Alonso, with a little help from closer Miguel Solis, shut-out the Sting in game 3. Alonso (14-7, 3.18) worked 8 innings, scattering 6 hits, striking out 7 and walking just 2. Miguel Solis picked up his 26th save of the season and has a 2.20 ERA in 1969. The offense didn't do much, scoring just 2 runs. But it was enough with the Brewers usual great pitching and defense carrying the day.

[BirdWatcher]

As we enter the home stretch of the 1969 WPK season, it is looking more and more like the Brewers will be taking on the reigning WPK champions, the Columbus Whalers, in the World Series.
Team captain, Abel Pennington, is doing his best to keep the team focused on one day at a time, getting support from veteran leader Daniel Torres, and some of the younger budding future captains in the clubhouse- Josh McEwen and Andrew Kennedy- in using their influence to make sure the club doesn't take anything for granted coming down the stretch. Meanwhile, team prankster Miguel Solis continues to keep things light and loose in the clubhouse. Although the club has never made the post-season, it is thought that with a few veterans with World Series experience with other clubs- Will Smart with Portland in 1967, Ryan Rodgers- who has a championship ring as a member of the 1967 Washington Night Train, and Jared Stephenson- who not only has 2 championship rings as a Jacksonville Wolf Pack player in 1965 and 1966 but was the MVP of the 1965 World Series- the team shouldn't be too overwhelmed if and when the time comes.
But the time has not yet come and the battle goes on. Up next- a pair of games at L.A. where the Brewers hope to get revenge for the recent sweep at the hands of the Spinners in Denver.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers lose the first of the two game set at L.A. after failing to protect an early lead. The Spinners prevail 4-3.
But then Harry Lyerly takes the mound in the second game and for once the Brewers give him ample run support. Not that he needed much. Lyerly worked a strong 8 1/3rd, allowing just 2 runs (the score was 10-1 when he left, having given up a single and then inducing a force-out at second- but Jaden Francis then came into the game and gave up 3 straight hits before hitting a batter, so again Lyerly deserved a bit better than he got from the bullpen.) Lyerly was a bit uncharacteristically wild in the game as he walked 6 while striking out 7 (a small number, for him) but he did not allow a HR and is proving to be better in that area then expected. (Oh, and he also drove in a run with his bat, contributing an RBI single in the midst of the Brewers 3-run rally in the top of the 8th.) He improves to 7-3 with a 3.15 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 1.0 HR/9, 3.2 BB/9, 9.7 K/9 and a WAR of 3.0 (rWAR 3.3.) All in all, an impressive rookie campaign. At this point, Lyerly is clearly one of the more consistently impressive Brewers starters. And this is on a staff that leads all of the WPK in starters ERA.

The Brewers lead the MGL by 5 1/2 games over Phoenix and their magic number is down to 4. (Everyone else has been eliminated from contention at this point.) The Columbus Whalers, with 99 wins now, are down to a magic number of 3 and only the Jacksonville Wolf Pack, who are 6 1/2 games back, still have a very narrow mathematical chance of catching them.

[BirdWatcher]

I just noticed that in his 17 WPK starts Harry Lyerly now has by far the highest WAR of any pitcher on the Brewers staff. And again, we are talking about the best pitching staff in the WPK. (Granted, it is a staff that is more about depth and quality up and down the line, without any real standout ace. Still.)

[BirdWatcher]

You have to wonder a bit about the criteria used for this, and marvel that there could possibly have not been more worthy candidates, but somehow Brewer farmhand Jeremy Walker won the class single A Reliever of the Year award with some pretty ugly numbers.
Still, the organization does have hopes that the lefty will develop into a useful big league set-up man in the future.

[stevem810]

Originally Posted by BirdWatcher

I find myself, as I do often these days, thinking about the improbable Harry Lyerly and what he has done so far in his brief time with the Brewers.
Part of what I find myself wondering today is what real-life MLB pitchers might have put up similar career stats in terms of HR/9 and K/9 as Lyerly has done in his admittedly very small career sample size thus far.


Now an obvious issue here is what the league environment was/is for most of these pitchers. We are talking about climates where HR numbers and K numbers are high.
Lyerly pitches in a 1986 statistical environment at this time. (WPK is currently in 1969, but statistical modifiers are 1986. I'd have to look closer at the league to see how in line, given the talent pool in the WPK, numbers actually are with 1986.)
So for Lyerly his HR/9 numbers are probably even worse, compared to league average, than most of these real-life pitchers. Though it should be noted too that he pitches his home games in the most HR friendly park in the WPK (and has pitched about half of his 9 starts in Denver) so that mitigates things a bit.
And it likely makes his K/9 even more impressive.

Can't really say what my point is here.
Just something I find myself thinking about today.
It will be interesting what path Lyerly's career takes.

Interesting to see how the numbers look at the end of this season. He must have a pretty good stamina rating. I noticed he logged a 136 PC. Another tool in his tool kit.

[BirdWatcher]

The Baltimore Lords sweep the Brewers in 3 games at the Ballpark of Baltimore- 3-0, 5-1, and 7-6- the last one taking 12 innings and ending on a walk-off by pinch-hitter Jon Franquez. The Brewers were held to 2 hits in the first game and got 7 hits off Mike Sayers (10-12, 2.39) in the second game while striking out 9 times.
The Brewers don't look at all like a post-season team right now. However, the Phoenix Speed Devils don't seem to be all that committed to winning either at the moment and the Brewers may just accidentally back their way into the MGL pennant and the World Series.
If they don't start playing better though it could be a very embarrassing World Series for them as they will be facing the reigning champs Columbus who just clinched the SJL and have won 101 games with 5 games left on their schedule.

If there is good news, it might be that the Brewers come home for the last 5 games of the season. Then again, it appears that they will be facing 5 of the best pitchers in the MGL in those games, including the 2 who just held them firmly in check here in Baltimore. This pennant race is not over. The Brewers need a hero or two to come through big right now.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers finally get a win again though it required extra innings and certainly heroics.
The first hero was Harry Lyerly, who pitched 10 innings, allowing just 1 run on 7 hits while striking out 12 and walking just 1. Lyerly improves to 8-3 with a 2.99 ERA. The one run he allowed was a solo HR in the top of the 9th which tied the game at 1-1. (I thought seriously about pulling him from the game but given how much the bullpen has been letting us down lately and that Lyerly has probably been our best pitcher for the past month or more, I stuck with him. It was possibly a mistake but other than that one pitch he was masterful and who knows how this would have turned out had I pulled him.)
The second hero was back-up infielder Juan Lujan, whose 2-out single drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th.
Mention should also be made of back-up catcher Kevin Curtis, who hit a double with one out and ended up scoring that winning run.

[BirdWatcher]

Well, it got a little too close for comfort there for awhile, but with 3 games left on the schedule the Brewers are officially, and for the first time ever, the Moonlight Graham League Champions!
They got a second straight win against the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings to clinch the title.
They can now relax a bit with nothing on the line in the 3 final games at home against the Baltimore Lords, other than pride and a desire to stay sharp (and healthy, hopefully) for the post-season.

(I love how the rookie Harry Lyerly is the guy who speaks on behalf of the team in the press report. I think the kid has earned it. Really not sure the Brewers would have won this without his contributions of the past few months.)

[BirdWatcher]

Brewer farmhand Eric Johnson won the class single A Pitcher of the Year award and he did have a fine season indeed. It is unclear whether Johnson can ever develop into a major league starter but he still has potential to develop, and is a high quality guy with good intelligence, so his progress will be monitored and the hope is that he may develop into a solid back-end of the rotation guy eventually.
Teammate Steve LaCoste came third in the voting. LaCoste is another good character guy with an outside chance of being a number 5 guy or swing-man someday.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by stevem810

Interesting to see how the numbers look at the end of this season. He must have a pretty good stamina rating. I noticed he logged a 136 PC. Another tool in his tool kit.

Sorry- moving so fast with this one lately that I am just now seeing this.
Yes, he has a 10 stamina rating. I keep thinking that I don't want to over-use him at this age but so far he seems to be able to work deep into games (and even, on one occasion this year, into extra innings) with minimal loss of effectiveness.
He really just got better and better as the season progressed to the point where he was clearly our best pitcher for the past month or more. Might already be the best starter on the team. With his poor movement, I keep expecting the bottom to fall out on this. (As several here, in another thread, have assured me will happen.) But so far, no signs of that. My feeling is that there might be level of world-class stuff (which this kid seems to have) and well above average control (which he is projected to have and already shows signs of) that might mitigate the propensity to give up homers. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, but he's looking very much like an ace to me.

Oh, and now that his regular season is over (he will definitely be on the World Series roster and will get a chance to start at least one game), here are his numbers for the 1969 season: