This list was created on March 11th, 2023. It will be updated as more teams, leagues, and credible organizations announce tryout opportunities. We’ll try to remove links to camps that get filled and/or ended.

As we near the start of baseball season players from around the globe begin to look for where they’ll spend their summer and on what field they’ll get to ply their trade next. In an effort to make this search a bit easier we’ve taken the liberty of creating a list of all the announce team and league open tryouts in independent leagues. We’ve also included events from scouting organizations because they tend to offer opportunities in front of multiple teams and can help continue to give you tryout camps and other resources should you not be signed. Likewise, we are linking any website that contains information that may be useful in your journey through independent baseball. Please note that this is meant as a jumping off for your research and that this list isn’t an endorsement of one camp over another. This is just meant as a helpful resource for those that are new to independent baseball or would like a place to find multiple options in a semi-organization fashion. That said, we'll do our best to keep this resource accurate and up to date and we encourage you to research each opportunity further to make sure they’re right for you. Enjoy and hopefully you find this guide helpful.

Resource 1

Team Tryouts

Long Island Ducks - April 15 - $100-125

The Ducks have announced their annual open tryout. There’s been some success from this tryout in past years with normally a player or two signed and kept on the roster past April. There have also been some rare occasions of a player being picked up by a MLB club after starting the year in this tryout. The Ducks seem to favor pitchers in their open tryouts having signed them more often than any other position in the tryout. Full tryout includes a warmup, 60 yard dash, and position based evaluation drills. Those drills include pop time, defensive trills, long toss, a light bullpen, and batting practice. There will also be a scrimmage in the afternoon for top performers. Tryout will be conducted by Wally Backman, Lew Ford, Nelson Figueroa, and Michael Pfaff. Full details and registration available on the team’s website. Link

Southern Maryland Blue Crabs - April 15 - $100

Southern Maryland will hold their open tryout camp on the same day as the Ducks meaning you’ll have to choose between the two. The Crabs have a history of signing a few players from this event in the past. Again, pitchers are what is coveted in these tryouts as it is the hardest position to find. Equipment such as wooden bats, helmets, and balls will be provided. This makes me think that Southern Maryland is looking for younger, more inexperienced or professionally underdeveloped pitching with this tryout. In any case, there appears to be no same day registration meaning payment is due in full prior to tryout day. No specifics have been provided as to which coaches will be conducting the tryout and if they’ll be drills, positional evaluations, and/or a scrimmage. But it feels safe to assume that Stan Cliburn will be in attendance and some combination of Daryl Thompson, Braxton Lee, and Ray Ortega will be there as well. Also, assume that they’ll be basic athletic drills with some type of specialization evaluation. Full details and registration available on the team’s website. Link

Lexington Counter Clocks - April 19 - $100

The Clock Clocks, previously known as the Legends, are hosting their open tryout in April. The date is only a little over a week away from opening day so there aren't as many spots to be left. That said the team has a proven track record of winning and of getting players signed. There were issues with past ownership around the city and club but the team looks to have turned a page with Nathan Lyons now in the big seat. The staff seems to be still be in a position to help keep the player to MLB pipeline moving as well. Pre-registration is required and due by April 12. The cost is $100 and tryouts will begin at 9:45am in front of coaches and staff. Sign up and details available on team site. Link Link 2 

Frederick ALPB Team - April 22 - $100

Frederick is the latest team to join the independent ranks. The city lost its affiliation in the great purge of 2020 which set the Keys to the college draft league MLB started. That team still exists but ownership decided to field a second team so they could return to the professional ranks. At first we thought this would a be temporary team to bring the league to an even number of teams while we await Hagerstown's entry to the league. As of recent, we've been given enough clues to piece together the truth, this team is likely here for the long haul. Mark Minicozzi ,of Dirty Birds and Genomes fame, will lead the squad and by all accounts he's a positive force in clubhouse and looks out for his guys. All we know for now is that all athletes eighteen or older are welcome and the cost will $100 due before day of. Full details and registration on the team site. Link Link 2 

New Jersey Jackals - May 1st - $100

The first Frontier League team to announce their open tryout, the Jackals may offer the best chance for a new professional player to land on a specific team’s roster. They are handcuffed by roster restrictions that require them to have 10 rookies, players with a year or less of professional experience, and limits rosters to 14 experienced/veteran players. This usually creates a demand around young pitchers and, to a lesser extent, position players. This is not a tryout I’d recommend to players 29 years old or older, as Frontier League rules limit each team to 4 players aged 29 and older. For the purposes of the Frontier League’s 2023 season players born on or before September 30, 1994 will be classified as veterans. As for this tryout specifically there hasn’t been any information announced about in regards to coaches in attendance or drills/scrimmages. Still it’s standard operating procedure to do a warm up, position drills, and some type of simulated game in the afternoon. Registration and information available on the team’s site. Link

New York Boulders - May 14 - $109-150

The Boulders are also a Frontier League team that has announced their tryout. The team has a track record of developing pitchers as of late and are one of the more stable teams in independent league baseball. They average about two and a half contracts a year getting picked up. Their ballpark also has friendly dimensions for push and pull hitters with short porches in both left and right field. The team hasn’t quite announced what their tryout will consist of but I’d assume the standard of warm up, position drills, and a scrimmage. What details there are can be found on the tryout’s eventbrite page. Link

Florence Y'alls - April 17 - $75-106

Florence has announced their team open tryout for 2023. They, like other teams on this list, play in the Frontier League. The Y'alls have a history of using analytics and advanced data collection in their player development and roster construction.  The same as with past tryouts applies here in that pitchers and younger players are likely to have the best odds at getting signed but their tech approach might be better for players that don't quite pass the eye test or have numbers that pop off the page. The tryout is at Thomas More Stadium, home of the Y'alls, and starts at 3:30pm with registration an hour prior. It'll run you an addition $30 dollars for day of registration. All details availible on the team site as well as sign up link. Link. 

League Tryouts

Pioneer League - April 17-20 - $600

The Pioneer League announced on Friday March 24 that they would be combining the two camps in Arizona and as a result on the April 17-20 camp is now running. Contact the league if you signed up for the Florida camp.

The Pioneer League is running a pair of multi day long tryout camps. The first is on the east coast in Florida and the second is on the west coast in Arizona. The Pioneer League likes to have younger players. If you are a player in college that is set to graduate this spring or has recently graduated this could be a great option for you. However, current college athletes should check with a compliance officer or other qualified person to make sure attending any tryout won’t affect your NCAA eligibility or amateur status. That said, Pioneer League roster restriction mandates teams roster players with no more than 3 years professional experience. A year of experience is defined as 45 games played for position players and 10 games started or 25 games played for pitchers in any professional ‘summer ball’ league. This means leagues like the ABL would not count against your years of experience. A full breakdown of eligibility rules are on the Pioneer League website. Link. 

As for the tryouts, all 10 clubs will have a scout in attendance at both tryout camps and there will be a draft after where 20 players will be selected. However, each team is only required to sign one player and that only gets you to the team’s spring training in May. There will also be analytics collected by Yakkertech and Diamondconnect that’ll be distributed to both teams and players. The workout will consist of a pro style workout with pitching, hitting, and fielding workouts. There will be multiple days of batting practice and bullpen sessions as well as dedicated infield and outfield sessions. Multiple live scrimmages are also planned. The registration fee only covers one of the camps and that fee is nonrefundable. Likewise, players are responsible for their own travel and lodging as well as water bottles, food, equipment, and US immigration paperwork if you’re an international player. Ice water will be provided though and you can switch your tryout camp site until March 20. Full details and registration available on the league’s website. Link

Frontier League - April 24-25 - $75-100

The Frontier League was the first of the core four independent leagues to announce their tryout camp. This camp has historically resulted in a fair amount of spring training invites and roster spots. As mentioned early, each Frontier League is mandated to keep a minimum of 10 rookies on their roster and this camp is where a lot of them come from. As with most tryout camps, pitchers are at a premium and in the case of this camp several pitchers have not only had their contracts purchased by MLB clubs but have played major league games.

The two day camp will be attended by a representative from each of the 16 teams in the Frontier League, several other independent league teams, and some Major League Baseball clubs as well. On day one players will partake in various drills for throwing accuracy and in game situational awareness as well as a batting practice session. Pitchers will throw a 15-20 bullpen session on day one. At the conclusion of day one managers will post a list of players invited back for day two. The second day will have a couple of intersquad games to showcase each player’s ability and aptitude. The games will be followed by a 30 minute break and then a multi round draft. Any player selected will be invited to the team’s spring training two days later and are guaranteed at least one week at spring training. All players in attendance will have their analytical performance tracked and will receive a copy at the camp’s end. Players will be responsible for their own equipment, transportation, travel, lodging, and seeds, chewing tobacco, gum, and metal cleats are not allowed.  Full details and registration on the league’s website. Link

The United Shore Professional Baseball League - May 2-5 - $95

The United Shore Professional Baseball League most commonly called the USPBL has also announced their tryout. One of the most stable leagues outside the official partnership leagues, they have a fairly strong track record of moving players to the core four independent leagues and the rare MLB organization too. That said it’s usually no more than five or six to the American Association and the Atlantic League. Still it presents an opportunity to get on tape and have something to show scouts with a reasonable expectation of moving up a level. The USPBL was also an early adopter of a sports science and analytics based operational policy when it comes to player data collection. This league is definitely aimed at players looking to get their professional career starter or revamp and rework areas of their game.

The tryout itself is still lacking some important details like who will be in attendance and the specifics behind each day such as cuts, exact drills, and how many contracts will be handed out. That said It’d be a safe bet for all eight managers and manager’s assistants to be in attendance and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that some combination of the seven members of the baseball operations and baseball support staff will be there as well. Likewise the outline of the four day camp seems to indicate that day one will be a check in, followed by a skills assessment on day two, day three a baseball specific workout likely meaning positional drills and game situation training, and the final day being a simulated game. I’d assume there will be cuts to be safe rather than sorry and because that isn’t uncommon with multi day long tryouts. Opening Day for the USPBL is about two weeks after the tryout ends, leaving me to guess that there'll be some contracts handed out but only for spring training that will more than likely start immediately after the tryout. If interested, all details and registration are on the league’s website. Link

Empire League - April 5-6 - $295

The Empire League has a variety of tryout events throughout the spring. They are mostly for inexperienced players that are new to professional baseball. The kind of player that lacks an impressive pedigree filled with division one college programs or high level summer ball programs. That said the quality of the level is fine. The traditional will have a couple of guys at the core four independent level. That could also be a byproduct of some of the names that are involved with the league, which includes coaches in those other leagues. That aside they are an opportunity to play and are seemingly respected in the greater indy ball community and with the Empire League suppling a traveling team for the Frontier League this year, your odds of catching on at a higher level may be high that usual.

 No exact details have been released about the camp outside of its two day run time and the above details in the heading. However, coaches from the Atlantic and Frontier Leagues will also be in attendance in addition to the Empire League staff there. Also given its run time I'd assume that day one is something based around drills and exercises while day two is either a scrimmage or simulated game of some sort. In any event, details and registration are located on the league's website. Link  Link 

Scouting Groups

Black Sox Baseball - Various Events

The Black Sox have been around for nearly two decades and are always hosting events. Ran by Joe Torre, they have deep connections in many different independent leagues and that usually results in a good showing for scouts in attendance. Guys do get jobs from here fairly frequently however it seems like the most successful ones are guys that are part of the Black Sox ecosystem. Torre has also created a culture that embraces the spirit and reality of independent baseball which is to say the more you grind to make yourself a better ballplayer the better your odds of getting signed are. Some may find it to be a bit spartan and the mindset to be a bit extreme or intense but that’s why they aren’t for everyone. Likewise, I would say that they are better options for guys that might need multiple workouts rather than guys that would just do one off tryouts. That said they do a lot of preseason games against partner league teams and that is an excellent opportunity to showcase your abilities as is some of their in season camps. There are currently several tryout opportunities available on their website with full details there as well. Link 

It's been a minute since we last posted an article hasn't it? Well we're going to fix that by posting a bit more often going forward and to honor return and commitment we're going to try something new.

Thanks to our friends over at McFarland Publishing, I was able to get access to an advance copy of Miles Wolff's latest book There's a Bulldozer on Home Plate to review. We appreciate the gesture and are more than happy to oblige them, even if I haven't reviewed a book since my senior year of college. In fairness, my professor did say that I should consider a career in literature review so maybe I still know how to do this. There's only one way to find out though. So let's step between the lines and take a look at There's a Bulldozer on Home Plate by Miles Wolff.

Leading off with the basics, you can find the book at several major retailers but we recommend going directly through the McFarland Publishing and cutting out the middleman by buying it at McFarlandBooks.com or more directly https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/Theres-a-Bulldozer-on-Home-Plate/ if you want to keep it nice and easy. There are two versions as well, a softcover print edition that'll set you back $29.99 and an e-book version that is affordably priced at $17.99. What you get for those hard earned dollars is 185 pages that includes over 2 dozen pictures of significance to Wolff's life story, various clippings from previous publications and writings, appendix, index, and the story of Miles Wolff's life work. All in all, not a bad deal on the surface but how does it hold up to further examination? 

The quick and dirty on Wolff's latest offering is simple; it's his memoirs and a look into the timeline of his professional life. However, that is a simplification of course. That tagline doesn't tell the whole story. It omits the trials and tribulations that came in Savannah and the aimlessness that preceded his tenure with the Durham Bulls. To this audience, it ignores the part you care about the most; the founding of the Northern League and Wolff's later adventures in the American Association, Can-Am League, Northeast League, and other independent leagues. That is the heart of this memoir, the step by step journey through the half decade journey of Miles Wolff's baseball life. Seeing how a childhood dream evolves and develops into tangible success and that alone is worthy of a read. 

That said, how the journey is told is certainly different from my expectations. Perhaps I should preface this next bit by saying that I'm an active reader of nonfiction works, mainly of the sports variety. I like to read stories from people that were there when they happened or that are embedded with those in the story but not part of it themselves. Sports is a stage in which anyone, even the most stone faced competitor, has their heart cracked open and the emotion leaked out there from. That is the appeal of sports nonfiction to me, seeing the human behind play. The display of emotion is critical to it and unfortunately I can't say there's much here. There's certainly attempts at it like in the later chapter title "Ottawa" where Wolff tells us about the lengths and motivations behind his tenure as owner of the Champions or in the chapter about the Quebec Capitales in which he moves the family up the french speaking province. We get a glimpse behind the scenes into the head space of the great baseball operator but never enough to feel the emotional battle inside him. It results in the reader having a more difficult time relating to the experience. Moreover, one would think that an author would show more emotion in a book detailing the last 50 years of this life. Particularly, when it's about the passion of his life. While I understand that not all are wired that way, to be so open with a crowd of strangers that they've never met, it still leaves something on the casino table so to speak.

This is not to say Wolff bats .000 across all these attempts in the book. There's a few notable examples that do really hit home. Personally, his contemplations about leaving Savannah Beach because he knew that he was getting trapped by the comfort of a place that's been home and given so much for a long time really resonated with my current personal situation. I'm sure that other's reading have had similar experiences as well. Likewise, in the moments where Wolff opens up about his love of the game, the purity of the sport and what it means to him, really strikes a chord for any baseball fan and undoubtedly for the non baseball crowd too. We all have that something we'd give anything for and that we can't abandon no matter how much we think we want to. The epilogue is the paragon among all these examples. It really shows us the emotion that I was hoping for. We get to see a titan in his field give his thoughts on how said field is changing and we see that the passion still burns as hot as it did on day 1. The way that it is written ties back to the prologue of the memoir rather nicely, helping to neatly wrap up the narrative tonally. 

Shifting gears, this work has to cover a lot of ground. Like a pitcher in a bases loaded no out jam the amount of information and events that have to be covered in under 200 pages is astronomical. It is accomplished through. Each chapter has its place and tells the story of a major moment, a turning stone, in the professional life of Miles Wolff. That does give a sense to what Wolff himself sees as important. I only wish that we could have lingered long at each stop. Early on we got some cheery stories and anecdotes on attendance padding, firework displays, 'Scraps' Courtney, Tommie Aaron, and more. It really added to the atmosphere of the book in an important way, partially tied to the lack of emotion mentioned earlier, and as we go on their departure becomes notable. The little intercuts from old publications help to make up for it but in the end it's like putting a second baseman a shortstop, just not good enough. I understand getting everything into a memoir is important but spending just 25 or so pages on transforming the Durham Bulls from a single A club on the verge of folding to one of the most widely known minor league sports properties of the 20th and 21st centuries or how he transformed Baseball America from a bi-weekly mailer in a Canadian garage into the dominate baseball periodical on the 80s and 90s  just left me wanting more. While I'll give Wolff credit for a strong attempt at condensing everything into 16 chapters and 185 pages, I need more as someone that's heavily invested in everything he's built.

It feels fitting to take a moment to dedicate to how Wolff addresses his founding of modern independent baseball. The part of the book that most of you reading will care about and I'm happy to say, he does a very good job of it as you would expect. Roughly half the book is dedicated to the founding of the Northern League and Wolff's involvement in several Canadian clubs. This is really the section on the memoir that I found to be the most informative. While I hadn't known the full details of Wolff before he ventured into indy ball, I also hadn't really thought about it. So having those questions cleared up was nice but not imperative. However, being clued in on how each of the cities was picked and each owner found was rather interesting. While I must again reiterate that more details and more discussion on the thought process would have been nice, I still walked away feeling like I understood the process for picking a city. I started to get why Wolff had the desire for leaving affiliated ball and moving to independent teams. While we didn't get much mention of leagues he was uninvolved with, which isn't terribly surprising, we do get mention of figures that you and I both know. Perhaps that's part of why I enjoyed the 2nd half of the book more, in spite of my previously mentioned critics. Seeing people that I not only know but have spoken with at length multiple times was a bit surreal and on some level I'd say that increased my view of my own work as a result. In other words, it made me realize how big this thing of ours is. For that reason, if you're an indy ball fan that is interested in the history as much as the play on the field I can say with confidence you'll get something out of this memoir.

At this point I think we can wrap this review up and summarize what I just spent 1500 words saying, and answer the question that hangs over us like the sword of Damocles. In short, There's a Bulldozer on Home Plate is the memoir and work of Miles Wolff. We see how a young boy's unconventional dream of making in the minors and not majors developed into a reality and more than he could have even known. The information presented, while a bit dry and shallow at points, is easy to understand and rather direct in way that isn't unpleasant. The book is oasis is a desert of content on the subject it relates to and does cover the most important figure in the history of independent baseball in North America. I can't in good conscious say this is a must have or that it is a 5/5 or anything of that sort. However, I can say that you will not regret picking this one up. More likely than not you'll learn something new about independent ball and Miles Wolff. You'll gain an appreciation for what it took for us to get here and, if nothing else, you'll scratch the inch of indy ball content for the few days it takes you to read this one. I'd recommend it to the majority of those reading this review because I know you're the kind of person that'll appreciate the story of Miles Wolff.

Once again thanks to McFarland Publishing for giving me access to review There's a Bulldozer on Home Plate. It was fun to write a review again, especially on a topic that I care deeply about and on a book that I've been looking forward to since October of 2022. If you want to purchase the book please go to McFarlandBooks.com to buy directly from them to better support works like this. With that said and nothing to add, until next time, don't forget to play ball!

The Cleburne Railroaders were returning to the American Association after a year away and with a new manager in the clubhouse, the team was looking revamped and ready for a fight. Mike Jeffcoast took over the lone team in the lone star state and with a roster filled with prior major leaguers and indy ball vets the team was expected to be a solid pitching team with a power-centric offense. As long as they kept their ringers and everyone played to their average, this team was going far. Now, let’s see if theory holds up to reality. 

The Railroaders started off slow in the month of May. They never quite found their footing in the early stages and would have to settle for a mediocre 5-7 record heading into June. It is here that we begin the true tale of Cleburne’s season. They hit a big losing skid in the second week of the month and dropped 6 in a row, getting swept by Fargo-Moorhead and beleaguered Goldeyes. The team then responded by winning their next 5 in a row to balance out the dowry week before. This streak included a sweep of the Apollos and a series win vs the Goldeyes. They would have been on another 5 game winning streak soon after if not for the team bus breaking down on the way to Sioux City, this resulted in a forfeit for Railroaders. That must have fired them up as they won the next 4 straight. June would close out with the team going 15-11 getting them to the good side of .500 at 20-18. Throughout the year Cleburne had been losing a lot of players to affiliated baseball. So many that by this point a good ⅓ of the roster had turned over and with it went most of the ringers. This obviously hindered the team but what came next was a really new challenge. The team’s manager, Mike Jeffcoat left the team going into July. This left hitting coach Logan Watkins to pick up the mantle and try to salvage the season. What the team south division was relatively settled on, Sioux Falls and Houston were firmly in the basement and Kansas City was firmly in 1st. This left Sioux City and Lincoln as the only real competition , neither of which were burning the world down either. This set up an essential do or die month for the team. July came in and so did the wins for the Railroaders. They opened the month with a 5 game winning streak and they’d follow that up with another 5 game winning streak in the middle of the month as well. With no major losing streaks and a critical series win against Sioux City, the Railroaders steamed to a 17-10 record on the month and a 37-28 record on the year, putting them a half game back of 2nd place in the division. On to August where we got word of an additional playoff spot being added. This gave life to Railroaders as they were now in a playoff spot. Needing a good month to clinch that spot and hopefully host the playoff game, Cleburne went to work. They didn’t exactly start strong though, dropping 6 in a row to start the month and opening the door for Lincoln to sneak in. However, they rallied and went 13-8 to finish the month, winning 13 of their last 21. This locked them into a playoff berth and after a 2-4 September, they locked in home field advantage for the wild card game.

The Railroaders had done what they could and that earned them a home playoff game against the Sioux City Explorers. Sioux City had started the year strong but had cooled off in recent months. Even still they were not a team to be taken lightly. The Xs would send Patrick Ledet to the mound and Cleburne would counter with Jesus Sanchez. Through the first 5 innings, we had a pitchers duel. No runs for either side and just 5 hits between the 2 teams, exactly what you’d expect and want out of a winner-take-all playoff game. Finally with 2 outs in the 6th a run would score and not for the home team. Jose Sermo cracked a 2-1 pitch over the wall and put his team up. Cleburne responded quickly, getting the bases loaded with 2 away in the bottom half of the inning. Unfortunately, Chase Simpson didn’t get enough of the 0-1 pitch and a fly ball to left ended the threat. That would be the only counter punch from Cleburne. Sioux City would add another 3 runs and the Railroaders would fail to record another hit in the game only getting 1 more baserunner in the game via a leadoff hit by pitch in the 7th. As their last 9 batters went down in order, so did the Railroaders season. They’d lose the wild card game 4-0 and end the season with a final record of 54-46 and a playoff loss at home.

Throughout the year patterns amerge and a team’s preferences at the dish come out. This was also true of the 2021 Cleburne Railroaders. At the plate they were a very good team, hitting .285/373/.488 as a team, which was good enough for 3rd/8th/3rd in the AAPB. As you might have noticed, slugging and batting average are higher than on base. Well the team ranked in the top 5 for hits, doubles, triples, and home runs and by extension extra bases as well. These hits didn’t just end on the basepaths however, the team drove them in 580 times for the 3rd most runs in the league. The guys like to swing the bat and that was something that, when it worked, worked out very well. However, it didn’t always work and when the bats didn’t hit the ball the base on balls wasn’t coming either. The team ranked 2nd to last in walks drawing just 340 on the year or 3.4 walks a game. Compare that to the median team, Gary-Southshore Railcats/Winnipeg Goldeyes, who draw roughly 4 walks a game on average. That’s the difference between a rally ender and a putaway inning, as small as it might seem. The 832 strikeouts didn’t help either but Cleburne was the median in the league so it’s far from the most pressing issue. The team did address moving runners over in a different way. They stole bases a lot, 125 times for 3rd most in the league to be exact and they had the T2nd most sac flies as well at 37. The Railroaders could hit and move their guys over in different ways but when the bats lost their hits so with it went the offense. Now for pitching it was a different story. The Railroaders were not a good pitching team in 2021. Yes there were departures and a few guys that did ball out but on a whole they were bad at pitching. A team ERA of 5 and a team WHIP of 1.57, both of which were 4th highest in the league. That’s not good in case you were wondering and the oSLG and oBA weren’t great either at .431 and .267, in other words opponents were slugging like Dylan Kelly from Fargo-Moorhead and hitting like Edgar Corcino from Lincoln. That said they did get a lot of saves and strikeouts, which means they were good at something. In fairness, there was also a discrepancy in ER to R so that’s a point in their favor but at the end of the day the pitching held them back.

It’s time for everyone’s favorite section, the player highlights. There’s about 9 guys that we need to mention so we’re going to get started. Leading off with the undisputed team MVP, Ramon Hernandez. He was electric this season hitting.324/.377/.573, that alone would be impressive but there’s more. The guy had 49 extra base hits of which 25 were HRs and 100 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. Hernandez also was 3rd in the league in total bases, a fantastic season for Hernandez. In the outfield, we look at Noah Vaughn and Zach Nehrir both of which slugged over .470 and had 40+ RBI, Nehrir also had a BA of .334. Back in the infield Alay Lago and former MLBer Osvaldo Martinez were fantastic this year, slashing over .310/.360/.830 and 50+ RBIs. Great year from those guys on offense now looking at pitching there are 3 guys that we had highlight. The lone starter here is Jheyson Manzueta, 15 games all started and he posted a 3.41 ERA with 87 innings pitched and 76 strikeouts. The steady force for the season to start the game Manzueta only walked 42 batters as well. A good year for him. In the bullpen, Taylor Wright and Michael Kruaza both had a sub 3.5 with 35 plus innings, good year guys.

So was this season a failure or success for the Railroaders? Well, they did finish 2nd in the division and if not for the additional playoff spot added half way through, would have met up with Kansas City like we all expected to happen. That said their pathway here was not as smooth as we expected and that is due to being raided on a consistent basis throughout the season by MLB organizations and they did still lose in the wild card game. They hit like we expected but the pitching fell short in large part because of those aforementioned raids. Ultimately, I’d call the year a success but not a major one. The team should have made the second round and should have been more competitive than they wound up being, especially in that wild card game. Your last 9 batters cannot go down in order to end your season, that’s not acceptable under any circumstance. That said, they still were the 2nd best team in the south and hung around that wild card game until the 9th inning and the team was clearly as good as advertised if they kept losing players. Then factoring the manager switch half way through the year, there’s a lot of rope you can give these guys and at the end of the day they were still a good ballclub despite the challenges they faced.

The Kansas City T-Bones were nearly dead in 2019, saved and refurbished in 2020, and then reimaged in 2021. The team would return to play in 2021 not as the T-Bones but instead as the Monarchs. As part of a partnership with the Negro League Hall of Fame, the iconic Monarchs name and branding was revived by the AAPB squad. The way the roster was constructed made it seem certain they’d do their namesake proud as the team was primed for a big run and largely expected to make the postseason. Offensively they were predicted to be a dynamo and as long as the pitching could match they’d have the division. Let’s see if they met the lofty expectations.

The Monarchs started off 2021 in an unexpected way; struggling. The boys dropped 5 of their first 7 and ultimately limped to a 4-6 record to close out May. At this point there was some concern. The team was not living up to the hype and the performances ranged from blow out wins to uncompetitive loses. That said, half of their games were decided by 3 runs or less signaling a decisive month on the horizon. Either this team was going to show up and be what we all expected them to be or they’d be a team that just could finish the job. Well in June we got our answer. Kansas City struck for their first 5+ game winning streak, winning 8 in a row from the 9th-17th. That streak was critical for them as it powered the team to a 16-9 month and a 20-15 record on the season. While June went a ways at clearing up any doubts people might have had about the Monarchs, July put any remaining anst to rest. They opened the month with a 5 game winning streak, then a day after that streak ended another one started that went on for 7 games, and finally the Monarchs would end July on their largest streak of the year, a 9 game long streak that would put the team at an astounding 24-7 record in July and a miraculous 22 games above .500 on the year. Now sitting at 44 wins it was a mere formality that the Monarchs would not only be above .500 and win their division but that they’d win the regular season title as well and the question now became how many will they win. Well, following a 7 game winning streak at the start of the month and a 6 game streak to end the month they were looking like 70 could be in the picture as they had 65 wins going into September following a 21-8 month and 5 games left in the year. Unfortunately, they dropped their September 1st game to Sioux Falls and that ended the dream of 70 wins in a season. Had they won that game, Kansas City would have ended the year on a 10 game winning streak en route to a 70 win season but alas it was a mere 4 game winning streak that capped off a 69-31 season.

The Monarchs secured a bye into the division championship series and had the winner of the Sioux City-Cleburne 2 days later, as fate would have it the scrappy Sioux City Explorers would have their chance to strikeout the king. Well, to be blunt, that didn’t happen. In fact, the Monarchs smacked them like a 70 mph hanging curve. It took 3 games to end the Explorers’ season and Kansas City outscored them 36-10 in that time, not to be rude but it was never close. The Monarchs waited a few days before finding out their next opponent, the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks. The team motored up to North Dakota immediately after game 5 of the NDCS ended and played the following day. While this series was a bit closer the result was ultimately the same. After a mere 3 games, the Kansas City Monarchs defeated the Redhawks and won their 3rd American Association championship. To Fargo’s credit they were only outscored 25-10 and did play 5 games in 5 nights but in the end the Monarchs were too much to overcome. They ended the year with a 69-31 record, just 1 loss in the month of September, 6-0 in the postseason, and a championship.

Now we know that on the field the Monarchs were impressive but how impressive were they in the boxscore? Let’s find out how they looked there. Well the numbers on offense bare out what we already knew, they guys could hit really well. They ranked 2nd/3rd/1st in the slashline categories and then 1st in OPS. They weren’t done though. Kansas City then followed up by being 1st in HRs (147) and runs scored (664) and 3rd in doubles (98) and hits (968). We could keep on with this but the point is clear, the Monarchs’ offense was a Ferrari that could out race any other offense and beat you on that alone. That said the pitching wasn’t bad either. Granted they weren’t as good as the offense but that’s a tall task to ask. KC pitchers had a 4.54 ERA (4th in the league) and a 1.41 WHIP (3rd in the league), which isn’t bad. The opponent slashline stats were actually pretty good too, ranking at second lowest with a .249 for batting average and the lowest slugging percentage at .389. They also had the 3rd fewest walks and 3rd most strikeouts. 427 earned runs allowed and 468 total runs, both ranking 3rd in the league alongside the second fewest hits allowed at 822. The Monarchs pitching staff might not be as good as their offense but you can clearly see why they won 69 games this year.

Now the Monarchs clearly had a lot of very good players, honestly too many to spotlight here. At first my list had 15 guys on it, then I cut it too 9 for the sake of brevity but if we’re ever going to get this review done we’re gonna have to be quick about it. So we’re gonna run through all 9 but in too much detail, a downside to being on the best team in Indy Ball last year. Honorable mentions first, Carlos Diaz and Jameson McGrane were both electric out of the bullpen and genuinely important pieces to this team’s success. Ryan Grotjohn and Casey Gillaspie were like fire and lightning, different but extremely lethal. Gillaspie for his power and Grotjohn for his contact hitting, there’s a reason why Grotjohn got picked up. Speaking of guys that got picked up, Morgan McCullough did just that thanks to his hit a game bat that shook out some power too. Then there’s the former major leaguers in Darnell Sweeney and Gabby Guerrero, who both slugged their way up the leaderboard and for Guerreo his high average didn’t hurt either. When talking Kansas City power you have to mention Jan Hernandez, who was in the thick of the home run hunt before he got picked up. Lastly, we have to mention Colin Willis. Quietly putting up an all-star caliber season between average and power. Between all these guys you can see why we had to go quick right?

This section is gonna be quick because it's rather obvious, no? Was the Monarchs season a success? Yes, winning 69 of 100 games and going undefeated in the postseason to win your 3 league championship is a success. This team was dynamic and simply the best indy ball had to offer in 2021. This was a quality baseball team that frankly could hang with some AAA teams and the fact that we only got to see 106 games from them is criminal. The first 10 games might have been bland but the next 96 delivered more than the USPS. A genuine treat to watch this team this year plain and simple.

This week we have something a bit more untraditional for our transaction review. Usually, we have a major league veteran or an indy ball star that is switching teams. This time however we are looking at a different type of change. Never before have we seen a woman play in the Atlantic League. That will change on April 21st when the Staten Island Ferryhawks take to the field in Charleston with new signing Kelsie Whitmore on the roster. Whitmore, 23, has played baseball since she was 6 years old, only taking a break while at CS-Fullerton to play softball, due to a lack of a women’s baseball at the university. In which she earned All-Big West 1st team and Big West player of the year honors. Her baseball career has primarily been with the United States Baseball Women’s Team (USBWT) and in a few short stints in the West Coast League and Pacific Association. The time spent with the PacA and WCL was earlier in her career (circa 2016) so judging results as a 18 year old against 24 year old and older pitchers is rather unfair for anyone. Focusing on that USBWT experience, Whitmore has performed well both on the mound and in the batter’s box posting a 1.35 ERA in the 2015 Pan-Am games and a .348 BA in the 2019 Pan-Am Games. This seems to be more representative of what she’s capable of. Early results from team showcases have shown that Whitmore can hang with the competition which, given her age and the competition level, is a welcomed surprise. Now how she’ll do against ALPB pitching and opening day roster batters is anyone’s guess and the Ferryhawks have listed her as an utility player aka wherever we need on any given day. This means we’ll get the answer to those questions fairly soon as Staten Island will look to get her in game.

Now none of this should come as much surprise. The Ferryhawks have been busy promoting the signing, and rightfully so, as a historic moment. If you are even remotely in the baseball media-verse you’ve heard about this signing and have likely formed your opinion on it. There’s probably something to glean from most of them, with extreme outliers excluded. What is a fact and unshakably true is that this is a signing that transcends the game on the field. It’s a milestone signing in the sense of what it means to many young girls and women that will see Whitmore take the field for Staten Island and see themselves out there. The renewed hope and inspiration to know that there is a possibility, albeit extremely thin, to have a future on the diamond. That is incredibly important. Let us not forget that this is helping to grow the game and keep more people engaged and interested in the sport. I expect, as I’m sure we all do, that Staten Island will treat her the same way as every player from day to day activity to her fate if she doesn’t perform up to expectations. Merit gets you in and results dictate your fate, that must be the case for every player if this signing is to remain celebrated. I don’t want to put unfair expectations or undue pressure on the shoulders of a 23 year old ballplayer playing on essentially a AA+ level, but we can ignore reality. To that end, I don’t know what to expect out of Kelsie Whitmore on the field but I am eager to see what she’ll be.

In the American Association, Milwaukee signed Mason Davis and Karch Kowalczyk then released Ryan Kussmal. Lincoln signed Jacob Olson and transferred Ben Wereski’s contract to the Kansas City Royals (MLB). Kane County signed Sherman Johnson, Jack Anderson, and Isaac Olson. Fargo-Moorhead signed Bret Helton and Peter Maris. Winnipeg signed Reggie Pruitt. Gary-Southshore signed Tommy McCarthey. Kansas City signed J.C. Escarra and Alexis Olmeda then released Dalbert Siri. Chicago signed Francois Castillo. Sioux City signed Luis Madero. Sioux Falls acquired Kona Quiggle from Ottawa (Frontier) for future considerations, then released Charlie Valerio. 

In the Frontier League, Ottawa traded Kona Quiggle to Sioux Falls (AAPB) in exchange for future considerations, then traded Kevin Whatley to Missoula (Pioneer) for a PTBNL, then placed Tanner Cable on the inactive list, then signed Nelson Gonzalez. Joliet signed Justin Gomez.  Florence signed Justin King and then traded Chad Hockin to Long Island (ALPB) for a PTBNL. Trois-Rivieres signed Raphael Gladu and Yarebu Martinez. Washington signed Marc Lardner and LG Castillo, then placed Roberto Caro on the inactive list, and sold Ryan Henen’s contract to the Kansas City Royals (MLB). Tri-City extended Brad Zunica, activated Willy Garcia from the inactive list, placed Nelson Molina and Carlos Machado on the inactive list, released Ryan McKay, then traded Brantley Bell to Staten Island (ALPB) for a PTBNL. Evansville signed Jacob Gilliand. Sussex County placed Max Herrmann on the inactive list and traded Jalen Miller Sr. to Lexington (ALPB) for a PTBNL. Schaumburg signed Marshall Skinner.

In the Atlantic League, Long Island signed Tyler Webb, Brett Kennedy, Chad Hockin, and Mitch Calandra, then activated Daniel Fields from the 7 day DL. Wild Health signed Felix Pie, Riley Mahan, and Anderson Miller. Staten Island signed Kelsie Whitmore. Southern Maryland signed Jared Walker and Dario Polanco. Lancaster signed Tyler Suellentrop, Robert Rosado, and Colton Shaver. York signed Carlos Rivero, Johsson Arias, Nick Travieso, and Troy Stokes Jr. Lexington signed Boog Powell, Mason Cole, Phillip Ervin, and Thomas Dorminy.

Every year there’s 1 player that explodes from years of mediocre play and has ‘that’ season that makes you take notice. Sometimes this season has a magical moment in it too. That was the case for this week’s spotlight player, John Silviano. After 6 ½ years in the Blue Jays and Marlins system, Silviano made his way to St.Paul midway through the 2019 season. He’d help the Saints capture the American Association title that same year and return to the club in the pandemic shortened 2020 season. However, the Saints would become affiliated in 2021 and Silviano would need to find a new team. He did in the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks.

In past years Silviano had struggled to find consistent playing time but this year he did have that issue suiting up for the ‘Hawks in 95 games and having his best season of his career by far. Silviano posted a mean slashline .290/.358/.523 with 24 home runs and 71 RBIs. More than that though Silviano was a multifaceted hitter. He hit a career high 38 extra base hits as part of 107 total hits on the season. Likewise he drew 36 walks this past season, his highest total since 2017. That’s not all, Silviano set new highs in each slashline category and home runs and RBIs. Oh and he played the field as well, mainly in right field. Fairly solid from that perspective as well. But his crowning moment was the huge offensive output from their playoff series against the Chicago Dogs. The moment can’t accurately be put into word but the best attempt I can mustad at doing so would be this. It was a statement, it said the comeback is complete, and most notably it said I’m here and I won’t be ignored.

John Silviano has shown that it is possible to have a breakout season later in your career. That even at 26 that ship has far from sailed yet. That all you need is playing time. That you can leave your mark on the game at any level and be remembered. Do I think Silviano will get back to affiliated ball? Maybe. If he replicates his success again in 2022, I think he’ll get some good looks. Does it matter? For the player of course it does, that's why they play. But to us the fans, it only matters because we pull for the player and want them to succeed and that last part I don’t think he’ll have any issue doing that.

The Lincoln Saltdogs took the 2020 season off and came back to show they weren’t going to miss a beat in 2021. Under new manager Bret Jodie, who was a late hire after James Frisbie was hired by the Tigers in late March, the team took on a late Somerset flair. That among factors made us think that they were a dark horse playoff contender that suffered greatly from being in the South Division. Either way there were some good bats on this team with a few very good pitchers. Let’s find out if Lincoln was as interesting as we predicted this year.

The Saltdogs got off to a so-so start to the season with a 6-5 May, with when you consider how late the staff came together wasn’t bad at all. In June, the team did take a dip. They had their only extended streak, winning or losing, of the year when they dropped 5 in a row from the 18th to 23rd. That mid month skid caused the team to go 11-14 on the month and 2 games under .500 on the season. At this point the South division was starting to take shape with the teams starting to separate between the good and bad. The Saltdogs would need a big July to stay in the fight. They did just that. Lincoln answered the division’s challenge and went 17-13 on the month, all without any exceptionally long winning streak, and back above .500 on the season. With a newly added 3rd playoff spot now in sights the Saltdogs entered August with 1 mission in mind; get it. This mission would get much easier thanks to a slumping Sioux City team in front of them and a light end to the season. This set the Saltdogs up to go 16-12 in the month and go into September with almost a guaranteed playoff spot. They managed to get to 3-1 in September, a win in either of their final 2 games would have secured them the final playoff spot in the South. Their opponent was the Houston Apollos, who Lincoln had just beaten the night prior. Houston was looking at limping into the offseason after a very rough year as a traveling team. But they still had some fight left in them, a win on Sunday set up a do or die Labor day match bout. A classic win and you’re in or lose and head home for the Saltdogs. In the 88 degree Nebraska weather the two teams starters’ dueled, neither surrendering a run through 5. Then in the 6th the lone 2 runs came across to score. After a hairy 8th and a silent night it was over. The Saltdogs, having mustard 6 hits and 8 runners all day, lost 2-0 to the Houston Apollos. This sent Sioux City to Cleburne and Lincoln home for the year with a final record of 53-47, 16 games back of first place in the South and .5 games back of the final playoff spot.

In the big picture there were a lot of things the Saltdogs did right this year. That starts with their batting stats. The team hit dingers, 124 to be exact. That was good enough for 3rd in the league last year. That kind of hitting didn’t quite translate over into much else though as the team ranked last in triples, 2nd to last in doubles, and 8th in hits. That said they drew a lot of walks like 422 walks, more than all but three teams in the league. This approach was very modern in the sense that their offense was centered around, whether intentional or not, walks and home runs were the base from which the offense was built upon. It clearly worked judging by the offensive production on individual players and the team’s middle of the pack total bases number (1450;6th), and their slash line as well (.271/.363/.423 - 7th/7th/4th). Brett Jodie has always been a pitching man at heart though and from the second he took the helm we knew it would be a matter of when not if, this team would become top of the line. Well it appears it wasn’t quite this year. The team had a 4.91 ERA, 5th worst, and a similarly bad .270 OBA. The WHIP wasn’t great either with a middling 1.5 and opponents slugged over .400 against the Saltdogs as well. Most everything else was average, middle of the league like numbers with one notable exception; walks. They had the second fewest walks of any team at 370 or about 3.7 walks a game or even 1.2 walks per 3 innings. Overall, this wasn’t the type of team you expect from Jodie. It relied on modern offensive production with pitching as an ancillary tenet to the team.

As always there are individual performers that need highlighting and the Saltdogs are only different in that there’s about a dozen guys that deserve recognition. Unfortunately, I can’t take up three pages talking about these guys. So they won’t all get an in depth look but we will mention them all even if in passing. Josh Altmann, wow. This guy came out of nowhere after 5 years in the Ranger's system and 57 double A games. He had a nice little mini season in 2020 in Sugar Land’s circuit league but he stepped up to a new level in 2021. The man was a dark horse candidate for MVP, before ABW lit the world on fire, and certainly is now a favorite for the 2022 award. His 29 home runs and .305/.374/.635 slash line as a shortstop are the cause of all this fawning over the 27 year old. Over 50 extra base hits and 100 total hits in 85 games plus a neat 20 stolen bases and the man was a wrecking crew for Lincoln this past season and should he stay the year in 2022, he could take the touch as new Saltdog legend from our next player. Curt Smith. It was his curtain call year after 8 seasons in Nebraska, never slipping far below .290 BA coming into this year. It was technically his career worst season. That low water mark was a .280/.363/.440 and 10 home runs in 88 games, so calling it a bad year is like calling the Empire State Building short. Not to mention the several team records he set this year as well. Justin Byrd was a highlight reel in the outfield, getting featured on Sportscenter's top 10 several times and still hitting over .275 and 14 home runs in his 99 games as well. Quickly, David Vidal (.282/.385/.444 15/49), Ryan Long (.272/.370/.487 17/61), Yanio Perez (.289/.346/.417 7/36), and Forrestt Allday (.325/.443.488 10/51) all had big contributions at the dish this year and really made the late season run possible. As far as pitching is concerned, Kyle Kinman and Greg Minier were the pride of the rotation. Kinman made 19 starts and posted a 2.90 ERA and 1.32 WHIP. Oh and a mere 80 hits with 109 strikeouts in 96 innings from the lead veteran starter this past year. Meanwhile, Minier split time between the rotation and the bullpen with 12 bullpen appearances and 13 starts while posting a 3.87 ERA and 1.39 WHIP and averaging over a strikeout an inning. And last but not least, James Pugliese was a rock in the bullpen. The Saltdogs closer notched 25 saves in 42 games to the tune of a 2.47 ERA and 46 strikeouts.

The Saltdogs were a dark horse and a question mark this past season. They weren’t expected to make the postseason per se but they were expected to fight for a spot for a while. They did do that and that should qualify the season as successful in that light. However,that was before the extra playoff spot was added. That tarnishes the season because they did fall short of their goal by hair and that hair was an end of year series against the worst team in all of partnership baseball. The expectation is you beat them, and if they did I’d call the year a success but they did not. I have a hard time not saying the season is a failure on that count but even still it means either category by the slimmest of margins. In the end, the Saltdogs were not the sum of their parts, there were a lot of really good individual performances this year and that’s a bright light for them. However as a team the season left a 0.5 half game to be desired.

We have finally gotten another baseball trade in the Indy Ball offseason! This time it’s an inter league trade with the American Association’s Chicago Dogs dealing catcher Ryan Haug  to the Atlantic League’s Southern Maryland Blue Crabs for pitchers Carl Brice and Neil Lang. This is one of those times where we have concrete assets changing hands and frankly for both sides this deal is interesting. From Chicago’s perspective, they moved a catcher that gave them 42 games last year and 16 the year before with only 1 other player at that position on the roster at the time of the deal. Which signals that they are either happy enough with Ryan Lidge and a TBA to move them for pitching depth or they explicitly wanted Brice and Lang because of their classification and playing ability. Meanwhile, the Blue Crabs already have 2 catchers on their roster and now are down to just 7 pitchers on the team. So they must feel that either Brice and Lang are expendable and that there’ll be more signings in the near future or that Haug is a big enough upgrade at the position to warrant such a move. Either way the connection between these two teams becomes obvious when you look at the coaching staff of each team, notice we have brothers on both sides in Stu (Chicago) and Stan (So. Maryland) Cliburn. So it could just be something to the extent of one brother helping out another while giving a player a chance at more playing time. Either way, we still have to look at what each player is about.

Starting with Southern Maryland’s newest player, Ryan Haug. 27 years old and entering his 5th professional season, Haug has spent the past 2 years in the AAPB with Chicago. He’s a career catcher that in all honesty brings his value in defense. An over .990 fielding percentage and only 3 errors in his time in Chicago, Haug will provide a defensive presence behind the plate and judging by their top in the AAPB team ERA in 2021 he can also call a good game. Addressing offense, Haug is a .247/.395/.295 hitter over his time in Indy Ball. He ain’t hitting for power with only 7 extra base hits in his time with Chicago. That said, he did look better with more playing time last year, becoming a nearly .260 hitter in the most action he’s seen since his draft year in 2018. That brings us to the elephant in the room, he just hasn’t played much since 2018 where he played in 45 games for U of Arizona and 18 games in the Pirates system. In 2019, Haug got in 19 games between several different levels. Then in 2020 he got in 16 games and finally 42 in 2021. That’s not really a large sample size to work off of and to be corse there’s probably a reason for that. Now with that said I imagine the reason is Ryan Lidge, the other catcher on the roster, was hitting over .310 in 80 games and they were comparable defensively. So on a professional level it’s hard to justify benching a .300 hitter and now the limited playing time starts to make sense. 

Now let’s look at Chicago. They got themselves a pair of throwers in Carl Brice and Neil Lang. Starting with Brice, he’s a 6 year undrafted professional. A swingman by nature, he can do a bit of everything having started 37 of his 90 professional games, including all 12 with Southern Maryland last year. A high strikeout guy with 276 in 250 innings pitched, there's raw talent here. I say raw because he’s also rocking a 5.26 ERA lifetime ERA and 1.84 WHIP lifetime. That ERA would arguably be worse if not for a year in the USPBL and Liberation League, in fairness he also has the Pecos League and Pacific Association on his resume to cancel it out, as his ALPB ERA is 6.31. Even with 17 innings in Gastonia that’s not good and the WHIP of 1.88 is also concerning. Now the Atlantic League wasn’t easy on pitchers last year so perhaps his ERA is misleading and with the trackman the walk numbers could be as well but they aren’t going to be off enough to make him into a savat overnight. That said, there still enough here that is intriguing about Brice that warrants a good, long look. 

As for Lang now, he’s been a professional for 4 seasons now and all of them have been in Indy Ball. A college starter that has looked more at home in the bullpen, he feels like a safer Brice. What I mean by that is Lang doesn’t have his strikeout numbers and nothing about his stat line is particularly interesting but his ERA and WHIP is respectable and he’s managed that while also playing in the Pacific Association and Liberation League. However, what makes these two stand apart is the fact the highest level Lang has played at was last year in the Pioneer League with Billings. While the Pioneer League was no stranger to offense in their own right, posting football scores more often than they would like, it would be disingenuous to compare the quality of hitter and fielder in that league with the ALPB. I have no doubt that Lang would have more Brice like numbers if he played in Gastonia or SoMD or any ALPB team last year. That said a 4.86 ERA in 63 innings with a 1.49 WHIP is still something to make note of. Especially when the lifetime Indy Ball numbers are only a 4.94 ERA with a 1.55 WHIP in over 200 innings. I like him as a vanilla reliever that’ll just come in and get the job done in a matter of fact way.

The future for all sides involved is interesting because I can see why this was done by both teams. For Southern Maryland, they needed an upgrade at catcher. No disrespect to Reda and Rei, but neither looks like a long-term starter for SoMD. Reda just hasn’t played much at all with just 74 professional games and a third of those came playing in Italy. His numbers are also just not very good with low power numbers and the only thing passing the sniff test being his walks, which are good, and on defense he’s very average. Austin Rei is better but seems like a diet version of Haug with lower batting numbers but better defense. Adding Haug gives you an everyday catcher and lets you use Rei late in games or once every 3rd or 4th day, which I think would be best. This deal also seems like a favor to Haug because he wasn’t going to be playing ahead of Lidge, at least to start the year, in Chicago. 

For Chicago, they get to add some players that the AAPB views as rookies even though they have half a decade of experience each. Likewise, they get 2 pitchers that look to be potential 30-45 inning guys out of the bullpen or in Brice’s case, a fifth starter. When you have to roster 5 rookies, you might as well make them well experienced rookies right.  Overall, it seems like a pretty low risk trade that could help out both sides.

In the American Association, Milwaukee traded Matt Solter to Staten Island (ALPB) for a PTBNL, then signed Myles Smith and Bryan Torres. Kansas City signed David Thompson and Matt Hartman, then released Colin Willis. Gary-Southshore signed Aaron Phillips and Elio Serrano, then traded Jose Mercado and Brandon Zaragoza to Lake Erie (FLPB) for 2 PTBNL and traded Marshall Skinner to Schaumburg (FLPB) for a PTBNL.  Chicago signed Gustavo Pierre, Grant Kay, and Cosimo Canella, then traded Ryan Haug to Southern Maryland (ALPB) for Carl Brice and Neil Lang. Fargo-Moorhead released Mitch Lambson and traded Kevin Krause to Staten Island (ALPB) for a PTBNL. Lake Country signed Jake Snider and Evan Kruczynski. Sioux City released Michael Lang, Jose Sermo, and Brian Ellington, then traded Errol Robinson to Sussex County (FLPB) for a PTBNL, then signed Chase Harris.

In the Frontier League, Trois-Rivieres signed Kyle Bell, Carlo Graffeo, Bradley Harmon, and Eris Hegadoren. Tri-City signed Chuck Steele, Hamilton Andujar, Matt Mercer, and Jesus Lujano,  then placed Jake Barbee on the inactive minute. Sussex County acquired Errol Robinson from Sioux City (AAPB) for a PTBNL, then signed Gunnar Groen and Yu Sato. New York placed Phil Caulfield, Phil Capra, Ray Hernandez, and Zach Kirtley on the inactive list, then extended Ben Strahm. New Jersey completed a trade with Lancaster (ALPB) by acquiring Jake Mulholland, then they signed Zach Goree and Juan Perez, the release Yeison Medina. Florence signed Evan Brabrand. Ottawa signed Jarod Sprinkle. Windy City signed Kenny Matthews. Evansville signed Drake Nightengale. Lake Erie received Jose Mercado and Brandon Zaragoza from Gary-Southshore (AAPB) for 2 PTBNL, then they signed Jose Mercado and Kenny Wells, then placed Osvaldo Aberu, Leonel Aponte, Jackson Valera, and Jose Vivas on the inactive list.

In the Atlantic League, Lancaster signed Josh Graham. York signed Paul Mondesi and Elmer Reyes. Southern Maryland was assigned Ryan Haug. Wild Health signed Ryan Kellogg. Long Island signed Sandy Baez and Akeel Morris, then released Boog Powell. Gastonia signed Ti’Quan Forbes, Sam Bordner, Quintin Torres-Costa, Joseph Rosa, Jerry Keel, and Ezequiel Zabaleta.

Last year we saw a truly fantastic performance from several relievers in the Frontier League. Naturally, some of those performers moved up the chain to different Indy Leagues or for those that got lucky, MLB organization. Others have returned to their 2021 clubs and one of those returning players is Trey Cochran-Gill, as he signed an extension with the ValleyCats last week. A guy that we affectionately took to calling ‘The Law Firm’ threw 57 innings last season with Tri-City and was by far their best bullpen arm. He’d be second in the league with 24 saves and post a 2.35 ERA, which would have been lower if not for 3 bad outings. With more strikeouts than hits in 2021 TCG set himself up as a key piece of the newly independent team going forward.

Before 2021, Cochran-Gill had only played affiliated baseball, having gone pro with Mariners in 2014 following a stellar college career with Auburn. He’d remain in their system for a year and a half before being moved to Oakland in 2016 and eventually becoming a free agent following the 2020 season. While in affiliated ball though, Cochran-Gill was used more as a general reliever seldom getting the close games. This led to a higher ERA and other similar stats. However, what’s curious is that his walk numbers were arguably better than in the Frontier League while his strikeout numbers suffered in affiliated ball. Why did he end up in Tri-City then? Well Cochran-Gill didn’t have a great 2019. In AA/A+, he posted a poor 5.31 ERA in 59 innings with 61 hits, 36 walks, and 45 strikeouts. That was again as a general reliever without closing time. In fact, he even made a few starts in 2019 as well. All that to say, once Cochran-Gill got moved into a closer’s role with the ValleyCats he got much better in the Frontier League.

It’s hard to find anything wrong with bringing back your All-Star closer and that’s where I’m at on this extension. The law firm is good for 20 saves or more a year and is set to return to the role of high pressure situations reliever and he’s perfect in that position. The man had a large share in the success that the ValleyCats had in last year following a disastrous start. Even during that start, TCG was the one constant that the team could reliably count on showing up everytime he took the mound. I’d have to imagine that Cochran-Gill once again repeats his success, as there’s no indicator to the contrary, and that adds another scary piece to a ValleyCats team that looked to have figured it out after last May. As for TCG, being in Tri-City is one of the better spots to be with Pete Incaviglia as a manager. As we’ve seen in the past, including last year, his players move on to MLB organizations and the man knows what he’s doing as a skipper. He wins a lot and is generally well thought of by his players and that is a good situation to return to. Not to mention, last year went very well for the club and player, so why fix what ain’t broke. All in all, it’s a mutually beneficial decision by both party and I’d expect big things from both this year.

In the American Association, Winnipeg signed Jaylen Smith. Lake County signed Hao-Chun Cheng. Gary signed Harrison Francis, Leif Strom, and Chris Burgess. They also released Billy Cooke, Hayden Schilling, and Matt Vonderschmidt. Fargo signed Sebastian Kessay and John Silviano. Cleburne signed Brendan Bell and released Alejandro Requena. Kane County acquired Alexis Pantoja from Tri-City (Frontier) to complete a previous transaction. Sioux City signed Ademar Rifaela and Blake Tiberi and released Seamus Curran. Milwaukee transferred Zach Hartman’s contract to Durango (LMB) and signed AJ Schugel and Will Kengor. Kansas City released Jacob Lindgren. Lincoln traded Derrick Adams to Charleston (ALPB) for a PTBNL.

In the Frontier League, Joliet traded 2 PTBNL to Missoula (Pioneer) for Justin Gomez. Gateway signed Abdiel Diaz and Reed Hayes. Florence signed Chad Hockin, Grant Hockin, and Andrew Krammer. They also placed Jose Brizuela and Jordan Brower on the suspended list. Empire State signed Tyler Hill, Franklyn Hernandez, Holden Bernhardt, Locke Bernhardt, Fredie Matos, and Max Peterson. Lake Erie signed Moises Castellanos, Sam Abbott, and Alex Merithew. Schaumburg signed Nick Oddo, Thomas DeBonville, and Parker DePasquale. Sussex County traded Ramsey Romano to Ottawa for future considerations. Washington traded Tristan Peterson to Billings (Pioneer) for a PTBNL and signed Kevin Lambert. Tri-City signed Troy Cruz, Pavin Parks, and Brantley Bell. They also extended Trey Cochran-Gill, and traded Alexis Pantjoa to Kane County (AAPB) to complete a previous trade and traded Robert Pena to Long Island (ALPB) for a PTBNL. Evansville extended JR Davis. New York signed Austin Kaplan, Jayce Vancena, Chris Allen, and Leudeny Pineda. 

In the Atlantic League, Lancaster signed Oscar De La Cruz, activated Cameron Gann, and were assigned Josh Smith. York was assigned Adrian Alarcon and Matt Meyer. Gastonia was assigned Kevin Lambert. Charleston was assigned Kyle Robinson. Lexington was assigned Darrien Ragins. Long Island was assigned Cody Beckman. Staten Island was assigned Hector Gaunce, Yohn Zapata, Anthony Rodriguez, and Jordan Simpson. They also signed Ben Ruta and Rymer Liriano. High Point was assigned Thomas Derer and Dario Polanco. Kentucky Wild Health was assigned Scrappy Hopkins, Will Decker, Robbie Kellerman, Bradley Hines, and Alex Wemple. Southern Maryland signed Austin Rei and were assigned Junior Navas.

Zach Hartman has been playing professional baseball for a long time. He’s been in the Indy Ball world for a while as well and he has always managed to make himself an effective player out of the bullpen of whatever team he’s calling home that year. His career started after 4 years at UNLV when the Los Angeles Angels signed him. Hartman would spend 2 seasons, 2015 and 2016, in the LAA system pitching well but not well enough to avoid being dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. He’d only be with the LAD organization for a year before being released and joining indy ball in 2018 after 3 years at the various rookie and A levels of affiliated ball. He’d join up with the Winnipeg Goldeyes in that offseason and after 12 games get released, then Hartman signed with Southern Illinois in the Frontier league and had a sub 0.5 ERA in 20 innings. That was all the expansion Milwaukee Milkmen needed to see, and since 2019 Hartman has been a member of the moo crew. 2019 and 2020 saw Hartman become one of the most reliable arms in the bullpen posting mid 3 ERAs each year in 50+ innings and 30+ innings respectively. That brings us to 2021 and this might be Hartman’s best season yet.

Hartman entered the 2021 season with 3 years of independent league experience, mostly spent in the same long/mid reliever role that he had done very well in the past. Think of a Tyler Clippard like usage from Milwaukee in past seasons. This would be the same in 2021 but this time instead of pitching like 2018 Tyler Clippard, Hartman pitched like 2013 Tyler Clippard. Hartman posted a 2.45 ERA in 51 innings across 43 games last season. He struck out 59 averaging 10.3 per 9 innings and walked only 16 or 2.8 per 9 innings. In other words, Hartman struck a lot of dudes out and didn’t walk many batters, even though he pitched a lot for a reliever. The end of the day Hartman continued his torrent pace and in fact managed to increase it to the level of being one of the best middle relievers in the AAPB this past season.

As luck would have it, just before we put this edition up some good news dropped last night about Zach. He had his contract purchased by Durango of the Mexican League. So now at 30 years old he’ll get a chance to compete against some of the best competition in North America and, if all goes well, beyond. Hopefully, he’ll stay in Mexico for the foreseeable future but if it doesn’t work out he’ll almost certainly have a home in Milwaukee.

It’s not unusual to see former big leaguers in the Atlantic League. That is what originally put them on the map afterall. However, in recent years we’ve been short on established major leaguers. That might be changing if this signing is any indicator. This past week the Lancaster Barnstormers signed MLB veteran Marc Rzepczynski. The 10 year major leaguer last played in 2019 with AAA Reno in the DBacks system. That said, he pitched in the majors as recently as 2018 and is clearly looking to give it 1 more shot at getting back there.

Rzepczynski’s career started in 2007 after being drafted by the Blue Jays and a year in a half in the minors he made his major league debut in 2009. The Jays would use him as a starter and in that role he’d do a respectable job posting a 4 ERA. That would change in 2011, Rzepczynski would be exclusively a reliever and a good one at that. In fact after being dealt to St. Louis, he’d play a part in the Cardinals 2011 World Series victory. However, Rzepczynski would turn into a journeyman joining 4 different organizations over the next 5 seasons. That didn’t stop him in 2014 and 2016 from posting a fantastic ERA around 2.50 in both seasons. That would be the highwater mark however as 4 years later he’d be out of the game. That brings us up to date.

Rzepczynski is in his 30s now but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still an effective pitcher for the team. There’s 2 ways he could be used. The first is as a starter, a throwback to when he first broke into the league and this path definitely offers a better chance at rejoining a major league team. I’m doubtful that’ll happen though because he has started consistency in almost a decade and even with the talent difference between MLB and ALPB, there’s a big curve to hit before getting back into the rhythm. That led me to option 2. He becomes Lancaster’s Mat Latos. A long time MLB pitcher that still has good stuff on his pitchers and can rack up a dozen plus saves a year. This feels like a better fit for a guy that carved out a career as a relief pitcher. In any case, this presents a welcome change for the Barnstormers coming off a historically bad pitching performance in 2021.

In the American Association, Sioux Falls signed Riley Farrell. Sioux City signed Zach Hedges. Milwaukee signed Ryan Zimmerman and Aaron Hill. Cleburne signed Abdallah Aris and Jhonathan German. Winnipeg signed Dakota Conners. Lincoln signed Kyle Kinman. Chicago signed Anferee Grier and Ryan Clark and released Brennan Metzger. Kane County signed Ben Allison. Fargo-Moorhead traded Mike Hart to Charleston (ALPB) for a PTBNL, claimed Dylan Baker from Kansas City, and signed Manuel Boscan. 

In the Frontier League, New Jersey signed Austin Smith and Trevor Abrams, then extended Thomas Spinelli. Windy City signed Aloysius Cruz and Cordell Dunn Jr. Lake Erie sent Abdiel Diaz to Gateway to complete a previous transaction. Gateway placed Manuel Ramirez on the inactive list and traded Jose Ramirez to Long Island (ALPB) for a PTBNL. Washington extended Cam Phelts. Joliet signed Cole Stanton. Ottawa signed Kevin Whatley. Empire State signed AJ Pollack, John Benevolent, Robbie Carling, Gerald De La Cruz, Kolton Kendrick, Jordan Scott, Hanley Acevedo, Hiroki Itakura, and Eric Telarroja. Tri-City signed Adam Hofacket and Brac Warren then traded 3 PTBNL to Ogden (Pioneer) for Pavin Parks. Trois-Rivieres signed Steve Brown, LP Pelletier, and Mark Tindall. 

In the Atlantic League, Lancaster signed Mark Rzepczynski and Wesley Rodriguez. High Point activated Kyle Halbohn. Kentucky Wild Heath was assigned Diego Moreno. Long Island signed Brady Fiegl. Staten Island was assigned Connor Law, Eddy Reynoso, Eric Marinez, Jasier Herrera, Jose Guevara, and Williams Rodriguez.

The Sioux City Explorers are one of the more storied teams in Independent League baseball despite some postseason struggles in their history. After a year off, they were looking to add to that history with another championship. Coming into the season the team was positioned to be an offense-reliant squad with a good bullpen. That said, the rotation was always going to be iffy and would be the deciding point on whether they made the playoffs or not. They were still poised to be a fun team in AAPB. Let’s see how they did.

The Explorers opened up the season fairly strongly in May with a respectable 8-4 record. It was an uneventful month that saw mostly short winning streaks with no major losing skid. That’s where june comes in. 1 of only 2 extended streaks for the Explorers came this month. Their only extended winning came about midway through the month and had the team win 5 in a row plus an additional forfeit victory after Cleburne had bus issues en route to Iowa. That said, the streak powered the team to 15-10 record in the month and a 10 games above .500 record on the year. However, this is the part where the team hit their ceiling. Over the course of May and June, Sioux City had lost some key pieces to the affiliated leagues and that played a part in what came next. The team stalled out in July, again at the hands of mini winning and losing streaks, to go 14-15 on the month. This still kept them at 38-29 on the season and well in the playoff hunt. In August, we saw the second of those extended streaks when the team dropped 8 games in a row from August the 3rd through the 11th. A few bad games against Winnipeg later coupled with a surging Lincoln team had put the Xs in danger of missing the postseason and set up a critical last week of the season. Going into September the team sat at just 5 games over .500 and after going 4-2 in the month, they’d need some help from the most unlikely of places if they wanted to make the postseason. On the final day of the regular season, the Houston Apollos would need to beat one of the hottest teams in the league for the second day in a row. As you already know from our Apollos review the miracle happened and the Saltdogs were eliminated from postseason contention after game 100. This set the stage for a 1 game wildcard between the Explorers and Cleburne Railroaders. 

By virtue of being the higher seed, Cleburne would host the game. Early on, it was a dog fight. Both starters were stingy, allowing a combined 1 hit through the first 3 innings and just 5 hits through 5 innings. In the 6th, Sioux City broke through with a 2 out solo home run from Jose Sermo. They led 1-0. In the bottom frame, Max Kuhns would enter for starter Patrick Ledet and things would get a bit hairy. After retiring the first 2 batters, a single and hit by pitch put 2 on. A passed ball moved them into scoring position and would also be ball 4, loading the bases. Kuhns was unfazed and responded by getting Chase Simpson on a fly out to end the inning. Crisis averted. In the 7th, Sioux City tacked on another run following a lead off double by Sebastian Zawada, who was replaced by Chase Harris on the bases, and a sac fly. 2-0 Explorers after 7. Things remained calm until the 9th. With 1 on and 2 away, Lane Milligan crushed a 2 run shot to extend the lead to 4 and with that they went to the 9th. Kuhns, now in his 4th inning of relief, had only allowed 2 base runners since entering the game and that’s how it would end. He sat down the Railroaders in order to end the game and Cleburne’s season. That got the Xs a dance with Kansas City 2 days later and that’s about where the season would end for Sioux City. The Monarchs swept the Explorers, 3 games to none and outscored them a combined 46-10 in that span, never trailing once in the series. Sioux City would finish the year 53-46, 3rd place in the South and with1 playoff win to their name.

Sioux City as a team didn’t stand out in any one area in 2021. They hit fine, slashing .266/.366/.423 (T8th/6th/8th) and posting 104 home runs. They struck out a bit with 796 or 6th fewest to 461 walks or 3rd most. Where they struggled was getting hits. The team only had 860 hits for the whole season, 2nd worst and only 22 more than last place Apollos. This in turn resulted in the 4th lowest run total in the league at 525. The pitching was again average on a whole with a 6th best 4.84 ERA and 5th best WHIP of 1.45. The pitchers didn’t allow home runs (88; league low) or walks (388; T5th lowest) and that helped a ton. They also struck out a lot of batters, 916 to be exact (2nd best in the league). At the end of the day they scored more than they surrendered and that carried the day but by no means was this team exceptionally strong on either side of the ball.

While the team itself didn’t stand out there were a ton of players that did. The first of which being Jose Sermo. The dude is a living legend in Independent League ball and will be in our personal hall of fame when he hangs up the cleat and this year was another example why. In 91 games the 30 year old hit .298 with a career-best 29 home runs in that span. Also chipping in another 23 extra base hits and 18 stolen bases and my guy was balling out for what was his 2nd best year in his career. He also had a strong supporting cast with AAPB veteran Sebastian Zawada (.259/324/.463 16 home runs in 90 games), Indy Ball newcomers LT Tolbert (.295/.371/.421 6 home runs in 87 games) and Chris Clare (.339/437/.425 1 home run in 52 games), and defensive wizard and human highlight reel Chase Harris, who nearly ran through a wall and drove through turf several times this year. 

The pitching side was led by Max Kuhns this year. The dude was strictly out of the bullpen and got into 44 games for 61 innings and looked damn good posting a 2.97 ERA. Factor in only 22 walks to 88 strikeouts and you have a dynamic bullpen pitcher. Also in the bullpen, rookie Tyler Koch (37 IP 2.95 ERA), Brandon Brosher (47 IP 2.51 ERA), Matt Quintana (19 IP 2.37 ERA)and veteran Jose Velez (30 IP 3.64 ERA). 

The everlasting question is upon us, was the season a success? I would be inclined to say yes it was for the Sioux City Explorers. This was by no means a perfect team, they pitch and yearned all the way down the stretch and were a Lincoln win away from this season being a failure or at least neutral. However, that’s not what happened. The team got into the dance and did what they were supposed to do. They won a playoff game on the road on short notice and got their best starting performance of the year when they needed it most. No team was ever going to stop the Monarch team the Xs hit. That can’t be held against them. The Explorers took care of business when they needed to and that's the story of the year. A non-flashy team that got key contributions from key players at the right time. So while the 2021 Sioux City Explorers were more the sum of their parts than the sum of the whole, they still put on a successful season.

If the Indy Ball Report were to have an All-Madden team for indy ball Logan Trowbridge would be our Nate Newton. The dude has literally played at least 4 games at each position, including pitcher, as a professional. That is about as indy ball as you can get. He spent a few years at Cal State Bakersfield before going pro. He was undrafted and immediately joined the indy ball world. 2016 was split between college and the Pecos League. 2017 was again Pecos League but the AAPB traveling team version and quick stint in the USPBL. 2018 is when Trowbridge made his American Association debut in earnest with Witchita, he did well but the Wingnuts were folding through no fault of their own and he needed a new spot to play ball. Cleburne was next and he didn’t do quite as well and then a pandemic hit. 2020 was spent with middling results in Milwaukee. Trowbridge would stick in Milwaukee for 2021 and he would need to turn it around. And boy would he turn it around.

Trowbridge spent most of 2021 at third base and he did a fine job at it but defense isn’t what you spotlighted here, offense is. In past years, Trowbridge never exceeded 5 home runs, even in the Pecos League; this year he had a career-high 11. He also slashed .289/.384/.438 and led the league in stolen bases with 40 and was only caught stealing 4 times all year. Add on 45 walks and over 100 hits and you have a career-best season for Logan Trowbridge. The dude was simply one of the best players on his team this year and we saw a player that has over 400 games of indy ball experience finally put it all together on a high level to help get his team to this postseason. 

Trowbridge has spent his whole professional career in independent league baseball, grinding from the Pecos League to the American Association. He’s played every position on the diamond, mound and in the outfield as well. The guy can field, hit, and run with the best of them and final after all the years spent playing and practicing, has put it all together. He’s 28 now and will turn 29 mid way through the 2022 season but I still believe he’s earned a shot in affiliated ball. If he doesn’t get that shot though, he’s still proven he can be a capable veteran presence on any indy ball team and I’m sure Milwaukee will be more than happy to have in 2022 and beyond.

The Staten Island Ferryhawks have not wasted any time in building one of the better bullpens in the Atlantic League. This week they continued that trend by acquiring  the AAPB all-time saves leader Victor Capellan from the York Revolution in exchange of a PTBNL. 

Capellan has been around professional baseball for some time now. He signed with the D-Backs organization and began his professional career in 2008 at 18 years old. He’d spend 4 years there, then a season in Mexico before finally entering Indy Ball. From 2014 through 2020 Capallen would play for various American Association teams including Winnipeg, Laredo, and Joplin. Then he hopped on with York in the Atlantic League for 2021. Regardless of where, Capellan has always been used as a reliever, normally a closer. This has been an area where he has just done well in but rather perfected the assignment notching 76 American Association saves, 6 more than any other pitcher in their AAPB tenure, and 78 saves overall in 317 appearances. Over that span he also tacked on an ERA of 3.03 and a WHIP 1.14. That’s with 380 strikeouts to 102 walks or a nearly 4:1 SO:BB ratio. To phrase it differently, Victor Capellan is more likely to strike out the side than surrender a walk. Those are some impressive numbers.

So what’s the concern here, if any? That’s the 2021 season in York. It was by far Capellan's worst in Indy Ball. He had a 6.32 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP in 37 innings with the Revs. Only 2 saves as well but that’s more the fault of Jim Fuller, who was given the closer’s job over Capellan. While yes the offense was up across Indy Ball, and double so for the ALPB, last year it’s still concerning to see and it’s not like Capellan has low miles. The dude has been pitching in professional leagues since he was a teenager and now 13 years and 636 innings later here we are. That kind of work will catch up to a pitcher after a while.

All in all, I like the move by Staten Island. They’ve now paired Jose Velez with one of the best closers we’ve had in the past decade of Indy Ball and regardless of the order they get run out in the bullpen will be solid in the backend. While last season does spook me a little bit when you deal with players Victor Capellan you bet on them bouncing back. It does seem like the franchise is developing an identity, one where pitching is the preference.

In the American Association, Winnipeg signed Deon Stafford and released Donnie Hart. Lincoln signed Connor Panas, Jonathan Cheshire, and Hunter Clanin. Gary acquired Donivan Williams from Windy City (Frontier) to complete a previous trade and then signed KV Edwards and Donivan Williams. Milwaukee signed Alex FaGalde and Tyler Smith. Cleburne signed Landon Hollifield and Matt Morgan. Sioux Falls signe Zane Gurwitz. Kansas City sold Eric Stout’s contract to the Chicago Cubs (MLB). Chicago signed Ryan Lidge and Shane Barringer.

In the Frontier League, Tri-City placed Bryan Valdez on the retired list. New York signed Luke Burton, Gian Martellini, Andy Hammond, and Max Smith to contract extensions. Then they signed Austin Dennis, Steven Figueroa, Giovanni Garbella, Gabriel Garcia, Ernie Geraci, Julian Hunt, Gerson Molina, Cesar Tovar, William Freeman, Algenis Martinez, Jheyson Perez, and David Vinsky. Windy City sent Donivan Williams to Gary (AAPB) to complete a previous trade. Washington signed Landen Barnes. New Jersey signed Hansel Rodriguez and Jorge Taverez. Empire State signed Kenny Hernandez. Schaumburg signed William Salas, placed Yeltsin Gudino and Erik Martinez on the inactive list, and received Thomas DeBonville from Idaho Falls (Pioneer) in exchange for a PTBNL. Ottawa signed Clay Fisher and Mitsuki Fukuda. Florence signed Jeremey Ovalle and Darwin Ramos. Trois-Rivières signed Ricardo Sanchez.

In the Atlantic League, Kentucky Wild Heath released Brandon Leibrandt. York traded Victor Capellan to Staten Island for a PTBNL and signed Zach Racusin. Gastonia traded Manuel Geraldo. Staten Island signed Ricardo Cespedes. Lexington signed Dominic Bethancourt. Lancaster signed Mark Zagunis.

We’ve spent a lot of time in this series talking about guys that are new on the Indy Ball scene. Of course we’ve also looked at veterans as well and that’s what we’re doing today. This time we are looking at one of the best second baseman in Indy Ball over the last several years. That would be American Association mainstay Alay Lago. 

Coming from Cuba, Lago bought 4 years of National Series experience with him to LMB’s Veracruz. From there he joined the Braves organization for 2 years in 2017 playing in high A and double A. Midway through 2018 he joined the American Association and since have been a member of the Kansas City T-Bones, Sioux Falls Canaries, and as of last year the Cleburne Railroaders.

Alay Lago has always been more of a contact hitter, the kind of player that’s going to hit for average and get on base. This season was no different and his best since 2019. In 2021, Lago hit .337 in 98 games and had 190 total bases. Adding on, he also had an OBP .385 and a slugging percentage of .454. Diving deeper into that slugging number, he hit 34 extra base hits that includes 5 home runs and 5 triples with 24 doubles. That’s a very nice season right there. As far as run production went Lago was no slouch there either with 50 RBIs and 68 runs scored. This was all while being the primary second baseman, and a very strong with only 4 errors on the season, for Cleburne. That’s part of what makes Lago worthy of this spotlight. He was one of the more consistent players in the league on both sides of the game and certainly one of the most important players for the Railroaders this past season. 

Alay Lago has been one of the best players at his position in Indy Ball since joining the American Association in 2018. The dude worked hard to master his position and his approach at the plate and this year those efforts showed with what you could very well argue was his best professional season in his career. At his age getting another affiliated opportunity is never a given and in this day and age having somewhere to play next year isn’t either. That said I know every Indy Ball team would be thrilled to have him. And who knows maybe he’ll get his second chance this year, there is a lockout after all.

The Lexington Legends made a major splash in the inaugural season last year, not just by winning the ALPB championship but by the roster they assembled. The team was chock full of former MLB players and ALPB vets that looked like they could hang with some AAA teams. Now in 2021 they are at it again. This time by signing Baseball America’s 2018 Independent League Player of the Year, former MLBer, and former Long Island Duck Jordany Valdespin. 

Valdespin was a Mets prospect for sometime before making his major league debut in 2012. He’d stay in the show in some capacity until 2015. In 2018, he found his way to the ALPB and posted big numbers. A .338/.399/.487 with 12 home runs and 55 RBIs in 113 games. This netted him a contract with the Twins after the season and earned him the aforementioned Indy Baller of the Year from Baseball America. Since then he’s done well mainly playing in winter leagues and the 2019 season in AAA with Rochester. That 2019 in AAA he still hit well .294 with 7 bombs in 60 games. 

Valdespin will undoubtedly continue to provide a high average bat in the Legends lineup. I think it’s safe to say that he will be capped at roughly 10 home runs in 2022 given his past track record and the fact that he’s 34 now. That said he’s still going to an at bat to plan around for opposing pitching. He was still a near .300 hitter not 3 years ago in 2019 and that’s the kind of hitter that ages better and travels. As far as defense goes I do think Valdespin will be mainly a second baseman this season. Last go around in the ALPB he played all but 1 game at second and that’s the position he’s played his whole career. Again he’s 34, so I think that’s also a factor that’ll keep him away from short and right field (the other 2 positions that he’s played).

I really like this signing by the Legends. It’s never a bad thing to add in another MLB vet to the team but to add a guy that’s just 3 years removed from being the best in all of Indy Ball is a huge plus and goes a long way to defending not only their ALPB championship crown but also their offseason championship crown as well. Valdespin also helps provide some diversity among the type of players they have on the roster, he’ll complaint the play styles of the big bombers well.

In the American Association, Chicago released Jase Dalton and signed Danny Mars, Justin Goosen-Brown, Kyle Murphy, and Harrison Smith. Sioux City signed Michael Slaten. Cleburne traded futures considerations to Long Island (ALPB) for Hunter Cervenka. They then signed Hunter Cervenka and Engelb Vielma. Kansas City signed Casey Gillaspie and Matt Blackham. Sioux Falls signs Mitchell Walters. Winnipeg signed Landen Bourassa and Jose Vasquez. Milwaukee signed Danny Zardon and sold Yohander Mendez’s contract to Monterrey (LMB).

In the Frontier League, Gateway signed Mike Blanke and Brandon Pugh and released Greg Duncan. Washington signed Christian James and placed Nate Fisbeck on the inactive list. Joliet signed Matt Monahan. Schaumburg signed Parker Stohr and Sam Claycamp. New Jersey signed Adryan Salcedo then extended Dalton Combs and placed Mizuki Akatsuka, Jose Almonte, Joan Gregorio, Jose Ramirez, and Jefry Valdez on the inactive list. Evansville signed Steven Sensley. Florence extended Axel Johnson. Windy City extended Neil Abbatiello and sold Kyle Johnson’s contract to the Chicago Cubs (MLB). Ottawa signed Tyler Duncan and Jacob Talamante and released Greg Vaughn Jr. Lake Erie signed Brock Begune and sold Karl Ellison’s contract to the Philadelphia Phillies (MLB). Tri-City signed Leo Crawford. New York signed McKenzie Mills and extended Dylan Smith.

In the Atlantic League, Kentucky Wild Health signed Brandon Leibrandt and was assigned Moises Sierra, Elih Villanueva, and Demetrius Moorer. York signed Merandy Gonzalez. Staten Island was assigned Kacy Clemens, Jose Velez, Mariel Bautisa, and Joel Huertas and activated Alfredo Reyes. Lexington signed Jordany Valdespin. Southern Maryland Jack Sundberg and Pedro Echemendia. High Point traded Stuart Levy to Gastonia for Austin Glorius.

The Sioux Falls Canaries entered the 2021 season on the heels of one of their best seasons in recent memory and the club looked ready to repeat it. Despite that recent success the Canaries were a true wildcard with some very nice pieces on the offensive side of the ball but pitching that was suspect. More so, there were an awful lot of rebound candidates and just as many mystery guys that would have to work out for them to find the postseason in what looked to be a stacked South Division. If Mike Myers' squad was going to go back to the finals they’d need to get off and running quickly. Let’s see if they were able to meet the challenge.

The first two months of the season were relatively non-eventful. A few small winning and losing streaks across both May and June but they entered July at a .500 record of 18-18 after a 6-5 May and 12-13 June. This was good enough to keep them in the hunt for the second, and as we’d eventually would receive, third wildcard spots. This is however where things went poorly. The team hit their worst losing streak to that point in the season, dropping 8 games in a row to start the month, which sent them sputtering. A series of one off wins and minor losing streaks would follow as the team went 7-15 from July 8th until the end of the month. This dropped them to 25-41 on the season and putting their playoff hopes on life support. They’d now need a big August and some help if they wanted to make the wildcard game. The help never arrived and the team did little to improve their own lot, dropping 5 in a row from August 5 through the 10th and then closing the month on the team’s worst stretch of the season, 9 losses in a row from the 21st until the 31st. The Birds fell to 34-60, well out of a playoff spot. Sioux Falls would end their season on labor day weekend after a 2-4 September with a final record of 36-64, 17.5 back of the last wildcard spot and 33 games behind the division champion Monarchs.

As with all teams there were reasons for their success and failure and in almost all cases it comes down to either too many runs against or too few runs for the team.  In the case of the Canaries, it was more on the pitching than batting. As a team they hit .275, good enough for 6th in the league. Other stats say the same as they 1st in OBP (.376) and walks (476) and 6th in hits (925) and runs (546). Elsewhere they struggled, mainly in power stats like home runs (T9; 86), slugging percentage (9th;.413), and strikeouts (10th; 887). Other offensive stats were below average but not in a way that I believe dragged them down too much. The pitching staff is more at fault here. The team had an ERA of 5.94, the 2nd worst in the league, and arguably the most damning stat, the opponent batting average of .291, also second worst, exactly .016 better than the Canaries hit this year. I could keep typing stats out but that’ll be a waste of time because Sioux Falls is in the bottom 3 in WHIP, K, H, ER, SLG, HR, and SV. The offense can only do so much even if they could have done a bit more.

That said there are still players that had exceptional seasons. Chiefly among them is Mr. Canary Jabari Henry. The dude had his best season since 2017 hitting 21 home runs and 77 RBIs and slashing .292/.451/.561. The guy was leading the way on offense and at 30 years old looks like he’s found his mojo again. We also have to mention Cade Gotta who hit .327 in nearly 70 games, the former AAA provided a constant presence on the bases. The veteran and Olympian Mitch Glasser who managed to get into 65 games this season with the Tokyo Olympic Games in their as well. 43 walks and .407 OBP for him a solid contributor to the lineup. The opposite of Glasser, Rookie of the Year Wyatt Ulrich was electric. He had an over 25 game hitting streak and over 30 game hitting streak on top of a .327/.402/.412 slashline. Extremely impressive season from the rookie. From one Wyatt to another, Colby Wyatt another rookie out of Richmond U. He threw in 32 games, mostly in relief, for 55 innings for a 4.09 ERA and 48 strikeouts. Tyler Garkow was one of the better starters on the team making 20 starts and posting a 4.97 ERA in those 116 innings. Add on 114 strikeouts to 33 walks and that’s not a bad season even with a higher ERA. Last but not least, DJ Sharabi, another Olympian, threw in 21 games for 20 innings in relief. A very good 3.48 ERA and 27 strikeouts outside of the Olympics makes this a very good season for him.

The ultimate question that we always reach is here. Was this season successful for the Canaries? I think that it was not successful. There were certainly high moments in the season like Henry’s resurgence and Ulrich’s breakout rookie season, but in the end they had several 5+ game losing streaks and finished nearly 30 games under .500. While yes they did lose several big players to the Olympics and MLB clubs, in the end results do matter and they didn’t get the job done. Unlike the Apollos, Sioux Falls had some expectations for the season as the were coming off a good season and it looked like 3-5 was up for grabs in the South Division. I think they’ll be better next year but for 2021, the Birds failed to meet their expectations.

Every season there are players that get overlooked in their lineups and on their teams. Then there are players that seemingly get overlooked every year, until finally eyes fall on them. Aaron Hill is one of those players. He spent four years at UConn, being used as a middle infielder the majority of the time. On offense, Hill never stood out at UConn but he was on the verge of breaking out as shown by his time in summer ball. That said, Hill would go pro in 2018 signing with Lake Erie. He’d stay there for 2019 as well and it is with the Crushers that Hill would grow his offensive game to be a real threat. In year 1 he hit for average, batting nearly .300 and having an OPS over .400 in a full season of Frontier League action. Year 2 had Hill switch and focus on power where he slugged over .460 and belted 12 home runs in 95 games. This led him to 2020 and Milwaukee. He didn’t play much and his numbers looked a lot like an improved version of his senior year at UConn. 

That brings us to 2021 and Hill returned to the American Association champion Milwaukee Milkmen. This time Hill would get to start and would play in 97 of 100 games, doing so in a mix of positions. His defense, like in past years, remained very good and reliable. The offense was the story though. Hill took his 2018 and 2019 seasons and combined them together against what is seen as better overall competition. Hill hit 12 home runs, tying his career best, and slashed .283/.382/.483. Add in about 100 hits, just 76 strikeouts in 325 at bats, and 13 stolen bases and you have a pretty damn good season. You can just tell that Hill managed to get all the elements of his game to work together this year.

Aaron Hill spend most of his career thus far being overlooked and not getting the attention he deserves. This year he made a statement that he is not a 1 dimensional hitter nor a 1 dimensional player. This is a guy that will only be 27 during the season and is deserving of a double A opportunity. Hopefully, he’ll get it in 2022.

The 2020 season yielded fewer contract purchases than normal because of the pandemic but there was one player that stood out among the rest. That player is Drew Ward. During that 2020 campaign, Ward was a member of the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks and was atop the league in most offensive categories. He’d wind up getting a contract with the Detroit Tigers organization and that’s where he spent his 2021 season. As of last week, he rejoined the Redhawks for 2022. Let’s look at the player and then the effect he’ll have on the team.

Drew Ward was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 3rd round of the 2013 MLB draft and signed out of high school. He spent 2013-19 with the organization, bouncing from rookie ball to as high as AAA. That said, Ward mostly spent time in AA Harrisburg and there he established his identity as a player that was going to hit home runs even if that came at the expense of batting average. This isn’t a bad thing per se, as the goal of baseball is to score runs and home runs do that most effectively but hitting sub .260 is something that will raise eyebrows. That said Ward joined Fargo during the pandemic and revamped that image by hitting over .325 in his 58 games there but kept the power up hitting 17 bombs, roughly 1 every 3 games. That sent him to the Tigers organization and AA Erie by extension. There things dropped off a bit and he returned to a more power centric player, hitting .240 and 16 home runs in 78 games. Now he has once again returned to Fargo, the place of his best professional season yet.

With the return of Drew Ward the Redhawks have now hit their max on veteran classified players, barring a last-minute change from the AAPB to the roster rules. That’s not something I imagine will be terribly important in the long run but it does signal a commitment from the Redhawk’s from office towards this roster. They now have established their identity for 2022, a power-first team. Between guys like Mitchell, Ward, Silviano, George, and others this team has had it clear they plan to win games via the long ball. This has worked in the past certainly and hopefully will again. Focusing on Ward, he’ll be vital for achieving this plan. If he returns to his 2020 pace he’ll not only be challenging Adam Brett Walker’s single season home run record but be an instant MVP favorite. That’s what you get with Drew Ward. I believe he’s going to be an effective player that, even if he fails to replicate that 2020 rate, will be a key contributor for the Redhawks this year.

In the American Association, Winnipeg signed Raul Navarro. Chicago signed Tanner Lawson. Cleburne signed Zach Nehrir, Oswaldo Arcia, and Austin Fairchild. Gary signed Keisy Portorreal. Milwaukee signed Logan Trowbridge, Jake Matthys, and Christian Young. Then they traded Mikey Reynolds to Sussex County (Frontier) for Danny Zardon and a PTBNL. Kane County signed Pearson McMahan. Lake Country claimed Alex Bowell off waivers from Fargo-Moorhead and signed Dai-Kang Yang. Fargo-Moorhead signed Drew Ward. Lincoln released Keenan Bartlett. Sioux Falls signed Angel Ventura and Cesilio and released Trevor Simms. Kansas City signed Darnell Sweeney.

In the Frontier League, Evansville signed Zach West and Mitch Sparks then extended Reid Butkowski. New Jersey extended Josh Rehwaldt, Jason Agresti, and Justin Wylie. They also signed Jefry Valdez. Finally, they released Demetrious Moorer and Chris Carpio. Ottawa signed Kevin Escorcia and Jack Alkire. Then they released Zach Almond and Pedro Fernandez. Then they traded Billy Damon to Missoula (Pioneer) for Jacob Talamante. Finally, they traded Devon Fisher to Idaho Falls (Pioneer) to complete a previous trade. Quebec traded Andrew Case to High Point (ALPB) for a PTBNL. Then they signed Carlos Sano. Tri-City extended Patrick Murphy and Jervic Chavez. Then they signed Aneudy Acosta. Finally, they placed Aneudy Acosta, Alexander Guillen, Olbis Parra, Juan Santana, and Andy Sugilio. Washington traded James Mulry to Lake Erie for a PTBNL. Then they signed Roberto Caro, Bryan Quillens, Shane Kelso, Colt Mink, and Gage Smart. Finally, the placed BJ Sabol on the inactive list. Lake Erie traded James Mulry and a PTBNL to Sussex County for Gunnar Kines and to complete a previous trade. Then they traded Javier Bentancourt to Staten Island (ALPB) for a PTBNL. Then they received Dondrei Hubbard from Grand Junction (Pioneer) to complete a previous trade. Then they signed Leonel Aponte, Osvaldo Abreu, Alonzo Jones, Julio Vivas, and Kokko Figueiredo. Finally, they released Jose Fuentes and Dondrei Hubbard. Florence released Pablo Arevalo and placed Trevor Craport, Kevin Hahn, and Luis Pintor. Windy City signed Daryl Myers and extended Brynn Martinez. Schaumburg sold the contract of Isaiah Rivera to the Minnesota Twins (MLB) and the contract of Jack Synder to the Tampa Bay Rays (MLB). Gateway placed Jason Zgardowski on the inactive list. Sussex County traded Danny Zardon and a PTBNL to Milwaukee (AAPB) for Mikey Reynolds. Joliet released Terry Daniels, Kyle Kaufman, and Mark Mixon.

In the Atlantic League, Long Island signed Joe DeCarlo. High Point was assigned Andrew Case. Southern Maryland was assigned Connor Lien and Scott Burcham. Lexington signed Isaias Tejada and Angel Nesbitt and was assigned Winston Lavandier. Kentucky Wild Heath signed Edubray Ramos, Colby Blueberg, and Ren Ren Kazahari. Gastonia signed Jack Reinhiemer, Herlis Rodriguez, Miguel Hernandez, and Raydor Ascanio. Then they activated Ermindo Escobar.

We’ve spent the last few weeks focused on pitchers. Some that have been around for a while others that are new on the scene and I think it’s about time we look at some more batters. And instead of picking a long time veteran or a fresh faced rookie, I’m looking at a player that’s been in professional baseball for a minute. While not in Indy Ball for the longest time, he did have his breakout year in 2021. This player is the Florence Y’alls Trevor Craport. Carport was drafted out of Georgia Tech in the 11th round by the Orioles in 2017. He spent parts of 3 seasons in their system never getting above A+ ball and wound up in Florence in 2019 after being released. Then in 2020 the season was canceled and the year was lost because of the pandemic. That brings us to 2021, which was essentially a put up or shut up year for Craport after having 2 mediocre seasons in both full years of his career.

He answered the bell big time for the Y’alls. Craport saw action in 93 games for the team and did a lot of everything for them. He had 38 extra base hits including 19 home runs and 85 RBIs. He reached base 153 times and slashed .308/.386/.538. For reference, the leader in the Frontier League for Home Runs had 23, Carport finished 3rd. He didn’t let that happen for RBIs as he led the league in that one; the next closest guy had 75. As far as the slashing stats go he was 27th in batting average, 25th in on-base percentage, and 9th in slugging percentage. Some more stats for reference: Craport had 185 total bases, which was good enough for 4th in the Frontier League and 9 off of 4th. But when you expand that across Partner Leagues (Pioneer, American Association, Frontier, and Atlantic) he finished tied for 51st out of over 1000 players or rather he did better than 99.5% of batters at getting bases even though he played in a league with fewer games than most partner leagues. That’s pretty damn good and was one of the finalists for Frontier League MVP. That said, he still did get one postseason award being named the Midwest conference’s All-Star at the catcher position. He also played games in the outfield and at 3rd base as well.

Clearly, Trevor Craport is a player that can do a lot of things. He played anywhere asked and did so well. He hit with power and for contact, He stepped up and had the big year he needed. At just 25 years old the baseball world is still open to Craport and for the reasons above he’ll be useful for any organization that gives him that chance. Now 2022 is the time for him to prove that 2021 was the start of a trend and not fluke by a player on his last few chances. He does that, I can not imagine that he’ll be in Florence much longer.

The Houston Apollos entered the year as the latest entry in a long line of traveling teams. They were comprised of the best talent in the Pecos League and various other talents from across the baseball world. As with every team born into these circumstances expectations were low as they would spend the next 100 games on the road. In fact, I even went as far to give them “a snowball’s chance in hell” of posting a winning record in 2021. There was some pushback as one commenter said “Talk about a huge slap in the face to these guys ... you should do more research bud”. Well only 1 of us was going to be correct, so let’s find out who that was going to be correct.

The season started and it didn’t take long for the team to get their first win, only a series long wait. Unfortunately the rest of May wasn’t very kind to the Apollos as they would go on a 7 game long losing streak from the 22nd until the 30th. The month would close and the team would be 1-10. June would have to be better right? It would be, the team won 6 games in June and would only have 1 losing streak greater than 5 games. That’d be a 9 game skid that hit in the middle of the month. In the end, the team would still lose 21 games in the month and be 7-31 going into July. It was becoming clear that the Apollos season would be determined this month. If they wanted any chance at silencing doubters it’d have to start now. Well, someone must have withheld that information from the team as starting on July 1st and running through July 21 the team went winless, yes a season high 17 game losing streak. A win on the 22nd was quickly followed by their 2nd 9 game losing streak of the season. This just about ended any hopes of making the playoffs and ended their hopes of going .500 as the club limped to a 2-26 record on the month and 9-57 on the year. There was a dead cat bounce with the club winning 6 games in August but that was quickly overshadowed by a pair of 5 game losing streaks and the Apollos final 9 game losing streak of the season, which extended into September. The team would finish the year at 17-83, 52 games out of first place in the South division and 36.5 outside a playoff spot. They did end the season on a 2 game winning streak however. Against all odds the Apollos may have had the most significant wins in AAPB this season. The team managed to defeat the Lincoln Saltdogs in an offensive battle on the penultimate day of the season and then on Labor Day the Apollos used 5 pitchers to throw a 6 hit shutout of Lincoln in game 100 and deny the Saltdogs a wildcard spot. The most unlikely outcome in the largest games of the year and honestly an amazing performance by the team to end and otherwise poor season on a high note.

Normally in this section there’d be a couple of paragraphs about the team stats and we’d look to see what worked and what didn’t work. Well we’re flipping the script this time. The Houston Apollos ranked last in all major offensive stats with the exception of walks (8th), slugging percentage (2nd to last), home runs (2nd to last), and triples (2nd to last). As far as pitching goes they were just as bad with only wild pitches (2nd to last), hit by pitch (7th), and shutouts (2nd to last) being above last place. So I’m going to avoid being redundant and, in all honesty, needlessly cruel as well by just cutting this section off here. That said, there are some players that deserve to be mentioned.

We'll start with the batters and there are 3 of them, all of which have found jobs in a partner league for 2022. The first is Blake Berry. He played in 87 games for the Apollos and was by far their best offensive asset. Batting .304/.398/.408 with 6 home runs and a team high 45 walks, the dude was one of the few reliable sources of offense for the Apollos this yes. He managed to parlay this success to a contract with the expansion Lake Country Dockhounds. Joining him in Lake Country will be teammate Aaron Takacs. Another fantastic offensive player despite splitting time with the USPBL. In his 54 games, Takacs hit .337/.403/.553 with 9 home runs and a team high 45 RBIs. Takacs would have likely taken the most valuable Apollo award if he stay the full season. Lastly, Hudson Bilodeau was also a steady player for them hitting .280/.321/.352 in 82 games for Houston. Not the most eye popping numbers but a stable, plus player. He’ll spend 2022 in the Pioneer League with Missoula.

As far as pitchers go there are also 3 of them, and as of now 2 of them have a place to pitch in 2022. The man that is still looking for a team is Ian Codina. He played in 29 games throw as many innings to the tune of a 5.90 ERA, the second lowest on the team with 25 innings being the minimum to qualify. Also there was Ryan Richardson. Who added about 5 decals to his luggage this year going to Monterrey, Long Island, the Apollos, and Kane County. While with the Apollos though he appeared in 13 games and 19 innings to a very good 1.89 ERA. Richardson also struck out 23 while only walking 2. As of now the Cougars have exercised his contract option, so we’ll see if he returns or goes elsewhere. What we do know is Keisey Portorreal’s season was good enough to get him signed just a few days ago. That season saw him post the best ERA on the club, minimum 25 innings, at 4.23 and he did so in 28 innings. 31 batters were struck out and 9 walked in that time. He signed with the Gary Railcats for 2022.

So that brings us to the question we always ask; was this season a success for the Apollos? From a result perspective, after doing my research, they were not. In fact they were pretty awful. I mean a .170 winning percentage is in no way acceptable. That said the Lincoln series was a high water mark for what it represented and the heart that the team showed. Which again I don’t want to be lost in this review. These guys were given a very difficult circumstance to have to play in between playing teams that were double A quality to traveling the whole year to just the regular challenges of the grind. Not to mention that any player that got hot was likely going to get poached by one of their opponents, that can’t be easy. At the end of the day, I think this team would have done much better if they were in the Pioneer League or even Frontier League. They likely don’t make the playoffs there but I think they are much more competitive over the course of the season. Not to say they didn’t play close games, because the Apollos did, but they couldn’t hold on to win and in the end you are what your record says you are.

The Ferryhawks made history today by signing their first player to the active roster. In true Staten Island fashion, they continued the tradition of keeping it local in area as well. The team signed Kacy Clemens to be the inaugural Ferryhawk. Kacy is of course the son of former MLB pitcher Roger Clemens, who spent 6 seasons in New York with the Yankees. We’ll get into the significance of the signing and the off the field effects and elements in a minute. Let’s first talk about the player himself, Kacy Clemens.

Drafted twice, Clemens was out of the University of Texas when signed with the Blue Jays in 2017. He’d spend all of 2017 (after being drafted), 2018, and 2019 with the organization, mostly in lower levels like A and A+ but would reach AA for 24 games towards the end of his time with the organization. While there though, he was a fairly average to a shade below average hitter. He’d hit in the low to mid .200s but did have some pop in the bat with double digit home run seasons in both of his full professional seasons. Clemens was also used nearly exclusively as a first baseman during his affiliated time. In 2020, Clemens played in the Constellation Energy League while most other leagues were shut down. He played as he did in past years in his 27 games there. That led him to the American Association’s newest team in Kane County in 2021. Here he had his best season since he was at Texas. Clemens tied his career high in home runs with 12 and maged to reach new highs in batting average and slugging percentage. All in all, 2021 was probably Clemens best season as a professional. 

What Clemens brings on the field is a stable glove at first base and a bat that should likely improve given the recent history of offense in the ALPB. This is also the kind of signing that frankly doesn’t make you jump for joy but also isn’t holding you back. Overall, the player Kacy Clemens is a plus on your team for potential if nothing else but you get more than just a player with Clemens.

Along with the player you get a marketing opportunity. I don't know how long Kacy spent in New York as a kid, he was young when his dad played in the Bronx, but there was undoubtedly time spent there. So I have to imagine that he knows the City on some level and everyone that’s a fan of baseball in NY knows the last name Clemens. That’s going to draw people in. There’s a marketing opportunity in having him on the team and this signing goes to further the idea that the Ferryhawks will be prioritizing players that have some connection to New York City or Staten Island, even if it’s only in their last name. Don’t get that misconstrued, Kacy is still a good ball player that will be neutral at worst and likely a positive addition to the team. But we can’t ignore that there’s a large amount of tri-staters that will turn out to see Roger Clemens’ kid. Now I see that as something that can be positive for both sides. 

For the team, it’s obvious. They’re getting patrons that would otherwise have stayed home out to the ballpark and that could generate repeat business if they enjoy the experience. Even if it’s a one and done for most coming out, that’s still one more than would otherwise have shown up. As for Clemens, the positive is less clear but still present. Playing in an MLB partner league, arguably the one closest with MLB, in a market that has 3 major league organizations within 3 hours away is a great way to help get scouted by people of importance. When you’re in NYC, no matter what for, you have more eyes on you and those eyes are never more than 3 degrees of separation away from someone of importance. More than that though, if you can get word to spread about you in NYC, there’s opportunities that open up because of it and at the end of the day getting the chance matters the most.

All in all I like the signing as a baseball move. I think Kacy will provide a useful bat in the lineup and a reliable glove in the field. Obviously, the team will get filled out more and I think he’ll be at his best in a complimentary role rather than a feature piece. However, on it’s own the signing has merit. From a promotion standpoint, this is a fantastic move. The last name Clemens will attract attention and sell tickets and for a ballclub that’s just getting off the ground that’s exactly what the doctor ordered.

This past week the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks made a signing that might seem rather benign and uneventful but I believe it has the potential to be a huge boom signing for the club in 2022. That signing was Kevonte Mitchell, a strong bat and  right fielder that spent 2021 in the Frontier League with the New York Boulders. Now why can this guy be such a big deal for the Redhawks? Well there’s two reasons for that.  

First, Mitchell is a player that spent last season really developing a new part to his game. That being power hitting. In the 4 seasons leading up to 2021, Mitchell had hit just 34 home runs in 361 games or 1 in every 10 games. In 2021, he hit 12 home runs in 86 games or 1 in every 7 games. That's a substantial improvement from 10% of games to 14%. Now let’s say that trend continues but slows to just a 2% improvement and that Mitchell again plays in 89% of games, that would have him hitting a home run once in every 6 games. That would total 14 home runs in 2022, good enough for a tie of 21st most in the AAPB and 5th most on the Redhawks in 2021. Now if he were to play in 96 games then Mitchell would have 16 home runs, placing him in a tie for 17th most in the AAPB and a tie for 3rd most on the Redhawks in 2021. Now that’s a lot of words and math to say Kevonte Mitchell has gone from a sporadic home run hitter to a consistent one. Likewise, he also had a career high in batting average this past year. This means all signs are pointing towards an overall more developed hitter.

Secondly, these numbers were done in a ballpark, PCU Park at the time, that is seen as rather hitter friendly with it’s dueling short porches in left and right field with the only challenge to hitter being the deep and high center field wall. So you might think that moving to a new ballpark could dapen those numbers, as was the case in Myrtle Beach (Mitchell most recent and longest tenure MiLB team). Well, outside of numbers and conjecture there’s one other important piece of information that fights that notion. Newman Outdoor Field, home of the Redhawks, is nearly identical to Clover Park sans the short porches. 318-408-314 in Fargo vs 323-403-312 in New York. That tells me that the growth rate we predicted is not only realistic but something that is somewhat expected. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that Newman is a pitchers park with guys like 2021 AAPB pitcher of the year Myles Smith and Dogs star Jordan Kipper naming it one of the hardest parks to pitch in. The data suggests that it is also a roughly average offense park as well.

There’s still a lot of factors working against Mitchell between the higher level of pitching and the crowded outfield. That said there’s just as much that points towards Mitchell having a real chance to make an impact if he gets into the line up on a regular basis. Given the growing trend of Mitchell’s improved offense over the last 2 seasons he played and that should continue. As always though, this will be something that is sorted out in time and everything, including team rosters, will change as we get closer to opening day. So we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

In the American Association, Lincoln signed John Richy and Steffon Moore. Then they traded Sicnarf Loopstok to Gateway (Frontier) to complete a previous trade. Kansas City signed Ibandel Isabel. Fargo-Moorhead signed Kevonte Mitchell. Chicago signed Charlie Tilson and transferred Cam Booser’s contract to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Milwaukee signed Tyler Watson. Winnipeg signed Erasmo Pinales, Zac Ryan, and Ian Sagdal. They then traded Joey Gonzalez to Tri-City (Frontier) for a PTBNL. Cleburne signed Chuck Taylor and Alejandro Requena. They then traded Michael Gunn to Gastonia (ALPB) for Jhonatan German and Jheyson Manzueta to High Point (ALPB) for a PTBNL. Sioux Falls signed Ryan Miller.

In the Frontier League, Tri-City extended Jose Cruz, Luis Roman, Carson McCusker, Alexis Pantoja, Jake Dexter, Zach Bierman, Logan Dubbe, and Jhon Nunez. Then placed Austin Cline and Trevor Damron. Then they traded a PTBNL to Winnipeg (AAPB) for Joey Gonzalez. Finally, they signed Joey Gonzalez, Roberto Pena, and Eddy Taverez. Sussex County signed Justin Washington, Ciaran Devanney, and Jawaun Harris. Ottawa signed Grant Larson, Ty Greene, and Luke Navigato. Then they traded Roberto Caro to Washington (Frontier) for their 1st round trade pick in the 2022 draft. Lake Erie transferred J.T. Perez’s contract to the Detroit Tigers and then placed Bryan De La Rosa on the inactive list. Trois-Rivières signed Osman Gutierrez and Carlos Martinez. Washington signed Wagner Lagrange, Adonis Rosa, and Jamey Smart. New Jersey transferred Ronald Herrera’s contract to the Washington Nationals. Then they extended Todd Isaacs. Finally, they signed Jose Ramirez, Jose Almonte, Luke Drummond, and Brennan Smith. Evansville signed Dakota Phillips, Patrik Brahms, Steve Pastora, and Justin Watland. They then released Riley Krane and Bryce Denton. Joliet signed Chris Baker. Schaumburg traded Geoff Bramblett to Gastonia (ALPB) for a PTBNL. Then they signed Darrell Thompson. Florence signed Cristian Laboy.

In the Atlantic League, Gastonia was assigned Cesar Trejo, Henry Martinez, Jesus Balguer, Luis Castro, Luis Perez, Geoff Bramblett and Reilly Hovis. Then they changed Jhontan German’s status and signed Michael Gunn. Lancaster was assigned Anderson Feliz and LaDarius Clark. Then signed Andretty Cordero and activated Jake Hoover from the 7-Day IL. Kentucky Wild Heath was assigned Dustin Beggs and signed Max Povse.

We have mentioned in the past when doing these spotlights, that we seldom ever pick rookie pitchers for a variety of reasons. However, the last guy we made an exception for lasted less than a month before getting signed by a MLB club and we think that this week’s subject will be no different. That player is of course Tyler Spring of the Frontier League’s Evansville Otters. Prior to joining the Otters in 2021, Spring played college ball for 3 different schools including Mississippi State and Southern Mississippi. He graduated in 2020 at 23 and then signed with Evansville the following year.

Coming into 2021 the conventional thinking was for Spring to come out of bullpen as he spent most of his amateur career doing just that. That assertion would be correct and while not closing, Spring would still have an important part to play. He’d get used in the most games of all Otters’ pitchers and would pitch the most innings of any reliever in the Otters bullpen. But how did he do with all those innings? Well, we wouldn’t be spotlighting him if he did poorly. In 40 games and 56 innings pitched Tyler Spring posted a 2.54 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. He also struck out 62 while walking 25 and allowed just 37 hits all year. A very good season for a pitcher much less a guy that had yet to pitch professionally coming into the year.

Now, Tyler Spring is a huge righty standing at 6 foot 6 and weighing in at 210 pounds. The dude is a mountain on the mound and that is just another thing that teams like in guys as silly as it might seem. He’s also 25. Now that could be old for some pitchers but considering the low mileage on Spring’s arm, I’d still call him young. Add on the demand for pitching talent and do believe he’s a guy that should draw a lot of interest from MLB clubs. He showed he can handle a large workload and put up the numbers in a league where you play to win not develop. There’s already a lot here to work with and any MLB that takes a flier on him will realize quickly that he can be a legit prospect for their team if he continues on that trend. If that doesn’t happen though, I don’t think he’ll have a hard time finding a job this summer. Safe to say he’ll be welcomed back to Evansville.

The Chicago Dogs have traditionally been an underachieving baseball club. They have been around for some time now with Butch Hobson at the helm and routinely have been given lofty expectations in the preseason only to fall short come labor day. This year was different. Their expectations were different. The club was top-heavy on the pitching side and lacked depth at the plate. As we said in the season preview, this team had a lot of work to do if they wanted to make the playoffs. Now, let’s see if they managed to put that work in and change the tides of the season.

The Dogs season started with very little consistency as the win one lose one for a good while in May. They’d end the month over .500 with an 8-5 record and on a 2 game winning streak heading into June. That streak would be extended to 4 games before ending but it did usher in a new stage of the season, the streaks. The team became very streaky winning and losing games in chunks. 3 game losing streak to Gary followed by 4 in a row and 10 of their next 13. That run was by a 3-8 stretch to end the month. June showed us how good this team could be and how bad it could get at the same time. That said 15-12 in the month is positive if now underwhelming, and 23-17 on the year going into the heart of the season will keep you alive. In July, we saw more of the same. This time the Dogs posted winning streaks of 3,4, and 5 wins but they also had a few multi-game losing streaks as well. In the end they went 17-11 and improved to 40-26 on the season. Then came August and with it consistent winning. Living up to the glimpses we had seen over the past 2 months the Dogs ripped off a 7 game winning streak and following a 3-2 week they had another 7 game winning streak. When everything was settled they won 19 games and the team was 59-36 going into September. The last week of the season, Chicago went 4-2 and finished the regular season 63-37 and won the North Division. 

They entered the postseason for the first time in franchise history and after a bye into the divisional championship, the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks were there waiting for them. That series went well at first with the teams splitting games in Chicago. Then the scene shifted to North Dakota. Game 3 was going well until the 9th when things went south quickly following a pair of 1 out base hits, a fielder’s choice to make it 2 outs, and a wild pitch to tie the game then a walkoff single. The Dogs were at the brink of elimination and needed a win badly. In game 4 they got not just a win but a statement. They weren’t going home easily. The offense dropped a 5 spot on the Redhawks in the first inning and then another 6 over the next 5 years. On the flipside, Christian Friedrich was lights out, throwing 8 innings of 1 run ball allowing only 9 hits. This set up a do-or-die game 5. Early on it looked like a copy and paste of game 4, the Dogs got 4 runs early and tacked on another in the 5th to go up 5-0. Then it fell apart, 7 straight unanswered Fargo runs. The Dogs tried to mount a comeback in the 8th but Fargo responded and closed the door in the 9th. Just like that, the most successful season in Dogs history came to an end.

Like transformers there’s always more than meets the eye in baseball. We’ll take a look at the stats and see what was the identity of the team and where they needed to improve. Let’s start with batting and make like autobots and roll out. 

The Dogs batting was above average but I’m hesitant to call it elite. The team slashed .278/.375/.432 and that was good enough to go 5th/2nd/7th. More so, the team finished with 846 strikeouts, 5th most in the league, and the OBP was juiced from their 467 walks (2nd most). Now, I don’t have any vendetta against walks. Single, HBP, or walk you’re on first all the same but they don’t really show any offensive mastery outside of plate discipline. The Dogs still did well in hits ranking up the 4th most with 951 and they were comfortable over 1400 total bases with the 4th most. I’ll say the Dogs didn’t get many extra base hits, only 299 (177 doubles, 104 home runs, 18 triples). They didn’t rank in the top 5 in any of those categories. Really at the end of the day this team was still very good on offense and it didn’t slow them down. Whether or not they are elite is entirely up to your definition of elite. 

Now the pitching for Chicago this year was in no uncertain terms elite. The team finished 3rd in ERA with a 4.40 and 1st in WHIP with a 1.33. The team also finished top 5 in batting average against (.255), slugging percentage against (.396), shutouts (6; T2), saves (27), fewest wild pitches (54), fewest walks (303; 1st), fewest hits (864), runs (472), and earned runs (428). As you could probably tell they are a very good pitching team. The only thing that could have been better is strikeouts. The team only struckout 821 batters, bottom 5 in the league, that could have been improved but that’s splitting hairs. The Dogs were a very good pitching team that can be safely called elite and you can see that when paired with their offense there’s no surprise this was a top team in Indy Ball. 

Now there’s a reason why the Dogs were good at these things, and that would be the players. On offense the likes of KC Hobson provided a major power bat in the lineup, crushing 23 home runs in 97 games and maintaining a slugging percentage over .500. The only other batter that came close to this kind of power was TJ Bennett, who slashed .357/.445/.571 with 9 home runs in 52 games, and Michael Crouse, who hit .277/.383/.492 plus 13 home runs in 73 games. There were more traditional hit to contact and get on base hitters as well. Brennan Metzgar sported a .427 OBP and chipped in 7 home runs as well and Ryan Lidge had a .312/.415/.433 slashline too. There were other guys like Danny Mars and Anfernee Grier that each above or near .300 with other supporting stats being rather strong as well, especially in Grier case.

Then looking at the pitching it was a similar story. The bullpen had some stallions in Jeff Kinley (1.64 ERA, 18 Saves in 40 games) and Cam Booser (1.93 ERA in 23 innings). There was also long term Dog Just Goosen-Brown that ate a lot of innings and managed to have his ERA stay under 4. The starters were led by Jake Dahlberg. He was picked up midway through the year but in 15 games and 9 starts he posted 3.05 ERA with 76 strikeouts and a sub 1 WHIP. Of course former big leaguer Michael Bowden. He had a 2.92 ERA in 12 games and 9 starts with a sub 0.9 WHIP and was a strikeout an inning pitcher. Lastly. Kyle Murphy was a rookie this past season and only made 8 starts for the club but he managed to hold a 2.64 ERA and 1.21 WHIP in that first taste of professional action.

So was this season a success for the Chicago Dogs? The answer is a resounding yes. While the season did end too early for the club’s liking they did manage to win their division and post a franchise best record in their first trip to the postseason. It’s hard to stay, it was anything but successful. There’s a lot of big pieces here that will need to be replaced for 2022 but there’s just as many that I think we’ll see return and with the foundation built this past season, they are set up to repeat this success next year.

There’s always a shortage in baseball trades in Indy Ball and normally when you get trades for PTBNL or future considerations, it’s just a fancy way of loaning a player to a team. That alone makes me very apprehensive to cover trades like this one because it’s hard to really evaluate them fairly when one side is getting nothing upfront. That said, Chuck Taylor is a player that makes Cleburne notably better and is worthy of a post about it. So let’s look at this trade from both team’s perspectives and make a final ruling. 

Starting off with the Miner’s angle here to get it out of the way. The team only got future considerations back for a player that was critical in their offense last year (more on this later) and played in all but 1 game for them. Now, that sounds a lot worse than it is because of a couple of reasons. The first being roster restrictions. If I’m reading the Frontier League rules right Taylor would have been considered a veteran or an experienced player. Now if he would just be an experienced player then no issue, the Miners can keep 14 of them on their roster. If he’s a veteran then issue because you can only have 4 of them. The Miners currently have 5 veterans on the team without Taylor. You can see how this goes. Again, I think he’d still qualify as an experienced player as he wouldn’t turn 29 until after the cutoff birthday. Even still, this trade gets the Miners something for a guy they’d have trouble rostering under the rules and gets them a player from a higher level of independent baseball during the season or something of value. I suppose they could have done what Gateway did with Hector Sanchez but trying to pull off what’s essentially a 3 team trade with a few extra steps is hard and doesn’t guarantee the return you want and could leave you holding the bag. Not a bad trade from the Miners perspective when you consider all the factors. 

What did Cleburne get in Chuck Taylor? They got the centerpiece of their outfield and a player that’s going to contribute on offense. Quick overview on Taylor’s career thus far. 4th round pick of the D-Backs in 2012 and played mainly in A+ and AA. He stayed there until 2017 when he was taken by the Mariners in the rule 5 draft. He’d stay with the M’s organization even though he didn’t make the team as is usually required in the rule 5 draft. There he’d play in AA and he did very well in his time there. In 2019, the Nationals would invite him to spring training after the Fresno Grizzlies claimed him off waivers from the Mariners’ AA affiliate. After a middling 2019 season Taylor elected free agency for 2020. Then pandemic hit, he’d play in the Constellation Energy League aka Sugar Land circuit league and in the American Association with the St. Paul Saints. Then last season with Sussex County in the Frontier League. So how is he as a player? Well, Taylor is a pure athlete going base to high school were he was QB for the varsity team, particularly impressive because it was Texas and as we all know football is religion down there no matter what level it is. That gives him the ability to make up for any misread fly ball or leg out that grounder. He’s an effective left fielder for that reason and that provides stability for the club in that area. Likewise, he can be at the top or bottom of any lineup for those reasons. As a batter, he’s good for about 10 home runs and about 25 home runs. More so he’s going to be batting in the low .300s or high .200s when he’s on. That brings us to his past in Indy Ball. He lit the Frontier League on fire with 11 home runs and 63 RBIs with 4 triples, 26 doubles, 27 stolen bases (a career high), and a .340/.415/.527 slash line. A very good season and certainly one of the best on the Miners. That said, when you scale up the competition to the AAPB level and the CEL, which by most accounts was higher than the ALPB and AAPB, he struggled. Taylor combined numbers for the 2020 season with St.Paul and the CEL were .239/.300/.391 and 1 double, 2 home runs, and 7 RBIs in just a small 12 game sample size. That sample size makes the comparison flawed but his 2019 season was right in line with those stats and that was at the AAA/AA level. The AAPB is often seen as a AA+ level of competition so that the 2019 season could be a fair comparison for what his 2022 will look like. But if there is one major difference between the 2, it’s the pitching talent and now it’ll work in Taylor’s favor.

Overall, I like the deal from Cleburne’s point of view. They get to work replacing Hunter Clanin and Noah Vaughn’s production and they do so at an indefinite cost that’ll likely be low when the dust settles. In fact I think Hunter Clanin is a good comparable from a strictly numbers angle. Clanin gave the Railroaders 11 home runs and 45 RBIs with a .264/.341/.412 slash line and 29 steals and I certainly think that the 28 year old Taylor can produce in a similar manner. The lone downside is Taylor is definitely a veteran via the AAPB roster rules and Cleburne is only afforded 5 of them but if you believe Taylor is worth a spot, and I do, then it’s no issue at all. As for the Miners, the deal is fine. Taylor was and is too good for the Frontier League and was likely going to be a roster rules causality sooner than later anyways and future considerations from Cleburne could be a player note depending on how the season goes or it could be something else of value, we’ll have to see how it goes.

In the American Association, Chicago signed Connor Kopach and Jonathan Tripp. Cleburne signed Kody Bullard and Hunter Wolfe. Then they released Edward Cruz and traded Hunter Clanin to Gateway (Frontier) to complete a previous trade. Finally they acquired Chick Taylor from Sussex County (Frontier) in exchange for future considerations. Lake Country signed Duncan Snider. Gary signed Josh Vincent, Jack Eisenbarger, and Marshall Skinner. Fargo-Moorhead released Bret Jones and signed Logan Nissen and Mike Hart. Lincoln acquired Hunter Clanin from Gateway (Frontier) for a PTBNL. Milwaukee signed Correlle Prime and transferred Nate Hadley’s contract to the Colorado Rockies. Kansas City released Nick Travieso and Charcer Burks. Then they traded Gunnar Groen to Sussex County (Frontier) in exchange for a PTBNL. Sioux City signed Carlos Sierra and Matteo Bocchi. Sioux Falls signed Ty Culbreth and released Daryl Myers and Blake Svoboda. Winnipeg signed Logan Hill and Kevin Lachance. Then they transferred Tyler Hill’s contract to the Colorado Rockies.

In the Frontier League, Gateway traded Hector Sanchez to Cleburne (AAPB) in exchange for Hunter Clanin before trading Clanin to Lincoln (AAPB) for a PTBNL. Windy City extended Tyler Thornton and signed Andy Gayton. Evansville extended Samson Abernathy and signed AJ Shaw and George Callil. Ottawa traded Carter Hayes to Gateway for Sicnarf Loopstok. They then signed Sicnarf Loopstok, Dylan Jacober, and Jackie Urbeaz. Tri-City signed Oddy Nunez and placed Parker Kelly and Josh Hiatt on the retired list. Washington signed Nate Fisbeck and Rob Whelan. Quebec signed Kyle Armsworthy. Florence signed Casey Combs. New Jersey extended Santiago Chirino and signed Joan Gregorio. Sussex County traded Chuck Taylor to Cleburne (AAPB) for future considerations and acquired Gunnar Groen from Kansas City (AAPB) in exchange for a PTBNL. New York traded Nathan Alexander to Missoula (Pioneer) in exchange for William Freeman. 

In the Atlantic League, Southern Maryland signed Alfonso Reda. Kentucky Wild Health Genomes signed Teodoro Martinez, Jimmy Parades, Samir Duenez. Luke Becker, Luis Guzman, Josh Martin, Jack Weinburger, Chase Vallot, and Andrew Keefer.

The Atlantic League is known as the most prominent league and highest level of Independent baseball. For fans of it’s teams it’s also known for the veterans that make up the character and identity. Each team has at least 1 and for the Lancaster Barnstormers that is Scott Shuman. He started off getting drafted in 2006 and again in 2009 by the Rays. He’d stay in affiliated ball between Rays and Giants until 2013. In 2015, Shuman would start on his Indy Ball journey with time in the ALPB and AAPB. From then on he was strictly an Atlantic Leaguer, except for the 2020 pandemic season, and from 2017 on he’s been in lovely Lancaster, PA with the Barnstormers. 

That brings us to 2021 which as many of you know was a struggle for ALPB pitchers. The ABS was changed but did little to alleviate complaints, the mound was moved back to much controversy, offense was up significantly across the league, and Lancaster was consistently a bottom 2 team in ERA and other major pitching stats. All these factors should have meant regression and a bad year for the 33 year old Shuman. That was not the case. Shuman did the opposite in fact posting his best season since the lights out 2018 season and arguably his best season in Indy Ball. The dude pitched in 47 games for 48 innings and a 1.49 ERA in that time. Now that’s not all, he also struck out 71 batters and walked 18. In fact, Shuman only allowed 49 baserunners all season. Oh and he had 19 saves and a sub 1 WHIP as well. Shuman was by far the best pitcher on the Lancaster staff last year. 

Scott Shuman is obviously an older pitcher as a soon to be 34 year old and if we’re being realistic here, that likely means his chance at getting back into affiliated ball is done. I’m sure there’s more in the tank for him but there’s no denying that there is more road behind him than in front at this point in his career. That doesn’t mean that he’s only here for moral support now, the man can still pitch and if he wants to pitch in 2022 he’ll have a place in Lancaster and a role of importance. That’s about all you can ask for as a player, a chance and playing time. One thing is for certain, whenever Shuman decides to walk away he’ll be the last Barnstormer to ever wear the number 9 and that is an honor that most players will never receive.

The Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks got hot to end the 2021 season and looked like they just ran out of time. They entered 2022 looking to continue that trend. Coming in they looked poised to do just that. The team had a very deep bullpen that looked poised to contend on that alone. Factor in the dynamic offense they assembled and all of a sudden this team looked to be one of the better teams in the American Association. The rotation looked to be a bit suspect but all in all this team had serious expectations. Now let’s see if Chris Coste was able to lead his team to the promised land. 

The season got off on the right foot for the Redhawks this year. The team was hot in May, winning 7 of their final 8 games in the month to go 10-4 and enter June on a 5 game winning streak. That was quickly put to an end by the Railcats but that was the least of Fargo’s concerns as the team hit a losing skid to start June, dropping 4 in a row before an equally long streak to balance things out. This is how the rest of the month would go. Lose 2 then win 3 then get swept and respond with a sweep of their own. If nothing else it showed resilience, that is only worth so much however and the ‘Hawks would finish June 12-14 and only 4 games over .500 on the season. July would get off to a much better start with a 4 game winning streak that included a sweep of division rival Milwaukee. Unfortunately, the same old pattern from last month would reemerge and the club would get swept by the Goldeyes and drop 2 of 3 against Lincoln. Sure as the tides though Fargo would respond by taking 2 of 3 from Gary and 3 of 4 from Winnipeg to once again level out the losing streaks. This time though there wouldn’t be any more losing streaks. The team would win every remaining series in July with the exception of a series against those pesky Saltdogs. All in all, the Redhawks would finish the month +4 and with a 38-30 record on the season. Which, as we’ll discuss later, was impressive given the amount of starting pitching they had lost to this point. Regardless, the ‘Hawks were buzzing now. They have found their groove and now saw an opportunity to not just secure a playoff berth but win the division as well. They seized the chance early, winning 6 of their first 7 which included wins over Kansas City and a sweep of Sioux City. Following a series win and a series loss, the Redhawks would start their best stretch of the season winning 7 in a row with a .500 finish to end August. When you tally up the wins and loses the damage was dealt with an 18-8 record in the month and 56-38 overall. September was uneventful as Fargo-Moorhead won all five games to finish the season 61-38, safely in the playoffs by 2.5 games with the 2nd seed in the North. 

This earned them a wildcard game with Milwaukee. Now we’ve talked in depth about that game not too long ago, so I’ll spare you the details. The long and short is Fargo jumped on Milwaukee early and shut them down to win 5-0 allowing just 5 to reach base all game. Masterfully, job by the Redhawks. That earned them a matchup with the Chicago Dogs. The series was split 1 game a piece early which sent us from a best of 5 to a best of 3. Game 3 was the stereotypical classic baseball game. Chicago led early but the Redhawks matched them every step of the way, until Fargo took a lead in the 7th. Chicago took it right back in the 8th. Then the Redhawks pulled an 86 Mets in the bottom of the 9th and went base hit, reached on an error, fielder’s choice; now there was 2 on 2 away. Then a wild pitch tied the game before John Silviano won it on a walkoff single. Chicago tied it up the next day, setting up a winner take all game 5. If game 3 was your typical baseball classic, game 5 was an all-timer. Chicago struck early and killed the offense through the first 5 innings. Then in the 6th the Redhawks broke through, cutting the deficit to 5-2. Then came the 7th where Fargo’s bats came alive, crushing 5 runs, the Dogs burned through their staff looking for an answer that wouldn’t come until the damage was done. Chicago could only muster 1 run in the top of the 8th and the Redhawks knew they could end it with a big inning. The boys from North Dakota tacked on 3 more before handing the ball to Alex DuBord in the 9th. He’d slam the door and end the Dogs' season, sending Fargo to the American Association Championship Series the following day against Kansas City. Despite a valiant effort in each of the 3 games, the Redhawks fell to the Monarchs in a sweep. They finished the postseason with a 4-5 record and a North Division postseason championship.

Now there’s always patterns that emerge from a full season. Areas of strength and weakness, let’s take a look at those now for the Redhawks. Starting with some of those strong points, the team’s batting was very good this year with the team having the highest batting average in the league at .304. The lone team hitting above .300. Now that’s not all. The team also finished second in OBP (.848) and slugging (.479). What about the counting stats though? They were good too, second fewest strikeouts (708), most total bases (1688), second most home runs (126), 200 doubles (second most), and 649 runs scored (second most). Oh and the most hits in the league as well with 1072. We’ll look at the individual achievers later on but for now just understand this was a top 2 offense in the American Association this past season. 

For pitching, the team was just as strong in some areas. The team ERA was the second lowest in the league at 4.32 and their WHIP was 1.42, just .09 off from first in the league. Opponents didn’t generate much offense off the team as they only slugged .389, this time just .02 off of first, and that was caused by home runs mostly. Opponents' batting average wasn’t much better with .249 being the mark the Redhawks set, good enough for a piece of second place with Kansas City. The team finished 4th in strikeouts with just over 830 of them and surrendered an equal number of hits. Most impressively, the team surrendered the fewest number of runs giving up just 464 across their 878 innings pitched. The Redhawks again proved that they were a well rounded team in 2021. A club with a tremendous offense and a pitching staff that was able to piece together an impressive year despite a lot of early season movement in the roster.

Ok so there’s a lot of guys there that deserve to be highlighted in this section. Heck there’s about a dozen batters and half a dozen pitchers on the top of my head that deserve it. That said for brevity’s sake and to keep things moving, we’re cutting that number in half. From the batters we have to start with new Redhawks legend John Silviano. 24 home runs, a .290/.358/.523, and 71 RBIs is a hell of a year for the St.Paul Saints refugee. Leo Pina (.311/.372/.516) and Correlle Prime (.304/.351/.809) were each key this year for Fargo as well as adding in 15 and 18 home runs, alongside quality fielding, each. We must make note of Jordan George, who put together a dream season for any traditional baseball fan. George slashed .332/.436/.551 and 16 home runs with 80 RBIs. The truly impressive thing here is his team leading 64 walks to just 41 strikeouts (1.5:1 K/BB ratio). I also have to talk about Manuel Boscan, the reigning AAPB batting champion. The dude hit .344/.416/.471 with 7 home runs and 63 RBIs over 91 games. That consistent success to get a hit in over a third of his at bats may be the most impressive thing from the Redhawks season.

On the mound there was a lot of movement, so guys like Matt Tomshaw or Kevin McGovern who were signed aren’t going to be here. But you can bet that Mr.118 innings will be Bret Helton. The dude was a day 1er and made 21 starts to post a 4.79 ERA and 107 strikeouts. While not the best season, he did stem the tide and eat valuable starts while Coste & co. got the rotation back in order. Logan Nissan is a similar pitcher. 19 games and 11 starts over 71 innings and 54 strikeouts.  Ryan Flores was a bit of a swing man with 32 games and 10 starts yet 95 innings. He only allowed 73 hits and 35 earned runs, he also walked 30 but the strikeouts numbered 129. That’s a very impressive year and arguably the best. However, you can’t have that argument without Alex DuBord. DuBord pitched in 37 games and 52 innings putting up a 1.73 ERA, 11 saves, and 59 strikeouts. A very solid and complete season for him.

The end is here and so is the time to answer the main question; was this year a success? Yes it was. We normally don’t get cut and dry answers like that but it’s hard to say otherwise. The team posted over 60 wins and won their divisional pennant, if not the regular season crown. That said, the offense was at peak performance and the pitching survived losing 3 starters in the course of a month. That was a lot to handle over one season and the team met and exceeded their expectations and showed that if not for Kansas City having a record-setting year, they’d have a championship banner to raise on May 13th. So yes this year was a success for the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks.

This week we saw an inter-league trade that sent a familiar face to Sioux City and a young bat to Evansville. To spell it out, Sioux City traded shortstop George Callil to the Evansville Otters in exchange for pitcher Matt Quintana. So let’s take a look at what each player brings to their new team and who, if anyone, won this trade.

Starting off with Evansville, they moved Matt Quintana back to Sioux City after getting him in a trade in mid-August and picking up his option in December. He never threw an inning for them in 2021 and was placed on the inactive list. The Otters get Australian infielder George Callil back for their trouble. Callil spent the past 3 years at the University of South Carolina and put up less than inspiring batting numbers over his 112 games. Those numbers would be .212/.341/.328, 7 home runs, 8 stolen bases, and 39 walks to 99 strikeouts. After his time in Columbia, Callil would sign with the Explorers and suit up for 15 games. In 34 at bats he put up numbers similar to college with a BA around .150 and a slugging percentage a bit above .200. No home runs but 2 walks, to 14 strikeouts. Overall, I hate taking something as small as a 15 game sample size as gospel, especially so when it’s the first 15 games of a players professional career, but the numbers are in line with the majority of Callil collegiate career and if that’s any indicator of what’s to come then this could be trouble. That’s said, he is 24 and heading to a league with a less experienced player pool. That should help out those offensive numbers a ton and Andy McCauley is a hell of a manager, so if anyone can put Callil into a position to succeed, it’s him.

Now Sioux City, they traded the aforementioned George Callil to get Matt Quintana back into the fold. That’s with good cause as looking over his 2021 season in Iowa, Quintana had great success coming out of the bullpen. Throwing in 16 games, although only 19 innings, to the tune of a 2.37 ERA and 36 strikeouts to only 4 walks. Now he did have 1.3 WHIP which is concerning no doubt and the sample size isn’t huge either. However, to that latter point Quintana has been around for a while. After 4 years at Siena, he played 2 years in the Atlantic League (Bridgeport and New Britain) before a year in the Frontier (Joliet and, ironically, Evansville), then a pandemic season in St.Paul, and finally last year in Sioux City. The dude has played a lot of baseball and the common thread seems to be that while Quintana can start he’s better served as a reliever. In that role he can better play to his strengths and he can remain effective for longer. X’s manager Steve Montgomery knows this and it shows in his usage of Quintana last year. 

So who won this trade. As of now, I say Sioux City won the trade by simply getting the better player. That’s not to say Callil won’t be good for the Otters, I think he’ll be productive, but rather that I believe Quintana will be a big piece of the bullpen for the X’s this season, especially following the departure of Jose Velez. That said, if Sioux City makes Quintana a starter I could easily see myself being wrong given his track record. Only time will tell and who knows, maybe neither player will even be rostered by their respective club come opening day.

In the American Association, Sioux Falls released Mitch Glasser and Garrett Hope and signed Joey Pulido, Angelo Altavilla, and Gavin LaValley. Milwaukee signed AJ Jones and Jose Espada. Then transferred Adam Brett Walker’s contract to Yomuri (NPB) and David Holmberg’s contract to Puebla (LMB). Fargo-Moorhead released Michael Hope. Cleburne signed Nick Shumpert, Garrett Alexander, and Santiago Rincon. Chicago traded John Baker to Sussex County (Frontier) to complete an earlier trade and traded Christan Day to Ogden (Pioneer) for a PTBNL. Sioux City traded George Callil to Evansville (Frontier) for Matt Quintana. Lincoln released Zak Taylor. Winnipeg signed Freisis Adames and Hidekel Gonzalez. They also traded Dylan Burns to Ogden (Pioneer) for a PTBNL. 

In the Frontier League, Gateway signed Christian Kuzemka. Sussex County received John Baker from Chicago (AAPB) to complete a previous deal, signed Randy Cesar, placed Mike Castellani on the retired list, and released Justin Watts. Evansville signed Ryan Campbell, extended Justin Felix and Tim Holdgrafer, and traded Matt Quintana to Sioux City (AAPB) for George Callil, They also sold Braden Scott’s contract to the Toronto Blue Jays (MLB). Quebec signed Josh McAdams. Trois-Rivières signed Kyle Thomas and Juan Kelly. Washington signed Melvin Novoa and Sandro Cabrera. Schaumburg signed Chris Mutter. Windy City extended Bryan Ketchie and John Sechan, then signed Daniel Kight. Tri-City signed Connor Oliver. Ottawa signed Devon Fisher. Lake Erie signed Glevyn Pineda.

In the Atlantic League, Long Island activated Hunter Caudelle from the 7-day injured list.

The Evansville Otters were one of the most overlooked teams in the 2022 season and among those overlooked was JR Davis. He originally was a round 15 draft pick of the Cardinals in 2016 and remained in their system until 2019 when he became part of the Mariners organization. During that time he never really had a bad or great season. It was mainly years of .250-.270 hitting with little power attached to a good glove. That’s when he found his way to the Washington Wildthings throughout the year and found some consistency. Of course, 2020 was a lost year and that brings us to 2021. Davis signed with Evansville and the 2nd baseman-outfielder found a level that he had only shown spots of before.

In a year where Davis played a career high 91 games, he also reached career highs in most offensive categories such as batting average, on base percentage, slugging percentage, home runs, RBIs, hits, and total bases. To get more specific, Davis slashed .316/.383/.444 with 8 home runs, 56 RBIs, 108 hits, and 152 total bases. That’s a fantastic season that made him one of, if not, the most valuable batters on an Evansville team that set a franchise record for runs scored. Is that a hot take? You decide. Among all Otter batters that played in at least 25 games Davis ranked first in batting average and hits, third in home runs, runs, on-base percentage, walks, and slugging percentage, and second in doubles and total bases. Not to mention that of the players in front of him in most of those categories played in at least a dozen fewer games. That sounds pretty valuable to me and you can see why Davis is getting a spotlight.

JR Davis is a veteran player at this point. He’s 27 and reaching a key point in his career. His 2021 season proved that there's still gas in the tank and that he is capable of putting a team’s offense on his back. That is something that I believe is worthy of drawing affiliated eyes and attention from higher leagues. Whether he gets the opportunity or not is something that I don’t know. I do know that he deserves another shot at the affiliated level and he’ll have a job in the Frontier League in 2022 if he wants it.

I know that we’ve been doing a lot of spotlights on Milwaukee and various Milkmen players. I also understand that there’s some fatigue from those and believe I’m going to try to avoid featuring them as heavily over the next few weeks. That said, last week the Milkmen made the biggest move of the offseason by signing the former single season home run king Keon Barnum.  

A quick refresher on Barnum for those that aren’t up to speed or are unaware why this guy is a bigger deal than some former major leaguers. Barnum is a former 1st rounder from 2012 and was in the White Sox’s organization until 2019. That’s when he joined the Chicago Dogs and Indy Ball as a whole. It is here where he unlocked a new level to his game. Where before Barnum was a .250 8-15 home run hitter, now he was hitting .311/.395/.635 with 31 home runs, the aforementioned record, and 90 RBIs. That performance was good enough to earn him Baseball America’s 2019 Independent Baseball Player of the Year award. That got him an affiliated opportunity in 2020 which was wiped out by the pandemic. Then in 2021, Barnum joined the newly independent Lexington Legends. He produced similar numbers, .291/.369/.604 24 home runs and 74 RBIs, before going to Mexico for a minute. 

Now this signing is important for a few reasons. Getting the obvious out of the way, Barnum is an extremely good ball player that has a track record of doing very well in the AAPB. That alone makes this a good move. This also will likely finish replacing the offensive production that was left behind after the departure of Adam Brett Walker. Now that the obvious is out of the way let’s talk about the less than obvious. Barnum is a first baseman and a DH. Last week we talked about Dylan Kelly being a DH,] that can get put to bed now. This move is likely going to do 1 of 2 things. 1, Barnum will be the first baseman and Prime will move to the outfield, freeing Kelly up to either DH or catch. 2, Barnum will DH, Kelly will catch, and Prime will be the first baseman. Now there’s still 3 months until opening day so everything is still in flux however these seem very likely and that changes the makeup of this team. In years past we’ve known Milwaukee as a pitching first team and that has brought them success. Now it seems like offense has been put to the forefront in their roster construction. They look set to return guys like Aaron Hill, Logan Trowbridge, Trey Martin, and Mikey Reynolds. While adding big bats like Correlle Prime, Dylan Kelly, Chad Sedio, and the focus of our piece Keon Barnum. 

I like this move as anyone except Milwaukee opponents would. It has me extremely curious as to how this roster will look on May 12th and whether or not this trend of offense continues. In any event, Keon Barnum will add that true danger threat to this line up and fill the role that Walker had for the past 2 years. That alone makes Milwaukee a team to watch going forward.

In the American Association, Cleburne signed Hector Sanchez and Michael Krauza. They released Jake Yogel, Jesus Sanchez, and Emerson Martinez. Gary signed M.J. Rookard. Kansas City signed Akeem Bostick and transferred Morgan McCullough and Ryan Grotjohn to the Kansas City Royals. Lincoln signed Drew Devine and released Logan Lombana. Milwaukee claimed A.J. Jones off of waivers from Chicago (AAPB). Then transferred Ryan Boyer to the Toronto Blue Jays. Then traded Cole Sturgeon to Team Kentucky (ALPB) for a PTBNL. Finally, they signed Keon Barnum, Juan Echeverria, and Rodrigo Benoit. Sioux City signed Jonah Smith and released Jose Velez. Sioux Falls released Caleb Frare and signed Trey Michalczewski. Winnipeg signed Josh Lucas and Travis Seabrooke. Lake Country signed Kyle Huckaby. Fargo-Moorhead signed Alex DuBord, Mitch Lambson, and Luke Lind.

In the Frontier League, Washington traded Jesus Balaguer to Gastonia (ALPB) for a PTBNL, placed Ben Vicini on the inactive list, and acquired Nate Fisbeck from Boise (Pioneer League) for a PTBNL. Evansville extended Miles Gordan and signed Kyle MacDonald. Windy City extended Cal Djursakovic, Brayden Bonner, Jace Mercer, and Jarius Richards. Sussex County signed Steve Barmakian. Lake Erie signed Joseph Sgambelluri. New York extended Zach Schnieder and Danny Wirchansky. Florence signed Karl Cragie. Ottawa signed Evan Grills. Schaumburg extended Kristian Scott. Tri-City signed Alexander Guillen and Juan Santana then traded Connor Lien to Southern Maryland (ALPB) for a PTBNL.

In the Atlantic League, Long Island signed Bennett Parry. Lancaster signed Trace Loehr.

If there was a winner in the shortened Covid season in 2020, it was the Milwaukee Milkmen. Anthony Barone’s boys, led by Adam Brett Walker, David Washington, Peyton Gray, David Holmberg, and many others won the team’s first American Association championship. They came into 2021 looking to repeat the feat with a full field. The strategy remained as similar as the roster, keep the runs to a minimum and get yours where you can. The team added a few names but seeing as there wasn’t turnover that was going to be the plan like it or not. In a similar vein, the expectation was the same; to win a championship. The team was certainly good enough to do it, now let’s see how they did this season.

The season started off slow for the warriors of Wisconsin as they only played .500 baseball but that would soon change as the month went from May to June. Early on the mauradures of Milwaukee would get going, winning 6 in a row then going 6 in 7 a few days later and finally ending the month with a 5 game winning streak. All in all, the Milkmen would finish 10 games over .500 on the year and things looked to be going very well heading into the heart of the year. July would start rough for the team as they dropped their first 5 games and things were starting to look a little shaky. That was until the team did as it had all of June, go streaky. This time the Milwaukee winning streak would last nearly the whole month as the team would drop just 3 games from July 8 until August 2; they'd go 20-3 during that time. That included a 6, 7, and 4 game winning streaks. Going into August the team was firmly in the conversation to defend their title being nearly 25 games above .500. However, the milk started going sour. The team lagged off, losing 7 of 8 in the beginning of the month. A sweep of Houston was quickly undone by a series lost to Cleburne and being swept by the Monarchs. Milwaukee did what they could to go .500 to end the month but they entered into September on a low note going sub .500 in a month for the first time all year. September would end with a 4-2 record and a playoff berth thanks to a midseason rule change. That set up a 1 game, winner take all wildcard game against the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks (more on them next week). The Milkmen played well for 8 and ⅔ of the game allowing just 5 hits and no runs across that time. Smith looked good from the 1st inning on and More, Boyer, and Hartman all looked just as strong. There were only a couple of issues. The first was that the Milkmen only mustered 3 hits (1 in the 3rd, 4th, and 8th innings) and the second was that Myles Smith didn’t start this game. He came in to relieve the starter, in the first inning, after just 1 out. That starter was David Holmberg, who had been extremely good in the 2020 season and championship run and even in 2021 was a very reliable starter. It just so happened he had a bad start on that day, now we’ll discuss the decision to start him later, but this blow up just put his time behind the 8 ball as he left, allowing 3 runs and would finish allowing 5. Now the offense is also to blame, I mean 3 hits in an elimination game no matter who's on the mound is just not gonna be good enough, but we’ll talk more about this at the end. Speaking of which, the Milkmen season and title defense would end with a 59-41 record and a loss in the wild card round.

So the record may tell one story but the stats give us details, let’s look at those details. With the way that last section ended, let’s start with the good. This team was an elite level pitching team. That’s been their identity both seasons under Anthony Barone and I’d have to imagine that’s going to be the case for his entire tenure in Milwaukee. As for the 2021 season, Milwaukee had a league leading 4.26 ERA as a team, .05 clear of the next best team. They were also 2nd in WHIP with 1.33 and oSLG of .388, just .001 off from 1st. The Milkmen managed to keep their opponents cold too with a league-low BAA at just .240. They also led the league in strikeouts (943) and earned runs (418). Honestly, the only flaw is their middle of the league walk totals but even then that’s a stretch. This team was a top 3 pitching team at worst and in all likelihood was the best in the American Association.

Now we need to talk about the batting side of the Milkmen. Here is where we find their achilles heel. I know what you’re thinking and just we are going to get to him and all the other individual players that deserve spotlights in a minute, first we have to talk about the team as a whole. To that extent, they could have been much better. Slashing .266/.347/.436 good enough for 8th/9th/6th. Not the worst but far from the best, when you look at other categories like total bases (1469;5th), home runs (121;4th), and stolen bases (128;2nd) you see a team that was capable of moving the needle but for whatever reason they seemingly stalled out, or at least were unable to sustain it. You can see that to a certain level with the middling ranking for RBIs, runs, and hits. Overall the team wasn’t exactly an offensive dynamo but they weren’t nearly as bad on offense as you might have thought.

That means we had players on both sides of the ball that were high level performers and now is the time to look at them. Starting with the pitchers we have to talk about the bullpen guys. I’ll try to avoid talking too much about guys that have had their own spotlight article/post like Nate Hadley, because I’d just be repeating myself. That said, Hadley had an amazing year with a 1.56 ERA in 40 innings pitched, the second most games among relievers too. Zack Hartman is another guy that had a fantastic season, in his 51 innings he posted a 2.45 ERA and 59 strikeouts. Ryan Boyer (2.72 ERA in 46 IP) did so well that the Blue Jays picked him up not too long ago. So this bullpen was working. That’s not to say that the starters weren’t good because pitcher of the year Myles Smith and his 13-4 record would say otherwise. In fact, let's keep talking about Smith. He posted a 3.48 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP in 111 IP and walked 75 while striking out 134. A very impressive year for the reliever turned starter. I also have to point out David Holmberg. He had a pretty good year with a 3.99 ERA in 97 innings and averaging just under a strikeout an inning. There’s a dozen more guys we could talk about here but we have to keep moving.

For a team that wasn’t among the league leaders in offense, there were a lot of really good individual performers this year. David Washington, despite only playing in 62 games, slashed .325/.402/.628 with 17 home runs and slew of other offensive accolades. More on him in our post about his deal to Winnipeg. Aaron Hill broke out this year and Logan Trowbridge just broke out this year, both hitting over 10 home runs and .280 batting averages. They’ll be more on both of them in the future (massive player spotlight hint there). Brett Vertigan and Trey Martin also showed up. Vertigan hit over .270 and provided stellar defense while Martin hit a shade under .300. Correa was on fire, hitting 13 bombs while slashing .282/.367/.466, I think I’ve tortured you enough, it’s time to talk about the guy you’ve all been waiting on the back to back MVP and AAPB single season home run king Adam Brett Walker. We’ve spent segments on the podcast on this dude, we’ve spent paragraphs in articles on this dude, and we’ve made posts on this dude. I could rehash his 31 home runs, 101 RBIs, and .320/.369/.636 stat line again but that would be redundant. I could talk about how his home run chase and really race with the rest of the league’s power hitters this summer provided fun we haven’t seen in Indy Ball in years but that goes without saying. Or perhaps I could say what’s already been said elsewhere about the impact he’s had on the team and league across this year. I could spend time on any of that but instead I’ll keep it quick and neat by saying less. He was the heart of the line up and was by far the best player in the American Association. The Milkmen wouldn’t have gotten nearly as far without him.

Here we are, the end section. Where we determine if this year was a success or failure for the Milkmen. Before we get there, I did mention that we’d talk about that wildcard game. There’s only a few things I want to say about that before rendering a verdict on the season. Yes, Holmberg shares some of the blame for the loss because all the runs were his even if he only let 3 come across but the loss isn’t just his fault. There’s an argument for Smith starting over Holmberg. The obvious part to that is what Smith did once he entered the game. However, there’s more to it. Holmberg had been pretty good all year and in fact only had 2 really bad starts leading up to the wildcard, those were both against the Redhawks. I get it starting Holmberg, your second best starter, let you keep Smith, a former reliever, in reserve to clean up any mess or start game 1 against Chicago. But in my view you start your best pitcher in a win or go home game and live or die with your best 9 on the field. Pitching aside, I blame the offense more for this loss. 3 hits and no runs is completely unacceptable. Yes, I understand. Matt Tomshaw is a very good pitcher that was in AAA just this past season, but regardless you have to produce more on offense. Someone, whether it’s a star like ABW or Washington or an underrated player like Trowbridge or Hill needs to step up and score a run somehow. I know professional baseball is very hard but there just no excuse for mustarding 3 hits in 9 innings in an elimination game.

Now we can talk about this season on a whole. The Milkmen entered the year as defending champions from the wacky covid season of 2020. We knew this team was good and that the road to repeating would be tougher than ever. That said we didn’t know how good this team would be. They did what was expected of them in a sense by being a strong pitching team and an average to below average batting team. But both me and Will had them being a playoff team, meaning top 2 in their division, hell Will had them winning the whole thing. So by that strict standard the season was a failure because they didn’t reach the heights that they were expected to. However, I’m hesitant to do that because they still were nearly a 60 win team and really were a ⅓ of an inning away from meeting expectations. In the end, Milwaukee didn’t have a bad year but they also didn’t reach the full potential that we all knew they had.

There are few players in the Frontier League that we have highlighted in this series so far, we are starting to change this today. This time we are looking at one of the more unsung relievers in the league. That pitcher would be Florence Y’alls reliever Jared Cheek. 

Cheek started his career in 2015 after being drafted by the Cubs in the 21st round out of the University of Georgia. While there he was a bullpen only guy and the Cubs saw fit to leave him that way throughout the 2.5 years he spent with the organization. In 2019, Cheek found his way to Florence and has been there since. Of course, 2020 was a lost year because of a global pandemic but just about every player had that same issue so we move on.

Coming into the 2021 season the Y’alls were looking to contend and at the core of every great team is a great bullpen. This was true for Florence as the Frontier League’s regular season champions had Cheek powering their ‘pen. He threw in 28 games, including 8 starts the first of his professional career. This saw him hit a new career high in innings pitched as well with 79 and ⅔ innings. That’s all well and good, but what about the important stats? Well we would be spotlighting a bad pitcher now would we. Cheek posted an ERA of 2.94 and a 1.13 WHIP with 74 strikeouts. Now that’s a damn fine season for a mixed use pitcher that’s starting for the first time in his career. As the infomercials say but wait there’s more! The real doozy to Cheek’s year is that he only gave up 10 walks in 80 innings. That’s right 10, all year. That’s impressive even for a guy like Cheek that never surrenders a lot of walks. I don’t know many managers that would hate to have a 7.4:1 SO/BB ratio guy on their pitching staff and I’m sure Brian White didn’t mind it either.

Jared Cheek had a career year in 2021 and I believe that this will continue into 2022. He demonstrated this year that he can be a versatile piece to any pitching staff by being a dominant closer as well as a reliable starter. You know what you’re getting with this guy, solid pitching for 30+ innings, and very few walks. That type of consistency has value and holds merit in a type of specialization across baseball. I understand the guy is 29 and that the clock is ticking into the night of his career but I still believe he’s worth giving a shot to for an MLB club and if that shot doesn’t come I have no doubt that Florence would be at the front of the line to get him back.

The Winnipeg Goldeyes were a team that was dealt a hard hand in 2020 and 2021. They would have to continue the road home games from 2020 into 2021 only this time home away from home was Jackson, Tennessee. In a more narrative sense, the Goldeyes were also coming off a year where expectations placed them in the postseason but they fell short of that goal and were rather disappointing. That said, with the new calendar came new expectations. This time the Goldeyes were going to live and die with their pitching. The offense was revved up and ready to run, even the bullpen looked good. It was starting pitching that held the key to their success and avoiding another 2nd half collapse. Now to see if they managed to meet these expectations in 2021.

The Winnipeg season opened up fairly innocently with a 5-7 start featuring a few mini winning and losing streaks. On came the push into June, where the team continued playing a hair under .500 baseball. They went 11-14 and continued the winning-losing streak trend. Understandable when you are essentially playing all road games but I digress. Going into July the team stood at 5 under .500 and in need of a big month. They got something close to it in the form of a 16-13 month that included a 7 of 10 winning stretch that pulled them within 2 games of .500 by month’s end. August was a good month for several reasons. The first was that the team was finally able to return to the great white north and play home games in Winnipeg again. The second is the 16-11 month they had, which was spurred on by a 6 game winning streak to open up their return to Manitoba. Now the return was a dual edged sword. On one hand, it forced teams coming into Canada to roll with a new group of players, in some cases a dozen or more new faces, to become compliant with the border crossing restrictions but in place by the Canadian government and the government of Manitoba. This left a lot of visitors heavily understaffed and the Goldeyes definitely took advantage of that as their 12 -6 home record (10-2 entering September) in August and September shows. The flipside was that these restrictions also applied to the Goldeyes as well, and that forced their hand in making roster moves they really didn’t want to make. This was made harder by the ALPB’s new mound revisions, which made a lot of players hesitant to accept any trade over there (of course they could still be dealt but if a player won’t sign/report to his new team it defeats the point of acquiring him). In any event, the North division seemed to be wrapped up by late August even though the Goldeyes late push brought them over .500. The season would end a 1 game over .500 after a labor day weekend sweep at the wings of the Redhawks. 50-49, a game was canceled, would be the final damage. 12.5 out of 1st place, and 8.5 out of a wild card spot. 

The Goldeyes obviously wished the season could have gone different but that doesn’t mean it was a total loss. On offense they’d surprisingly well compared to the 11 other teams in the Association. They hit .283/.367/.437 as a team and that was good enough for 4th/5th/5th respectively. The team was clearly productive in that regard, what was most impressive was the slugging numbers. The Goldeyes only hit 86 home runs, T4th fewest in the league, but they responded by leading the league in doubles with 203 and finishing 3rd in triples with 24. For a team with one of the best power hitters in the league they managed to get by with extra base hits that stopped short of crossing home plate. We’ll get into those individual performers later on, but first we need to look at the team pitching.

This is where things get a lot rougher for the Goldeyes. The team finished with a 5.82 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP, the 3rd and 2nd highest in the league. Opponents also hit .288 and slugged .441 off of Winnipeg pitchers. The other opponent's offense stats read very similarly and that was the issue this season for the team. I will say there was one big surprise when looking at their pitching stats though. Shutouts. The Goldeyes notched 6 shutouts tying them with Chicago and Sioux Falls for second in the league. 

Remember those individual performers I mentioned earlier? Let’s look at them. On offense there are a few guys that need mention. Kyle Martin is the first and foremost of them with his .280/.371/.609 featuring 31 home runs and a league leading 106 RBIs! If not for a fellow we’ll be talking about in length on Friday, Martin would have almost certainly been the MVP this past season. Max Murphy (.307/.359/.503;13 HR 71 RBIs) and Kevin Lachance (.327/.395/.482;9 HR 49 RBI) both were big contributors as well with the pair both hitting over .300 while playing in over 95 games. Raul Navarro, a player mentioned in our season preview, also did very well hitting .310 and swiping 20 bases in 88 games. Likewise, Tyler Hill slashed .294/.415/.440 with 20 steals. There are others worthy of note like Dakota Conners and Wes Darvill but we need to keep moving. 

On the pitching side of things it’ll be a lot quicker. There are really three players worth highlighting here, I’ll start by looking at the lone starter among them. Landen Bourassa, the 24 year old rookie, made 8 appearances all starts and posted a 2.63 ERA in that time. While the strikeouts were low and the hits and walks were a little high, for a rookie that’s a fantastic season and one that’s going to be important to build on. In the bullpen, Jose Jose was his usual All-Star level self, posting a 1.21 ERA and 11 saves in 29 games this past season, before being traded in August. Likewise, Donnie Hart, the man acquired from that trade, was also very good posting a 2.30 ERA and 10 saves in 15 games with the team. I know this is a fourth name but Travis Seabrooke pitched in the most games of any Goldeye last year with 45 games and posted a 4.14 ERA which for a player with that type of usage isn’t bad at all.

As much as you might think that a barely winning season would be considered a failure, I’d actually call it a success. On the field, sure, it could have been better. The batting was very very good and the pitching could have been better. Off the field, it was a tough year bouncing from Tennessee to Manitoba and all over the American midwest. The roster had to be tweaked and manipulated to become compliant with Canadian health and safety guidelines. So much had to happen just to get this team playing in 2021 and to manage to have it all happen and put up a winning record is pretty damn good. Hell, just getting to play games in front of their fans in Winnipeg is a success for me. Thus, I’d call this year a success for the Goldeyes.

The Milwaukee Milkmen have been one of the better teams in independent league baseball over the past couple of seasons. One of the reasons for this has been their offensive output from the catcher and designated hitter positions. My feelings on the DH aside, it exists in the American Association making it an important part of constructing a line up. After a few developments this offseason, the Milkmen looked like they needed some more offense. One of those moves was a blockbuster trade that netted them catcher Dylan Kelly and first baseman Correlle Prime. This week the Milkmen finally signed the first of that pair in Dylan Kelly.

Dylan Kelly has played just under 500 games in Indy Ball, about 400 of them in the AAPB. Kelly spent 3 years in Sioux City accumulating 117 RBIs, 231 hits, and 74 walks in 242 games, not once hitting under .280 during that span. He also would keep his OBP above .350 too. He moved on to Fargo-Moorhead for the past 2 years and played in 119 games scoring 55 runs and 77 RBIs in that time. Add on career highs in batting average (.336 and .311), home runs (5 and 6), and slugging percentage (.493 and.433) and Kelly had a resurgence in his time in North Dakota. He now gets to join a team that can certainly use those newly revived offensive talents. 

The Milkmen know how they’re going to use Kelly. He’s almost certainly going to split time between DH and catcher. That is unless Christ Conley becomes the primary catcher or the team signs another player for the position. In my mind Kelly as a DH makes more sense. While he is still a very good catcher with fielding percentages above .990 in past years, his offensive output was significantly better when he only had to worry about 1 side of the game, this also allows you to sub him in late as a defensive replacement while keeping his bat in the lineup if needed. He also seems to be the best fit for the role as the outfield seems set with Martin and Reynolds and the infield with Prime, Hill, Sedio, and Trowbridge. While former big leaguer Miguel Gomez could also fill an infield role and thus free up a player to DH, letting Kelly catch, he’s been on the roster for some time and has yet to play for the team. I’m not factoring Gomez in until I see him in the Milwaukee dugout. Either way, adding Kelly is big for a Milkmen team that will be without independent ball’s biggest star this season and I’d expect Kelly to help make up for the loss in production in the aggregate.

In the American Association, Winnipeg signed Tyler Hill, Tasker Strobel, and Max Murphy. Fargo-Moorhead signed Eliezer Alvarez and Ryan Flores, they also released Mark Finkelnberg, Austin Ver Steeg, and Taylor Wright. Cleburne signed Alexis Rivero. They also released Sklyer Ewing, John Nester, Noah Vaughn, and Daniel James. Kansas City signed Jon Harris, Eric Stout, and Kevin Santa. Milwaukee signed Dylan Kelly and released Anibal Sierra. The team also traded Jay Charleston to Ogden (Pioneer League) in exchange for a PTBNL. Sioux City signed Sebastian Zawada. Kane County signed Galli Cribbs Jr. Lincoln signed Brandon Cunniff and Jason Rodgers and released Edgar Corcino.

In the Frontier League, Lake Erie released Eric Callahan, Nick Rotola, Brody Wofford, Daniel Kight, and Steven Passatempo. They also signed Jesus Chavez and Jackson Valera. Sussex County signed Jhosua Alcantra, Ivan Pineyo, and Isasias Quiroz. Gateway signs Jose Martinez. Florence extended Bryan Leef and Jonaiker Villalobos. They also signed Andres Sthromes and Ray Zuberer. Quebec traded Riley Pittman to Idaho Falls (Pioneer League) for Webb Little. They also signed Webb Little and Marc-Antoine Lebreux. Joliet signed Matt Burch. Evansville extended Austin Gossmann. Washington signed Darren Osby. Windy City extended Peyton Isaacson, Nikola Vasic, and Rob Weissherier. 

In the Atlantic League, Long Island signed Dustin Woodcock.

The Kane County Cougars were left at the shelter by Major League Baseball but the American Association came in to adopt them. To explain the creative writing in the opening sentence, Kane County was cut from MiLB and joined up with the AAPB. They came in with a bang hiring one of the most respected and successful managers in Indy Ball history in George Tsamis to help guide the Cougs into the next chapter of their history. Early on it looked like they could be a club that’d be a factor late into August, if they got the offense from their bats and hit on 1 or 2 pitchers in particular. We had predicted as much back in May. Now whether they lived up to that or not is what we are here to discuss today. Let’s get started with that right now.

Things got off to a streaky start in May with a winning streak matched by a losing streak for the Cougars. That’s unfortunately the high water mark for the team this year as come June they began to falter falling under .500 by a significant margin and what we feared could happen started happening, contract purchases. While contract purchases are great for players, they suck for teams that are trying to win on the field. Even with that, the Team fought to near .500 in July and August but that was too little too late. That slow June had in essence killed their season. The Cougars limped to a 44-55 final record at year’s end and finished 14.5 games back of a playoff spot.

Now as always we need to take a look under the hood of this team to see if it was luck or skill that brought this club down this year. On offense, they hit .261/.339/.411 which was good for 3rd worst, 2nd worst, and 3rd worst in the league in those categories. The team also finished 9th in total bases (1376) and hits (875), 8th in home runs (99), and 10th in runs (472). That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for the Kane County offense. Now that said they did finish with the 4th fewest strikeouts (767) and that’s something but still not exactly what you want to hang your hat on. 

The pitching had to be better right? Well, they finished 5th in ERA with a 4.83, 1st in shutouts with 7, T4th fewest home runs against at 93, and 7th in runs and earned runs with 501 and 464 respectively. The Cougars were a good pitching team, and it’s clear how they were staying in games. The only area where Kane County pitchers struggled was in strikeouts (11th with 716) and walks (3rd most at 434). Outside of that, the Cougars were one of the better pitching teams in the Association this year. Remember that when we get to the end of this review. But before we get there we need to look at some of the key performers for this past year.

Let’s keep talking about pitching for a minute by looking at some of the key guys on this Cougars pitching staff. While you might expect me to talk about Vance Worley or Scott Harkin, you’d be wrong because each of those guys only played in 5 games each for Kane County. Instead, let's talk about Tyler Viza. The dude came in with some AAA experience and was a bit of a wildcard. Well he was a sure thing until his contract got purchased, over 14 starts Viza posted a 3.05 ERA, 96 strikeouts, and a 1.23 WHIP. Oh and he only allowed 33 runs across 91 innings, 31 were earned. He also had 21 walks but the point is across all the possible candidates Tyler Viza was the one that stepped up and delivered every time he took the mound. That’s not to discount Josh Tols, who posted a 4.28 ERA in 122 innings and 20 starts, or Jack Fox, posted a 4.26 ERA in 14 starts, but Viza was just on another level and was a top 3 pitcher in the league this year. In the bullpen, Kyle Huckaby and Mark Seyler posted 4 ERAs striking out 35 a piece over 30 or so innings and 31 and 26 appearances each. However, the unsung hero of the bullpen was Andy McGuire and his 3.06 ERA in 32 innings, he walked a few guys but was generally good at keeping them off the board. 

On offense there’s a few guys. Gavin LaValley and Kacy Clemens chipped in 12 home runs each and both batted in the .270s and had about 40 RBIs apiece. Solid production out of the pair. Mitch Reeves slashed .280/.343/.367 and chipped in 41 RBIs as well, and long time St. Paul Saint Josh Allen was a utility piece, smacking 12 home runs and slashed a mean .284/.371/.508 in 67 games. Also worthy of note were Jeffery Baez and Matt Karaviotis. Both only played in 65 and 59 games but were among the most productive hitters on the team with Baez hitting 14 home runs and slashing .297/.375/.571 with a slew of other fancy stats. Then Karaviotis hit .327/.404/.576 and 9 home runs with 18 doubles and 21 walks. 

This brings us to the end summary of the review. Clearly, it was a rough year for the Cougars this year. Off the field the transition to Indy Ball seemed to have gone well but on the field the results were disappointing. I'm not calling it a failure simply because they were expected to be in the bottom half of the North Division, just that they had the potential to be a sleeper pick for the playoffs. And on some level they met that expectation. Batting wise, the parts were better than the sum as there were 4 or 5 guys that really stepped up and produced this season. However, they didn't play enough games together to be an effective unit. Likewise, there weren't enough pitchers that all were on the same page at the same time. The Kane County Cougars in the end were a middling team that neither failed nor succeeded in meeting their expectations.

Normally when we make these types of posts, we highlight guys that have been around Indy Ball for a while and they’ve had a season that was impossible to ignore or something to that extent. This time we’re changing that up a bit and going with a 26 year old pitcher that has just 2 years of professional experience and just 1 in Indy Ball. That season though needs to be talked about more than it has been thus far. The guy who we’re talking about is Nate Hadley. He spent 3 very good years at UCLA as a reliever before being drafted by the Twins in the 25th round of the 2019 draft. That 2019 season would have Hadley sign and play 21 games between rookie ball and single A he did well with a sub 3 ERA. Then 2020 happened, it was a lost year, and needed a place to play in 2021. Enter the defending champion Milwaukee Milkmen and pitcher whisperer Anthony Barone.

For a guy that has never played a full season of professional baseball, Nate Hadley sure looked like a seasoned vet. The young reliever threw 40 innings across 35 games and posted a 1.57 ERA and a 0.992 WHIP. Eye popping numbers that make you wonder how he was in Indy Ball to begin with. But wait there’s more. Hadley threw 44 strikeouts to just 17 walks or he struck out roughly 2.5 batters for every 1 he walked. He also allowed just 23 hits across the season and picked up 13 saves to boot. This is not the kind of season you see from a guy entering their first full professional season.

We’ve been doing player spotlight and alumni update posts for a while now and I think at this point it’s pretty clear that we seldom ever do one on a rookie in this league. But seldom ever does a rookie put up numbers like Nate Hadley did. In a year where also every pitcher got picked up by a major league club it is a head scratcher that Hadley remained with the Milkmen. I have to imagine that someone will give this man an opportunity in 2022 if he continues to dominate out of the bullpen, if he keeps a sub 2 ERA and doesn’t get picked up no one ever will.

The Gary Railcats entered 2021 after a year off looking to find their first winning season since 2018. The team entered with a lot of players on the inactive list with some visa issues and a roster of generally uninteresting players to be blunt. It can essentially be said that Gary was not expected to do all that much. That said, the North Division was still a more in flux division compared to its southern counterpart. That left the door open to a surprise entry into the postseason. Any event Tagert’s squad would have an uphill battle into the postseason.

The season got off to the expected start. The team struggled earlier and often in both May and June although they did manage to tread water and keep the ship around .500. Then came July and the team fell off, hard. They sank under .500 significantly and fell victim to a 9 game losing streak in the middle of July. That just continued to get worse in August when they started to play lose 2 win 1 baseball until the middle part of the month where they again were hit with yet another losing streak, this time 7 games. I’ll admit they did have a short 4 game win streak towards season's end but at that point it was just putting lipstick on a pig. The end ended the season with a 39-61 record and finished last in the North Division and 20 games out of a playoff berth.

While as a team the results weren’t good, perhaps the Railcats were good as a batting or pitching unit. Let’s look. Batting wise they were very good. .254/.342/.356 slash line that looks like 11th/10th/12th in the respective categories. Home runs were also last with 40 although the Railyard really isn’t set up for power like that. Total bases were second from the bottom with 1221 and they struck out the second most times at 897 times. That said the Railcat did manage to steal 129 bases, best in the league, and they finished 2nd in triples with 32. So they could clearly leg it out.

The pitching unit was actually much better. They managed to be about average in the league with a 4.89 ERA and 1.53 WHIP, 7th in the league in both. Tied for second fewest home runs allowed at 92 as well, again the ballpark isn’t meant for home runs. Surprisingly, Gary managed to finish in the top 5 for strikeouts with 831. Just looking over all the other categories the team was roughly middle of the pack in all but innings pitched. There they were 1st with 892 innings. Overall, the Railcats might not have been an elite pitching team but they weren’t bad either. 

So as is tradition with these team reviews, let’s look at some of the standout performers from the Railcats season. On offense, Daniel Lingua was a big contributor, chipping in 88 hits and 3 home runs over 89 games. He also slashed .281/.380/.393 this year. Thomas Walraven and Alec Olund lead the team in home runs with 6 and 5 home runs each. Walraven also hit .281/.341/.408, while Olund hit .280/.372/.435. However, you can’t mention the Railcats offense without talking about Jesus Marriaga. The 22 year old played in 80 games with Gary and hit .284/.348/.356 and 2 home runs. Marriaga also had 83 hits, averaging over 1 a game! Pitching wise there were a few more guys that deserve mention. Let’s start with the starters, Trevor Lubking again was the ace of the staff with a 4.85 ERA and team leading 117 strikeouts in 117 innings. Another good year for him. Jack Alkire was also solid this year in 100 innings, posting a 4.88 ERA with 101 strikeouts. Looking at swingmen, Chris Erwin and Adam Heinfielder (briefly picked up by the Cubs) were very good as well, posting a 3.10 and 4.12 ERA each. Lastly Tasker Strobel was very good for the club as well with a 3.71 ERA in 68 innings, mostly in relief.

Overall, the Railcats season was a failure. They didn’t manage to reach the 40 win plateau and finished last in the North Division, that is not successful. Likewise, they are losing a lot of pitching talent this offseason so I can’t really call this much of a building block year. I will say there players here that are going to be part of the solution and are going to grow from 2021 but on it’s own the 2021 season is by and large a failure for the Gary Railcats.

The Gateway Grizzlies have been anything other than hibernating this offseason as the team continues to remold and take shape under new skipper Steve Brook. That continued last week with the signing of 27 year old right hander Brendan Feldmann. Feldmann was signed out of Lindenwood University by the Houston Astros and spent 2 and ½ seasons with the organization across every level. He was mostly a double A pitcher in his time in double A but as previously mentioned he played at just about every level for the Astros. Since his release in 2019, Feldmann pitched in Indy Ball for Steve Brook’s old Frontier League club the River City Rascals and the Long Island Ducks. He has found success in both locations throwing 86 innings near exclusively as a starter for the Rascals and posted a 1.97 ERA with a 7-1 record and 87 strikeouts with only 23 runs against and 88 combined hits and walks against. Truly fantastic numbers for Feldmann at that time. He later went to Long Island after that season ended to finish 2019 and later play there in 2021. He only had 1 appearance in 2019 for the Ducks so we’ll just look at 2021. Keep in mind the ALPB went through an unpresented rise in offense for this past season and they still do have an extremely high level of talent that, particularly on the batter side of things, is at a high double A or even triple A level on most nights. That’s all to say that Feldmann’s numbers may seem high but in the context of a league with a lot of offense they are a lot more normal than they appear.  That said he posted a 5.49 ERA across 118 innings featuring 26 games and 20 starts. He still did strikeout 91 batters and only allowed 75 total runs with 167 combined hits and walks for opposition batting. That gets us up to date. 

Now there have been plenty of signings, heck there have been plenty of signings for Gateway this offseason, what makes this one so special? Well, Feldmann has a track record of success in the Frontier League and more to the point under Brook. That came after he was released by the Astros and still getting used to the Indy Ball life. Which for guys that are going through it for the first, can be very daunting at first. Yes, Feldmann was already a pro and he was a younger pitcher then but he’s still fairly young and the jump is still present as many players know. Clearly, Brook knows how to work with the guy and get the most out of him. Likewise, in 2021 every good to great Frontier League team had 1 thing in common; great pitching especially starting pitching. Look at our team reviews, every team that had a successful season was 3 or 4 deep in the rotation and if Feldmann can help lock down 1 of those roles for Gateway then the team is well on it’s way to success and maybe they’ll start winning for the first time in half a decade. I’ll address his time with the Ducks too. You can have your thoughts and opinions on the ALPB but one undebatable element of the league is the quality of hitter they have and the high rate of run scoring in 2021. ALPB hitters are more matured and by and large have been tested at a higher level, they know how to hit. When you factor in the weird rules and changes in 2021, any pitcher would have struggled, except Daryl Thompson because he’s a terminator that would need a UN binding resolution to get a hit off of. So having an ERA above 5 is much different in the Atlantic League than any other Indy League. I’d even go as far to argue that Feldmann’s time in the ALPB makes him an even more dangerous pitcher to the kind of batter in the Frontier League. In any event, time will tell how this moves works out and if the signing pays off but either way Gateway is pulling out all the stops to become a competitive team in the Frontier League again.

*NOTE- The Atlantic League website has not officially updated its transaction page with any player transaction. Thus the ALPB section will be left blank with the exception of moves reported by other leagues, even though there have been re-signings made by at least 1 team.

In the Frontier League, Florence signed Kevin Hahn, Anthony Brocato, Harrison DiNicola, and Craig Massey. They also extend Andres Rios. Quebec traded Frank Moscatiello to Long Island (Atlantic League) for a PTBNL. They also signed Pedro Gonzalez. Ottawa traded for Kona Quiggle from Idaho Falls (Pioneer League) and signed Greg Vaughn Jr. and Kona Quiggle. Washington signed Alex Alverez and placed Trevor Cassanova on the inactive list. Trois-Rivieres signed Joe Campagna, James Bradwell, Austen Henrich, Ben Hoffman, David Gauthier, Dustyn Malcuso, Michel Dagenais, and Sam Belisie-Springer. New York extended Tucker Nathans. Evansville extended Logan Sawyer, Jacob Bowles, Elijah MacNamee, Ryan O’Reilly, and Taylor Spring. Sussex County signed Ariel Sandoval. Joliet signed Kenny Ogg. Lake Erie placed Marco Gonzalez on the inactive list and Tanner Driskoll and Steven Kraft on the suspension list. Tri-City Valleycats signed Andy Sugilio and Olbis Parra.

In the American Association, Fargo-Moorhead signed Sam Dexter and David Feldman. Milwaukee signed Christ Conley, Takoda Metoxen, Ryan Boyer, and Kyle Mora. Gary-Southshore traded Ryan Cash to Ridge Run (Pioneer League) for future considerations and then signed Carlos Vega. Cleburne released Colton Pogue. Lincoln signed Josh Altmann. Sioux Falls signed Charlie Hasty and Colby Wyatt and then released Trey Michalczewski. 

In the Atlantic League, Long Island acquired Frank Moscatiello from Quebec (Frontier League) for a PTBNL. There were other reported signings but they were not listed on the official ALPB transaction page.

Now back to the news of the day. ALBP mound and rules announcement. So lot of big stuff. No more ABS, no more 61 foot mound, and only minor changes left standing. Heard this was coming a week or so back but either way there's lots of reasons for this. We'll talk in depth on the show this week about it. That said I gotta think the lockout has an effect on this. MLB doesn't really have much ground to negotiate with when fans associate the brand with preventing them from watching the players and teams they love. That kinda kills one of the more important parts to the deal. Now of course the deal does more than just help promo and sell the league. There's media attention it gets that they've seldom ever gotten before but if the MLB logo is to act as a quasi certification on quality for the laity of fans, it is also a scarlet letter during bad times. Also I think these changes were just unpopular with players and to a lesser degree fans. If you annoy your client pass, you won't last long. If you annoy your worker base, you make operations harder than necessary. Not to mention, as we said on the show multiple times, the offense was out of control in the @AtlanticLg this year. To the point where it wasn't entertaining on some nights. I know the numbers are sketchy as to the true affect of ABS + mound but it did appear offense went up when they arrived. Now the eye test for data isn't a proper way to measure but it is how the common fan measures and that common fan is the guy/gal paying to see the game and keeping the lights on. So in this case perception is reality. Now I could be off base here and all that I've said so far could just be fever dreams of a restless imagination on my part. And the league might have decided to just do it on there own and MLB said nothing. But I think it's more than that. In any case, it's a welcomed change in my eyes. Obviously Twitter isn't a great platform for nuisance discussion, so the podcast that'll be up on Saturday at some point will have a better conversation on the topic. 

We’ve been very spoiled this offseason with meaningful baseball trades in the Indy Ball world. This is true more so in the American Association, where this week we got one of the bigger deals we’ve seen in a minute. This time we saw the Goldeyes acquire former major leaguer David Washington from Milwaukee in exchange for pitcher Tyler Smith and a PTBNL. Let’s take a look at what each side has gotten and who got the better end of this deal.

The Winnipeg Goldeyes got a haul here. They were in desperate need for not only a first baseman but a major bat to replace star power hitter Kyle Martin. Washington is just the guy to fill this need being just 4 years removed from being in the big leagues with 4 years of Indy Ball experience since. In those 339 games (122 in Milwaukee & 217 in LI)  in Indy Ball, Washington has hit 72 home runs, 226 RBIs, 305 hits, and 143 runs scored. While not quite at the same rate that Martin was at, this is about as close as you can get. In any event, Washington stands on his own offensive merit and he’ll act as the new center piece of the Winnipeg offense. The addition of Washington gives the Goldeyes some lineup versatility with Navarro, Murphy, and Darvill all returning. The only major issue, if you can call it that, with this move is the Goldeyes have just one more veteran spot left on the roster at this time and with a younger pitching staff and catcher that might be an area they’d like to address. All that said, it is still a fantastic pick up for the Goldeyes. 

Milwaukee moved a very big piece of their offense but they had good reason to. We’ll start on the return and get into the reasoning behind the trade in a bit. The Milkmen got young reliever Tyler Smith and a PTBNL. The PTBNL is like a draft pick in that it is an unknown variable that could be anything. That brings us to Smith. The 26 year old righty is a reliever through and through, never started a game from NCAA up. He doesn’t have much of a sample size but in what he does have he has been effective, at least in the American Association. 7 games with Winnipeg after being released from the Angels Organization in 2021. 2.16 ERA in 8 innings with 38 strikeouts. A very small sample size but a pitcher with potential. This might not seem like much of a return but there’s a reason why no else came back with Smith. That’s the veteran max. According to the current Milwaukee roster on pointstreak, the team is already over the max on veterans. Now that roster is a bit out of date, ABW is still listed, but even with that they’d have tough decisions to make and with the newly added Correlle Prime, Washington was an easier player to move. Still far from a bad move for the Milkmen.

Overall in Indy Ball the team that wins the trade is the team that gets the best player. In this case, that’d be Winnipeg. They addressed a need and filled it fairly cheap, that’s a good trade for them. The Milkmen aren’t totally off base. They get a very nice young reliever that Barone can shape and that isn’t nothing. In the end, Winnipeg won this deal but Milwaukee got a decent return.

In the Frontier League, Florence extended Ronnie Allen Jr.. Joliet signed Kyle Kaufman. Gateway signed Brendon Feldmann. Ottawa acquired Jack Alkire from Gary-Southshore (American-Association)  in exchange for Keisy Portorreal and Carlos Vega. The Titans also signed Tyler Jardon. Schaumburg released Braxton Davidson and placed Andrew Dean on the inactive list. Evansville signed Jeffery Baez, Jomar Reyes, and Gary Mattis. Washington signed Hayden Pearce.

In the American Association, Kansas City signed Jordan Martinson and Dylan Baker. The Monarchs also released Carson LaRue. Lincoln signed Sherman Graves. Gary-Southshore signed Trevor Lubking, Nick Garcia, and Jesus Marriaga. They also acquired Keisy Portorreal and Carlos Vega from Ottawa (Frontier League) in exchange for Jack Alkire. Sioux Falls released Joey Wagman. Lake Country signed Carson Goldsmith. Fargo-Moorhead signed Nick Novak, Leobaldo Pina, Kevin McGovern, Jordan George, and Tyler Grauer. Milwaukee released Robbie Gordan and traded David Washington to Winnipeg for Tyler Smith and a player to be named later.

There were no listed transactions in the Atlantic League.

We start our final team review for the Frontier League now with the Florence Y’alls. Florence entered the year with a fresh rebrand and a new skipper looking to capture a league title for the first time in over 20 years. The roster Brian Whire assembled looked capable of doing that as well. The lineup looked to be very evenly balanced with a strong bullpen and some good arms up front. That said, this was a division that was going to be difficult to win for the Y’alls. Let’s see what they were able to do.

Well the Y’alls got off to a scorching hot start to the year winning their first 7 games and before the end of June they would add another 4 game win streak as well. That said, the team would enter the heart of the season with a 19-11 record. Now at this point we knew that Florence was a good team but they were streaky, so it cast a cloud over whether they were good because of their own merit or good because they could beat teams below them and ride the ensuing momentum. Well July really just felt like more of the same. They’d win 3 in a row or 4 of 5 and then drop a few before playing .500 ball for a while. Whatever it may be, they finished with a 16-12 record in July. August was a bit rough, winning 13 games and losing 12. Again they won 8 of 10 before a 4 game losing streak which was then followed by a 4 game winning streak later in the month. This end of year lull left the division in doubt and essentially made the winner of September the division winner. That worked out fine for the Y’alls as they went 9-3 and finished with a 57-38 record to win the division by a half game. This sent up a first round match up with Schaumburg that would only last 4 games. To the surprise of us all, it was Schaumburg that dominated the series and sent the Y’alls home for the season.

  Now let’s see how this season went when you breakdown the stats. On offense, the Yalls were pretty average. They finished T9th in hits (829), 8th in home runs (78) and total bases (1262), 6th in OBP (.355), 7th in batting average (.269), and 8th again in slugging percentage (.409). There are 2 major exceptions though and 1 is extremely important. Florence finished 3rd in stolen bases (157), which is nice but not all that important. The second is runs, which the Y’alls finished 3rd in with 521. This is important because runs are the most important factor in a baseball game and the more you have the better chance you have at winning the game (duh). The key reason why they finished with that many runs is guys like Chad Sedio (.319/.403/.543 and 15 HR), Trevor Craport (.308/.386/.538 and 19 HR), and Harrison DiNicola (.285/.347/.383 and 50 runs scored) all were major contributors that drove the bus on offense. Factor in other performers like Jordan Brower, Luis Pintor, and Connor Crane and all of a sudden you have an offense that can score runs. Now scoring runs is only half of the equation, the other half is keeping runs off the board. It is in that regard that the Y’alls were mixed. The team on a whole was average, posting a 4.47 ERA (7th in the league) and a 1.38 WHIP (6th in the league). Likewise, they had 83 HRA (7th) and .268 BAA (T5th worst). So they struggled in some areas. That said, the Y’alls did finish 5th in shutouts (6) and allowed the fewest walks (260). They also allowed the 6th fewest runs and that’s what marked them apart from other high scoring teams, Florence had players like Jonaiker Villalobos (4.33 ERA in 19 starts/108 IP) and Edgar Martinez (4.58 ERA in 14 starts/90 IP) in the rotation that helped maintain a standard in that area. While the bullpen had swingmen like Jonothan Tripp (4.15 ERA in 24G/11GS in 85 IP) and Jared Cheek (2.94 ERA in 28G/8G in 80 IP) to fill multiple roles, and Karl Cragie (2.56 ERA in 32 IP) and Joe Dougherty (2.06 ERA in 35 IP and 15 saves) filled dedicated bullpen roles. Mix in some other pitchers and you have a pitching staff.

All in all I hesitate to call this season a failure for the Y’alls. Regular season champions and nearly 60 wins is nothing to sneeze at and there were some really good seasons by players (namely Sedio and Craport). However, as you win and as you succeed expectations change to be higher and higher and I’d say that a 57 win team should have done better in the playoffs than 1 1 run win against what was seen as the weakest playoff team at the team (granted Schaumburg did wind up winning the championship but I digress). That said, I still call the season a success but not the biggest one it could have been.

In a league where offense was abound and the best fielding test is the eye test, it is often hard to spot a breakout year for a player. This is not the case for High Point Rocker first baseman Jerry Downs. Prior to this season, Downs had spent every professional season of his career with the Boston Red Sox organization, who teamed him in 2015 in round 15. There he bounced between different levels of A ball and rookie ball with one rather forgettable AA season in 2019. Then came the pandemic and a baseball pause for 2020. A job search for 2021 followed and ultimately Downs became a High Point Rocker.

It’s here in 2020 where we got to see what I believe is the true Jerry Downs. After years of a downward trend in BA and OBP, Downs had a renascence. He went off for 22 home runs and 81 RBIs with a slash line of .300/.408/.564. A complete reversal of fortune for the now 25 year. That was done in 91 games, the second most he had played in a season in his career and the most since 2018. While clearly his affiliated batting didn’t transfer over ( a good thing obviously), his glove did. Downs committed only 5 errors across 761 innings at first and his fair share of key plays as well. That was good for a .993 fielding percentage, and that earned him an all-defensive team nod for the ALPB. The lone downside to Downs’ season was that it ended at the regular season, as the Rockers missed the postseason as a result of the ALPB postseason format, despite having the best overall record in the league.

Jerry Downs is still a younger first baseman and he has now shown that he both hit and field against high quality competition. The guys battled his way through the Sox organization and did what every player that comes through Indy Ball hopes to do, re energize their career. I firmly believe that Downs deserves another shot in affiliated ball and that if left in High Point for 2022, he’ll be on the MVP watch short list for the league. He’s the exact kind of player that we see turn into Indy Ball success stories every year with some luck, it will and should be his year in 2022.

While this week was light on transactions there was one that stood out to me. The Jackals signed the 30 year old infielder earlier in the week and he has had an interesting career. He signed with the Braves as an 18 year old out of the Dominican Republic in 2010. Salcedo was highly regarded at the time of his signing but bounced around the organization never quite finding his footing at any one level. He’d get moved to the Pirates in 2015 and later wind up with the Royals before the end of the year. Salcedo since then has played in the Can-Am League, Empire League, and Intercountry Baseball League. Now why is he an interesting signing?

Edward Salcedo is interesting for a few reasons. First, his Can-Am League numbers. He put up 4 HRs and slashed .304/.351/.551. I’d say that’s pretty good for a guy that doesn’t have any stats posted for a full season. I’ll address the issues upfront. Yes he only played 17 games with Team DR, and yes that was 5 years ago. I also acknowledge that Can-Am success isn’t exactly the best indicator of Frontier success but we’ve seen plenty of Can-Am alumni do well there as well. It’s much more of a player by player basis. Second, Salcedo was highly touted for a reason. Southern League all-star in 2013, played well in overseas winter leagues, and managed to stay in affiliated ball for over half a decade. Again, I’ll admit there’s flaws in his game. While mainly a 3rd baseman Salcedo has a .889 fielding percentage in nearly .500 games and as a career hitter has never finished a season a full season (80+ games) batting higher than .240. I still think there is something here and I think he can do well on this level.

I like the Jackals taking a swing here with Salcedo. He is a veteran classification player, so he’ll need to perform for the team to succeed. I do think Salcedo will chip in a solid BA and a few home runs as well. Time will tell if this move pays off.

There were no moves this past week in the American Association and in the Atlantic League.

In the Frontier League, Sussex County signed Jordan McArdle and acquired Kevin Rolon from Ottawa in exchange for future considerations. New Jersey signed Mizuki Akatsuka and Edward Salcedo. Lake Erie extended Karl Ellison. Ottawa traded Kevin Rolon to Sussex County for future considerations.

Ryan Grotjohn was a relative newcomer to the Indy Ball seen in 2021 but in short order he jumped onto everyone’s radar. Originally drafted in the 10 round of the MLB draft in 2017 by the D-Backs, Grotjohn would play 44 games across two different levels of teams in his first professional year. In 2018, he’d spend most of his time in single A Kane Countywhere he improved on the year prior significantly. That earned Grotjohn a promotion to AA Jackson in 2019, where he struggled to find a footing and there was a drop off in his stat. That brings us to the pandemic 2020 season. No baseball there. As a result of the MiLB downsizing and the fact he’d be turning 25 during the 2021 season, the D-Backs released Grotjohn.

Grotjohn wouldn’t be unemployed for too long as the newly rebranded Kansas City Monarchs would come calling and sign the man in the offseason. He got into 91 games primarily playing 2nd base despite being used as an outfielder in the D-Backs system. Fielding was fine, .966 fielding percentage with 6 errors but that’s not why we’re talking about him. We are talking about Grotjohn because he was swinging a bat hotter than Mercury. The dude smacked 10 home runs and slashed a mean .329/.436/.523, oh and add in 60 RBIs and 12 stolen bags and you have a very nice individual season. So much so that it earned him the AAPB All-Star nod for 2nd base at season’s end. That said, it was more than a good individual year as Grotjohn played an integral part of the Monarchs’ 2021 American Association championship. A very nice cap to a very nice season for Grotjohn.

Ryan Grotjohn is going to start his age 26 season in 2022 and I think he has proven that he is a better player than he showed in 2019. The man can play at the double A level at the very least and likely higher. He was one of the many key parts that went into winning a championship in 2021. Grotjohn has a ceiling like any player does but I believe that he has yet to reach it and with the versatility that he can bring to a team it makes sense to bring the guy into any organization. He can be counted on to play a large role on any team and as we saw this year he knows how to win. Those are elements that you can’t teach. Ultimately, I believe Ryan Grotjohn will continue the success he had in 2021 into 2022.

Little did we know that this year would be the swan song for the Miners, but like the last team to leave the Frontier League they looked to go off with a championship. Southern Illinois entered the 2021 campaign with veteran skipper Mike Pinto again at the helm and a very good squad at his disposal. The rotation looked to be 4 men deep with a few other interesting arms in the bullpen, so it was clear that pitching would be their path to victory before ever stepping on the field. However, the Miners were also loaded with .300 hitters that looked poised to nickel and dime opposing pitching to death. All in all, everyone in Indy Ball media had them pegged as division favorites if not title favors. Let’s see how they lived up to those expectations.

These lofty expectations must have weighed them down to start the year because the Miners struggled out of the game, dropping 5 games under .500 early on. However they were able to quickly rebound and get back on the winning side of things by the end of June. In July, they hit their stride getting over 30 wins on the season and putting together some very solid stretches of baseball. The end of month sweep at the hands of the Otters did put them in an uneasy position but the Miners were managing to keep pace in one of the toughest divisions in Independent League baseball. August came and with it the dog days of the season. Southern Illinois could not let themselves fall victim to this as they had a lot left to do and little time to do it. Well they did about as well as you can ask from a ballclub, going nearly 10 games over .500 on the month and notching an 8 game winning streak mid month as well. Going into September with a hair under 50 wins in a 96 game season would be good for almost any team, unfortunately the Miners were not any team. They were in a dog fight for the lone West Division playoff spot with 50 win clubs in Florence and Evansville. They still had a shot but it was a long one. That became even longer after dropping 2 against Evansville and being swept by Florence finished off their already slim hopes. The season and, while we didn’t know it then, the franchise would play its final game September 12th, 2021, a 7-3 win over Gateway to complete the sweep and end their final season with a tremendously respectable record of 54-42.

So how did this Miners team get to 54 wins, let us dissect that. The team middle of the pack in hitting (.266/.345/.396), they didn’t really do power slugging (5th worst SLG and 9th in HR) so it was a by committee thing. Nolan Earley was the MVP on this front. He hit .321/.411/.491 with 13 HR and 66 RBIs. Earley was the team’s hits leader to boot and played in every game making him indispensable to this team’s offensive production. That say, other guys like Anthony Brocato (.273/.343/.513 and team leading 17 HR), Jared Mang (.294/.355/.467 and 10 HR), rookie Ian Walters (.286/.376/.409 with 5 HR), and Luke Mangieri (.271/.377/.438 with 8 HR) all adding in as well. As you can see, there were a lot of good bats but only 1 or 2 great bats and that’s why they stayed middle of the pack in offense. Now pitching, that’s something else entirely. The Miners were one of the best pitching teams in 2021, posting an 3.71 ERA (3rd best), 1.21 WHIP (best in the league), .231 BAA (best in the league), 13 shutouts (best in the league), 65 HRA (3rd best), 2nd fewest ER and RA (335 & 390), and less than 300 walks allowed (281). This team was simply one that you were not going to reach base on and even if you did good luck crossing home plate. Guys like Chase Cunningham (3.10 ERA in 17 starts), Zac Wescott (3.29 ERA in 19 starts), and Michael Austin (4.32 ERA in 16 starts and a no hitter) locked down a formidable rotation. Spot starters and go betweeners like Kaleb Schmidt (15/9 3.88 ERA in 51 IP) and Trent Johnson (11/8 3.18 ERA in 45 IP) added another element of attack for this Southern Illinois squad. And of course there’s the bullpen guys too. Guys like Joey Pulido (1.70 ERA in 48 IP), Stevie Ledesma (2.83 ERA in 54 IP), and Ryan Miller (2.89 ERA in 28 IP) all formed the core of that group. This doesn’t even mention guys like Blake Stelzer, Mitchell  Walters, Gunnar Kines, Augie Voight, Jake Fisher, and many many others that played for the Miners in 2021. Seemingly every pitcher here found some form of success this season, with this group it’s no surprise that they won as many games as they did.

Let’s get this out of the way early, the season was successful for the Miners in 2021. They won 54 games, finished 12 games over .500, competed for a playoff spot until the last series of the year, and would have been a playoff team in all but 1 other division. That is a successful season even if it wasn’t at the level they hoped for and even if the team could have done more. Which I believe they could have if they made the postseason. I personally think they would have either been bounced in round 1 or won the championship, but that’s neither here nor there. What does matter is that Southern Illnios gave the greater Marion region nearly a decade and a half of quality baseball and entertainment to enjoy, and had a positive impact in their community. They gave thousands of fans memories that they’ll cherish for a lifetime and gave just as many players a chance to keep playing the game they love, that is a success no matter what the record is on the field.

The youngest team in the American Association, the Lake Country Dockhounds, might have made their biggest signing yet this week. The club brought the veteran righty and Taylor Swift fanatic Todd Van Steensel on board. There was a bidding words of sorts for Van Steensel as multiple team were interested in him. The guys brings a lot to the club both on and off the field, let’s look at the player he is on the field first.

Van Steensel started in the Phillies system back in 2009 and would soon move on the the Twins system not long after. There was a gap from 2012 until 2014 where Van Steensel went to play in the Dutch League. However, in 2014 he’d return with the Twins and would stay with them until 2018, pitching in A, A+, and AA with the club. Honestly, he put up pretty good numbers. His highest affiliated ERA during this time was 3.30 and he almost always had 50+ strikeouts and a WHIP around 1.1. This was over roughly 60 innings and 35 games as Van Steensel is a reliever. Then in 2019 he joined the St. Paul Saints and admittedly he struggled with an ERA over 4 and a WHIP over 1.6 but that was only 35 innings of work. There is an argument that if he was used differently, he had been their closer, that the stats would look better as a bad outing gets magnified when you get used less. There is also a large chunk of Van Steense’sl career that has been spent playing in the ABL (Australian Baseball League) during the winter. He was about the same pitcher over there as he was stateside.

So what else do you get? Well you get one of the best personalities in Independent League baseball. Whether it be his fun tweets or his love of everything Taylor Swift or poking fun of himself, Van Steensel has fun and makes it fun to follow him. That is the exact kind of person that you want when you’re building up a new team and a fanbase. You want a guy that enjoys what he’s doing and is a big positive personality to help bring people in, and Van Steensel does that, just ask his twitter followers that I call Van Stan-sels. I’m not sure if this will sound like the compliment that I mean it to be but, Todd almost seems made for Indy Ball. Not via his play, he deserves another affiliated chance, but rather his oddball persona. It just screams Indy Ball to me.

On that note I see this as a major positive signing. Van Steensel provides a veteran arm out of the bullpen, that gets into the mid to high 90s btw, and will be a positive force for a new team in that regard. Meanwhile, he helps grow the club's reach and appeal through his amicable and fun loving personality. This really just feels like a home run of a signing.

In the American Association, Winnipeg transferred the contract of Kyle Martin to Oaxaca of the Mexican League (LMB). Lincoln signed Skyler Weber and released Tyler Anderson and Jake Hohensee. Lake Country signed Todd Van Steensel. Sioux Falls signed Wyatt Ulrich.

In the Frontier League, Ottawa traded Nick Gatewood to Missoula (Pioneer League) for Tyler Jandron and Luke Navigato. Florence extended Joe Lytle. Gateway placed Elkin Alcala and Austin Dubsky on the inactive list. Lake Erie signed Wes Albert and Nick Cicci. Sussex County signed Harry Fullerton.

There were no moves in the Atlantic League this week.

The Gateway Grizzlies were looking to emerge from hibernation to a winning season after a bad 2019 campaign and a canceled 2020 season. Cam Roth was hired to get the team back on track after a stint in the Tigers Organization. Prior to that, Roth had spent 2 years managing Lake Erie, where he had produced a roughly .500 record each year. Add in a nice pick up in Tanner Cable from the Ottawa draft and the team looked to improve. Still they were slated to be in a tough division so playoffs were still a bit of a pipedream. 

The season started off rough for the Grizzlies as they lost 6 of their first 10 and June wouldn’t be any kinder as the team limped to a 10-21. Now being 11 games under .500 doesn’t write off a season, even in a tough division, but it does make an already tough road that much harder. Gateway would battle back with a roughly .500 July that started getting them closer to even on the year, but by August 1st the writing was on the wall. Perhaps in another division they would have still had hope but in a division with 3 teams that would all finish with 50+ wins and 10 or more games over .500, it just wasn’t going to happen. August and September saw a return to the usual sub .500 play and in the end the team would finish the season 19 games under .500 and a 38-57 record just a ½ game worse than 2019 and a ½ game better than 2018. 

It obviously wasn’t a good year for Gateway, but why were they literally the worst team in the league? Let’s look at that. Hitting wasn’t good. They batted .257 as a team, good for 4th worst in the league, and only got on base a literal ⅓ of the time (they had an OBP of .333, 3rd worst). One of 4 teams with less than 800 hits on the season (799) and tack on their 3rd worse run total of 428 and you have a bottom of the barrel offense. That said, there were guys that produced and none of the lineup regulars were all that bad. Most slashed over .250/.320/.350, and that isn’t terrible. Granted that’s not gonna light the world on fire but with guys like Dustin Woodcock (.249/.343/.478 14 HR), Jose Rosario (.288/.348/.484 12 HR), Andres Regnault (.317/.373/.498 13 HR), and Jay Prather (.272/.327/.371 4 HR) you should be better than they were. In fact, the only offense stat of note they did well in was home runs (97, 3rd in the league) Therein lies the problem with the Grizzlies offense, they relied on the long ball for their runs and when that didn’t work neither did their offense. I don’t mind making home runs the feature of the offense when your home park is 318-385-301, that’s a field day every game for sluggers, but you need to be able to produce offense in other ways if you want to succeed. 

What about their pitching? To which I say, the less said the better. I suppose I’ll start with good because it'll be quick. Geoff Bramblett (1.66 ERA in 38 IP) and Tanner Cable (2.03 ERA in 27 IP) are certified studs. We didn’t highlight in the Schaumburg post because Gateway was next so here’s his spotlight. Bramblett was more of a reliever but did start 5 games and to have those numbers across that many innings in that many different circumstances is just insane. You can tell he was a big part of the staff before being traded to the Boomers and for his time spent with the Grizzlies he was certainly their best pitcher. Cable was also great out of the bullpen, granted he threw under 30 innings but still an ERA around 2 for 28 games of work is impressive. Carter Hayes (3.96 ERA in 41 IP) also did well with a high workload in relief and Sam Gardner (4.24 ERA in 12 starts) was by far the best starter on the team in 2021. That concludes the good portion Now for that bad section. The team allowed the 2nd most runs (574), 3rd most earned runs (503), the most walks by 48 (478), most wild pitches (93), 3rd most hit batsmen (77), most home runs allowed (108), 2nd worst WHIP (1.61), and 3rd highest ERA (5.64). Nothing about that is good, I can excuse the homeruns and even a portion of the earned and unearned runs away because of the ballpark they played in. That place was and is a nightmare for most pitchers but even still there’s no reason for the hit batters and wild pitches, no ballpark is responsible for that. Likewise, averaging over a baserunner and a half an inning or 27 baserunners a game (before factoring in hit batters, balks, etc.) is ludicrous. I could send another 4 paragraphs breaking down the pitching staff but that’d be more excessive than this already is.

So was the season a success? Is 38 wins in 94 games and finishing last in the league good? No it is not. Normally, I like to try to find a spin, a way to make these more negative reviews positive, give players/fans something to sell from the year and  bring into 2022. Here though, I don’t think there is one. Yes they played in an extremely difficult division, likely the toughest in Indy Ball in 2021, and yes their schedule was extremely tough as a result of that but at the end of the day what can they take into 2022 with them? Regnault, undoubtedly the best hitter on the team, is gone and not coming back anytime soon. The pitching staff didn’t look very good and guys like Cable, Hayes, and Bramblett aren’t going to be back next season. And the topper, Cam Roth left and went back to Lake Erie meaning that this year really isn't much of a rebuilding year if the guy that built the foundation left. There are two bright spots though. 1st, This team was really young and with that comes roster flexibility and potential growth. 2nd, Steve Brook is now at the helm of this team and judging by his early offseason moves, this team will be better in 2022.

Washington Wildthings made a very interesting signing the past week in the recent college graduate Ian Walters. Walters is 24 years old and played the past season with Southern Illinois Salukis of the Missouri Valley Conference and the now defunct Southern Illinios Miners. During his college years, Walters was used as a utility infielder and would be fairly reliable in the field however he is a true 3rd baseman. As far as his bat goes that was a wild ride. Early on in his college career he struggled to hit for average and power but would find ways to get on base in spite of this and in the eternal words of Billy Beane “Do I care how he gets on base? No, I do not.” So from that perspective he is an effective batter even if he’s not gathering hits in bunches. Another interesting observation, Walters did far better in summer college leagues than in MVC play. In the 2 summers where he played more than 15 games or more, Walters put up slash lines of .329/.390/.438 with Kokomo in the Prospect League and .327/.411/.602 with Edenton in the Coastal Plains League. These are good leagues, especially the CPL, so there definitely is something here. Walters was showing signs of bringing that play into his actual college season too in 2020 before the pandemic shut things down. Now in 2021, Walters did jump his OBP to his summer league standard and overall had a good year batting in .262/.388/.440 and adding 19 extra base hits and a career high 40 RBIs in 60 games. That was good enough to earn him a contract with the Miners. There he played an additional 89 games in the Frontier League and did very well for a 1st year pro. 5 homeruns, 53 RBIs, and a slashline .286/.376/.409 pretty damn good for a 23 year old. I will say the strikeouts were concerning though 69 in 318 AB makes a 21% K-rate or rather roughly 1 a game. That is not good, you’d like to see more outs made via balls in play but the OBP is still solid so it’s more of a minor concern.

All in all, I’m digging this signing by the Wildthings. Walters is a R2 classification and a productive player that instantly adds a lot of value to him and the team he’s on. He’ll provide roster flexibility and a nice utility piece for the team. As a player, I think Walters has a huge boom potential after the season he had in 2021. He seems to have worked out the batting issues and done so in a very difficult division as well. Granted, the strikeout issue has risen but I chalk that up to the transfer over to professional pitchers from college pitchers. I’m all eyes on what Walters does this year and find this signing to be one of the more interesting this past week.

The Frontier League had a plethora of transactions this week. Gateway signed Manuel Ramirez and Justin Farrell. Joliet extended Chris Roycraft. The Slammers then exercised their 2022 contract option for Bobby Milacki, Kipp Rollings, and Kevin Watson Jr. They also declined the 2022 contract option for Sam Ferri. Then signed Tanner Kiest, Milton Smith Jr., and Jackson Dvorak, and traded Jordan Rathbone and Tom Walker to Ogden (Pioneer League) for Kyle Kaufman and Mark Mixon. Ottawa exercised the 2022 contract option on Alex Nolan and then signed Billy Damon. Quebec extended David Glaude and exercised the 2022 contract option for Jake Sims, Jhalan Jackson, Mitch Neunborn, and Evan Rutckyj. The Capitales also declined the 2022 contract option for Jared Mortensen, Dalton Pompey, and Daniel Procopio. They then placed Ruben Castro on the inactive list and extended Jake Sims. Schaumburg exercised the 2022 contract options on Nick Ames, Geoff Bramblett, Braxton Davidson, Aaron Dean, Erik Martinez, Orlando Rodriguez, Alberto Schmidt, Kristian Scott, and Nate Thomas. The Boomers then declined Sebastian Diaz and Angelo Gumbs. They then extended Nate Thomas. Washington extended Scotty Debrule and signed Ian Walters and Jake Pilarski. New Jersey exercised the 2022 contract options for Justin Wylie, Josh Rehwaldt, Russ Olive, Dalton Combs, Santiago Chirino, Jason Agresti, Todd Isaacs, Demetrius Moorer, Alex Kachler, Nicco Toni, Anthony Auletta, Jesse Russo, Jared Milch, Ronald Herrera, Jose Almonte, Hayden Shenefield, Yeison Medina, Thomas Spinelli, Angelo Baez, Chris Carpio, Alex Watkins, Chris Tessitore, Riley Mihalik, Stanley Espinal, and Alfredo Marte. The Jackals then declined the options on Mark Hendricks, Marcus Chavez, and Brendon Butler. New York has exercised the 2022 contract options on Nathan Alexander, Lucas Burton, Phil Capra, Phil Caulfield, Andy Hammond, Ray Hernandez, Orsen Josephina, Zach Kirtley, Alex Mack, Gian Martellini, Marcus Mastrobuoni, Ryan Munoz, Tucker Nathans, Zach Schneider, Dylan Smith, Max Smith, Ben Strahm, Robby Rowland, and Danny Wirchansky.  The Boulders then declined the options on Jack Sundberg and Brandon Bingel. Sussex County exercised the 2022 contract option on Robert Klinchock. Trois-Rivieres exercised the 2022 contract options on Chris Clare, David Gauthier, Raphael Gladu, Juan Kelly, L.P. Pelletier, Wilfred Salaman, Joe Campagna, SS Jack Strunc, Dustyn Malacuso, James Bradwell, Austin Heinrich, and Kyle Thomas. The Aigles then declined the 2022 contract options on Jorge Gutierrez and Kevin Whatley. Finally they traded Jack Weinberger to Team Kentucky. Tri-City exercised the 2022 contract options on Willy Garcia, Andrew Bellatti, Oscar Campos, Troy Cruz, Samuel Perez, Andres Sosa, Eddy Tavarez, and Ryan Williamson. Then the ValleyCats declined the 2022 contract option on Bruce Bell, Carlos Canelon, A.J. Candelario, and John LaRossa. Florence extended Joe Dougherty, Casey Grimm, Sean Hughes, Edgar Martinez, Andrew McDonald, and Alex Wagner and signed Skylar Mercado and Brennan Price. Lake Erie signed Andres Luna.

In the American Association, Gary-Southshore signed Adam Heidenfelder, Raymond Jones, Alec Olund, Jackson Smith, and Daniel Lingua. Kansas City signed Morgan McMullough and released Cole Duensing. Sioux Falls signs Charlie Valerio. Lincoln signs Carson Lance.

In the Atlantic League, Team Kentucky acquired Jack Weinberger from Trois-Rivieres.

One of the most successful teams in the Frontier League looked for more success this past year, but would the Schaumburg Boomers accomplish their goal? Coming to the season the team seemed to be set up as a boom or bust team. They’d either get good enough pitching and put up offense at will or they would get never starter and flounder to a mediocre record. Let’s see if they lived up to expectations.  

The Boomers opened their season with a bit of a hot streak. They’d win 2 of 3 in several early June series and put together a 6-4 stretch at one point. That would really be the mold of the season early on. They’d win a series or two in a row and then drop a few before winning 1. In the end 21-14 would be the record coming out of the 4th of July. A very respectable 7 games over .500, that said July would be a critical month for the team. The Boomers answered the bell, going 14-9 to end the month, improving their record to 35-23. They were cruising into the dog days of the season. That said it’s important to keep your eyes on the road and Schaumburg forgot to do that to start the month. They opened August with a 5 game losing streak and 1-6 start to the month. It managed to get worse with a few more losing streaks, including being swept by Southern Illinois. While they did manage to even out at the end of the month and enter September on a high note by winning 5 of 7, the team overall did poorly that month at a 11-15 record dropping the overall record to 45-39. They entered September with the division record in sight. It would only take till Memorial Day for that goal to be accomplished, it was a 5-4 victory that took them over the hill. The month would end with a 6-6 record and 51-45 overall record. This earned them a date with the best team in the Frontier League; the Florence Y’alls. The Boomers weren’t expected to do much, maybe win a game if that, and go home. They didn’t quite do that. The series was only 4 games, but it was the Boomers that won, nay, dominated the series. Schaumburg outscored Florence 27-12 in the 4 games and the lone Boomer loss was just a 1 run game. Sheer domination from the Boomers that led them to a date in the finals with the Washington Wildthings. That series was a lot more touch and go, the Boomers fell down early 2-1 in the series and things looked bleak but a game 4 victory got them back from the brink and forced a winner take all game 5. That game wasn’t ever in doubt. The Boomers struck fast and often en route to a 10-4 victory and another Frontier League Championship.

How did the Boomers get to taste champagne again, let’s examine. It wasn’t their batting per say. The team finished T9 in BA (.262) and T6 in runs (502). Not bad but not overwhelming. That said they did finish 5th in total bases, so they were getting on base. What’s clean is that they were counting on a few guys to provide the bulk of the lifting on offense. Guys like Quincey Nieporte (.343/.389./606 with 17 HR), Chase Dawson (.312/.379/.490 with 10 HR), and late season pick up pick up Braxton Davidson (.363/.484/.775 with 10 HR) did that work and really powered the offense. Also a shoutout to Alec Craig, he stole 43 bases in 87 games or 1 every other game. Did the Boomers win the championship because of their pitching? They finished 4th in ERA (4.01), 2nd in shutouts (10), T4 in WHIP (1.36) and runs allowed (436), 3rd in K (768), and 5th in ER (370), all in the most innings thrown in the league (831, tied with Windy City). I’d say we found the reason. Kyle Arjona (3.38 ERA in 19 starts) and Ryan Middendorf (3.14 ERA in 19 starts) were lockdown at the top of the rotation and Andrew Dean (4.78 ERA in 19 starts) was a reliable constant in the rotation too. Add in Orlando Rodriguez (2.44 ERA in 8 Starts) before getting his contract purchased and that’s a dynamic starting corp. Thomas Nicoll (2.37 in 37 innings) and Darrell Thompson (3.86 ERA in 21 innings) held down the bullpen, making the team impenetrable for opposing offenses. That’s how they won their latest championship.

Let’s keep this short and sweet because we all know the answer to this section. Was the season a success? They literally won a championship. Yes it was a success. If you really wanted to nitpick, I guess you could drag them a bit for only winning 51 games and needing 5 games to beat Washington . That’s really splitting hairs and is frankly irrelevant when the team wins the league championship at the end of the season.

Adam Brett Walker has been the best player in Independent League baseball for the past 2 years and has now shown that perseverance and consistency will be rewarded. Walker started his career in 2012 after being drafted by the Twins in the 3rd round. He bounced around the lower affiliated levels for a few years, racking up awards and home runs. In fact, Walker hit 25 or more home runs and 90 or more RBIs in his first 3 full seasons as a professional. Regardless, the Twins moved him up to AAA in 2016 where he again hit 25+ home runs but only 75 RBIs this time and his hometown Milwaukee Brewers would claim him off waivers. The brew crew DFA’d him 10 days later and Baltimore would claim him off waivers 4 days later before also DFA’ing him about 2 months after that. A week later the Braves would claim him off waivers from the O’s and actually play him for 28 games before being released in May and signing with the O’s again for a month and then lastly the Reds would pick him up in August and hold on to Walker until November. All that movement led to a down year in 2017, which is expected when you’re changing organizations quicker than socks. That meant Walker didn’t sign with a club in the offseason and he would start his Indy Ball career with the Kansas City T-Bones. That lasted 3 games before the Nationals organization signed him in May of 2018. They placed him in AA, he didn’t play well in 41 games and would elect free agency in the offseason. Now he would start his Indy Ball career for real in his hometown with the expansion Milwaukee Milkmen. After 2 years in Milwaukee that included a pandemic shortened 2020 season, Walker had played 155 games and slashed .256/.306/.527 with 44 Home Runs and 114 RBIs and a championship in 2020. That set the stage for a historic 2021.

To say that ABW the second started off hot and never cooled down would be an understatement. That man tore the cover off the cover off the ball at a pace that had never been seen before in the American Association. The absolute strangest part is, the man did this in one of the quietest ways ever. The only comparison I have is Jacob DeGrom, stick with me here. The way that Mets fans treat DeGrom is the way AAPB fans treated ABW in 2021, we just kinda knew that when he stepped up to the dish he was going to get on base or the ball would transition to its new life as a souvenir after taking a quick 425 ft flight over left centerfield. There was just such an expectation of greatness from Walker that seeing him go ¼ would be more eye opening than seeing 2/4 with a HR and a walk. It was just so amazing to watch that perhaps it was only quiet because those of us that watched it were left speechless. Now what could do this you ask? Well, playing the full 100 games and hitting .320/.369/.636 with a single season record setting 33 home runs plus 101 RBIs (2 off the single season record) and 29 doubles and 24 stolen bases will do that. Oh and the amazing 4 AB back to back to back to back home run streak was just the cherry on top of this amazing season.

Now this is normally where I stump for the player and say how they deserve a shot in affiliated ball for one reason or another but not this team. Why that is you may ask. Well yesterday, December 15, Adam Brett Walker signed with Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball’s Central League. The Giants are considered one of the best non-MLB teams of all-time and the Japanese equivalent to the New York Yankees, as they have won 38 Central League titles in 71 years and 22 Japan Series ( the NPB version of the MLB’s World Series) championship in that same time. To say that this is a huge accomplishment would again be an understatement. Walker has always had the talent to perform and early on in his career he looked destined to make the show. After bouncing around teams and a drop in production he joined a new team in his hometown and led them to a championship in just their second year of existence before giving Indy Ball fans one of the greatest seasons we’ve seen in the last 10 years. Now he gets his reward, an opportunity at 30 years old to play in a top 3 league in the world in front of crowds of 30k plus a game. Congrats Mr.Left Turns Only you earned this man, but damned if we aren’t gonna miss you over here in the States.

The NY Boulders and Joliet Slammers made one of the most interesting trades of the offseason so far. The two sides engaged in a 3 player trade that saw Andres Regnault go to NY in exchange for veteran Tanner Kiest and Milton Smith Jr. Let’s look at what each side got/gave up and then give a general summary of everything. First up, New York.

New York picked up the 22 year old former Mets’ farmhand Andres Regnault. He spent 2016-2019 with the Mets at various low levels (mainly the Dominican summer league), only getting a shot in the US in 2019 with the Appalachian League’s Kingsport Mets. Even then that was only 44 games. That said Regnault did improve every year with the Mets organization and that 2019 Appy League did produce 8 home runs and a .292/.328/.489 slash while being used as a catcher mainly. Now I’m not quite sure why the Mets released him at 21 years old when he had yet to even get an A ball chance but the Mets of that ownership era seldom ever made sense. Regnault’s 2021 season in Gateway is a case in point. After joining the Grizzlies the young Venezuelan hit 13 homers and slashed .317/.373/.498 in 70 games. The most impressive feat in my eyes isn’t even those numbers but rather that Regnault managed to steal 4 bases at 250 pounds, for reference Prince Fielder’s playing weight was only 25 pounds heavier at 275. Seriously though, Regnault was one of the few players to contribute on offense in 2021 for the Grizzlies and his presence made a dreadful season somewhat more bearable for their fans. Those numbers are also done in a home park that has a 318-385-301 as its dimensions and he was mostly a DH this past year too. He's now moving to a 323-403-312 park. So we’ll see how Regnault will adjust to his new home.

Now for Gateway. Let’s start with the veteran pitcher Tanner Kiest. He was selected in the 27th round by the Dodgers in 2013 but opted to reenter the draft in 2014. This time he was taken in the 28th round by the Phillies. After 2 years he was in Indy Ball with the Sussex County Miners in the Can-Am League, then the American Association Lincoln Saltdogs, and finally the Frontier League with the Florence Freedom. The following year he’d go to the USBPL and become a starter before the Twins picked up his contract for a while. Then back to Indy Ball in 2019 and did well in relief with Milwaukee (1.72 ERA in 31 innings) but as for this past season, not so much. Kiest posted a 6.53 ERA in 40 innings with 1.5 WHIP with the Boulders. Statically there isn’t much there but the guy has solid mechanics and his pitches do manage to confuse hitters at times with a 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio. There’s still something here. The more interesting part of this trade though is Milton Smith Jr. A 22nd round pick of the Marlins, Smith is still young at just 24 years old. Only 3 years of professional experience and 2 of them spent in the Marlins system with solid results (.326/.403 with 27 steals in 96 games). That other year was last year where he did very well for the Boulders. In a career high 84 games Smith batted .275/.360/.356, stole 35 games, and hit his first 4 career professional home runs. He spent most of that season in centerfield and only committed 1 error all year. There’s a lot more to this guy and I’m excited to see where he goes from here.

Here’s what I think about this deal. I like what New York got in this deal. Andres Regnault is a solid batter and even moving to a ‘bigger’ park shouldn’t hurt him, keep in mind PCU Park is short pourched in both corners and that helps offset the distance. I would like to see Regnault used as a position player instead of a DH to help him develop more and bring more value to lineup but if DH is where he ends up I’m not losing sleep over it. That said New York paid a steep price for him. Tanner Kiest is a mixed bag. The numbers never seem to work out but everything underlying says he should be better than those numbers. So if he works out for Joliet great, if not fine. Milton Smith Jr. is another story. I think Smith was one of the most under the radar players from the past season. He was damn good on both sides of the ball and is fairly young still. I think he can be the anchor on the outfield and the top of the line up as well. There is room to grow and room for regression but in the end I think growth will win out. The winner of this trade will be decided by how important each player winds up being in their teams’ line up. 

In the American Association, Winnipeg signed Jhon Vargas and Luis A. Ramirez. Milwaukee signed Yohander Mendez and acquired Chad Sedio from Florence (Frontier League) for 2 PTBNL. Lincoln signed David Zoz and Justin Byrd. Gary-Southshore signed Chris Erwin. Sioux Falls signed Shamoy Christopher. Chicago acquired Jonathan Tripp from Florence (Frontier League) for future considerations.

In the Frontier League, Washington extended Dan Kubiak, Hector Roa, and Ryan Hennan. They also exercised the 2022 contract option on Jesus Balaguer, B.J. Sabol, Ben Vicini, Trevor Casanova, Tristian Peterson, Bralin Jackson, Cam Phelts, Sean Kealey, James Meeker, James Mulry, and Jamey Smart.  They declined the 2022 contract option on Rob Whalen, Randy Cesar, and Brian Sharp. Ottawa signed Kevin Rolon, Carlos Vega, Zac Westcott, Pedro Fernandez, and David Maberry. New York received Tucker Nathans from Southern Maryland (Atlantic League) to complete a previous trade. They also acquired Andres Regnault from Joliet for Tanner Kiest and Milton Smith Jr. Lake Erie signed Jack Harris. Joliet acquired Tanner Kiest and Milton Smith Jr. from New York for Andres Regnault. They also signed Matt McGerry. Sussex County signed Dakota McFadden and Jack Ramezzana. Florence traded Jonathan Tripp to Chicago (American Association) for a PTBNL. They also traded Chad Sedio to Milwaukee (American Association) for 2 PTBNL. Gateway signed JP Williams, Hunter Hisky, Elkin Alcala, and Manuel Ramirez. They also placed Justin Jones on the inactive list. The Grizzlies then acquired Hunter Hisky from Idaho Falls (Pioneer League) for a PTBNL. Schaumburg extended Isaiah Rivera and signed Yeltsin Gudino. Quebec exercised the 2022 contract option on Andrew Case, Frank Moscatiello, Gift Ngoepe, Henry Omana, Jeffry Parra, John Witkowski, Marshall Shill, Nick Horvath, Riley Pittman, Ruben Castro, Yordy Cabrera, Adam McKillican, and Frank Nigro. They declined the 2022 contract option on Conor Panas and Evan Rutckyj. Likewise, the team signed Miguel Cienfuegos, Stephen Knapp, Jonathan Lacroix, Codie Pavia, and John Witkowski.

In the Atlantic League, Southern Maryland completed a trade with New York by trading Tucker Nathans to New York.

The Lake Erie Crushers came into 2021 looking to find repeat success and this time make the championship game. The Crushers were looking like a team that was going to be reliant on offense. While there were some pitchers that looked good it was the batters that made most believe in them. That said they were like the rest of the division, nothing really set Lake Erie apart or set them behind. This meant they had just as good of odds as anyone to make the postseason.

It took Lake Erie a little bit to get going after a 1 win start through the first few weeks but then they managed to rip off a 7-2 stretch to get close to even. That helped power the Crushers to a .500 June and still in the hunt going into July. That month things were never settled into a pattern. The Crushers would win 1, lose 1, win 2, lose 3. Ultimately, they drop 5 in a row in regulation towards the end of the month and finish several games under .500 going into the dog days of the season. August and September just didn’t treat Lake Erie well. Whereas past months the team had always found a way to fight to or near .500, this time it just didn’t happen. They produced several 3 game losing streaks and the series losses began to pile up. That became too much to bear and ended their season. There was a small 4-1 period going into September, but that was too little too late. The Crushers would finish 41-55 and 10 games out of a playoff berth.

For a team that was expected to live and die by their pitching the Crushers sure did the opposite. The batting was 2nd worst in BA (.241), Runs (390), BB (295), Hits (745), and OPS (.684) and 3rd worst in TB (1138), HR (69), SLG (.368), and SO (798). That’s not a good hitting team by any stretch. Now there’s exceptions, Showon Dunston (.247/.308/.318 37 SB), Trevor Achenbach (.275/.355/.479 15 HR), Connor Oliver (.272/.364/.491 7 HR), and Karl Ellison (.256/.303/.422 8 HR) all added something positive to the lineup. For some it was a power bat (Achenbach and Ellison), others it was just getting on base (Oliver), and some it was a mix (Dunston). Even still as a team they left a lot to be deserved and there aren’t too many games you’re gonna win when your team averages 4 runs a game. That said the pitching staff filled the role the batters were supposed to have. They finished 5th in ERA (4.05), fewest HR allowed (57), 2nd most Ks (787), 5th fewest hits allowed (819), and 4th in Runs and ER (436 & 366). Those are very good numbers for a team like this and especially when you see that near all of the pitchers on the roster this past season were rookie 2 or lower. Sam Curtis (3.03 ERA, 1.061 WHIP in 23 games), JT Perez (2.41 ERA, 67 Ks in 58 innings), and Taylor Suggs (3.98 ERA in 35 games) lead a charge from the bullpen and the former MLBer Ryan Feierabend (2.79 ERA, 1.1 WHIP in 18 starts) was a grade A starter and kept this team around for large parts of the year. Guys like Pat Perez, and Sean Johnson also contributed in major ways this season.

This team was inexperienced but not young this year. A lot of Rookie 1 and 2s made up the bulk of its roster and at times it showed. That said there were still good things to take out of this year if you are the Crushers. The pitching was very good and looks like it can be returned mostly in full. That said, things need to be revamped on the offensive side. They need to take advantage of those veteran and higher experience slots if they want to be true contenders in 2022. All that to get to the answer on whether or not the season was a failure. I don’t think it was. Again not successfully because they were sub .500 and 10 games back of the playoffs but there wasn’t much in the way of expectations for Lake Erie. So it’s hard to be a failure if you weren’t expected to do much.

Since joining Indy Ball, Jameson McGrane has been a lock down late inning reliever that seldom ever gets hit. Mcgrane went pro in 2018 after 2 years of starting at Limestone College in South Carolina. There was a 3 year gap between his final year at Limestone and his in pro ball but that is because he played in smaller lesser known leagues such as the Empire League and now defunct Thoroughbred League. He was a starter and All-Star in both leagues. Then in 2018 he’d move on to the much more sturdy Frontier League. McGrane would throw only 9 innings before the Marlins signed him to a minor league contract. He spent most of his time in Batavia of the NYPL but did bounce around other levels as well. He was finally used as a reliever here and posted a solid set of numbers but in the end McGrane would wind up back in Indy Ball in 2019. He’d be an All-Star again here and one of the best relievers in the league as well. He then played on the final unaffiliated St. Paul Saints team in 2020, where he’d again be one of the best relievers in the league.

In 2021, the now 29 year old McGrane returned to the American Association this time with the Kansas City Monarchs. He was the most utilized (via games played) pitcher on what was one of the best Indy Ball teams of the last decade. Appearing in 34 games and 70 innings, all in but 8 in relief, he notched a 3.71 ERA and 9 saves with 90 strikeouts. His WHIP was impressively low at a 1.2 as well. To make it even more impressive, McGrane out did former major leaguers Jacob Lindgren and Brian Ellington and was trusted to appear in more innings than the pair combined. In the postseason McGrane dialed up his play to another level, contributing 4 innings of 3 hit no run ball en route to a 10 game winning streak that ended in an American Association championship. McGrane wasn’t ready for the offseason quite yet and returned to the ALPB with the High Point Rockers to finish their season and perhaps win another championship. He only got into 7 innings and 7 games for the Rockers posted a 1.1 WHIP and 12 strikeouts in their late season push. While the Rockers had the best record in baseball, they would miss out on the postseason. 

Jameson McGrane has been an Indy Ball lifer. The dude has given his blood, sweat, and tears to the game and experienced the good, bad, and I’m sure ugly of the game on this level. Yet at every turn and every stop along his way, success has followed him and usually the team he lands on. When that happens frequently it’s not a coincidence. The dude is a hard worker that knows the game and knows how to win. I’m not sure if major league teams are still interested in the 6’4 29 year old righty but they should be, because having the winning influence and guys with the work ethic and stick-to-it-ness of players like Jameson McGrane around players in your organization can only be a positive thing.

The Windy City Thunderbolts came into the 2021 season looking to get back to the top of the Frontier League and given the division they were set to play in, they had a good shot to do it. The team notably struggled in 2019 but this year they came in with a rotation that had 3 really good pieces and 2 wildcard arms that could take them over the edge. But that’s what they were banking on. The bullpen looked good but was green and very untested. The lineup had a few players that could be counted on to produce. However that division kept the how of playoffs alive and in the end still looked to be a good year.

The year started off pretty strong; Windy City took 4 of their first 5 and the starting pitching looked as advertised. Then they dropped 4 of their next 5 to fall to .500 on the season. What would ensue was a back and forth game of win a few, lose a few. Unfortunately, the pitching didn’t hold up for a variety of reasons and the losses started to outnumber the wins, by the end of June the team was 13-17. They were still alive in the division hunt and the season was far from over. The team hovered around .500 in the month of July with several winning and losing streaks and that kept the division title hopes alive despite still having a losing record overall. August and September were actually kind to the Thunderbolts as they managed a winning record between the months. Unfortunately, the division race and the playoffs had been put out of reach after Schaumburg made some late season acquisitions and ran the table to a division title, thus ending the T-Bolts season after a 43-53.

Clearly the season didn’t end the way Windy City wanted it to. However, that being said there are some positives to take away from it. The pitching staff was pretty good as a whole. They finished the year ranked 6th in ERA with a 4.19, 5th in BAA with a .255, 4th fewest HR against with 67, and they stayed around the middle of the league everywhere else. Guys like Tyler Thornton (3.47 ERA, 1.91 WHIP in 19 starts) and Logan Wiley (3.20 ERA, 1.13 WHIP in 13 starts) are no small part of that, leading one of the best 1-2 combos in the league up in the rotation. It’s just after Bellair had his contract purchased a week into the season that they started to lose that depth in the rotation and other guys they had pencilled in as key pieces just didn’t work out. The bullpen isn’t too dissimilar either. Guys like Neil Abbatiello logged some heavy miles with good results but too many guys only threw that many with poor results. There were a lot of guys that threw under 30 innings but had wonderful seasons like Stetson Woods (1.74 ERA in 21 IP), Ryan Hare (2.83 ERA in 29 IP), and Danny Zardon (3.80 in 2 IP) that should have seen more time. Obviously, things like trades (Zardon), injuries (Woods), and other baseball actions/events happen and affect player usage but even still there had to be a better way to get more from the team. It’s on that note that we turn to the other part of baseball; batting. The Thunderbolts were not good at this in 2021. We’ll get the bad and ugly out of the way first. The team finished 3rd worst in BA (.244), hits (768) and OPS (.697) , 4th worst in runs scored (458) and RBI (406), last in HR (52), 2nd worst in TB (1134), and 5th most strikeouts (773). Clearly, not a great offensive showing for the Thunderbolts when they stand in the batters box, as averaging 4.77 runs per game will not win many games. That said, they did draw the 3rd most walks (378) and they by far stole the most bases with 204 steals (NY in 2nd with 159). Some of those positive contributors were Zach Racusin (.269/.324/.319 in 66 games), Rob Calabrese (.296/.378/.477 with 8 HR in 56 games), Hofastra grad Rob Weissheimer (.265/.354/.476 with 8 HR in 59 games), and to lesser extent Payton Robertson (.269/.340/.452 with 5 HR in 48 games). They chipped in as much as they could on offense but it really was a black hole here this year. I will say a lot of the batters are young, Martinez is 25 (48 steals in 92 games), Weissheimer is 23, Robertson is 23, and Robinson is 24. The bulk of the offense is coming of age, so next year they should (if brought back) get some real progressive. Also the dimensions on Ozinga Field (Thunderbolts home stadium) are 330-390-330. Not a mammoth but also not a chip shot either, so playing on speed like they did in 2021 isn’t a terrible idea.

We’ve reached the stage where we ask if this year was a failure. I wouldn’t call it that per se. Again finishing 10 games under .500 and 8 games back of the playoffs isn’t succeeding, so in a binary view it’s a failure. Viewing it as the multi dimensional situation it is, I’d just call it a year. They played a relatively tough schedule and performed as you would expect and there were positives this year. Unlike NY and Joliet though I can’t call this a rebuilding year. They had an expectation to challenge for a playoff spot, which for a time they did, and finish nearly .500, which they didn’t. That’s not what stops me though. What stops me is the age of their roster, 24.5 for batters and 25.1 for pitchers. The bulk of the guys that are expected to perform this year are over those averages and they didn’t do enough. If 23 and 24 year olds fall short that’s fine, they are supposed to carry the team. 25, 26, 27 year olds should be taking a lead role and being those clutch hitters because they’ve been around the block before. They’ve got the most to gain and lose, and that never showed up in 2021. I’d just call the year a wash in the end because they showed up but didn’t achieve what they could have.

This past week we saw an inter league 3 team trade take place. While these are not uncommon by any stretch in Indy Ball the return on this one was more than just a few PTBNL in exchange for a soon to cut player. This return was a set of solid players moving around in what could be called a baseball trade. This trade is of course the Wildthings - Goldeyes - Aigles trade that sent Tasker Strobel to Winnipeg, Joe Campagna and Austin Henrich to TR, and completed the deal that made Dan Kubiuk a Washington Wildthing. Let’s break down what everyone got and then at the end revisit what this trade looks like on a whole.

Starting on Washington’s end of the trade, they traded a PTBNL/Future considerations to the Winnipeg Goldeyes for pitcher Dan Kubiuk. Kubiuk had signed in Winnipeg to start his professional career after a 5 year hiatus from the game. He was an undrafted pitcher out of Northwestern that split time as a reliever and starter. In Winnipeg, he just wasn’t very good making 17 appearances across 19 innings to a 6.63 ERA with an atrocious 1.6 WHIP. While he did average a little over a strikeout an inning for the Goldeyes, there was little else positive to take away from that adventure. It seemed like a move to extent a player’s season without cutting him. Then when he got to PA things changed. He appeared in 22 games throwing 21 innings to the tune of a very good 1.29 ERA and dropping his WHIP down to an equally as good 0.7. The strikeouts remained and in fact improved to 32 or a 1.5 strikeout per inning rate. He went on to appear in 2 playoff games and allowing 2 earned runs in them, the Wildthings would ultimately make the Championship series before falling to Schaumburg in 5 games. Just a few days ago Kubiak signed an extension with Washington for the 2022 season, so Wildthings fans can expect for him to take an even more important role in their bullpen in the future. All in all, it seems that Kubiuk just needed to get readjusted to high quality hitting after not playing for 5 years, which I can imagine is not an easy task especially not in the AAPB. Once he got to the Frontier League his numbers did a 180 and his season went from can’t watch to unforgettable. The only concern I have for him, and this really doesn’t affect the Wildthings, is his performance after being dealt (essentially rented) to the ALPB. There he repeated his AAPB performance and just had a rough go of it. Now, there’s a lot of possible reasons for that including work load, ALPB’s historic offensive putout, etc. but seeing as the AAPB and ALPB are relatively comparable on a level competition perspective, you wonder if the numbers are a result of the pitcher or are they a result of circumstance. That’s something that time will bear out for us and like I said, it’s firmly not a Washington problem. In the end, not a bad little trade for the ‘Thingz. But what did they have to give up to get Kubiuk? Let’s find out.

The Goldeyes meanwhile waited until the offseason to cash in the scratch off ticket known as PTBNL/Future Considerations. They received Joe Campagna, the 1 ½ year pro out of Slippery Rock University. The second baseman spent time in the All American Baseball Classic and Yinz League during the pandemic 2020 season (hence the ½) and last year entirely with the Wildthings in the Frontier League. A nice little infielder that showed a bit of pop ( 11 HR [on pace for roughly 17 HR in 96 Games] and a .457 SLG) in his 61 games, while struggling in the hitting for average department (.239). The strikeout rate is worrying at 20% and he did have a walk rate of 6% as well. I think there is a  solid player in the 25 year old but I think if he worries less about hitting dingers and more on getting on base, then he has real potential to be a special player in the Frontier League. I say Frontier League and not American Association because the Goldeyes opted to trade the middle infielder alongside pitcher Austin Henrich to the Frontier League’s Trois-Rivieres Aigles. In exchange, they received Tasker Strobel. The soon to be 27 year old lefty slinger has spent parts of 4 seasons in Indy Ball dating back to 2016. His most recent season came in 2021 with the Gary Railcats of the American Association. A solid reliever, Strobel threw a 3.71 ERA in 68 innings over 32 games. His WHIP is admittedly high at 1.4 and he did surrender over a hit an inning but he also struck out over 1 inning. How did Strobel wound up going from Gary to TR? Well he originally signed with Aigles for the 2021 season, but when the team was unable to play the Boomers picked up his rights for 2021 and traded them to Gary for Future Considerations. Now his rights reverted back to the Aigles and then were dealt to Winnipeg. With that all sorted out, let’s look at his role on the Goldeyes in 2022. Strobel has proven to be a multi inning reliever that can handle a large workload. I think he can continue that in Winnipeg and help to round out a pitching staff that is slowly becoming an item of note for the AAPB in 2022.

Now for the Aigles part in all of this. We already know about Campagna but let’s look at Henrich. Austin Henrich graduated from Charleston just this past year in 2021 and would sign with the Goldeyes for the second half of the year. He did well pitching mostly in relief posting a 2.59 ERA in 16 games (24 IP) and an extremely high WHIP of 1.8. If that’s not getting lucky I’m not sure what is. That said the ERA is also a bit misleading as only 7 of this 16 runs allowed were marked as earned. If even 3 more runs go the other way, Henrich suddenly has a 3.69 ERA which is notably worse. That’s all ifs of course and to ask a 23 year old to step into one of the highest levels of unaffiliated pro ball without hiccups is a bit ridiculous. With a year of experience under his belt and going to a team that’s manager is one of the better pitchers in the history of the Indy Ball (and has his number retired by the Aigles) in Matt Rusch should help work out some of the kinks in his game. Likewise, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get some starts as well. At Charleston, Henrich was a starter (58/50) so it only makes sense to use him like that as a professional that’s had an offseason to train and rest for the new season. I think he has similar expectations to the ValleyCats Austin Cline. Both had good black ace seasons and now enter their true rookie campaign looking to refine some of the kinks in their game under managers well suited to help them. Of course, Indy Ball isn’t in the business of developing young players so they both need to improve and provide useful innings if they wish to stay on their respective rosters long term. 

Here’s where everyone wants to have a winner declared in this trade because for some reason there always needs to be a winner and loser in trades like this. Well there really isn’t a singular winner. Each team addressed a need and got something out of the deal. Washington got one of their most reliable relievers for the second half of the season that undoubtedly helped get them to playoffs and just innings away from a championship, then re-signed him for 2022 where it’s entirely possible he’ll be their closer or first option out of the ‘pen. That’s clearly a win. Winnipeg took a player that they were probably going to release for nothing and turned him into a lefty arm that will likely be a piece out of their bullpen this year and contributes to a very well rounded pitching group in the great white north. That’s again a win. The Aigles turned 1 player, who probably wanted to stay in the AAPB given his success, into 2 guys that have huge upside and could be worked into a lineup/rotation as main pieces without using a precious veteran slot. This gives them tremendous roster flexibility in a conference that frankly should be wide open. That’s again another win. If forced to rank or grade the teams, I suppose Washington is first with an A, Winnipeg with an A-, and lastly Trois-Rivieres with a B+. Results matter the most and Washington already got them, Winnipeg has a structure in place and a guy with a good track record, and the Aigles took on the most risk here but have the most reward on the table. It’s really a perfect trade.

In the American Association, Winnipeg completed a trade with Washington (Frontier League) by acquiring Joe Campagna. They then traded Campagna and Austin Henrich to Trois-Rivieres (Frontier League) for Tasker Strobel. Gary-Southshore signed Michael Woodworth. Cleburne released Oswaldo Martinez.

In the Frontier League, Schaumburg extended Alec Craig, Chase Dawson, and Matt Bottcher. The Boomers also signed Jumpei Akanuma. New York released Kevonte Mitchell. Gateway extended Carson Cupo. Evansville signed Bryan Gonzalez, Yoel Yanqui, and Audy Perez. The Otters also exercised the 2022 contract option on Abraham Almonte, Austin Gossman, Braden Scott, Bryce Denton, Dalton Stambaugh, J.R. Davis, Jacob Bowles, Joe Riley, Justin Felix, Logan Sawyer, Matt Quintana, Miles Gordon, Polo Portela, Reid Butkowski, Riley Krane, Ryan O’Reilly, Samson Abernathy, Taylor Wright, Tim Holdgrafer, Tyler Spring, and Elijah MacNamee. They also declined the 2022 option on Augie Gallardo, Dakota Phillips, Jeffrey Baez, Josh Allen, and Gary Mattis. Ottawa signed Jose Taveres and Gavin Sonnier. Florence exercised the 2022 contract option on Ronnie Allen, Jr., Pablo Arvelo, Jose Brizuela, Jordan Brower, Trevor Craport, Casey Grimm, Axel Johnson, Bryan Leef, Edgar Martinez, Andrew McDonald, Luis Pintor, E.P. Reese, Andres Rios, Chad Sedio, Christian Tripp, Joniaker Villalobos, and Alex Wagner. Washington completed a trade with Winnipeg (American Association) by sending the Goldeyes Joe Campagna. The Wildthings also declined the 2022 contract option for Alex Boshers, Keven Pimentel, Zach Strecker, Grant Heyman, Andrew Sohn, Cody Young, Kevin McNorton, and Dylan Beasley. The team also extended Nick Ward. Trois-Rivieres traded Tasker Strobel to Winnipeg (American Association) for Joe Campagna and Austin Henrich. Sussex County signed Conner Dand. Windy City extended Payton Robertson and signed Jose Diaz, Jason DiCochea, Ryan Miller, Jackson Raper, and Sebastian Selway. Quebec signed Samuel Adams, Michael Austin, and Marcos Encarnacion. Lake Erie signed Jay Alverez and exercised the 2022 option for Bryan De La Rosa, Tanner Driskill, Aaron Glickstein, Anthony DeFrancesco, Brady Wofford, Cam Beauchamp, Daniel Kight, Dillon Larsen, Ean Walda, Eric Callahan, Gavin Stupienski, J.T. Perez, Javier Betancourt, Jose Fuentes, Karl Ellison, Matt Mullenbach, Nick Rotola, Paul Hall, Jr, Sam Curtis, Steve Passatempo, Steven Kraft, Ryan Feierabend, Dale Burdick, and Sean Johnson. 

There were no reported transactions in the Atlantic League this past week.

The Slammers entered the 2021 season not far removed from a championship winning season in 2018 and looked to try and get back to the promised land. Coming into the season the roster for Joliet looked to be rather young and difficult to judge as most of it had been part of the City of Champions Cup, their pop up league. Likewise it looked to be fairly average, no area looked to be very strong nor very weak. This made them interesting as the Slammers could have a 54 win team just as easily as they could be a 35 win team. Only time would tell which outcome would be right.

The team started the season fine going on a 4 win in 5 game stretch at the start of June, unfortunately this is the best that would come for the Slammers in 2021. The team wouldn’t see a winning month this year, June bad as they finished with just 12 wins and 17 losses. It’d only get rougher as Joliet would only win 9 games in the month of July and by August the writing was on the wall. They did finish nearly .500 in August and September after selling off some of their better players to contending teams, but in the end they were well out of the fight. The Slammers would finish the 2021 season at 17 games under .500 and a 39-56 record, good enough to be 11.5 games back of a playoff spot when the dust settled. 

Why were the Slammers so bad this year? There’s a few reasons for this, let’s start by looking at the offense. They ranked last in BA (.237), OPS (.666), SLG (.346), TB (1077), hits (738), and runs (386), not to mention they’re low in just about every other offensively driven stat as well. Of course guys like Brylie Ware (.299/.427/.435) and Lane Baremore (.271/.309/.366) did their best but your asking a lot out of two players there and not to mention one of them (Baremore) was only 21 years old this year. Braxton Davidson (.240/.385/.480 - 12 HR; team leader in HR) helped before getting shipped off to Schaumburg for their title run but even still you need to see more from the offense as a unit. That alone isn’t enough to sink a team’s season however. You can still win if your pitching is really good. The Slammers just got league average to slightly above average pitching though. Middle of the league in ERA (4.87) and among the fewest hits (811 - 4th) and HR (58 - 2nd). That said, they allowed a lot of runs in volume, 505 (5th most in the league) to be exact, and they walked a lot of players (407 - 3rd most). That’s a very dangerous combo for pitching. Guys like Trevor Charpie (3.00 ERA in 54 IP; 16 saves) and the rookie Brad VanAsdlen (3.96 ERA in 50 IP) looked good out the pen and the veteran Mario Samuel (4.24 ERA in 40 IP) had his moments but everyone just didn’t quite do it. Cameron Aufderheide (4.14 ERA in 20 starts) looked good as a starter but the rest of the rotation was either thrown together or had a near 5 ERA. Overall, the team just wasn’t very good.

That brings us to the main question; is this year a failure for the Slammers? As surprising, or contradictory, as it may seem I’m going to say no it wasn’t. Here’s my logic on this one. There’s no way the Slammers season from a wins and loses perspective can be called a success. You don’t finish last in a division and call a year successful if a championship is your goal. However, I think the goal of 2021 for the Slammers whether they realized it or not was to rebuild and retool for the future. We discussed in a previous review what rebuilding means for an Indy Ball team but this is as close to a traditional rebuild as you can get. They sold big pieces at the end of the season, the roster is made up of all rookie 1 or 2s with the exception of 5 players, and the average age of the team this year was roughly 24 years old. That’s a young, inexperienced team right there. That’s a team that’s going to, hopefully, show a lot of potential and have 6-7 guys on it that look to be a serious part of your future teams. You just want to see competitive games and signs of improvement and I think that was the case this year. They have Ware, VanAsdlen, Charpie, Samuel, Aufderheide, Maxwell, Baremore, and Holzwasser that all look very compelling and could be great players for the Slammers in ‘22 or ‘23. If that’s how it turns out then the year was a success for them.

Since joining the independent leagues of baseball, Michael Russell has been one of the most underrated and unheralded stars of the game and his 2021 campaign further proved that point.Russell left the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill after 3 seasons to begin his professional baseball career 2015 at the age of 22. He was drafted in the 30th round by the Tampa Bay Rays the year prior in 2014. Russell would do well his first two professional seasons at the A- and A levels. In 2017, he’d get called up to AA and perform fairly average with little power and middling average but was an all round solid player. 2018 would be his last year in affiliated ball and it’d be split between AA and AAA. The numbers were very similar in roughly 45 games at each level and saw little improvement from the year prior. Although I’d say that going from AA to AAA with no major statistical drop off is, while not an improvement, an encouraging sign. In any event, Russell would sign with a new franchise in the ALPB in 2019, the High Point Rockers. There he had his best season since 2016 posting a .287/.354/.380 slashline with 4 home runs. The pandemic would make 2020 tough only getting 5 games in a pop up league. That brings us to 2021.

This past season Michael Russell went off and had his best year as a professional. He hit a league leading .360 (min. 70 games) and finished in the top 25 in OBP and OPS. Not to mention his low strikeout ratio that had him post just 26 Ks in 330 PA or striking out just 7.8% on the time. Tack on 21 stolen bases and all of a sudden you have a nice little year that ends with an Atlantic League batting title. This isn’t to undersell Russell in the field. He got into 30 games at 3B and 27 games at SS, committing just 12 errors across 442 innings played. There is no doubt that Russell was a top 3 player for the team this past year.

Russell is going to be 29 when next year starts and I have to imagine that he is a strong start to the year away from getting a call from a MLB organization. He’s hit .287 and .360 over the last 2 years and fielded 2 of the most difficult positions very well. We know he’s good, it's time for a team to give him a shot. I think he’s a AAA type player as he stands today. I have to imagine that there’s at least 1 scout out there that would agree with me. If not I’m sure the Rockers would be more than happy to welcome him back for year 3 and hopefully championship number 1.

The New Jersey Jackals entered their first Frontier League season on the heels on a championship season. They returned as much of that roster as possible and looked to be a serious contender not just for their division, but for the league championship as a whole. Brooks Carey returned as the manager and the team looked primed for a major run of fortune. 

The year started off very strong for the Jackals as they were instantly in a dog fight with the red hot Sussex County Miners, their in-state rival, for 1st in the Northeast division. They put together a 5-2 stretch to start June and would ultimately finish the month 16-11. This was good enough to hold a fairly commanding lead on 2nd place with Wildthings not doing much to start the year and Miners still running hot. July unfortunately did work out the same way. The Jackals went and dipped hard going on a 4 game losing streak to start the month, even if they did respond with a 3 game win streak. This was just a sign of what was to come as just days later another skid this time 6 games long, again a small winning streak of 4 games helped to even it out. It was around this point where the team lost the former major leaguer Alfredo Marte, who after a year and a half in NJ left for Mexico, and that took a major asset off of the Jackals’ roster. The team would limp into August having lost 4 of their last 5 games and now in serious threat of not just missing the playoffs but finishing last in the division. Their misfortune would continue dropping 5 straight to start the month and this time no win streak would follow. Yet another 5 game losing streak in mid-august all but formalized the Jackals reality. There would be no more major streaks either way and the team would finish with a 13-26 record through August and September and a 39-56 record overall on the year. This would be good enough to finish last in the division and tied for 2nd worst in the league.

That said the Jackals did well in some areas. Chiefly among them batting. The team hit .280/.357/.434 (3rd/4th/2nd in the league) and 86 home runs (T-4th). This very impressive display was powered by Justin Wylie (.289/.373/.542 15 HR), Dalton Combs (.295/.380/.456 8 HR), Jason Agresti (.316/.386/.476 8 HR), Santiago Chirino (.305/.371/.720 0 HR), and to a lesser extent Todd Isaacs (.304/.352/.536 11 HR in 53 games) and Josh Rehwaldt (.300/.335/.582 11 HR in 47 games). Of course, Marte also factors in but he only played in 39 games so I don’t think he can really have a major impact on those statistics, however the obvious counter to that is how far the record fell off after he left. So there’s a case to be made each way. In any case, this team was an offensive dynamo and that kept them in the fight early on. It’s when they took to the mound that the Jackals started to falter. Jackal pitching was bad, like really bad. Last in ERA (5.99) by over a ¼ of a point, highest BAA (.286) by .008, highest WHIP (1.68) by 0.07, 2nd most HRA (104) only 4 off the lead, most ER (527) by 17, most runs against (612) by over 30, 2nd most walks, 3rd fewest strikeouts, and the lone team in the Frontier League without a shutout. Now the Jackals have never been the most dynamic pitching team, that’s just life at Yogi Berra Stadium. When it’s 308 to each corner and 398 to dead center, pro hitters are going to do well there. This year was just worse, likely from a younger pitching corp and injuries, than years prior, going back to the old Can-Am days the ERA was never in the 5s let allow near 6. Asking 7 runs every game from your offense is just not sustainable, sure guys like Matt Vogel (4.20 ERA in 41 IP) and Reece Karalus (3.77 ERA in 43 IP) and even Dylan Brammer (5.36 ERA in 47 IP; 29G/4GS) did all they could in relief but when your starters have ERAs of 4.74, 6.45, 5.79, and 6.65 it’s going to be an uphill battle. Now I’d love to see these guys in a more favorable ballpark to see what their true ERA is but for the current purpose it wasn’t good enough.

Did the Jackals live up to their preseason potential? No. Is the Jackals season a failure? I’d say yes. It was clear that there was an expectation that they would be competitive this season, if not make the playoffs, they failed to do either of those from roughly the midway mark on. I suppose there are positives to take away. Young guys like Agresti, Wylie, Rehwaldt, Moorer, Tessitore, and Baez all got some serious time and should be better next year if they return. Likewise, only Knapp and Chirino are veteran classified players that could be back (barring Marte and Brammer returning) so that opens a few spots for the team to bring in some new blood. I hate that I can’t be as positive as usual in this review but at the end of the day, I can only review what the team gives me and I must be honest. While I do have some sympathy for the injuries and sheer number of inactive players the Jackals had this year that can only go so far. Other teams faced challenges and found a way to find some form of success and at the end of the day the Jackals did not. They not only failed to meet expectations, they were one of the worst teams in the league and I don’t see how that can be anything other than a failure.

The Kansas City Monarchs have brought a familiar face back to Kansas in Jan Hernandez. He’ll almost certainly add a dominant force into a line up that, if resembling anything of the 2021 squad, will surely be favorites to repeat as champions. Let’s get a quick refresher on Hernandez’s career before looking at the impact his return will hold for the Monarchs.

Jan Hernandez was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2013 MLB draft by the Philadelphia Phillies. His pro career would start in earnest in 2014 but he would struggle at the Low and High A level, and he would be stuck there for 4 years. Of course there were signs of improvement each year with the BA rising from the .170s to the .250s and the home run total jumping to double digits and just a general improvement overall. Finally in 2018, Hernandez moved on to AA and here he had his best affiliated season. 14 homers and .263 BA and a .757 OPS over 107 games made the Phils interested enough to give Hernandez a shot in AAA the following season. The numbers were similar to 2018 in the 61 games he got in 2019 but the Phillies and Hernandez separated at season's end. He was supposed to play in the ALPB in 2020 but a pandemic got in the way of that plan and instead the season would be a wash. That lead to 2021 where he signed with the Monarchs and straight dominated with 19 home runs and a BA over .300 with an OPS over 1.000. He’d only stay for 55 games though as the Reds would buy his contract and send Hernandez to AAA. There he struggled to find his footing and didn’t get much going in 29 games. 

So how will the return of Jan Hernandez impact the 2022 Kansas City Monarchs? Well for starters the guy was on pace to win or finish in the top 3 in MVP this past year so that alone means you have one of the best players in the league returning to the team for the campaign. Likewise, Hernandez has shown that he can work as a DH or as a RF so while there isn’t much versatility some still exists for the Monarchs. Also, keep in mind the team was stacked in 2021 so there wasn’t a need to fit round pegs into square holes as they had ample supply of round and square pegs at their disposal. It’s not much more complicated than that. Adding in a guy that can provide 30+ HRs and a 1.000+ OPS is never a bad thing and the only risk is if some MLB organization picks up the soon to be 27 year old again. He’s definitely a strong addition to start the offseason for the Monarchs as they look to defend their title.

In the American Association, the lone transaction was the Kansas City Monarchs signing Jan Hernandez.

In the Frontier League, the Windy City Thunderbolt exercised the 2022 option on the following players: Neil Abbatiello, Miguel Asuna, Cole Bellair, Colby Blueberg, Brayden Bonner, Cameron Brown, Rob Calabrese, Garrett Christman, Cal Djuroskovic, Ryan Hare, Peyton Isaacson, Kyle Johnson, Bryan Ketchie, Matt Koehler, Jose Layer, Brynn Martinez, Kenny Matthews, Jace Mercer, Justin Miller, Andrew Mitchell, Dylan Prohoroff, Jarius Richards, Payton Robertson, Dan Robinson, Layne Schnitz-Paxton, John Sechen, Zac Taylor, Tyler Thornton, Nikola Vasic, Albee Weiss, Rob Weissheier, Hunter Wells, Logan Wiley, Donivan Williams, and Stetson Woods. They declined the options for Cory Heitler, Sean LeLand, Michael Mateja, and Ricky Surum. The Sussex County Miners have exercised the following 2022 contract options: Omar Carrizales, Joey Rose, Isiais Quiroz, Stone Garrett, Tyler Suellentrop, Austin Krzeminski, Tyler Danish, Trey Hair, and Tyler Alexander. They declined the options for Aaron Knapp, John Jones, and Grant Buck. The Schaumburg Boomers signed Blake Stelzer. The Lake Erie Crushers signed Angel Guzman and Abdiel Diez. They also extend Sam Curtis. The Gateway Grizzlies placed Ty Moore on the retired list and exercised the 2022 option on the following players: Andrew Gist, Paul Young, Dylan Jones, Aaron Ford, Greg Duncan, Eric Jones, and Jarod Wright. 

In the Atlantic League no transactions were listed.

The Washington Wildthings entered the 2021 season with a new manager in what looked like the toughest division in the Frontier League. They had a mix of some pitching depth with a few bats that looked to do the heavy lifting. That established the outlook for Washington from most of those watching was less a reflection of them and more a reflection of their competition. In that sense, there was no hard and fast prediction of where they’d end the season. Predictions had them in 1st-3rd in the Northeast and that almost always depended on how NJ and SC were going to do. That said the team looked to be solidly built and at worst a major thorn in the side of the teams on their schedule and at best a legit contender.

The season started rather pedestrian for the Wildthings as they opened to a 2-5 start that would eventually get up to 13-18 by the end of June. That record wasn’t going to have the team going anywhere fast, as in-division foe Sussex County had jumped out to a big lead early and NJ had also done a good job at building in some protection from the Wildthings with a strong start to June. It was in July when (wild)things began to fall into place. The month started with a pair of rainouts in the Garden State and a pair of losses to NY, but then came a pair of back to back sweeps against the Boulders and Jackals. A hiccup in TC turned into a series sweep of the Jackals again, there was a rainout in there though. Things got a bit rough before Washington reeled off another 6 game home winning streak with a pair of sweeps against NJ and TC. They came into August with the Miners firmly in their crosshairs, after NJ faded out of the hunt. The Wildthings would go 8-8 to start the month but from August 20th to season’s end would go 17-5 with no series loses, an 8 game win streak, and 4 series sweeps including the one against Sussex County which all but won them the Northeast division crown. This meant a trip to the postseason and a date with the Cinderella Equipe Quebec. The Wildthings would fall down early in the best of 5 and face a win or go home game 4. With the game tied at 3 a piece in the top of the 9th, Hector Roa and Andrew Czech would get on setting the stage for Tristan Peterson. Peterson would smack a double and score the would be game winning runs in Roa and Czech. Game 5 featured a magical outing by former big leaguer Rob Whelan, going 8 scoreless with 11 Ks, he’d hand the ball off to BJ Sabol for the 9th. Sabol took just 13 pitches to strikeout the side and send the Wildthings to their 7th Frontier League championship series. Here they’d face off against the Schaumburg Boomers, who themselves had an odyssey to reach this point. After three close games the ‘Things held a 2-1 series lead, a win away from their first Frontier League championship. The Boomers had other plans and after a dramatic game 4 loss, the Wildthings had no answer for Kyle Arjona and Schaumburg offense as the reliable starting duo of Ryan Hennen and Darren Osby got smacked around for 8 runs against through 4 innings and the Boomers went on to win their 4th Frontier League Championship.

The Wildthings were not an overpowering team. They were middle of the pack offensively in most categories (7th in TB, 6th in H, T6 in HR, 8th in runs scored, and 5th in OBP; all out of 14) and saw most of that production come from Hector Roa (.296/.331/.467 12 HR), Trevor Casanova (.300/.366/.403 5 HR), Bralin Jackson (.323/.356/.806 7 HR), and Nick Ward (.269/.420/.829 5 HR). This wasn’t a lineup that would bury you with killer after killer but rather a core that went to work and hit you bad every time through. That said there wasn’t much of guarantee that the damage they’d do would result in runs but rather drag the inning on which of course sets up for damage later on. Pitching wise, that’s a much different story. This Wildthings team was guided to success via their arms. Second in the league in ERA, fourth in strikeouts, third in hits allowed, fewest runs allowed, third lowest BA against, and third most shutouts. You can see where I’m heading with this. Guys like rookie of the year Ryan Hennen (2.12 ERA in 16 starts), veteran stud Darren Osby (3.76 ERA in 19 starts), and newcomer McKenzie Mills (3.82 ERA in 16 starts) formed a lethal rotation that enabled the offense to pick away before striking. Then when they had a lead bullpen aces like BJ Sabol (3.43 ERA in 34 IP), Dan Kubiak (1.29 ERA in 22 games), and Ben Vinci (2.03 ERA in 24 games) would come in and hold the fort down for closer Zach Strecker (4.97 ERA in 51 innings, 22 saves; 3rd most in the FL) to finish the game off. That’s without mentioning James Meeker, who had an ERA of 0 in 31.2 IP before having his contract purchased by the Brewers in August.

This is all a long way of saying this season was a success for the Washington Wildthings. The club won a division that was rather difficult and did so by getting hot at the right time while playing on their strengths. The offense was neither great nor terrible and that made it possible for the team to have the postseason success that they did. While I’m sure fans and on some level players expected the championship, especially after going 0-7 now in the FLCS, only 1 team was better than the ‘Things this year and if not for 3 bad innings across 2 games the result could have been flipped. That’s hard to swallow, sure but it also is a testament to this team. The Wildthings will be back next year no doubt and I’ll be eager to see how they will do in 2022.

The Sussex County Miners have been one of the best Independent League teams in the past 5 years and they looked poised to continue their success in 2021. The Miners entered their first year in the Frontier League on the heels of back to back 60+ win seasons in the Canadian-American League, this included a 2018 league championship and a 2019 championship game appearance. It’s needless to say that 5th year manager Bobby Jones was gearing up for another year of high expectations with a squad that was as talented as ever before. So talented in fact that they were the near universal favor to win the division and the league. With expectations like that, it left very little room for failure in Sussex County. 

The season started in a very wet fashion with 3 straight rain outs but that didn’t put out the fire hot start to the Miners season that saw them finish June with a 20-9 record including a 13-2 start. However, those of you that can do math on the fly might notice that if you subtract the 13-2 start from the 20-9 record, the Miners went into June with a 7-7 record. That said, Sussex did start July on a 5 game winning streak so things weren’t falling apart but this should have been a sign of how streaky this team was going to be, but hindsight is 20/20. By August they were playing .500 but that was an issue at first as they still held a lead in the Northeast division. It became an issue after an 8 game losing streak hit in the beginning of the month. That streak included 2 sweeps by the archrival ValleyCats and Boulders, and a series split with division mate Washington. Now they were in a dogfight for their playoff lives. The Miners responded quickly though with a sweep of Florence (a top 5 in the league at that point) and another sweep of in-state rival New Jersey. This would unfortunately prove to be nothing more than the death spasms of a team on the verge as Sussex County would drop 10 of their next 12 and losing any hope of making the postseason before finishing the year at a humble 49-46, 6.5 back of a playoff spot. 

Before reflecting on the Miner season, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a couple of notable events from the year. First, the feud between the ValleyCats and Miners. I’ll be quick because I talked about it in some length during the Tri-City Review but the long and short was each team did little things throughout the year from spidertac to alleged sign theft to heated batter-pitcher mound discussions and a lot more. These two teams don’t like each other and while I do think some of it went a little far or rather it got a bit old after a while (still made for great content so I’m not complaining) it was still nice to see a legitimate rivalry in Indy Ball. Way too often do we get ‘social media rivalries’ as I call them where the only hatred is jovial and sophomoric jabs on twitter. You know the kinda stuff that’s drawn up in the weekly marketing menu, and that’s fine it adds color to the matchup and increases engagement. Given the nature of Indy Ball it’s hard to find that Duke-UNC, Yankees-Red Sox, Michigan-Ohio State type of rivalry. So to finally get one was a much welcomed surprise and I hope, on some level, that it continues next year. The final event that I wanted to mention was Audy Ciraco’s jersey being retired. He’s the first and only Miner to date to receive such an honor, and it’s certainly much deserved. He arrived in 2018 and over the course of 284 games hit 30 home runs, was a .308 hitter, and an invaluable piece of the Miners community and the greater Sussex community. It’s only fitting to make note of that honor here. Oh and Todd Frazier played a half dozen games in preparation for the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics, that’s cool too.

Now to the part that’s kinda mean. I think it’d be hard to call this season anything other than a disappointment and a failure by the Miners. I understand that they were projected to play in the hardest division and that they didn’t have too many ‘layup’ series on their slate unlike other teams, but at the end of the day good teams win games and great teams don’t fall apart. I understand that they lost key pieces like Tyler Alexander and Trey Hair but other teams lost key parts and kept chugging along. Likewise, the team just couldn’t pitch. 5.03 team ERA (10th/14), 1.49 WHIP (T-9th/14), .418 SLG (T-10th/14), .278 BA (13th/14), and 515 runs against (11th/14). You can’t win games when your team needs to put up 6 runs on offense just to get back to even, no team can survive like this. That burden largely falls on the starters who just seemed to struggle this year. Max Herrmann (4.33 ERA in 16 starts) and Gavin Sonnier (3.90 ERA in 8 starts [24 total games]) provided pitching that would suffice but the rest of the regular starters had ERAs north of 5. The bullpen was fine. Guys like Michael Mediavilla (3.27 ERA in 44 IP; 4th in saves with 18) and Jalen Mills Sr. (3.06 ERA in 65 IP including 6 starts) provided stability back there and plenty of other guys chipped in as well. 

Offensively the Miners could hit extremely well. A batting average of .281 (2nd/14), .798 OPS (1st/14), 141 SB (5th/14), 657 Ks (3rd/14), and 26 triples (3rd/14). Keep in mind this wasn’t a case of them getting a lot of AB and hits (they were last in league in ABs and 10th in hits) hell they only were 9th in league in total bases at 1252. This team was just extremely efficient at the plate and, statically, put the ball in play and made productive outs to drive runs in and move runners over. Guys like Chuck Taylor, Kaleo Johnson, Audy Ciraco, Martin Figueroa, and Juan Kelly all hit over .300 and most hit over .325, so they could count on offensive production that would come on quick, strike fast, and then move out. This can work if you have the pitching to back it up. You’ll see when we look at the Midwest division teams like Evansville and Florence, that they had the arms to allow the offense to operate that way. 

In the end, the Miners came into the year with expectation to be playing for a championship or at worst be in the playoffs, but that simply did not happen. They were too one dimensional and were not able to find the pitching talent or consistency needed to compete at this level, a problem that’ll become all too common in reviews to come. This is not to say that the team wasn’t good, they were a good team. In a normal year, Sussex County would have finished between a ½ game and 2.5 games out of the playoffs depending on what the Canadian teams would have looked like. I’d dare even say that they would have even made the playoffs if things were normal, but alas it wasn’t and the team just wasn’t good enough. That means they underperformed and thus the season is a failure by default. It was clear the goal was championship or bust and they went bust. That said if they return Mills, Mediavilla, Sonnier, Herrman, Culver, Figueroa, and a few others this team has another long run left in it before we talk about a tear down year. I also think a player like LT Struble is a very nice luxury to have if possible as well.

The Kane County Cougars entered into their offseason head first by signing former big leaguer Bryce Brentz. The Cougars added the 32 year old outfielder last as they were looking to find a solid base for Geoge Tsamis in year 2. A little bit more on Brentz before we talk about the Cougars and the effect that this move will have on the team in 2022.

Bryce Brentz was drafted twice, first out of high school by the Indians in round 30 and last by the Red Sox in the first round in 2010. He’d spend his first few years at the single A ball level with trips to and from high and low in between, leading to a very strong 2011 campaign in his age 22 year. This led to MLB.com ranking him as the 64th best prospect in baseball heading into 2012. Brentz would spend that year in double A and then most of 2013 and 2014 in triple A. Although he did get a taste of MLB action in September of 2014, only 9 games but he hit .308 in 26 AB so you can’t complain about that from a September call up. 2015 would be cut short by injury. 2016 he’d start in double A, likely as a result from that injury the previous June, and work up triple A and eventually the Red Sox proper from June until August (25 games in total). He’d make the International League all-stars the following year and then be dealt to the Pirates in the winter of 2018. The Pirates would waive Brentz a month later and he’d be claimed by the Mets and spend all of 2018 in the triple A before electing free agency in the offseason and returning to the Red Sox. After a down 2019, Brentz would again elect free agency and this time sign with the ALPB’s High Point Rockers for the 2020 season. The pandemics hits, season gets cancelled, and that’s the last we have on Bryce Brentz. The book on him is pure and simple, a guy that had a lot of promise and made it to the show for a cup of coffee, but never did quite enough to stick. He’s a guy that has routinely been good for 15-20 homers (reaching 31 in 2017) and will hit anywhere from .240 to .300.

Kane County was among the worst hitting teams last season finishing in the bottom 3 in most major hitting stats with HR being the lone exemption, and even then they were only middle of the pack. The addition of Brentz tells me that they are looking to change this. Brentz strikes me as the kind of player that can either be very hot or very cold, and judging by his batting average and OBP that could become an issue. He walks at a rate similar to Adam Brett Walker II and has power that seems very similar as well. Now that’s not me saying that he could be for the Cougars what Walker has been to the Milkmen, but he even brings a ½ of that, which as a former MLBer that shouldn’t be a big ask, that turns around the whole lineup card. It seldom ever a bad decision to add a player with MLB service time so there’s no way to call this a bad move, but it’ll be interesting to see which Bryce Brentz we get. Do get the 2017 Bryce Brentz that hit 31 home runs and batted .270/.334/.529 in 120 triple A games or we get the 2019 Bryce Brentz that hit 18 home runs and hit .216/.314/.445 in 95 triple A games. We could even get the 2015 Bryce Brentz that hit only 9 home runs to a .232/.308/.382 in 59 triple A games, who knows? If it’s the 2017 version then he’ll be gone to triple A before July. If it’s the 2019 version he’ll be here the whole season and if it’s 2015 then he’ll be gone by July for the wrong reasons.

For the sakes of both parties I hope that it’s the 2017 Bryce Brentz we get and in any event I do like the signing for the potential it adds to a lineup that struggled to get guys on and bring them into score. There’s no risk for either side here so at worst it’s a neutral move and at best we have a great story on our hands. I’ll be interested to see how Tsamis builds out the rest of his roster this season and how this move affects the rest of its construction.

In the American Association it was a quiet week on the transaction front. Kane County signs Bryce Brentz and BJ Lopez. 

In the Frontier League, Joliet signed Ryan Stacy, Cameron Aufderhiede, Tyler Depreta-Johnson, Kaleb Honea, Kyle Jacobsen, Carson Maxwell, Brett Smith, and Brad Van Asdlen. They also exercise the contract option on Brylie Ware, Jordan Rathbone, Tom Walker, Dave Matthews, Luke Mangieri, Chandler Bierley, Trever Charipe, Philip Steerling, David Stiehl, Sam Ferri, and Terry Daniels. Schaumburg signs Jack Synder, Ryan Middendorf, Kyle Arjona, Brett Milazzo, and Aaron Singh. Gateway signs Matt Feinstein, Cam Touchette, Isaac Bernard, Steven Ridings, and Colton Easterwood. They also exercise the option on Chris Camacho, Carson Cupo, Austin Dubsky, Justin Jones, Ty Moore, and Hector Sanchez. Gateway also rejects the option on Steve Bowley, Ryan Mordecai, Brian Parreira, and Jesse Remington. Ottawa has signed AJ Wright, Carter Hayes, and Ryan Walstad. Lake Erie signs Jordan Powell. Tri-City exercises the option on Alexis Pantoja, Austin Cline, Brad Zunica, Bryan Valedez, Carlos Machado, Carson McCusker, Chris Kwitzer, Connor Lein, Danny Angulo, Daniel Kreuzer, Denis Phipps, Donnie Speranza, Erick Heredia, Francisco Jimenez, Jake Barbee, Jake Dexter, Jervic Chavez, Jhon Nunez, Jose Cruz, Josh Hiatt, Juan Silvario, Logan Dubbe, Luis Roman, Nelson Molina, Parker Kelly, Patrick Kelly, Ryan McKay, Trevor Damron, Trey Cochran-Gill, and Zach Biermann. Sussex County exercises the option on Martin Figueroa, Danny Zardon, Mike Castellani, Alex Demchak, Max Herrmann, Billy Layne Jr., Tyler Lunecke, Dewayne Marshall, Michael Mediavilla, Jalen Miller Sr., Ramsey Romano, Cesar Rosado, Alexander Vargas, Nick Garland, Audy Ciriaco, Cito Culver, Kaleo Johnson, Trevin Esquierra, LT Struble, Chuck Tayler, Todd Frazier, and Nilo Rijo. 

In the Atlantic League, York released Buddy Rossman.

The Boulders came into 2021 with their 3rd manager in as many years and looking to get back to the glory days the franchise had grown accustomed to in the early and mid 2010s. The Boulders replaced Kevin Baez with TJ Stanton, which looked to be the biggest and best acquisition of the offseason given his success with the Aigles the year prior. The roster was filled with a lot of players that didn’t have much higher level experience and with the exception of one or two players, were relative unknowns that were hard to project. However, from what we could make out the team looked like a .500 club or near that in the preseason. That’s not quite good nor quite bad and that meant they could make the postseason if a few things broke their way. That said they’d still have an uphill battle given the schedule of teams they had even in one of the divisions that projected to be a bit weaker. 

The Boulders were never really in it this season despite holding 1st place at points in the season. The surprise success of Equipe Quebec and the mid-season turnaround of the ValleyCats set the Boulders in a very tough position. That’s not to say the season was a total wash because there were positives to take from it. The offense being the most glaring, 2nd in the league for runs scored with 530, 2nd in HRs with 103, 3rd in total bases, 1st in walks, 2nd in stolen bases, and 5th in OPS. This was a team that was built to play into the strengths of their ballpark. The downside of playing in a ballpark that plays 312 to RF and 323 to LF with short walls in both is that offense is a dual edged sword, for every run you score the other team can score just as easily. This means that as a Boulder pitcher it’s going to be much harder putting together an impressive stat line and as a team things can spiral very quickly. That can be seen in their pitching stats. 2nd in ERs allowed, 2nd in hits allowed, 4th in walks allowed, tied for last in saves, 2nd in opponent SLG, 3rd in opponent BA, and arguably most damning 11th in ERA. So if you’re playing games that are gunfights you better not run out of ammo and your arms better be good at damage control, otherwise it’s going to be a rough time. That said, Boulder home games were exciting with the natural offense produced by both sides. More pointedly, New York was just too streaky this season. They’d sweep Tri-City then get swept by Sussex County the next series. The Boulders would drop 3 of 4 to NJ, then turn around 4 of 5 of their next games. That’s just not a tenable way to play when you need to win a division to make the postseason, also dropping games against teams like NJ and Sussex will catch up to you. Follow that up with some key series losses to Tri-City and EQ and the season will be in rough shape and in the end 43-52 isn’t gonna cut it. As negative as that sounds there were performers from this team that put together some very impressive seasons, and I think there are some real positives to take from this year.

The offense like I mentioned was impressive this past year and there really wasn’t a bad offensive player but some guys stood out. Jack Sundberg (.294/.405/.375 3 HR 48 SB) looked very good at the dish, finding any way to get on base and with his speed singles might as well be doubles. Ray Hernandez (.261/.331/.511 23 HR) was an elite level power bat that made pitchers think carefully about before pitching to him. The true jack of trades player was Kevonte Mitchell (.298/.365/.506 12 HR). He had power but could work a count and drop a base hit in when needed as well. On the mound, James Mulry (3.83 ERA in 56 IP) again had a solid year out of the bullpen (see our Mulry-Mills trade breakdown for more on him) and relative rookie Zach Schnieder (3.18 ERA in 34 IP) looked very strong as well from the bullpen. Actual rookie Danny Wirchansky (4.07 ERA in 106 IP across 19 starts, 105 Ks) was by far the best starter for the Boulders this past year and arguably since 2018 if we want to be honest. The Pace University graduate started off very strong start and was largely very good with the exception of a few starts throughout the season.

To the question of whether this was a successful season or not, there is no easy answer. From the standpoint of Stanton figuring out how to build a team to the ballpark and having a figuring out year, it was a success. They already addressed the starters position by adding McKenzie Mills for 2022, granted at the cost of James Mulry, and with Schnieder presumably getting better and  holding down the fort in the bullpen with a year 2 Wirchansky in the rotation, that area looks a lot better. The offense will be easier to find and if a few top guys return and the team uses its veteran spots to supplement the offense then they’ll be in good shape for 2022 and you can view 2021 as a complete success. That said, you don’t really rebuild in Indy Ball because of the way it’s set up with 1 year contracts and the goal of moving players to MLB organizations. That makes ‘rebuilding’ a kind of impossible task and that means wins and losses are the only thing that matters when determining success. By that metric, New York’s season was a failure in no uncertain terms. A 43-52 record and last in the Atlantic Division is not a success even if the parts of the whole did well and some contracts were purchased. So that said, I’d have to call the season unsuccessful because of 9 games under .500 and that’s largely due to dropping games against NJ, a team with a worse record, and EQ. I do think they can build on this year though so it’s not a total loss, I trust in TJ’s ability to build a winner like he did in Trois-Rivieres and NY fans should too.

Tri-City entered the 2021 season not knowing what to expect. It was the organization's first time setting off on it’s own. Since the team’s founding in 2002, they were an affiliate of a major league team. However, after the reorganization of the minor leagues that changed and the team landed in the Frontier League. Which was a surprise to some as the Atlantic League was the odds on favorite up until the decision came down. That aside, the season looked promising after hiring championship winning manager Pete Incavigilia. The biggest issue that we saw going into the season for the ValleyCats was the depth or lack thereof. Denis Phipps and Juan Silverio looked to be big time producers but the rest of the team was a huge question mark for us.

Jekyll and Hyde. That’s the best way to describe this team. They started the season just absolutely awful at 4-15. Then changes were made, Incavigulia cut bait with seemingly half the roster and rebuilt it on the fly. That seemed to do the trick as on June 20 they started a 11-3 run that stretched into July. Ultimately, they would end the season on a 45-31 run following their rough start. This left them in a position to make the postseason on the final day of the season; they would need help though. If the Miners had won their game 96 against Equipe Quebec then Tri-City would be in with a win. However, most everyone expected that to be a tall ask. Not because the Miners were a bad team or because EQ was that good but rather because there was some serious beef between Sussex County and Tri-City throughout the year. The top hits include a Miners pitcher being caught using SpiderTac, Bobby Jones-Pete Incavguilia general feud, several way too inside pitches that sparked benches to clear, and several allegations of cheating via sign stealing and other methods by each side. Needless to say, these guys didn’t and still don’t like each other. So when the Miners had the opportunity to end or extend the ValleyCats season they made the most of it by using a position player as that day’s starter and by the 7th inning they had removed most of their starters. As you may have guessed, the Miners dropped the game 11-7 and that meant the ValleyCats went home for the winter after a 50-46 campaign. However disappointing and frustrating of a season it may have been, there were still some amazing breakout performances from players. 

Some of those breakout performers are the usual suspects like Juan Silverio (.310/.366/.496 16 HR) and Denis Phipps (.277/.354/.524 21 HR) who did just about as well as could be expected from the ALPB vets. However, guys like Nelson Molina (.282/.355/.479 10 HR) and Brad Zunica (.358/.433/.612 12 HR) were key performers that joined up after the rebuild and powered the team to the finish they had. Meanwhile on the mound, Austin Cline joined right after graduating college and he did extremely well posting a 3.43 in 8 starts, and really the 23 year old only had 2 poor starts all season. But one guy that was seemingly perfect in his 45 outings and 57 innings was the closer, and the Indy Ball Report Pitcher We Obsessed Over for 2021,  Trey Cochran-Gill aka The Law Firm. The dude was the reliever of the year in the Frontier League and finished with only 3 outings allowing 2 or more runs all year, the first didn’t come until July 28. The dude was just insane this past season and was the one constant in the ValleyCats bullpen. 

In the end, it’s hard to say that the season was either disappointing or a success. The way it started was just horrid but the turnaround was spelended. The division was up for grabs until the final hours of the season so at no point were they out of it and the Cats did lead the division for a bit as well. That said they did have lower expectations coming into the year and the team that played ⅔ of the year was not the one we previewed in May. I’d this year was a good learning year. The kind that you take to heart and use to build a better club overall next year. I don’t think it’s controversial to say that if they started the year with the team they had on June 20, the ValleyCats would have been heading west on September 13th and not heading to their winter plans. Of course, the ending was a frustrating pit that’s in the past now. The crowd stuck with the team and showed up to support them without the affiliation and the future looks bright for the ValleyCats moving forward. I just hope that the league has the Miners hosting or traveling to the ValleyCats to start the 2022 season because as fans we deserve that series to welcome in a new year of baseball.

Kyle Halbohn has always been a reliable arm out of the pen but this year might be his most impressive yet. The man started his professional career in 2016 after being signed by the Yankees. He was only in their system for a short time before the Angels picked him up. He stayed there until 2018 and then would begin in Indy Ball later that season in Trois-Rivieres. The following season he jumped up to the ALPB and later the AAPB. That 2019 season saw Halbohn post a 1.95 ERA with 14 saves in 51 games and 60 IP. An amazing season that statistically would be hard to top. 2020 was lost to the pandemic. That’s where this season comes in.

Halbohn returned to High Point for the 2021 season and did a fantastic job. This season in the ALPB was much different than past years given the new set of rules, including the controversial mound rule. This didn’t affect Halbohn’s stat line as he went out, in a year that saw a huge uptick in offense, and threw 43 innings for 13 saves for a 3.35 ERA. That might not seem better than 2019 but consider this. The average runs per game in the ALPB in 2019 was 4.59 this past season it jumped to 6.34. The league average ERA this year was 5.93, in 2019 it was 4.23. In case that doesn’t sell you on how much harder it was for pitchers this past season the run jump was 72.3% and the ERA jump was 71.3%. That’s not even factoring in that most of the pitcher friendly parks are gone now and the rise in average level of competition across the league. With that context, Halbohn’s 2021 season was way more impressive than his 2019 season. 

Standing at 6’8 and weighing in at 230, Halbohn physical stature alone should draw the eyes of scouts. He has the numbers against ALPB and AAPB competition (roughly AA level) so his age (28, 29 when the season starts) shouldn’t affect interest in him. I don’t know how far he’d get in a MLB system but I certainly believe that he deserves the opportunity.

For a team formed at the last minute from a hodgepodge of Canadian players left jobless after a border crossing issue, Equipe Quebec outperformed expectations and their alumni will surely live on through the Indy Ball world. 

Formed from the players of the Quebec Capitales and the Trois-Rivières Aigles, Equipe Quebec looked to be your standard traveling team. There was a thin hope that they may be able to return home for the final third of the season to play in front of the thousands of adoring Quebecers. The general consensus around the team was a bit mixed but trended towards a lower win total, with little expectation of making the playoffs at season’s end. However, being in a weaker division still kept a thin hope alive. The main area of concern stemmed from the possibility of losing player talent to the Olympics in the summer in addition to the grind of indefinitely playing on the road. Factor in a Tri-City team that looked top heavy and a New York team that seemed to be about a .500 club coming into the season, and it seemed like a safe bet to place them at 40-45 wins.

So how did they do? Pretty damn good actually. The team stepped up and stayed afloat until they got clearance to enter Canada, which would provide some much needed stability. The slow start from the ValleyCats and New York failing to meet their preseason expectations, left the door open for Equipe Quebec to take the division. Which they managed to do thanks to a controversial series win over Sussex County to end the season. EQ would exceed their preseason expectations and win 52 games and the division to earn a postseason matchup with the Washington Wildthings. Once in the playoffs they put up a good fight, even holding a 2-1 series lead, but ultimately fell to the ‘Thingz in 5 games. Still it was an amazing season for EQ on the field. 

For a group that was thrown together late, the guys that made up EQ had some good performances. On the mound, Miguel Cienfuegos was undoubtedly their ace. 19 starts for 117 innings pitched and a 3.78 ERA, the best ERA by a starter in the Atlantic Division. In the bullpen they had some horses with Marshall Shill (1.91 ERA and 54 K in 42 IP), Frankie Moscatiello (2.95 ERA in 58 IP), and veteran Evan Rutckji (0.86 ERA and 0.957 WHIP in 32 innings). From plate, Jeffry Parra slugged 15 home runs to lead the team and L.P. Pelletier led all batters (min 50 games played) in batting average with .328. However, Rueben Castro (.325/.419/.468 with 6 HR) and David Glaude (.308/.382/.493 with 13 HR) were the jack of all trades that powered the team this year. 

All in all, for the 1 year only Equipe Quebec squad they exceeded expectations and managed to beat the odds on the diamond and in the stands. So while they didn’t home any hardware you’d be hard pressed to say the year wasn’t a success for them.

Last week the Wildthings and Boulders made a deal that swapped lefty pitchers. New York traded veteran middle reliever James Mulry in exchange for starter McKenzie Mills. Let’s take a closer look at this deal by reviewing the players and then what they bring to the team..

We’ll start by looking at James Mulry. He’s 27 but will be 28 when the season begins. Entering his 3rd Frontier League season and 5th in Indy Ball, Mulry has always been a bullpen arm and I imagine that will continue here. The man is a consistent 6-7-8 man, he doesn’t really get save opportunities but that’s really a strike against. In his 3 years in Rockland/NY, Mulry has been a part of some really good bullpens including 2019 which saw one of the best 5 man groups in Can-Am history with Mulry, Ponto, Kennedy, Holifield/Zokan and Gordon. Let’s park on that season for a minute. For Mulry, 2019 was a coming out party. In the past he had put up good years (2018 he had a 2.30 ERA in 43 IP) but in 2019 he threw 40 innings and posted a 1.82 ERA and had a 8 K/9. He had become an important part of a Rockland bullpen that saw a lot of action, as that year the team only had 3 mainstay starters opting for a revolving door approach for the last 2 spots. 2021 wasn’t as good for Mulry but he threw nearly 20 more innings than any previous year and that should account for the uptick in ERA and WHIP. Plus side the K/9 went up to 9.

As for McKenzie Mills, he enters his 3rd Indy Ball season although it’s more like his 2nd as he threw under 10 innings for Winnipeg in 2020. Mills is a long time affiliated guy, drafted by Washington in the 18th round out of high school before moving on to the Phillies and Marlins organization. He’s spent some time in AA but is mostly an A+ or lower guy to this point in his career. Although to be fair his full 2019 season in AA was spent mainly in the bullpen, something that Mills isn’t suited to. And that brings us to one big thing about Mills, the man is a starter. In 107 games he’s started 75 and done fairly well in them having ERAs in the high 3s low 4s in years he’s been a starter full time. I’ll ignore his age 18 and 19 seasons for a variety of reasons that could be summarized as young pitcher adjusting to life in professional baseball on and off the field. You can see it change as Mills gets older, his age 21 season (2017) 21 starts 120 innings 3.22 ERA with 134 strikeouts. Stats like that tell me the 25 year old lefty has the ability to perform in the Frontier League. Hell last year in Washington he had a 3.82 ERA in 92 innings. The strikeouts were lower but overall he was solid and at 25 (26 when the season starts), there’s a lot of potential here.

Overall I think this is a very even trade. Admitally I’m a huge James Mulry fan but even putting that aside he provides support to a bullpen unit that struggled at times last year. Between Mulry and Kubiak, the Wildthings now have a pretty good 1-2 punch in the bullpen and depending on which conference the team ends up in things might work out even better for him in terms of pitcher friendly ballparks played in and batter familiarity. Regardless of how that sorts out, Washington still got NY’s second best pitcher from last year.

As for NY, I really like the deal from their side. Historically, the Boulders have struggled to find starting pitching with that being the key part that has halted many teams that would have otherwise had championship aspirations. Mills is a guy that can strike out 7 guys in a 6 inning start and in today’s era of baseball 5-6 innings starts will do the job. The strikeouts I mention because of the park the Boulders play in. PCU Park is not good for pitchers. 2 short porches cornering the outfields and deep centerfield with a high wall set up well for both power hitters and batters that can stretch a single into a double. Many a pitcher have had a good outing go south quick in that park. That’s why I think a strikeout pitcher like Mills is a better bet for NY than a contact pitcher. Mills provides a quality starting arm in any event that could be the center of the 2022 Boulder rotation along side Wirchansky and one other pitcher.

In the American Association, Milwaukee released the recently retired Brett Vertigan and exercised the option on Mikey Reynolds’ contract. Chicago traded Johnny Adams to Sussex County to finish a previous trade and exercise Gustavo Pierre’s option. Fargo signed Brady Stover, Brendon Dadson, and Jacob Bockelie. Lincoln exercised the options for Rando Moreno, Sicnarf Loopstok, and Ben Wereski and released the retired Curt Smith along with David Vidal, Walter Borkovich and Gunnar Buhner. Sioux City exercised the option on Brian Ellington and released Jairo Lambert. Sioux Falls signed Cole Pengilly and released Darrien Williams. Cleburne released DJ Peterson and acquired Jheyson Manzueta from High Point and immediately picked up his option. Gary acquired Adam Heidenfelder from Long Island and picked up his option the released Jumpei Akanuma, Yoel De Leon, Kevin Escorcia, Kirvin Moesquit, Ryosuke Ohashi, and Katsuya Senoo.

In the Frontier League, Gateway signed Sam Gardner, Matt Mulhern, Justin Banks, Blake Garrett, Jay PratherJason Zgardowski, Andrew Penner, John Murphy, Clint Freeman, and Taylor Suggs. They also traded a PTBNL to Idaho Falls for Matt Feinstein. The NY Boulders traded James Mulry to the Washington Wildthings for McKenzie Mills. Washington also received Dan Kubiuk from Charleston to complete a previous trade. Joliet signed Lane Baremore, Cole Cook, and JP Fullerton. They released Keon Taylor, Dylan Hardy, and Adam Zuk in a corresponding move. Lake Erie signed Brendon Bell. Ottawa signed Chris Burica. Schaumberg signed Thomas Nicoll.

In the Atlantic League, there were no transactions posted.

Time for our final alumni update of 2021 and this one involves a true Indy Ball player. Unlike other guys we’ve featured here, this pitcher has the most traditional route to and through independent league baseball. He started in the minors, was cut, played Indy Ball, raised his stock, and now is one step away from the majors. This player is, of course, pitcher Jake Dahlberg.

Dahlberg started his professional career in 2017 after being drafted in the 21st round by the St. Louis Cardinals. The 6 foot lefty had spent the past 3 years as a starting pitcher for the University of Illinois- Chicago. There he did fairly well, amassing a 3.52 ERA in his 44 collegiate starts, including a standout 10-2, 2.17 ERA in 16 starts (103 IP) draft year performance. This was likely the push the Cards needed to take him. In any event, St. Louis would send Dahlberg to Johnson City in the Appalachian League to start his journey to the majors. There he’d be used as a reliever, and this would be the first and only time he’d see major work as a reliever in his professional career. That said, Dahlberg would get into 19 games, throwing 33 innings for  a 4.96 ERA with 32 strikeouts and 10 walks. Between college and the appy league, Dahlberg would throw 135 innings, the most he’s thrown in 1 year to date. To me that arm fatigue and the transition from college to pros combine to be the culprit for the near 5 ERA. That and 2 bad outs in mid July against Kingsport and Danville didn’t help either. 

Anyway, 2018 would have the Cardinals start Dahlberg in low A State College of the NY-Penn League. There he looked sharp. In 9 appearances (8 being starts) and 50 innings, he posted a 2.15 ERA with a 1.093 WHIP and 44 strikeouts. A very good start to the season for the 24 year old. The Cardinals agreed and promoted him quickly to single-A Peroia in the Midwest League. Dahlberg would finish his season here and earned himself a 2.87 ERA in 7 starts (47 IP) and a 1.213 WHIP with 33 strikeouts. Not quite as good as State College but still a very strong performance for the young starter. That’s at least what most would think, St. Louis isn’t most. They cut Dahlberg at the end of March 2019, leaving him to start his Indy Ball career that year.

On April 15, the Chicago Dogs of the American Association signed Dahlberg for the 2019 campaign. His first year in Indy Ball wasn’t the smoothest but worked out to be an alright year. He posted a 4.49 ERA and 1.269 WHIP in his most innings (110) since 2017. Dahlberg did strike out 100 in those 19 appearances (18 starts) as well. This looked to be a promising start to getting back in the MiLB system as the AAPB is a notably better league than anything on the A ball level. Dahlberg would stay with the Dogs for 2020, being in one of the few leagues in the world to play that year, and had a less than ideal year. The ERA went up to 5.52 and the WHIP to 1.722 with the K/9 dipping from 8.2 to 6.9. Now there’s a reason for this. The pandemic. That lone event disrupted training routines, and altered the makeup of the league to include more veteran players and few teams. This created an environment that was very unfriendly for pitchers. Factor in the fewer games played as a result on the truncated schedule and league roster and you set up pitchers to have poor stats. That said, I think everyone gets a pass for the pandemic year. That brings us to 2021. Again Dahlberg would return to Chicago and this time he’d be off to a flying start. In his 15 appearances (9 starts), he’d strikeout 76 and posted a 3.05 ERA. The WHIP retreated back to a very good 0.984 and the lefty looked to finally be in peak form. 

That’s when the Giants took notice. On July 24th, San Francisco would purchase his contract and Dahlberg would be back in affiliated baseball. The Giants assigned him to high A Eugene, which, funnily enough, is managed by former Florence Freedom skipper Dennis Pelfrey. Although he would earn a  pitcher of the week award in early August, that time in Eugene wasn’t the best for Dahlberg. He had a 6.60 ERA in 10 starts and while he did strikeout 61 in 46 innings, his WHIP did jump to 1.489. Now this is where you think it’d all end. That he was demoted or released, right? Well, that’s not the case here. You see, the Giants decided to see how the now 27 year old Dahlberg would do against better competition and promoted him at the end of September to AAA Sacramento. How did that go? Dahlberg went out and won pitcher of the week for triple A west to end the year. He only got into 2 games (a start and a relief appearance) but he had 9 shutout innings where he only allowed 3 baserunners across the 30 hitters he faced. Not too bad, eh? 

In the end, I do think that Jake Dahlberg should and will stick around in the Giants organization. Now I don’t know how a couple standout weeks will factor in the team’s decision but they showed (especially in AAA) that he has the stuff it takes to be a good pitcher, a major league arm. I understand that he’s going to be 28 soon and that the clock is ticking on him but I know that given a full year at AA or AAA, Dahlberg will show he has what it takes to make the majors.

That’s all for our alumni updates in 2021! We'll be back with new content in the next few days and we’ll have most alumni updates for you in the spring and summer of 2022. If you have ideas or suggestions for series or content you’d like to see be sure to reach out via email or social media to let us know.

The season is done and with it our weekly round ups for 2021, so let’s get started. Again, no new debuts and no new contract purchases. This is unsurprising given it’s the end of October. So we’ll move to the extremely limited action from this past week.

Only 2 games and both of them won by the Lexington Legends over the Long Island Ducks in the Atlantic League Championship Series. The Legends looked very good and gutted out a 6-3 win in game 3, to set up an elimination game 4. They’d dominate straight out the game scoring early and often to win the game and the championship  by the final score of 13-2. Courtney Hawkins get the ALCS MVP nod after an unbelievable run of dominance in the 4 game series, including a 3 home run game 4 performance. In the end, the Legends won the way the league wanted them to, via power hitting. We had said last week that the Ducks were a solid well built team with the best pitching in the league, but having the best pitching in the ALPB this year is like having the best sailboat in a hurricane. It may keep you safe for a little bit longer but you’re still going to be torn to shreds by the storm. And the Legends offense was like a cat 5 hurricane, their lineup didn’t have a single weak spot in it from 1 through 9. I mean when Ben Aklinski (.290/.386/.552) is in the 9 hole and your weakest bat with 200+ ABs is Chris Fornaci (.229/.408/.322) who would have a place on just about any ALPB team, that’s pretty damn good. The Ducks fought as hard as they could and they didn’t make it easy for the Legends either, but in the end Lexington matched them on the mound (some may say out did them) and they could keep up with the arms race of batters. It was a good season for both clubs and I’m sure they’ll both be back again soon.

The final set of player and pitcher of the week in 2021 are again for the same team and that team would be the Lexington Legends. Again I had to do the math by hand so it could be a bit of because of that, blame the ALPB site for not making stat tracking easy. That said the player of the week is Courtney Hawkins. Your finals MVP was electric all series long but really sprung alive the last 2 games hitting .375/.444/1.500 with 3 home runs (all in the same game) and 5 RBIs. Just a dynomite way to end the season for him. Pitcher of the week was a bit tougher because there were 2 terrific starts this week by Legends pitching but in the end J.J. Hoover’s game 3 start won out. He went 6 innings of 4 hit ball surrendering 1 run over that time. That performance won his team that game and arguably the championship as well. Hell of a job JJ. 

So let’s get to some things to watch for going forward. There’s been a lot of big trade in the past few days. Correa and Boscan for Prime and Kelly in the AAPB, Hayes, Jones, and Vega for Achenbach, Penner, and Sanchez and McGarry and Yakel for Davidson in the Frontier League. We’ll do a separate post/article breaking down these deals later in the offseason but they do indicate a trend of managers getting guys they expect to be key pieces or that they’ve previously recruited into place early and I’d be surprised if it’s stopped anytime soon. Likewise, more staff announcements are coming. Steve Brook, whom we mentioned on the podcast this week, was literally named the Grizzlies manager a couple of days ago and Ottawa got their new skipper earlier in the week. With teams like Staten Island and any other possible expansion/road teams still needing a manager, expect more hiring announcements and soon. Outside of that it’s just the standard fair of offseason moves. 

A programming note before we leave off on this series for winter. We’ll have our last alumni update for 2021 on Tuesday and after that we’ll be taking a few days to figure out what series we want to do over the winter. We already have some ideas for post/articles and the podcast is going nowhere so that much is set. But if you have any ideas be sure to comment them or email/DM them to us. We make the content for you after all, so you deserve to have a say in what we produce. That’s all I got, until next time, peace.

The Kane County Cougars are perhaps the newest team in Independent League baseball this past year; however they’re already joining in the storied tradition of the wild west of baseball, moving players back to the minors. This week’s alumni was one of the first from the team to experience this. That player would be 26 year old pitcher Tyler Viza. 

Viza started his career in 2013 after being drafted in the 32nd round by the Phillies straight out of high school. He’d spend his draft year dominating the GCL with a 1.41 ERA in 32 innings. Last thing of note in this year is Viza Card’s usage. In the 12 games he appeared in he started 6 of them. Going forward he’d start just about every game he appeared in, with the exception of 2018. But we’ll get to that later on. In 2014, the Phillies gave the teenaged Viza his first real assignment in single A Lakewood and despite what his 3-17 record may indicate he was fairly good. Again as a 19 year old Viza threw 126 innings, undoubtedly the most he’d ever thrown at that point, for a 5.26 ERA with 80 strikeouts and 24 walks. That’s not a bad season for a guy that couldn’t legally buy a beer yet. He’d improve significantly in his second year in Lakewood in 2015. This time throwing 143 innings and dropping that ERA down to 3.38 and bumping those strikeouts up to 104. The WHIP also fell from 1.55 to 1.11. You could just tell that this was the year that Viza became comfortable being a professional.

Viza’s performance earned him a promotion to start the 2016 season. He’d be with high A Clearwater until June and during that time he had done fantastic. While only throwing 50 innings for the Thrashers, Viza put up a 2.54 ERA with 55 strikeouts and only 25 baserunners. The Phillies saw that and said get up to double A Reading, and so he did. In Reading, Viza struggled a bit in 94 innings. His 4.69 ERA was complimented by 58 strikeouts and 23 walks. The HR number was also a bit up there at 12 but for a 21 year old taken in the 32nd round, Viza was already looking like a value pick. 2017 was spent entirely in Reading and the numbers were up and down. The ERA went to 5.22 but the innings went up to 140. The HR went to 20 and the walks to 48 but strikeouts went to 100. There was a lot of good in here and the numbers just obscured it. That would become clear soon.

In 2018, Viza was promoted to triple A Lehigh Valley to start the season. This wouldn’t last long as he would be sent back down to Reading at the end of April after barely getting used, although he would reappear in AAA a few more times that season. This time Viza would do much better in Reading, posting a 2.75 ERA and 8.4 K/9 while lowering his WHIP to 1.232. If you remember though, I said 2018 was a bit funky. Here’s why. Viza, a guy who was in every way, shape, and form, was used as a reliever. He still threw 87 innings and struckout 82 but he was never used as a reliever/spot starter before this and wouldn’t be used like that again. It really makes this season hard to analyze. You can’t really say he was a bad reliever because the numbers fight that point all day long but clearly the team didn’t like using him like that because he went right back to starting in 2019. Which begs the question, why use Viza in that tweener role if you never planned on making him a bullpen guy? Why mess up his development like that. I get he was 23 and on year 5 of his career at this point but that’s either still way too late to try to change his career arc or way too soon to alter his development plan. The only thing that I can think of is when Viza was injured at the end of May they wanted to change up the plan then but even that doesn’t make much sense as he wasn’t injured as a starter. Just a lot of questions there.

Anyway, in 2019 Viza would again get to start the year in Lehigh Valley, this time as a starter only. He’d battle through several stints on the IL to throw 71 innings of just poor baseball to be blunt. 7.23 ERA with a 1.732 WHIP and 17 home runs allowed just wasn’t good enough and the Phillies sent him down to Reading in July and ultimately play 1 last game for the Fightin Phils before ending the year on the IL and electing free agency in October. This year just was a good representation of his potential with all the injuries slowing him down and the wonky development of the past year. A fresh start was needed by both sides.

2020 was, as you can guess, a wash. So 2021 became the start of Tyler Viza’s Indy Ball adventure. He’d sign on with the newly unaffiliated Kane County Cougars in March and when the season started he was going. In his 14 starts with the Cougars, Viza threw a 3.05 ERA and had 96 strikeouts, leading the league in both categories for a time, with a WHIP of 1.237. The Viza Card was on fire and  looked like a frontrunner for pitcher of the year in the American Association. However, that wasn’t meant to be as on August 19th, he had his contract purchased by the San Diego Padres. The Padres would place him in double A San Antonio, where he’d make 5 starts and put up a 4.71 ERA. All in all, it was a good year to be Tyler Viza on the baseball field. 

Viza is still a young pitcher at 27 years old tomorrow (Happy Birthday Ty!) so I do believe that he has a future as a professional pitcher. I don’t know if San Diego will keep him around or if another team will take a chance on him but I do know that he has the talent and drive to be a MLBer. I do think it’ll be as a starter and I’ll be interested to see whether or not he starts the year in AAA.

The penultimate weekly roundup is here so let’s just get started. No new contracts or debuts, kinda obvious but hey. The hot teams will be pretty apparent. Lexington and Long Island. They are the last 2 indy ball teams left standing after 5 months. They each had a remarkably similar path to the championship. Both lost a very close game 1, and then took the next 2. Each had another close game, this time winning, and a blow out win. These are the teams we expected to be here on opening day and we saw why throughout this series. Each club won different games with offensive firepower, solid starting pitching, and timely bullpen support. We’ve seen that through the first 2 games of the ALCS as well. The Legends took a back and forth game 1 that got hairy in the 9th and the Ducks survived a sluggestfest through 2 innings in game 2 to win a high scoring game, evening up the series. To that end the cold teams are Southern Maryland and Charleston, as they were eliminated. No other reason, great season for each club and honestly they did better than we expected so good on them.

Player and pitcher of the week time. I’ll copy and paste what I said last week. “Again I must remind everyone that the ALPB website doesn’t allow you to filter or sort by any metric or date range so ever stat here and in the graphic was hand counted and calculated, so we may be off by a little bit.” That out of the way, this week we have a pair of Ducks earning honors. The batter of the week is Chris Shaw. Shaw hit a pair of home runs and drove in 5 runs after scoring 5 himself. He got a hit in a third of his at bats this week and that offensive production is a large reason the Ducks are 2 wins away from defending their Atlantic League title. The pitcher of the week is Scott Harkin. Harkin went out and threw a gem to even up the NDCS in game 2. He went 7 strong allowing 4 hits and no walks, no runs. Harkin did strikeout 6 and that performance has him as our pitcher of the week.

Let’s end with things to watch for this week. The ALCS is about it, the lone series left in the Indy Ball season should conclude Tuesday at the earliest and Wednesday at the latest so enjoy it while we have it. After that just look forward to the standard offseason fair of transactions and new league line ups, because that’s all we’ll get until baseball starts again in April. That’s all I got, until next week peace.

It’s time for another Alumni Update. This week we look at a player that had the opportunity to go back home, refine his craft, and reemerge in affiliated ball as a better ball player. That player of course is Gastonia’s own Reilly Hovis. Hovis got his start in professional baseball in 2016 after getting drafted by the Marlins the year prior. Miami would have Hovis start and stay the whole year in A- Batavia. There he was used half as a starter and half as a reliever and that, I think, contributed to some struggles. He posted a 5.36 ERA in 17 games, 7 starts with 1.426 WHIP. The strikeouts were ok with a 7.5 K/9 as well. This year just seems like player miss management and the effects of returning from an elbow injury (his 2015 season at UNC-Chapel Hill ended after 3IP) to me. I confidently say this as it’ll be another 5 years before Hovis would start another game, more on that later. We head to 2017 and this time Hovis would play in single A Greensboro for the whole year. This time he was exclusively a bullpen arm and there was a very noticeable improvement. Hovis would play 29 innings over 22 games and post a 3.38 ERA with a very nice 1.057 WHIP and 35 strikeouts (10.5/ per 9). It seemed as though he was progressing well now having found his role, the Marlins agreed.

In 2018, Hovis would again start the season in Greensboro but would only stay for a week before being moved up to high A Jupiter. He’d do very well to start the year posting a 3.43 ERA in 16 games from April 19 through June 18. Moreover, Hovis was stubbing hitters as they only managed to slash .211/.268/.278 off of him. The Marlins like this and thought it warranted a promotion to AA Jacksonville. Now in AA, Hovis struggled to adapt to the upgrade in competition. In his 12 games in Jacksonville, the 24 year old righty allowed 15 earned runs and 16 walks. His strikeouts were good with about 1 an inning but he was getting hit hard as show by that opponent slash of .291/.408/.465. In early august, the Marlin sent Hovis back to Jupiter to relative success.

Over the winter of 2019, Hovis would be released and become a free agent. It’s here where his Indy Ball journey would start. Sioux Falls would be stop number 1. He’d stay here until being released in the end of August after posting a 8.76 ERA in 25 innings with 12 walks and 33 strikeouts. Later that same week, Hovis would land north of the border in la provence with the Quebec Capitales. There he finished the Can-Am season with 22 innings pitched in 15 games, good for a 1.23 ERA and 1.136 WHIP with 31 innings pitched. It became clear that Hovis was better than the Can-Am but not quite at the next level yet. That leads to the blackhole that was the 2020 season. He, like most, didn’t play as a result of the pandemic. This break might have been for the best as he was given a rare opportunity from this. The chance to play for his hometown’s team.

Hovis would start the 2021 campaign with the upstart Gastonia Honey Hunters of the Atlantic League. This was the perfect chance for the now 27 year old to revamp his career against high level competition and return to the affiliated ranks. Hovis started in the pen but after injuries plagued the rotation he’d be moved there to plug the gap. He did so well that he only lasted 6 games in the ALPB. Hovis posted a 2.96 ERA in those 6 games, including 3 starts, with a 1.027 WHIP and 21 strikeouts all in 25 innings. This impressed the Toronto Blue Jays, who purchased his contract on June 23.

Hovis was assigned to AA New Hampshire and has been used as starter near exclusively. His AA season was limited to the last week of June though the first week of September as he landed on the IL on the 7th of September. That said he had a rough go of it. Never able to string together good starts, Hovis’ ERA rose to 6.53 and a WHIP of 1.627. His strikeouts were low at just 37 in 51 innings. What’s clear to me is that Hovis is a good pitcher, he has power and can knock down batters. That said, he’s not a starter. Every time he starts it goes south and every time he comes out of the bullpen he’s a reliable piece. Toronto, and any other organization he plays for, need to keep him in the pen to get the best out of him.

As you have likely heard already the Southern Illinois Miners have played their final game. The club announced on Wednesday (10/6) that owners Jayne and John Simmons would be retiring from the Frontier League and taking the team with them. This has taken fans and some near the Frontier League by surprise but others in the industry seem to have been in the know on this one. Which makes sense, attendance across the board in Indy Ball has been falling over the last decade and after a year with no baseball the bottom line must be sore. That said, the Miners provided over a decade of family fun for fans and opportunities for players to get to the big leagues, so their new absence in the baseball world will be felt. Likewise, the Frontier League has gone from an even 14 teams to an unlucky and uneven 13 teams. 

This means the league will need to find a way to get back to an even number quickly or they’ll have a very difficult time working out a schedule for 2022. We’ve been told that the league felt no urgency to expand in the past and as recent as August of this year. I’d have to imagine that changes now. There are some areas with open ballparks that could solve this problem with minimum movement, those being Old Orchard Beach and Atlantic City but those towns come with their own issues and I imagine that if the Frontier League was high on them, they’d already be members of the league. It's also entirely possible that another team in the Frontier League could fold. We've known for years that certain clubs have had issues with finances and after the brutality of 2020 and 2021, it'd be far from shocking to see the herd of teams thinned. There's also been whispers of some teams looking to defect to another partner league. Now the logistics of that aren't going to be worked out over night but that is yet another way to get back to even.

There is another solution to the issue. Southern Illinois could get another team back. The Simmons still own the 7k seat ballpark in Marion and the league has explicitly expressed interest in returning to the city. In a similar vein, the Simmons teased an announcement on the future of Rent One Field in the coming months. Now that could mean something minor like food/music festivals and HS games or it could mean something major like a new pro team in Marion. The city itself has expressed interest in trying to reconfigure the field to be more accommodating to other sports. This might hold more weight as the taxpayers of Marion are still paying for the stadium, roughly $600k per year until 2036 or the stadium is paid off in full, whichever comes first. If the public is paying for that park I’d expect that their reps are going to use some pressure to get the outcome that’s wanted by most. Everything is just up in the air right now, so it’s hard to say what will be the final outcome of this situation. We’ll keep you updated as more comes to light.

We have finally reached the last week of the regular season in Indy Ball, let’s get busy recapping it. As you may have guessed, there’s no new MLB debuts or contract purchases in the Indy Ball world. As for hot teams really there are two of them. Long Island has gotten into playoff form this week and in the process made the end of the season much more entertaining. The Ducks are riding a 4 game winning streak which means they are tied with one other team, we’ll get to them in a minute, atop the division without the tiebreaker in their favor. This doesn’t really matter to LI as they already have a playoff spot locked up from the first half, and as a result of that they’ll have to win the division outright to take the 2nd half crown. However, it does matter to High Point because they need the Ducks to win the division to open up a wildcard spot, which they have clinched should it be opened, and make the postseason. The Blue Crabs, our second hot team, have other plans. After winning 3 in a row and 5 of their last 6, they now control their own destiny. A win and the Crabs are in, a Ducks lose and the Crabs are in. The only way Southern Maryland will miss the postseason is losing today and a Revs lose. That brings us to the cold team. The Revs have lost 3 in a row after a very nice stretch to start the month, and have now eliminated themselves from postseason contention. Which is honestly for the best as I think we can all acknowledge that they would have been in over their head in the postseason. 

So player and pitcher of the week time. Again I must remind everyone that the ALPB website doesn’t allow you to filter or sort by any metric or date range so ever stat here and in the graphic was hand counted and calculated, so we may be off by a little bit. Ok, with that disclaimer out of the way on to the guys. Player of the Week is from Southern Maryland and his name is Alex Crosby. Crosby hit .391/.391/.608 with a home run and 3 RBIs this week. Not to mention the 7 runs scored and the massive ⅗ game this week where he hit a HR and scored 3 runs. Solid week that could be the thing that gets the Crabs into the postseason.

Pitcher of the Week comes from Gastonia and that guy is Sam Burton. Burton just seems to have a grudge against the Legends because he just straight shoves against them. This time he threw 7 innings of 1 run ball including 10 strikeouts and 5 walks. In a season that is otherwise a wash for that Honey Hunters team, Burton’s start against the playoff bound Legends is certainly a bright spot.

Let’s end this quickly with some things to watch for this week. The regular season ends tonight and with it finally comes some playoff clarity. That in and of itself is something to watch for but playoff clarity means nothing without playoffs themselves. Those start on Monday aka tomorrow. The first round is just a best of 3 so that’ll be over fairly quickly and that means we will soon be at the end of the Indy Bal season in 2021. That said expect to hear something out Staten Island involving their identity and more coming in the near future. I’ll elaborate more on that point in later weeks. That said, I’m all tapped. So until next week, peace.

We continue our alumni update series with another young pitcher this week, and this guy is from not only my home state but literally from 2 towns over. That pitcher would but no other than the pride of Livingston, NJ, James Meeker. Meeker starter his pro career in 2018 after going undrafted out of the University of Delaware. At UDel he was used as a reliever and on occasion a short stop as. In fact, before Meeker transferred to Delaware he was an Akron Zip and used as a corner infielder. He hit very well there and in summer ball too, slashing .296/.364/.362 with 2 home runs across 699 ABs between the two. He has yet to get a professional at bat though, and if the current trend of DH inclusion continues he likely won’t get the chance and I honestly think that’s a shame. 

Anyway all that’s besides the point. Meeker, having gone undrafted, joined the Washington Wildthings in 2018 and he’d remain there until mid way through this season. Regardless, that year 1 only yielded 30 innings over 19 games for the big righty. It was an overall smooth transition into pro ball as shown by his 3.94 ERA but with his 1.213 WHIP and 7.9 k/9 he showed that there was a lot more left to be seen. In 2019, now entering his first full professional season, Meeker came out and became one of the big pieces of a solid Wildthing bullpen. While the team as a whole underperformed, Meeker sure didn’t with a 3.17 ERA (3rd among pitchers with 20+ innings pitched for WSH) and 1.07 WHIP. Oh and that k/9 went to 9.5, a 1.6 strikeout jump! Keep in mind that Meeker’s work lot increased to 40 games and 54 innings during this season. The man was showing a lot of improvement and looked poised to have a breakout year in 2020. Now that didn’t happen because, you know, a global pandemic occurred and made all but 2 north american baseball leagues halt operations for a year. Meeker did get some work in with the Yinz league but that was less than 10 innings so it wasn’t much. 

2021 the breakout was on though. He’d only thrown in 30 games (32 innings) for the Wildthings but Meeker struckout 43, walked 10, and allowed 0 runs. A Peyton Gray-esque performance, some would argue better. It was at this point that affiliated ball had to grab him and on August 13 James Meeker would officially join the Brewers organization. Milwaukee would place the 26 year old in low A Carolina. Here the scoreless streak unfortunately ended but he still only allowed 4 runs (1 ER) in 18 innings while striking out 22 and walking only 5. Not bad at all. Hopefully Meeker will get to start 2022 in AA or higher because I see him as a guy that definitely has the potential to make a major league roster one day.

We have just a month left in the Indy Ball season but there was a lot of action from the past week so let’s get busy reviewing it. No new debuts or contract purchases, so we can move right all to who’s hot and who’s not. No action for the American Association as their season is already finished.

The Frontier League however did play 1 game, game 5 of the FLCS. This one should have been a lot closer than it turned out to be. Schaumburg scored early and often off of Ryan Hennen and Darren Osby and this Wildthings only managed to push across a few meaningless runs late in the ninth off of FLCS MVP Kyle Arjona. The Boomers win their 4th Frontier League title in a commanding 10-4 victory. In all honesty, the Boomers defied our expectations. I recall having them in the postseason in the season preview however nobody that covered the Frontier League had them winning it all and managed to do just that. While I do wonder how different things would have been in a regular season with 2 conferences as opposed to the 4 divisions we got, at the end of the day the Boomers played the hand  they were dealt and beat a Florence team that, on paper, should have swept them and then went of to beat up one of the hotter teams in the league in Washington. Their hitting finally got in sync with the pitching and when that happens, this is going to be the result more often than not. That said good on Washington. They needed to play great baseball down the stretch to catch the Miners, and while Sussex certainly helped them out, they managed to do just that. They fought hard to come back against Quebec and did managed to get Schaumburg on the ropes, they just happened to have their star starter have a bad start and the opposing starter threw lights out ball. That happens, that’s baseball. 

That said we move to the Atlantic League. The Ducks didn’t have the best week to end September/start October. 2-5 on the week and 3-7 in their last 10 and dropped their last 4. Now this would be concerning but they already have a playoff spot locked up and remain in 1st place by a half game. It’s almost as though the Ducks are trying their best to get the Blue Crabs in round 1 instead of High Point/Charleston. Speaking of SoMD, very cute last week guys. In the future, I’ll have to put the name and logo on each graphic to draw up more traffic to the page. Oh and the hot team from the ALPB is Lexington. I say hot but I really mean luke warm because no one is really lighting the world on fire at the moment. The Legends come the closest with a 4-2 week, which is encouraging to see as they’ve played pretty poorly for most of the 2nd half. 

Player and Pitcher of the Week this week both come from the Atlantic League (duh). I caution that the numbers here are all hand drawn as the ALPB website doesn’t sort by dates, so I had to go into each box score and copy the numbers down then plug them in to get a result. That’s a large reason for the late release today. That said, player of the week is Alberto Callaspo from the West Virginia Power/Charleston Dirty Birds. The former MLBer hit .391/.517/.521 with 6 runs scored and 6 walks while adding in 2 RBIs. Very nice week for one of the guys powering the most dynamic teams of the 2nd half. Pitcher of the week is Joe Iorio from the Long Island Ducks. Just a 5 inning start from Iorio but he only allowed 5 hits and 1 walk so that’s good enough to be our pitcher of the week.

Things to watch for this week is really just 1 thing; Playoff race. That’s it, just the 2 division races and the possible wildcard race. Until next week, peace.

We continue with another Alumni Update this week, but we are going back to the class of 2020 for this week’s spotlight. He was quite literally perfect for the Milwaukee Milkmen in 2020 and for that Peyton Gray is this week’s Alumni Update.

Gray’s career started in 2018 after going undrafted out of Florida Gulf Coast University, he’d sign with the Colorado Rockies organization. The Rockies in turn placed him in low A Boise and began to use Gray as a reliever exclusively. This has remained the same everywhere he’s gone and will almost certainly continue (at FGCU Gray was a 66/33 reliever, meaning he started about ⅓ his games). In Boise, Gray did very well in his 16 games throwing 21 innings for a 2.11 ERA and 3 walks to 36 strikeouts. A very promising start for the 23 year old righty. However, adversity would soon catch up to him as 2019 would start and end in July. After only 3 combined innings between Grand Junction (Rookie Ball) and Boise, Gray’s season would come to a quick conclusion. I don’t know why Gray didn’t play in more game this year. It doesn’t list any IL stints on his MiLB.com page and the short A season runs through August, so unless there was a personal issue or undocumented injury Gray was just shutdown after 3 innings for no reason. It’s pointless to talk about stats for 2019 with a sample size so small, there is no way to draw any conclusions from it. 

In February in 2020, Gray would get released by the Rockies and shortly after he’d start his Indy Ball journey with the Milwaukee Milkmen. Here is where Gray jumped on to most of our radars. In an altered 60 game pandemic season in the shortened 6 team American Association, Peyton Gray put on what might be one of the most impressive pitching performances of the last 10 years. Under the external pressure of a global pandemic, Gray threw 32 innings in 30 games and struck out 56 while allowing only 24 baserunners. This alone would be an incredibly impressive feat as the usually difficult AAPB was even more talented with some affiliated prospects playing in the league and removal of roster restrictions for the 2020 season invited the best of the best to play. Yet, it gets even more impressive. Gray didn’t allow a single run all year. Not 1 run, earned or otherwise. His scoreless streak ran for 32.2 IP from July 3rd to September 12th, when Clint Coulter hit a garbage-time solo shot with 2 outs in the 9th. Still this was an incredible feat which played a large part in the Milkmen winning their first AAPB championship in 5 games over Sioux Falls.

With a performance like that it was no surprise when the Kansas City Royals purchased his contract on September 29. The Royals would start Gray in double A-NW Arkansas; however after a month there it was clear Gray was struggling and he was demoted to high A-Quad City. He’d stay here for the rest of the year, sans a quick 2 day trip to low A-Columbia in which he threw a 6 out, 1 hit save. Gray did very well in QC, posting a 1.26 ERA in 29 innings with 7 saves and 2 wins and he posted a 1.081 WHIP. He looked to be close to earning another shot in double AA but then calamity struck. In an August 13 game against Beloit, Gray would be forced to remove himself from the game after striking out the side in the 9th with an apparent elbow injury. This injury was worse than thought and required season ending surgery on his elbow. How severe and how much of the offseason will be lost to rehab is yet to be seen but Gray is a battler that will be able to come back next year and hopefully get that shot in double A. 

Peyton Gray has thrown 2 quality seasons back to back and I’d expected to see a 3rd from him if that elbow heals right.

We are rapidly running out of leagues to talk about in these round ups but we do have a lot this week, so let’s get busy. No new debuts or contract purchases this week. The hot clubs this week get started with the West Virginia Power. The soon to be renamed Power have won their last 5 games and taken a commanding 2.5 game lead in the south division. A team that looked very sluggish in the first half have sprung to life as of late and look to be finishing strong. In the Frontier League, it’s awfully tough to pick a hot team as there’s 2 left: Schaumburg & Washington. Both of those clubs are tied at 2 games a piece with a winner take all game 5 scheduled for later tonight. So I suppose they are both hot. Let's just say Schaumburg is hotter because they’re coming off a victory and have played fewer playoff games. It’s no surprise that Kansas City is the hot hand in the AAPB. They not only won the league championship but they managed to become only the 2nd ever team to win every playoff game they played in, a perfect 6-0. Add on the sweep of Cleburne before the playoffs started and that makes an even 10 straight victories for the Monarchs. And one last fun fact about the Monarchs before we move on, they only lost 1 game in the month of September.

On the cold front, Fargo is the only option for cold from the AAPB, even though they were swept by the Monarchs the Redhawks had a solid series and season. I guess we’ll pick Quebec from the Frontier League as they are the most recent playoff exit. They dropped games 4 and 5 to Washington, eliminating EQ. Still a good season from them. In the ALPB it’s a lot easier. The Blue Crabs nearly avoided dropping their 5th straight after a 9th inning rally and 10th inning HR to beat Lankister. However, they’ve dropped a lot of games and are falling quickly out of the north division race. Their playoff hopes fall on either winning the north or snatching the wildcard spot from High Point/West Virginia. There’s a lot of work left to be done for the crustanen nation if they want to end their playoff drought.

So we move on to the players of the week. First up is the pitcher of the week. He comes from the Washington Wild Things and that player is reliever BJ Sabol. Sabol threw in 4 games this week for 6.2 innings including a gutsy 3 inning performance in game 2 where he secured the win. To that extent, Sabol also K’d 12 and allowed 7 baserunners in that time. Great job BJ on a stellar week. As for batter of the week, that belongs to Matt Bottcher from the Schaumburg Boomers. Bottcher slashed .375/.375/.438 with an RBI. He’s been a very important piece of the offense for Schaumburg. Solid week for Matt, good on ya.

We have a lot less to watch for this week as everyone wraps up the season. However the ALPB playoff race is reaching the fever pitch as SoMD has their playoff fate dangling and WV and HP duke it out for the south. Meanwhile, game 5 in the FLCS is tonight Schaumburg has bookend wins after Washington took the middle games. It should be Arjona v Hennen tonight and that match up is worth a watch/listen alone. One last note SI will be wrapping up the name the team contest on Friday so that is something and WV’s rebrand goes into effect on Tuesday. That’s all I got until next week, peace.

We have a true veteran of Indy Ball this week in our alumni update. This pitcher spent the better part of the past 10 years in ALPB and Frontier League and this player is of course the big righty David Kubiak. Kubiak started his career in 2011 after being drafted in the 36th round by the Tampa Bay Rays. The SUNY-Albany product would be placed in the Gulf Coast League for a few weeks but would be up in the Appalachian League by mid-July. The season would end after just 15 appearances between both levels and Kubiak would finish with a statline you’d expect to see from a 21 year old rookie, a 3.20 ERA in 25 innings with a very good 1.18 WHIP.

The Rays had other plans and the two parted ways at the end of the season. This began Kubiak’s Indy Ball journey. In July of 2012, he signed with the Evansville Otters in the Frontier League and made 19 appearances out of the bullpen to the tune of a 3.90 ERA and increased walk rate. All in all, you could tell there was a bit of a rough transition into a higher level of competition. That rocky 2012 would lead to a forced vacation in 2013 and with that we fast forward to 2014.

Kubiak would start the year in Southern Illinois before moving on to Joliet to finish the year. I don’t know why SI let him go but the season was pure art from Kubiak. He posted a 1.50 ERA in 48 innings in relief and had a 0.896 WHIP with 56 strikeouts. Just immaculate work from the now 24 year old who just a year earlier was hard pressed to find work. Heading into 2015, Kubiak remained in Joliet and again did very well in 26 games as a reliever however this time the Slammers let him start 7 games as well. This marked a turning point in the 25 year old righty’s career as going forward he’d only pitch in relief 30 more times in 150 or so appearances. He ended his final Frontier League season with 2.16 ERA in 95.2 IP and 1.11 WHIP. Oh and he struck out 23% of batters he faced that year. This caught the attention of the Atlantic League. 

Kubiak would start 2016 close to home in Bridgeport, CT with the now defunct Bluefish. He’d spend about 2 weeks there before the Yankees purchased his contract. He was back in affiliated ball. Unfortunately, it would be a short lived stint. After just 6 innings the Yankees would option Kubiak down to extended spring training for a month and eventually releasing him at the end of June. Soon after he’d rejoin the Bluefish for the final stretch of the season, There Kubiak got to start 15 games plus 5 others in relief and got to a career high 101 innings pitched. He seamlessly made the transition to the ALPB posting a 3.75 ERA with 106 strikeouts and 31 walks. In 2017 Kubiak moved to his most well known team, the now affiliated Somerset Patriots. All he did here was grow to be one of the most effective ALPB pitchers in recent history. After being named to the Liberty Division all-star team Kubiak went out and post a 1.14 WHIP and 3rd on the team for ERA among starters (min 9 starts) and 2nd in strikeouts. A tremendous season for Kubiak. 2018 would have him start in Mexico for Puebla but that would end after 2 weeks returning him to Somerset. There’d be another 3 week stint in Mexico with Durango in August before he’d return for September. All in all it was another fine year for Kubiak posting a slightly higher WHIP with a lower ERA, essentially a repeat of 2017.

It was now 2019 and Kubiak was entering his age 29 season. The big righty was now a prime target to head to Mexico with a good start to the season and that’s exactly what happened. In what could be called his best year of his career Kubiak only got to the 4th of July in the ALPB before heading to Mexico to play for Union Laguna. He only made 12 starts but they were pure magic. In 82 innings Kubiak posted a 1.76 ERA, .902 WHIP, 82 strikeouts, and allowed only 80 baserunners or roughly 7 per start. Even in that small sample size there were many, including myself, that believed he deserved to be named pitcher of the year. We can skip over Mexico but he did okay with a limited body of work. He did play in the Somerset pop up league in 2020 but that’s nothing of serious note.

That brings us to 2021. Now 31 Kubiak joined the newly independent West Virginia Power and had done well given the league’s current setup. In 44 innings he posted a 4.30 ERA and a 1.182 WHIP with 36 Ks. That all changed on August 26 when Kubiak once again rejoined affiliated ball, this time with the Rangers organization. He was assigned to AAA Round Rock  and knowing this could be his last best chance at making the majors took full advantage of the opportunity. As of today, Kubiak has dropped his WHIP to 1.14, his ERA has lowered to 3.43, and he’s struck 19 out in 21 innings across 4 games and 3 starts. In fact if you remove his last game, Kubiak’s ERA drops to 1.68. The long and short is simple. David Kubiak will always be one of the best Indy Ball pitchers of the last decade and after a decade plus of grinding is proving that he still can pitch and pitch at a high level, just putting down dozens of batters via the strikeout. I sincerely hope that the Rangers, in a totally lost cause of a season, give this guy 1 start in the dying days of the 2021 season. If they do, they may just find out the thing that all us Indy Ball fans have known for years, this guy is really good at throwing a baseball.

Playoffs are a buzz this week and other races are heating up. Let’s get some paperwork out of the way and then get into baseball on the field. No new contract purchases this week, but we do have a major league debut. Kaleb Ort made his MLB debut for the Boston Red Sox this week. He had spent 21 games and 12 starts with the Joliet Slammers in 2016-17 and posted a 5.86 ERA in his time there before being purchased by the Yankees. Congrats to Kaleb.

The American Association and Frontier League playoffs got into action this week and the Monarchs maintained their torrent pace having now won 9 in a row and just 1 more win from their first championship since 2018. They managed to outscore their round 1 opponent 36-10. That opponent would be the Sioux City Explorers who defeated Cleburne in the wildcard game. The Xs lost the next 3 games 11-2, 11-6, and 14-2. The Redhawks conjured dark magic and defeated the Chicago Dogs in a dazzling 5 game series. The ‘Hawks need to do that again and win 3 straight if they want to win their first AAPB title.

The Frontier League meanwhile is still trying to find it’s second finalist, which will happen later today. The first team in is also the first team to win a playoff spot, the Schaumberg Boomers. The Boomers upset the relative favorite West Division champion Florence Y’alls in 4 games. Timely hitting with quality pitching did the Y’alls in. Meanwhile north of the border the controversial Atlantic Division champion Equipe Quebec is tied up at 2 games a piece with the Washington Wildthings after a series of quality pitching matchups. We’ll see who gets the nod for Washington with Hennen on the inactive list but it shouldn’t be hard for EQ as they an obvious choice, our pitcher of the week.

The pitcher of the week for this week is Equipe Quebec’s Jared Mortensen. His game 1 start in Washington was amazing as he only surrendered 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8 in 7 shutout innings. He should get the ball for today’s win or go home game 5. The batter of the week, this week belongs to the Chicago Dogs in TJ Bennett. Bennett left his mark of the postseason in just 4 games he hit 3 home runs, 8 RBIs, and drew a pair of walks. Oh and he slashed an astronomical .667/.722/1.400. That slugging percentage is not a typo, TJ actually slugged over 1.000 in 4 games for an OPS over 2! If that’s not player of the week worthy I don’t know what is.

Wrapping up the week, 5 things to watch for. Obviously, the AAPB and Frontier League championships are happening this week. The AAPB may be wrapping up sooner than later but the FLCS is just getting started so be on the watch for that. The ALPB wildcard and South Division races are also heating up and there is a scenario that has High Point missing the postseason despite the team finishing with the best record. Definitely look out for that. Also as more teams have their season’s ended the more player movement will occur and with the active GMs in the ALPB, I can guarantee you they’re circling over that Monarchs roster. Keep an eye on that. That’s all I have for now, until next week peace.

This week we look at a more traditional path for a player in Indy Ball with Frank Duncan. Duncan pitched  years at the University of Kansas mainly as a starter and was drafted in the 39th round by the Indians. Duncan opted to return for his senior year in an attempt to boost his draft stock. He succeeded in this by posting a 2.58 ERA in 16 starts with a walk rate of 1.1 per 9. This impressed the Pirates enough to spend their 13th round pick on him. So the 22 year old Duncan would start his professional career in the NY-Penn League (A-). Only throwing 65 more innings across 14 starts in Jamestown, he finished the 2014 season with a 3.58 ERA and a 1.316 WHIP. Not bad for a rookie. 2015 would see Duncan spending the full season in high A Bradenton of the Florida State League. He’d throw a career high 152 innings over which he’d walk just 19 batters! The ERA did jump up to 4.32 but that’s hardly a bad ERA, especially over 25 starts. Clearly Pittsburgh thought highly of the pitcher going into year 3 as they started him in AA Altoona. That didn’t even last a month though as they quickly moved Duncan up to AAA Indianapolis, one step away. There is where he’d spend the rest of the year, sans a quick 6 day stint in AA in June, and he did great. The 24 year old righty would throw 112 innings for a 2.33 ERA in 20 starts. Add on 92 strikeouts, 29 walks, and a 1.205 WHIP and you get an International League All-Star game appearance like Frank Duncan did. 

Going into 2017 Duncan was as close as ever to the majors. He had earned a non-roster spring training invite in January for the Pirates, and by March was a member of the D-Backs organization after a trade. Arizona would start Duncan in AAA Reno. This wouldn’t have been an issue if not for one small issue, Reno is in the hitter's paradise known as the PCL. There he got beat up, posting career highs in walks (39), ERA (6.94), WHIP (1.777), and HRA (19) before being sent down to AA Jackson where his numbers returned to career norms. 2017 was rough but how much of that is on Duncan and how much of that is on playing in the PCL is a fair argument to have. Either way the D-Backs were going to let another organization have it as they let him go for 2018 and the LA Dodgers took a chance this time, starting him in AA Tulsa. That experiment lasted 6 starts and a 5.79 ERA later Duncan was a free agent again. That didn’t last long as just a few weeks later the Rockies would scoop him up and place him in AA Hartford. That’s where Duncan would finish a disappointing season. The Hartford stat line ended with a 4.84 ERA, 1.370 WHIP, in 16 games and 10 starts. Colorado would invite him to spring training in 2019 but the now 27 year old would be cut in late March. 

That’s where his Indy Ball story starts. In the Can-Am League’s swan song season Duncan would sign with the Sussex County Miners. That season he got back to form, capturing an All-Star game appearance alongside his Pitcher of the Year award. The regular season ended with 3.05 ERA and 111 strikeouts across 133 innings and a sub 1 WHIP of 0.972. For those unaware of how impressive this was, the closest player to Duncan in WHIP had a 1.112 in 24 fewer innings and spent 46 games in MLB with the Phillies (Phillippe Aumont, for those curious). That year Duncan had also led the league in IP. 2019 ended in a championship series appearance for the Miners in no small part to Duncan’s work on the mound. 2020 would be lost for most of baseball but Duncan found himself in the one league that wasn’t: the American Association. He’d play that year with the Winnipeg Goldeyes, who themselves had the challenge of being temporarily displaced, and it wasn’t great. In the same way golfers get a breakfast ball, players get a pandemic year. Duncan threw a 4.85 ERA in 76 innings with 1.526 WHIP for the Goldeyes. No need to inspect it, the year was out of sorts and that makes getting into a routine extra hard, chalk it up to that. That gets us to current day. Duncan was slated to play for the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks this year but had his contract transferred to Colorado a week before the season began.

Back in AA Hartford and now 29, Duncan wasn’t going to let this chance slip away and that became clear quickly. In his 8 starts in AA, Duncan posted a 2.76 ERA with 33 Ks to 6 BBs and he allowed 43 hits in 42 innings, not bad. The Rockies made the call on July 1st to send Duncan to AAA Albuquerque in the PCL. It was time to slay the demon. Since that call up to AAA, Duncan has made 12 starts for 64 innings. His ERA has been solid at 4.22 (the best among ALQ starters), his WHIP has been elite among starters at 1.203. Only 3 starters with 12 or more starts have a better WHIP and all of them have MLB service time. Oh and he has 61 strikeouts. As good as those numbers are, he's been even better as of recent. See that statline includes back to back starts in Vegas, arguably the worst place to play as a pitcher. Remove those 2 starts and his ERA falls like a rock to 2.67, over a run and a half better. Oh and in September his ERA is 1.50. Frank Duncan is a ball player and he deserves a shot to pitch in the major leagues in another lost year for the Rockies. The man has overcome his past challenges and is playing the best baseball of his career in the toughest setting against best competition he’s ever faced. So how about the Rockies reward a guy that’s battled his way through every step and give a guy his first MLB start.

Alright we start off this weekly round up with an MLB debut. Brandyn Sittinger made his MLB debut this week for the D-Backs throwing a scoreless inning of work in relief. He was previously a member of the 2019 Evansville Otters before being signed by Arizona in late 2019. We’re closing in on the end of the year so let’s talk about some more hot teams. In the Frontier League, the Y’alls went 8-2 to take over possession of 1st place in the West and after an Otters loss clinched the division. They will be playing the Boomers in round 1. Elsewhere in the AAPB, The Monarchs went 9-1 with a 4 game winning streak to end their regular season campaign. Since then the 69 win club has taken 2 straight against Sioux City in the SDCS and looks well on their way to a championship berth. And in the Atlantic League the Long Island Ducks are back to their winning ways with a 7 game win streak they’ve ridden into first place in the North. Meanwhile on the other side of the tracks, Lankister is not doing well having now fallen to last in the North on the heels of a 7 game losing streak. While in the Frontier League the Miners collapse came to a crashing halt as they were eliminated from playoff contention following a 2-8 stretch which includes the back breaking loss to Tri-City. Then in the AAPB, Winnipeg only won 2 of their last 10 and finished the year on a 4 game losing skid. Player and pitcher of the week this week both come from the Frontier League. 

From the New York Boulders Ray Hernandez is our player of the week. Hernandez slashed .452/.500/.871 with 3 bombs and 4 stolen bases in 7 games this week. A solid week for the Frontier League’s home run leader. Pitcher of the week belongs to Codie Paiva from Equipe Quebec who threw 7 shutout innings this week with 6 ks as EQ continues their playoff push. We have some football to get to so let’s wrap this up quickly shall we. Things to watch for this week, the playoffs in both the AAPB and the Frontier League will start/continue this week with the Divisional rounds. Likewise today is the last day of the Frontier League season and in an hour Quebec will have a chance to clinch the final playoff spot with a win and in scenario. Tri-City is still alive but could be done by their first pitch at 5. Also the ALPB playoff hunt should start heating up with just a month left in their season. That will make them the lone partner league in North America, so expect to see players from eliminated clubs start to filter on over there over the next couple days. That’s all I got until next week, peace. 

This week we have something totally different for you in our alumni update. This pitcher has only played 1 professional season and had quite a journey to get into his current position. That pitcher is Troy Cruz. Cruz played 5 seasons of college ball at the University of California at San Diego as a dual threat player-pitcher combo, mainly as a 3rd baseman and a starter. His 2014 sophomore season was by far the breakout season for Cruz’s collegiate career. As a pitcher he started 13 of his 15 games and threw over 85 innings for a 2.90 ERA and a 8-3 record. Not to mention 48 strikeouts to 20 walks. At the dish, Cruz hit .326/.407/.424 and 14 extra base hits in 54 games. 2015 he was even better, the high watermark of his college career. Batting .263/.419/.322 and only 9 extra base hits in 57 games. On the mound, he threw 70 innings for a 2.83 ERA and a 6-5 record. Now that might seem better but it will when I show you his 1.8 BB/9 and 8.6 K/9 rates. Oh and that was up from 2.1 BB/9 and 5 K/9 the year prior, granted his WHIP did rise from 1.195 to 1.2 in that time but Troy Cruz was a rising stud on the mound until his senior year was cut short by an arm injury. 

That kept him out for most of the year and luckily Cruz was granted an extra year of eligibility. He posted a 3.96 ERA in 77 innings, mostly in relief. This was his worst year but even wasn’t bad when you consider he was the most often arm out of the bullpen throwing the 3rd most innings on the team. Still this season among other factors knocked him out of baseball as a player until this 2021 season. Before we talk about that let’s talk about what he did in the meanwhile from the summer of 2017 to the spring of 2021. Well at first he volunteered at his alma mater UCSD for a year and then got a job with MLB. This job was technically in data ops but he was essentially a clubhouse cop whose job was to make sure teams weren’t stealing signs like the Astros. He continued playing in Mexico on the weekends at a lower level and was supposed to play in Australia until COVID hit. He was able to stay sharp by working out with players in the greater San Diego area. 

That’s when he got the opportunity to play for Pete Incaviglia with the ValleyCats. Well Cruz didn’t last long there and might possibly be the only player to be featured in this series with less than a month of Indy Ball experience. He was signed by Tri-City on the 26th of June and got picked up by the Marlins on July 17 after just four appearances where he posted a 5.40 ERA with 9 Ks and a walk in 5 innings. Given the small sample size it was anyone’s guess what the 27 year old 5’8 158 righty would do for Miaimi. Well after being assigned to High A Jupiter on the 22nd of July he straight pushed. 4-1 with a 2.79 ERA in 10 games and 19.1 IP. Oh and his WHIP 1.086 with a K/9 of 7 and a 2.8 BB/9! I was kinda surprised the Marlins didn’t move him up to AA given his age but if continues to play like this he’ll leave them with no choice but to give him a bigger stage to pitch on and I think Cruz will live up to it.

For more on Troy Cruz’s remarkable road here check out Mark Singelais article on him.

WRITTEN ON SEPTEMBER 4TH

We’re back from vacation and it’s been a busy week so let’s get going. No contract purchases this week but Alberto Baldonado made his major league debut this week with the Nationals. He was with High Point in 2019, congrats to him on making the show. 

The Redhawks we’re hot this week clinching a playoff spot but unfortunately they’ll not be winning the North as the Dogs need just 1 more win or Redhawk lose to do so. Still 7-3 and a 3 game winning streak is nothing to sneeze at. The Canaries on the other hand are limping to the finish line with 1-9 record in their last 10 including a no hitter against on Saturday. However, one team that isn’t struggling is the Washington Wildthings. They’ve won 6 in a row and are now 4 games up on the coldest team in the Frontier League the Sussex County Miners. Those thangz have only lost 2 games in the last 10 and can all but lock up this division with a win tomorrow against those Miners. More on them. The Miners have dropped 4 in a row and 6 of their last 10. Without a series win in their last 3 series, this team will need to take both games left in this series if they want to have a chance at the postseason. In the Atlantic League, York is 2 back in the North after a 4 game winning streak and a series win over Long Island. Gastonia meanwhile is free falling after losing 6 in a row and getting swept by High Point. But there’s still a ton of time left over there. 

Player and pitcher of the week come from the middle of the country this week. The batter of the week is Braxton Davison from the Schaumburg Boomers. He batted an eye popping .654/.727/1.462 with 6 homers and 15 RBIs! Just a crazy slash line from him. The flipside pitcher of the week is Tyler Koch from the Sioux City Explorers. He threw 9 innings in 3 games for 7 BB and 12 Ks. That wouldn’t normally do it especially when he only started 1 game. But that 1 start was a 7 innings no-hitter against Sioux Falls, the first in X’s history and the first in the league since May 2019 (Eddie Medina w/StP). That will earn you pitcher of the week. 

Some things to watch for this upcoming week. The AAPB playoffs start this week which means we have 2 play-in games to watch and 2 fun series after that. That's some must watch action. Also, this is the last week for the Frontier League before the playoffs. The Atlantic and West are still very much in play so be sure to watch that. In the ALPB, I think Gastonia pitching is a thing to keep an eye on as it has now eclipsed Lankisters poor pitching performance. Also we’ll have a month’s worth of mound data to evaluate this week so that is of interest as well.

That’s all I got thanks for hanging with our weird schedule this week, it should be business as usual now. Until next time peace out.

We return to the Frontier League for this week’s alumni update and it will focus on former Schaumburg Boomers pitcher Orlando Rodriguez. Rodriguez spent four years at St. Thomas University in Florida where he pitched very well posting a 2.80 ERA in 35 starts and had an outstanding 11 strikeout per 9 ratio. He wouldn’t be drafted and would sign with the Schaumburg Boomers of the Frontier League after the draft in 2019. Rodriguez would do well in 2 starts, allowing only 3 earned runs and 6 walks while striking out 12 in 13.1 IP. This impressed the Reds organization enough to purchase his contract in July of 2019. He was then assigned to Billings Mustangs of the Pioneer League where things weren’t as peachy. Rodriguez still did put up fine numbers but his 4.42 ERA across 10 games wasn’t as good. His K/9 (8.1 to 12) and BB/9 (4.1 to 3.7) both improved though. After the season, Cincinnati transferred him to the Greenville Reds of the Appalachian League, also a rookie ball level league. Now 24, 2020 was slated to be a big year for Rodriguez but then the pandemic hit. This led to the Reds deciding to cut him half way through 2020 and so after he went to the Constellation Energy League (Sugar Land pop-up league) and pitched for the Lightning Sloths for a little while. Rodriguez appeared in 11 games, starting 5 against the toughest competition he’d face yet. It showed as he posted a 10.38 ERA with over a walk an inning. This led him to the Boomers picking Rodriguez back up again for 2021 and he straight dealt. In 8 starts and 52 innings he posted a 2.44 ERA and averaged 3 walks per 9 while maintaining an average of 8.5 strikeouts per 9 as well. Not to mention the back to back pitcher of the week nods from us as well. This performance caught the attention of the Minnesota Twins who purchased his contract on July 13. So far Rodriguez has only pitched there for a month after being placed on the 7 day IL two weeks ago. However in the 2 starts he made for the low A Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels he did very well posting a 2.25 ERA in 12 innings and averaging a K an inning. As a reliever not as good, 8.44 ERA in 5.1 innings. I think if they continue to use him as a starter Orlando Rodriguez will continue to grow and rise through the ranks. 

I’m on vacation as I type this out so let’s make this short and sweet. No new debuts but long time Indy Ball pitcher David Kubiak has gotten back to affiliated ball for the first time in ½ a decade as the Texas Rangers have bought the 32 year old’s contract from West Virginia this past week. Best of Luck to him. Moving on, this week we saw the first 2 teams in the AAPB punch their playoff ticket in Kansas City and Chicago. Chicago has been especially hot winning 7 in a row at one point. Fargo won 7 in a row as well this week. Those streak pale in comparison to Quebec in the Frontier league, who has won 11 in row and now 12 of the last 13. This has placed them in first in the wild Atlantic division as of now. SoMD has also been good as of late winning 3 in a row to take 1st in the ALPB North. The not so great are Long Island who lost 5 in a row at one point this week but they’re already playoff bound so no biggie. New York in the Frontier League had a similar losing streak that knocked them down to last in the Atlantic and may have just ended their playoff hopes. Winnipeg is in a similar bind after losing 4 in a row, their whirlwind season is entering its final days unless they make a big push quickly. 

Player and pitcher of the week. Player of the week comes from Cleburne in DJ Peterson. Peterson hit .640/.630/1.400 with 5 homers this week. Just crazy, crazy numbers this week. Logan Nissen is our pitcher of the week. The FM Redhawk appeared in 3 games for 7 shutout innings and 11 strikeouts. Solid production from the reliever this week. Things to watch for are simple a lot of playoff races in the AAPB and Frontier League. Both league’s regular season will end in the next 14 days so things are getting tight very quickly. Also there’s been a lot of roster movement as of late (end of year acquisitions and the like) so watch for some big names joining up in the AAPB in particular soon. Lastly, I’d been interested to see what if anything the ALPB puts out in terms of press as it was a rough week in the PR department for them, see our latest podcast episode for more on that issue. That’s all from me, there may be an alumni update on Tuesday but I’m on vacation so we’ll see what happens. Till then peace!

This week we get back to position players and that starts with the catcher’s position. This week we look at former ALPBer and AAPBer Logan Moore. Moore began his career in 2011 after being drafted by the Phillies in the 9th round out of Northeastern Junior College in Colorado. The team would send him to Gulf Coast League for the rest of 2011 and then start him in A - Lakewood for the 2012 season.

In Lakewood, Moore would only play 30 games and hit .177 with a home run and overall wasn’t getting off to a promising start. This led to him being sent down in late May to A- - Williamsport of the now defunct NY-PENN League. There he hit significantly better in 38 games, ending his season with a .277 batting average and .685 OPS. That stint made the 2012 campaign much more complete which would be huge going into 2013.

Moore would move up to A+ - Clearwater in 2013 and spend the whole season there. Now 23, Moore looked to establish himself as a reliable everyday player and from the defensive side he did just that. He started 90 games behind the plate and committed only 8 errors in 789 innings played. This earned him a Florida State League All-Star game spot. However, offense was still a work in progress as he ended the year hitting .185/.257/.272 with 4 home runs. Moore was beginning to cast himself into a common role for catchers; the defensive specialist.

2014 was the year Moore hoped to show that he could be a complete ball player behind the plate. Starting in AA - Reading he’d only last a week before going back down to Clearwater. There he played 32 games, committed only 1 error in 270 innings and hit .238. This earned Moore a spot back in Reading before the end of May. In Reading, he played 59 games and hit .227 and 4 home runs while maintaining a .990 fielding percentage with only 4 errors all years. This seemed to be the end of the hope of an offense first catcher but by focusing on his defensive game Moore would have another way to move up the ranks.

2015 would be split between AAA - Lehigh Valley and Reading. Defensively he was as good as ever before committing 5 errors in 528 innings and finishing with a fielding percentage of .988. Offensively though, the most peculiar thing happened. Moore began to hit. In 27 games with Reading things were business as usual, a .227 BA and 2 HRs but in Lehigh Valley he began to be a positive offense driver. Moore hit .276/.338/.351 with a home run in 42 games. A far cry from Mike Piazza but a productive lineup piece nonetheless. 

With renewed hopes of being a more complete catcher 2016 started with Moore in Reading before a call up to Lehigh Valley in May. This year was much more like previous years with some power (5 home runs in 53 games) and not much else on offense. Defensively he was again very solid with great numbers.

2017 saw Moore get into 63 games and he hit .233/.310/.362 and 10 homers with great defensive numbers again. This time he spent the full season in Lehigh Valley but patience was wearing thin with the Phillies. Now entering his age 27 season Moore needed to get better offensively quickly. To spare myself of repeating the same thing again, he didn’t offensively he did worse and stayed the same defensively and played in 76 games. At season's end he elected free agency and entered the Indy Ball world at 28 years old.

New Britain would be the team that signed Moore and they were rewarded. After a sluggish start he wound up being a Liberty Division All-Star and finished very strong to end the year. In the end, he finished .210/.312/.380 and 15 home runs while maintaining a .989 fielding percentage. At the end of the year the Bees would fold and the High Point Rockers would select him in the disposal draft. However the pandemic would postpone his HP debut by a year. So in 2020 he made a pit stop in Chicago playing 20 games for a less than stellar Dogs team. He hit better (.299/.400/.537 and 4 home runs) and did well defensively which signaled good things for the Rockers in 2021.

This year he had a very similar year to his last in AAA. This must have inspired the Phillies to give him another try. So on June 22, 2021 Logan Moore rejoined the Philadelphia Phillies. He’s only gotten into 16 games so far but his .114/.273/.182 slash line tells us why the Phillies brought him in. He’s there to be a steady reliable catcher for young pitchers and to help them learn the pro game while maintaining a level of competitiveness. Logan Moore is a mentor for a lot of young ball players now and I hope when the Phillies fall out of playoff contention they reward a guy who spent 9 seasons with their organization and did all that was asked of him with at least 1 game in the show. As a thank you for all he’s done.

This week we only had 2 contracts purchased. The first was by the San Diego Padres when they bought the contract of Tyler Viza from the Kane County Cougars. Viza was having an All-Star season throwing up a 3.05 ERA with 96 Ks in 14 starts and 91 IP. He’s been assigned to AA San Antonio. The other is Oscar Campos from the Tri-City ValleyCats. The catcher’s contract was bought by the Mets after slashing .305/.322/.442 with 23 extra base hits in 63 games. He’ll play in A+ Brooklyn. No MLB debuts so on to hot and not. 

Hot are the Chicago Dogs. Yes the hot Dogs have won 3 in a row and are 13-4 in August so far and have matched the Milkmen at every turn which has kept their division championship hopes alive. The Railcats however have lost 4 in a row and now fall to last in the North but their season has been over for weeks now. The ALPB is still early in the second half but the Rockers won 8 in a row this week and are finally living up to the expectation they had coming into the season. They’re still behind Gastonia for a playoff space but they look near unstoppable at the moment. The Legends however lost 8 in a row before beating those aforementioned Rockers last night. This means near nothing for me as Lexington already locked up a playoff spot so they’re just waiting for the playoffs to start in October. Lastly, in the Frontier League the Southern Illinois Miners swept Evansville to move within 2.5 games of 1st in the west and Equipe Quebec has ran off 6 games in a row to move within 2 games of Tri-City for the Northeast. Those divisions are very much still in play. Evansville lost 4 in a row, including that sweep by SI, until beating Gateway last night. The Y’alls and Miners are nipping at their heels after this very poor week for the Otters. They’ll need to step it up quickly to maintain their lead.

The Player and Pitcher of the Week this week both come from the AAPB. The first from the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks is John Silviano. Silviano hit 7 home runs and 14 RBI this week while slashing .464/.531/.1.250. He’s a large piece in the Redhawks hunt for the division and a nearly secure playoff spot. The other is Kyle Kinman from the Lincoln Saltdogs. Kinman had an ERA of 0 this week with 15 Ks across 12 IP (2 starts) and has done his job in getting the Saltdogs 2 critical wins in their playoff hunt. 

On that note you should be watching those playoff races this week. In the Frontier League most divisions are still in the air with roughly 20-25 games left and with winning your division the only way to get into the postseason things will only get tighter as we march towards September. Likewise the AAPB South is still very much anyone’s guess for the play in game. While to North is getting close to figured out with seating being the only remaining question. And if the Dogs stay hot the play in game could very well be Milwaukee-Fargo. The award races in all leagues are heating up with no obvious candidate for any of the big 3 awards and Indy Ball Player of the Year is still far from clinched as well. Especially with several key single season records in reach in the AAPB like HR (which could be set this week) and RBIs. The ALPB 2nd half should also get clearer this week too.

We look at another Indy Ball legend this week in pitcher Luke Westphal. Westphal started his career in 2013 after going undrafted from the University of Wisconsin- Oshkosh. He’d sign as a 24 year old with the Gateway Grizzlies and appear in 13 games and 17 innings. Westphal did well, allowing very few runs but a lot of baserunners. He did earn another contract with the Grizzlies and performed much better in 2014 posting a 2.91 ERA in 53 innings and striking out 68. That said, baserunners were still an issue as his 1.557 WHIP clearly shows. The Twins organization thought they could work through that concern and signed Westphal in the offseason. That meant Westphal would start and end the 2015 season with the A+ Ft. Myers Miracle but would take a short detour to A- Cedar Rapids Kernels. He did well posting numbers similar to his time in Gateway, a high 2 ERA with lots of K’s and baserunners. What’s interesting though is prior to his demotion, Westphal was nearly an exclusive reliever. In Cedar Rapids and later in his second stint in Ft. Myers was turned into a starter. 

That was seemingly going well but the Twins disagreed and moved him back to a bullpen role in 2016 and started him in AA Chattanooga. That lasted until mid-July when he was sent back to Ft. Myers to finish the year. The 2016 season ended with 4.61 ERA, 69 Ks, and a 1.793 WHIP in 53 innings. The Twins had seen enough and released Westphal that winter and with that he’d return to Indy Ball. 

This time the York Revolution of the ALPB. In 2017 Westphal would do better posting an improved mid to low 3 ERA and a reduced WHIP in 45 innings. He’d remain in PA for 2018 splitting time between York and Lancaster and would lower his WHIP while raising his ERA in 40 innings. During these 2 seasons the strikeouts remained roughly the same with 64 and 51 respectively. Westphal would play in the ABL over the 2018-19 winter and that’s where he was once again used as a starter, this worked on some level as his numbers looked similar to the last time he was a starter back in 2015. Anyway, for 2019 he made the move to the American Association’s Chicago Dogs and they would use him as a starter as well. Westphal improved significantly.  In 89 innings his ERA dropped to 2.82 as did his WHIP which went to 1.064 and the strikeouts per 9 rose to where it had been in 2017 with York. All in all a great year for Westphal which is why his return to Chicago in 2020 was both surprising and unsupring. Surprising in the sense he should be in affiliated ball but unsurprising in the sense that it made no sense to leave, and there weren’t many other options given the pandemic. 2020 would see a slight dip in the numbers. The ERA went to 3.42 and the WHIP to 1.196 but the strikeouts were still very good. Factoring the pandemic in, it was still a very good year. 

The now 32 year old Westphal decided to return to the ALPB with High Point for 2021 and he opened up hot. In his 6 starts with the Rockers, Westphal posted a 1.39 ERA in 32 innings with 40 strikeouts and a 1.14 WHIP. This running start caught the Padres’ eye and on July 1st after 4 years back in Indy Ball he returned to affiliated minor leagues. Westphal would be placed in AAA El Paso, his highest level of competition to date. In his first start he was masterful, throwing 5 perfect innings before being removed. After that, things have been rough as in 30 innings he has an ERA of 7.80 and the old demon of baserunners returned to the tune of 1.5 WHIP. A deeper dive shows that this has been more of a recent issue though. His first 4 starts he did well posting a 4.26 ERA and an opponent OBP of .230. The 4 starts after that is where things imploded. The ERA went to 13.91 and opponents started slashing .340/.475/.830 off of him. This tells me that opponents may be figuring him out and are now able to jump on him early or perhaps it’s more of a mental thing where once a runner or 2 gets on or across something clicks the wrong way. I think it’s more an adjustment period and playing in the old PCL league cities that are more to blame than anything else. We saw that AA took time to adapt and I think the same here. It also doesn’t help that he’s playing in high altitude cities that don’t favor pitchers. Either way it’ll be interesting to see what happens to the big old lefty for the rest of 2021 and in 2022 as well.

Another week in Indy Ball has past so let's review it. We have 1 contract and 1 MLB debut this week. Andres Sosa has joined the Blue Jays organization via the Tri-City Valleycats. He hit nearly .400 with a pair of bombs in his 10 games with the 'cats. Also with Toronto Connor Overton made his MLB debut this week, throwing 1.1 scoreless innings relief. He was a member of the 2016 Sioux City Explorers and the 2019 Lancaster Barnstormers. Congrats to both players. 

Some hot teams this week are the Florence Y'alls that strung together an 8-2 record as of late and a 3 game winning streak. This has placed them in a tie for first in the West division. Likewise, both the Goldeyes and Dogs have won 8 of their last 10 and that has put Chicago back just 1 game of Milwaukee for first in the North. While Winnipeg's recent fortunes have kept their playoff hops alive for another week. The Barnstormers have done well to start the 2nd half in the Atlantic League at 6-3. Not much to take away from that as it's early still, but still very series vs LI. The otherside of the coin is the not so hot teams like Long Island. 4-6 with a current 3 game losing streak is not a great start but again it's early and they did the same in the first half. 

In the Frontier League the Miners continue to struggle losing 8 in a row at 1 point and currently sitting at 1 win in their last 10. The Sussex division lead has now fallen to 2.5 games and it looks to be getting worse. The Kane County Cougars are another team that has struggled mightily losing their last 4 games and that could spell the end for their playoff hopes. 

A lot of really good players and pitchers this week but in the end there can only be two those two are Ryan Grotjohn from the Kansas City Monarchs and Ryan Feierabend from the Lake Erie Crushers. Grotjohn had himself a week hitting .560/.633/.920 with a pair of home runs in 6 games. He's been a constant in the lineup and really came alive for the Monarchs this week. Kyle Martin (WPG) and Aaron Takacs (HOU) both were very good this week as well. Feierabend meanwhile had 2 starts this week going for 14 innings and surrendering only 1 earned run and striking out 17 while walking no one. Another long reliable Frontier League arm that gets his dues this week. Matt Tomshaw, Ricky Knapp, and Myles Smith also had very impressive weeks as well. 

A few things to watch before we depart. Winnipeg is at a major crossroads this week with roughly 20 games left they need to make up 6 to tie Fargo for that last playoff spot. If they can have another strong week and continue to win home games they have a shot at the postseason, but a bad week would sink those hopes. Likewise the Miners are in desperate need of a good week but have a tough road with Florence for 3 at home and some Tri-City games left as well. Washington is hot and can definitely catch them is the continue the free fall. Meanwhile the West division looks as strong as every with Florence and Evansville tied at the top and Southern Illinois not far behind again we look for separation this week but that's far from a sure bet. While in the AAPB South things are equally as tight with Lincoln, Sioux City, and Cleburne all within a few games of each other. Lincoln is hot and has a nearly all home games left in the season. Cleburne has the middle road with a moderate schedule and playing subpar ball as of late. Sioux City is just had a miserable August with several losing streaks and falling to only 2 games above .500. That's a big race to watch alomg with the AAPB MVP race. That used to be a lock for ABW but Kyle Martin, Josh Altmann, and Ramon Hernandez all are making strong cases for the award as well. I think that race could get very tight or clear up significantly this week. 

We go to another pitcher this week as Tyler Pike is the subject of our alumni update. Drafted in the 3rd round out of HS by the Mariners in 2012, Pike has put together a very impressive minor league career that started in earnest in 2013. That year he posted a sub 3 ERA over 22 starts with the Clinton Lumberkings (A) and struck out 90 batters. Pike also was named to the Midwest League All-Star team that summer as well. His young career was off to a promising start that earned him a promotion to A+ ball in 2014. In 14 starts Pike posted a 5.72 ERA but was striking guys out at a similar clip, this pleased the M’s and so he went from the High Desert Mavericks to the double A Jackson Generals. That didn’t go so great as the walks and hits went up and the strikeouts went down. 

In all things weren’t as gravy in 2014 but there were still positives to build on going into 2015. Pike would start the year in Jackson but after 3 starts, that while better than last year, that was unimpressive he got sent down to high A Bakersfield. He’d spend the rest of the year there and post a 4.26 ERA and a 1.484 WHIP with 114 Ks in 25 starts. Likely a disappointing year for Pike as he had hoped to move up to AAA or at least hang in AA but his numbers did improve from his last stint in A+ a year prior and Pike was still young at just 21 years old. 

His age 22 season would be spent entirely in Bakersfield with his numbers coming down a bit but they more or less remained the same. His total runs allowed went down but his ER remained about the same. The strikeout went up and the hits went down which is certainly a huge plus. In December of 2016, Pike would become the PTBNL from a late November trade between Seattle and Atlanta. In 2017 the 23 year old vetern Pike would start the year in the Florida State League with the Florida Fire Frogs. That year would be a renaissance for him as he played the first half of the year there posting a 2.20 ERA in 12 starts with a 1.191 WHIP and striking out nearly a batter an inning en route to a spot of the FSL North division ASG team. After that success Pike was promoted to AA Mississippi where he ok. His walks doubled but his strikeouts exploded to over 10/per 9 and in all his ERA was still acceptable at 4.58. These numbers would be good enough to get Pike to start in AA in 2018. 

That year was mired in a slew of 7 day DL trips and for a pitcher it’s impossible to get into a groove like that. This meant that in 2018 Pike would have a 5.87 ERA in 30.1 IP. His K/9 was still 10 but his BB/9 exploded to 11.7. The Braves also tried to use him as a reliever that season and clearly that just didn’t take as he had never once been used as a reliever in his professional career and since that season, Pike has only pitched in relief 3 times. That man is a starter and trying to make him do otherwise just ain’t gonna work. 2018 ended with the now 25 year old Pike electing to go to Free Agency and signing in the indy leagues for the first time. The team would be the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks of the AAPB. 

And so began the 2019 campaign and the Redhawks were good. Pike was a large part of that as he made up one of the 3 heads of a killer rotation. He posted a 3.19 ERA with a 9.5 K/9 and a 3.5 BB/9 in 15 starts. He looked good and would look even better in the pandemic shortened 2020 campaign as one of the bright spots on that Fargo-Moorhead team. He threw 12 starts for about 70 IP allowing 30 ER, 31 BB, and retiring 87 via the K. This raised his K/9 to 11! The Redhawks were happy to have him back again in 2021 but he would only stay for 2 starts as after throwing 12 innings of 3 run 16 K ball the Cardinals came calling and purchased his contract on May 30th. He would be assigned to double A Springfield and so far has done well. 

In 61.1 IP Pike has pitched to a 4.70 ERA and continued to strikeout guys at a high clip (8.8 per 9). That ERA is even a bit deceptive as his first start was outlandishly bad surrendering 10 runs in 3.2 IP take that game out and his ERA drops significantly to 3.43 and his ERA as a starter goes from 4.62 to 3.06. In fact, Pike has steadily improved each month this season for the Cardinals, dropping his walks, hits, and earned runs allowed in each month since arriving in June. Tyler Pike is still a young pitcher at just 27 years old and while he will be 28 to start next season he has been able to improve the areas of his game that have traditionally caused him trouble this season while maintaining those strengths. I think he’s shown enough to get a serious look in AAA for 2022 or late 2021 and if he can get that fair there’s nothing saying that he can’t get one more level higher.

We continue our ‘History of…’ series this week with a team that is near and dear to my heart; the Newark Bears. Their story is perhaps not long in a time sense as the club only lasted from 1998-2013, but when you look at the full picture it feels like they must have been around 50 years. Let’s dive in. The Bears started as one of the founding members of the Atlantic League in 1998 and were brought into being by former NY Yankee and Newark native Rick Cerone. The team would finish poorly in that 1998 season going 35-65, although in fairness they did have to share a ballpark with last week’s team the Bridgeport Bluefish as their ballpark was being built. 

Let’s talk about that ballpark because it’s going to come up a lot going forward. The 34 million dollar Riverfront Stadium was opened on July 16, 1999 and was supposed to be the centerpiece of a revitalization effort in the city of Newark. The park would also host some HS games and local colleges (namely NJIT and Rutgers-Newark campus) in addition to the Bears themselves. We’ll talk more later on this later but just remember one thing, this was a project founded by bonds through Essex County meaning this stadium was taxpayer funded and the county will be paying 1.1 million dollars a year till 2029 to cover the debt related to stadium services. 

Now back to the team. On the field the team improved to 55-64 in ‘99 and then in 2000 they finished above .500 for the first time with a record of 74-66. This was in no small part powered by one of the best ALPB hitting performances of all time by Ozzie Canseco. In that year, Canseco hit .299/.424/.644/1.068 with 48 home runs and 129 RBI and 21 stolen bases in 130 games. Between Canseco’s MVP level season and Bobby Hill (.326/.442/.491 with 81 stolen bases) and Rolo Avila (.319/.417/.462 and 47 stolen bases) you would think that they would not just be playoff locks but championship contenders. But their reward for being 8 games over .500 was for them to finish last in the North division, outside of a playoff spot. That 2000 ALPB season was just anarchy and deserves it’s own look back at sometime in the future but I digress. 

In spite of their place in the standings, 2000 was a great success for the Bears as it showed the team was ready to compete going forward and they did just that. In 2001, the team would again improve 75-51, 24 games above .500 and winning percentage of .595, and win their division 7 games. This earned them a match up with the rival Somerset Patriots, who themselves improved to 83-43 from 74-66 the year prior. The Bears put up one hell of a fight against a team that is one of the best to ever play in the ALPB, going the distance in the series. Unfortunately, they fell short in game 5 and the Patriots would win their first of 6 ALPB championships. This season was huge for the team not just because they fell 1 game short of a title or because they hosted their first ASG or because the add Bear and Eagle to Riverfront Stadium’s name to honor the previous minor league club and Negro League club that played in Newark. It was also huge because of the players that took the field. Jose and Ozzie Canseco, MLB vet Lance Johnson, future manager to stars Pete Incavigilia, and other former big leaguers like Jack Armstrong, Jaime Navarro, and others all took the field for the team. This was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of big names that would end up in Newark. 

There was a decision to shake things up going into 2002. Manager Tom O’Malley, who had been a major leaguer for nearly a decade and been with the club since its founding, was swapped out for former White Sox Marv Foley, who most recently had managed the Orioles AAA club in Rochester. Armed with a new manager and plenty of weapons for a balanced attack the Bears entered the season with one goal; win the whole damn thing. That balanced attack would be made up of a pitching staff led by former MLBers Mark Leiter and David Moraga in the rotation and a bullpen of Kris Kozlowski and Denny Blair and MLBers Alberto Castillo and Jeff Tabaka. The other end of the attack is the offense and just like in 2000 there was a historic offensive performance supported by several key pieces. Jimmy Hurst put on one of the impressive seasons hitting 35 home runs, 100 RBIs, 31 doubles, and a slash line of .341/.402/.655/1.052 led the way and he was supported by Joe Mathis (.279/357/.477) and Tom Hage (.294/.347/.529) having solid years themselves. All of these weapons added up to a 69-55 record and 3rd place in the South but in the playoffs. Which led to a matchup with Bridgeport in the finals. The ‘fish never stood a chance as the boys from the Brick City won 3 in a row to complete the sweep and bring home their first ALPB championship. This would be in the minds of some, including myself, the end of the golden age of Newark Bears baseball. However, the Bears would still have some success left in the tank and more than that, they still would have a lot of attention left to draw both positively and negatively. 

Next week we’ll discuss one of their biggest successes in that department; the arrival of one of the greatest ball players of all-time.

Coming off their first championship in 2002 the Bears were positioned to become the 1st multi championship team in the ALPB and dare I say the league’s 1st dynasty. And oh boy would ‘03 be a year to remember. The Bears brought in a new manager in Bill Madlock and as a team did not do well instead of living up to expectations they fell under the weight of them posting a 54-71 record and, obviously, they missed the playoffs for the 1st time since 2000. They wouldn’t make the playoffs or post a winning record again until 2007. That’s unimportant though. What is important is who took the field in a Bears’ jersey that year. The 2003 Newark Bears fielded a roster with 15 former big leaguers including 2 MLB all-stars and a Baseball Hall of Famer. Those 2 all-stars would be Jose Lima and the greatest lead off man of all time Rickey Henderson. Lima wouldn’t spend much time in the Brick City after posting a 2.33 ERA in 6 starts with the team as he’d be signed by the Royals and pitching in KC by June of that year. Rickey Henderson on the other hand is a different case. He spent 56 games in Newark, posted a .339/.493/.591 slash with 8 HRs en route to an ASG appearance that saw him win the MVP award. Shortly after, Ricky would be off to the LA to join the Dodgers for the 2nd half of their season. Don’t fret though he’d be back in 2004 and would spend the whole season with Newark posting numbers that aren’t as good as the year prior but still amazing for a 45 year old (.281/.462/.436 9 HRs 37SB!) 

One last thing before we move on to the remaining lean years. In 2003 the team’s original owner, Rick Cerone, would sell the club to Marc Berson, a local real estate developer. We’ll talk more about him later in part 3. Any way back on topic. 

I’m not going to spend much time on the lean years because very little of note happened on or off the field. The team would improve to .500 in 2004 with solid contributions from Maxwell (30 HRs and .942 OPS) and Clyburn (.334 BA) at the dish and Gannon (3.90 ERA in 15 starts and 20 games) and Crampton (2.15 ERA in 75 IP) on the mound. Unfortunately, that would still have the Bears finish last in their division. 

In 2005, Bill Madlock would be replaced by former MLBer and member of the 2004 Newark Bears Chris Jones. The 2005 Bears would go 58-82. They never really got any consistent or reliable starting pitching and offensively they got by with lots of help from Wilfredo Quintana (25 HRs .291/.363/.532) and former MLBer Jose Herrera (16 HRs .318/.359/.489). Fun note from this year’s roster, it featured current Miners skipper Bobby Jones on it. He pitched 16 innings across 5 games. 2006 wasn’t any better. The team went 42-83 got no help from starting pitching (the top 4 combined for a 5.32 ERA, no individual under a 5.11 ERA) and only reliable bullpen man was former MLBer Jermey Hill (3.62 ERA in 56 games) and closer Joey Cole (4.82 ERA 20 SV). The offense was mediocre, literally dead middle in most categories. Only notable and not so fun fact from this year was that the Bears finished tied for the worst record in the ALPB with, drumroll please, the ALPB Road Warriors. Yeah with that let’s move on to 2007. 

That offseason Chris Jones moved to an opportunity in affiliated ball so the Bears had a vacancy at manager. To fill it Newark would tap longtime Camden Riversharks manager the late Wayne Krenchicki. Krenchicki had previous spent 8 seasons in the majors and about as many in AAA, after hanging up the cleats he’d move into a 20 year long coaching career that’d last from 1990-2010, including 16 years in Indy Ball and 11 years in ALPB. The impact of this change could be felt right away as the team went from dead last in the league to T2 overnight. The pitching, with the help of Harold Eckert (2.59 ERA in 59 IP) and former MLBers Gary Knotts (2.65 ERA in 16 starts), Edwin Almonte (2.62 ERA in 58 IP), and Justin Hausman (1.79 in 40 IP), went from last to second best (behind those pesky Patriots). The offense went from middling to top 3 thanks to the MLB trio of Ramon Castro (9 HR .343/.448/.492), Jose Herrera (12 HR .357/.377/.545), and Keith Reed (21 HR .286/.323/.469) then add in Javier Colina (26 HR .309/.375/.560) and Victor Rodriguez (16 HR .365/.405/.550). The team was as strong as ever finishing 72-54 tied for 1st in the Northern division and would quickly dispatch the Ducks in round 1 2 games to none. Then they’d find themselves matched up against a familiar foe in the league final: the Somerset Patriots. It took 4 games for this series to be decided and in the end the Newark Bears would win it 3 games to 1 and win their 2nd Atlantic League title. This one was extra sweet given the four years leading up to it and who they won it against. This would wind up being a bittersweet championship given what was to come in the future. 

Before we leave off this week’s edition I do want to add 1 last thing about that 2007 club. Marcus Nettles played 84 games for the Bears and stole 49 bases and slashed .297/.367/.369. Nettles would play 2 more pro seasons before retiring to become an Illinois State Trooper in 2012. 5 years later he’d start the Marcus Nettles Project, an organization that’s goal is “To host privately sponsored baseball camps for urban and rural organizations to help bridge the gap between community, youth, and police.” This doesn’t have much to do with the Newark Bears but I thought it was cool and a good cause so I figured I’d include it at the end.

We left off at the end of the 2007 campaign that saw the Bears win the 2nd and ultimately final ALPB championship. 2008 would be uneventful on the field for the Bears finishing 72-68, good enough to finish 2nd overall in the Freedom Division and outside the playoffs. Fun fact, the expansion SoMD Blue crabs finished tied with Somerset for the best overall record in the ALPB that year and missed the postseason. Another reason why half season champions is a terrible way to determine who makes the playoffs.

  Anyway, the Bears were in the midst of an attendance problem. The team was reliably drawing around 178-181 thousand fans a year or about 2.5K a game, which in today’s ALPB would place them around lower-middle (4or5/8) of the pack. However, in the late 00s this placed the team at the bottom of attendance (6or7/8). Factor in an American economy that was in one of the worst financial crises in the nation’s history and you get ownership that’s been pushed to the brink. So much so that owner Marc Berson, under years of running the team in red, by his own account, would declare chapter 11 bankruptcy and the future of baseball in Newark was put on life support. The team would be saved but by who is a bit conflicted. One account has Frank Boulton buying the team for a million dollars in 2009 and another article places Boulton taking control in 2010. Yet another has it that a group of 3 investors saved the team. From my research it appears elements of both are true. A group called Bases Loaded LLC would buy the team but that group did appear to include Frank Boulton in it. That group also had Jim Wankmiller (AC business man) and Gary Veloric (Nashville music exec.) in it. It also had one more member in it, a familiar face in the team’s old GM Tom Cetnar. 

Now under new management, the team was ready to take the field in 2009. With new ownership came a new manager, that would be Hall of Famer Tim Raines. His team would do well posting a 74-66 record with good years from former big leaguers Carl Everett (17 HR .315/.431/.495) and Charlton Jimerson (21 HR .335/.387/.495) at the dish and hurler Armando Benitez (2.86 in 34.2 IP) and Ramiro Mendoza (3.83 in 87 IP). They’d ultimately lose to Somerset 3-1 in the semi-finals and with that close the book on Newark Bears’ postseason history and it would also be their last winning season in team history. 

Off the field things weren’t in as good shape. So have the team running well and actually turning a profit under the stewardship of Frank Boulton. Others paint a much different picture. They say it was chaos and dysfunction everywhere, the stadium was in disrepair and that they were understaffed to the point of ownership taking out trash and scrubbing floors. Now that’s probably the case but that’s also true of most Indy Ball teams as every game day titles disappear and GM’s are pulling tarp and slinging suds, so that doesn’t sound that unusual. However, that’s not the dysfunctional part. The lawsuits were. 

The first was an ATM owner suing the team over 3k that was alleged to have been stolen from it. There was an alleged settlement for a little over half the money but that was never paid and then the matter appeared in small claims court but was later dismissed on a failure to appear by the plaintiff. Not great but not awful. The second lawsuit was much worse, at least from a PR. 

This one had 3 teens suing the team over an in-game ejection that stemmed from refusing to stand for the playing of “God Bless America”. The 3 teens alleged that Tom Cetnar had yelled at them “Nobody sits during the singing of 'God Bless America' in my stadium, Now get the (expletive) out of here." They later met with Wankmiller and the team’s GM who apologized and offered tickets to a future game as an act of contrition. But the teens rejected it as Cetnar himself was not there and offered no apology. Now that, no matter what way it shakes out, it is a massive PR problem made even worse by the fact the teens were all 16 or 17, from a local suburb of Newark, and had participated in an in-game contest earlier that day. The lawsuit would be settled 3 months later for an undisclosed amount but the whole thing left a black eye on an organization that had seen league lows in attendance since the early 00s. This would only be the beginning of bad press for the club. You’ll see as we move along. 

The 2010 Newark Bears saw 2 similarities with the 2009 Newark Bears. Tim Raines was the skipper and once again there was new ownership. Bases Loaded LLC fell apart after the chaos of the 2009 season and by all accounts this is when Frank Boulton took sole control of the team. He did his best but after a 53-86 campaign the writing was on the wall. Between the on the field product and the off the field mess, Newark was out of control and in no shape to be a part of the ALPB. So after a lawsuit and scandal free 2010 season Frank Boulton sold the club to good ole Tom Cetnar. There was a catch though, Cetnar didn’t have the money so he needed partners and that’s where the Doctor and the Marketeer came in. 

Last time, the Bears had just been sold for the 4th ultimately final time. The new owner Tom Cetnar needed help raising the money to buy the team and thus turned to his girlfriend Shelly Garrett and Dr. Douglas Spiel and his partner Danielle Dronet. Spiel, a pain management doctor, and Dronet, a public relations and marketing firm owner, would be part of the most entertaining era of Bears baseball but not on the field. In fact, after the 2009 season the Bears would never have a winning record again. They also departed the ALPB after that mediocre 2010 season that we discussed last week. They now were in the Candian-American Association aka the Can-Am League. We’ll quickly touch on the baseball being played in each of these years but it’s unremarkably bad so we won’t waste too much time on it. 

The team would retain Tim Raines for 2011 and he would be a player-coach at age 31 playing in 72 games and doing well hitting .294 in that time. The team, while getting good individual years for players, struggled to win and would finish 6th of 8 teams with a 41-51 record and outside the playoffs. 2012 Raines would leave and 16 year MLB vet Ken Oberkfell would replace him. The team did worse on the field going 35-65 and finishing 4th out of 5 teams. This year also saw attendance drop from roughly 1,100 fans a game to under 700. In their final year, the 2013 Newark Bears would have former MLB All-Star and silver slugger Garry Templton at the helm and they’d manage to improve a bit going 37-63 but finishing last in the Can-Am and that stellar campaign was seen by approx. 426 fans every home game. And like that the Newark Bears were no more. But we are far from done. Remember when I said this was the most entertaining era of Bears’ Baseball? Well that’s true if you like drama and proverbial trainwrecks. Let’s dive in so you can understand what I mean. 

Rewinding back to 2011, the ownership coalition of Cetnar, Garrett, Spiel, and Dronet was not a marriage made in heaven. The roles of each party were never clearly defined and this led to friction, lots of friction. When roles aren’t assigned and made clear you have nobody from the top down knows what’s happening and what needs to still happen. There’s examples of Dronet emailing staff for updates and Cetnar overruling them. As Dr. Spiel told NJ.com “There were really two chiefs, and I don’t know that the Indians really figured out who to follow." This led to Speil and Dronet suing Cetnar for control of the team after a dispute over the amount of money, or lack thereof, that each side put into the team. Things got really messy really quick and honestly it’s hard to follow along. For the sake of brevity and simplicity I’ll jump to the end result, midway through 2011 Spiel and Dronet bought out Garrett and Cetnar and took control of the team. This is where I’d love to say things went wrong in the usual way and fallout took the team down without incident. But things can’t be that simple in Newark and that wouldn’t be very entertaining now would it? 

What happened in actuality was much much worse. See leading up to this, employees were questioning Dronet’s professionalism by ending emails with fun, silly send offs like “Have a rockin’ day”. It seems harmless if not annoying but I can see where employees, most of whom plan on using the Bears as a step up into a career in sports management, would draw pause from this. Also as a New Jersian I know seeing “Having a rockin’ day” at the end of an email at 8AM on a monday in the scenario would have me thinking and saying some very unprofessional things of my own, but I digress. This scentament was further soon after the buyout was complete as the following things happened; the team website stopped posting loses to avoid ‘negativity’, ‘Boys & Toys’ and ‘Fashion Frenzy Fridays’ became promotions, a weekly beer pong tournament promotion, the team GM that was hired months earlier was fired almost immediately for allegedly undermining ownership to the players, and there was an attempt to for a reality TV show around the team. 

That’s right Spiel and Dronet wanted to start a reality TV show around themselves owning the team and their day to day lives, think the Real Housewives of Indy Ball. It was going to be called ‘The Real Spiel’ and had a sizzle reel already made prior to Cetnar, who appears in the reel, departure. The belief was that it’d show Newark in a good light and attract fans. It died on the vine. This alone would make for a firework ending but no we still have one more area to tackle before we end this series. You see we’ve covered the Bears just about as thoroughly as possible on an instagram post turn website article but we’ve neglected to mention the 2 events that most people would remember the Newark Bears from. 

The first happened in that ugly divorce year of 2011. Jim Leyritz, the former Yankee, was the team’s pitching coach and he was leaving the team. The Bears, sensing an opportunity to make a spectacle out of this and get butts in seats, planned to parade Leyritz around the park for autographs with other coaches and celebrate him the entire night. No problem so far. This just happened to coincide with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) night, where the team would donate 2K to the organization. This wouldn’t normally be a problem but it wouldn’t be Newark if things ran smoothly. You see, 9 months early Leyritz was convicted of, you guessed, driving under the influence (DUI) in Florida. He was also acquitted on a DUI manslaughter after a woman died in a collision at an intersection that occurred. The incident in question happened in 2007 and 3 hours after the crash Leyritz had a blood alcohol level of 0.14, the Florida state limit is 0.08. This was the exact kind of thing that MADD would not want anywhere near their night. Add in that another coach, Bears icon Ozzie Canseco, also had a DUI in Florida in 2011 and this was becoming a train wreck. I say becoming for the simple reason of there’s still one more piece. Remember when I said the team did a weekly beer pong tourney? Well, you never believe what night of the week that fell on. MADD night, when they’re sending off a coach convicted of DUI with another coach with a DUI not 8 months earlier. Now you could say that it was an innocent mistake, that nobody checked the calendar but that would just be incompetence. That would fit the Bears so it’s probably right.   

The final thing you’d know the Bears from happened in 2012. You’ll remember that it was in the late 00s and early 10s that this young kid from YouTube was discovered and became the latest tween heartthrob. His name of course was Justin Bieber. Well in 2012 he was still very popular and was selling out shows. This gave Dronet an idea, why not have him perform in Newark? And if he was gonna be in Newark, why not Bear & Eagle Riverfront Stadium? So the team gets Sky Island Productions and Luna Bay Productions to organize and promote this concert. The issues immediately arise and something is off. First, it was promoted as an in-stadium concert like everyone knows then it became a ‘special one-day event’ for Bears season ticket holders only with a private meet and greet. Next the event was supposed to happen on October 28th, it is cold in NJ in October at night and would make no sense to host a concert at that time of day at that time of year. More so the stadium was already scheduled to be used for the Bears ‘Stadium of Screams’ event on that night. Of and if Bieber were to perform in Newark the newly constructed Prudential Center or even the Performing Arts Center would have made much more sense. The final issue in all of this was of course Bieber wasn’t going to be anywhere near the east coast on October 28, he scheduled to perform in St. Louis the day before and Dallas the day after. All these things lead to one of his publicists having to go on 1010 WINS, one of the largest radio stations in the NYC market, and say Bieber wasn’t going to play in Newark. The team then said they were duped by JB’s team and Dronet went on 1010 WINS and said they had a “legal, binding contract” and that Bieber would be playing a set at the ballpark. The Bears would go on to say they were investigating the misrepresentation of Bieber while making it clear they did not expect the singer involved in any of this. In the end it all went away as in 2013 larger issues arose and the team faded away. 

Nowadays, the site where the stadium stood lays vacant, an empty lot that’s changed hands several times since 2016. The plan is to turn the lot into highrises, offices, and mixed commercial ventures. The stadium itself was razed in 2019 and the only remains of the team are in the record books and minds of fans. 

So what do we take away from all of this? Cities will fund stadiums if you promise economic revitalization and if you succeed you look like a genius and have all the leverage in the world. If you fail though, you bring the city down and leave the people up the creek. You can avoid failing by simply hiring the right people. Easier said than done, yes. But the only thing we saw in Newark after Cerone sold was instability. Too many chefs, not enough chefs, and kids pretending to be chefs. All kinds of pitfalls and the Bears managed to fall in all of them. They failed to find ownership that was willing to eat losses during the lean years and provide a strong guiding hand for the organization and for that they failed. Not to mention, they never picked a demographic to go after. They wanted locals and suburbanites. You need to pick one and appeal to them or at least pick your identity to market and build around. 

Before we reach the end I just want to say a few things from the heart. The Bears mean a lot to me. They were some of the first baseball I ever watched and they provided me with a lot of really good memories. That team is no small reason why I’m doing this podcast and everything around it. I fell in love with Indy Ball from the Bears and view them as family in a way. I know they may never come back and holding my breath that they will could kill me. So the memories are what’s left and that is what I'll save from this team. If nothing else they made one baseball fan.

Full credits and resources available in the show notes.

A lot to talk about from the past week so let’s get busy. Another MLB debut for an Indy Ball alumnus. This time it’s Dusten Knight with the Baltimore Orioles. The 2019 Blue Crab made his debut on August 4th against the Yankees. He threw 1 inning and surrendered 2 runs but he did strikeout Joey Gallo. He rebounded 3 days later with a solid 1.2 IP against the Rays giving up 1 ER but striking out 4. 2 more players joined the affiliate ranks this past week with Hayden Seig going from Fargo-Moorhead to the Angels. He had 8 IP no ER and 7 Ks. James Meeker goes to Milwaukee after 31.2 IP of no earned run baseball for the Wildthings. 

On to hot and not. Evansville had themselves a very solid week going 8-2 in their last 10 and becoming the first Frontier League team to get to 41 wins and look to be on pace to clinch a winning record. The Wildthings have also been very good winning 7 of 10 and 3 in a row before Saturday’s loss to NJ. Flipside the Miners aren’t doing well as of late. They’ve dropped 4 in a row including a rather uncompetitive thrashing by Washington Saturday, that has taken a divisional lead that seemed safe on Thursday and dropped it to 3.5 entering Sunday. 

In the ALPB there’s not much to say. The second half has just begun and the mound experiment along with it. It’s still too early to get anything of substance from the data but that should change soon. Gastonia has been hot winning 3 in a row including 2 against Lexington while York has down the inverse and lost to WV. 

he AAPB is more interesting though. There Kansas City has all but clinched the South division thanks to a 4 game winning streak, 8 wins in their last 10, and dueling 5 game losing streaks from Cleburne and Sioux City. Cleburne drew a tough schedule losing a series against Chicago and now doing that again against the Monarchs. The Explorers did have to make major roster moves as result of their 3 game set north of the border so they do have a bit of an excuse. Speaking of Canada, Winnipeg is back north of the border and although they did have to jettison a handful of players to comply with health and safety guidelines they have done very well winning their last 5 including a sweep of a depleted Sioux City team and a Milkmen team that is without some big pieces as well. This will likely continue to be a theme for the rest of the year. As long as Winnipeg can keep it above .500 on the road this should be a fun race for the final playoff spot down the stretch. 

The performers of the week this week both come from the AAPB and the Kane County Cougars. The batter of the week is Jeffrey Baez. He slashed .609/.690/1.000 with 3 HR and 7 RBIs. A large part of their offense no doubt and a bigger part of keeping their season interesting. The pitcher of the week is Josh Tols. In 2 starts this week he went 14.2 IP and posted 23 K with an ERA of 0.61. A truly dominant week that proves the Cougars have a lethal 1-2 punch in that rotation. Gunnar Kines also earns an honorable mention after a 7 IP 12 K 3 baserunners allowed performance this week. Tols ever so slightly edged him out but it was still an amazing week. 

Some storylines going into next week. As mentioned earlier we’ll have more data on the effects of the mound this week and get a better sense of its effects as well. Winnipeg finishes with Milwaukee and then hits the road for the rest of the week. This will be their first test with the Canada safe roster vs teams US safe roster and could be the week that shows us how much, if any, advantage is gained by playing their own park. Lincoln is also in prime position to overtake both Sioux City and Cleburne in the playoff hunt. The Saltdogs are just a ½ game out of the last playoff spot and 1 game out of home field in the play-in game. They’ve been going up while the other 2 have been going down, so watch for that. Last thing in the AAPB the RBI single season record is starting to get within range of Ramon Hernandez and Kyle Martin and the HR record (single season) for ABW. This won’t happen this week but the race is still a storyline to keep an eye on. Only other thing to watch for is Boomers division, which has fallen to 4 games over Lake Erie, and the Miners lead, fallen to 3.5 over Washington, are now in danger given both team’s losing streaks as of late. Keep an eye on that because if things don’t improve we will be having a very different and much less positive conversation next week.

Like the Newark Bears this series has survived the end too many times to count, so let’s go full Newark Bears and end this for good. Last time, the Bears had just been sold for the 4th ultimately final time. The new owner Tom Cetnar needed help raising the money to buy the team and thus turned to his girlfriend Shelly Garrett and Dr. Douglas Spiel and his partner Danielle Dronet. Spiel, a pain management doctor, and Dronet, a public relations and marketing firm owner, would be part of the most entertaining era of Bears baseball but not on the field. In fact, after the 2009 season the Bears would never have a winning record again. They also departed the ALPB after that mediocre 2010 season that we discussed last week. They now were in the Candian-American Association aka the Can-Am League. We’ll quickly touch on the baseball being played in each of these years but it’s unremarkably bad so we won’t waste too much time on it. 

The team would retain Tim Raines for 2011 and he would be a player-coach at age 31 playing in 72 games and doing well hitting .294 in that time. The team, while getting good individual years for players, struggled to win and would finish 6th of 8 teams with a 41-51 record and outside the playoffs. 2012 Raines would leave and 16 year MLB vet Ken Oberkfell would replace him. The team did worse on the field going 35-65 and finishing 4th out of 5 teams. This year also saw attendance drop from roughly 1,100 fans a game to under 700. In their final year, the 2013 Newark Bears would have former MLB All-Star and silver slugger Garry Templton at the helm and they’d manage to improve a bit going 37-63 but finishing last in the Can-Am and that stellar campaign was seen by approx. 426 fans every home game. And like that the Newark Bears were no more. But we are far from done. Remember when I said this was the most entertaining era of Bears’ Baseball? Well that’s true if you like drama and proverbial trainwrecks. Let’s dive in so you can understand what I mean. 

Rewinding back to 2011, the ownership coalition of Cetnar, Garrett, Spiel, and Dronet was not a marriage made in heaven. The roles of each party were never clearly defined and this led to friction, lots of friction. When roles aren’t assigned and made clear you have nobody from the top down knows what’s happening and what needs to still happen. There’s examples of Dronet emailing staff for updates and Cetnar overruling them. As Dr. Spiel told NJ.com “There were really two chiefs, and I don’t know that the Indians really figured out who to follow." This led to Speil and Dronet suing Cetnar for control of the team after a dispute over the amount of money, or lack thereof, that each side put into the team. Things got really messy really quick and honestly it’s hard to follow along. For the sake of brevity and simplicity I’ll jump to the end result, midway through 2011 Spiel and Dronet bought out Garrett and Cetnar and took control of the team. This is where I’d love to say things went wrong in the usual way and fallout took the team down without incident. But things can’t be that simple in Newark and that wouldn’t be very entertaining now would it? 

What happened in actuality was much much worse. See leading up to this, employees were questioning Dronet’s professionalism by ending emails with fun, silly send offs like “Have a rockin’ day”. It seems harmless if not annoying but I can see where employees, most of whom plan on using the Bears as a step up into a career in sports management, would draw pause from this. Also as a New Jersian I know seeing “Having a rockin’ day” at the end of an email at 8AM on a monday in the scenario would have me thinking and saying some very unprofessional things of my own, but I digress. This scentament was further soon after the buyout was complete as the following things happened; the team website stopped posting loses to avoid ‘negativity’, ‘Boys & Toys’ and ‘Fashion Frenzy Fridays’ became promotions, a weekly beer pong tournament promotion, the team GM that was hired months earlier was fired almost immediately for allegedly undermining ownership to the players, and there was an attempt to for a reality TV show around the team. 

That’s right Spiel and Dronet wanted to start a reality TV show around themselves owning the team and their day to day lives, think the Real Housewives of Indy Ball. It was going to be called ‘The Real Spiel’ and had a sizzle reel already made prior to Cetnar, who appears in the reel, departure. The belief was that it’d show Newark in a good light and attract fans. It died on the vine. This alone would make for a firework ending but no we still have one more area to tackle before we end this series. You see we’ve covered the Bears just about as thoroughly as possible on an instagram post turn website article but we’ve neglected to mention the 2 events that most people would remember the Newark Bears from. 

The first happened in that ugly divorce year of 2011. Jim Leyritz, the former Yankee, was the team’s pitching coach and he was leaving the team. The Bears, sensing an opportunity to make a spectacle out of this and get butts in seats, planned to parade Leyritz around the park for autographs with other coaches and celebrate him the entire night. No problem so far. This just happened to coincide with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) night, where the team would donate 2K to the organization. This wouldn’t normally be a problem but it wouldn’t be Newark if things ran smoothly. You see, 9 months early Leyritz was convicted of, you guessed, driving under the influence (DUI) in Florida. He was also acquitted on a DUI manslaughter after a woman died in a collision at an intersection that occurred. The incident in question happened in 2007 and 3 hours after the crash Leyritz had a blood alcohol level of 0.14, the Florida state limit is 0.08. This was the exact kind of thing that MADD would not want anywhere near their night. Add in that another coach, Bears icon Ozzie Canseco, also had a DUI in Florida in 2011 and this was becoming a train wreck. I say becoming for the simple reason of there’s still one more piece. Remember when I said the team did a weekly beer pong tourney? Well, you never believe what night of the week that fell on. MADD night, when they’re sending off a coach convicted of DUI with another coach with a DUI not 8 months earlier. Now you could say that it was an innocent mistake, that nobody checked the calendar but that would just be incompetence. That would fit the Bears so it’s probably right.   

The final thing you’d know the Bears from happened in 2012. You’ll remember that it was in the late 00s and early 10s that this young kid from YouTube was discovered and became the latest tween heartthrob. His name of course was Justin Bieber. Well in 2012 he was still very popular and was selling out shows. This gave Dronet an idea, why not have him perform in Newark? And if he was gonna be in Newark, why not Bear & Eagle Riverfront Stadium? So the team gets Sky Island Productions and Luna Bay Productions to organize and promote this concert. The issues immediately arise and something is off. First, it was promoted as an in-stadium concert like everyone knows then it became a ‘special one-day event’ for Bears season ticket holders only with a private meet and greet. Next the event was supposed to happen on October 28th, it is cold in NJ in October at night and would make no sense to host a concert at that time of day at that time of year. More so the stadium was already scheduled to be used for the Bears ‘Stadium of Screams’ event on that night. Of and if Bieber were to perform in Newark the newly constructed Prudential Center or even the Performing Arts Center would have made much more sense. The final issue in all of this was of course Bieber wasn’t going to be anywhere near the east coast on October 28, he scheduled to perform in St. Louis the day before and Dallas the day after. All these things lead to one of his publicists having to go on 1010 WINS, one of the largest radio stations in the NYC market, and say Bieber wasn’t going to play in Newark. The team then said they were duped by JB’s team and Dronet went on 1010 WINS and said they had a “legal, binding contract” and that Bieber would be playing a set at the ballpark. The Bears would go on to say they were investigating the misrepresentation of Bieber while making it clear they did not expect the singer involved in any of this. In the end it all went away as in 2013 larger issues arose and the team faded away. 

Nowadays, the site where the stadium stood lays vacant, an empty lot that’s changed hands several times since 2016. The plan is to turn the lot into highrises, offices, and mixed commercial ventures. The stadium itself was razed in 2019 and the only remains of the team are in the record books and minds of fans. 

So what do we take away from all of this? Cities will fund stadiums if you promise economic revitalization and if you succeed you look like a genius and have all the leverage in the world. If you fail though, you bring the city down and leave the people up the creek. You can avoid failing by simply hiring the right people. Easier said than done, yes. But the only thing we saw in Newark after Cerone sold was instability. Too many chefs, not enough chefs, and kids pretending to be chefs. All kinds of pitfalls and the Bears managed to fall in all of them. They failed to find ownership that was willing to eat losses during the lean years and provide a strong guiding hand for the organization and for that they failed. Not to mention, they never picked a demographic to go after. They wanted locals and suburbanites. You need to pick one and appeal to them or at least pick your identity to market and build around. 

Before we reach the end I just want to say a few things from the heart. The Bears mean a lot to me. They were some of the first baseball I ever watched and they provided me with a lot of really good memories. That team is no small reason why I’m doing this podcast and everything around it. I fell in love with Indy Ball from the Bears and view them as family in a way. I know they may never come back and holding my breath that they will could kill me. So the memories are what’s left and that is what I'll save from this team. If nothing else they made one baseball fan.

We reached the end now, thanks for spending the last month on this journey through the Newark Bears’ history with us. I’ll be posting a longer, yes it’s possible, version on the website in the next few days as well as a list of all the sites I used in this mini series in case you want to read more about the Bears. We’ll be back with a new team next week until then peace!

We continue with our theme of using pitchers for our alumni update by picking our first former major leaguer this week. That person is pitcher Michael Mariot. He started his professional career in 2010 after being drafted in the 8th round by the Kansas City Royals out of University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 2010 and 2011 were spent in rookie ball and high A posting high strikeout and low walk numbers complemented with an ERA in the mid 3 both years. 

In 2012, Marriott got a promotion to AA and would split the season as a reliever and a starter. He did well with NRW AR posting a 3.40 ERA, 81 Ks to 30 BBs, 6 wins, and a save. This earned him a short stay with AAA Omaha at the very end of the year. 2013 would be spent entirely in AAA and almost exclusively in the bullpen. This would be constant until Mariot arrived in Indy Ball a half decade later.

As a reliever he was effective in his 60.2 IP throwing about 10 Ks per 9 to only 3 BB per 9 and a mid 3 ERA. Given this was the PCL that was rather impressive. In 2014, Marriott would start the year in AAA but at age 25 he’d get the call to the show and make his major league debut. In 17 games and 25 innings he had a 6.48 ERA and 1.720 WHIP. His bread and butter method of getting batters out, strikeouts, was sitting at 7.6 per 9. The issue was baserunners were getting on at a higher rate than before and now they were scoring which is to be expected in the majors. 

Mariot would finish the year in AAA and start and finish 2015 AAA. There was a brief 2 game appearance in there for the Royals though. His AAA numbers had improved greatly that year though. The ERA went to 2.32 in 62 innings in relief. There were only 16 BB and there were 72 strikeouts as well. In 2016 Mariot would be DFA’d Royals organization and be claimed by the Phillies organization. 

He started in high A Clearwater but quickly moved to Double AA Reading and by the May was in AAA Lehigh Valley. There he pitched 32.1 innings to a 2.23 ERA and 24 Ks before being called up to the Phillies in early August. Mariot did alright posting a 5.82 ERA in 21.2 IP. A lot of walks (14), hits (18), and earned runs (14) again like in KC, the result was a 1.477 WHIP. Better than in KC. 2017 was a strictly AAA affair that saw more of the same mid 4 ERA, a lot of Ks (63), in a moderate amount of use (57 IP). At season’s end Mariot elected for free agency and signed a minor league contract with San Diego with an invite to spring training. 

He’d start 2018 in El Paso but would be released in May and then signed again by the Royals. They’d place him in AA but would quickly promote him to AAA after 9.1 brillant sub 1 ERA innings. Marriott did well in AAA posting numbers similar to 2013 but the team thought differently about the now 29 year old and released him in August. 

That’s when his Indy Ball journey began. Marriott would sign in Sugar Land and immediately became a starter again and he’d remain that way at every stop going forward. Getting into 4 games he posted a 1.93 ERA and 1.286 WHIP in 14 innings. He’d return to Sugar Land in 2019 and after 3 ERA in 36 innings (5 starts/ 8 games), Mariot would have his contract purchased by Tijuana of the Mexican League. He’d start 5 games and have a 4.56 ERA in his time there before being released and joining Dos Laredos for 2 forgettable starts. 

2020 was a wash do to Covid. That brings us to 2021 where Mariot resurfaced in the AAPB with another Texas team; the Cleburne Railroaders. He didn’t last long as in only 3 starts he posted an ERA of 1 and a WHIP of 0.778 with 17 Ks in 18 innings, all as a starter. He was picked up by the Cincinnati Reds on June 9th and placed in AAA Louisville. 

He’s been very good since then posting an ERA of 3.91 and really only having 2 bad starts which he allowed 5 & 7 runs respectively. Take out those starts and his ERA drops to a sterling 2.05. Normally here I’d talk about the players current struggle or issues but with Mariot I don’t see any. With the exception of those 2 bad starts he doesn’t allow a lot of walks or hits or home runs. The strikeouts aren’t as high as past years but neither are the walks so I think he’ll take that trade. The WHIP dropped as you might guess to 1.17 and opponents are hitting just .237 off of Mariot even with those 2 hiccup starts. I could honestly see him back in the bigs as a dark horse September call up, even if just for eating innings. Hopefully this year will get him back into the show to stay for good this time.

Another exciting week in the world of Indy Ball has concluded so let’s recap everything. No contracts were purchased this past week but we did have a MLB debut. Akeem Bostick threw a scoreless inning for the Mets on Thursday. The former KC T-Bone is the latest AAPB alumni to make his major league debut. 

On to the play from last week. The Monarchs have been on a torrent pace winning their last 8 games and tying Milwaukee for the best record in the Association this season. They look to be the strongest team going into the last 3rd of the season. The other KC team in the league, Kane County Cougars, are on the other end of the spectrum. They’ve won just 3 of their last 10 and are the verge of being out of the playoff hunt. There’s still a chance for them but they’ll need to get really hot really quick if they want to pass Winnipeg, Fargo-Moorhead, and Chicago. 

In the Frontier League, the ‘Things are proving they were important to watch last week. They swept NJ and are on a 6 game winning streak that has put them 4.5 back of Sussex for the division. They still have a lot of work to do but they are on the right track. Likewise the Otters are also on a 6 game winning streak that makes up a large portion of their 8 wins in the last 10 games. This has propelled Evansville into 1st place in the West division and while their lead is just 2 games they are on a great trajectory going into the last 6 weeks of the season. One team that’s not looking as great is the Slammers. Joliet has struggled this year and this week was no different. 3-7 and a 3 game losing skid this week, I don’t see them improving from this level of play at this point in the year. Being 12 games back with 38 to play, I think we can safely say the Slammers won’t be making the playoffs. 

In the ALPB, the Legends and Ducks both clinched 1st Half division titles and with it playoff spots and West Virginia clinched the worst record of the 1st half as well. 

Player and Pitcher of the week time. This week it was really tough to pick a player of the week because there were 2 really good choices but in the end Jose Sermo from the Sioux City Explorers took it. Sermo hit .519/.618/.889 with 4 HRs, 11 RBI, 7 BB and a stolen base. Sermo also set the Xs’ career HR record with 58 as well. The pitcher of the week is Daren Osby of the Washington Wildthings after he threw a complete game shutout with 7 strikeouts and 2 BBs. Osby’s performance is a large part of getting the team back on track. 

Let’s finish this with some things to watch this week. Wyatt Ulrich has reached base safely in 51 straight games, he’s just 5 away from tying Stephan Douglas’ record of 56 this week. It’ll either happen or won’t this week. Staying in the AAPB Winnipeg returns home this week and after the amazing reception Quebec got I’m interested to see what the fanfare will be like for the Goldeyes. Also Lincoln and Fargo-Moorhead will have a tremendous opportunity this week to get back into the thick of the playoff race. In the ALPB as you all probably know by now the mound is being moved back on August 3rd. This in and of itself is something to watch but the impending roster upheaval or rather the attempt by players to leave the league will be something to watch as well. That’s all I have for this week, peace.

We enter the 3rd part of our mini series on the Newark Bears this week and it’s now in the penultimate chapter that the story really gets interesting. We left off at the end of the 2007 campaign that saw the Bears win the 2nd and ultimately final ALPB championship. 2008 would be uneventful on the field for the Bears finishing 72-68, good enough to finish 2nd overall in the Freedom Division and outside the playoffs. Fun fact, the expansion SoMD Blue crabs finished tied with Somerset for the best overall record in the ALPB that year and missed the postseason. Another reason why half season champions is a terrible way to determine who makes the playoffs.

 Anyway, the Bears were in the midst of an attendance problem. The team was reliably drawing around 178-181 thousand fans a year or about 2.5K a game, which in today’s ALPB would place them around lower-middle (4or5/8) of the pack. However, in the late 00s this placed the team at the bottom of attendance (6or7/8). Factor in an American economy that was in one of the worst financial crises in the nation’s history and you get ownership that’s been pushed to the brink. So much so that owner Marc Berson, under years of running the team in red, by his own account, would declare chapter 11 bankruptcy and the future of baseball in Newark was put on life support. The team would be saved but by who is a bit conflicted. One account has Frank Boulton buying the team for a million dollars in 2009 and another article places Boulton taking control in 2010. Yet another has it that a group of 3 investors saved the team. From my research it appears elements of both are true. A group called Bases Loaded LLC would buy the team but that group did appear to include Frank Boulton in it. That group also had Jim Wankmiller (AC business man) and Gary Veloric (Nashville music exec.) in it. It also had one more member in it, a familiar face in the team’s old GM Tom Cetnar. 

Now under new management the team was ready to take the field in 2009. With new ownership came a new manager, that would be Hall of Famer Tim Raines. His team would do well posting a 74-66 record with good years from former big leaguers Carl Everett (17 HR .315/.431/.495) and Charlton Jimerson (21 HR .335/.387/.495) at the dish and hurler Armando Benitez (2.86 in 34.2 IP) and Ramiro Mendoza (3.83 in 87 IP). They’d ultimately lose to Somerset 3-1 in the semi-finals and with that close the book on Newark Bears’ postseason history and it would also be their last winning season in team history. 

Off the field things weren’t in as good shape. So have the team running well and actually turning profit under the stewardship of Frank Boulton. Others paint a much different picture. They say it was chaos and dysfunction everywhere, the stadium was in disrepair and that they were understaffed to the point of ownership taking out trash and scrubbing floors. Now that’s probably the case but that’s also true of most Indy Ball teams as every game day titles disappear and GM’s are pulling tarp and slinging suds, so that doesn’t sound that unusual. However, that’s not the dysfunctional part. The lawsuits were. 

The first was an ATM owner suing the team over 3k that was alleged to have been stolen from it. There was an alleged settlement for a little over half the money but that was never paid and then the matter appeared in small claims court but was later dismissed on a failure to appear by the plaintiff. Not great but not awful. The second lawsuit was much worse, at least from a PR. 

This one had 3 teens suing the team over an in-game ejection that stemmed from refusing to stand for the playing of “God Bless America”. The 3 teens alleged that Tom Cetnar had yelled at them “Nobody sits during the singing of 'God Bless America' in my stadium, Now get the (expletive) out of here." They later met with Wankmiller and the team’s GM who apologized and offered tickets to a future game as an act of contrition. But the teens rejected as Cetnar himself was not there and offered no apology. Now that, no matter what way it shakes out, it is a massive PR problem made even worse by the fact the teens were all 16 or 17, from a local suburb of Newark, and had participated in an in game contest earlier that day. The lawsuit would be settled 3 months later for an undisclosed amount but the whole thing left a black eye on an organization that had seen league lows in attendance since the early 00s. This would only be the beginning of bad press for the club. You’ll see as we move along. 

The 2010 Newark Bears saw 2 similarities with the 2009 Newark Bears. Tim Raines was the skipper and once again there was new ownership. Bases Loaded LLC fell apart after the chaos of the 2009 season and by all accounts this is when Frank Boulton took sole control of the team. He did his best but after a 53-86 campaign the writing was on the wall. Between the on the field product and the off the field mess Newark was out of control and in no shape to be a part of the ALPB. So after a lawsuit and scandal free 2010 season Frank Boulton sold the club to good ole Tom Cetnar. There was a catch though, Cetnar didn’t have the money so he needed partners and that’s where the Doctor and the Marketeer come in.

It’s Tuesday so that means it’s time for another Alumni Update and this week we have the definition of a feel good story. We’re talking about the 32 year old pitcher Kevin McGovern. Most players would have given up on their MLB dreams after going undrafted but not Kevin McGovern. Even more would have given up after playing in 4 different leagues in 3 years but not Kevin McGovern. And almost everyone would have given up after playing 9 seasons of Indy Ball but not Kevin McGovern. 

He started his career in 2012 signing in the Frontier League with the London Rippers after going undrafted out of Thomas Jefferson University and then make a quick stop in Rockland of the CAN-AM League in the following year. 2014 would be split between the hitter’s paradise known as the Pecos League, where McGovern posted a 3.81 ERA in 9 starts (league average ERA was 6.15), and Lincoln of the American Association. This is where Kevin McGovern would start to make his mark on the Indy Ball world. He’d spend 2015 in Lincoln too making only 30 starts and posting a 4.74 ERA with 163 strikeouts. 

In 2016, Kevin McGovern would land north of the border. It is with Goldeyes that he would turn into one of the best pitchers in the American Association’s history. That first year saw his ERA drop a full point and a half in an extra 1.2 IP. He’d also add 20 more strikeouts as well. 2017 would be even better as he hit a career high in wins (13) and IP (144.1) and career lows in ERA (2.56), HR allowed (5), and hits allowed (115).  In 2018 the numbers jumped up a bit to resemble the Saltdog days. However they came back down in 2019 and closely mirrored his 2017 year. In September of 2019, McGovern would join the SoMD Blue Crabs in the Atlantic League to get some extra work in before returning to the Goldeyes in 2020. He posted a 25 IP across 4 starts he posted a 2.16 ERA and 22 strikeouts. 2020 was a rough year for everyone and the chaos that the league was thrown into had an effect on the field. McGovern would only make 5 starts across 7 games for the Goldeyes. He’d do ok posting an ERA over 4 and 22 Ks. However, on August 1 the team would release him ending his tenure in Winnipeg. Those 5 seasons spent in Winnipeg saw McGovern post a 3.69 ERA in 88 starts and 489 strikeouts and spearhead back to back championships in 2016 and 17. It was truly something else. He’d finish the season poorly surrendering 10 runs in 15 innings in Fargo-Moorhead. 

Going into 2021 the now 31 year old lefty was painfully close to several AAPB records. He was 35.2 innings short of the career IP, 8 career wins, and 25 strikeouts short of the career records. With these records in mind McGovern got off to one of the best starts of his career. He went 4-0 in 4 starts and 32 innings allowing only 5 earned runs and setting the strikeout record by 12 after striking out 37 during that time. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he’s going to get those 4 other wins and that 3.2 IP as on June 12th, after a decade spent grinding in the Frontier, Can-Am, American Association and Pecos Leagues Kevin McGovern finally had his contract purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals. 

He was assigned to AA Springfield and has since posted a 5.15 ERA in 7 starts striking out 43 in just under 37 innings pitched. McGovern’s June was fantastic with a 0.73 ERA and a WHIP under 1. July has been as kind with the ERA inflating 7.40 and the WHIP raising to nearly 1.9. The main issue seems to HRs. Several times he’s surrendered 2 or more in a game and at least 1 in every start since July 3rd. I imagine this is a Rick Vaughn from ‘major league’ scenario, McGovern is either gonna strike you out or you're gonna knock it out of the park. It’s not that he can't pitch well at this level, it’s that he’s just having a hard time tricking batters into swinging and missing lately. I think he can still turn things around as he showed in June that he can get out and he’s shown throughout July he can still strike out batters. Hopefully, he gets back on track soon and continues this feel good story. No matter what, Kevin McGovern will always be one of the best Indy Ball pitchers of all time. 

We’re back for another weekly round up, so let’s not waste time and get started. 

Another light week on contract purchases. The Giants picked up Aaron Blair from West Virginia (ALPB) and one of the frontrunners for pitcher of the year in the AAPB Jake Dahlberg (Chicago). The Reds also entered the fray and added arguably the best bat on the Monarchs in Jan Hernandez. It’ll be very interesting to see if Dahlberg can progress from A+ quickly as he’s 27 and played against much more difficult competition this past year. Likewise, I’ll be interested to see where Hernandez ends up because he has certainly proven he has a AAA bat this year in KC. 

On that note let’s talk about who’s been hot and not this week. The Milkmen have made a statement about how great of a team they are this week. A sweep of 2nd place Chicago put them on a 7 game win streak that only ended last night. Even with that they’re still 8-2 in their last 10 and are among the best in the league. Flipside, Gary has all but eliminated themselves with a 9 game losing streak that was finally snapped last night. The Railcats are now 15.5 out of 1st and about 13.5 out of a playoff spot with only 39 games left, the mountain may have become unconquerable for them.

In the ALPB everyone is still in play although WV, Gastonia, York, and Lancaster are fading fast. SoMD didn’t do themselves any favors this week either going 3-4 and falling 6 games back of the flaming hot Ducks. That may have just taken them out of the 1st half divisional hunt. Let’s talk more about the Ducks. They’re rocking an 11 game winning streak including series sweeps against York, WV, and Lexington. At this point they look like a division title is inevitable and that they took all the compliments everyone gave the Legends personal. 

Where finding a hot team in the ALPB was easy, finding one in the Frontier League was difficult. There’s a few like Schaumburg and NY that have small winning streaks and TC and EQ have been above .500 this week. But Florence has had the best week going 6-4 in their last 10 and winning their last 3 to take a, albeit small, lead in their division. The opposite of Lake Erie who has currently lost their last 7 and are 2-8 in their last 10, having fallen under .500 on the year. This has essentially handed the division to the Boomers for now. 

Alright Player & Pitcher of the Week time. Player of the Week for 7/18-7/24 is from the Lincoln Saltdogs, #12 Ryan Long. Long slashed .400/.417/.829 with 4 HRs, 14 RBIs, and 1 BB and SB. He is also running a 5 game run scored streak as well and had a  4/6 game and a few .500 games as well. Another strong performance from a Saltdog infielder. The Pitcher of the Week for 7/18-7/24 is from the Kane County Cougars, #21 Tyler Viza. Viza threw a complete game shutout this week, that saw him strikeout 11 and surrender only 6 hits to no walks in those 9 innings. Likewise, he only faced 31 batters in his outstanding performance. Great job by the Cougars stud this week. Also worthy of note Craig Cunnigham of the SI Miners, who had 14 scoreless innings this week and that made him a close runner up. 

We’ll wrap this up with 5 things to watch for this week. First, let’s see if the Monarchs can keep up their current pace after losing star arm Carlos Diaz to Mexico and star bat Jan Hernandez to the Reds. Their departure will have an effect. We'll find out how large of one this week. Next watch the Ducks win streak. It’s starting to get into historic territory and more practically the longer it goes on the more likely SoMD will be eliminated from the divisional crown race. Interestingly, Lexington was in a not so different position a few weeks back and they let HP back into the middle of things. That race is another one to watch, the South division crown is separated by 5.5 games and the leader has been slowing down while the challenger has been rising quickly. It’s on a similar note that it's a big week for the Frontier League’s  Northeast division. Sussex can essentially clinch the division at the halfway point with a strong week. They’re already up 7 games and are showing no signs of slowing down, so a 5 win week would probably do it for the division. However, NJ has won their last 3 (all against SC) so they’re not quite done yet despite being under .500. They play Washington this week and that series is one to definitely watch as it could kill the loser’s season should it be a sweep. That’s all I got for this week. Be sure to follow for more great Indy Ball content and check out our most recent podcast episode in our bio.

Welcome back to another edition of “The History of…”. This week we continue our mini series on the Newark Bears. Last week, we covered their founding and ultimately what you could consider their golden age. In this 2nd part we’re going to cover the era of the Bears that was highlighted by star names. Let’s get started. 

Coming off their first championship in 2002 the Bears were positioned to become the 1st multi championship team in the ALPB and dare I say the league’s 1st dynasty. And oh boy would ‘03 be a year to remember. The Bears brought in a new manager in Bill Madlock and as a team did not do well instead of living up to expectations they fell under the weight of them posting a 54-71 record and, obviously, they missed the playoffs for the 1st time since 2000. They wouldn’t make the playoffs or post a winning record again until 2007. That’s unimportant though. What is important is who took the field in a Bears’ jersey that year. The 2003 Newark Bears fielded a roster with 15 former big leaguers including 2 MLB all-stars and a Baseball Hall of Famer. Those 2 all-stars would be Jose Lima and the greatest lead off man of all time Rickey Henderson. Lima wouldn’t spend much time in the Brick City after posting a 2.33 ERA in 6 starts with the team as he’d be signed by the Royals and pitching in KC by June of that year. Rickey Henderson on the other hand is a different case. He spent 56 games in Newark, posted a .339/.493/.591 slash with 8 HRs en route to an ASG appearance that saw him win the MVP award. Shortly after, Ricky would be off to the LA to join the Dodgers for the 2nd half of their season. Don’t fret though he’d be back in 2004 and would spend the whole season with Newark posting numbers that aren’t as good as the year prior but still amazing for a 45 year old (.281/.462/.436 9 HRs 37SB!) 

One last thing before we move on to the remaining lean years. In 2003 the team’s original owner, Rick Cerone, would sell the club to Marc Berson, a local real estate developer. We’ll talk more about him later in part 3. Any way back on topic. 

I’m not going to spend much time on the lean years because very little of note happened on or off the field. The team would improve to .500 in 2004 with solid contributions from Maxwell (30 HRs and .942 OPS) and Clyburn (.334 BA) at the dish and Gannon (3.90 ERA in 15 starts and 20 games) and Crampton (2.15 ERA in 75 IP) on the mound. Unfortunately, that would still have the Bears finish last in their division. 

In 2005, Bill Madlock would be replaced by former MLBer and member of the 2004 Newark Bears Chris Jones. The 2005 Bears would go 58-82. They never really got any consistent or reliable starting pitching and offensively they got by with lots of help from Wilfredo Quintana (25 HRs .291/.363/.532) and former MLBer Jose Herrera (16 HRs .318/.359/.489). Fun not from this year’s roster, it featured current Miners skipper Bobby Jones on it. He pitched 16 innings across 5 games. 2006 wasn’t any better. The team went 42-83 got no help from starting pitching (the top 4 combined for a 5.32 ERA, no individual under a 5.11 ERA) and only reliable bullpen man was former MLBer Jermey Hill (3.62 ERA in 56 games) and closer Joey Cole (4.82 ERA 20 SV). The offense was mediocre, literally dead middle in most categories. Only notable and not so fun fact from this year was that the Bears finished tied for the worst record in the ALPB with, drumroll please, the ALPB Road Warriors. Yeah with that let’s move on to 2007. 

That offseason Chris Jones moved to an opportunity in affiliated ball so the Bears had a vacancy at manager. To fill it Newark would tap longtime Camden Riversharks manager the late Wayne Krenchicki. Krenchicki had previous spent 8 seasons in the majors and about as many in AAA, after hanging up the cleats he’d move into a 20 year long coaching career that’d last from 1990-2010, including 16 years in Indy Ball and 11 years in ALPB. The impact of this change could be felt right away as the team went from dead last in the league to T2 overnight. The pitching, with the help of Harold Eckert (2.59 ERA in 59 IP) and former MLBers Gary Knotts (2.65 ERA in 16 starts), Edwin Almonte (2.62 ERA in 58 IP), and Justin Hausman (1.79 in 40 IP), went from last to second best (behind those pesky Patriots). The offense went from middling to top 3 thanks to the MLB trio of Ramon Castro (9 HR .343/.448/.492), Jose Herrera (12 HR .357/.377/.545), and Keith Reed (21 HR .286/.323/.469) then add in Javier Colina (26 HR .309/.375/.560) and Victor Rodriguez (16 HR .365/.405/.550). The team was as strong as ever finishing 72-54 tied for 1st in the Northern division and would quickly dispatch the Ducks in round 1 2 games to none. Then they’d find themselves matched up against a familiar foe in the league final: the Somerset Patriots. It took 4 games for this series to be decided and in the end the Newark Bears would win it 3 games to 1 and win their 2nd Atlantic League title. This one was extra sweet given the four years leading up to it and who they won it against. This would wind up being a bittersweet championship given what was to come in the future. Next week we’ll discuss that dark future and finish our mini series on The History of ... the Newark Bears.

Before we leave off this week’s edition I do want to add 1 last thing about that 2007 club. Marcus Nettles played 84 games for the Bears and stole 49 bases and slashed .297/.367/.369. Nettles would play 2 more pro seasons before retiring to become an Illinois State Trooper in 2012. 5 years later he’d start the Marcus Nettles Project, an organization that’s goal is “To host privately sponsored baseball camps for urban and rural organizations to help bridge the gap between community, youth, and police.” This doesn’t have much to do with the Newark Bears but I thought it was cool and a good cause so I figured I’d include it at the end.

For this week’s alumni update we change things up by switching leagues and positions. We have one of the first players to have their contract purchased in the American Association this year and he’s also the first pitcher we’ll highlight (although we have several more lined up). This player is Mason Melotakis, formerly of the Cleburne Railroaders and currently of the Marlins AAA affiliate the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. Melotakis started his professional career in 2012 after being drafted by the Twins in the 2nd round out of Northwestern State University in Louisiana. He’d spend part of his draft year in rookie ball but quickly moved to A ball to finish out the season. 

He’d remain at the A level ball for all of 2013 but there was something different. For the only time in his career he was a starter. He went 11-4 in 18 starts with a 3.16 ERA in Cedar Rapids. Which honestly isn’t bad to be honest. However, the Twins thought better of it and switched him back to the bullpen. In 2014 Melotakis got bumped to A+ for most of the year and got 16 innings in AA New Britain. He did pitch well and really began to come into his own as a reliever. However his age 23 season would come to an end on a dower note after having Tommy John surgery in October of that year. Losing all of 2015 to rehab and recovery from the surgery, 2016 would be important for the now 25 year old Melotakis. 

He balled out. In 33 innings with AA Chattanooga, Melotakis posted a 2.97 ERA, lowered his RA9, and bumped his SO/9 to a career high of 11.3. 2017 would have him bounce between AA and AAA and there was a notable difference between his stats at the two levels. In AA, Melotakis was a Southern League all-star with a WHIP under 1.00 and a SO/9 of nearly 11. In AAA, he was fine, posting a 4.07 ERA and was used more as a middle reliever than a closer. That brings us to 2018, the first full season Melotakis would spend in AAA. He’d be in Rochester until mid-May when he would be released, finishing his time with the Twins organization. Not a week later, the Rockies would sign him and place him in AAA Albuquerque. Now that was an issue because as we all know the PCL, where Albuquerque plays, is known as paradise for hitters and hell for pitchers because of the high altitude most teams play in. That is clear judging from Melotakis’ state line. In Rochester, the 27 year old threw 14.2 innings and had a 3.07 ERA, 5 BB, and a SO/9 of 8.6. In Albuquerque, he  threw 15 innings and had a 12.60 ERA, 11 BB, and a SO/9 of 3.6. Pretty stark difference, and that’s why he elected free agency in November of 2018. 

He resurfaced in the baseball world in 2021 with the Cleburne Railroaders of the American Association. Mason Melotakis balled out like he did in Chattanooga in 2016. He posted a 1.64 ERA, struck out 15, and got his WHIP to 0.818 in 11 innings before the Marlins added him on June 11. Since then Melotakis has been with AAA-Jacksonville. He’s been a bit of a mixed bag. He did poorly in his first AAA appearance, surrendering 3 HRs in 2.1 IP. Then he went on a very good run throwing 8.1 IP and allowing only 2 ER. But then last week he gave up 4 HRs in 5.2 IP and allowed a .407/.448/.704 slash line against. I say overall Melotakis has been by and large very good. If you remove a few rough outings the numbers improve dramatically and it’s not unfair to say that the reason for those rough outings was length. His worst appearances were his longest (3.1 and 2.1 IP respectively) and all outings 2.0 IP or shorter have only amounted to 3 ER (roughly 10 IP). There’s no denying the 30 year old lefty is a strikeout pitcher with a 7.7 SO/9 it’s hard to be considered much else. He likes to get guys out at the dish because when the ball gets put into play issues form. A WHIP of 1.39 says as much. There is a home run problem as he’s allowed 6 of them and that’s been the source of most of his earned runs. If he can get those home runs under control and keep up the strikeout rate, I see no reason why he can’t be the indy baller on the Marlins. 

Another week has passed in Indy Ball and we’re going to review it. It was a light week for contract purchases with only 3 Frontier League pitchers getting moved to the affiliated leagues. The Tri-City pair of Troy Cruz and Eddy Taverez will join the Marlins organization and our 2x pitcher of the week Orlando Rodriguez will join the Twins organization. Cruz and Taverez join several other Indy Ball pitchers in the Marlins system that were purchased last week. It looks like a hot couple of weeks really paid off for Rodriguez too. On that note let’s see who’s been hot and who’s been cold this week.

 In the ALPB, both the Ducks and Rockers are riding 5 game winning streaks. For Long Island, this push has placed them into sole position of 1st place in the North division. However, SoMD is just 2.5 games back at the start of play on Sunday and look to be in a position to shake up those standings. For the Rockers, they get back to .500 after winning their first games against the juggernaut Lexington Legends. While still 6.5 back of Lexington, this run keeps their hope of a division title alive for now. Flipside, West Virginia hasn’t been great so far. 18-26 on the year, they are last in the ALPB. They were swept by Long Island and dropped 2 of 3 from the Blue Crabs heading into their series with Gastonia. They look to win that series tonight before looking to rebound in York. 

For the AAPB, Kansas City has separated themselves in the South division. Now having won their last 7 and 9 of their last 10, the Monarchs are in a position to grow their division lead from 4.5 with games against Lincoln and Winnipeg this week. Cleburne has returned to normal and are tied with the stalling Sioux City Explorers, who are just 3-7 in their last 10. The X’s will need to straighten out their current issues soon if they want to keep pace with the Railroaders for 2nd place in the South. One team that isn’t keeping pace are the Houston Apollos. I hate to kick these guys while they’re down, especially considering the circumstances around their existing, but they have to be the coldest team in Indy Ball. 0-10 in their last 10, running  a losing streak of 14, and they are winless in the month of July. It’s just not good for them right now. That said it’s not all bad play. They’ve lost some key pieces and dropped some games late in heartbreaking fashion (back to back to back HRs against the Monarchs a few nights back for example). Hopefully they can get some luck and turn things around.

 In the Frontier League, New York and EQ have lost control of 1st place as a result of sub .500 weeks from each of them. Oh and Tri-City is on a 4 game winning streak and in sole position of their division. More on the Atlantic division later. 

Player and pitcher of the week time. This week our player of the week is Oscar Campos of the Tri-City ValleyCats. Campos went off this week going .609/.583/1.496 with a home run and 8 RBI in 7 games. In addition he racked up 4 multi hit games including a 4/4 and a pair of 3/4 games. Campos’ week has also placed him atop the league in batting average. His bat was no small part of why Tri-City is standing atop the division right now. The pitcher of the week is Justin Shafer of the Kansas City Monarchs. Doing it from both the rotation and bullpen this week, Shafer threw 8 innings across 3 appearances that include 1 game started. Striking out 10 and walking only 3 the Monarch ace allowed 0 earned runs and just 2 hits. His stellar performance is why his team is among the hottest in Indy Ball. 

Let’s close this out with 5 things to watch for this week of the 18th. First the Apollos losing streak. That thing has to end sooner or later, and there have already been few games were it looked certain to die. They have 1 more against the Dogs and then 3 apiece with Winnipeg and Sioux City. Next watch that KC hot streak. It’s not sustainability long term and they had a couple of close calls last series against the Apollos. With a sneaky Lincoln team and a Goldeyes club that looks to have figured out their issues that streak could be ending soon. Also be on the lookout for an announcement from Winnipeg about a return to Manitoba. After the news after Quebec and Toronto being allowed back into Canada, Winnipeg could be next. A series watch for this week, High Point versus Southern Maryland. Both teams having been doing good as of late and have a lot riding on every game now that the leaders of their respective divisions have settled in. I’d also keep an eye on Lake Erie and Schaumburg this week. They have a series coming up soon and are neck and neck with each other in the Central division right now. They should start to have some separation soon and it could start here. Last thing for the week; the Atlantic division. It is anyone’s guess right now. Quebec and New York are slipping and Tri-City is shooting up the standings but Quebec should get a boost from having actual home games soon and the ValleyCats are getting picked through now. The Boulders also are hanging around .500 as they always do. With nobody being above .500 half way through July it’s going to turn into a last man standing to win this division but we could start have some clarity on who that man will be this week. 

Before we get started I started typing this post out and after about 2 hours of writing I realized that I was already a page and a half deep and had only covered 5 seasons of the teams’ history and that there was no way in hell I’d be able to fit the remaining decade plus of history into 1 post. Seeing as I had already made 3 graphics for the team I figured I might as well turn their history into mini-series inside a series. So here it is the 1st of 3 parts to the mini-series on the history of my favorite Indy Ball team of all-time, the Newark Bears.

We continue our ‘History of…’ series this week with a team that is near and dear to my heart; the Newark Bears. Their story is perhaps not long in a time sense as the club only lasted from 1998-2013, but when you look at the full picture it feels like they must have been around 50 years. Let’s dive in. The Bears started as one of the founding members of the Atlantic League in 1998 and were brought into being by former NY Yankee and Newark native Rick Cerone. The team would finish poorly in that 1998 season going 35-65, although in fairness they did have to share a ballpark with last week’s team the Bridgeport Bluefish as their ballpark was being built. 

Let’s talk about that ballpark because it’s going to come up a lot going forward. The 34 million dollar Riverfront Stadium was opened on July 16, 1999 and was supposed to be the centerpiece of a revitalization effort in the city of Newark. The park would also host some HS games and local colleges (namely NJIT and Rutgers-Newark campus) in addition to the Bears themselves. We’ll talk more later on this later but just remember one thing, this was a project founded by bonds through Essex County meaning this stadium was taxpayer funded and the county will be paying 1.1 million dollars a year till 2029 to cover the debt related to stadium services. 

Now back to the team. On the field the team improved to 55-64 in ‘99 and then in 2000 they finished above .500 for the first time with a record of 74-66. This was in no small part powered by one of the best ALPB hitting performances of all time by Ozzie Canseco. In that year, Canseco hit .299/.424/.644/1.068 with 48 home runs and 129 RBI and 21 stolen bases in 130 games. Between Canseco’s MVP level season and Bobby Hill (.326/.442/.491 with 81 stolen bases) and Rolo Avila (.319/.417/.462 and 47 stolen bases) you would think that they would not just be playoff locks but championship contenders. But their reward for being 8 games over .500 was for them to finish last in the North division, outside of a playoff spot. That 2000 ALPB season was just anarchy and deserves it’s own look back at sometime in the future but I digress. 

In spite of their place in the standings, 2000 was a great success for the Bears as it showed the team was ready to compete going forward and they did just that. In 2001, the team would again improve 75-51, 24 games above .500 and winning percentage of .595, and win their division 7 games. This earned them a match up with the rival Somerset Patriots, who themselves improved to 83-43 from 74-66 the year prior. The Bears put up one hell of a fight against a team that is one of the best to ever play in the ALPB, going the distance in the series. Unfortunately, they fell short in game 5 and the Patriots would win their first of 6 ALPB championships. This season was huge for the team not just because they fell 1 game short of a title or because they hosted their first ASG or because the add Bear and Eagle to Riverfront Stadium’s name to honor the previous minor league club and Negro League club that played in Newark. It was also huge because of the players that took the field. Jose and Ozzie Canseco, MLB vet Lance Johnson, future manager to stars Pete Incavigilia, and other former big leaguers like Jack Armstrong, Jaime Navarro, and others all took the field for the team. This was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of big names that would end up in Newark. 

There was a decision to shake things up going into 2002. Manager Tom O’Malley, who had been a major leaguer for nearly a decade and been with the club since its founding, was swapped out for former White Sox Marv Foley, who most recently had managed the Orioles AAA club in Rochester. Armed with a new manager and plenty of weapons for a balanced attack the Bears entered the season with one goal; win the whole damn thing. That balanced attack would be made up of a pitching staff led by former MLBers Mark Leiter and David Moraga in the rotation and a bullpen of Kris Kozlowski and Denny Blair and MLBers Alberto Castillo and Jeff Tabaka. The other end of the attack is the offense and just like in 2000 there was a historic offensive performance supported by several key pieces. Jimmy Hurst put on one of the impressive seasons hitting 35 home runs, 100 RBIs, 31 doubles, and a slash line of .341/.402/.655/1.052 led the way and he was supported by Joe Mathis (.279/357/.477) and Tom Hage (.294/.347/.529) having solid years themselves. All of these weapons added up to a 69-55 record and 3rd place in the South but in the playoffs. Which led to a matchup with Bridgeport in the finals. The ‘fish never stood a chance as the boys from the Brick City won 3 in a row to complete the sweep and bring home their first ALPB championship. This would be in the minds of some, including myself, the end of the golden age of Newark Bears baseball. However, the Bears would still have some success left in the tank and more than that, they still would have a lot of attention left to draw both positively and negatively. 

Next week we’ll discuss one of their biggest successes in that department; the arrival of one of the greatest ball players of all-time.

We continue our Alumni Update series this week with another legendary Sussex County Miner. That player would be Trey Hair. The 26 year old second baseman started his professional career in 2017 after being selected in the 37th round by the Tampa Bay Rays. He’d spend his first 2 years mainly in Rookie ball and A ball, where he put up respectable numbers that resulted in a roughly .290 batting average and .875 OPS in 110 games. He would not be brought back by the Rays in 2019 and that’s where the Indy Ball journey began. Hair would sign in Sussex County and join a team that was fresh off a Can-Am League championship. That 2019 team would turn into a juggernaut, going 61-33 en route to another championship appearance. This was in no small part due to Hair’s efforts. In 94 games that year he finished the year 2nd in team batting average (minimum 40 games), 1st in OPS, 1st in slugging percentage, 1st in doubles, 1st in triples, 3rd in home runs, and 2nd in RBIs and SB. He’d end that season with a slash line of .324/.427/.509 with 8 home runs, 62 RBIs, 27 SB, and 39 extra base hits. Without a doubt that was his best season to date and in all honesty it’s quite amazing that he wasn’t picked up at some point that year. In any event, Hair would go on to join the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks of the American Association in 2020. In that pandemic-shortened season, he’d only get into 38 games and post a line of .254/.311/.370 with a pair of homers and 4 stolen bags. An interesting note, although he only played in about ⅔ of the games in 2020 Hair would still finish 3rd on the team for doubles. Hair would return to the friendly confines of Skylands Stadium in 2021 and Miners were more than happy to have him back. That didn’t last long as after just 15 games the Texas Rangers decided they could use a guy like Trey Hair and purchased his contract on June 16th. In the month since that date Hair has played in 22 games for the high A Hickory Crawdads and posted 5 home runs and a batting average of .256 and 12 extra base hits. He got off to a hot start with 3 multi hit games in his first week with the Crawdads and finished June slashing .283/.370/.543. July has been a bit rough (excluding a 2 home run game against Winston-Salem) but by looking at box scores I’d hazard a guess that he’s trying to work on adding more power to his game. That’d explain why his BA and OPS are lower yet his SLG has remained roughly the same. Another area of note is how the Rangers organization is using Hair in the field. Currently, he has only been deployed as a 3rd baseman or a DH (and 1 IP as a catcher but let’s choose to ignore that). He was almost exclusively used as a 2nd baseman in Sussex County, Fargo-Moorhead, and in college. The last time Hair was given regular time at 3rd was 2018 in A Bowling Green. I believe the Rangers org. is putting Hair at 3rd in the DH role for the first time in 3 years to try to play on his strengths of hitting for extra bases and fit him into a more conventional role. This also is in line with my previous theory about Hair working on his power as of recent. As both of those positions (3rd base and DH) have historically generated more home runs and extra base hits than second base has. Given that we know Hair has the potential to generate big numbers in those areas (see 2019) it seems like a smart play from the organization, although one could argue it is unnecessary in the modern age of baseball where traditional roles and ideas are being rearranged and discarded like seasonal decorations. Whatever it may be and whatever the Rangers have planned for him, Trey Hair has had a good run of things in A+ so far and hopefully it will continue.

Back at it again for week 2 of the Indy Ball Report weekly round up, the series that keeps you in the know for the past week of Indy Ball action. The Marlins went shopping this week purchasing 3/6 contracts sold this past week. Erik Cha, Matt Pobereyko, and Codey Mincey all will be heading to South Beach. Christian Tripp was the lone Frontier Leaguer to move onto affiliated minor leagues after the Brewers bought his contract. Again this week MLB organizations valued pitching as every player that was moved to affiliated minor leagues was a pitcher this week. On to the action on the field. The Dogs solidified their hold on the North Division winning 8 of their last 10 and they enter today running with a 3 game winning streak. This week will be big for them but we’ll talk more about that in a minute. On the flip side, Sioux Falls has been rough of late. 1 and 9 in their last 10 and on a 2 game losing skid. In an incredibly tough South division the Birds are in real danger of being out of things before the start of August with teams like Kansas City, Cleburne, and Sioux City all ahead of them and hotter than them. At least Sioux Falls has Wyatt Ulrich, who’s near 30 game hitting streak has broken the previous franchise record and acts as the lone bright spot in recent weeks. Long Island turned the ship around, granted they were hardly in a bad spot last week, and now have won 7 of their last 10 and are in a tie with the Blue Crabs for 1st in the ALPB’s North Division. The Ducks have now managed to close an already narrow gap in that division and SoMD having a 3 game set with Lexington at the end of the week this could be their opportunity to push into sole possession of 1st place. On that note, the Rockers at 5-5 over their last 10 might not be the coldest team in the Atlantic League but it does put them in the most danger. They are rapidly losing ground to a Lexington team that, while returning to earth, is a juggernaut. High Point dropped the 1st of 3 against the Legends last night and they need to pick up a win or 2 otherwise they’ll be in a really bad spot very soon. Meanwhile in Frontier League, The Wildthings have come to life. While only 6-4 in their past 10 that includes a 5 game winning streak that includes wins against NJ and NY. It’s with this great run over the past week that Washington has managed to pull themselves within a game of NJ and within 2 games of .500. Granted they’re still 7 back of the Miners but with Sussex playing NJ this week and the ‘things playing NJ after, they could be in a very interesting position this time next week if they get a couple of breaks. Speaking of those NJ Jackals, they need a good week. 3-7 in their last 10, a Washington team nipping at their heels, a Miners team running away with the division, and a week of division opponents on the slate. If they want to stay in this thing and try to stay afloat then they need to, bare minimum, split with Sussex and win the series against Washington. Moving on. Our player of the week is Josh Altmann of the Lincoln Saltdogs. Altmann led an already hot Lincoln offense this week by slugging 1.000, which in turn led him to leading the Association in home runs over the past 7 day. Oh and slashing .467/.529/1.000 with 5 homers and 10 RBIs will make it very hard to pick anybody else. Pitcher of the week this week is once again Orlando Rodriguez of the Schaumburg Boomers. I like to try and avoid repeat players but if 2 ER in 14 IP over 2 starts with 2 BB and 12 Ks gets you pitcher of the week then 1 ER in 14 IP over 2 starts with 1 BB and 13 Ks sure will make me repeat a player. This becomes even more impressive when you see he did this against a So. Illinois team that’s starting to play up to expectations and an Evansville team that currently has the best record in the Frontier League and is batting .272 as a team. Ok let’s wrap this up with 5 things to watch for this week. Ulrich’s hitting streak currently sits at 29 and the AA record is 34 (Stephan Douglas in 2011) that could change this week. The top 2 teams in the Frontier League face of this week, Evansville vs Florence. This will truly be a clash of titans and with both teams in the same division this game could have playoff implications later down the line. Likewise Chicago faces off against Milwaukee this week. This series could cement Chicago as the true Dogs in the North division or it could put the Milkmen into 1st. Either way this series will have a major impact in the standings. I’d also watch the fight at the top of the AA South division and ALPB North division. KC, SC, and Cleburne all are closely grouped in the South and on any given day the order of the top 3 could look vastly different. In the ALPB North, the Crabs and Ducks are locked in a stalemate atop the division. If either has a bad/good week it could provide separation that could be important come late September.